Chapter 112 The trick, understanding, and silent reply: They combine into three...
"What name did you give the [Key] ability this time?" After staying up all night, Mu Wangzhuo couldn't help but yawn. "Just a friendly reminder, [Copy] has already been used up."
Although he wasn't infected by the same unseemly yawning, Hara Mihoshi's condition wasn't much better.
“【Array】, that’s more fitting.” He hastily signed the electronic document and sent a copy to the relevant department. “Whether it’s wearing ankle bracelets or being detained depends on the ruling.”
“They’ve been incredibly busy lately,” Mu Wangzhuo chuckled dryly. “Who could have imagined that superpowered individuals, whom we used to only see in movies, would suddenly become a reality and require us ordinary people to establish a complete management system for them?”
Upon hearing the word "suddenly" uttered by the other party, Yuan Jianxing shook his head almost imperceptibly.
If what Fu Ze said is true, then the existence of the [key] can be traced back at least a decade or more, or even earlier.
However, back then, the "key" did not grant its owner overly obvious abilities, so they could still go to school, find employment, and get married through normal procedures.
Even if they have some outstanding qualities, in the end they will disappear into the sea like water, without making a big ripple.
So what factors caused this change?
Regarding the answer to this question, Yuan Jianxing and Fu Ze held the same view—the holder of the [key] that led to Charon's misdirection must be found.
No matter how drastically the world changes, one thing remains unchanged: once something is done, it will leave a trace; and if the instigator of something is a person, there will inevitably be an internal logic behind their actions.
Therefore, Yuan Jianxing planned to find an opportunity to revisit the old places with Fu Ze, to revisit the relevant locations in L City and to see the people who might have witnessed the situation at that time.
Considering Fu Ze's current professional status, this "opportunity" will probably have to be arranged by his side in cooperation with the other party.
Just as he stepped into the V City Tribunal's Southern Branch to submit evidence in the archives, Yuan Jianxing suddenly sensed that something was off about the atmosphere around him.
In the hall, a small number of colleagues glanced at him with a mixture of sympathy and a desire to see the drama unfold.
After weighing the options, Yuan Jianxing knocked on the desk of the Princess Cut executive officer he had met before, who had previously boasted in the cafeteria that he was a fan of the "Suspension Bridge Group" because the person in question couldn't hear him.
"What's going on?"
Princess Cut Executive Officer was caught off guard by Yuan Jianxing's precise targeting of her, a pushover, and dared not make a move for a moment. She could only look to her direct superior, Mu Wangzhuo, behind Yuan Jianxing for help.
"Now you remember I'm the boss? Then let me have a look first." Mu Wangzhuo stepped forward, smiling as he took her phone. Then, upon seeing the content on the screen, he couldn't help but exclaim, "Holy crap!"
His reaction would have been better; it drew the attention of other executives who hadn't been paying attention to the matter.
Seeing that the important evidence had been transferred, Yuan Jianxing naturally reached out to Mu Wangzhuo, and then slightly raised his fingertips to urge him on.
"Before I show you my phone, I need to confirm one thing," Mu Wangzhuo said, waving his phone. "What's your attitude towards Que Ling right now? Are you still treating her like a stranger?"
When suddenly asked about Fu Ze, Yuan Jianxing dodged the question: "We're not strangers, we just know each other."
"That's fine then." Mu Wangzhuo casually handed over the phone.
On the screen, the front page headline of the largest entertainment news website was prominently displayed—
Breaking News! Top star Que Ling was spotted having a secret late-night rendezvous with a mysterious man, and they've been seen returning to each other's home for several days – is their relationship confirmed?
Below the large title are dozens of high-resolution photos labeled with dates and locations.
In the photo of the two, Que Ling's unbelievably beautiful face is resting on another man's shoulder, captured perfectly by the camera.
Thanks to this angle, anyone can see the happiness and dependence in his expression, which are genuine feelings that cannot be acted out or faked.
In the solo photos, the man whom Que Ling leans on is tall and has a calm demeanor, and his clothes are quite tasteful, but his appearance is extremely plain, even the kind of ordinary look that you would forget as soon as you see him.
With Mu Wangzhuo at the forefront of the battle, the actions of the Princess Cut executive officer became bolder.
"Deputy Director, I really think you still have a chance," she said earnestly. "Look at this figure, isn't it just a substitute for you? It's definitely a substitute for you!"
Yuan Jianxing didn't say much, but simply returned the phone to the other party and strode forward again with the documents to be handed over.
Stretching his neck to watch Yuan Jianxing's retreating figure, the Princess Cut executive turned around and asked his boss anxiously, "Is the deputy director angry?"
"I think he probably feels your workload isn't heavy enough, that you still have time to gossip." Although that's what he explained, Mu Wangzhuo subtly narrowed his eyes, mentally defining Yuan Jianxing's behavior—
Something's fishy.
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Walking quickly to a secluded corner, Yuan Jianxing immediately began contacting Fu Ze.
But his messages went unanswered, and his phone calls were always busy.
Unable to get a result, Yuan Jianxing couldn't help but feel uneasy.
But then again, Fu Ze was the one who was in even more trouble right now.
If two people are doing something together, they should both share the responsibility, so at least one of them should be calm.
Forcing himself to calm down, Yuan Jianxing seemed to understand something and dialed another number—the number corresponding to the cell phone he had given back to Fu Ze.
This time, the call was answered almost immediately and was even converted into a video call.
"You're only getting off work now? Poor thing?"
Even after the electricity was transmitted, the joy in Fu Ze's words, which arose from Yuan Jianxing's initiative to show concern, remained undiminished.
Judging from the other person's mental state in the video, it is clear that they have fully woken up from the confusion of last night.
What was placed in front of Fu Ze was a light breakfast that looked quite healthy, which made his face turn green.
Yuan Jianxing breathed a sigh of relief and asked, "How are you?"
"I slept pretty well. It would be perfect if there was someone to warm the bed."
That's not what I meant.
"You saw the gossip that broke this morning too?" Fu Ze forked a piece of green vegetable and put it in his mouth, saying nonchalantly, "Relax, once the internet is down, the world has nothing to do with me."
Just then, Kang Yanyan's voice forcefully interrupted their conversation off-screen: "What do you mean it's unrelated, my brother! Normally, if something like this happened, we could just disconnect from the internet and pretend to be dead, but today there's the Starry Night Charity Night!"
Unlike Fu Ze's calm demeanor, Kang Yanyan was practically tearing her hair out.
She was already regretting not staying at the hotel yesterday, locking Fu Ze in the room until he went crazy, and then leaving.
Fu Ze did not expect Kang Yanyan's reaction to be so strong.
He tentatively asked, "Can't this donation result be manipulated a little? I thought you...we're quite good at this."
"What are you good at! You think it's so easy to fake it?" Kang Yanyan explained with exasperation, her words flying as she spoke. "The Starry Charity Night's fan donations are a real battleground! It's all about the fans' spending power and organizational skills!"
“Every donation is directly linked to the backend data, and after the gala, the official team will compile statistics on ‘average donation amount per celebrity’s fan’ and ‘commercial appeal conversion rate’!”
"These two figures are directly linked to your market value and subsequent resources. Last year, you landed two high-end luxury brand endorsements based solely on these figures."
"Now that this scandal has come out, not only will ordinary fans be swayed, but even die-hard fans will be affected."
"Once we fall out of the top ten, it will be questionable whether we can even get renewals from blue-chip brands next year!"
After listening to Kang Yanyan's rant-like explanation, Fu Ze sat up straight and nodded seriously, indicating that he fully understood the importance of the donation and the subsequent maintenance of Que Ling's personal image.
"Now that things have come to this, how do you expect me to cooperate? Deny everything? Or just find someone to take the blame and make it official, then talk about a peaceful breakup later?"
It was rare to see Que Ling being so cooperative, which eased Kang Yan Yan's anxiety considerably, but she still said irritably, "Forget it, your fans know you better than you do, they've already ruled out the possibility of either of them."
She relayed the information to the two people on and off the screen in detail, saying that after this period of fermentation, the content derived from the front page headline had spread to every corner of the Internet.
Almost the entire internet is digging into the identity of the man who was having an affair with Que Ling, analyzing everything from his appearance to his clothing.
But no matter how hard they dug, they couldn't find a single clue.
Unable to find anything, and in a state of anxiety, the Que Ling fan group, after intense debate and emergency consultation, finally released a statement to the public in the form of a joint statement from the fan clubs:
"We have always supported Que Ling's right to pursue personal happiness, but we refuse to accept a relationship that has grown in the shadows and has yet to be officially recognized."
Having an unknown partner with an unclear background not only makes everyone who cares about them uneasy, but may also pose unpredictable risks to their public image and career development.
Therefore, until the Sparrow Feather Studio makes a formal and honest response to this incident, we will suspend organizing collective support and donation activities for this Starry Night Charity Night.
This action is not a threat, but rather stems from a sense of responsibility and concern for the long-term future of the Sparrow Feather Clan.
Looking at Yuan Jianxing on the other end of the video, Kang Yanyan hesitated for a moment, but ultimately couldn't bring herself to ask him to come forward and claim his identity.
After all, given Yuan Jianxing's position, no matter how open-minded society is, publicly announcing his relationship with Que Ling would definitely have a huge impact on his career.
With things having come to this point, all she could do was have her studio provide a calming and silent treatment while closely monitoring online developments, ready to take advantage of any situation to salvage the situation as much as possible.
Therefore, they didn't notice that Harami Hoshino on the other end of the video seemed to have realized something and seemed to have made some kind of decision because of it.
-
Clearly, Que Ling's fans were not satisfied with the studio's appeasing response.
Now that things have come to this point, simply posting their stance announcement at the top of the super topic is no longer enough to express their attitude.
After all that fuss, night fell once again, and V City became that V City of "one night, one chance" once more.
So the fans of Que Ling bought the top projection screen in the Fengyue Land and solemnly projected the announcement onto it, broadcasting it throughout the city.
At this point, there was only half an hour left before the donation for the Starry Night charity event officially began.
Suddenly, the advertising screens of a certain size or larger surrounding the brothel in V City went dark one after another, and then lit up simultaneously, displaying a blank screen.
At first, pedestrians thought it was just a malfunction.
But upon closer inspection, the blank space seems to have a textured effect similar to that of a wall.
A short while later, a person walked into the frame from the side.
So this wasn't a malfunction, but rather a "surprise attack" deliberately planned by someone!
When the person turned around, their entire face was fully displayed in front of and behind the camera, and many people who had been following the gossip all day exclaimed in surprise.
This is the man who was photographed entangled with Que Ling.
Facing the camera, the man raised his hand and touched the area behind his ear.
Immediately afterwards, his face flickered twice, and in an instant, his appearance completely changed.
Those in the know quickly recognized it: This is an electronic camouflage technology that was phased out by the military and transferred to the General Adjudication Bureau, and one of the common functions of this technology is to generate an "average face".
This is why, despite identifying many "suspects," it was never possible to determine which one it was.
Of course, more than what technology the man in the video used to disguise himself, most netizens are more concerned about his true identity.
For many people, especially fans of the Sparrow Feather character, answering this question is a piece of cake compared to the former.
This is Yuan Jianxing, CEO of V City, and the youngest deputy director of the Adjudication Bureau.
However, at the same time, some people have raised the question: what if this is just the person in the video with a different face?
As if anticipating such skepticism, the man with the face of Harami Hoshi stepped forward, holding the camera with one hand and taking out a paint pen for signing his name with the other.
After removing the pen cap with one hand, he flipped the pen with his five fingers and signed a series of flowing lines on the lens.
Just as everyone was wondering what was going on, the man walked out of the frame, and then the text signed in front of the camera was flipped left and right.
Now everyone understood what those seemingly messy lines meant.
They combine to form three characters—
Originally named Mihoshi.
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Author's Note: I guess I'm still not good at the entertainment industry part [eye roll], let's hurry up and finish this transition [crying]
But I really enjoyed Stephen Chow's silent declaration of sovereignty at the end [winking emoji].
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