Chapter 704: Tangning Fights Back
8pm. Another difficult amount of waiting.
The author paced back and forth at home in honest fear. He realized Hai Rui wasn't easy to deal with and that he shouldn't have agreed to Song Xin's suggestion from the start because of greed. He had actually believed Song Xin's words and thought that Hai Rui would never discover the truth. Who would have thought…
…Hai Rui was Hai Rui for a reason. A person like him should have never underestimated them!
"What should I do? What should I do?" Due to guilt, the author once again gave Song Xin a phone call. However, Song Xin did not answer his call.
Even though she doubted that Hai Rui would be able to find any more information, she was sneaky enough to avoid the author's phone calls to reduce her risk of being discovered.
In reality, the fact that Hai Rui got screenshots and discovered the novel was written by multiple people, was already beyond her expectations. She never imagined that they had even more.
Soon, 8pm arrived.
As nosy observers, the netizens were ready to welcome new revelations. They were curious if Hai Rui had anything else to show them.
However, they never expected to witness a spectacular catfight. But wait, this was no ordinary catfight, it had become a suspenseful mystery.
The time was right and Hai Rui's website had a new update. And this newest update contained a video.
Appearing on the video was a famous editor of an online literary website and beside her sat a laptop that was logged into a website management system. Of course, all that she wanted to show the public were a few things that those within the industry already knew about.
Within the video, she made an edit to a chapter of a novel that had been published a few years ago and replaced the old chapter with completely new content. This demonstrated the flexibility of the industry in this regard.
It had nothing to do with its contract; the content could be easily changed at a later date!
After watching the video, the public quickly understood what Hai Rui was trying to demonstrate.
Why did everyone focus on the date of the contract and not consider that 'The Tracker' may have been completely replaced with new content at a later date? This explained why there were multiple writers.
Because, if multiple people worked on it, it was possible to produce an entire novel in a short period of time.
Oh God!
So, this was the truth! The culprit had merely used an illusion to almost get away with a huge crime.
Observers of the incident were shocked. They originally thought that it was a simple case of plagiarism, but they never imagined that it involved so many schemes and secrets.
After the truth was revealed, everyone fell silent!
It didn't take long before Fang Yu accepted an interview with the media and provided a conclusion for the entire incident.
"Hai Rui believes that everyone can already determine the truth. Regarding the plagiarism between 'The Tracker' and 'The Lost Relative', I'm sure everyone has come to a reasonable conclusion."
"Hai Rui promised that they'd prove Elder Wu's innocence, so Hai Rui has achieved that. What about the author of 'The Tracker'? If I remember correctly, you confidently accused Elder Wu of plagiarizing your work and if he didn't, you'd break your hands. I hope you remember your promise. I will be waiting to see the results."
"Then, there are the aggressive netizens. Of course, Hai Rui is already accustomed to it. After all, the majority of people in the world are heartless and brainless. We can't blame those that can't think for themselves. If medicine had deemed them as mentally retarded, we can't do anything about that."
"Oh, by the way, I need to give a special mention to the 'righteous' people that slandered 'The Lost Relative'. We really can't underestimate the power of this army of 'original' authors. Unfortunately, all you've done is acted as an accessory to someone else's crime! In the end, you are all intelligent, educated people. But, because of your constant pressuring, Elder Wu almost responded by killing himself! What a bunch of trash!"
"If you still have a bit of conscience, you should dig a hole and hide yourself inside!"
Fang Yu's words were bone-piercingly direct, without restraint!
After all, there were some things posted online that really stirred up one's anger. Because, a sentence that appeared harmless, was actually capable of destroying a person's future or even their life.
As a human, couldn't they keep their mouths shut? Couldn't they analyze a situation properly before they gave their opinion?
"Hai Rui will not follow up on this matter from this point forward. But, regarding the reason why the author created such a scheme and whether anyone instigated them to do this, Hai Rui will not let them off the hook. As for those that tried to stop 'The Lost Relative' from screening, don't worry, it will be officially released tomorrow. Everyone is welcome to go watch it and show their support."
After Fang Yu's interview, the internet overflowed with sounds of apologies.
As the population became more and more educated, most people knew how to self-reflect.
"Sorry, Elder Wu! We are truly sorry!"
"We never thought that Elder Wu was innocent. We are so sorry."
"Although it's a bit awkward, we should all go to the theater and show our support. This is the best form of apology!"
"You're right. We will go to the theater tomorrow. I will also like to point out that the author of 'The Tracker' is shameless."
Perhaps to protect his hands, the author went into hiding and did not respond. He completely dismissed his previous arrogance. A little while later, a netizen named 'Small Dagger' admitted online that she was one of the writers of 'The Tracker', but she had no idea that such a big conspiracy was involved and that she'd be used in such a way.
She explained that she did what she did because she had no choice and needed to survive. But, after seeing Elder Wu attempt suicide, she felt so guilty that she couldn't eat or sleep.
In addition, she presented everyone with evidence of her involvement, which included the portion she worked on and the drafts.
With this, the truth was obvious.
Everything was clear as ice.
"Elder Wu is innocent. I would like to give my sincerest apologies!"
Even though the truth had been revealed, another question still existed: why did the author plan such a thing? Was it simply to get a cut of the profits?
But, 'The Lost Relative' had nothing to do with him, how did he think of creating a scheme against it?
This was the question that Hai Rui left the public with.
Of course, when Hai Rui said that they'd investigate into a matter, they would definitely investigate it!
"Everything has been clarified. Elder Wu's innocence has been proven."
"It's not enough," hearing Long Jie's complaint, Tangning's expression did not lighten. "Don't forget, even if Elder Wu wakes up, he will still be affected by dementia. I will definitely expose the mastermind behind this entire incident no matter how she tries to hide."
"Do you have a follow-up plan?" Long Jie asked in surprise.