Li Weiming sat in the driver’s seat, as if someone had strangled him.

He suspected this was a nightmare that was all too real.

By using underhanded means and stepping on Luo Zhi to get to this point, he had been woken up by nightmares of the truth being exposed, screaming, more than once.

That Weibo post was sent according to CEO Jian’s arrangement. That night, upon receiving the video from Luo Zhi’s private email, Li Weiming completely panicked.

Li Weiming got up, trembling, and desperately replied to Luo Zhi’s email, apologizing and reflecting on his actions. He even recklessly spilled everything about Jian Huaiyi and Ren Chenbai—all the ideas came from those two; he was just their puppet. He kept begging Luo Zhi to be merciful and let him go.

He didn’t dare to sleep, holding his phone and waiting with a terrified heart. But a whole night passed, and that email account didn’t reply to any of his emails.

He tremblingly opened Weibo, only to see another trending topic.

It was a news story. The content was quite objective, just saying that the police had broken into a vehicle in a mall parking lot to rescue someone… But in the few photos attached, the person being rescued was actually Luo Zhi.

The car had long been dismantled beyond recognition. Even if they insisted on sending it back to the factory for repairs, there was probably little hope.

In the photo, Luo Zhi was being put into an ambulance. He looked to be in very poor health, as if he had already lost consciousness, his face pale and his eyes closed.

As for the comment section under the news, it had long been completely overrun by his useful fans.

Because he had just posted that Weibo, the fans were in a state of righteous indignation and in urgent need of an outlet. With almost no discussion, they concluded that Luo Zhi must be playing the victim, pretending to be deeply hurt and suicidal, but had actually already called the police.

He couldn’t believe he had such good luck and went on to read dozens more pages of comments.

Those comments were indeed all cursing Luo Zhi. Playing the victim for show, occupying public resources, why waste time saving such a scumbag, it would be better to just let him end himself, to save him from harming more people.

He also saw quite a few comments promoting Ren Chenbai. Following the links in the replies, he watched a video from a passerby’s perspective and only then realized that it was Ren Chenbai who had carried Luo Zhi out of the car and taken him to the hospital.

…

Seeing this, Li Weiming’s suspended heart finally fell back into his stomach.

No wonder things had gone so smoothly; it turned out Ren Chenbai had stepped in to help.

Then the problem wasn’t so big.

Because of the previous Mrs. Ren, Luo Zhi had always been very tolerant of matters concerning the Ren family.

Li Weiming even sent people to the hospital to investigate secretly. Luo Zhi’s body must have had a very serious problem. He had been resuscitated twice before his life was saved. It was estimated that after the examinations were done, he would be hospitalized indefinitely.

Li Weiming sinfully breathed a sigh of relief. He returned home, ready to get a good night’s sleep this time, and then, at the same time, received an email from Luo Zhi’s private email account again.

It was exactly the same as the previous email.

No subject, no content, nothing said, just a video.

The video showed his most wretched and disgraceful state, the truth of that night.

The truth was that he had presented himself on a platter. Nothing had happened at all that day. Luo Zhi had given him two years of basic salary in exchange for a dry “happy birthday.”

Only Li Weiming himself knew that he hadn’t had to “endure” anything during those two years.

Luo Zhi did as he said and no longer gave him any resources, but he also never mentioned the events of that night on any occasion.

The artist contract at Huaisheng Entertainment was quite lenient. It wasn’t a serious breach of contract for Li Weiming to secretly take on private jobs. And Luo Zhi didn’t seem to notice Li Weiming’s small actions, as if he had completely forgotten about his existence.

Later, Li Weiming’s private jobs became more and more blatant. He luckily became popular with the resources fed to him by Jian Huaiyi. Coupled with striking while the iron was hot by posting that Weibo, he had finally made a complete comeback.

But even though everything was going smoothly, he still felt like he was walking on a tightrope, waiting for this day in constant fear.

…Luo Zhi had no intention of letting him go.

Luo Zhi had somehow bypassed Jian Huaiyi and obtained that video.

Li Weiming suffered from insomnia night after night. He was glorious and successful during the day, but at night, he was tormented by the fixed-time email every evening, unable to sleep as if on a hot griddle.

…

Even knowing that the person was already seriously ill and lying in the hospital, he was still scared to death of Luo Zhi.

He felt too guilty, so guilty that he became suspicious of everything. Only by seeing Luo Zhi’s reputation on the internet get worse and worse could he feel a little at ease.

If Luo Zhi’s reputation was ruined, no one would believe what he said anymore.

As long as he kept desperately having people suppress Luo Zhi, and kept trying to guide his fans to target Luo Zhi, even if Luo Zhi wanted to explain, not many people would have the patience to listen to someone whose reputation was already at rock bottom.

…But why on earth was Luo Zhi so hard to deal with!

Li Weiming had actually started to feel uneasy a few days ago. A passerby had filmed a video of Luo Zhi playing the guitar in the rain and posted it online. Because the scene of everyone running out into the rain together had resonated with many, it had become a small hit.

His fans still viciously cursed that such an evil person deserved it, still trying to put on a show at a time like this, it would be best if he wandered the streets for the rest of his life… But there were always people who were not caught up in this inexplicable hatred.

No matter how desperately his fans tried to “educate” the public, how they copied and pasted all of Luo Zhi’s dirty deeds, comments would still pop up every few days, sighing at the shadow that was about to be washed away by the rain.

There would always be comments sighing, asking what had happened, why he was so sad, someone please take him home.

The momentum was already starting to turn unfavorable, and CEO Jian’s clueless little sister had to stick her oar in, privately contacting those radical fans to go after Luo Zhi, and even setting up some kind of live stream at the hotel entrance.

It was his own fans who had pushed Luo Zhi—of course, in the current climate of public opinion, this was nothing. They had only pushed him down so he couldn’t get up, but what if Luo Zhi’s reputation started to improve?

What if, with Luo Zhi’s death, some marketing account, just for the buzz, suddenly started to reminisce and feel regret? What if they posted a collection of Luo Zhi’s works from when he debuted as a singer, sighing with false sincerity about how talent is envied by the heavens, as if they had never had a hand in the cyberbullying of Luo Zhi?

The deeper one went into this kind of thing, the more there was no turning back, so he had to resort to the most effective method again.

Li Weiming prepared to have his people contact those major fan leaders to carry out a large-scale “popular science” campaign about Luo Zhi’s past deeds on the day of the funeral.

This kind of thing required the coordination of marketing accounts and studios, so he went to find Jian Huaiyi.

But Jian Huaiyi was unreachable, so he came alone to find Ren Chenbai.

Ren Chenbai…

Li Weiming shivered violently, suddenly waking from his daze.

Only then did he realize that Ren Chenbai had long since left.

Li Weiming looked at his phone, which he had thrown on the passenger seat. He tremblingly reached for it, but as soon as he lit up the screen, he threw it far away as if afraid of being bitten by something.

He opened the car door and chased in the direction of the Ren family’s villa. Ren Chenbai was not walking fast, but the time he had been in a daze was not short either. Li Weiming ran until his lungs were about to explode, his legs weak and gasping for breath. He finally caught the person on that road.

Ren Chenbai was stopped by his pull. He stopped and looked him over. “You don’t look scared now.”

Of course, Li Weiming was scared. He was scared to death. But he had already seen a situation worse than death; he would be trampled into the mud like trash by everyone.

“Mr. Ren… I beg you.” Li Weiming’s throat was burning as if he had swallowed a piece of charcoal. He didn’t care about catching his breath, just holding onto Ren Chenbai.

“I’ve done so much for you and CEO Jian. Even if—even if you pity me.”

He couldn’t figure out why Ren Chenbai was doing this, wracking his brains for the right words. “Did I do something wrong? Are you using this to teach me a lesson? I know I was wrong, I will definitely reflect on it. Please put in a good word for me…”

Ren Chenbai looked at him, neither confirming nor denying. “What about Huaisheng Entertainment? Can’t that group of people help you?”

“They all prefer to follow Luo Zhi, you know that!” Li Weiming gritted his teeth. “As soon as Luo Zhi left, it would be good enough if they didn’t dig pits and trip me up!”

His team was all arranged by Jian Huaiyi. They were well-versed in instigating conflict, smearing, and spreading rumors. They were experts at secretly guiding fan emotions. But when it came to this kind of crisis PR, they were completely useless.

Ren Chenbai actually didn’t know. He had never paid attention to this matter. “They all prefer to follow Luo Zhi?”

…It seemed to be true.

After Jian Huaiyi took over Huaisheng Entertainment, the entire company suddenly became lifeless. It no longer had the vigor of everyone striving forward when Luo Zhi was around.

When Luo Zhi was hospitalized, Luo Cheng had indeed complained to him that for some reason, from the managers to the department staff to the agent teams at Huaisheng Entertainment, even the errand runners didn’t give her a good face.

Hearing that Luo Zhi would not be coming back, the artist department was even colder to her. Without CEO Jian’s instructions, they wouldn’t arrange a team or resources for her, nor would they find an agent to manage her.

If it weren’t for this, Luo Cheng wouldn’t have been provoked into finding Director Gong Hanrou on her own, wanting to participate in that documentary.

…

Documentary.

Thinking of Luo Cheng, Ren Chenbai’s eyes suddenly darkened, and a hint of coldness, as if tempered with poison, slowly seeped out.

Li Weiming couldn’t guess what Ren Chenbai was thinking. He only knew to hold on tightly to the sleeve in his hand. “Yes… those people hate me to death.”

“They’re probably adding fuel to the fire right now… They must be doing it. It’s impossible for them to help me.”

Li Weiming slumped down, dejected, and stammered out the real situation at Huaisheng Entertainment.

That Weibo post was fine for fooling outsiders, but internally, no one believed it. He had recently become popular because of that big IP drama, and because of this incident, he had completely soared, taking on many quite good resources and becoming the cash cow of Huaisheng Entertainment… But the way those people looked at him was still getting more and more contemptuous.

The reason why Huaisheng Entertainment had suddenly become so chaotic in Jian Huaiyi’s hands was not only because of Jian Huaiyi’s own lack of ability. It was also because of the managers’ perfunctory laziness. Many people were even already considering job hopping.

Li Weiming even vaguely knew that several department managers within Huaisheng Entertainment had been personally promoted by Luo Zhi and had been secretly investigating his past dirt in collaboration.

“Then why did no one come to the hospital to see Luo Zhi?” Ren Chenbai, who might or might not have been listening to him, asked a question, then suddenly answered it himself. “It was because of me.”

Ren Chenbai said to himself, “I was the one who told the doctor to say Luo Zhi was very ill, could not be disturbed, and could not be visited casually.”

He remembered when Luo Zhi was rescued from the car and sent to the hospital for the first resuscitation, that phone that kept ringing nonstop.

He stared at that ceaselessly ringing phone in disgust, unable to understand why so many people were calling and texting Luo Zhi. So he had casually thrown the phone to his assistant and had the assistant block all those numbers.

Luo Zhi’s phone password? Did he even need to guess something like that? Luo Zhi’s passwords had never changed since he was a child; they were all his mother’s birthday.

This was just a small, unimportant matter. Ren Chenbai no longer wasted his thoughts on it. He had done too many such small, unimportant things.

Those doctors and nurses, hadn’t they also not dared to give Luo Zhi a good face from beginning to end because of his instructions?

“As for Jian Huaiyi, he doesn’t have this kind of ability either… so you can only come and beg me.”

Ren Chenbai cut off those endlessly popping up thoughts. Looking at Li Weiming, who was stuck to his leg and couldn’t be shaken off, he took out his phone and tapped it. “What do you want me to help you say?”

Li Weiming saw his action and a faint glimmer of hope arose. He quickly propped himself up. “Just say the video is fake! Just say it was acted, dubbed… Yes, yes, dubbed!”

“It was Luo Zhi trying to whitewash himself, so he specifically found a voice that sounded very much like mine to dub it. It’s not the truth.” The more Li Weiming spoke, the more hopeful he felt. “The video alone doesn’t prove anything.”

“Because—because I’ve been too popular recently, I’m in someone’s way, so they deliberately collaborated with Luo Zhi to mess with me.”

“Actually, I can also find an outsourced team to operate this narrative… but the effect definitely won’t be as good as you saying it personally.”

Li Weiming seemed to have come back to life, smiling sycophantically, his tone respectful. “Even if I can recover, this time it will definitely hurt me badly. I can only hide for a few years and wait for the storm to pass before making a comeback.”

Ren Chenbai looked at his phone. “If I say it, will they believe it?”

Li Weiming quickly nodded vigorously. “If you help me say it, my fans will definitely believe it.”

“They’re easy to fool. Just give them any reason, and they’ll brainwash themselves and make up stories.” Li Weiming sneered. “And then they’ll think they’re righteous, carrying out justice for heaven…”

Ren Chenbai tapped the screen. “Done.”

Li Weiming was stunned.

He couldn’t figure out how Ren Chenbai could have said it so quickly. He stood there dumbly for a few seconds. Then he suddenly realized something and lunged forward like a madman, snatching Ren Chenbai’s phone.

Li Weiming felt as if he had been nailed to the spot by countless wooden wedges.

Perhaps there were even more wooden wedges being hammered into his body, prying open the seams of his bones, drilling into his flesh, trying to find out what kind of unspeakable filth was inside him.

…Ren Chenbai had recorded his words.

Ren Chenbai had posted this recording on the internet, untouched.

He stared at the screen motionless. He didn’t know how long he had been nailed there like this, until the phone was snatched back by Ren Chenbai.

Li Weiming gave a dry laugh. “Mr. Ren, Mr. Ren.”

“I really,” The phone was gone, but Li Weiming still maintained that ridiculous posture, only his eyes were fixed on Ren Chenbai. “don’t know what you’re trying to do anymore.”

Li Weiming asked him, “This matter, didn’t you have a part in it?”

Ren Chenbai no longer paid any attention to him, putting away his phone.

“If the fish dies, the net breaks. Everyone suffers!”

Li Weiming finally screamed, his previous respect vanishing into thin air, like a fish desperately flopping on the shore before death. “I can email Luo Zhi about you and Jian Huaiyi’s business, and I can post it online just the same! Your shady dealings…”

“You sent Luo Zhi that kind of email?” Ren Chenbai suddenly spoke.

Li Weiming thought he had his fatal weakness and laughed hoarsely. “Yes, you—”

“Makes sense. The first time he sent you the video, you must have been scared silly and told him everything.”

Ren Chenbai nodded. “Perfect. I don’t have to write it myself. Your perspective is more detailed.”

Li Weiming was frozen by this sentence. He paused for a long while, looking at Ren Chenbai in astonishment.

…He thought Ren Chenbai must be crazy.

As for himself, he was an idiot.

He should have realized Ren Chenbai was crazy sooner. He actually dared to approach him.

Why did Ren Chenbai go crazy? Just because Luo Zhi died?

Didn’t Ren Chenbai hate Luo Zhi the most?

“Do you regret it? Do you regret treating Luo Zhi like that?” Li Weiming suddenly connected the cause and effect. “Are you compensating him?”

When he was looking at Ren Chenbai’s phone just now, he had already glanced at the content online. Even if he didn’t see much, there were plenty of examples happening around him every day. He didn’t even need to think to know what would happen next.

His public image was almost completely ruined. His fans were still putting up a last-ditch resistance, insisting the video was fake.

Of course, such a ridiculous claim was only to fool the fans.

But as long as the fans believed, there was still hope for a comeback.

Then he had said all this to Ren Chenbai, and Ren Chenbai had posted it all.

A tainted artist.

Those sky-high contract breach penalties would crush him.

…

It was unknown how long he stood there stunned. Li Weiming’s expression slowly changed from ashen to deathly pale. He sat there in a daze for a long time, then suddenly let out a “ha” of laughter.

“You guys used me to destroy Luo Zhi. Luo Zhi is destroyed, and you feel regret.”

Li Weiming said, “Then you come and crush me to burn as incense for him.”

“Mr. Ren, Ren xiansheng, Ren Chenbai,” Li Weiming couldn’t stop laughing. “Aren’t you afraid Luo Zhi will find it disgusting?”

Ren Chenbai suddenly stared at him, his expression gloomy and cold, his eyes almost blooming with a chilling, bloody color.

Li Weiming was kicked to the ground by him, rolling wretchedly by the roadside, still laughing so hard his stomach hurt. “You tortured Luo Zhi when he was alive, and you regret it after he died? Do you think you’re still deeply in love with him? Mr. Ren, would you want this kind of deep love if it were offered to you?”

“I told you, Luo Zhi is not dead yet,” Ren Chenbai stared at him, forcing out the words one by one. “I’m looking for him.”

“What are you looking for him for? To tell him you like him so much, so much that you’d watch him be harmed and bullied, watch him be plotted against, watch him have a minor celebrity climb into his bed?”

Li Weiming laughed hysterically, laughing as if he would run out of breath the next second. “Does it matter to you whether Luo Zhi is dead or alive? Who are you to him?”

Ren Chenbai was almost provoked into another fit of madness. He strode over and grabbed his collar, the gloom and coldness in his eyes almost about to eat him alive, as if blood would drip out the next moment.

“Now you can speak, Mr. Ren.”

Li Weiming would rather Ren Chenbai beat him to death or cripple him on the spot. Anyway, he was already completely ruined. If Ren Chenbai broke his leg, maybe he could even pay off some of the breach of contract fees.

So Li Weiming’s words became more and more reckless. He looked at Ren Chenbai, not even hiding the clear mockery in his tone. “A piece of trash like me can’t shut your mouth. As long as you can refute it, say whatever you want.”

Ren Chenbai’s chest heaved rapidly. He looked like he wanted to strangle Li Weiming like this, but then his gaze fixed on something behind Li Weiming.

Li Weiming looked back, only to see the air steeped in the night.

But Ren Chenbai suddenly threw Li Weiming away.

“He’s hiding from me,” Ren Chenbai said. “He’s hiding in the villa.”

Ren Chenbai’s voice was too low to be heard clearly. Li Weiming even thought he was trembling.

“He hides there whenever he’s scared. He must be hiding.” Ren Chenbai said in a low voice. “That’s his home…”

Ren Chenbai suddenly heard Luo Zhi let out a sneer.

He heard a voice laughingly say “so disgusting,” and then he remembered Luo Zhi wouldn’t speak like that. He saw Li Weiming’s mocking face.

“Xiao Zhi,” Ren Chenbai couldn’t be sure who had sneered. He wasn’t sure, so he could only explain in a hoarse voice, “I’ll change, bit by bit.”

“I took revenge on him,” Ren Chenbai said to Luo Zhi. “I helped you—”

His phone was snatched by Li Weiming again.

Ren Chenbai came back to his senses and looked at Li Weiming.

Deleting what had been sent out was now meaningless. He wasn’t in a hurry to get his phone back, just wanted to see what else this eighteenth-tier actor who had torn off his mask would do.

“What did you do, Mr. Ren?” Li Weiming scrolled through the phone. “Oh, you posted a video. This video was even obtained by Luo Zhi himself.”

Ren Chenbai suddenly realized what he was doing, his expression instantly turning cold. “Give it to me! Li Weiming—”

Li Weiming was just waiting to be crushed by public opinion and debt. He had nothing more to fear. In fact, he was even hoping Ren Chenbai would beat him up enough to have to pay medical expenses. “And you posted a recording.”

“Why this recording? Because I couldn’t go to Huaisheng Entertainment for help, so I had to come to you.”

Li Weiming shook the phone. “Why couldn’t I go to the people at Huaisheng Entertainment? Because they all hate me to death. They like Luo Zhi.”

Li Weiming kept talking. He looked at Ren Chenbai’s figure, frozen in the shadows, with malicious glee, as if he were talking about something completely unrelated to himself.

He didn’t know if he regretted it or not. If he had listened to Luo Zhi back then, cherished the chance Luo Zhi had given him, maybe everything would be different—even if Luo Zhi had let him go only because of the Ren family, he had still trampled on Luo Zhi’s kindness. He couldn’t resist the temptation and took another path, a path with no return.

But Luo Zhi would never need his cheap, after-the-fact regret, a regret born only because he had met with great misfortune and his future was ruined.

Just as Luo Zhi would never need these people’s compensation.

Li Weiming knew he was trash, but he discovered that Ren Chenbai actually didn’t know it yet.

Ren Chenbai actually didn’t know yet, still refused to accept the fact that Luo Zhi was dead, still thinking of finding Luo Zhi to compensate him.

“It was CEO Luo who let me go back then, and it’s CEO Luo who is making me suffer the consequences now.”

“Stop being disgusting, Ren Chenbai. What have you done?”

Li Weiming put the phone back in his shirt pocket and patted it. “Keep being crazy. You won’t find him.”