14: Chapter 14: Public Opinion Director Su Ciyao

The air on Hengchuan Peak felt like it had congealed into glue over the past two days.

It wasn't because of a cold front, but because of that almost overflowing, sour, and scalding—Resentment.

Shen Xingzhou stood at the entrance of his Immortal Cave, feeling as if the world before his eyes was covered in a blood-red filter.

The [Total Resentment Value of Hengchuan Peak] on the System interface was like a balloon on the verge of bursting, frantically oscillating at the critical threshold.

[Warning: Total Resentment of Hengchuan Peak: 99%]

[Conditions for unlocking the Resentment Pool are about to be met.]

[Crisis Prediction: If there is no outlet, a collective strike or riot is expected within 2 hours.]

In the distance, the sound of knocking on the serving window came from the cafeteria, mixed with cursing complaints: "It's thin porridge again! These corrupt officials drink blood and eat meat, while making us drink soup!"

In the corner of the martial arts field, several Disciples were waving their swords while speaking sarcastically: "Be careful, Senior Sister Xie Handeng is watching. Waving it one more time might keep you alive for two more seconds."

Even the birds passing by seemed to be driven away by this aura of Resentment.

Shen Xingzhou rubbed his throbbing temples, clutching the assessment regulations that were rustling in the wind.

Harsh laws and strict punishments could indeed force efficiency.

But it also created a powder keg.

He felt like he was sitting on a pile of gunpowder while holding a lighter.

"I need to find an outlet... otherwise this peak is going to explode."

Shen Xingzhou sighed. Just as he was preparing to go to the Scrapyard to see if he could squeeze out more productivity, a lazy voice came from behind him.

"Hey, you there, looking so bitter and deep in hatred."

"You're the recently popular 'Assessment Shen', right?"

Shen Xingzhou paused his steps and turned around.

Not far behind him, by the spirit spring, a woman in a light pink gauze dress was lying on a huge blue stone.

She was holding a half-peeled spirit fruit in her hand, one leg bent casually, while the other leg swung back and forth. A string of silver bells was tied around her ankle, emitting a crisp sound.

Su Ciyao.

The Second Senior Sister of Hengchuan Peak.

Known for being a "social butterfly" and an "intelligence peddler," she usually moved with ease among the various Senior Brothers and Junior Brothers. However, in the last few years, as Hengchuan Peak had declined, she had become too lazy to move, spending her whole day sunbathing here.

"Senior Sister."

Shen Xingzhou cupped his hands, reflexively wanting to leave. "I have urgent business, I'll be going first."

"What's the rush?"

Su Ciyao chuckled softly. With a flick of her wrist, an invisible soft barrier instantly blocked Shen Xingzhou's path.

She sat up, took a bite of the spirit fruit, and her peach-blossom eyes assessed Shen Xingzhou with a look that was half-smile, half-not.

"I heard you're running some kind of 'Performance Hell'? Forcing everyone to act like ghosts."

"That is to survive." Shen Xingzhou replied stiffly.

"Survival is a good thing."

Su Ciyao nodded, jumped down from the blue stone, stepped barefoot on the grass, and leaned in front of Shen Xingzhou.

"But, your method is too stupid."

"You only know how to increase pressure, not how to release it. If this pressure cooker explodes, your little life, tsk tsk, wouldn't even be enough to fill the gaps between their teeth."

Shen Xingzhou frowned: "Does Senior Sister have any brilliant ideas?"

"Nothing particularly brilliant."

Su Ciyao threw the fruit core away casually. "I just think you guys are quite interesting. Since everyone wants to curse, and since everyone feels like they can't go on living..."

The corners of her mouth curled into a playful arc.

"Why not let them curse even louder?"

Shen Xingzhou was stunned: "What do you mean?"

Su Ciyao didn't speak, but instead pulled a palm-sized, exquisite Formation Plate from the Qiankun bag at her waist.

The Formation Plate was engraved with complex runes, with a crystal embedded in the center, looking somewhat like a holographic projector from his previous life.

"This is a simplified version of the 'Myriad Phenomena Spirit Link Array' I made when I was bored a few years ago."

Su Ciyao toyed with the Formation Plate in her hand. "It can project images and sounds from a designated area to another place in real-time."

She pointed to a huge stone wall not far away.

"We can host a 'live stream'."

"Live... stream?" Shen Xingzhou hadn't heard this term before, but he roughly understood the meaning. "You mean, broadcast their ugly behavior? Wouldn't that provoke them even more?"

"Oh, you don't understand."

Su Ciyao poked Shen Xingzhou's chest with her finger. "This is called 'transparency'. Why does everyone hate you now? Because they feel like it's a black-box operation, and they feel like you are secretly plotting against their lives."

"But what if, everything is laid out in the open?"

She said with a smile: "Project the cafeteria's thin porridge, the laziness on the martial arts field, the arguments at the Scrapyard, and even your process of calculating accounts, all onto the stone wall."

"I've even thought of a name, let's call it—"

"《Daily Life at the Hengchuan Peak Shura Field》."

Shen Xingzhou felt his scalp tingle: "This is too crazy! Wouldn't everyone see me calculating their lives? Wouldn't they kill me?"

"How could that be?"

Su Ciyao blinked. "Humans, as a species, love watching other people's jokes the most."

"When they see others being lazy, getting points deducted, and cursing too, their Resentment will turn into... amusement."

"Turning hostility into fun is the mark of an expert."

Just then, the System in Shen Xingzhou's mind suddenly popped up windows frantically, the prompts so dense they made him dizzy.

[High-value concept conversion detected!]

[New module unlocked: Public Opinion Monitoring (Trial Version)]

[Function Description:]

Real-time collection of Disciple public opinion sentiment values.

Monitoring anonymous complaints and group emotional fluctuations.

Quantifying "negative public opinion" into collectible resources.

Core mechanism conversion formula:

Pure private complaining (Ineffective)

Public, interactive venting (Effective)

Group carnival forming entertainment effects (Highly effective)

[Note: The more concentrated the public opinion, the easier it is for Resentment to convert into "Recombination Points".]

Shen Xingzhou looked at the lines of text, his pupils slightly contracting.

The System was telling him:

Cursing is no longer a bomb, but a resource.

If the cursing is of a certain quality and has viral potential, it can even recharge the System.

He looked up, re-evaluating the seemingly lazy Second Senior Sister in front of him.

How is she a social butterfly?

She is clearly an expert who understands the traffic code.

"Senior Sister Su."

Shen Xingzhou took a deep breath, his tone becoming serious. "How much to buy this live broadcast array?"

"I'm not buying it, I'll give you shares."

Su Ciyao was stunned for a moment, then laughed until she shook.

"Oh my, Junior Brother has quite high Comprehension Ability."

"No money, no shares. I'm just doing it for fun."

"This broken place is too boring. If I didn't stir up some trouble to watch, I'd be molding over."

She snapped her fingers, and the Formation Plate in her hand flew out, embedding itself steadily into the center of the huge stone wall.

Hum—

A light blue light screen instantly expanded, like a huge screen, suspended in the most prominent place on Hengchuan Peak.

"Connecting the three perspectives of the Scrapyard, cafeteria, and martial arts field."

Su Ciyao's fingers flew, light flickering at her fingertips. "Audio on, barrage... oh no, real-time voice reception function on."

"Are you ready?"

She looked back at Shen Xingzhou, her eyes shining with excitement.

"Hengchuan Peak's first 'Hell Variety Show', broadcasting now!"

...

The moment the huge stone wall lit up, the entire Hengchuan Peak went quiet.

The Disciples drinking porridge in the cafeteria froze.

The Disciples napping in the martial arts field stopped.

The Disciples arguing in the Scrapyard opened their mouths wide.

On the stone wall, three images clearly appeared.

Top left: [Cafeteria].

The camera angle was aimed directly at the master serving the food, his ladle shaking three times in the porridge, finally leaving only a bowl of clear soup.

Voice-over (with built-in audio recording): "This is what we get to eat? Even pigs wouldn't eat this!"

Top right: [Martial Arts Field].

In the image, a fat guy was sleeping behind a tree, even snoring, snot bubbles coming out.

Suddenly, a cold light flashed, and Senior Sister Xie Handeng's sword was stabbed beside him.

The fat guy rolled out in a fright, and the subtitles in the image (special effects added by Su Ciyao herself) awkwardly displayed a line of text: [Live Feed of Feeding the Enemy].

The largest image in the center: [Scrapyard].

It was exactly those two Disciples who were fighting over the Pill Furnace.

"This broken furnace is mine!"

"Fart! I saw it first!"

The two rolled on the ground like loaches, with no image to speak of.

"Holy shit..."

In the crowd, someone didn't know who shouted first.

"Isn't that me?! My sleeping look was broadcasted?!"

"Hahahaha! Look at that fat guy, his snot bubble even popped!"

"Those two idiots fighting over the furnace, so embarrassing!"

At first, everyone was shocked and ashamed.

Some wished they could find a crack in the ground to crawl into, while others covered their faces, not daring to look.

But after a while, the atmosphere changed.

Everyone started to gather in front of the stone wall, pointing and laughing.

The Resentment that had originally suppressed everyone's heart, directed at the "System" and "Shen Xingzhou", suddenly shifted direction.

It turned into mockery directed at "that sleeping fat guy" and "that idiot fighting for the furnace".

"See, this is the expert I was talking about."

Su Ciyao stood on high ground, looking at the lively crowd below, and said to Shen Xingzhou, "They no longer feel like they are the only victims. When they see others are more miserable and stupider than themselves, their psychological balance is restored."

Shen Xingzhou looked at the funny images on the stone wall and listened to the surrounding cursing, which had been full of gunpowder, turn into playful teasing.

He had to admit, this move was brilliant.

It not only vented emotions.

Moreover, once the [Fighting for Pill Furnace] image came out, everyone's focus was on their rule-breaking behavior.

"Tsk tsk, those two guys are definitely going to have big points deducted."

"Deserved, who told him to make a spectacle of himself there."

The "vicious incident" that might have triggered a rebellion, at this moment, became a "negative example" for everyone to be entertained by.

The direction of public opinion was instantly controlled.

Even Disciples from other peaks passing by Hengchuan Peak were attracted.

"Is that Hengchuan Peak? What are they doing?"

"Watching the fun, seems like they are doing some real-time broadcast. It's hilarious, the way that fat guy was kicked flying by Senior Sister Xie Handeng is too funny."

"Bankruptcy Peak is doing a variety show?"

"Let's go, let's go see what else is fun."

Shen Xingzhou looked at the increasing number of onlookers, even with Disciples from neighboring peaks pointing and talking, his heart filled with mixed feelings.

Is this the... gossip-loving crowd of the Immortal Realm?

Just then, the red bar on the System interface that had been making him nervous finally underwent a qualitative change.

[Public Opinion Monitoring Data Updated:]

Current emotional composition:

Negative anger: 70% (↓ Has fallen back from the critical point)

Banter/Entertainment: 20% (↑ Newly added)

Positive/Motivation: 10% (↑ Mainly striving to get on the stone wall)

[Resentment Pool charging status: 100% (Full)]

[Unlock Mall Permissions: Resentment Exchange Module]

[System Evaluation:]

[Host has successfully converted "Killing Intent" into "Traffic".]

[Please maintain the heat of this "Gossip Field", this will be the greatest resource of Hengchuan Peak.]

Su Ciyao looked at the full progress bar and clapped her hands with satisfaction.

"How about it, Assessment Shen?"

"Don't you think the world has suddenly become a bit cuter?"

Shen Xingzhou looked at the stone wall flashing with blue light, looked at the "Daily Life at the Shura Field" still playing on it, and the group of Disciples below laughing their heads off but not daring to slack off.

He gave a wry smile.

"Cute is not the word."

"But... it is indeed quite effective."

"Second Senior Sister."

Shen Xingzhou turned his head, looked at this lazy woman, and said solemnly.

"In the future, the operation of this live broadcast room will be left to you."

"It would be my honor."

Su Ciyao winked, turned around, and walked back to the lounge chair. "Just remember to add me to the payroll as a 'Field Controller'."

In the sunlight, the Resentment of Hengchuan Peak was still permeating, but the suffocating pressure had dissipated for the most part in front of this huge "reality show" screen.

Everyone was cursing "this damn System" while working desperately, afraid that they would be the next "idiot" on the stone wall.

This is the new normal of Hengchuan Peak.

Painful, yet happy.