I Will Never Submit to Miss Grim Reaper - Chapter 420
Chapter 420: Sweeping Away the Rumors!
As the cafe gained popularity on various social media platforms, all sorts of bizarre rumors started to emerge uncontrollably.
If the previous online rumors slandering the cafe were orchestrated by Zhao’s opposition in Shenzhen City, intentionally hiring online trolls, then the current “rumors” seem to be more of the “where there’s smoke, there’s fire” type.
Under the management of Xiao Mo and me, the cafe now has little to criticize. The environment is beautiful and attention to detail is paramount.
Some “friendly reminders” on the walls change almost daily, such as “It’s drizzling today, remember to bring an umbrella, meow” or “From here, you can see the Nanqi Tower,” marking spots most suitable for lone customers.
There are also many personal notes and blessings I’ve written on the tables. Each cat in the house has a dedicated cat manual, and if customers are interested, we offer these services free of charge.
Additionally, on the first floor of the cafe, we offer free sticky rice, drinks, and oranges. We don’t chase away homeless people who come to sleep at night. Instead, we clean and disinfect after they leave.
The food delivered during the day is purified by me to ensure it’s harmless. The prices of the food in our cafe are very reasonable compared to surrounding restaurants. Perhaps the only downside is the higher prices of the machines in the Little Bird Leisure Bar, but that’s unavoidable because both the computers and VR equipment here are top-notch.
Currently, the cafe has no plans to expand operations or open branches. Tongmeng doesn’t pressure us to meet a certain revenue target each month either.
Therefore, everything we sell is based on the principle of not losing money and being able to support the staff. We also rely on online live streaming income, donations, and some video revenue, making it a very customer-friendly place.
Nevertheless, many people still spread baseless rumors online, or they are eager to gain popularity by any means, resorting to slander.
Most of the rumor spreaders are just people who hear things online and pass them along, making the rumors more and more exaggerated.
For example, when I was writing a male protagonist novel, I encountered this kind of situation. In the novel, the female protagonist, Yin Nuo’er, is in a pure love story set in another world. There was a plot where the protagonists passed through a village and met a cute rabbit beast.
The female protagonist hugged the beast, but I didn’t continue to describe it because, according to my outline, it was just a village of rabbit spirits, and later the main characters find a treasure with the help of the village chief.
In this particular plot, a reader asked in a group chat about the gender of the beast that the female protagonist hugged and specifically mentioned me. I had just woken up and groggily replied that there was no specific gender set for the beast in my outline.
It was just an ordinary animal, like a background character. That same day, a reader spread the word that the beast was male. When I clarified that I hadn’t said that, the person insisted, “You said there was no gender set, so it could be male? Why would the female protagonist hug a male beast?”
Helpless, I had to announce to everyone that the beast the female protagonist hugged was female and had my editor modify the relevant chapters to emphasize that it was a female rabbit.
However, my conversation with that reader had already been screenshotted and shared. A couple of weeks later, I saw a message in another author’s group: “This book writes about the female protagonist falling in love with a male beast.”
Half a month later, a reader sent me a screenshot showing other people discussing me in another group. Someone asked if my book was good, and several group members replied:
?Ah? Uncle Love Loli? Isn’t he the author who writes cuckoldry? Don’t read his books, they’re all about cuckoldry.?
Just like that, because of a simple conversation, I became labeled as an author who writes cuckoldry.
The situation at the café is quite similar. Due to some baseless rumors, people start spreading false information. For example, the café has two Sphynx cats named Miao Miao and Qiao Qiao. A big characteristic of Sphynx cats is that their skin gets oily easily, just like humans.
Their sweat glands are very active, and they often get dirty while rolling around in the café. Just rubbing them can leave a lot of grime on your hand. Some customers who have never seen a hairless cat find it interesting and often post short videos online.
Some people, unaware of the traits of hairless cats, see Miao Miao and Qiao Qiao looking dirty and start saying we’re abusing the cats, claiming we mistreat them because we think they are ugly, or that we don’t treat their supposed illnesses which caused the hair loss. There are all sorts of rumors.
Nowadays, many self-media accounts or marketing accounts don’t care about the truth. Some of these marketing accounts are official media for small companies, while others are individuals looking to make extra money. Platforms like Tongmeng have a creator incentive program where more traffic means more money.
With the café recently gaining a lot of popularity, videos related to it attract traffic and thus money. And what kind of videos get more traffic than the café’s popularity itself? Videos that smear the café.
When something is well-known for positive news, going against the tide is the easiest way to attract clicks. The maid girls at the café are pretty and cute, the service is good, the delivery is fast, the food is cheap, and the hygiene is excellent… all positive news.
At this time, just by “going against” it and using various baseless claims to smear the café, you can get a huge influx of traffic. Headlines like “Café food is unsanitary” or “Scandal about the café maids” are enough to catch people’s attention.
On the internet, some people grab a few random pictures, use AI to generate text, quickly create a video, and post it on platforms like Tongmeng Network, Xigua Video, and Tudou Video. They earn ten yuan here, five yuan there, which adds up to a decent “creator incentive” income. As for the comments under the video criticizing the creator… who cares, as long as they’ve made their money.
Today, Xiao Mo and I are dealing with someone who posted a video titled “Exposed: Famous Café Uses Expired Ingredients, Customers Get Food Poisoning” across multiple platforms.
This video uses footage of the thugs sent by the Zhao family causing a commotion in the café. It’s a clip less than 20 seconds long, played repeatedly, and it doesn’t even show our kitchen. The AI-generated voiceover accuses the café of using expired ingredients, accompanied by random images of dirty kitchens.
Although it doesn’t explicitly state these are from our kitchen, the video’s text suggests “evidence of a dirty and chaotic kitchen,” misleading viewers to think these images are from our café.
Despite most of the comments on these videos debunking the claims and providing the address to our livestream where people can watch our kitchen operations, we’ve still seen some new people join our group and say things like, ?Is this the restaurant using expired ingredients to undercut prices? I hope you go out of business soon.?
Therefore, Xiao Mo and I have decided to take some time to resolve this issue.
“We’ll get ready and head out in half an hour, and we’ll livestream the whole process,” I said to the livestream viewers after wrapping things up at the café.
“Additionally, we welcome anyone who has doubts about us to come and supervise at the Shangjing Cat Maid Café anytime. Our kitchen is completely transparent, and all our ingredients are properly documented. If there are any concerns, you can report them to the Market Supervision Administration. But please don’t spread rumors online based on baseless claims. If necessary, we will use legal means to protect the café’s rights.”
?Is it about that recent accusation of selling expired food again??
?I remember those people were sent by competitors to cause trouble, right? How is this still going on??
?I tried debunking it, but it’s useless. Some people don’t read comments and just get misled easily.?
?Nuo’er said she and Xiao Mo will confront the rumor spreader. Is it okay for just the two of them to go??
?Wouldn’t it be better to call the police for this kind of thing??
“Don’t worry. Xiao Mo has a strong background,” I responded, hearing the various comments coming through my earpiece.
“She has already investigated and found out that the rumor spreader, known as ‘Grumpy Old Dragon,’ is a college student right here in Shenzhen City. We’ll just take a car and confront him to get the facts straight. We’ll blur the person’s face with software once we get there.”
We chose to deal with this person because Xiao Mo and Gabrielle found out through various means that this “Grumpy Old Dragon” was the most suitable target to “strike the mountain and shake the tiger.”
There are many people who have come to the café, but this person is the most typical and happens to be in Shenzhen City. He is just an ordinary college student with many accounts on various video platforms.
His history shows that he has created fake news and marketing posts to produce numerous false videos, earning thousands of yuan within a year through these videos.
“If you’re interested, you can join Xiao Mo and my livestream later. Follow Little Xia Nuo Does Not Hide in the Cardboard Box, meow!”
After saying this, I took off my headset and placed it on a nearby shelf before heading to the employee break room on the second floor.
“Xiao Mo.”
Gently pushing the door open, I carefully entered the room. “Daily tasks are done. We can head out now.”
“Alright,” Xiao Mo replied, putting away her drawing board.
“Your second version of the character art is almost finished.”
Xiao Mo was referring to the “Yin Nuo’er Virtual Character” we recently created for the café, akin to a traditional “café mascot” but in a two-dimensional anime style.
As an artist, Xiao Mo had been busy creating various illustrations for the café, including a feminized version of Dingman, character designs for Niangao (one of the cat), a two-dimensional version of Lan Jiajia, and an angelic form for Ai Luodi.
In the employee break room, I took out my phone and opened one of the WeChat pages.
This was a WeChat contact who had already been deleted from my friends list. I had him saved as “Grumpy Old Dragon,” and most of the messages he sent were like this:
?How did you guys find my WeChat? Want to meet offline for real? Am I scared??
?You don’t dare show your true face online and you have the nerve to add me? Have you even looked at your videos? Probably all heavily edited with beauty filters, right??
?So what if the videos are mine? I’m not nice to women, so get lost.?
?Oh, I’m so scared. I won’t delete the videos. If you dare, come to my school and kneel down to apologize.?
?Apologize? Who do you think you are? If a woman like you comes, I’ll hit as many as you like. Come on, if you have the guts.?
“……”
“Gabriel has investigated thoroughly. That person is just an ordinary college student. They didn’t have classes this morning, and according to their usual routine, if we leave now and go to their school, these people should have just woken up. They usually play games together on mornings without classes…”
Closing the laptop, Xiao Mo walked over to me and ruffled my hair.
“Also, I collected all the dirt on him from childhood to now yesterday. Making sure he remembers it for the rest of his life shouldn’t be a problem.”
“……”
……