Chapter 100: Chapter 98: Checkmated by This Woman

“The scandal involving internet celebrity Ah Hao coercing an employee continues to escalate, and the man himself has yet to make any statement or offer an explanation…”

The voice from the video made Lao Chen, Sister Hong, and the others exchange glances.

After all, they all knew this Ah Hao.

They had just borrowed his family’s yacht for a video shoot not long ago. And now he was in trouble?

They hadn’t actually been following the news.

The members of Second-Life Star all pulled out their phones and started searching for related stories.

This kind of gossip might not be that interesting if it were about a stranger, but when it was about an acquaintance, it was a different story. They couldn’t miss a single detail.

Lao Chen and the others quickly learned the whole story, each of them wearing a look of disbelief.

“Holy shit, isn’t that the girl in blue we met when we got off the yacht?” Lao Chen blurted out. “Ah Hao signed her, and he already took her to a hotel? That’s even faster than our boss… uh… really fast!”

Lao Chen’s face was a picture of embarrassment; he had almost let something inappropriate slip out.

But even though he hadn’t finished his sentence, everyone else understood. They all subconsciously glanced at Chen Jincheng.

“What are you looking at me for? Am I that kind of person?” Chen Jincheng snapped, then added righteously, “Your boss is a man of integrity. Am I like Lin Hao, a guy who preys on his own staff?”

“Uh!” Lao Chen grunted, completely floored that his boss could say something so shameless.

But seeing his boss looking at him, he immediately said with a straight face, “Of course the boss isn’t that kind of person. You’ve never touched a single girl in the company.”

Honestly, the people of Second-Life Star could have accepted their boss’s righteous speech—he was the boss, after all.

But what Lao Chen said was too much. Wasn’t that just a blatant lie?

Xiaoliao and Xiaohai silently gave him the middle finger, making Lao Chen’s cheek twitch. He really wanted to slap himself. If his mouth hadn’t been so quick, he wouldn’t have had to say something so contrary to his conscience.

“Looks like Ah Hao is live,” Sister Hong, who was also following the news on Lin Hao, suddenly said.

At that, everyone from Second-Life Star scrambled to open Ah Hao’s livestream channel.

Chen Jincheng did the same. He saw that Lin Hao’s stream had started, but he hadn’t appeared on screen yet.

Sister Feiye sensed the strange atmosphere and asked, “You all know this Ah Hao?”

Sister Hong explained, “Sister Feiye, you might not know, but this Ah Hao is a good friend of our boss. He’s a pretty decent guy. We never expected him to be secretly filmed and get into this kind of mess.”

’A decent guy?’

Sister Feiye was stunned. ’How could a guy who forces himself on his employees be considered decent?’

But then she thought about their boss, Chen Jincheng, “the number one scumbag on the entire internet.” It was only natural that his employee wouldn’t dare to speak the truth.

Thinking of Chen Jincheng’s reputation as the internet’s number one scumbag, she couldn’t help but let her gaze linger on him a little longer.

Chen Jincheng’s attention, however, was focused on Lin Hao’s livestream. Lin Hao had just appeared, looking exactly as he had been instructed: wearing a mask, he sat down in front of the screen with a guilty expression.

Seeing this, Chen Jincheng had to admit the guy had some acting chops.

“Ah Hao looks really guilty,” Lao Chen said, taken aback.

Indeed, the viewers in the livestream also noticed Ah Hao’s guilty demeanor. Moreover, more and more people were flooding into the channel.

Most of them were there to curse him out. After all, many people were filled with righteous indignation over scandals involving coercion, especially the men—because the girl was very pretty.

But the barrage of curses soon turned into a screen full of a single, unified phrase:

“Male Lead!”

“Male Lead!”

“Male Lead!”

“…”

Chen Jincheng knew exactly what was happening. This was the work of an online water army, helping to build Lin Hao’s “Male Lead” persona.

Besides, when “Male Lead” was associated with the Lin Hao incident, everyone easily got the reference—wasn’t he the male lead in a porno? Once the angry mob got it, they thought it was a way to mock him, so they also started spamming the two words “Male Lead” to taunt him.

Little did they know, they were falling right into the trap.

On the internet, many people are destined to be led by the nose.

Finally, as if he couldn’t take it anymore, Lin Hao spoke in a tone thick with embarrassment, “Everyone, please stop spamming ’Male Lead.’ This is really awkward, seriously!”

This only made the people in the livestream spam the two words “Male Lead” even more enthusiastically.

But suddenly, Lin Hao’s stream went black. The broadcast had been cut.

This left all the viewers staring at each other’s comments, wondering what had happened.

At Ah Hao Media, Lin Hao stood up from his chair in high spirits. He took off his mask and gave a thumbs-up to Luo Xin, the Blue-clothed War God, who had just unplugged the network cable. “Nice job. Now, let’s go find the police. Remember to take pictures later, and make me look extra scummy.”

Everything was going according to plan.

「…」

「In the restaurant.」

Chen Jincheng watched as Lin Hao’s livestream cut out and smiled.

’Lin Hao should be on his way to see the police now.’

Lao Chen, Xiaoliao, and the others, however, were confused.

“Why did the stream suddenly cut out?”

“Don’t tell me Ah Hao is really in trouble?”

Sister Feiye’s phone was also on Ah Hao’s stream. Seeing it disconnect while people were still furiously spamming “Male Lead” in mockery, she knew he had earned everyone’s wrath.

“Alright, let’s not worry about that for now. Let’s eat and drink up,” Chen Jincheng said, putting away his phone and addressing the table.

At once, everyone started eating and drinking again. But captivated by Lin Hao’s situation, they couldn’t possibly ignore it. From time to time, they would still pull out their phones to check for updates on Lin Hao.

Sister Feiye was among them.

A major influencer like her with 17 million fans wouldn’t normally pay attention to a minor influencer’s sordid affair. But knowing that this Ah Hao was Chen Jincheng’s friend and that everyone from Second-Life Star was watching, things were different.

It was as if the incident was happening to someone in her own circle, and she couldn’t help but keep checking for news.

Just as the dinner was about to end, she looked at Chen Jincheng in astonishment and said, “Your friend was arrested by the police.”

As she spoke, Xiaoliao also cried out, “Ah Hao really got arrested!”

Lao Chen added in shock, “I just saw a photo of him being arrested, too! What else did he do?”

Chen Jincheng took out his phone and also saw the photo Lao Chen and the others were talking about. It was already trending. It was a picture of Lin Hao with two police officers.

The key thing was that Lin Hao was standing between the two officers, looking completely dejected. No matter how you looked at it, it seemed he’d been caught.

Moreover, he had cunningly draped a shirt over his hands, making anyone who saw it subconsciously assume he was wearing a pair of silver bracelets underneath.

“His stream cut out so suddenly just now… Don’t you think the police showed up at his door?” Xiaoliao suddenly realized.

Hearing this, Chen Jincheng’s smile widened. ’If even Xiaoliao thinks that, then there’s no question what everyone else online will think.’

Sister Feiye sighed. “Your friend is probably finished this time. Not even an Immortal could save him now. He was arrested by the police. It looks like besides the coercion scandal, there was something else, something more serious. Even A-list celebrities are afraid of this kind of thing, let alone an internet celebrity.”

Chen Jincheng laughed at her words. “Not necessarily. Maybe he’ll get lucky and shoot straight to the top-tier of influencers instead.”

“How is that possible?” Sister Feiye shook her head firmly. “He’s dead in the water. The police got involved.”

Seeing her confident expression, Chen Jincheng gave a wicked smile. “Sister Feiye, since you’re so sure, how about we make a bet? The winner gets to ask the loser for one favor, anything within their power to grant. How about it?”

Hearing this, Sister Feiye replied decisively, “A surefire win? Why wouldn’t I take that bet? I’ll bet that your friend *won’t* be finished, and that he’ll become a top-tier influencer!”

“???” Chen Jincheng was speechless.

When he heard Sister Feiye agree to the bet, a smile had spread across his face. But as soon as she finished speaking, his smile froze.

He was completely dumbfounded.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep