Chapter 144: Have You Ever Experienced True Despair?

When it came to the negative reports about Ren Qian, it was like the boy who cried wolf; many netizens no longer believed the media's nonsense at all.

Therefore, once such news was published, apart from professional trolls, no one else was willing to believe it lightly...

"It's this kind of malicious slander again. I'm never reading Special Quest News again; they're absolute scum without a shred of bottom line!"

"How does Special Quest dare to use this kind of thing to gain attention again? Are they insulting our intelligence?"

Due to the subconscious resistance of the netizens, this incident failed to stir up much of a wave.

Ren Qian was able to handle the matter calmly. He used all the money in his bank card as compensation, amounting to 4.6 million in total.

"In a way, this buys me peace of mind."

For a period of time, whenever Ren Qian brushed his teeth and washed his face, he would say this comforting phrase to himself.

His mind could rest, but the doubts were not dispelled by this. He still quietly and imperceptibly began gathering evidence regarding that car accident...

He felt that even if Driver Liu had been driving while fatigued, there should at least be a real, verifiable process. Without figuring out the truth, he would not be giving a proper account to Driver Liu's aging parents in their seventies.

...

Because Murong Xue was injured in the car accident and Ren Qian was not in the right state of mind to write songs, he directly informed the audience via the official Weibo account of Jiangnan Television's *I Am a Singer* that the show needed to take a one-week hiatus...

In the Weibo post, Jiangnan Television intentionally or unintentionally shifted the blame onto the unscrupulous media: "Every single one of Ren Qian's compositions requires an undisturbed environment to be created. Yet our media act like troublemakers, obstructing the birth of classics. I don't know what kind of mindset this is. Abandoning art just for a little money? Worship of money is truly terrifying."

When the netizens, especially Ren Qian's fans, saw this, they instantly burned with rage. A whole week! Given the God of Qian's talent, how many classics could he write in a single week?

Yet it was precisely these media outlets stirring up trouble day in and day out, spreading garbage information, that prevented the God of Qian from creating in peace.

A Weibo user named "Misty Rain and Desolate" published a post calling out: "In this era where entertainment is on the rise, singers and artists are becoming increasingly superficial and devoid of talent. Why is this?

Because these singers and artists have discovered an easier, faster path to stardom—hype.

As long as there are plenty of scandals and clever hype tactics, a singer or celebrity can remain in the public eye for a long time without any talent whatsoever. Take certain sultry starlets, take certain playboys...

Why do artists and singers love hype? Because the media—these trashy media outlets—frequently distort facts or exaggerate things just to capture eyeballs, all for the sake of agitating the negative emotions of netizens. By inciting online abuse, featuring toxic content, and soliciting sympathy, they keep their news in the spotlight.

In reality, netizens are constantly being played! We can no longer swallow our anger and stay silent! We must boycott!"

Netizens began to chime in: "Do you remember how we felt when these media outlets first broke the negative news about the God of Qian, and we saw trolls hurling abuse without even knowing the reason?

It was stifling, painful, and infuriating, yet we were powerless. Now, I want us, the fans of the God of Qian, to unite and return this exact feeling to those unscrupulous media outlets. Let them experience true despair."

"Right, treating them with their own medicine. Let's spontaneously organize a team to flood the news platforms. Any media platform that has ever published fake news—let's bomb them all. Flood them with negative comments until netizens refuse to read news on their platforms ever again."

"The person above is right; we can no longer condone this behavior. The quality of recent news has been getting worse and worse, riddled with typos. Sometimes a news article consists of just one paragraph copied and pasted repeatedly. Sometimes an article has nothing except pictures!"

"Our tolerance has only made them worse. Now, to give the God of Qian a quiet creative environment, and to allow all singers to focus wholeheartedly on music, we must clean up this atmosphere!"

"We are the fans of the God of Qian, so we should learn from him. When the God of Qian was assisting investigators in fighting narcotics, he wanted to become the anti-drug image ambassador. What an incredible sense of social responsibility!

Shouldn't we learn the positive energy of the God of Qian? Shouldn't we add another glorious chapter to his legacy?

As fans, while we may not have the opportunity to contribute to his album sales, we can make his image tower higher, so that when others speak of his fans, they won't say: *Ah, Ren Qian's fans are just a bunch of brainless zealots.*

Instead, they will say: *Look, the God of Qian's fans are true fans; they uphold justice on the internet, help migrant workers collect their unpaid wages, and defend the authenticity of online news...*"

"I am willing to be a hardcore fan of the God of Qian. A hardcore fan of the God of Qian should be an ambitious youth bursting with a sense of justice and social responsibility!"

...

At the Broadcasting and Television Building of Jiangnan Television, Ren Qian hired another driver named Wang, around thirty-five or thirty-six years old. He looked very steady and had worked as a private driver for others for several years.

He was extremely experienced.

"Mr. Ren, we've arrived."

"Alright."

Ren Qian stepped out of the car. He was already familiar with the route from the main entrance to the studio, covering it in just a few minutes. Inside the studio, Xu Zhiqian, Hu Yanbin, Zhang Nianwei, Sun Munan, and Murong Xue were still remaining on stage. Huang Guanzhong and Sha Puliang had been eliminated due to poor performances in the previous two rounds, while Ning Jian and Yang Zongwei had successfully challenged their way in.

Ren Qian decided that once this episode concluded, he would officially begin the King of Singers tournament for *I Am a Singer*.

This competition would be contested among these remaining singers. The first round of the King of Singers battle would involve composing, lyricizing, and performing; the second round would feature performances of songs provided by Ren Qian; and in the third round, the singers would freely select their songs and could invite guest performers to assist them.

Once *I Am a Singer* concluded, Ren Qian would be able to throw himself entirely into his new album.

A tenth of the time had already passed. He had to face his debut album—whether it would be a cruel trial or a blaze of glory.

Even though Wan Feng was locked up in prison and couldn't come out to cause trouble during that period, Ren Qian did not want to leave behind any grounds for criticism.

"Hello, Brother Qian."

"Hello, Brother Qian."

"How is everyone's rehearsal going?"

Ren Qian smiled as he greeted everyone and motioned for them to gather around.

"Here's the thing. There are only the last four episodes left of *I Am a Singer*!"

"Ah? Why is it ending so soon?! We haven't had enough yet!"

"How have you not had enough, Nianwei? Before joining the show, your endorsement deals were worth a little over three hundred thousand, but now they're worth over 1.2 million. That's a massive profit! A show like this has to stop when it's time to stop; it needs to maintain a bit of mystery and a sense of distance."

"It's really ending..."

Hu Yanbin felt a twinge of reluctance.

"It's fine. If you ever want to play music, my place is always welcome to you. You'll just have to write me a few good tunes when the time comes," Ren Qian laughed.

"Does Brother Qian even need me to write tunes? With how amazing you are, that would be like brandishing a broadsword in front of Guan Yu."

The singers, especially those who had spent a fair amount of time getting along with Ren Qian, found their eyes growing moist as they chatted.

"Alright, this is our final time on this stage, so please take it seriously! Go rehearse, and if you have any questions, discuss them with each other." (To be continued.)