Chapter Thirty-Eight: Still Thinking About Building Your Own Website?

As everyone knows, the power of public opinion is immense. It can turn an obscure individual into the center of heated debate within a short time, and it can swiftly make a previously unfamiliar matter known to all. And all the benefits from this nearly week-long storm of public discussion have undoubtedly fallen upon Luo Chen.

His latest work, "How To Make Children Love Learning," has reached staggering numbers—9.78 million clicks, 179,000 comments, 270,000 favorites, and 34,700 rewards. Luo Chen gazed at the explosive growth in these statistics with a peculiar expression, realizing he ought to thank Professor Yuan Ning for his selfless promotion.

Nearly ten million clicks—what does that mean? On the Stardust platform, not a single video has ever broken the ten-million mark; five million is almost the highest record. After all, Stardust keeps its data extremely strict—ten million clicks translates to over four million viewers. And with countless others hearing about or watching the video through other channels, it’s safe to say that every active netizen in Huaguo has at least heard of it.

Public opinion’s power has greatly accelerated the video’s popularity. What would have taken years to achieve now happened in a week. One wonders what expression Yuan Ning would wear upon learning this. Most likely, he’d be devastated.

Luo Chen chuckled softly and turned his attention to his personal page.

Main account: Purehearted Little Angel
Uploads: 2
Followers: 1.75 million
...

Though he had prepared himself, Luo Chen was still quite shocked to see a full 1.75 million followers. What does that signify? If Luo Chen were shameless enough to stream daily acting cute, he could easily live a comfortable life. Of course, he hadn’t sunk to such depths—besides, such earnings wouldn’t cover his expenses. If it were just him, he might seriously consider it.

But… he wasn’t alone.

This achievement owes much to Professor Yuan Ning’s friendly assistance in promotion—it was thanks to Yuan Ning’s tireless, selfless efforts that Luo Chen reached his current success.

Should he make another parody video to properly thank him? After mourning Yuan Ning's fate for a few seconds, Luo Chen decided to leave it be for now. This wasn’t the time to reap rewards; he’d wait until Yuan Ning’s residual value was fully exhausted.

Luo Chen exhaled lightly. Seeing all this good news had eased much of his daytime exhaustion. He realized he hadn’t checked the recent feedback on his own video in days.

He moved his laptop to the bedside, lay comfortably with headphones on, and clicked play.

As the video began, an avalanche of comments covered the screen—as always. Nearly 180,000 comments, though only 3,000 displayed at a time, were enough to impact viewing.

“Congratulations on discovering the site’s treasure!”
“I’m addicted, someone save me!”
“10 million assist!”
“10 million assist 1!”
“10 million assist 2!”
“10 million assist 3!”
...
“10 million assist 10086!”
“Dirty, dirty!”
“Worship the King of Filth!”
...

Unknowingly, in just over a week since arriving in this world, Luo Chen had amassed an enormous following. If this momentum continued, becoming the most popular creator on Stardust was only a matter of time.

So, what should he do next? Simply keep boosting his popularity? No, that would just be making a wedding gown for Stardust.

The number of videos in Luo Chen’s mind could support an entire website. He had no intention of being beholden to others, so from the start, Luo Chen planned to build a site of his own.

Since there was no such site in this world, he would be the one to create it.

What’s the most crucial element for a comment-based video site? Popularity!

Luo Chen looked at his 1.75 million followers. Perhaps he already was a high-profile creator, maybe even the most popular currently. But if he built his own site, how many would be willing to support it?

Moreover, if he lost Stardust’s backing now, quickly expanding his audience would become impossible, and he might even face suppression from Stardust. While a newly built small site would hardly matter to the giant Stardust, Luo Chen’s move would be a slap in its face.

To rise via Stardust and then immediately strike out independently upon fame? Stardust wouldn’t agree, and many fans wouldn’t accept it either.

In the end, the site would be nothing but a joke, and Luo Chen would lose much of his popularity.

Naturally, Luo Chen wouldn’t do something so counterproductive.

But while a commercial comment-video site wasn’t possible yet, what about a personal site? He could start under the guise of a personal site, build up its hype, and use his fame to attract other promising creators to post their videos there. Though he’d have to avoid direct rewards for now out of respect for Stardust, even just accumulating popularity would draw a wave of new creators.

Stardust may be the largest, most trafficked streaming platform in Huaguo, but precisely because of this, many excellent new works never get noticed—the homepage recommendations are limited, yet submissions pour in daily.

If he couldn’t leave Stardust for now, he needed something else to attract and retain viewers and fans.

Luo Chen’s videos could be watched on both Stardust and his personal site, but few would choose the less-popular personal site. Luo Chen might bring a surge of fans to his new platform, but if he couldn’t retain them, it wouldn’t matter much.

Thus, he needed something truly unique—content only available on his site, not on Stardust, to keep the popularity and fuel the development of a large platform. Otherwise, relying solely on Luo Chen’s pull wouldn’t be enough.

So, what did he need? Novels? Comics?

Luo Chen admitted he couldn’t do those himself, nor did he have the time—unless he found professionals, it would remain just an idea.

He hadn’t thought of novelists yet, but as for comics, perhaps Dai Xinhua, whom he met last time, could handle it. But Luo Chen had only met her once, with no real connection. He knew nothing of her character or abilities and wouldn’t cooperate blindly.

So, with a shortage of manpower, popularity, and funds, building a site would be difficult.

Thanks to the reader “Voracious Youyouko” for another reward of 200 Starting Coins—throwing flowers. The group will be established tomorrow, so be sure to join then.