My cousin asked me to go to Wuha, and Hanikezi stuck to me.

Top floor office of Star Entertainment Media headquarters, Beijing.

"Bang!"

A custom-made bone china teacup was slammed onto a solid wood desk, splashing tea everywhere.

Mr. Zhou rested his hands on the table, his eyes fixed on the computer screen.

On the screen is a joint statement released simultaneously by the "Five Ha" program team and Tencent Video ten minutes earlier.

"Thanks to the online community's oversight, the 'Five Ha' program team will not tolerate any malicious editing or spreading of rumors. The complete unreleased footage of the Dali Old Bridge will premiere online as an exclusive bonus during the season finale."

In just a few dozen words, every word was piercing to the heart.

The public relations director stood in front of his desk, his legs trembling.

"How dare they not cut it off!"

President Zhou roared, spitting onto the screen, "How could President Li, that profit-driven businessman, possibly tolerate an artist embroiled in a workplace harassment scandal continuing to record!"

"President Zhou!"

The PR director swallowed hard. "Chen Yi didn't play by the rules at all. He didn't send a lawyer's letter to prove his innocence, nor did he let Hanikezi speak out. He directly turned our negative trending topic into free publicity for the show."

President Zhou's face turned ashen.

Having been in the entertainment industry for over a decade, this was the first time he had ever encountered such a crazy person who did things in the opposite direction.

"He's gambling!"

Mr. Zhou gritted his teeth, "He's betting that netizens will have the patience to wait until the final episode!"

President Zhou straightened up and loosened his tie.

"They figured out our cropped version."

Mr. Zhou quickly made a judgment: "Old Wang definitely has the original footage of the next thirteen seconds."

"So what do we do now?"

The PR director asked, "Should we remove the trending topic first?"

"Get out of here my ass!"

President Zhou slammed his hand on the table. "Tens of millions have been thrown in. If we back out now, it's a complete loss! Does Chen Yi think he can drag this out until the very end? I'll make sure he doesn't even see the sun rise tomorrow morning!"

President Zhou pointed at the public relations director and gave the order.

"Immediately notify all marketing accounts in the matrix to send me press releases!"

Mr. Zhou spoke very quickly, "Just say the production team is guilty! They're afraid to confront him directly, using the final episode as a shield! Make sure he's completely implicated in the 'workplace harassment' charge!"

"But Mr. Zhou, the budget has already been exceeded."

The PR director offered a reminder.

"I'll transfer another 20 million to my personal account!"

Mr. Zhou's eyes turned completely red. "Buy up all the online trolls! I'll make sure Chen Yi's comment section is completely barren!"

The PR director scrambled out of the office to make the arrangements.

Mr. Zhou slumped into the leather seat, panting heavily.

The image of Qin Yu being banned across the entire internet suddenly flashed through his mind.

Qin Yu was also driven to the brink of despair by Chen Yi in this extremely calm manner, until he was left with nothing but his underwear.

"impossible."

Mr. Zhou muttered to himself, "I hired Liu Qiang with cash, without even signing a contract. The production team can't trace it back to me at all."

Fifteen minutes later.

The PR director pushed open the office door again, without even knocking.

He was covered in sweat, holding a tablet computer in his hand.

"Mr. Zhou! Something's happened!"

The PR director's voice cracked.

President Zhou suddenly stood up.

"The online trolls couldn't suppress it?"

"Mr. Zhou asked."

"They can't get in at all!"

The PR director handed over the tablet. "Chen Yi's fans have gone crazy!"

President Zhou looked down at the screen.

The top trending topic, which was previously dominated by paid commenters, has been completely transformed.

Chen Yi's ten million active fans demonstrated an extremely terrifying level of cohesion.

There was no mindless abuse, and no panic.

It was all one-sided commentary and counterattacks.

The first top comment received over 300,000 likes.

"You think you can smear our Brother Yi with just a seven-second, out-of-context video? Do you think netizens are idiots?! I'm waiting for the finale bonus scene to slap you in the face!"

The second most popular comment followed closely behind.

"The fact that the production team dared to release the original footage as a bonus scene proves that Brother Yi is completely innocent! Those marketing accounts that are paid to post these things, get ready to receive summonses!"

The third point is to directly expose the truth.

"Everyone, take a look at those accounts stirring up trouble. They're all newly registered accounts from just a few days ago, and even their profile pictures are from the internet! This is an organized, capital-driven smear campaign!"

Mr. Zhou's hands began to tremble.

"How is that possible?"

Mr. Zhou couldn't believe it. "How could a complete newcomer who's only been in the industry for a few months have such a high level of fan loyalty!"

"Mr. Zhou is more than just a fan."

The PR director was almost in tears. "The general public has completely sided with Chen Yi. Everyone's saying that this way of turning negative information into a bonus is too blatant, and nobody believes he would harass female celebrities."

"And it gets even worse."

The PR director pulled up another screenshot: "Chen Yi's fans are not only controlling the comments, they're also investigating our paid troll accounts! They've listed all those hundreds of influential figures who were stirring up trouble on the anti-troll site!"

President Zhou panicked completely.

"Shut those organizations up immediately! Delete all the posts!"

President Zhou roared.

"It's too late! Chen Yi's agent, Xiao Fang, just posted a Weibo message!"

The PR director pointed to the screen.

Xiao Fang's Weibo post consisted of only one sentence, accompanied by a long photo of a notarized document.

"All accounts that spread rumors and forwarded them more than 500 times have completed the backend notarization process. See you in court."

The propaganda war that President Zhou was so proud of was utterly crushed in the face of Chen Yi's absolutely genuine traffic and iron-fisted counterattack.

The door to the president's office was pushed open again.

Mr. Zhou's personal secretary walked in, wearing high heels and holding an urgent EMS express document.

"President Zhou."

The secretary's face turned pale. "The front desk downstairs just received an express shipment from the same city."

"What is that?!"

President Zhou grabbed it.

The document bag was prominently stamped with the red seal of Tencent Video's legal department.

Mr. Zhou forcefully tore open the seal with both hands and pulled out the lawyer's letter inside.

With just one glance, Mr. Zhou felt his blood rush to his head.

To the President's Office of Star Entertainment Media:

"Regarding the case of Liu Qiang, a former employee of your wholly-owned subsidiary Xinghan Vision, who illegally broke into the computer room of the 'Five Ha' program three days ago in the early morning and stole confidential commercial materials from the backup database."

"We have joined forces with Tencent Video to formally file a criminal lawsuit with the public security authorities."

"At the same time, we have obtained a conclusive chain of evidence. We will pursue the mastermind behind this malicious editing incident to the end and will not tolerate it."

Mr. Zhou's wrist went limp, and the few thin sheets of paper scattered on the carpet.