Until Xiao He returned to the hotel at the foot of the mountain, the arguments online showed no sign of stopping.
Xiao He, who was already preparing to rest, simply sat cross-legged, eating his dinner while watching the situation unfold on the internet.
It was quite clear that Sister Liu had already entered the fray at this point. Guided by the water army, many of the events that had happened before were being pieced together by netizens.
This prominently included the previous incident involving the damaging information about Xiao He's parents.
Furthermore, some resourceful netizens had already dug up that Qin Yuezhang was targeting Xiao He because Xiao He had snatched a role from him.
But the question arose: what script could it be? Looking at Xiao He's schedule, there was no script or announcement that would intersect with Qin Yuezhang's.
[Could it be that project by Director Tannis?]
[Whoa, a knowledgeable big shot suddenly appears in the comments!]
[Grab him! Hurry up and tell us, what exactly is going on?]
[Didn't Xiao He go to Europe a while ago to participate in some racing competition? He even won a championship. It made it to the Hot Search when the news came back to the industry. If I remember correctly, Qin Yuezhang was also there during that time. He even specifically posted an update about participating. So, I boldly speculate that these two might have crossed paths abroad.]
[Director Tannis was also casting for a role a while ago, something related to racing. Maybe that's how all three of them got connected.]
[What? Director Tannis? It couldn't be "Fast Speed Shadow 7", could it?]
["Fast Speed Shadow 7"? That's fantastic! So, does this mean Brother Xiao was selected by Director Tannis? I love that series so much!]
[The previous one, number 6, was like four years ago, right? I remember Director Tannis saying this would be the final installment.]
[Hiss! It's actually the final one! No wonder Qin Yuezhang went so hard, determined to blacklist Xiao He.]
[But after that race, Director Tannis returned to his home country. There hasn't been any movement about the sequel. Foreign media speculate his old illness relapsed, he's critically ill and hospitalized, so the casting process hasn't continued.]
[Ah? What? Don't tell me, in the end, Xiao He offended Qin Yuezhang, almost got blacklisted, and then Tannis just up and died from his illness? That would be truly tragic for Xiao He...]
[Xiao He's situation was tragic from the start. This whole thing has been an unforeseen disaster from beginning to end. I hope Qin Yuezhang loses his human status soon.]
Xiao He ate while reading, and soon noticed that several of these comments had been "liked" by Qin Yuezhang's ex, Zhu Zishan, who agreed with the statement that Qin Yuezhang was blacklisting Xiao He because of Director Tannis's casting.
Xiao He was rather speechless: "...She really knows how to climb the ladder."
Did she want to use his fans to counter the fan wars started by Qin Yuezhang's fans?
Naturally, he couldn't let her succeed.
Xiao He immediately prepared to contact Liu Rulan to have the company issue a statement.
But just as he switched to his contacts list, his peripheral vision caught the battery indicator at the top of his phone. A flicker of doubt passed through his mind—his phone had just been fully charged, how had it already dropped by ten percent in the blink of an eye, and it even felt slightly warm...
He had only been reading comments just now, it shouldn't be that exaggerated. Phone batteries these days really don't last.
Xiao He didn't think much of it initially and directly dialed Liu Rulan's number. However, what made him alert was that the phone's battery percentage dropped another notch right before his eyes.
For some reason, his brow twitched.
His gaze suddenly fell on the selfie camera lens on the front of the phone—
The camera lens was dark, with no sensor light blinking, but Xiao He inexplicably felt like he had locked eyes with someone.
"Beep beep—"
A warning suddenly lit up on the computer beside him.
"Hello?"
"Du— Du—"
Liu Rulan, who had just answered the phone: ?
In the Linghui Entertainment office, Liu Rulan looked at the suddenly disconnected call, blinking her eyes in confusion. She immediately sat up straight, keenly sensing that something was wrong.
After a moment of thought, Liu Rulan didn't call Xiao He back. Instead, she called Lao Qi: "Go check on Xiao He. It seems like something's happened to him."
"Okay."
Lao Qi didn't waste words. He hung up and rushed towards Xiao He's hotel room.
Fortunately, it was a false alarm. Xiao He soon opened the door.
"Teacher Xiao, did something happen here?"
Lao Qi immediately asked.
"I'm fine. I just spilled some drink on my phone. Go back and tell Sister Liu I'll call her back once I've dealt with it here."
Xiao He replied with a smile.
Lao Qi looked puzzled, but Xiao He patted his shoulder. "Go back. Just tell Sister Liu. You get some rest, you've worked hard today."
"Alright."
Lao Qi looked back with every step, confirming Xiao He had closed the door again before turning to return to his own room.
-
Inside the room, the smile faded from the young man's face. Under the faint light, his figure in the shadows seemed particularly dangerous.
His fingers tapped idly on the computer keyboard. The screen, which had gone dark, lit up again. Messy red code jumped around continuously, appearing mysterious and dangerous.
At this moment, all the various data and related files originally stored on the phone had been perfectly replicated on the computer.
—Just moments ago, upon realizing his phone had been hacked, Xiao He immediately disconnected it from the network, opened his own computer, and diverted the virus from his phone onto his computer.
Xiao He couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of it all.
He really never imagined there would be a day when he himself would be hacked by a hacker.
What a complete joke!
What's the difference between this and digging up dirt on the God of the Year?
Without any pause, Xiao He immediately traced the other party's trail all the way overseas, accurately pinpointing his target from a pile of virtual IP addresses.
This was a foreign IP. The hacker who had invaded him was also a foreigner.
The other party clearly didn't know Xiao He had already counter-tracked them and was still rummaging through all kinds of chat records on Xiao He's phone.
Xiao He glanced at the file directories continuously being marked in red. He wasn't in a hurry to stop the other party. Instead, he leisurely began screening the backend data to find information related to this guy.
The person's name was Simon Senna, from Canada. In real life, he was just a gangster thug, but in reality, he was proficient in hacking skills. He had repeatedly used this skill to steal gang information, then resold it for large sums of dirty money. He was notorious internationally, a target wanted by both the police and gangs.
Xiao He truly couldn't understand why such a scumbag would suddenly set his sights on him.
Could it be that he left some traces when he used his hacking skills before?
Xiao He thought for a moment, his fingers nimbly tapping as he started browsing through the other party's phone and computer...
-
In Canada, it was currently morning.
Simon Senna, who had pulled an all-nighter, was already accustomed to the faint sunlight spilling onto his windowsill. His face was unshaven, with heavy dark circles under his dull eyes. He stared somewhat vacantly at the computer screen in front of him, yet his fingers tapped the keyboard before him with unusual agility.
The glowing computer screen displayed a photo he had dug up. In the photo, a young man wore a gentle smile, standing next to a young assistant. Together, they raised their hands in a "V" for victory sign. Behind them was the opulent décor of a hotel and the back of a capable-looking woman conversing with the front desk staff.
Simon Senna frowned, truly unable to see what was so dangerous about this guy.
"Knock knock—"
But right at that moment, intense knocking suddenly came from the door of the room behind him—