Chapter 55: Hope Amidst the Chaos of War.
Shu Qing's first suspicions were of Hu You and his subordinates—she hadn't known Hu You's attitude before. But yesterday's argument had made Hu You's stance very clear, and she couldn't pretend to be blind.
But as she continued reading the article on the public account, her doubts weakened, and in the end, she frowned.
The article was written in a sarcastic tone, but it revealed its true intentions in just a few sentences. Clearly, he only knew that the Superpower Management Bureau had taken the little gecko back, but he knew nothing of the specifics, let alone that the little gecko's reaction was due to its overly acute senses.
In his description, the little gecko was persecuted by the studio's customers, but due to some unknown force, it dared not resist and was forced to cut off its tail to survive—this part is described in a tragic and pitiful 300 words, and is accompanied by a picture of a gecko with a cut-off tail.
The injustice was only discovered after it was taken back by the Supermarket Management Bureau, which is now negotiating with Youling Studio. However, Youling Studio is backed by the Qi Group, and the outcome of the negotiations is currently unknown.
"He's got such an imagination," Shu Qing commented as she watched. "He's better at writing than I am. Why doesn't he just write short plays?"
Qi Yun said dejectedly, "Because writing this doesn't make money."
"..."
Shu Qing quickly skimmed through this fabricated story: it started with an accident involving a little gecko, and apart from the crucial point of "what exactly happened," which was hard to fake, and was just a bunch of nonsensical ramblings, the rest of the plot was just a bunch of logical, generic events that barely matched what had happened in the last two days.
Hu You's people should have known the truth. But if it wasn't them, who else could it be?
Shu Qing continued scrolling down. The last paragraph began to emphasize the value of the story, repeating what Shu Qing had said in the preview of "The Monster Compendium": Monsters are not commodities to be made money from, but living beings just like us. Her words still echoed in her ears, yet such a thing had happened in just half a month. Could it be that the Qi Group was also going to follow in Hui Yao's footsteps?
Shu Qing subconsciously exchanged a glance with Qi Yun: This accusation is quite serious.
She immediately opened the short video platform. At this time, the article on the marketing account hadn't gone viral yet, and there were only a few scattered inquiries about the situation on Youling Studio's official account. On her own personal account, almost no one mentioned it. Everyone was eagerly waiting for an update.
"It feels like they're targeting you," Shu Qing asked Qi Yun. "Does your family have any enemies?"
"In the business world, everyone is an enemy. How would I know who it will be?"
It seems we have to resort to the same old trick. Shu Qing sent a message to Jiu Su, asking him to come to the studio sometime. Qi Yun brought Niannian over, and the two of them waited and discussed things.
“I’m afraid that even if we find out who it is, it won’t be of any use.” Shu Qing explained the situation of the little gecko to Qi Yun. “The one about Jin Yaoyao last time was just a rumor, and it was cleared up. But this time… although this article was also made up, it’s true that the little gecko was stressed because it came into contact with too many people.”
Qi Yun asked, "You mean, if things get out of hand, we'll still have to respond to this issue?"
"Hmm." Shu Qing nodded. "Your family must have a PR person, right? Ask them what to do."
Their studio is still small and doesn't have a dedicated public relations team.
Qi Yun did as instructed and asked. The other staff members opened the door as usual to welcome today's customers.
Occasionally, a few people would ask about the baby gecko, and all I would say was, "We'll see how it goes in a few days." In any case, the baby gecko needs time to recover, and whether it will be suitable to appear in the Spirit Studio once it has recovered depends on the assessment of the Nursery Department and its own wishes.
Jiu Su received Shu Qing's message and came over at noon. She retrieved a chat log based on an article on the official WeChat account.
Unfortunately, the other party was still an account of unknown origin. Judging from the chat content, it seemed to be just an ordinary staff member of the Super Admin Bureau making a whistleblower, but there were many inconsistencies in the words and sentences, and it was hard to say whether it was an act.
The Qi Group also sent over a public relations plan, which can be summarized as: wait. Hold back for now, observe what the other side is trying to do, and then take action; otherwise, it might escalate the situation and damage your reputation.
It sounded a bit off, but it also seemed to make sense... After discussing it, Shu Qing and Qi Yun decided that since they had already sought help from professionals, they should respect their opinions and thus adopted the suggestion to leave it for the time being.
Seeing that Shu Qing looked tired, Jiu Su automatically leaned against her to be a pillow and suggested, "Shall I take a nap with you?"
Shu Qing hummed in agreement, wrapped her arms around his waist, and, not satisfied, simply hung herself on his body, letting him carry her to the nearby lounge. She then rested her head on his lap and closed her eyes.
"I'll just sleep for half an hour," she mumbled sleepily, tugging at his sleeve. "We have to continue filming this afternoon."
"Yes, I know."
Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. She wanted to get a good night's sleep, but when she woke up suddenly, she found herself in an unfamiliar place again. Looking around, it resembled a town ravaged by war, with ruins everywhere, the base of the walls blackened by flames. As far as the eye could see, everyone around her was thin and pale, either injured or sick.
Ever since she had talked things out with Jiu Su, she had never had any more dreams about her past life, but unexpectedly, she suddenly relived them at noon today.
"...Is it because I have something on my mind that I'm prone to having these kinds of dreams?" she wondered, seemingly enlightened. "I didn't dream at all a few days ago when I wasn't troubled. Is it because of that article on the public account that I had this dream again today?"
But soon, she was immersed in the dream, in which she was rescuing a seriously wounded soldier. The soldier had a bloody, mangled wound running down his spine, almost exposing the bone. The edges of the wound were clean, as if it had been made by a sharp blade, but the wound was also very wide, unlike that of an ordinary weapon.
“Wind Blade.” Jiu Su beside her said calmly, “If a wind blade enters the body, it will either kill or cripple you. Just do your best.”
These words were undeniably cold-blooded, yet the surrounding wounded awaiting treatment remained unmoved—looking around, there were more people lying on the ground than standing upright in this town; those who could stand upright and wait for her treatment were the lucky few; the majority lay dead on the ground, unclaimed.
Ashu didn't speak, her hands moving swiftly. The wound needed stitches, and she had no anesthetic on hand, so she relied entirely on Jiu Su's palm strike to knock the injured man unconscious, achieving a physical anesthesia effect.
However, the effect of physical anesthesia was not good. Although the injured person was unconscious, she was still in so much pain that her whole body was convulsing. She was completely focused on dealing with the huge wound and had no energy left to talk to Jiu Su.
Jiu Su, who is usually petty and prone to jealousy, didn't say anything sarcastic this time and silently handed her some medicine.
The wound was finally stitched up, but it was uncertain whether the person would survive. Ashu didn't have time to think about it and immediately went to check on the next person.
The next injured person was a little girl, who looked to be no more than ten years old. She was being held by a woman and lay silently in her arms. The girl's small face was flushed, her eyes were tightly closed, her whole body was burning hot, her hands were trembling uncontrollably, and her mouth was opening and closing, but she couldn't even utter a groan.
Ashu felt her pulse but couldn't find anything wrong, so she pulled Jiu Su over to take a look. Jiu Su used her demonic power to examine her meridians and internal organs and asked, "Are there any burn marks on her body? If so, she was injured by the embers of the fire rat."
The two of them had already worked together very well. When it came to ordinary wounds, or accidental injuries caused by the immortals' magic or magical artifacts, it was Ashu who would make the diagnosis. As for injuries caused by certain demons, Ashu couldn't make a judgment, so he would ask Jiusu to take a look. After taking a look, they would discuss how to treat them.
Jiu Su had a head of silver hair and didn't look human at all, so the woman didn't dare to look at him. However, upon hearing the question, she nodded repeatedly, reached out and lifted the girl's trouser leg, and sure enough, there was a burn scar on her ankle.
“I can suck the flames out,” Jiu Su said to Ashu, “but her internal organs have been burned. Even if I suck out the flames, she will hardly survive. What do you think?”
He spoke without any regard for the patient's family's feelings, not even lowering his voice, and the woman heard it all. She immediately burst into tears, her blurred, tearful eyes pleadingly looking at Ashu, her lips trembling, futilely uttering hoarse cries of "Ah, ah."
This is a mute woman.
Ashu placed his fingers on the girl's pulse, neither nodding nor shaking his head, only saying, "Suck it out first."
Jiu Su placed one hand on the girl's forehead, and wisps of white mist flowed into her body. After turning around once, the mist, carrying wisps of firelight, surged out. Jiu Su closed her palm, and the white mist and firelight merged and instantly vanished.
The crimson on the girl's face faded instantly in the firelight, revealing her original pale complexion. Her face was bloodless, almost tinged with a dull gray.
Ashu kept feeling her pulse and remained silent. "Burning internal organs" was not an exaggeration, but a realistic summary of the symptoms. Even with her specially made medicine, she probably wouldn't survive.
The mute woman still looked at her pleadingly, her eyes filled with tears that seemed never to dry, her face mottled, crisscrossed with red welts like whip marks from the tears.
Ashu pursed her lips, ultimately unable to bear it, and took out a pill. She felt the girl's pulse, hoping that the pill would improve her condition.
Fortunately, the pills made by the disciples of Liuxia Peak were indeed effective. After a moment, the girl stirred slightly, opened her eyes a crack with difficulty, and moved her lips as if she had used all her strength to say something.
The dying person's voice was too weak; not only the mute woman, but even Ashu couldn't hear it clearly. Only Jiu Su, a naturally born spiritual being with keen hearing and sight, repeated, "She said, 'Help!'"
The mute woman knelt down and began to wail loudly.
Ashu couldn't speak, clearly feeling the pulse under her fingers gradually weakening, her heart feeling like it was blocked by a heavy lump of blood. She raised her head and looked outside again—her makeshift clinic was a dilapidated house she had found in the town, barely enough to stay in, and it was in a remote location, yet the entire alley was still filled with wounded soldiers and patients suffering from the war.
Everyone looked numb, and their eyes were dim when they looked at her.
Only a faint glimmer of hope, like a flickering ember in the ashes, refused to be extinguished completely and continued to beat on its death throes.
She suddenly stood up.
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