Chapter 18: No One Can Tread on My Turf

"Look! Just look at the kind of people we’ve been harboring!"

"Independent musicians signed to Dingdang Net have been bribing our music library administrators with red envelopes and spa treatments in exchange for prioritized placement and increased streaming exposure!"

"Moudian, which has only been in trial operation for three months and hasn't even started charging readers yet, has editors signing up authors who just hold hollow titles from local writers' associations. These editors then split the profits—taking sixty percent for themselves while the authors, who just churn out fluff, get forty!"

A few short days of investigation yielded results that left Gu Cheng and Pan Jieying stunned. From Dingdang Net, which had been up for nearly a year, to Moudian, barely three months old, they uncovered over twenty people involved in the kickback schemes.

Gu Cheng finally understood: Why is it that in rebirth novels, the protagonists always snowball into internet tycoons with such ease? Why is it that in the real world, giants like Baidu and Tencent often stagnate, or once they reach a certain scale, must rely on acquisition to "tame" external startups because they can no longer innovate with the same ferocity as in their youth?

It is because the protagonists of rebirth novels never encounter internal friction. Their subordinates are always under a "stupidity aura," devoid of any personal agenda. Operations staff don't take bribes, maintenance crews don't steal digital items, and monitoring teams aren't swayed by marketing firms offering spa treatments. Even the investment review boards are supposedly incorruptible, ensuring that "internal entrepreneurs" can't influence the valuation of subsequent funding rounds through gifts and wining and dining.

Alas, Gu Cheng was not born into a world protected by a "stupidity aura."

In his previous life, Gu Cheng detested the imposition of rigid KPIs on talent scouts because the value of art is difficult to measure through market reaction alone. Even if market feedback is poor, it might be due to a failure in the promotion channel rather than the quality of the work itself. Fortunately, decades later, advanced AI diagnostic systems would emerge to judge the artistic value of works without human bias. Back then, one only needed to manage a few core algorithm engineers and a committee to set data labeling standards.

Unlike the present, where three content companies—including Legend Entertainment—had to manage teams of dozens of content screeners, ensuring each one remained incorruptible.

After reviewing the list of offenders, Gu Cheng’s face darkened as he commanded: "Fire everyone found to be at fault. Seize and confiscate all illicit gains. For cases with particularly large sums that qualify as criminal, report them to the authorities and let them handle it."

Under these circumstances, the likes of Lei Jun, Gan Jiawei, Gao Dasong, and Che Lizi could not argue. Only Pan Jieying, having no conflict of interest, dared to suggest, "Reporting them? Won't that damage the company’s reputation? I’m not against you dealing with them, but couldn't we handle it more discreetly?"

Gu Cheng remained unmoved. "This is something we must go through sooner or later. It’s better to deal with it now than to wait until we’re a larger target. Right now, we’re just a gaming company; we don’t have much of a reputation to speak of anyway. That’s the final decision."

On this issue, Gu Cheng was truly autocratic. Over twenty employees were fired on the spot, and four of them, whose cases involved significant sums, were turned over to judicial authorities, just like Jin Chengze.

The growth of Dingdang Net and Moudian was slowed by at least a quarter due to this purge. However, Gu Cheng felt the price was worth it. Dealing with these unpleasant matters during the internet winter was strategic, as competitors lacked the resources to catch up anyway. If he had waited until the winter passed, a single quarter would have been enough for many things to go wrong.

Having dealt with the internal staff, the next step was to address the artists and writers who had colluded with them. This was trickier, as these individuals fell into two categories: those who were genuinely talented and used the "hidden rules" to boost their exposure, and those who had neither talent nor appeal.

For those without talent who engaged in foul play, Gu Cheng’s decision was swift: a permanent ban. The dilemma lay with those who were talented and had achieved sales through these illicit means.

Gao Dasong hardened his resolve and pleaded for some of the independent musicians: "Xiao Gu, this is on me. I hadn't managed content before, and I gave them the opportunity. If anyone should be punished, it’s me. But some of them really do make good music; they just couldn't resist the temptation when it came to promotion—and besides, Dingdang Net didn't have a clear set of rules for streaming priority at the time."

As he spoke, Gao Dasong pointed to a band on the list called "Soda Red," a campus band formed in Taiwan the previous summer. In the original timeline, they weren't supposed to debut until 2004—the year the internet winter would finally end, allowing musicians without record label support to showcase their work via MP3s. Because Gu Cheng had established Dingdang Net and its channels early, these musicians had blossomed ahead of schedule.

Soda Red’s talent was genuine. In the half-year since joining Dingdang Net, their two albums had sold nearly 300,000 copies, placing them in the top five of all independent musicians on the site. However, they were caught: their manager had secretly paid the music library administrator to tweak the random shuffle algorithm, ensuring their songs played more frequently in internet cafes nationwide.

The members of the band were still university students and allegedly didn't understand the "hidden rules," having been led astray by their manager. It was their first offense. This was just one typical case among many.

"Fine. Remove their music from the streaming library and strip them of any future free promotional resources from Dingdang Net. However, keep their distribution contracts—meaning Dingdang Net will continue to sell Soda Red’s albums, but we will not use any internal promotional resources to market them. Furthermore, they are permitted to sign promotional contracts with external agencies. If they want promotion in the future, they can pay for it themselves."

This punishment was equivalent to saying, "You are permanently stripped of the right to be featured, but we will keep your sales channel open; if you want to promote, do it on your own."

The ruling was fair, and Gao Dasong had nothing more to say. The other independent bands involved were treated similarly, with the caveat that this leniency was granted only because it was their first offense. Moving forward, all new contracts would explicitly state the company's right to pursue damages if "hidden rules" were detected. Gao Dasong himself was demoted and stripped of some of his technical oversight powers as a penalty for his poor management.

Finally, it was time to deal with the cheating writers on Moudian.

Gu Cheng pointed to the second file and asked coldly, "Three months since launch, and people are already developing click-bots to inflate view counts into the millions, climbing to the top of the charts to gain exposure. How should we handle this?"

A project manager, unsure of the boss's intent, tried to mirror the approach used for the musicians: "Perhaps we could deduct their click counts and recommendation votes, and ban them from recommendation slots for a period?"

Gu Cheng was clearly dissatisfied with this answer. He read the standard contract drafted by Moudian over and over, then tossed it onto the table and said firmly, "Take them down."

"But these books are actually quite good! They’ve generated significant early traffic for the site and will create substantial profit once we start charging," the manager argued, growing anxious. Gu Cheng’s proposed punishment was far harsher than that given to the musicians. The manager, whose KPI was tied to traffic, felt compelled to explain further: "Readers don't care how the books they like get on the charts. If we delete them, we might lose those readers. To the users, the site is just a channel; it's the 'great authors' they follow. For example, this book, *Interstellar Dragoon: Crossing Worlds* by 'Red-Braised Potato'—even though he used bots to fake millions of views, the writing is actually good. Why can’t we treat it like 'Soda Red'?"

Others were also confused.

"Soda Red was already an established band that used Dingdang Net merely as a sales channel. These writers are exclusively signed to our site; the standard of strictness cannot be the same," Gu Cheng explained amidst the confusion. His eyes held a flicker of pity and regret.

"In the entertainment industry, there has always been a saying: if you want to get ahead, you cut in line. If you get beaten for cutting in line, so be it—that’s expected. Once the beating is over and things have calmed down, you stand up, brush the dirt off, and the spot you cut into is yours. It’s the same for music or literature today. Some people are talented but lack a chance to be seen. Regardless of the repulsive methods they use, if they hype themselves up, inflate their view counts, and catch the eye of the casual reader, they become famous—we aren't discussing those who lack the actual talent to begin with."

"This kind of behavior leads to people in this circle becoming increasingly shameless, because they all carry the mindset that 'once the beating is over, the spot is mine.' But what is it that we are pursuing? We want the world to know that no one can profit from being shameless on Gu Cheng’s turf. Even if I have to suffer a mutual loss, I will crush those who resort to 'naked running' for clicks!"

"That’s impossible. This circle is too big. Who do you think you are?" many thought to themselves, or whispered aloud. No one was optimistic about Gu Cheng’s vision. It seemed like a wealthy man’s folly, needlessly increasing the difficulty of his own business.

Nonetheless, the boss's orders had to be carried out. At the very least, the resolution for this purge was executed.