Chapter 232: The Legendary Internet Water Army
In addition to that, there was also Feihuang Studio's new video segment.
Once the "bonus-based-on-reputation" policy was finalized, both the game development department and Feihuang Studio's short video department would surely have to adjust their business direction.
However, in the short term, Feihuang Studio still had a high chance of… taking sponsorship deals.
So Pei Qian figured he might as well "help" them out—let them personally experience the downsides of shilling for sponsors.
He wanted them to feel the backlash of public opinion firsthand, so that their shift from chasing profits to chasing reputation would happen naturally and convincingly.
As the saying goes, no pain, no gain; flowers grown in a greenhouse can't truly thrive outside.
Ahem— well, honestly, Pei Qian just wanted them to take fewer sponsorships.
After all, there were only two months left before settlement time, and for the sake of the system's special bonus, absolutely nothing could go wrong!
Now, as for how to make this happen…
Pei Qian quietly logged into Aili Island and sent a private message to a certain creator—"Little Fox Reviews."
After what happened last time, Pei Qian had a good sense of who this Little Fox Reviews character was—definitely not an easy one to deal with.
Whether it was taking sponsorships or stirring up trouble, this guy had his own methods.
And Pei Qian absolutely didn't believe for a second that an influencer like him didn't have connections with water armies.
He'd already taken note of this guy's name earlier—just for a moment like this.
Using his Hardcore Review Aili Island account, Pei Qian also set up a matching alt account on his chat app.
This kind of operation had to be done quietly, with zero traces left behind.
Before long, Little Fox Reviews responded, and the two added each other as contacts.
On the other end, Hu Xiao was a bit surprised that the Hardcore Review creator had reached out to him.
Even though he'd been burned pretty badly in their last "incident," Hu Xiao knew it was probably just a coincidence—that third video Hardcore Review released hadn't been intentionally aimed at him.
So he didn't hold any grudges. In fact, he added Pei Qian's alt account in good spirits, thinking maybe this could be a chance to make a new acquaintance.
After all, there's an old saying—peers are natural enemies.
Hu Xiao didn't get along with other professional review agencies; since everyone took money from different sponsors, online spats and "black PR" battles were common.
But in this case, Hardcore Review didn't seem like a rival. Despite growing fast in followers recently, they were still a small fish compared to him.
What's more, their review style was very different—almost complementary.
Judging by their production quality, Hardcore Review didn't even look like they were doing paid sponsorships. If anything, they looked rich.
Who else would destroy a 4,000–5,000 yuan smartphone just for a test? No normal review channel could afford to do that!
So Hu Xiao decided this was someone worth keeping an eye on.
That said, he also couldn't rule out another possibility—maybe this "Hardcore Review" guy was here to buy a water army.
Hu Xiao had plenty of water army contacts himself, and he often acted as a middleman to help other Aili Island creators hire them.
It wasn't much of a secret in their circle.
Maybe this new "client" had been referred to him by someone else?
Soon, the friend request was accepted.
Pei Qian thought for a moment before sending a message:
"I want to go after a competitor. Can you help me out?"
Hu Xiao didn't say much in reply—he just sent over a price list.
Pei Qian scanned through it quickly.
Wow. A dazzling selection!
Basic followers: 10 yuan for 1,000; 40 yuan for 5,000; 70 yuan for 10,000—bot accounts, no unfollowing.
Premium followers: 12 yuan for 1,000—some with profile pictures and bios.
Top-tier real followers: 10 yuan for 400—real active users, guaranteed long-term quality.
Premium active followers: 10 yuan for 300—each with at least two digits of followers, not shadowbanned.
Reposts, comments, likes:
Basic reposts—2 yuan for 100 posts.
Premium reposts—13 yuan for 100 posts—or 100 yuan for 1,000 posts.
There were also "basic comments," "premium comments," "basic likes," "premium likes," and so on.
In short, everything was divided into many tiers—and the more you bought, the cheaper it got.
In addition, there were bundle deals. For example, if you bought a fan package, they would mix followers of different quality levels together and give you a discount. That way, the fake followers looked more "authentic."
This was the price list for Weibo. Below that was one for Aili Island.
It included views, bullet comments, regular comments, follower counts, and so on—all clearly priced.
However, the prices on Aili Island were noticeably higher than on Weibo. It wasn't clear whether that was because their review system was stricter, or because the site's "water army" services weren't yet fully developed.
Looking at the price list, Pei Qian finally realized—huh, buying bots was actually a lot cheaper than he thought.
Apparently, with just a few hundred to a thousand yuan, you could get a package deal that brought in hundreds of comments—and they'd even throw in likes for those comments as a bonus.
Of course, Pei Qian had no intention of using bots to do anything unethical. Things like slandering other brands, insulting people, twisting facts to mislead consumers—
None of that was on his agenda.
"I just want to buy some comments and likes—give me a package deal," Pei Qian said.
This time, he didn't act all rich and generous like before—because… the system wouldn't reimburse him.
Without a "legitimate reason," Pei Qian couldn't use company funds to pay Hu Xiao. He had to spend his own money.
Fortunately, he wasn't as broke as before. Spending around a thousand yuan for some comments and likes wasn't unbearable.
If that one thousand yuan could make Feihuang Studio lose a little popularity—maybe cut their income by a million or two—that would be money well spent!
Of course, Pei Qian knew the odds of success were slim. But hey, spending a thousand yuan to try it out wouldn't kill him.
Hu Xiao's eyes lit up—finally, a real customer!
"No problem! Our water army is highly trained—mission guaranteed to be completed perfectly! Are you planning to boost your own account?"
Pei Qian replied, "No, I want to boost someone else's account. Search for 'Feihuang Studio.' They'll be posting a review video soon. When it goes up, post a few comments under it—all with the same message: 'I've used this product, it's great, highly recommend it.'"
Hu Xiao sent him a "subway, old man, cellphone" meme.
Then followed up with a "Black guy question mark" meme.
What the heck was that supposed to mean?
This was the first time he'd ever met someone who bought bots like this!
All the comments saying the exact same thing—wasn't that basically advertising to everyone that they were bots? Even an idiot could tell!
But Hu Xiao was quick on the uptake—he understood instantly what Pei Qian was really trying to do.
Oh! So this was reverse bot-buying—suppressing the competition instead!
It looked like this "Hardcore Review" guy wasn't some clueless newbie—he was a pro!
As the online environment evolved, the water army business had also been leveling up.
Back in the day, internet users were easy to fool. But now? Not anymore—everyone knew bots existed.
So if you wanted to buy fake comments now, it had to be stealthy and authentic, disguised to look like real people—you couldn't leave any obvious traces.
Of course, that was the usual practice when you were boosting yourself.
But there was also a higher-level way to use bots—reverse boosting!
That meant hiring bots to "help" your competitors by posting idiotic, obviously fake comments—deliberately making them look like they'd bought cheap bots.
That way, onlookers would instantly think, "Wow, their PR team really hired some low-quality water army."
Brilliant!
And as Hu Xiao reread Pei Qian's message, he caught onto another crucial detail.
Feihuang Studio… was going to start doing review videos?
He knew about Feihuang Studio—after all, their show "President Pei's Daily Life" had once been featured on Aili Island's homepage.
But afterward, Feihuang Studio had stopped updating President Pei's Daily Life.
They'd only released one documentary, and then disappeared from the platform for a while.
Now they were making a comeback?
And planning to launch a review show?
Hu Xiao started feeling uneasy.
Feihuang Studio was clearly part of the "regular army"—well-funded and professional. If they entered the product review scene, they'd almost certainly steal business from his "Little Fox Reviews."
He didn't know how this "Hardcore Review" guy had gotten the intel, but judging from what he said, it might actually be true.
Still—someone paying him to hire bots to suppress a potential competitor? That was a dream come true!
Hu Xiao even felt tempted to pitch in his own money just to hire more bots for it.
But on second thought, there was no need. Feihuang Studio hadn't even released their new review show yet—they weren't a threat, for now.
When assigning the task to the bot operators, he could just use his personal connections to make sure they posted a few extra dumb comments—that would be enough to trip up a potential rival.
"No problem!" Hu Xiao agreed immediately.
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Note:
An Internet water army is a group of users who are paid to post online comments with vested interest on Chinese language websites.
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