Chapter 32 – I’m the Peeping Tom

Chapter 32 - I'm the Peeping Tom

Yao Hui had never experienced such an evenly matched or even disadvantaged online public opinion battle.

In recent years, using Yao Hui's reputation for PR purposes had always garnered respect, and their targets were carefully selected weaklings—individuals without capital backing, those who refused to bow to capital, and newcomers with unstable positions in the industry.

They had charged forward, invincible, and their self-applied labels had eventually deceived both others and themselves.

Yao Hui was deemed invincible, and half the industry believed it.

The Director of Public Relations, Wang Xin, was puzzled as to why their usually effective tactics had suddenly lost their power.

He retraced the analysis of Tang Fei and Nine O'Clock. This time, the chosen soft target, Tang Fei, fit their usual profile—a person without background, capital support, or industry standing, a "triple-zero" individual.

Nine O'Clock was known in the industry for its adherence to rules, and Zhou Xianfeng was a well-known pushover and all-around nice guy. These were exactly the types they were accustomed to manipulating. So, how did they suddenly stumble?

Why had Nine O'Clock suddenly stopped playing the role of the good guy? Why did Tang Fei now seem to have support?

Why had there been no issues for seven or eight years, but now, they were no longer following Yao Hui's playbook?

The marketing firm kept asking for more money, yet the results were worsening day by day!

What had gone wrong?

He glanced at the trending topics on Weibo, all of which were the black PR campaigns he had orchestrated against Tang Fei and the Spiritual Frenzy: 1. Tang Fei throws sulfuric acid, 2. San Liu Jiu plagiarizes, 3. Li Xiuyun invests in the production, 4. Tang Fei's swearing scandal, 5. Tang Fei beats up her classmates, 6. Tang Fei's photo manipulation scandal, 7. Tang Fei's junior high school education.

They seemed to indicate that Yao Hui had triumphed, but the discussions under these hashtags were entirely opposite.

The top-rated comments were filled with beautiful pictures of Tang Fei, as if one had entered a fan club for her.

"Beauty is justice! Raw photos reveal a stunning beauty, and the goddess is flawless in retouched shots!"

"What did you say? She has an angelic face but a devilish heart? That's an intriguing concept; I like it."

"Tang Fei invested in the production? How kind-hearted she is! Supporting the crew financially!"

"Don't talk about twisted values. Our values are shattered, broken into pieces like the East African Rift Valley. Let me enlighten you – based on this photo angle, if sulfuric acid was thrown, this would be the consequence [warning: disturbing image]."

"To those who accuse Tang Fei of throwing sulfuric acid, I have two suspicions about you: 1. Are your cognitive abilities eligible for disability subsidies? 2. What grade are you in elementary school?"

"Song Li's fans are all primary school students, confirmed."

"Guan Yun's supporters blindly follow Song Li's crowd, mimicking their words and embarrassing the fan community."

"Regarding the rumor about foul language, I have downloaded the audio which has been altered with a voice changer. You call that solid evidence? You're the real fool."

"I'm now a fan of Tang Fei, having changed from a casual critic. She endured years of defamation without a word – her integrity is commendable! Apologies to Tang Fei for my previous mocking."

"The body double issue: the Hometown High School production team rushed through, resulting in numerous stand-ins for every role. They blame the actors for clicks and profit, exploiting Tang Fei's reputation. Shame on those entertainment gossip accounts!"

"Sugar Baby's kiss scene was indeed assisted by a teleprompter, but she never marketed herself as a genius. In the show, she mentioned completing junior high, yet clips were cherry-picked to defame her for years. Sugar Baby bore it all silently, displaying resilience, optimism, and broad-mindedness. I'm close to tears."

Li Yingying typed this with tear-filled eyes, remembering how Tang Fei watched her being slandered right before her. She must have hurt Tang Fei, but Tang Fei didn't get angry at all – she was too kind, 5555.

At nine o'clock, the public relations team compiled evidence to reveal the truth, gradually awakening book fans. Netizens felt like treasure hunters, excited as more revelations surfaced. Many sneakily refreshed their feeds during work, afraid of missing any updates.

Wang Xin observed their hired internet trolls mechanically posting scripts under the trending topic, like lifeless zombie dogs or less intelligent than robots, mere copy machines.

"Who hired these bots? They can't even pretend to be real people! And they have the nerve to ask for payment? Remove that trending topic and the article right now!"

"Mr. Wang, about this budget..." The public relations specialist hesitated.

"Witness the incompetence of your bot army. If they weren't so pathetic, would we need to remove the trending topic? Now, Tang Fei's negative news has been twisted into evidence of her humility, hard work, and forgiveness. All this does is tarnish Yao Hui's reputation," Wang Xin vented his anger on the hapless specialist, finally finding a scapegoat for his frustration.

"Mr. Wang, I'll take care of it immediately." The specialist slunk away, head bowed.

Yet, he grumbled to himself.

If you knew they were bots, how could they possibly resemble real people? With a decade of spiritual energy, tens of thousands of active fans could easily expose these bots for who they were.

Who would put effort into working for such a meager sum as a bot?

Enjoy your incompetent rage!

A public relations elite?

Pah! A fool, more like!

This company has no future; I'll have to update my resume when I get home.

As Yao Hui's trending topic faded, "#Tang Fei's Tragic Reality#" swiftly climbed to the top spot. The 9 o'clock PR team didn't spend a penny riding on Yao Hui's trend to refute rumors. With their budget untouched, they now needed to invest in buying trending topics.

"Thought Yao Hui had money burning a hole in his pocket, turns out he's just slow on the uptake."

"Money can't buy brains. TrashWave must be laughing all the way to the bank."

The previous discussion resurfaced in the new trending topics, gaining even more heat.

Simultaneously, organic trending topics emerged without any monetary investment: "#JusticeForTangFei#, #FiveYearsOfInnocentSuffering#, and #VindicationForTangFei#".

Tan Xiaobai's words finally found believers this time around. People could now understand that Tang Fei was not a troublemaker but just an ordinary student with above-average strength.

"I was Tang Fei's high school classmate. Here are my report cards and childhood photos. The chubby kid getting beaten up in the video is me. I can vouch for Tang Fei's innocence. Back then, I got carried away and proposed to her at school gates. Tang Fei didn't know me, so getting punched twice was my own fault."

"Dude, you're awesome."

"You're destined for great things."

"How audacious, proposing like that! If I were in your shoes, I'd knock their teeth out too."

"Our senior alumnus is more trendy than us. We're young, but outdated."

All of Tang Fei's alleged scandals were baseless and taken out of context. With her true nature now largely revealed, the only flaw remaining was her acting skills.

"Tang Fei has both beauty and character, but her acting is a sore sight. I still can't finish the first episode of 'Youth High School'; did she trade a decade of acting for her stunning looks?"

"Xiuyun, promise me you won't move. A still image is enough for me."

The brilliant counterattack in the public sphere kept many up all night, bingeing on an endless supply of gossip. In industry forums, predictions about the situation veered far from reality; now, they dared not call themselves professional platforms.

"I'm a fake insider."

"This forum proves we're all at the bottom tier, lacking discernment."

"Layui's defeat was justified."

"With so many fake scandals surrounding Tang Fei, what happened between her and Yao Hui back then?"

"Yao Hui sure doesn't hold back when it comes to targeting his own people."

"After graduation, I wanted to join Yao Hui, but now I'm too afraid. What if I inadvertently offend someone and end up like Tang Fei?"

"In this situation, all I can say is: Nine Points is awesome!"

At the Jiangzhou Film Studio, as soon as Tang Fei had any free time, the system would relentlessly pop up like a nuisance ad, updating her on the progress of the Clearing One's Name quest:

10% → 18% → 57% → 66% → 79%

With every 10-point increase, a reward notification would pop up. This was probably what it meant to effortlessly succeed. Tang Fei did nothing, yet the mission progress shot up as if fueled by stimulants. Rewards flooded her vision.

"10% Progress Breakthrough Reward: Puppet Charm. When Empress uses it, she can input a spell to control the puppet for three hours."

A spell? Did she need to learn witchcraft now?

The word "spell" wriggled and transformed into "script".

"20% Progress Breakthrough Reward: Skill Boost Card. Increases the proficiency of an existing skill by 5%."

"30% milestone breakthrough reward: Skill Upgrade Card x2."

"40% milestone breakthrough reward: Skill Upgrade Card x4."

"50% milestone breakthrough reward: Skill Upgrade Card x8."

Lack of creativity!

Does the System think it can get away with slacking off, not putting effort into designing these rewards?

The system text paused momentarily before silently vanishing.

After a while, it reappeared quietly.

"60% milestone breakthrough reward: Witch Doll Pills x2."

"70% milestone breakthrough reward: Vitality Pills x20."

Always the same old items, has the game designer run out of ideas?

The game swiftly cleared the reward notification, only to display a message after five minutes:

"80% Progress Breakthrough Reward: Peeping Card. Upon use by Empress, it allows the observation of a living creature's partial skill attributes (complementary item for Skill Upgrade Card)."

This palace intrigue game was rather shady, involving either witchcraft or spying.

Such was the life of this rejected System.

The Peeping Card was a supplementary card to the Skill Upgrade Card, allowing the observation of skills before their enhancement.

She decided to first peep at her own skills.

"Am I going to peep at myself?"

Tang Fei reached out towards the blue Peeping Card, which depicted a face peeking through a door crack, dragging the card from its slot onto her character.

"Use Peeping Card."

"Peeping Target: Tang Fei"

"Acquiring target skills..."

"Incomplete target skills are as follows: Inherent Fist Strength: 10% proficiency (Note: Skill Upgrade Cards cannot increase proficiency), Culinary Skills: 6% proficient, Pop Singing: 54% proficient, Calligraphy: 37% proficient, Long-distance Running: 69% proficient, Boxing: 1% proficiency (augmented by Inherent Fist Strength), Tea Ceremony: 31% proficient, Ancient Textile Weaving: 7% proficient."

Why didn't it show acting skills?

She had been ready to use all the skill upgrade cards on improving her acting. How come these were the results?

With such an outcome from eavesdropping, how could she still be an actress? She should probably become a boxer and reach the pinnacle of life, marrying a wealthy and handsome man.

Tang Fei waited silently for thirty minutes, but after another scene was shot, the system remained unyielding, and the eavesdropped content remained unchanged.

It seemed like it wouldn't change anymore.

Tea Ceremony was the proficiency she gained from practicing the moves yesterday. She didn't know tea ceremony and couldn't brew tea; she only managed to make the process look impressive.

Ancient Textile Weaving was part of today's shooting schedule. Last night, she searched through the bits of theory and gestures she remembered from participating in a club during her previous life. She practiced barely enough not to hold the team back, achieving only 7% proficiency.

The next scene was about to start. The loom acquired at nine o'clock was genuine. Tang Fei was eager to see what changes would occur after stacking up this skill. This could be tested immediately.

{Tang Fei} dragged the 15 Skill Improvement Cards onto herself, and before her eyes appeared the various skills she had just spied on.

"Culinary Skills +"

"Long-Distance Running +"

...

"Traditional Weaving +"

Tang Fei clicked on Traditional Weaving, tapping it fifteen times in a row. The proficiency in this skill soared to 82%.

Her fingers, arms, back, and leg muscles simultaneously acquired some strange muscle memory, while her mind was flooded with graphical information and theory.

Glancing at the loom prop inside the studio, a natural stream of information emerged in her mind: the pedal was tilted, and the spindle for the warp yarn was off by half a centimeter.

Out of these six colored weft yarns, there were fourteen patterns that could be woven the quickest and easiest.

...