CHAPTER 188: CHAPTER 183 GALAXY REVERSAL

A few people from "Half of the Golden Autumn" sat around together.

Jiang Xijie felt like a complete failure. She was leading this group of girls who held dreams in their hearts, yet she couldn’t provide them with a stage.

This time, everyone came with high hopes, but their debut dealt them a crushing blow. It turned out the problem wasn’t about lacking opportunities; it was that her own skills weren’t strong enough.

She had once complained about external obstacles beyond the stage, but one performance was enough for her to face reality.

"Sister Jiang, we should probably leave. Carry our hopes forward." Wu Youxuan’s eyes flashed with tears.

Zhang Xiaohan hugged her knees tightly, burying her face deep within. She was conflicted, replaying in her mind the words her father had told her on the day she left home.

Maybe she really shouldn’t have chased this dream of becoming part of a girl group. Look at the other girls around her—those backed by major companies still struggle to rise, let alone someone like her.

But could the fire in her heart truly be extinguished? Could all her years of effort and youth just vanish like that?

She knew that walking out of here would mean facing unemployment.

But reality was just that cruel—in this world, everyone was fighting over scraps in a bloodbath.

Liu Feiyu was also deeply saddened. She was helping her teammates pack their luggage; at eighteen years old, she had never experienced something like this.

Outside, they used to move as a group—singing together, building camaraderie—but now the teammates who came with her were about to leave.

The company had already subtly hinted to her that she was certain to be kept, and instructed her not to disclose this to the others. At this moment, she felt a pang of betrayal towards her friends.

Su Ruiqi looked at Liu Feiyu’s expression, mistaking it for grief, and couldn’t help but chuckle, "Feiyu, it’s fine. That’s just how talent shows are—some make it through, and some have to leave."

"How great it would be if we could all stay," the youngest of them, Ma Xingyu, cried out.

"Don’t cry, don’t cry! We still have to eat hotpot together!" Yan Kexin wiped her tears and went to comfort Ma Xingyu, who had become a sobbing mess.

The seven girls couldn’t hold back anymore and embraced each other, breaking down in tears.

That night was destined to be sleepless. The entire facility was shrouded in sadness, but these farewell scenes became the best material for the production team.

Yang Xiaoyue particularly loved these dramatic emotional highs and lows.

The production team started releasing bits and pieces of all sorts of seemingly real or fabricated news.

Xiao Du, sitting at home, browsed online after casting votes for Ye Yuwei.

"What’s wrong with Galaxy? They’re suddenly supporting Ye Yuwei," Xiao Du muttered in disbelief as he stared at Galaxy’s official website.

"When something unusual happens, it’s bound to be suspicious," Xiao Du repeated inwardly and then opened Xinhe’s group funding pouch, where all the active idols were promoting Ye Yuwei and Lu Bingbing.

This made Xiao Du even more perplexed. What exactly was Old Mu trying to do?

He then visited the largest gathering place for Galaxy fans, "Mohu." As soon as he opened it, he was bombarded with posts mocking Ye Yuwei while praising Lu Bingbing.

These posts included various kinds of revelations, including stories from "former teammates" and "ex-classmates."

In their words, Ye Yuwei was painted as an utterly despicable person.

"Ha, just as I thought. They want to exploit Ye Yuwei’s fame but don’t want her to succeed," Xiao Du sneered at the screen.

Just then, his messaging app notification popped up—it was Mu Yunchu: "Xiao Du, are you online? There’s been a sudden surge in posts slandering Ye Yuwei."

"I’m online. It’s that bunch of Galaxy fans again causing trouble. They’ve gone crazy, but I have no idea what kind of grudge they have against Yezi."

"What should we do now?"

"First, let’s post debunking pieces in our group chat and refute their claims. Then, we rally everyone to counter the slander," Xiao Du proposed, knowing that defeating their opponents required uniting their own forces first.

"Xiao Du, has Shen Xing called you recently?"

"Why? Did he call you again?"

Xiao Du’s heart tightened; he didn’t trust anyone from Galaxy anymore.

"Yes! He told me not to act rashly and said Galaxy would respond soon."

"How did you reply?"

"I don’t believe a single word Shen Xing says. Xiao Du, you shouldn’t trust him either."

Something clicked in Xiao Du’s mind; he sensed Mu Yunchu knew something he didn’t.

However, he didn’t press the issue—if the other party chose not to tell him, there were likely personal reasons involved.

"Of course I don’t trust Galaxy. We’ll just continue to act based on our own plan."

After hanging up, Xiao Du started contacting trustworthy members in the group to write countering posts and combat the smear campaign.

Xiao Du was quite skilled in this area; Galaxy fans repeated only a few key accusations while relying on fabricated rumors—but they had countermeasures for this.

They categorized and compiled the posts requiring rebuttal into text files, then coordinated their responses to be launched simultaneously.

By 2 AM, they had already published over fifty thousand posts and replies debunking the accusations.

This was all thanks to Ye Yuwei’s large fanbase, spread far and wide across various regions.

Moreover, Galaxy fans weren’t professional trolls; they couldn’t endlessly sustain online arguments.

Ding! Ding!

Xiao Du picked up his phone to see new text messages.

"Have some integrity and stop whitewashing ’Dirty Ye.’"

"I heard Ye Yuwei often has sex outdoors. Are you part of it?"

"I know who you are. If you keep defending ’Dirty Ye,’ you’ll get hit by a car soon."

"Are you ’Dirty Ye’’s lover? She’s so filthy, and you still worship her—so gross."

"Bro, you’ve been deceived by Ye Yuwei. She’s really like this; wake up before it’s too late!"

Within five minutes, Xiao Du received hundreds of messages like this.

"Ha, hit a nerve, huh? Scared now, you bastards," Xiao Du sneered at the numbers—some were regular phone numbers, others from an anonymous messaging app.

Just then, his messaging app notification popped up on his computer: "Xiao Du, those trolls are attacking me now."

"Sister Mu, don’t worry. Let’s report this to the police immediately; this will give us exactly what we need to counteract the slander against Yezi!"

"... Xiao Du, what if those people really come after us?"

At this point, Mu Yunchu was both frightened and agitated—she hadn’t expected things to escalate like this over a celebrity fandom.

"Those people are just despicable trolls hiding in the shadows. If we deal with a few of them, the rest will back down."

"Xiao Du, could this be Galaxy’s doing?"

"Hard to say, but even if it is, we don’t have evidence to prove it."

"Xiao Du, I’m still scared. Can you come over and stay with me?"

Mu Yunchu added a few crying emojis to her message.

"Is there no one else home with you right now?"

"No, my parents are on a business trip."

"Don’t worry, I’ll come over immediately."

Two hours later, Xiao Du and Mu Yunchu walked out of the police station together.

"Sister Mu, now you can relax. I’ve already talked to someone; this time we’ll definitely find out who’s behind this."

"Okay!"

Mu Yunchu looked uneasy, her head bowed as she stared at the ground.

"Sister Mu, are you hungry? Let’s go get something to eat!"

At that, Mu Yunchu raised her head: "At least you’ve got some sense—knowing I’d be hungry!"

Xiao Du scratched his head, unsure why Mu Yunchu had suddenly snapped at him.

"I want seafood barbecue and red wine," Mu Yunchu suddenly declared, glaring at Xiao Du fiercely.

"Ah! Okay, okay, whatever you want to eat is fine."