Domination in America, Starting from being a Boxing Champion

After several days of rehearsals, Link led his performance team to Miami to participate in the halftime show of the Super Bowl, the United States’ National Football League championship game.

On the day of the event, the Dolphin Stadium welcomed over one hundred thousand spectators. The stands all around were packed, with tens of thousands of people squeezed onto the stands to watch the performance—it was a sea of humanity everywhere.

During the halftime interlude of the game between the Indianapolis Colts and the New Orleans Saints, the British rock band The Who took the stage first with a song, stirring up the atmosphere of the venue.

Then Link went on stage with his band, starting with "Unstoppable," and ending with the show-stopping performance of "Legends Never Die," which was also the theme song of the 2017 League of Legends World Championship, sung by the American pop rock band Against The Current.

Legends never die,

Legends never fade,

When the world is calling you,

Can you hear them screaming out your name?

Legends never die,

When he grabbed the microphone and loudly roared "Legends Never Die," the atmosphere of the venue instantly erupted, and the audience screamed at the top of their lungs.

"Wow, this song is awesome!"

"This is the kind of song that belongs at the Super Bowl."

The more than one hundred million American viewers watching the Super Bowl on TV, snacking away, couldn’t help but let out bursts of admiration.

Many viewers who had not known Lincoln before came to know him through this performance as a singer with a blasting voice, powerful, pleasant to listen to, and also very handsome.

"Cool! That’s so cool, I like Lincoln!"

In front of the TV, Miley Cyrus stood up excitedly, spilling popcorn all around.

"Lincoln’s singing skills have become so strong, how can he be so amazing!"

Sally clasped her face and exclaimed in amazement.

"Hehe, just so-so, you guys don’t have to praise him that much."

Selena blinked her big eyes, staring at Lincoln on the TV, the cute corners of her mouth almost reaching her ears.

"Selena, is Lincoln really your cousin?"

"Of course!"

Selena nodded her chin affirmatively.

"Do you have other cousins? Can you introduce us?"

Miley and Kesha asked, laughing and putting their arms around her shoulders.

"Yes! They’re in Mexico."

"Forget it! Forget what we just said."

Miley and Kesha waved their hands dismissively and returned to the couch, continuing to watch the performance while munching on snacks.

They become a part of you,

Turn stories into a melody,

Every time you bleed for reaching greatness,

Struggling against adversity writes greatness, blood stains are red, no one mentions the scars,

Legends never die,

On TV, Link sang the song, accompanied by more than fifty backup dancers, all raising their fists to the sky in unison— the scene was extremely impressive. ŘäŊộβĚᶊ

It led to a thunderous cry like a tidal wave from the audience.

"Amazing! This is what I call a god-level live performance."

In the bar, Eminem, wearing a hoodie, raised his beer bottle and shouted at the TV.

Kanye, 50 Cent, Lil Wayne, and others were sitting nearby, staring at another TV. They had come to the bar for entertainment but hadn’t expected to run into Eminem.

"Hey, you sure you want to compete with Link on the singles chart? Can you come up with a song better than this?"

Eminem leaned against the couch and chuckled.

"Of course! No need for your concern,"

50 Cent said.

"I bet this song will take the crown on this week’s singles chart. What song are you planning to use to compete with it? That ’baby, baby, oh~’?"

Eminem teased.

Kanye scowled darkly and kept silent.

50 Cent, Lil Wayne, and Chris Brown looked at each other with a helpless expression. They had thought Justin’s and Usher’s song was quite good, but after hearing "Legends Never Die,"

Even though they disliked Link, they couldn’t deny that the song was damn cool. Even after listening to it twice, they wanted to find a place where no one was around to shout out loud—

Legends never die!!!

They become a part of you,

You too are part of the legend,

Every time you bleed for reaching greatness,

Bleeding on the battlefield for the glory of victory,

Legends never die.

During the second rendition, the audience’s cheers became even more intense and fierce. Numerous football players also waved their fists and shouted along, paying tribute to former football players in this manner.

Many spectators also stood up to roar along, and some even tore their T-shirts, lit them on fire, and waved them vigorously. Thankfully they were discovered by staff members in time to prevent a fire.

"Link, you are amazing! You are our pride!!!"

In the stands, hefty James, Michael, Daniel, and hundreds of other beach neighbors waved their flags and roared loudly, their cheeks flushed with excitement, a hundred times more enthusiastic than the average spectator.

Meanwhile, online discussions about the song soared. The topic reached an all-time high of 130 million mentions.

"This song is so cool, I got goosebumps listening to it."

"Legends Never Die! This is undoubtedly the best tribute to football players."

"Link’s songs are always so spirited, tenacious, and powerful. When you listen to his songs, you can’t help but clench your fists subconsciously."

"Link put so much effort into this, writing such a song especially for the Super Bowl—any performer from previous years is outclassed."

"It’s too hard on the vocal cords, I don’t like it!"

On Super Bowl day, on social platforms like Twitter, MySpace, and Facebook, there were discussions everywhere about Link’s song, with an approval rate of over 92%, and almost no negative reviews.

As Link’s performance ended, Link Music’s official account posted a tweet, and the studio version of "Legends Never Die" was officially released on digital platforms like Amazon, iTunes, and Apple Music.

On the first day of release, it was downloaded 218,000 times in the United States, easily surpassing "baby"’s sales for the entire previous week.

"Boss, the Super Bowl halftime show ratings are out, with a peak viewership of 158 million people, breaking the record from 2003, and "Baby" has been surpassed. We’ll have a hard time keeping the top spot on the singles chart this week."

An assistant at the SB Project management agency approached President Scooter Braun’s desk to report.

Scooter, dressed in a suit and with his long hair slicked back, held a cigar between his fingers. Although he was discrete and cautious in front of Kunas, in this company, he was the ruler.

"Noted. Notify the heads of marketing, distribution, and public relations departments to meet in the conference room in five minutes."

"Yes, boss!"

The assistant hurried off.

Scooter pressed his cigar into the ashtray with force, fuming inside. To promote "baby," the SB Project had invested over six million dollars in marketing and publicity, and he had also used many personal connections to help with the promotion.

After doing so much, they still couldn’t compete with Link’s single song.

Given the situation, he had no choice but to re-strategize and find a way to win this battle.

If they won, Justin would top the charts; if they failed, they’d find someone else.

Five minutes later, Scooter entered the conference room and started assigning tasks to the heads of various departments under him.

The marketing department continued to promote Justin Bieber, giving him more screen time, increasing his exposure, and calling on Justin’s fans to support him by buying his single.

The distribution department invested more funds and worked with data service companies to continue manipulating the numbers.

Many professional singers cared about their integrity and refused to engage in such practices, but Scooter didn’t mind. He was a businessman, purely a businessman, concerned only with making money and indifferent to everything else.

The public relations department contacted the media to question the authenticity of the sales of "Legends Never Die," taking the opportunity to stir up suspicions that Link Music manipulated the numbers, implying that not only this song but also Link’s two previous albums might have faked their sales figures.

Even if there had been no manipulation, the waters still had to be muddied.

With all departments of SB Project in action, sales of "baby" on various platforms also skyrocketed, selling over 82,000 copies the next day.

At the same time, many media outlets voiced doubts about the sales figures for "Legends Never Die," claiming that its daily sales exceeded normal levels, even surpassing last year’s "see you again" and "poke face," which was clearly unreasonable.

In response to the questioning voices, Link Music’s public relations department replied, affirming that there was absolutely no data manipulation.

The high sales of "Legends Never Die" were due to the high quality of the song and the enthusiastic support of Link’s fans, and they invited media personnel and analysts from Wall Street’s McKinsey & Company to engage in the investigation and monitoring.

For any media or individual daring to slander Link, Link Music’s legal department would not hesitate to send a stack of lawyer’s letters.

The first week sales figures for "Legends Never Die" were 1.035 million copies, making it one of the highest first-week digital download singles of the decade and securing the top spot on the singles chart for the week.

In second place was Justin’s "baby," with 424,000 copies sold.

The media, in their coverage, described Link’s continued strong popularity in the music industry, with a single that had a weekly sale of over a million copies, making a powerful debut in 2010.

The reviews for "baby" were honorable in defeat, claiming that without the Super Bowl’s boost, "Legends Never Die" might not have defeated "baby" for the number-one position.

Justin’s fans also went under Link’s Twitter to spray claims that "Legends Never Die" had won dishonorably.

Link and his fans, however, did not deign to engage in a war of words with them.

"They’re pretty smart not to manipulate ’baby’ over a million sales," Link said with a laugh as he flipped through Billboard magazine at his villa by the bay.

"Maybe the cost was too high. ’Legends Never Die’ sold over a million copies, and to achieve those numbers through manipulation would require tens of millions of dollars, which isn’t cost-effective," Mrs. Andrea said while cutting fruit.

"It’s too obvious as well."

Taylor, leaning on his lap and flipping through a magazine, said, "After the Super Bowl promotion, ’Legends Never Die’ sold over a million copies. ’Baby’ had no such promotion and suddenly sold a million copies. Even a fool could tell they were rigging the sales."

Link played with her hair and said, "But in terms of addictiveness, ’Baby’ is much higher than ’Legends Never Die,’ and it spreads more easily. Darling, your songwriting is top-notch. Could you write a song even more addictive than ’Baby’?"

"I can’t. I write songs for my fans to listen to, not to force everyone to listen or just to make money. Doing that would make me lose my motivation to create."

"Such a noble sentiment. I can’t compare to you."

"Of course not!"

Taylor looked at him smugly, then reaching for the apple Mrs. Andrea had just peeled, but Mrs. Andrea slapped her hand away and handed it to Link instead.

Taylor was stunned for a moment, biting her lower lip, her blue eyes shooting cold glares at Link.

"Why are you fighting with me for an apple when you don’t even like them?"

"I might not like them, but that doesn’t mean I can do without them."

Shrugging his shoulders, Link fed the apple to her mouth. Taylor bit off a large chunk with a crunch, eating it while gloatingly staring at Mrs. Andrea.

"Link, I’ve finished running, did three laps."

Austin, wearing a jersey and shorts, all sweaty, burst into the living room. He seemed to have run too fast and leaned against the wall, gasping for air.

"Only took me twenty minutes, pretty awesome! Next up is strength training, do five sets of push-ups, twenty in each set, no more, no less," Link directed, pointing to the carpet in the middle of the living room.

"Got it! I’m really good at push-ups, I can finish a hundred in no time."

Austin took a few breaths and then started to do push-ups on the ground, huffing and puffing. The teenage boy, around fifteen or sixteen, was in good physical shape.

Smack!

Taylor slapped Link’s thigh and stared at him with twinkling blue eyes, "Are you sure you’re teaching him boxing?"

"Of course! These are the basics; practicing the fundamentals of boxing is most important," Link said, grasping Taylor’s fair fingers with a smile.

"Link is a professional in this area, so stop butting in," Mrs. Andrea remarked.

Taylor rolled her eyes, "I’m just worried Link’s playing tricks on your son, and here you are speaking in his defense."

"Link isn’t that kind of person."

Mrs. Andrea shook her head.

"See! Anne understands me," Link said with a light smile, propped up Taylor’s head with two pillows, then stood up and went over to Austin in the middle of the living room to show him how to do push-ups correctly.

In fact, he didn’t plan to teach Austin too much, just a few wrestling and grappling techniques; enough for self-defense.

As for boxing, Mrs. Andrea probably wouldn’t bear seeing Austin get hit in the boxing ring, so there wasn’t much point in teaching him that.

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