After The Web Novel Great God Transmigrated As A Scummy Online Dating Top - Chapter 22

Chapter 22

The Secret “Smear Campaign” Group

In a temporary chat group of four, the atmosphere was thick with resentment.

Sea-Chasing Dog: That “brusher” is so arrogant! She actually responded in the synopsis and the reviews. I’m seething!

Ink-Dipped Scallion: She definitely has connections. A lot of our negative reviews were deleted, and the forum threads are being locked so fast.

Lightning-Thin Shrimp: It’s so annoying. Usually, the admins take forever to show up. Today they’re faster than a bullet. Lucky we used reader smurf accounts, or we’d be banned.

The trio vented for several minutes before realizing one of their allies was missing.

Ink-Dipped Scallion: Where’s Wang Tianchong? Why hasn’t she said anything?

Sea-Chasing Dog: Probably on Weibo. She went to rally her fans to “seek justice,” right?

Lightning-Thin Shrimp sent a smug, laughing-at-the-sky emoji. Privately, they weren’t all that sympathetic to Wang Tianchong. They were competitors in the same genre, after all. They were only united because the newcomer, Mu Qianshan, was rising too fast and too luckily.

Thirty minutes later, Wang Tianchong finally appeared.

Wang Tianchong: …

Lightning-Thin Shrimp: What happened, Chong-chong? We were worried!

Wang Tianchong: …Nothing. It’s just… I think we might have misunderstood her?

The trio: “???”

The “misunderstanding” was simple: Wang Tianchong had actually started reading The Arcane Case Files.

It’s an awkward situation—one side is ready for war, charging through the trenches, only for their leader to suddenly stop, realize the enemy is beautiful, and jump out to give them a hug while screaming “I LOVE YOU!”

Mortified by her own behavior, but hooked on the plot, Wang Tianchong did a complete 180. She deleted her angry Weibo posts and issued a public apology.

…

The Great Reversal

Official Weibo – Green Dog Wang Tianchong: Regarding the Rising Stars list today… I let my pride get the better of me. I was arrogant. After actually reading Mu Qianshan-sensei’s work, I realized her writing is in a different league. It’s so good I actually felt the urge to take notes…

She didn’t stop there. Using a loophole in the site’s tipping system, she began spamming $2.00$ point reviews and massive cash tips on every single chapter of The Arcane Case Files.

Readers following her apology: “Chong-chong, you said you had slow hand speed, yet you’re currently occupying the entire review section by yourself?!”

Lightning-Thin Shrimp and the others: “That idiot! *&^%#!”

Original readers of The Arcane Case Files: “Wait, are you trying to make it look like our author is faking her stats so you can report her again?!”

As the clock struck midnight, Lin Muxue’s pre-scheduled ten-chapter “explosion” went live.

Lightning-Thin Shrimp bit her nails in fury. “Continue!” she barked at her hired water army. “I don’t care if she updated ten chapters. Start flaming the paid chapters! I don’t believe she can keep this up!”

…

The Morning Surprise

The next morning, after finishing her writing session, Lin Muxue checked her dashboard. She blinked.

Overnight, a “Super Patron” had appeared—a title reserved for someone who tips over 10,000 RMB ($1,400+) on a single book.

The name at the top of the leaderboard: Wang Tianchong.

Lin Muxue: “…”

Her hand, which was about to close the browser, froze. She clicked into the reviews.

Was this a new kind of sophisticated trap from the other authors? she wondered. Spending ten thousand yuan just to pull a prank? This world’s ‘peer competition’ is getting very expensive.