Villain? No, I'll catch up with the protagonist after passing the civil service exam.

"...The final contestant to debut in the center position is—"

On stage, the host dragged out the last syllable of his voice, and the spotlight swept back and forth over the heads of several trembling trainees, creating suspense and atmosphere to the extreme.

Tens of thousands of fans held their breath, staring intently at the big screen.

Backstage in the control room, the director was smoking a cigar, watching the monitor with a smug look on his face. In the small window next to the screen, the vote curve for "Kun Kun" was soaring, already far ahead of the second place.

"Get ready! Streamers, champagne, get this going!"

The director yelled into the walkie-talkie, "Give Kunkun lots of close-ups later! Especially the moment he cries, make sure to capture it! Tomorrow's trending topic will be #RoyalAscensionToTheCrown,CenterPositiveRankWellDeserved#!"

The assistant directors next to him nodded and bowed, their faces full of obsequiousness.

"The director is brilliant!"

"If Kun Kun's dad saw this result, he'd be thrilled! Our investment for next season is secure!"

Amidst this false prosperity and filthy transactions.

Lu Jingyan pressed the call button on his headset.

"Close the net."

At a command.

Like a thunderclap from a clear sky, it exploded instantly.

"Bang!"

The heavy fire door to the control room was kicked open from the outside!

"Don't move! Police!"

Zhao Tiezhu led a team of fully armed special police officers, who rushed in like divine soldiers. The dark muzzles of their guns were pointed at every staff member in the room who hadn't yet reacted.

The director's cigar fell to the ground with a "thud," burning the expensive carpet.

"Who...who are you people?!"

He jumped to his feet, roaring menacingly, "Who let you in? Don't you know this is a live broadcast? If you disrupt the broadcast, can you take responsibility?!"

"Can't afford to take the responsibility?"

Lu Jingyan walked in slowly, taking off his mask and baseball cap to reveal the face that made the chief director instantly weak in the knees.

"Director Zhang, right? The one who just went in a couple of days ago, was he your junior apprentice?"

Lu Jingyan walked to the control panel, looked at the curve of fake votes that was still rising wildly, and a cold smile appeared on his lips.

"It seems you two brothers have quite a wide range of businesses. One of you is involved in money laundering, and the other in fraud."

"I...I don't know any Director Zhang!"

The cue card in his hand suddenly turned into a snowflake.

Immediately afterwards, through the monitoring earpiece in his ear came the director's terrified scream:

"Police! The police are bursting in! Quick...cut the live stream!"

However, it was too late.

Su Xiaoxiao's fair fingers had already typed the last line of code on the keyboard.

The Jinghai City Public Security Bureau's Cyber ​​Security Supervision Division has taken over all backend access to the live stream at this moment.

"The live stream can't stop."

Lu Jingyan picked up the microphone on the control panel and gave the terrified director a devilish smile.

"The real show is just beginning."

He spoke into the microphone and gave his second instruction:

"Xiaoxiao, cast the real votes onto the big screen."

"Yes, Captain Lu!"

On stage, the host was awkwardly trying to smooth things over.

"Ah, it seems our equipment has encountered a minor malfunction. Don't worry, everyone..."

Before he could finish speaking...

The huge LED screen behind him suddenly went black.

A few seconds later, the screen lit up again.

Instead of dazzling stage effects, what appeared was a cold, data-filled bar chart.

That was the most authentic, unmodified backstage voting data from "Idol Producer 101".

The blue pillar representing Cai Kun was far ahead, with a staggering 80 million votes.

As for Kun Kun, who was pre-selected as a "royal member," his red pillar was pitifully short, with only... 800,000 votes.

It can't even make the top ten.

The entire room fell silent.

Tens of thousands of spectators remained completely silent.

Everyone stared blankly at the two bar charts on the big screen, the difference between them so stark it was almost humiliating, their minds completely blank.

"What...what is this?"

"The vote difference...is...a hundredfold?"

After a brief silence, a volcanic eruption of rage followed!

"This is a rip-off! Damn production team! Give me back my hard-earned money!"

"Vote rigging! Blatant vote rigging! Are they treating us like fools?!"

"Refund! Refund! Refund!"

The angry roars coalesced into a powerful sound wave that nearly lifted the dome of the entire stadium.

On stage, Kun Kun, who was still dreaming of "debuting in the center position," looked at the pitiful 800,000 votes on the big screen, and the smile on his face instantly froze, turning as pale as paper.

He knew he was finished.

Not only has his dream of becoming a star been shattered, but he and his father may also have to work as sewing machines.

In the control room.

The director, looking at the out-of-control scene and the evidence in black and white on the screen, slumped completely into his chair.

He knew that his decades-long professional career had come to an extremely humiliating end at this moment.

But he was still not satisfied.

"We can't stop! The live stream can't stop!"

He lunged at the control panel like a madman, trying to cut off the power. "This is a broadcasting accident! A major broadcasting accident! If the station leaders find out..."

"It's too late."

Lu Jingyan pressed down on his shoulder with one hand, the force of which rendered him unable to move.

"From the moment you decided to modify the data, this was no longer a broadcasting incident."

Lu Jingyan's eyes were as cold as ice, and his voice, though not loud, was piercingly sharp.

"This is... a crime scene."