242: It's trending on the entire internet!

"Understood."

The other party said no more and hung up the phone.

Lin Mei was panting heavily, his chest heaving, and the hideous grin on his face almost reached his ears.

He could already see the scene where Bing Lan was being cursed by the entire internet, Shuyue Group's stock price plummeted, and Bing Lan had no choice but to surrender to him.

This gave his twisted heart a morbid sense of pleasure.

"Ye Chen!"

"Bing Lan!"

"You brought this on yourselves!"

He picked up his phone, impatiently opened Weibo, and constantly refreshed the trending search list.

Then.

His eyes were fixed on the screen, expecting the terms regarding Bing Lan's scandals to rise rapidly and explode across the internet.

"Soon! It's almost time!"

"Let the storm be even more violent!"

However.

In the next second.

The moment the trending search page fully refreshed, the hideous grin on Lin Mei's face instantly froze!

His eyes widened as he looked in disbelief at the eye-catching terms at the top of the trending list—

[#Lin Mei's True Face# (Exploding)]

[#Lin Mei Threatening Recording# (Exploding)]

[#Top Star Lin Mei's Persona Collapses# (Hot)]

[#Lin Mei Get Out of the Entertainment Circle# (New)]

...

There was no Bing Lan!

There was no Shuyue Group!

It was all his name!

And they were all followed by tags like "Exploding" and "Hot," representing extremely high attention and discussion volume!

"No..."

"It shouldn't be exposing me!"

"Shouldn't it be Bing Lan?"

Lin Mei panicked and quickly clicked on the top pinned Weibo post.

The caption was only one sentence.

"Listen to the 'true feelings' of a top young star in private; a shock to the Entertainment Circle!"

Lin Mei's heart pounded wildly, and his fingers felt cold as he clicked on the video.

The video was clearly edited, but the core part was incredibly clear; it was the complete recording of him threatening Bing Lan in the private room of Yunyao Tea House just now!

Below the video, the numbers in the comment section had turned into a terrifyingly astronomical figure, and they were rising crazily with every refresh.

"Oh my God! Is this really Lin Mei's voice? This is so foul!"

"Usually, he acts so gentle and elegant in front of the camera, but in private, he's this kind of scumbag who threatens women?"

"This isn't a matter of pursuing someone or not anymore; this is extortion! It's a crime!"

"I'm disgusted. Unfollowed, unfollowing right now! I can't believe I was a fan of such a thing!"

"@Ping'an Xiamen @CyberPolice, why isn't this person being arrested?"

"Miss Bing Lan is truly miserable being pestered by such trash. Support Bing Lan in defending her rights!"

"Top star? Bah! He's scum! Lin Mei, get out of the Entertainment Circle!!!"

...

The comments were a one-sided wave of anger, condemnation, and declarations of unfollowing.

The speed and intensity of the words made Lin Mei feel dizzy and cold all over!

He frantically scrolled down, trying to find a comment or two speaking up for him.

The result...

They were all cursing him!

Every single one of them was cursing him!

The few defenses from brain-dead fans were instantly drowned out by even more furious rebukes.

Just as his mind went blank, unable to believe everything happening before his eyes...

Suddenly!

His phone vibrated.

Lin Mei snapped out of it, hurriedly answered, and roared.

"Old Dog! What's going on?"

"I told you to post Bing Lan's scandals, why am I all over the trending searches?"

"What's with that recording? Who released it? Did something go wrong with your people? Tell me clearly!!!"

He was truly breaking down!

He had planned everything out, but now it seemed like he was the one being set up...

Old Dog's voice then came from the other end of the phone.

"Young Master Lin, it's not that we didn't post it!"

"Our people followed your instructions and sent out all the prepared scandals about Bing Lan through dozens of channels simultaneously, and we even spent a fortune on promotion!"

"But those posts, articles, and videos disappeared instantly as soon as they were posted, some even before they were fully displayed!"

"It's as if an invisible giant hand wiped them right off the internet, clean and without a trace!"

Lin Mei: "???"

His head buzzed as if he had been struck hard by a hammer.

"Dis... disappeared? How is that possible?"

"The channels you found are all top-tier, and the internal staff of the platforms were also taken care of! How could they all disappear instantly?!"

Old Dog's voice sounded like he was about to cry.

"It's true, Young Master Lin! We're also bewildered!"

"What's even more bizarre is that our own publishing backend shows the content as 'successfully published,' but as soon as we refresh, it says the content doesn't exist!"

"We contacted all our connections at the platforms. They were dismissive at first, but after being pressed, they secretly told us..."

He swallowed hard, his voice trembling.

"They said they were hacked again."

"And the one who did it isn't an ordinary hacker; their methods are absurdly high-level!"

"All negative content about Bing Lan and Shuyue Group was intercepted, cleaned, and replaced in the instant it was posted through a method they can't even understand!"

"The platforms' firewalls and auditing systems didn't even trigger an alarm! It's like that content never existed!"

"They... they even suspect if there's a national-level force protecting Bing Lan behind the scenes!"

Lin Mei: "???"

His breathing suddenly became rapid, and the hand holding the phone began to shake uncontrollably.

A national-level force?

Protecting Bing Lan?

What kind of international joke is this!

Isn't Bing Lan just a retired celebrity who is now a somewhat wealthy group president?

Where would she get such a heaven-defying background???

"And then?"

Lin Mei's voice was dry and hoarse. "What about the scandals about me?!"

Old Dog's voice sounded even more desperate.

"And then... it's your scandals, like a tsunami, exploding simultaneously on all mainstream platforms, social media, and even some niche forums!"

"It's exactly what's on the trending searches right now!"

"And also some old records we helped you settle before—screenshots, chat logs, and even some blurry but recognizable photos of you..."

"They've all been dug up!"

"We contacted all the platforms immediately to request deletion, willing to pay any price!"

"But... but the replies from the platforms were almost identical: they can't delete it! It's not that they don't want to, but it's technically impossible to delete!"

"They said that those scandals about you have been locked with unbreakable encryption and an automatic synchronization mechanism; forcing a deletion will only trigger more backup spreading!"

"Their own servers almost crashed!"

Lin Mei: "???"

He felt the blood in his entire body go cold, a chill rushing from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his head!

Can't be deleted?

Pushed across the entire network?

Even the platforms are helpless?

What kind of god-like method is this?!

"And... Young Master Lin..."

Old Dog's voice already had a sob in it, "This isn't even the scariest part..."

"What else? Speak up!!!" Lin Mei roared.

"The scariest thing is... the speed and precision of the spread of these scandals!"

"They aren't being scattered randomly; they are being precisely pushed to all your active fans, partner brands, the comment sections of products you endorse, the official Weibo accounts of variety shows you've participated in..."

"Even the vicinity of your family's social media accounts has been occupied!"

"By now... has your phone already started ringing?"

As if to confirm Old Dog's words.

The screen of Lin Mei's other work phone suddenly lit up, and a piercing ringtone exploded inside the nanny van!

The caller ID was none other than the President of the Greater China region for his biggest endorsement brand!

Immediately after.

The second! The third! The fourth! The phones rang one after another!

Agents, PR directors, partner directors, TV station producers...

One name after another that made his heart skip a beat jumped across the screens!

It was over!

It was completely over!

Who was going to sue him???

At this moment.

Lin Mei's mind was a mess...

Suddenly!

He suddenly thought of a person.

Ye Chen!!!