Yan Ji sat cross-legged on the bed with her laptop balanced in her arms, eagerly clicking right into the number one trending topic. She followed the trail of breadcrumbs from one of the major entertainment bloggers and began reading through the post.
The article was incredibly wordy, but the overarching narrative was clear— Yan Ji allegedly led a chaotic private life and was nothing more than a promiscuous woman. To back up the claim, an explicit video was supposedly circulating online.
Several screenshots were attached beneath the text, reportedly captured directly from the video. While the most explicit areas had been heavily pixelated, the woman in the frames— with her eyes closed and brows tightly furrowed— was the spitting image of Yan Ji.
Impressive.
Yan Ji clicked her tongue in genuine amazement.
The comments section was a toxic wasteland, yet she didn’t care in the slightest. With total leisure, she scrolled through and read them one by one.
【Holy sh*t! Is this actually real?! I can’t believe it, I literally worshipped her like a goddess!】
【So those old rumors were actually true? I even defended her back then. Now I just feel disgusted.】
【No way. My goddess would never do something like this!】
【Upstairs, are you blind? The photos and video are literally out there, and you’re still defending her?】
Just as Yan Ji was thoroughly getting into the drama, her phone on the nightstand suddenly blared to life.
She picked it up and glanced at the screen. It was Zhang Tong.
“Hello?”
“My little ancestor, did you offend someone recently? Why is bucket after bucket of absolute filth being dumped on your head right now?” Zhang Tong sounded like he was about to cry. The moment he had seen the headlines earlier, he had nearly fainted from pure rage.
Ever since Yan Ji worked with Director Lin, Zhang Tong had personally signed her and managed her career over the last few years. How could he, her own manager, not know if his artist was supposedly sleeping around?
Yan Ji replied with complete nonchalance, “How should I know? Maybe someone is just deeply jealous of my beauty……”
Who else could it be?
It was obviously Qin Yu.
Zhang Tong choked on his own breath. “At a time like this, you’re still in the mood to crack jokes? If we don’t handle this perfectly, your entire career is finished!”
He felt like his skull was about to fracture from the pressure.
Yan Ji had been in the industry for several years without a single blemish on her record, and now scandal after scandal was dropping out of nowhere. It was obvious that someone wanted to completely destroy her.
A dangerous, icy glint flashed through Yan Ji’s eyes. “Relax. Nothing is going to happen to me.”
“You……” Zhang Tong suddenly went dead silent, as if he had just witnessed something entirely unbelievable. When he spoke again, overwhelming surprise and delight flooded his voice, “Holy sh*t, hurry up and look online! One of your fans is literally livestreaming right now, running an analysis to prove the video and photos are deepfakes!”
As he yelled into the receiver, a link pinged on her phone.
Yan Ji hung up and tapped on the URL. The screen immediately transitioned directly into a live broadcast.
On the screen stood a man wearing a mask. He offered a casual wave toward the camera, speaking in a deliberately raspy, altered voice, “Hello everyone, I go by the name Black Mist. I’m a hacker…… though you could just call me a tech expert. Recently, there’s been an absurd amount of filth hurled at my goddess. Photos, videos, the whole nine yards. But as I dug into it, I stumbled upon something rather fascinating.”
The camera angle shifted, focusing squarely on his monitor.
The computer screen displayed the exact images currently tearing up the trending charts on Weibo as Black Mist continued to narrate.
“The photos are fake. The videos are fake, too. Whoever fabricated this garbage actually has decent skills, but unfortunately for them, they ran into me.”
Black Mist was already a legendary figure in the cybersecurity underworld. No one had expected him to suddenly emerge from the shadows to personally clear a celebrity’s name, and the livestream’s viewer count skyrocketed into the millions within minutes.
Over the next hour, Black Mist meticulously dissected every structural flaw hidden within the fabricated photos and video frames. He even traced the original source images used to splice the deepfakes together, completely shattering the narrative.
When the livestream ended, Yan Ji fell silent for a short moment before opening her chat with Zhang Tong.
【Nine-Tailed: I recorded Black Mist’s entire broadcast. Go find a few more high-profile tech experts and have them analyze the media as well. Compile their breakdowns and send the files to me.】
【Nine-Tailed: Make a comprehensive list of every major blogger who propagated the smear campaign. The second the compilation video is ready, slap them all with lawyer’s letters.】
【Zhang Tong: Legal action? Have you really thought it through?】
【Nine-Tailed: Some people need to learn the hard way that malicious actions come with consequences.】
After hitting send, Yan Ji’s lips curled into a cold smile.
Zhang Tong didn’t argue. He quickly tracked down several leading tech experts to record their own analysis videos. Yan Ji personally organized the footage, had the redundant segments edited out, and then recorded a brief video of her own to upload directly to Weibo.
Consequently, whether they were gossiping bystanders, loyal fans, or bitter anti-fans, everyone across the network received the notification for Yan Ji’s new post at the exact same time.
The moment users clicked play, Yan Ji’s flawlessly radiant face filled the screen.
“Recently, there has been a lot of garbage thrown my way, so I’d like to clarify a few things right off the bat.” She said directly into the camera. “The photos and videos circulating are entirely fake, and every single accusation tied to them is fabricated slander.”
As she spoke, she casually tore open a bag of chips and popped one into her mouth, looking utterly unbothered.
“At the same time, I want to extend a massive thank you to my fan, Black Mist. Thank you for stepping up to defend me when things looked bleak. As a token of my appreciation, I’m gifting you one of my limited-edition signed photo albums.”
Yan Ji held up a sleek album and flipped it open, revealing page after page of stunning photos, each complete with her elegant signature in the corner.
She furrowed her brows in mock distress. “I originally wanted to handpick only the absolute prettiest photos for you, but then I looked through them and realized…… I look incredible in every single one.”
She let out a helpless, playful sigh.
“If Black Mist is watching this, please DM me your shipping address. As for everyone else— whether you’re here for the drama, a fan, or just a hater— please watch the next segment closely. Here comes the experts’ analysis.
Oh, and one last thing. The accounts that pioneered these rumors will all be receiving formal lawyers’ letters from my agency by tonight. Consider yourselves warned. Bye-bye.”
Yan Ji faded from the screen, leaving the rest of the runtime to the meticulous, frame-by-frame analysis footage compiled by Black Mist and the other tech experts.
Predictably, Weibo underwent another absolute meltdown.
Barely three hours had passed since the scandal first broke, yet Yan Ji had already executed a flawless counterattack, delivering a brutal psychological slap to the faces of the malicious bloggers and anti-fans alike. In the history of entertainment PR, it was nothing short of the comeback of the year.
Yan Ji’s name climbed back up to the summit of the trending charts. Seizing the perfect window of opportunity, the official account for the drama 《Twins》 released the promotional costume photos, seamlessly riding her wave of viral popularity to secure a top spot on the hot search list right alongside her.
【LMAO, I knew my goddess was innocent! Shoutout to Boss Black Mist!】
【I am so incredibly jealous that Black Mist scored an entire signed lookbook from the goddess, wuuwuuwuu. Why didn’t I learn how to code?!】
【This is literally the first time I’ve ever seen a celebrity debunk a career-ending rumor while eating chips and shamelessly complementing herself. She is a majestic mudslide in a stream of pure water[1]uniquely chaotic and hilariously unbothered jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2454294_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2454294_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });! I have no choice but to stan.】
【Goddess Yan looks breathtakingly gorgeous in the official stills! That eye contact between her and Xiao Ming is absolutely electric!】
【Thinking back to how they interacted at the awards ceremony, those two definitely have something going on behind the scenes!】
【My family’s Yanyan is an absolute queen! She actually went through with suing those massive marketing accounts. This move was badass!】
……
“A bunch of useless, incompetent trash!”
Qin Yu glared at the overflowing praise on her feed and furiously hurled the water glass in her hand across the room, shattering it against the table. Her eyes turned venomous, burning with a sinister, murderous intent as she stared fixedly at Yan Ji’s radiant face on the screen.
Only after a long, agonizing silence did she manage to rein in her fury.
Slowly, she traced a manicured finger across Yan Ji’s digital image, her lips curving into a soft, chilling smile. “You got lucky this time. But next time, fortune won’t be on your side.”
She refused to believe that a mere mortal could continuously outmaneuver her.
……
Once the online storm finally blew over, Zhang Tong called Yan Ji back. While emotionally venting about how absurdly lucky she was, he practically wept tears of gratitude to the heavens that one of her hardcore fans just so happened to be a computer genius. Otherwise, she would have been consumed by public opinion.
He sincerely pleaded with Yan Ji to maintain a lower profile and turn over a new leaf. If he had to endure a few more of these heart-stopping crises, he was going to retire early due to chronic stress.
“Don’t worry so much.” Yan Ji said, looking down at the two new message notifications popping up on her WeChat as she smiled faintly. “If this exact scenario repeats itself a few more times, the public will only realize that someone is systematically targeting me. They won’t buy into the lies so easily next time.”
Still plagued by anxiety, Zhang Tong nagged her with a few more strict reminders before finally letting her hang up.
Switching back to her chat interface, she saw two unread messages waiting for her.
【Meng Yiming: Don’t take the garbage on Weibo to heart. When your popularity skyrockets, trouble naturally follows. Now that it’s cleared up, let it go.】
【Xue Yang: Are you there?】
Yan Ji completely ignored Xue Yang’s message, opening her chat with Meng Yiming instead.
【Nine-Tailed: It’s fine. I didn’t let it bother me.】
【Meng Yiming: Get some rest. Filming officially kicks off tomorrow.】
【Nine-Tailed: You too.】
【Meng Yiming: Okay.】
Locking her phone, Yan Ji pulled her knees up to her chest, resting her chin on them as she sank into deep, calculated thought.
Meng Yiming had, more or less, taken the bait.
Xue Yang wasn’t going to escape her grasp either.
So…… who should her next target be?
References[+]