How can I justify myself as a Magnate if I don't indulge myself?

Chapter 229 Reactions from All Parties_2



``` In less than half an hour, the name Gu Heng had soared to the top of the trending lists on Weibo, TikTok, and even Kuaishou and Tieba, under an unequaled level of popularity. The heat continued to grow at a pace that seemed unstoppable... Just one minute ago, the heat index was only over 20 million, but a minute later, it had skyrocketed to 40 million... The method for calculating heat on Weibo was not clear; after all, the operations of Weibo had been disgusting for more than a year or two. Sometimes, a trivial matter could hit hundreds of millions in heat, as long as one was willing to spend money, the heat could be infinitely amplified... But TikTok was different... At present, TikTok had not yet turned the trending list into a profit-making tool, and the heat index still had a certain degree of authenticity. A single point of heat represented a view count, and a heat index of 40 million meant that there were already more than 40 million views... And this was only half an hour after Gu Heng had spoken. It was no exaggeration to say that the heat for this event reaching a hundred million was a foregone conclusion... The comment section was also extraordinarily lively at this time... "I'm not well-read; can someone cultured tell me what's actually happening?" "As a front-row melon eater, I had already followed Gu Heng's TikTok account days ago. As a melon-eater, my sensitivity to "melon flavor" meant I foresaw that a huge melon was about to drop in these few days! And sure enough, while I was just slacking off, I stumbled upon such an earth-shattering melon! Let me translate for those who came later. Gu Heng: 'You were cursing at me fiercely the last couple of days, right? Did you think I would let you slander me like other celebrities? I'm not playing with you anymore; I'm suing all of you! Off to jail with the lot of you!'" "Damn, that's satisfying! Seriously satisfying! I've been so annoyed with these trolls, bouncing around so cheerfully every day, and now they've hit the iron plate, haven't they? One by one! All for a heavy sentence! Let them know the internet is not a lawless land!" ... "Just went to Weibo to check, and Gu Heng has sued a total of 14,000 people this time. I don't care what happens to these people; I just want to ask, how much does it cost to sue so many people at once?" "The person above, let me answer your question. My law firm just took on this business, and I was fortunate enough to get two of the cases. The lawyer fee for one case is exactly 10,000 yuan, plus the suit fees and a series of other expenses, roughly estimated to be over 150 million yuan!" "Goodness... if I could save up 1.5 million yuan in my lifetime, I would be grateful to heaven and earth. I'm usually so angry I nearly have a brain hemorrhage when arguing with others, but I don't dare to start a fight. Not because I'm afraid of going to jail, but mainly because I'm afraid I couldn't afford the medical expenses if I injured someone... This Gu Heng was just cursed at, without so much as a scratch, and he can take out 150 million yuan to sue others for relief. What kind of wish fulfillment story is this? Why is there such a big discrepancy between people?" A certain internet celebrity: "It's indeed a wish fulfillment story. These trolls probably thought they could still spread rumors and libel without consequences, as in the past, that even if things escalated, they would just have to apologize and it would all be over. But now they are dumbfounded, aren't they? The man doesn't bother with airy-fairy stuff! He directly put out 150 million yuan to have them end up in prison! Tsk tsk. 10,000 yuan to take down one disgusting pest, lesson learned, lesson learned. From now on, this is how we play! I can't put out 150 million, but I can manage 1.5 million!" Apart from these unrestrained melon-eaters in the comment section, those people who saw their accounts on Gu Heng's lawsuit list had only one feeling at this time... That was... Panic... They could never understand why they were sued just for following a trend and ranting, something they had done hundreds of times before with no consequences. How come this time they were the ones being prosecuted? The crime of defamation is a criminal case... If the prosecution really succeeds, the starting point would be detention or control, and in severe cases, three years in prison... Suddenly, everyone was in danger... Those who had sprayed Gu Heng, regardless of whether they were sued or not, immediately deleted their comments in Gu Heng's comment section. Quick-to-react marketing accounts also swiftly removed all works related to Gu Heng... Gu Heng's first work originally had 210,000 comments, but as the heat fermented, the number of comments plummeted crazily. In a little over half an hour, only 160,000 comments were left, a full 50,000 less... As for the remaining 160,000, it's not that those people had guts of steel and were not afraid of being settled by Gu Heng; they were completely unaware of what had happened online... ... ... On the other hand, with such a big stir on the internet, Zhuo Wei Studio, as the instigator, couldn't possibly be unaware. After all, they had been monitoring public sentiment data ever since they started creating it... Zhuo Wei Studio. ``` A slightly plump man with glasses led a group of people as they suddenly stormed into the office and fiercely slammed his teacup onto the floor. With a thunderous crash, tea and tea leaves splashed everywhere, and shards of broken glass littered the ground... This man with glasses, once submissive to Zhuo Wei, now disregarded the people pulling at him, pointed at Zhuo Wei's nose, and yelled, "Zhuo Wei, fuck your mother! I told you before, we can't mess with Gu Heng, we just can't! He isn't some small-time celebrity we used to bully; he's a billionaire with a fortune of over a hundred billion! You fucking had to show off your unfounded confidence, manipulating public opinion to smear this guy. Not to mention the millions poured into it, you've also fucking offended him to death! Did you see their response, or lack thereof? They didn't even bother clarifying or explaining; they just sued everyone! The PR firm that used to work with us just called; out of the 14,000 people sued, their studio accounts for over a thousand! They're demanding an explanation from us, or else they'll turn themselves in, claiming they were paid to do our bidding! All these ordinary people will fucking go to prison, and us lot, who instigated this, we're going to rot in jail forever!!" "Say something, will you!" "You fucker dared to do it; you dare to say something now, huh!" The man with glasses looked hysteric, and if it weren't for the others holding him back, he probably would have lunged forward and torn Zhuo Wei to pieces... As for the infamous paparazzo and behind-the-scenes manipulator, Zhuo Wei was at that moment staring blankly at the computer screen displaying a joint lawyer's statement from Gu Heng and 47 law firms... He couldn't make heads or tails of it—why had Gu Heng suddenly flipped the table? By normal logic, even if Gu Heng reacted violently, at most he would sue several marketing accounts under the guise of defamation and then wait for the buzz to fade, right? After all, the internet is memoryless... A few months later, who would even remember this incident? Zhuo Wei truly couldn't understand. With a public relations crisis that apparently could have been resolved without spending a penny, why would Gu Heng spend one or two billion to sue the whole internet? In Zhuo Wei's mind, even the most badass tycoon wouldn't just throw around one or two billion like that... That's a billion or two... With that money, why not do something worthwhile? Suing the entire internet is practically the same as burning the cash. If he knew that Gu Heng initially planned to spend 10 billion on this game and was advised against it by representatives of the top ten law firms, it would probably shatter his worldview... But things being as they were, everyone might panic, but Zhuo Wei could not afford to. Having been a paparazzo for so many years, having threatened so many big players in the entertainment industry, he had seen his fair share of rough seas... He was very clear that the situation hadn't been completely defined yet. With Gu Heng making such a big fuss, suing 14,000 people all at once, those higher up would never allow Gu Heng to carry on like this. If word of this got out overseas, it wouldn't be just a matter of losing face; it could even provoke numerous foreign powers to seize the opportunity to stir up trouble... Right now, he could only gamble... Gamble that those above would intervene and suppress the issue... If they did suppress it, then he would later come forward admitting that he was the one who exposed Gu Heng and spread the news that the higher-ups stepping in was to suppress Gu Heng's arrogance, letting capital know that they couldn't have their way in Hua Country... Although this would completely antagonize Gu Heng, it also contained massive opportunities. Maybe he could feed on patriotic support and become an anti-capitalist patriot influencer overnight. If they couldn't suppress it, though... Then he'd run... After all, no one had yet found out that he was the "man behind the curtain," so he still had some time to escape. Over the years, he had established a fair amount of assets overseas, and although living abroad definitely wouldn't be as comfortable as in his home country, it was certainly better than singing "Prison Blues" behind bars; as long as he was out there, he had the confidence to live freely... As for what he needed to do at the moment... It was to pacify the founding members within the studio... After all, these people were the original crew that started with him, except for the few who had already been locked up, these were his last remaining team. It wasn't that Zhuo Wei had much affection for them... It was that they knew too much dirty laundry of his; if he didn't pacify them well, there was no need for Gu Heng to take action. The evidence these people held was enough to keep him in prison for the rest of his life...

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