Chapter 261: Chapter 261

The agency he worked for, Taihe Media, was a subsidiary of the Weibo platform under Deep Sea Group. It could be said that his arrogance stemmed entirely from being a ’platform insider.’

"Mr. Qian, how could they dare to be so brazen? Our company has Deep Sea Group as its backing—isn’t this a slap in the face to Deep Sea Group? You have to stand up for me."

If it were in the past, this wouldn’t even be an issue. The advantage of controlling the largest media platform was that public opinion was entirely in their hands. Insiders naturally needed protection, and as for any unobservant outsiders, blacklisting them was merely a matter of one sentence, leaving them utterly without recourse.

But today, for some reason, Mr. Qian had seemingly snapped and reamed him out, claiming that the group headquarters had recently undergone leadership changes and was preparing to focus on cleaning up illegal accounts and implementing a net cleanup action. His reckless behavior had turned the platform into a chaotic mess, running completely counter to the group’s philosophy. Mr. Qian was clear about one thing—he wouldn’t be dragged down with him, let alone ’stand up’ for him—and the thought of such support was nothing but wishful dreaming.

Before Wu Wei could say anything, Mr. Qian hung up the phone abruptly, clearly abandoning him.

Suddenly, Wu Wei felt a rising sense of unease.

In the studio, the two assistants responsible for monitoring public sentiment were growing paler by the second.

"Bro, things aren’t looking good. Those marketing accounts that were friendly with us before are now teaming up to attack you."

Wu Wei’s brows furrowed sharply.

"How could this happen?"

Having been the one leading attacks on others all this time, he was now experiencing firsthand the misery of being the target of an attack—and it wasn’t pleasant.

"What a f***ing disaster." Wu Wei kicked over the trash can by his feet.

He had heard about the leadership changes at group headquarters, but who would have thought that their first initiative would be a net cleanup action? Caught unprepared, his moment of carelessness had led him to violate their newly enforced directives. Nᴇw novel chapters are publɪshed on novel[f]ire.net

Regret surged through him like a tide.

Still, he refused to believe any of this had anything to do with Rong Xianning’s capabilities. He had investigated thoroughly—there was no power or influence backing her. Even her agency, Eternal Century, lacked the ability to influence Deep Sea Group.

It was simply bad luck. That’s all.

Thinking it over, he couldn’t swallow his anger and grabbed his phone to dial a number.

"I didn’t expect things to spiral out of control . Don’t you think you owe me an explanation?"

"Money has exchanged hands, President Wu—what other explanation do you want?"

"You didn’t tell me the target was well-prepared. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have taken this job. Now my reputation is in shambles! You need to compensate me for emotional damages."

The person on the other end of the line let out a cold laugh. "President Wu, we’re in the same boat now. You think you can jump ship first? That’s impossible."

Wu Wei was enraged. "Aren’t you afraid I’ll expose you?"

The person on the other side was also under huge stress, and having their business partner resort to threats only made their tone increasingly hostile.

After hanging up the phone, the person turned around and angrily scolded, "What are you all here for? A bunch of useless fools! Can’t even handle such a small matter—what’s the point of me hiring you?"

In the room, three young men sat facing their computers. Hearing this, the trio exchanged glances in silence.

The leader stood up. "Apologies, our skills are simply lacking. We’re willing to refund the deposit. Feel free to find someone more capable."

Finishing his words, he grabbed the backpack beside him and left with his two companions.

Li Hui froze momentarily, surprised by their audacity. He quickly stepped forward to block them. "You can’t leave."

These three looked young—a bit like college students.

Indeed, all three were Chunzhou University computer science majors and had formed a well-known hacking group in Chunzhou, taking on private gigs to earn some extra cash.

"Since you’ve taken my job, you should see it through to the end. Running off halfway through without any sense of contract responsibility—how do you expect to achieve anything big in the future?"

The leading young man pressed his lips together and contemplated for a moment before looking up. "Mr. Li, apologies again. The target has experts on their side. Much as we hate admitting it, we’re simply outclassed."

The trio looked visibly troubled. What they had initially thought of as a quick job for extra cash was now snowballing into something bigger. If legal trouble broke out and delayed their graduation, the consequences would be catastrophic.

Without further hesitation, they put a debit card on the table and left without looking back.

Li Hui, seething with anger, shouted after them, "You dare walk away? Just wait—I’ll make sure you can’t stay at Chunzhou University!"

The three paused in their tracks.

Their faces turned pale, one after the other.

"Awen, what should we do? If this actually gets reported to the university, we’ll be finished."

What they had done was already skirting the line of illegality.

It was the kind of thing where, if left alone, no one pursued them; but if pressed, they wouldn’t escape accountability.

They could blame themselves. They had grown accustomed to the sweetness of easy success, overestimating their abilities without realizing there was always someone stronger out there.