163: Strike first

Duan Yao's fans were frightened by this sudden situation and all ran away screaming.

Duan Yao, however, had absolutely no idea what had happened.

"Is there something wrong with the drinks?"

She had drunk them too, but didn't feel anything wrong, nor did she have diarrhea.

Just as the tea party was being smashed, wave after wave of contestants came looking for her.

"Before my match, I only drank the beverages here, but when I went on stage, I couldn't summon my pet beast! All the hard work I put into preparing for a year has gone down the drain!"

A girl shouted with red eyes, "Yongle Shopping Mall is a heartless business! For Duan Yao to endorse such a business, she's not a good person either!"

Several girls who hadn't joined in the smashing started taking the drinks prepared by Yongle Shopping Mall and throwing them at Duan Yao and the staff.

"The matter hasn't been clarified yet, stop it!"

Duan Yao shouted while dodging the drinks being thrown at her.

Even though she was powerful, she couldn't summon her pet beast to defend against the attack.

After all, private fighting is strictly prohibited during the National Competition.

"Stop! Everyone stop!"

The official staff of the National Competition finally arrived at the scene.

They collected the remaining drinks that hadn't been spilled, as well as the ingredients.

Duan Yao and the staff from Yongle Shopping Mall were all taken away for investigation.

The investigation results showed that while Yongle Shopping Mall advertised the drinks as freshly squeezed fruit juice, they were actually using mixed instant powder drinks.

"We were just trying to save costs, you have to understand us!"

Manager Jiang, the person in charge of the tea party from Yongle, reported to the officials with a grievance.

"If it was to save costs, then don't claim it's freshly squeezed! That's not our main concern; the main issue is that this instant drink was mixed with a drug that temporarily prevents a Beastmaster from summoning their pet beast! How do you explain that?"

The person in charge of the official investigation was Director Yu, who was responsible for security. He stood by listening as the staff verified the findings.

This incident was too egregious; for many years, there hadn't been such a large-scale event where contestants were drugged.

Director Yu sighed, took off his glasses, and rubbed his Jingming acupoints.

"Ah? What drugging? I have absolutely no knowledge of this!"

The Yongle side cried out that they were wronged; no one admitted to putting drugs in the instant drinks.

As the spokesperson, Duan Yao had absolutely no hand in the preparation of the supplies.

Although her suspicion was cleared, her reputation plummeted.

Because the competition was continuing the next day, she was released by the investigation team after being cleared of suspicion.

As she walked back to her dormitory, many people looked at her with strange gazes.

"Oh, out already?"

"Even if it has nothing to do with her, she endorsed a heartless business, so she's not a good person either!"

"It's good to have strength; maybe she pulled some strings. Who knows if she did it!"

Many people whispered and pointed at Duan Yao.

Occasionally, some die-hard fans would jump out to protect her.

"Don't talk about our baby Duan Yao; she was released, so she's innocent!"

"Our baby Duan Yao is both beautiful and cool; she was also deceived by the heartless business!"

Duan Yao felt stifled in her heart, her fists clenched tightly.

She quickly ran back to her dormitory. Having grown up on the mountain since she was a child, she really didn't know how to handle social interactions.

She called her master, but the signal on the mountain was intermittent, and no one answered.

She had no choice but to call her junior martial nephew.

Vice Principal An Huai on the other end of the line was very polite, but didn't provide any substantial help.

"Junior Martial Aunt, I roughly know about your situation, but I can't go over there right now. How about this, you focus on the competition first, and I'll think of a way for you."

The person on the other end hung up the phone in a hurry. Duan Yao wanted to find out the truth herself, but had no idea where to start.

On the sixth day of the National Competition finals, the first match was An Huai versus Chongbei.

Duan Yao went up to the ring with dark circles under her eyes, no makeup, and a haggard expression that made her die-hard fans feel very distressed.

"Baby Duan Yao looks so haggard; the innocent will clear themselves! We believe in you and support you!"

Many other audience members cast disdainful looks at them.

"Do you know how many people Yongle ruined with this stunt? You still fan her? Did dogs eat your brains?"

"Exactly, exactly. If you ask me, they're on the same boat! Not to mention the drugging incident, just claiming instant drinks were freshly squeezed is enough to nail Yongle Shopping Mall to the pillar of shame! If it weren't for the person who did the drugging, we would all still be kept in the dark!"

"I think it was done by someone inside Yongle. With such shoddy work, who knows how they usually exploit their employees!"

The audience discussed it heatedly, and every sentence seemed to be stabbing a knife into Duan Yao's heart.

"Shut up, stop talking! You shut up!"

Duan Yao shouted somewhat out of control, her eyes turning red, glaring angrily at the few audience members below the stage who were hurling abuse.

One of them wouldn't tolerate her attitude and retorted directly.

"Why can't we say it? You dare to do it but don't dare to admit it?"

Duan Yao was so furious she felt like she was breathing fire. Seeing this scene, He Zhichen directly told the referee he conceded.

Just kidding, the usual Duan Yao was already terrifying enough.

Now that she looked like she was about to go berserk, if the match started, wouldn't she use him as a punching bag!

His life was more important!

Hearing the news that his opponent had conceded, the stifled anger in Duan Yao seemed to dissipate a little.

She wiped away the tears that were about to fall and dashed back to the dormitory.

Now that the staff of Yongle Shopping Mall were all under investigation, she would terminate her contract as soon as they came out!

Yes, terminate the contract with Yongle Shopping Mall!

It had absolutely nothing to do with her, yet she had to suffer because of them for no reason!

She couldn't stand this kind of unfair grievance at all!

He Zhichen took a deep breath, feeling lucky that he had escaped a disaster.

Just as he stepped off the ring, he saw Gu Xiaoyue walking over.

"Xiao Yue, good luck!"

He greeted her with a smile, "Fight against Huaqing, beat them down!"

Gu Xiaoyue nodded at him, walked closer, and asked He Zhichen in a low voice.

"You know about the incident at Duan Yao's tea party yesterday, right?"

"Of course! It's all the rage now, who doesn't know? Not only those participating in the National Competition, but it's even in the news! The Xiao Family's stock price has dropped several points, and billions in market value have evaporated!"

He Zhichen proudly shared all the information he had obtained with Gu Xiaoyue.

Gu Xiaoyue rolled her eyes, thinking for a few seconds.

"It's like this, I heard that some seniors have already jointly signed a petition to boycott Yongle Shopping Mall and ban them from any business activities within the National Competition. I've also reported it to the school leaders of Nanya; what about your side?"

She gave He Zhichen a meaningful look.

He immediately understood and said with righteous indignation, "Yongle Shopping Mall doing such a thing is too egregious! I certainly don't support them continuing to engage in any business activities! I'll go talk to the director about this right now!"

He Zhichen slipped away quickly. Gu Xiaoyue, on the other hand, was glad that Harry had done a good deed.

Xiao Yun said that Xiao Mingyan would likely make a move against her during the National Competition.

But the Xiao Family seemed to have had no movement.

Although the assassin was most likely not among the staff of Yongle Shopping Mall.

Otherwise, with the skills of Harry and Brown, how could they have quietly drugged them without the Xiao Family finding out by now?

However, one should still be careful; it would be best to clear the Yongle Shopping Mall staff out of Huaqing.