The doll company sent three "vlogs" via email, each video about five minutes long, and thoughtfully included an electronic version of the partnership agreement.
The approximate content of the agreement is for Hu Ying to serve as the agent of X Station to promote the doll company, and all profits generated from the promotion will belong to the agent. The company will pay the final payment after one week, with an initial payment and final payment of five hundred thousand each.
Even without partnering with the doll company, Hu Ying could still earn a considerable sum of money. However, he is not going to freeload; he has a great fondness for the company.
Hu Ying is aware that Gussy is definitely a product of advanced technology, as its design is already comparable to humans. And it claims to be an alien...that must be the humor of party A!
The existence of Gussy can be seen as similar to a virtual idol, except most other virtual idols are second-dimensional characters portrayed by real people, while Gussy is a three-dimensional doll portrayed by a real person.
Gussy claims to be alive in order to enhance viewer immersion. Hu Ying speculates that the doll company's ambition is not limited to the physical doll industry. Judging from their actions, it is likely that they will extend their reach to the entertainment industry in the future. The company's lavish spending suggests that it must have capital support behind it.
From Gussy's conversations, Hu Ying learns that they are not in China, which indirectly suggests that their capital may come from abroad. ...Well, it's either Japan, Korea, or the US.
Hu Ying smiles smugly, feeling very clever. He can deduce the identity of this mysterious company just from a few small details. And the purpose of the company's collaboration with Hu Ying is also very clear: they want to enter the Chinese market, and Hu Ying happens to be the first door to open that market.
If Hu Ying does well, perhaps he could share the cake with the company, or even switch to the doll company and get in touch with the iceberg of doll technology.
Hu Ying really wants to know, what materials and technology are used to create such a perfect doll like Gussy.
After downloading Gussy's videos, Hu Ying eagerly clicks play.
After watching the first video, Hu Ying's expression is puzzled, feeling that something is off.
What the hell is this? Is this a vlog? Are you guys trying to make a movie?
After watching the second video (company introduction), Hu Ying's expression relaxes a bit, but he still can't help but complain.
What the hell is that talented horse?
The third video is the solo appearance of Gussy that Hu Ying wanted to see, mainly self-introduction and character establishment.
Fortunately, the worried provocative and erotic character that Hu Ying was concerned about did not appear (it wouldn't pass review), but rather it had a very serious and cool "chuunibyou" style, fully achieving the desired effect. Hu Ying immediately fell in love with it.
Hu Ying secretly laughs in his heart. These videos could deliver a heavy blow to Xichan. "If you're capable, then cosplay as several dolls. If you can reach just a tenth of Gussy's level, I'll admit defeat!"
Hu Ying uploads the three videos to X Station, marking them as "reposts", and leaves a comment in the pinned comment section:
"Hello everyone, I am Yinghua.
A lot has happened in these past few days, and I have come to deeply understand the horror of the fandom. If I have to apologize, I choose to apologize to my supportive fans. Thank you for your continuous support and trust.
I have not had any copyright disputes with the doll company. On the contrary, we will continue to collaborate.
As for Xichan and their PR team, I have nothing to say except that I will respond to them with new videos.
I really like a quote from Xichan, 'Don't mind the verbal attacks, fairness is evident to all.'"
After the video is posted, Hu Ying's comment section becomes a new battleground, filling with comments from both sides. In just a short ten minutes, the number of comments reached thousands.
A rough glance shows that most of them are criticizing Hu Ying.
Ironically, the video's view count is only a few hundred, and hardly anyone watches Hu Ying's videos. Because everyone thinks that the comment section must be more interesting than the videos.
The onlookers are excited to have some fresh drama to watch.
However, gradually, people's attention shifts towards the videos, and new comments change the direction of the comment section. A considerable number of passersby express their astonishment at Hu Ying's videos.
Not everyone enjoys watching the drama unfold; many passersby came solely for Hu Ying's videos and have no interest in the comment section battle. They only care about the protagonist in the videos – the moving doll, Gussy.
Hu Ying reposted three videos.
The first video was like a cool movie scene.
The opening shot was from a first-person perspective, floating in the sky like a bird, but quickly diving in a certain direction towards a group of armed foreigners.
Those people were in a panic, as if they had seen aliens. They randomly shot in the direction of the camera, with bullets flying past the edge of the frame.
In the blink of an eye, the perspective gracefully landed on the ground. The foreigners continued to shoot in this direction, but the camera dodged left and right, avoiding all the bullets.
Due to the scene and sound effects being too realistic, Hu Ying couldn't help but worry that the "cameraman" might actually get hurt. But obviously, the "cameraman" was very steady, even a bit composed.
Those people finally realized the danger and signaled each other before turning around and running, swiftly and without hesitation. They were very familiar with the surroundings, and quickly disappeared into a dim alley within seconds.
But no one could escape.
Next was the "cameraman"'s parkour performance, as he ran along the walls like Brother A and jumped towards the fleeing crowd.
Once he got close, the fleeing individuals were instantly knocked down, and the "cameraman" continued to chase after the others. This series of shots flowed seamlessly, traversing the sky and earth, thrilling and making people marvel at the skillful use of perspectives and the smoothness of movements. After watching it, one would start to doubt the line between virtuality and reality.
In less than three minutes, everyone was knocked down!
It was clear that the "cameraman" didn't use lethal force; he just rendered those people unconscious. Every time he knocked someone out, a barrage of comments would appear saying "Pause Successful".
The people who saw the successful pause could see the delicate and fair-skinned small paws with only four fingers belonging to the "cameraman".
In the final scene of the video, the "cameraman" arrived at a deserted corner and positioned the camera. A few seconds later, a small head suddenly popped up in the bottom right corner of the screen. It blinked its eyes, smiled, and waved.
It was an adorable lolita doll, or rather, it was a living doll.
The audience who had watched the previous video immediately realized: Wasn't this the hyper-realistic physical doll from the previous film review by Hu Ying? It could actually move, what amazing technology!
Until this point, the first video ended. The audience could easily imagine that the series of cool shots was completed solely by the lolita doll.
She fought against the gunmen and easily defeated them.
What? Why were those people bad? Because cuteness is justice.
The second video explained the reason why the lolita doll had fought against the bad guys just now. It was because the bad guys wanted to attack the doll's companions - the members of the doll company, Heize Ren Yue and Ma You Cai.
The doll fought to protect them.
Heize Ren Yue was from Neon and Ma You Cai was from Hua Guo. They both made exaggerated self-introductions.
Heize Ren Yue was beautiful and elegant, and she would have easily attracted attention, but it seemed that Ma You Cai stole the spotlight.
Who the heck was this guy named Ma You Cai? Was he here to be funny?!
In the remaining two minutes, Ma You Cai performed the "Lord of Shadows" for the audience, and the barrage of comments exploded afterwards.
"Why is there a creepy guy mixed in with the beautiful girls?"
"Stinky little brother, get out of the way, I want to see the lolita!"
"A few members of the hxd team, come and carry this guy away (1/5)."
"You're blocking my view of Miss Neon!"
"Don't like it."
"Hahahaha..."
"..."
To the tune of the mesmerizing background music for "This is Your Breakup Excuse," Ma You Cai brought his face close to the screen, with flirtatious brows and eyes, and a mischievous smile: "Audience grandpas, you absolutely must pay attention to us. Next time, I'll prepare an even more exciting performance."
The video ended.
The people watching this video, just like Hu Ying at the time, were left dumbfounded: What did I just watch?
Fortunately, the third video was the much-anticipated solo appearance of the doll, and the performance was excellent.
"The me right now is not the real me. As long as I live in this world, everyone is playing a certain role."
"From now on, I will step out of the darkness into the light and witness my banishment of this world... Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Gussy, a demon from the raging flames, and I am officially making my debut now!"
Gussy emerged slowly from the darkness, adorned in a magnificent black gown with jewelry. The spotlight angled upwards cast a giant shadow on her small figure. Her clear voice carried a hint of coldness, creating a stark contrast with her cute appearance. The barrage of comments in the live chat exploded with excitement.
Although Gussy's speech was full of teen angst, who wouldn't love a cute and handsome girl like her? Young boys felt their blood boiling, while adults who had graduated smiled and reminisced about their own youth.
At the end of the video, Gussy announced that she would have her first live broadcast on the American ABC television network in two days, and this video was just a warm-up. She hoped everyone would tune in to watch.
Most people knew Gussy was joking. After all, how could a YouTube creator casually appear on an American TV station? However, the audience felt Gussy's determination to become popular and expressed their support in the live chat.
Hu Ying's doll videos became popular again, and her first doll review was reuploaded to X site by someone with ill intentions. The views on the video increased rapidly.
"Gussy is amazing!"
"I love the edgy lolita doll!"
"Why do I feel like she's not joking? (whispering to myself)"
"I prefer the neon sister."
"Anyone know who voices Gussy? My friend has a crush."
"Is this really a doll? I'm really curious about how it moves."
"Please open a personal account on X site, Gussy!"
"The doll already has a Twitter, right? Just use a VPN to follow it."
"Anyone else want to fence with Ma Youcai like I do?"
"..."
After the rise of virtual streamers on MyTube, more and more virtual YouTubers appeared on X site. So it was no longer surprising to see real voice actors dubbing 2D or 3D characters. However, Gussy blurred the line between virtual and reality and opened a new door for the audience. Some people even believed that Gussy was a real person.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, X site created a dedicated section for doll videos to let more people get to know Gussy.
As for Xi Jiang, she deleted her own video as soon as Hu Ying released her doll video. The online trolls and fans fell silent and became speechless. The "Jiang vs. Ying Doll War" came to an end, and many people realized too late that they had wrongly accused Hu Ying. They couldn't help but sigh: the internet is both real and fake, virtual and tangible. It's best not to blindly follow the crowd.
Later, a popular X site creator made a video explaining the truth about Xi Jiang's situation, clearing her name. This incident became a stain on Xi Jiang's reputation, and she gained a group of loyal haters. Whenever she posted new content, someone would jump out and quote Xi Jiang's classic saying: "Do not be affected by hurtful comments; justice is in the hearts of people."
Fed up with being attacked, Xi Jiang released a video titled "I've Been Cyberbullied by Everyone," which ironically generated more attention. After her relationship with a young idol fell apart, she posted a video titled "I'm Suffering from Depression."
After being proven wrong by Hu Ying, Xi Jiang embarked on a new journey of making money...
