After My Rebirth Chapter 14: Incorrect Data

Chapter 14: Incorrect Data

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

When Li Sinian said the word “decline,” Ma Chi still wore the confident smile of someone who was sure of his victory. He asked Li Sinian again, confirming that the answer was a rejection. Only then did the smile on his face freeze, replaced by a look of disbelief.

“Why?” Ma Chi widened his eyes. “Your cooking is so good, and you’re willing to stay in this rundown place for the rest of your life? Or are you afraid of failure? It’s okay, I’ll invest the money, and if it fails, I’ll take the loss. You won’t lose anything.”

Li Sinian still declined. “Your idea is good, but I’m not very interested. Let’s forget it.”

Ma Chi couldn’t understand, and he even felt a little resentful. “Why give up? You’re just in your early twenties. You have to take advantage of your youth to strive. Are you really going to wait until you’re old to work hard?”

Li Sinian gently shook his head. “Everyone has different pursuits. This place may seem rundown to you, but to me, it’s peaceful and beautiful. You think I’m wasting my life by not competing, but I just want a simple life like this.”

“And people define poverty differently. Maybe to you, if you don’t have billions, you’re poor, but to me, as long as I don’t worry about food and clothing, I’m not poor. You think I need to make money because I’m poor, but I don’t think I am. I enjoy my life the way it is.”

“I know you can’t understand me. Your ambition is a good thing, but your ambition should be for self-discipline, not to impose on others.”

The small restaurant had only three people, and when Li Sinian finished speaking, Ma Chi didn’t respond, and the shop fell silent.

The silence at that moment felt a bit awkward.

Jiang Rongxuan, not knowing when he had put down his chopsticks, leaned back in his chair, slightly turning his head to look at the people sitting next to him, his gaze deep.

Li Sinian looked out the window, sighed softly, and spoke quietly, “I’ve tried hard before, but the result wasn’t satisfying. At least, I wasn’t happy. Not only was I unhappy, but I also lost a lot of things.”

“So, I don’t want to live a high-intensity life of effort anymore. I enjoy these leisurely days.”

He paused, then looked back at Ma Chi. “I really appreciate that you’d consider me for a partnership, but I’m sorry, I don’t have the ambition for a career right now.”

Since the words had been said, Ma Chi couldn’t say much more. He could only nod, saying that he hoped Li Sinian would reconsider and that if he developed ambition, he could always come to find him.

Jiang Rongxuan stepped in at the right time, changing the subject, and the meal continued without further awkwardness.

After finishing the meal, Jiang Rongxuan was about to pay, but Li Sinian stopped him from using the shop’s QR code. “You gave an extra 500 yuan last time. I’ll apply it to today’s bill, and there’s still 300 left. No need to pay again. If you come next time, you don’t need to pay.”

Jiang Rongxuan didn’t insist, putting his phone away.

Before leaving, he looked back at Li Sinian, who was clearing the table, and called out, “Boss Li, when will you open next time? Your food is addictive.”

Li Sinian smiled at him. “I’ll open every day from now on. You can come whenever you want.”

Jiang Rongxuan replied with a “good,” then walked a few steps before turning back. “Boss, my surname is Jiang.”

“Alright, I’ll remember it.” Li Sinian said. “Welcome back next time.”

The only customers that day were Mr. Jiang and his companion. Li Sinian waited until 8 p.m., but no other customers showed up. He locked the door and went home.

After taking a shower, he opened his phone and saw a message from ten minutes ago.

It was from a blogger named Xixi. They had become friends after chatting and occasionally discussed video posting.

[Xixi: Friend, you’re about to get famous. When you become rich, don’t forget to give your buddy a hand.]

Li Sinian had no idea what this was about and replied with a question mark.

Xixi replied immediately.

[Xixi: Didn’t you check C-Platform? The food event you’re in, you’re ranked first now. You surpassed Piggy two hours ago, and your votes are now increasing by 5,000 per hour. The event ends tomorrow at 7 p.m. First place is definitely yours!]

Upon seeing Xixi’s message, Li Sinian’s first reaction wasn’t happiness, but a furrowed brow.

5,000 votes an hour? The vote count wasn’t rising this dramatically when the voting channel first opened. No one had seen this kind of rapid increase in votes from start to finish.

Was this data really accurate?

Li Sinian opened C-Platform, and the homepage showed the food event. He clicked on it, and sure enough, the first place had changed to his.

He checked the video comments, and as expected, there were far more people questioning it than congratulating.

[I saw that Piggy and Nian Nian You Today were 7,000 votes apart this morning. How did Nian Nian You Today surpass Piggy by 30,000 votes now?]

[Wow… Isn’t this vote-rigging too obvious? I kept track, and it’s been increasing by 5,000 votes an hour. That’s so exaggerated.]

[Previously, it was around 7,000-8,000 votes a day, with a max of 10,000. Now it’s 5,000 votes an hour? Emmm…]

Li Sinian glanced through the comments, and he had an answer in his mind.

It seemed that Songyuan, the brand that had contacted him for a partnership, was likely behind this—to drive down Piggy’s price.

Li Sinian was very familiar with the use of paid commenters, as it was something every company had its PR department handle when launching a new product. However, Piggy’s use of such low-level tactics, which made it obvious that the data was manipulated, was likely intentional. The goal was to draw attention to the fact that the numbers were fake, a low-level sabotage. But from the comments on his video, it was clear that, while crude, the tactic was effective.

Li Sinian immediately contacted the platform’s management to report the anomaly with his data. The response came quickly: “Dear, your abnormal data has been cleared. Due to suspicious voting activity on your account, your participation in the #delicious videos that make people’s appetites move# has been disqualified, and your account will be suspended for three months.”

Seeing the administrator’s reply, Li Sinian’s face showed an unusual expression of confusion. He had clearly stated that he had discovered the anomaly and had asked the website to investigate. Why was his account still being suspended?

[Year after year: The data wasn’t manipulated by me. I noticed the votes were off and reported it right away. Isn’t suspending my account unreasonable?]

[Admin005: Dear, we can only detect the abnormal voting behavior but cannot prove who manipulated the votes. According to the rules, once such behavior is detected, the account must be suspended.]

[Year after year: So, you’re saying it’s fine for sabotage tactics to be used? I reported the data anomaly as soon as I noticed it; shouldn’t the website assist with the investigation?]

[Admin005: Dear, we can only detect the abnormal voting behavior but cannot prove who manipulated the votes. According to the rules, once such behavior is detected, the account must be suspended.]

Li Sinian laughed angrily. Was this administrator just too lazy to handle the situation, pretending to be clueless?

[Year after year: So, you’re really set on suspending my account today, huh?]

[Admin005: If you can prove that the anomaly was caused by someone else manipulating your votes, the suspension will be lifted.]

[Year after year: I’m just a video blogger. If I were the one manipulating the votes, I could provide proof. But how can I prove someone else did it? I need the website to assist me in the investigation.]

[Admin005: Dear, disputes between bloggers are not handled by the platform. If you can provide proof that the votes were manipulated by someone else, the suspension will be lifted.]

[Year after year: I said I need the website’s help to investigate this issue.]

[Admin005: Dear, disputes between bloggers are not handled by the platform. If you can provide proof that the votes were manipulated by someone else, the suspension will be lifted.]

Was the administrator just copy-pasting now? Li Sinian sneered. This idiot administrator had successfully ignited his anger.

Uploading videos and participating in activities had always been a way for him to pass the time for fun. But now, he had to gather evidence to prove his innocence and take down Pig Pig.

And, of course, there was the irresponsible administrator.

Either C-Platform fired this administrator, or he’d meet with the platform’s executives in court.

Voting was transparent. Anyone on the website could see who voted for which blogger through the voting page.

Li Sinian checked the IP addresses of the accounts that had voted for him. He found that the accounts were mostly from different locations and had been active for over a year, clearly indicating that a studio had stolen these accounts and manipulated the votes—a case of high-level vote rigging.

Heh, Piggy wasn’t completely stupid.

Simply checking the IP wouldn’t provide much evidence. Now he needed to check the most recent login locations and devices of these accounts. By analyzing these login details, he could locate the studio behind the vote rigging.

Studios worked for money, and he could offer them a high price to get access to their transaction records, which would prove that he wasn’t the one who bought the manipulated votes.

Alternatively, if the studio had a “conscience” and refused to disclose customer information, he could hire a hacker to break into the studio’s computers and obtain the transaction records.

Executing this plan wasn’t difficult, but there was a problem.

He was just a blogger and didn’t have access to the details of user accounts’ login histories.

Of course, if he really wanted to get the login locations and devices for the accounts with abnormal votes, there were two ways to do it. However, neither option was one Li Sinian particularly wanted to pursue.

The first was to hire a hacker. This method was the simplest for him because he could just pay for it. But the downside was that it could easily be used against him. People could take the moral high ground and accuse him of violating privacy by hiring a hacker to access login information. They might even claim that money had gone missing from their account the same day the hacker accessed it and try to sue him for damages.

The second method…

 

 

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