Wang Zheng: "@Qi Yuan, Art School the day after tomorrow."
Wang Congcong: "@Jiang Cheng, found it—the guy's family only runs a software company."
Qin Fen: "I found it too, info's here."
Wang Zheng: "Move straight in or what??"
Jiang Cheng: "Thanks, I'll handle it myself."
"..."
In less than five minutes, Hao Liang's details were dug up.
It wasn't that Jiang Cheng wanted to flex what little power he had; the guy had literally shoved his face in front of Jiang Cheng's fist.
Not hitting back would be rude, right?
What enraged him most was that they'd deliberately painted Lin Qingxue's relationship with him as shady—money for sex.
The language was vicious.
They were clearly trying to ruin a girl's reputation.
If the post kept circulating, how could Lin Qingxue ever show her face on campus again?
Right then, behind their screens, Hao Liang and Zhang Wei watched the comments and curses multiply and secretly gloated.
Zhang Wei kept cursing while fanning the flames and deleting every post defending Jiang Cheng.
Mid-deletion, his account suddenly logged out.
When he tried to log back in, nothing worked.
No way—his account had vanished.
Had they been found out?
Zhang Wei's face drained of color.
He suddenly recalled Jiang Cheng slapping him in the lounge that day.
If Jiang Cheng discovered he was behind this, he'd be toast.
Only now did Zhang Wei grasp the price of being exposed.
Being a troll feels great—until it ruins your life.
Let him be a keyboard warrior in the shadows and he's game; face-to-face with Jiang Cheng? Honestly, he wouldn't dare.
Zhang Wei shook his head and quickly tried another account.
None of them would log in either.
Panicking, he grabbed his phone and voice-called Hao Liang.
Just as Jiang Cheng suspected, the post had been a joint effort.
After hearing Hao Liang had been publicly humiliated by Jiang Cheng, Zhang Wei contacted him. Both were in the Student Union, both had chased Lin Qingxue, both had been shamed by Jiang Cheng in public.
Bonded by that, they quickly drafted a plan to smear Jiang Cheng online.
Hao Liang even used family connections to buy a wave of bots and boost the thread's heat.
Their goal: ruin Jiang Cheng and Lin Qingxue.
And they showed Lin Qingxue no mercy.
Though they'd both liked her, she hadn't come home last night.
Love turned to hate, and they painted her as a gold-digging b*tch.
In plain words: if they couldn't have her, they'd destroy her.
They'd make Lin Qingxue see how miserable life with Jiang Cheng could be.
After a year of simping they'd failed to win her; days into the term she'd jumped into Jiang Cheng's arms—twisting their minds.
"President Hao, my account suddenly won't log in—looks hacked. Did we get caught?" Zhang Wei stammered.
Hao Liang took a deep breath to steady himself. "Relax, mine's down too. Might be a system glitch—try another."
His account had also just dropped; relogging was impossible.
"I tried, still can't. What if we've been found?"
"Chill—even if the accounts got nuked, they're only smurfs. How would he know who we are?"
The moment he said it, Hao Liang's phone buzzed non-stop: every bot reported their accounts had turned black.
Frowning, he reopened the school website.
Now even the site returned a 404—dead.
A coder himself, Hao Liang finally realized they'd all been hacked.
If only the school site had gone down, he wouldn't worry.
But the attacker had first nuked their accounts, then the forum and site—clearly targeting them.
That thought sent cold sweat down Hao Liang's back.
"The school site's down too—what do we do, President Hao?" Zhang Wei sounded ready to cry.
Hao Liang, after all, was vice-president of the Student Union with money at home.
Zhang Wei was just an average kid.
If Jiang Cheng found out he'd schemed behind his back, campus life would become hell.
Jiang Cheng, meanwhile, seemed unaffected—he showed up for Military Training that afternoon as usual.
He hadn't changed his routine because of the posts; Ren Jun again assigned him to coast at school.
The class had already accepted—and grown used to—Jiang Cheng's training style.
They'd been drinking his milk tea for days; even if he was using connections, no one minded.
A free drink shuts mouths; enjoying perks from a Tycoon classmate left nothing to complain about.
Back in the lounge, Jiang Cheng asked Ren Jun, "Instructor Ren, heard about the forum?"
Ren Jun nodded. "Caught wind this morning. Your classmates are great—already online defending you."
Jiang Cheng nodded. "Since you know and still let me coast here, isn't that a bit obvious?"
Ren Jun scratched his head, embarrassed. "So what? I've already reported it—no big deal, relax."
"Reported to whom?"
"The Captain who gave me my orders, of course!"
Realizing he'd spilled, Ren Jun's eyes flickered; he quickly slapped his forehead, made an excuse, and left.
Jiang Cheng had assumed some school official, but the military? That had to be his never-met Grandfather.
With that worry gone, Jiang Cheng napped even more guilt-free—while the administration panicked.
The Principal roared at the sudden 404 on the school promo page.
It was enrollment season, right in the middle of Military Training.
Freshman publicity was crucial.
It was also a required item for higher-ups' evaluation.
Yet the site had been slammed with trojans and taken down.
"Get someone to fix it NOW—put the promo and welcome summary back up immediately!"
"Yes, yes—finding help right away!"
Just then Wang Congcong arrived at the Principal's door, security in tow.
Hearing the roar inside, he grinned and sauntered in.