Chapter 143: Pre-Competition Clashes

Two weeks later, on Saturday, the live broadcast of the second round of cooperative competition officially began.

Ever since the scores and vote tallies of the premiere were announced, the online quarrels and flame wars had never ceased. To everyone's surprise, the anticipated epic fan war between Ling Ruoyu and Chu Cuo had been unusually quiet. In a complete reversal of norms, the fan bases of both sides steadily cheered on their respective idols and generated hype, yet completely refrained from launching aggressive suppressions against the other camp.

Minor bickering among anti-fans could no longer spark widespread public attention or discussion. Instead, all eyes and gossip had completely shifted toward the fierce clash between the fan bases of Ye Linyun and Liu Niwen.

An anonymous post on Douban had drawn countless onlookers late into the night. The thread was titled: *The Unknown Female Assassin on Masked.*

It exposed how Ye Linyun maintained a facade of a goddess on the surface while actually possessing an arrogant and domineering personality. It also listed concrete evidence of her little-known tendencies to suck up to the powerful while trampling on the weak, bully subordinates, and squeeze out mid-to-lower-tier artists.

Lin Zhiwei and Zhao Lei were perusing the post together in the conference room. With his usual solemn expression, Zhao Lei read through it carefully, word by word, before speaking up, "This post has been pinned for a full week now. It is quite obvious that Liu Niwen's camp is behind this."

Lin Zhiwei let out a cold snort. "It is also Ye Linyun reaping what she sowed. If I recall correctly, two years ago in Director Li's costume drama *The Fourteenth Night*, Ye Linyun played the female lead while Liu Niwen was the third female lead. The two of them had friction even back then."

"Indeed. It's just that Ye Linyun's arrogance was at its peak back then, which ultimately ended with Liu Niwen's scenes being almost entirely cut. This time around, Liu Niwen must have seen that Ye Linyun made too aggressive a move and decided to give her a push," Zhao Lei speculated, rubbing his chin.

"Then I suppose I should thank her for warming up the stage for me," Lin Zhiwei murmured with a faint smile, her mind already plotting. She had been worried that Ye Linyun might push too hard and too fast, leaving the gossiping audience unable to keep up with the pace.

The online situation still heavily favored Ye Linyun by a wide margin, given her powerful fan base and expertise in cultivating a curated persona.

Hilltop Villa.

Gazing at Ye Linyun's practically furious expression, Xiao Zhu retreated a meter away and tried to comfort her. "Sister Yun, please don't be angry. This is just Liu Niwen trying to hitch a ride on our popularity for clout. Look, our support has also surged; there is a good chance we can take first place tonight!"

Ye Linyun shot her a sideways glance and said sharply, "It's all your incompetence that let that bitch Liu Niwen exploit the opening! One Lin Zhi wasn't enough, and now some wet-behind-the-ears Liu Niwen has jumped out as well. It seems the lesson I taught her back then wasn't harsh enough!"

"Sister Yun, don't lower yourself to her level. A character like her only dares to ride on our coattails anonymously on Douban. If she has the guts, she should jump onto Weibo—she simply doesn't have the nerve for it. Fans and audiences aren't fools either; if anything, she's only helping us out," Xiao Zhu soothed, seeing that the actress's emotions had calmed down slightly.

Inwardly, however, Xiao Zhu muttered to herself that if Ye Linyun hadn't brought this upon herself through her own misdeeds, she wouldn't have gotten herself into this mess. She was always so utterly unbridled in her daily life, never knowing when to show restraint.

"Hmph, let's deal with Lin Zhi first," Ye Linyun said. At that moment, thick layers of rejuvenating serum were being applied to her legs. In order to shine brilliantly in tonight's second match, she had gone through painstaking efforts, subsisting entirely on a few leaves of vegetables for a full week, while also hiring specialists to provide full-body whitening and skin-renewal treatments at her home every day.

Ling Ruoyu's Studio.

"Brother Lin, I think you shouldn't go to the live studio for this competition. That's also the boss's intention," Zhao Lei probed cautiously. On one hand, he knew how fiercely his boss treasured the person before him; on the other hand, it was also out of consideration for Director Lin's personal safety.

Lin Zhiwei's eyes shifted, and she immediately grasped the underlying meaning. Rubbing her chin, she muttered to herself, "I was thinking the exact same thing. I'll just continue playing sick. After being frightened like that the other day, showing up so soon really wouldn't yield a good effect."

"Effect?" Zhao Lei asked, puzzled.

"Ha, nothing. Brother Lei, then I'll have to trouble you, Mei Ning, and Xiao Yu."

"Small matter. Actually, for this round, the challenger is none of other than the newly emerging young actor Qin Yiyang, who plays a comedic style. He's just here to go through the motions and add some viewing interest to the show; he's not a top-tier traffic star, and his support rate isn't high," Zhao Lei said, swiping through the challenger's profile on his tablet.

Lin Zhiwei nodded, a calm look passing through her eyes. I'm afraid the competition itself was no longer the main focus. If Ye Linyun refused to rein it in, not only would she be forced to stop at *Masked*, but her entire acting career would likely be buried right here.

Yet sometimes, when people are driven to make a desperate gamble, their determination can become terrifyingly resolute.

Early in the morning, Xiao Yu and Mei Ning had already arrived at the broadcast studio to make various preparations. Following a brief meeting with Lin Zhiwei in the conference room, Zhao Lei also set off to pick up Yin Mei'er and head to the studio, while Ling Ziheng departed from the company as usual.

Nan Yu also arrived at the studio on time to watch the live broadcast alongside Lin Zhiwei, thoughtfully bringing along a large cart of junk food.

"Little Lin, do you think Ye Linyun will take the bait?" Nan Yu asked, popping a potato chip into his mouth while unable to resist gossiping. Pushing Ye Linyun to make a move had been staged quite convincingly, but would an award-winning actress really disregard her own future acting career like this?

To Nan Yu, this kind of tactic—where one inflicts a thousand losses on the enemy while suffering ten thousand on oneself—seemed utterly mind-boggling no matter how much he wracked his brain.

"That all depends on how strong her stress tolerance is," Lin Zhiwei replied calmly, sipping her water without a trace of tension. What she was gambling on was precisely Ye Linyun's supreme narcissism and reckless desperation.

"Why do I feel like you're plotting something malicious again? Do you still not need me to make a move this time?"

"This time? Well, I'll assign you a relaxed chore when the time comes," Lin Zhiwei said, blinking at Nan Yu and deliberately leaving him in suspense.

"How relaxed could it be?" Nan Yu leaned in to probe.

"Uh... as simple as clicking through a meeting PowerPoint."

"Damn it... Aren't you making a mountain out of a molehill? I'm a legitimate hacker, and you're having me run a PowerPoint presentation?" Nan Yu instantly jumped up in dissatisfaction. Just how lowly did she view him? Dragging him all the way to China in such a rush, only to make him do menial jobs like driving or checking surveillance footage—it was utterly humiliating.

"Don't get worked up, don't get worked up. It's just a metaphor. Even though your job is relaxed, it carries the heaviest weight—comparable to the grand finale," Lin Zhiwei explained hastily upon seeing his displeased expression.

"Well, that's more like it."

"Sit down and watch. The live broadcast is starting."

"Want a chicken foot?"

"You're going to get fat..."