'Robin' added the names 'Hanami' and 'Little Bird' to the production credits for the vocals and arrangement.
Sparkle looked at these plain, almost careless aliases with a curious glint in her eyes.
"What kind of names are those?"
"Just something I came up with on the fly. I'm planning to use a virtual avatar to stir up some fun. But more importantly, you can start exercising your authority as Vice Director now."
With a soft chuckle, 'Robin' used the official Herta Virtual Idol Project account to release the finished track.
She even included a standalone AI vocal pack and some bizarre stickers of an orange calico cat, making them available for free download.
This part was crucial.
Hidden within that vocal material was the power of Harmony.
The more people used these assets to create fan content, the wider the influence of Harmony would spread.
Step by step, 'Robin' would draw closer to her goal.
As for the orange cat stickers? That was purely her own twisted sense of humor.
Even without the massive meme culture of her previous life to back her up, she felt that with Sparkle's heavy-handed influence and the power of Harmony woven into the vocals, this kind of abstract music would inevitably spread with a delightful sense of Elation.
She wondered if the Family would notice once this "brainrot" culture truly took root...
They likely would, though their reaction remained to be seen.
As long as they didn't ignore it entirely, it was a win.
'Robin' was almost hoping the Family would dispatch a Harmonic String to her doorstep; it would be a perfect chance to experience exactly what their version of Harmony felt like these days.
Sparkle wasn't particularly interested in 'Robin's' deeper motives. She was just in it for the chaos.
Moving quickly, she used her clearance to ensure the Herta Virtual Idol Project's new video received the highest level of promotion across all channels.
Before long, 'Robin' saw the video featured on the front pages of every major site.
Naturally, this abstract nonsense left the initial audience completely bewildered. The first wave of comments was essentially a never-ending string of question marks.
After hearing lyrics like "Ashiga ashiga ashiga," the listeners didn't even have time to form a critique. Their cerebral cortices were effectively smoothed out, leaving them in a state of pure, blank confusion.
After all, this was an era where communication barriers supposedly didn't exist!
With Synesthesia Beacons popularized everywhere, language gaps were a thing of the past.
To find someone singing something so utterly nonsensical and bizarre that even a Synesthesia Beacon couldn't translate it was actually quite a feat.
"...My brain is literally smooth now. Can someone explain what a 'Hachimi' is? Is my Synesthesia Beacon broken?"
"Holy crap, I thought it was just me. Who is this master? They just single-handedly nuked the Synesthesia Beacon technology."
"I have no clue. What kind of absolute god writes lyrics this meaningless nowadays?"
"One-click search for the author's mental health status, please."
"This level of gibberish? Has to be the Masked Fools."
Perhaps because the Masked Fools had such a consistent reputation for mischief, the comment section quickly reached a consensus that this was one of their stunts.
However, the mood shifted when the audience realized who had posted the videos.
When they saw it was the Herta Virtual Idol Project account, the dam broke.
"Wait, hold on?! Isn't this Madam Herta's account?!"
"Not exactly. I heard from a friend at Herta Space Station that this account is an entertainment-focused one run by an AI."
"It still belongs to Madam Herta! Which Fool has the guts to mess with her account??"
"Who are these 'Hanami' and 'Little Bird' legends? The Masked Fools really sent out their finest pair of idiots this time."
From initial confusion to the shock of seeing the account ownership, the view counts and comments began to skyrocket.
Soon, busybodies began tagging every account associated with Madam Herta, attempting to report the "incident."
Some high-profile netizens even contacted friends stationed at Herta Space Station to investigate.
The researchers at the station were just as losing it...
The Herta Virtual Idol Project was meant to be lighthearted, but they usually exercised some restraint. Who was bold enough to use Herta's name for this?
But then, the bombshell dropped.
AI Herta released a clarification: these videos were personally authorized by Madam Herta herself and were not the result of a hack.
The combination of the aloof, high-and-mighty Genius—the cold, legendary beauty Madam Herta—and this absolute "brainrot" of a song hit a very specific nerve with the public.
The videos went viral instantly.
Everyone began speculating: who could possibly have enough clout to get Madam Herta to sign off on this nonsense?
Riding this wave of heat, the melody of Harmony began to spread like wildfire. On 'Robin's' interface, the progress bar began to climb rapidly as she gathered emotional resonance.
--+--
[Roleplay System]
[Name: Bai Ming (Robin)]
[Lifespan: 1,200 years (Paused) + 11 days (Roleplay)]
[Transformable Characters: Big Herta (Available), Acheron (Available), Celenova (Available), Jingliu (Available), Ruan Mei (Available), Sparkle (Available), Hertatomb (Charging: 66.5%), Lord Ravager · Jingliu (Charging: 29.2%), Little Herta (Charging: 13.9%), Cyrene · Fuli (Charging: 2.9%), Robin (Currently Roleplaying)]
[Available Pulls: 0 (88.6%)]
--+--
Once the power of Harmony in the song reached a critical mass, and as more people engaged in the discussion, it began to exert its subtle influence.
It wasn't brainwashing, and it certainly wasn't a form of direct control. It was more like a mischievous suggestion.
When the listeners finally stopped focusing entirely on Madam Herta, they suddenly snapped to their senses.
"My head is full of 'Hachimi wo nameru to'... I'm calling for an investigation! I suspect this is a memetic virus!"
"The IPC isn't useless. If there was a meme-virus, they'd have scrubbed it by now."
"Dammit, what's the difference!! All I can hear is 'Mambo' in my head. Brothers, is there any hope for me...?"
"There are raw vocal assets for 'Hachimi' under the video. Wait, providing a 'Vocals Only' version is just asking for trouble, right?"
"Wait, I have an idea! I'm going to mash this free vocal sample up with the current Top 10 pop hits!"
"Holy— Stop! You can't! Don't you dare!!!"
The rational few tried to intervene, but a certain "Idea King" had already used AI to churn out a series of remixes and uploaded them with lightning speed.
And when those new tracks began to circulate...
Fans of the original songs were struck as if by lightning. They stood frozen, so stunned they even forgot to hit the report button.
Why had those beautiful, perfect, dream-like songs turned into this nonsensical "Hachimi" song that even a Synesthesia Beacon couldn't parse?
The fans were lost in confusion. Then, as if possessed, they dragged the progress bar back to the start to listen again.
Confusion, then repeat. Confusion, then repeat...
This reaction brought the "Idea King" an unimaginable level of joy, and they "kindly" shared that joy all over the comment sections.
The moment the second person was enticed into poisoning other tracks, the "Hachimi" plague officially achieved large-scale human-to-human transmission.
--+--
T/N: If you want advance chapters, you can find it at [email protected]/AspenTL