Chapter 63: Subduing the Demon King's Followers!

“I guess the initial subscription will hit 5,000!”
“I’m betting on 10,000!”
“I say 20,000!”
“Come on, you guys upstairs are so stingy—can’t you be a little bolder? You should know that ‘Immortal Executioner’ already has over a million favorites!”
“What? Over a million? When did that happen?”
“It’s true, it broke a million yesterday. Someone posted the stats on the web fiction data site.”
“Wow, then the initial subscription for ‘Immortal Executioner’ is going to be astronomical. Usually, the ratio of favorites to subscriptions is about 15:1. For top-tier or platinum authors, it’s around 10:1.”
“So, does that mean ‘Immortal Executioner’ could possibly break 100,000 for its initial subscription?”
“Incredible! I remember the only book on the site that ever reached 100,000 initial subscriptions was ‘Adventurer Swordsman’ by Demon King.”
“That’s right. So far, only the platinum author Demon King has achieved that milestone.”
“Speaking of which, it’s been a while since I read ‘Adventurer Swordsman.’ It must be at three million words by now. I wonder how long Demon King plans to keep writing.”
“With a book that profitable, he’ll surely keep it going as long as he can.”
“Do you all think ‘Immortal Executioner’ has a shot at breaking Demon King’s record?”
“Hard to say. If the ratio of favorites to subscriptions tanks, and it’s just inflated favorites with poor subscription numbers, it’s not guaranteed.”
“True, but if ‘Immortal Executioner’ keeps a good ratio, I honestly think it might break Demon King’s initial subscription record.”

Just then, a discordant voice arose—a post from what seemed to be a Demon King fan.
“Who is Xiao Yan but a nobody? How dare he compare himself to our great Demon King?”
As soon as the post appeared, a slew of Demon King fans flooded in to reply.
“Exactly! Delusional for fame, aren’t they? Some random newcomer wants to ride our Demon King’s coattails?”
“Pretty shameless, if you ask me. These must be paid trolls hired by Xiao Yan.”
“Knew it! His book is all fake numbers, artificially boosted—now he’s even bringing it to the forum.”
“Right—his male lead is a total scumbag: one moment he likes his senior sister, the next he’s chasing that Bi Yao everywhere. Who writes such a brainless protagonist?”
Seeing the posts from Demon King fans, the bystander authors were baffled—how did they suddenly become paid trolls for ‘Immortal Executioner’?
But none dared to argue back at this moment; Demon King was not someone to provoke lightly.
There’d been instances before where fans of other books tried to debate Demon King’s fans, only to have their authors forced to apologize by the sheer ferocity of Demon King’s followers.
Their intimidation was notorious.
While most wouldn’t dare to challenge them, some weren’t afraid.
Fans of ‘Immortal Executioner’, upon seeing Demon King’s supporters insulting Xiao Yan and accusing him of hiring trolls, and even calling Zhang Xiaofan a brainless protagonist, couldn’t take it anymore.
Platinum or not, Demon King—how dare you insult ‘Immortal Executioner’?

“Oh, whose dog is barking so loudly? Oh, turns out it’s Demon King’s dog!”
“Too many dogs, all we hear is barking. Seems their master’s book is losing readers, so they’re here to leech off ‘Immortal Executioner’s’ popularity.”
“Haha, indeed, hilarious. Where do they get the nerve to judge ‘Immortal Executioner’? Do they even understand it? I looked at Demon King’s ‘Adventurer Swordsman’—the protagonist’s personality is truly despicable. He should rename it ‘Despicable Swordsman’!”
“Agreed. Many know that Demon King’s book was the real one with boosted stats. His 100,000 initial subscription record? If it actually reached 50,000 real subscribers, that would be impressive.”
...

The fans of ‘Immortal Executioner’ retaliated fiercely, instantly triggering Demon King’s followers.
Oh, you dare resist?
Demon King's fans rushed to their fan group, shouting:
“Brothers, someone’s slandering Demon King in the author forum! Here’s the link! Charge!”
A single spark set off a wildfire, and soon the fan groups responded en masse.
Suddenly, a massive army of Demon King fans flooded the forum, launching a barrage of posts attacking ‘Immortal Executioner’.
With sheer numbers on their side, Demon King’s fans quickly took over the entire forum.
The front page was soon filled with:
“Demon King is here, ‘Immortal Executioner’ kneel before me!”
“Demon King is here, stop your yapping, ‘Immortal Executioner’ lackeys!”
After dominating the forum, Demon King’s fans moved on to the ‘Immortal Executioner’ review section, spamming criticisms.
“What garbage is this? Brothers, drop a comment before you leave!”
“What garbage is this? Did the author even finish elementary school?”
“What garbage is this? The writing is incoherent!”
...

At that moment, many readers of ‘Immortal Executioner’ noticed the sudden wave of identical negative reviews, puzzled.
What’s going on?
Had the author offended someone?
After a while, some fans posted links to the author forum in the review section, explaining the situation.
Only then did everyone realize it was a clash with Demon King’s fans.
Since Xu Ze hadn’t created a fan group for ‘Immortal Executioner’, his followers were at a disadvantage in terms of information.
Many had suggested Xu Ze set up a fan group, but he found it too troublesome and never did.
This meant most ‘Immortal Executioner’ fans had no idea what was happening at first.
After some time, they finally began to catch on.

They started pouring into the author forum to fight back with posts.
When Demon King’s fans saw ‘Immortal Executioner’ fans fighting back, they mostly sneered.
“With just a handful of you, your posts won’t even stay on top before being drowned out.”
The number of Demon King fans—can you even imagine?
But gradually, Demon King’s fans sensed something was off.
They were starting to lose control!
The number and speed of posts from ‘Immortal Executioner’ fans were surpassing expectations.
What was happening?
How did so many ‘Immortal Executioner’ fans appear out of nowhere?
They didn’t know about the lack of a fan group.
Their initial offensive had already mobilized all their forces.
As more ‘Immortal Executioner’ fans flooded in, the forum homepage began to fill with their posts.
One, two, three—the numbers kept rising.
Soon, half the front page was dominated by ‘Immortal Executioner’ posts.
Now Demon King’s fans began rallying in their fan groups:
“Brothers, come crush ‘Immortal Executioner’! Demon King’s army, charge!”
The call recruited more Demon King supporters.
But to their horror, even then, they couldn’t keep up with the speed of ‘Immortal Executioner’ fans posting.
Did ‘Immortal Executioner’ really have so many fans?
It was a question in everyone’s mind.

In the end, to everyone’s astonishment, the forum homepage was completely overtaken by ‘Immortal Executioner’ fans.
Every post from Demon King’s followers was suppressed!
Many bystanders witnessing the scene were shocked.
No one expected ‘Immortal Executioner’ to have grown so powerful, now capable of overshadowing the fans of a veteran platinum author.
The tides were turning!