CHAPTER 287: CHAPTER 214: CHAOS OF WAR, THE FINAL RUSH

"How are things now?"

"Director Zhang, the data has slowly caught up, but the increase still hasn’t met expectations. Should we continue to intensify our efforts?"

Inside the 16th-floor marketing department of Huamei Records, located in the Huamei Entertainment Building, the atmosphere was much more oppressive than usual.

After Director Zhang reviewed the data curves and model estimates on the computer, he shook his head, his expression gloomy.

"Forget it. Stop there. Slow down the marketing and let’s try a long-term approach."

This so-called long-term approach was essentially a way of giving up. It involved maintaining minimal marketing intensity, basically just having the operations team occasionally mention it in the evenings.

The investment was almost negligible, barely making any difference. The outcome all depended on sheer luck; if it took off, they would profit. If not, then so be it.

"But... with so much invested initially, isn’t it too much of a pity to stop now?"

"Do as I say. This is President Lin’s intention."

"Okay then..."

Reluctant as they were, since it was President Lin’s decision, there was likely no chance of changing the outcome.

Director Zhang transferred the data to a tablet and, with it in hand, knocked on the secretary’s door on the top floor.

"President Lin, Marketing Director Zhang from the Records Department is here."

"Oh? Let him in..."

Lin Changxiao frowned, thought for a moment, then spoke to the secretary.

"President Lin, these are the latest data statistics and model calculations. According to the current trend, the outlook is not very optimistic. I have stopped further investment as per your instructions."

Lin Changxiao took the tablet and glanced at it, his expression also turning grim.

"Sigh, alright. Go and tell Meichen that this is it for now. We’ll see how things go later."

What could he do? He was helpless.

Lin Changxiao had been blinded by optimism before, thinking he could succeed if he tried, so he had hastily jumped in, intending to make a quick profit.

But he hadn’t anticipated that there would be more people fishing than fish in the water. Not only did he fail to catch anything, but he also nearly lost his net in the process.

After all that effort, all they got was a bit of noise. At least the investment wasn’t too large. There were no actual losses, just that the profit didn’t meet expectations.

However, compared to Huamei’s resolute decision to cut its losses, other companies weren’t so quick to concede.

"Li Xiang, you’ve seen the situation. Tell me your thoughts."

"Director Du, I understand what you mean. Perhaps we should just hold off for now."

"Sigh, I’m glad you think so. After all, both you and Wu have poured a lot of effort into this album. It would be such a waste to just abandon it now."

Li Xiang said nothing. He had been preparing this album for more than three years, intending to release it this year.

But whether it was bad feng shui or just terrible luck, first Xu Qingqiu’s album had set a high bar and absorbed much of the market’s attention. Then, suddenly, a horde of competitors popped up, turning this month into a bloodbath.

Never mind the question of daring—in the current situation, anyone who stepped forward was doomed. No matter how brilliant they were, the market was in complete disarray.

Consumers only had so much money, and now it was split among several competitors. Even the best products feared such competition.

What could they do? Play dead, of course.

Soon, Haiyin Records issued a notice stating that there was a problem with the music video production. It was being reshot, and the release date was unavoidably postponed.

The fans were still expressing their concerns in the comments below.

"It’s okay! We listen to the songs, not watch the MVs."

"Releasing the song first is fine too. The MV can wait."

Little did the fans know, upon seeing these comments, the people at Haiyin Records were so embarrassed they wanted the ground to swallow them whole.

The so-called MV problem was just an excuse. Anyone with discernment could see this was an admission of defeat; only these fans couldn’t see through it.

The crucial point was that they couldn’t say it directly. They could only offer gentle explanations in the comments, claiming they wanted to present the most perfect work to the fans.

And yet, this still moved the fans immensely. One could only say everyone was quite the actor.

Haiyin and Huamei had admitted defeat, but that didn’t mean everyone else did.

Mingcheng Records, having gained an initial advantage, was still doing fairly well. Although they weren’t making a huge profit, they still had a fighting chance.

Seeing they were about to catch up with Jiang Haoyue, giving up now would be too regrettable, so they decided to press on.

A massive sell-out was out of the question, but as long as they could win this round of competition, there would be plenty of angles for future marketing.

At that point, they could recoup their investment in other ways; in short, they wouldn’t be at a loss.

In contrast, Chidori Records, whether blind or overly confident, was clearly performing worse but still felt they could continue the fight.

This was especially true since many of their executives were from Japan and inherently possessed a gambler’s nature; they liked to take chances in such situations.

So, while other companies were hesitating or making a swift retreat, Chidori Records went against the current and launched large-scale marketing campaigns.

No one knew how much money Chidori Records spent, but for a while, the internet was flooded with various soft advertisements.

Many marketing accounts were overwhelmed with ad deals. One team even updated twenty-three short videos in a single day, leading to fans furiously accusing them of shamelessly shilling for money.

And yet, this still didn’t stop their massive marketing push.

Then there was another company that was acting quite bizarrely.

Ye Zhonghuai stared at the data in his hand, his face an iron-blue mask of displeasure. Even the driver, without looking back, could feel the suffocating atmosphere emanating from the back seat.

"How much longer?"

"Soon, Director Ye. Just seven more minutes."

"Hurry up!"

After urging the driver, Ye Zhonghuai fell silent again.

The car soon arrived at the Meijia Building in Shanghai’s Xuhui District. The moment the car stopped, Ye Zhonghuai hurriedly scrambled out.