Chapter Twenty-Six: The Messenger of Justice
Jiang Yun got out of the car and walked toward Red Romance Café.
“Wait! Jiang Yun, wait!” Li Mengya leaned out from the driver’s window, calling after him.
“What is it?” Jiang Yun turned back.
“You forgot your phone!”
“Oh!” He returned to the yellow Beetle, and Li Mengya handed him his phone.
“Goodbye.”
“Bye.”
They parted ways.
Jiang Yun stepped into the café. “Excuse me, where is Ms. Yu Qing?”
A waitress led him to a booth, where Yu Qing sat gazing out the window.
“Who was that woman just now?” Yu Qing’s eyes flickered as she asked.
“A friend.”
“Oh.” With that, Yu Qing fell silent, making no move to discuss the lawsuit.
Jiang Yun felt a pang of annoyance. Had he provoked her somehow? Or was she in the throes of menopause?
“So, what are your thoughts on suing Xuanwei Music?” Jiang Yun asked.
“My thought is not to sue.”
Jiang Yun’s mouth twitched. “Are you joking with me?”
He had come all this way to talk about the lawsuit, only to be told she didn’t intend to proceed. What was the point? Was this supposed to be a date?
They had agreed before, and now she was changing her mind. What had gotten into Yu Qing?
“Fine!” Yu Qing relented. “Do you want to hear my opinion?”
“Go on,” Jiang Yun replied, putting on a cold and aloof front.
It wasn’t really his fault; he was simply infected by Yu Qing’s aura. Usually, Jiang Yun was quite easygoing.
“Xuanwei Music is a leading enterprise, a subsidiary of Xuanwei Corporation. Confronting them head-on won’t do us any good unless you have evidence that can bring them down.”
Jiang Yun remained silent, waiting for her to continue.
“For a company like Xuanwei, cases of infringement are mere trifles. Their legal team can sweep them away with little effort,” Yu Qing continued. “Besides, didn’t they offer you contract terms? You were the one who refused.”
Jiang Yun barely listened to her long-winded speech, but one phrase stuck with him: “Unless you have evidence that can bring them down.” That was all he remembered.
“What sort of evidence would that be?” Jiang Yun asked.
“Something like company scandals, tax evasion—evidence of that sort.”
Jiang Yun fell into deep thought. How could he possibly obtain incriminating evidence against Xuanwei Music?
“Ding! Host, please don’t forget the system exists.”
A light flashed in Jiang Yun’s eyes. Right—how could he have forgotten the system? He still had that.
“System, open personal panel!”
“Beep!”
Host: Jiang Yun.
Vocal Skills: S-rank (enough to carry a grand concert)
Acting: D+ rank (you have more talent than a child)
Directing Ability: D rank (can film low-budget indie movies)
Skills: Special Forces Physique, Master Chef, Master Pianist, S-rank Dexterity.
Songs owned: “Words Contradict the Heart,” “Crossing the Ocean to See You,” “Rice Fragrance,” “Heartbroken Pacific,” “Becoming Rich,” “A Night in Xia Capital,” “Blue and White Porcelain.”
Items: Three S-rank Experience Cards.
Popularity Value: 7,653,086
“System, do you have any ideas?”
“Host, this system offers hacking technology services, available for purchase with popularity value.”
“How do I obtain it?”
“Host, Hacking Technology Service is a lottery item in the shop. You can draw for it, or pay 10 million popularity value for permanent access.”
“Damn! System, are you sure you’re not taking advantage of the situation?”
“Host, please do not question the fairness of the system!”
“All right, I’ll try the lottery. If I win the hacking technology, do I get it permanently?”
“It will be yours to keep, permanently!”
Fine. With that answer, Jiang Yun opened the shop.
He gasped—one draw cost a million?
Now he saw it clearly: this system was daylight robbery.
A million was a million. Jiang Yun pinched his nose and accepted his fate.
“System, lottery! Five draws at once!” Gritting his teeth, Jiang Yun went for a five-pull.
“Ding! Song acquired: ‘Fly Freely’!”
“Ding! Song acquired: ‘Little Apple’!”
“Ding! Gold Throat Lozenges, ten boxes.”
“Ding! Skill acquired: Clear Logic!”
Please let me win, please let me win! Jiang Yun muttered under his breath.
Across the table, Yu Qing watched him, puzzled, as Jiang Yun stared off into space, mumbling to himself.
“Jiang Yun? Jiang Yun?”
“What is it?” Jiang Yun replied, his face dark.
What was wrong with him? He’d been fine a moment ago, and now he was scowling. Yu Qing was mystified.
Just moments before, Jiang Yun’s five draws hadn’t yielded the hacking technology. He then spent another two million and finally got the hacking skill, but it was only a one-time use. The system’s earlier assurances had been a lie.
Jiang Yun’s popularity value now stood at 653,086.
A total loss. Most prizes were songs or useless trinkets. Normally, a song could be exchanged for just tens of thousands of popularity value. Now he had burned through millions for a handful of songs.
Four out of seven draws were music.
The other two songs were “The Brightest Star in the Night Sky” and the piano piece “Canon”—at least he’d gained one skill.
“System, open personal panel!”
“Beep!”
Host: Jiang Yun.
Vocal Skills: S-rank (enough to carry a grand concert)
Acting: D+ rank (you have more talent than a child)
Directing Ability: D rank (can film low-budget indie movies)
Skills: Special Forces Physique, Master Chef, Master Pianist, S-rank Dexterity, Clear Logic.
Songs owned: “Words Contradict the Heart,” “Crossing the Ocean to See You,” “Rice Fragrance,” “Heartbroken Pacific,” “Becoming Rich,” “A Night in Xia Capital,” “Blue and White Porcelain,” “Fly Freely,” “Little Apple,” “The Brightest Star in the Night Sky.”
Piano Piece: “Canon”
Items: Three S-rank Experience Cards, one single-use Hacking Technology Card.
Popularity Value: 653,086
Staring at his depleted popularity value, Jiang Yun could only sigh.
Inside Red Romance Café.
“System, use the single-use hacking technology card!”
Jiang Yun pulled out his phone and activated the hacking technology.
Xuanwei Music’s firewall was breached in an instant.
“Nothing?”
Jiang Yun was stunned. The company’s back-end data was squeaky clean—no scandals, no tax evasion.
If nothing could be found in the public records, then it was time to check the private ones.
Jiang Yun began hacking the general manager’s personal computer. Heaven rewards the diligent—he found something after all.
It turned out Xuanwei Music’s general manager had a penchant for collecting; his private computer was filled with photos of over a hundred women, all in extremely revealing poses.
A smile curled Jiang Yun’s lips. If he couldn’t bring down Xuanwei Music, then the general manager would do.
After all, stealing music had been the general manager’s idea.
Jiang Yun quickly registered a new Weibo account under the name Justice Messenger.
He uploaded everything he had found.
Within half an hour, the post shot straight to the top of the trending topics.