Chapter 109 Endorsement System

How can we transform our influence from a tiny firefly into a dazzling brilliance?

The first thing is to let more people see it, and make them remember it forever, rather than just following the trend for three minutes.

Lin Guantang thought that what Huo Shizhen said to him was just empty talk, so he just listened for fun. After five minutes of hesitation and excitement, he forgot about it.

But I didn't expect that he was serious.

The final exams for military academy students were held much later than those for O Academy. In order to avoid unnecessary trouble, Lin Guantang stayed at Huo Shizhen's place after O Academy was on vacation.

After resolving matters related to the final mock exam, before Lin Guantang was about to pack up and go back to District 35 during the holiday, Huo Shizhen shared a mysterious link with him.

It is an interactive Q-version desktop figurine.

Blue eyes, black hair, and a pair of white wings on his back - it would be more appropriate to call him a little desktop angel.

The angel is also dressed simply, wearing a laurel wreath on her head, and her clothes are made of a snow-white silk cloth wrapped around her, flowing like water, with the ends of the silk cloth fixed on her shoulders with golden feather buttons.

It fits the public's aesthetic taste for an angel, but it's probably outside Huo Shizhen's aesthetic range.

At least Lin Guantang didn't think Huo Shizhen would like any cute or adorable things.

Lin Guantang stared at the little angel with black hair and blue eyes for a few minutes, then tapped the little angel's head and arms on the screen with his hand. The other party then shook his head and arms, and was surprisingly very flexible in interacting with the little angel.

According to Huo Shizhen, this is a brand new anthropomorphic image of the system, and he was asked to take a look at it in advance and also to offer some suggestions.

Lin Guantang had no objections, but the more he looked at it, the more familiar its appearance seemed to him, and even its various interactive expressions and movements became familiar to him.

Although the combination of black hair and blue eyes is very popular in the empire, and their interactions are actually very common, there is no need for Lin Guantang to associate them with himself, as this would make him seem a little narcissistic.

But since Huo Shizhen sent it to him specifically, it would be difficult for him to pretend that it was nothing.

Lin Guantang asked tentatively:

"Does it have anything to do with me?"

Huo Shizhen said:

"After the new year, the civilian version of the system will be officially put into use throughout the empire. In order to allow the general public to accept and use the system more quickly, it is necessary to design a specific image that is close to the people, isn't it?"

That's true.

Hexi's true form is indeed somewhat abstract. Even now, Lin Guantang is occasionally frightened by the eyes opening at the same time.

Since it is aimed at the people of the entire empire, changing the image to make it more acceptable to the public is a must.

But why should we create an image based on him?

The reason given by Huo Shizhen was very serious:

"You, at least in front of the public, are flawless now. Born in poverty, divided into O, yet unwavering in your ambitions and selfless and benevolent, don't you make a perfect promotional image? On the day the system is officially launched, we'll ask you to record a related video. If you're willing to be the spokesperson, then that's fine. If you're not willing—"

After a pause, he added:

"If you don't want to, your image can be changed. This is an optional proposal. From my personal point of view, this is a huge opportunity for you. There is no need to refuse."

That's the truth.

The so-called spokespersons for general products are just for promotion for a period of time, but designing the system's external body like this is no different from directly tying the system to Lin Guantang.

Not to mention, this is not an intelligent system of a private company, but a system for all the people launched in the name of the empire. It has a wider range of influence than the temporary popularity. It is not just an "Internet celebrity" limited to a certain field on the Internet, but will be a household name throughout the empire.

It is even possible that it will directly become the image representing the empire in the future.

It makes people feel unexpectedly excited but also under great pressure.

Lin Guantang even began to worry in advance about what would happen if he did something bad in the future, which would tarnish the entire system and even the image of the empire.

After thinking about it for a while, Lin Guantang suddenly remembered something else.

"Was it you who suggested designing the image like this?"

Huo Shizhen didn't answer, but the so-called cover-up was the truth...

After realizing this, Lin Guantang had an irrepressible feeling of pride.

It's impossible not to be complacent and smug, as this is almost blatant and unlimited favoritism.

Then Lin Guantang became more aggressive—or perhaps it could be said that he was "pretentious" in his pretense of worry. In any case, he revealed a state of worry and said:

"Actually, you can just design a random character without any attributes. There's no need to associate it with me. So, when you made this suggestion, did anyone question you?"

From an observer's perspective, this is completely a smuggling of ulterior motives, and it is blatant and undisguised.

But Huo Shizhen just smiled and didn't seem to be bothered by it.

There is really nothing to worry about. If you ask who in the entire empire is most connected to the system "Hexi", there is no one else except Huo Shizhen. No one has higher system authority than him. In a way, it is not wrong to regard him and the system as one.

The Empire may have intended to guard against Huo Shizhen by cutting off overly intelligent and autonomous evolution-related functions from the civilian version of the system for the general public.

Although it can't prevent anything, at least it can prevent Huo Shizhen from taking advantage of it.

With the development of the times, the promotion of intelligent systems throughout the empire has become a matter of necessity. It is impossible to stagnate the construction of all parties in the empire, shut down some functions, and then sign a large number of agreements just to guard against Huo Shizhen alone. At least on the surface, it can be regarded as a result that satisfies all parties.

As for the anthropomorphic image design of the system, it is a minor matter among minor matters, and is far from enough to cause people to argue with Huo Shizhen about it.

At most, people would gossip privately about things like "Could it be that he and Kobayashi are really in love?", "He's so confident when he shows favoritism," "If he doesn't love someone, it's fine, but when he does, it's shocking." And so on.

But there is no need to say this explicitly.

In addition to this matter, another thing that Lin Guantang needs to be informed of is the establishment of the "Haitang Scholarship Foundation".

This brings us back to the Chen brothers, who had received great help from Lin Guantang. In addition, the official launch of the system also required a new layout in the Hezhang District where the Chen brothers were located.

Smart devices in public places will be refurbished section by section, and the full-scale system integration in residential communities, along with the establishment of new technology model streets, will all begin in Hezhang District.

Hezhang District was originally the most dilapidated street area in the imperial capital, and most of the surrounding streets were deserted. The remaining residents were mostly low-income tenants.

Outside the Hezhang District, there are large tracts of wasteland that are no longer under the control of the imperial capital.

It has been said for many years that Hezhang District will be demolished and rebuilt, but it has been delayed for various reasons, so that today it is an almost unattended and messy area.

This time, taking advantage of the investigation of Jinmi City, they decided to renovate all the dilapidated streets and wastelands around it to build it into a new model urban area.

This means that the urban area after renovation will be fully and comprehensively managed by an intelligent system.

Although one of the important reasons that prompted the Empire to conduct a thorough investigation and renovation of the Hezhang District was because it involved the disappearance of Miss Shao - although no clues related to Miss Shao were found in Jinmi City except for that terminal, once the seed of suspicion was planted, it would be difficult to pull it out. Even if the facts were in front of them, people would believe that it was the people in Jinmi City who were against Miss Shao and even killed her.

I was just afraid of being held accountable and retaliated against, so I simply denied everything.

Lin Guantang did take the time to ask Shao Qingzhu if he wanted to reveal the news that he was still alive, but was rejected.

Because that would obviously mean facing endless troubles. If he knew that she was still alive, how did he know? Was there a connection?

It is possible to provide clues anonymously, but this will also trigger a new round of panic - for example, who is the anonymous person and why does he want to be anonymous, which is not much better than the current situation of unknown life and death.

It’s better not to mention it.

In short, in some ways, the Chen brothers can be said to have turned a disaster into a blessing.

However, the renovation of the community will take some time, and the three members of the Chen family are sick and have children. Before the demolition compensation comes, they don’t even have a normal labor force to maintain basic survival, let alone Chen Huan’s schooling.

Lin Guantang was still concerned about this matter, but he had not found an appropriate solution. He himself was a poor man and had no extra money to help the Chen brothers. Besides, who knew if it would offend others.

We can't just be generous to Huo Shizhen - although it seems that Huo Shizhen has already handled everything.

The so-called "Haitang Scholarship Fund", as the name suggests, is to provide financial assistance to teenagers like Chen Huan whose families are too poor to go to school in the name of Lin Guantang.

Although Huo Shizhen's purpose was just to avoid some unnecessary trouble.

"Special treatment given to a single individual will always give rise to undue selfish thoughts. If that's the case, it's better to treat all similar cases equally. Besides, this is also paving the way for your future. If Thorn Moon doesn't develop as you envisioned, you'll need an organization that truly allows you to invest your all and won't let you down."

Lin Guantang thought about it for a while before he understood, and repeatedly confirmed that he was not mistaken about what Huo Shizhen meant.

Let's not talk about the latter for now, and just talk about matters related to the Chen family. If Lin Guantang helps the Chen brothers in his personal capacity, on the one hand, people will think that his kindness is too soft and easy to get close to, and he might get entangled and cause troubles of repaying a favor with a grudge.

As for the other aspect, it is that it will make the family develop some kind of inappropriate affection for Lin Guantang, especially since Chen Huanke is still a teenager who is about to enter puberty and is in the period of spring love. Lin Guantang has helped him, his brother, and the entire family a lot, so it is no surprise that he falls in love with Lin Guantang.

According to some insiders, during the period when Lin Guantang left the capital, he wandered around O Courtyard for several days. Although he wanted to express his gratitude in person, the gratitude and admiration in his eyes could not be deceived.

But he is also quite smart and knows how to hide things. When those who are just waiting to join in the fun randomly ask him what he thinks of Kobayashi, he is quite good at pretending to be innocent and knowing nothing about the questions.

A troublesome creature that can be seen with the naked eye, it is better to cut off his unnecessary delusions as soon as possible -

He was given a fully procedural review and assistance in the name of the foundation, and Lin Guantang did not show up at all. This was to tell him clearly that although Xiaolin was beautiful and kind, his kindness was selfless and universal, not just for you.

Moreover, the fact that an omega from a poor family could have a foundation named after him clearly showed that he had already intertwined his fate with that of another person, hanging high in the sky, a person whom he could neither touch nor provide assistance to even if he tried his best throughout his life.

Although Lin Guantang found it a little unbelievable that he had to go through so much trouble just to prevent the Chen brothers from developing any unnecessary personal feelings towards him, when he thought about it, Huo Shizhen could even make the system's external image look like his own, so it seemed not impossible.

This just made Lin Guantang feel even more flattered. How should I put it? Although they had a mutual understanding, they had not officially confirmed their relationship.

But Huo Shizhen looked like he was willing to give everything to push him to the heights that everyone looked up to. Lin Guantang was moved and couldn't help but ask quietly:

"I haven't made any promises to you. Aren't you afraid that I'll run away with the money, or dump you after I've made the profit?"

"Where can you run to?"

Huo Shizhen had no worries about this. Seeing Lin Guantang's serious expression, he even found it a little funny:

"As long as you want, no matter where you are, I will find you."

Not only was there a smile on his face, but his tone was also quite calm and casual, as he was just stating a fact.

With his system authority and system control ability, plus the empire's plan to fully promote the system, if such a situation really occurred, even if Lin Guantang dug three feet into the ground and hid underground isolated from the world, it would be easy for Huo Shizhen to find him.

so--

In fact, the correct statement should be:

"As long as I want, no matter where you are, I will find you."

It sounds like the difference between two nicknames, but the meanings they represent are completely different.

Lin Guantang's heart suddenly surged with mixed emotions. He was very agitated, but he looked at the person sitting in the chair in front of him blankly, remaining speechless and silent for a long time.