Deliberate Possession [Entertainment Industry] - Chapter 33

Chapter 33: Wind and Rain

Jiang Yumian stood up, threw the lock on the floor, and pushed the door. The door moved slightly, then quickly closed again. It felt like a strong force was pushing against it from the outside.

Su Mumu looked at her withdrawing her hand, confused. “What’s wrong?”

Jiang Yumian sighed lightly. The raindrops hitting the raincoat made it hard to hear clearly. She raised her voice slightly. “It feels like a force is pushing the door!”

Chu Qianyuan, who was leaning on the door, quickly withdrew her hand, startled. “Is it Jiang Xiaomian?”

Jiang Yumian shook her head. Hearing the banging on the door behind them, she felt anxious and shouted, “It doesn’t seem to be a person, it’s the wind!”

“I can’t open it alone. We need to push it together!”

The group didn’t hesitate, immediately pushing the door. They only managed to create a small gap, and the violent strong wind aggressively rushed into the room. Jiang Yumian reached out to hold her hood, turned, and braced her back against the door, slowly pushing backward to open the door wider.

The view beyond was pitch black. A fierce strong wind instantly poured into the room, blowing the crumpled papers on the floor aside. Only after everyone was out of the room did Ling Yisong and Jiang Yumian release the door they were holding.

With a “bang!” the door they had pushed open slammed shut again.

The group didn’t dwell on it, because the wind here was too strong. They were bent over, struggling to walk forward. The rain also seemed to have intensified a lot.

They moved forward little by little until they finally saw a door. The lights in the corridor instantly turned on, and everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief. Above their heads was the class sign: [Senior Three (7) Class].

Everyone pushed the door open without hesitation. Jiang Yumian, as before, found the switch by the wall and turned on the light. There was no wind or rain inside.

Everyone could finally catch their breath.

“I’m exhausted…”

Jiang Yumian sat down on a chair in the classroom and wiped her face. She didn’t care about her appearance anymore. She was so tired; the journey was truly difficult.

She caught her breath for a moment, then looked up, searching for Jing Xiaoyan’s figure. She saw her standing in front of a desk, her expression unchanged. Aside from her slightly damp hair, her makeup was still intact.

“The production crew is amazing. The makeup is fine even after all that.”

Jing Xiaoyan looked up at the sound, raising an eyebrow. Seeing that Jiang Yumian was looking at her, she nodded and gave a thumbs-up to the camera, cooperating with Jiang Yumian.

In reality, not much water hit her face, and the raincoat quality was quite good.

Chu Qianyuan ruffled her hair. “The production crew’s budget is burning. The wind, the rain, and these escape rooms—they really thought of a lot.”

Xie Yunhuan quickly complained, “They’re generous in this aspect, but they only gave us a total of 800 yuan, and we can only use it during the live broadcast. So stingy.”

Su Mumu and Luo Cheng stood in front of a desk, waving at them. “Stop gossiping. Come and look. There’s a phone here.”

Jiang Yumian walked over, a little curious. She didn’t expect a phone to be here.

“Whose phone is this?”

Luo Cheng held up the phone to show her the wallpaper. “Student Xie’s.”

Jiang Yumian tilted her head to look at Xie Yunhuan.

Xie Yunhuan looked at his handsome face on the screen and suddenly felt repulsed. Ptooey!

What is that? It looks exactly like me!

Su Mumu saw his look of disgust and couldn’t help but laugh. She waved him over. “Come here. It has a fingerprint lock.”

Xie Yunhuan stared at the phone, gritting his teeth. He reluctantly extended his finger, and indeed, it was his fingerprint.

After the phone was unlocked, he quietly scoffed. “No wonder the staff asked me to record a fingerprint on the phone in the car that day. I thought the production crew was giving each of us a phone.”

Lin Xi snorted. “Let’s look first. I want to see what kind of person you are.”

Xie Yunhuan: “…”

Sister, don’t get too immersed…

There were only two apps on the phone screen: WeChat and Weibo.

In WeChat, there was one contact and several school groups.

Everyone was stunned when they saw the contact’s note.

Jing Xiaoyan frowned. “Jiang Xiaomian’s mom. Why would she be in contact with Student Xie?”

Su Mumu clicked into the chat with a bad feeling. As they read through the chat history, everyone’s face grew increasingly grim.

The person who reported Student Xie, leading to him being held back a grade, was the sister.

Student Xie had held a grudge until he accidentally saw Jiang Xiaomian’s mother and aunt shoving and yelling at her. He secretly listened nearby and discovered something he felt was shocking.

He subtly hinted about this matter in the school group chats, using phrases like “I’m not sure” and “It might be,” encouraging everyone to guess and discuss.

But at this time, the sister was already in college, and it didn’t affect her much. Student Xie found the sister’s university Weibo fan page and colluded with Jiang Xiaomian’s mother to call her out by name on the fan page.

However, the comments he posted and Jiang Xiaomian’s mother’s deliberate weeping not only failed to encourage others to join them in cursing the sister, but many people advised him not to be so rigid, saying that exposing other people’s privacy like this was ironic and beneath him.

Failing to gain the netizens’ approval, Student Xie’s retaliation became even more frenzied, just as Jiang Xiaomian said, he lacked a sense of achievement.

He doubled down on slandering the sister. Eventually, various rumors, orchestrated by him, spread through the sister’s university. The most serious were the fabricated explicit photos he created, which led to the sister being suspended and sent home. The cyberbullying started from the university fan page and spread across the entire internet.

Su Mumu clenched the phone tightly, her voice full of anger. “They wanted to destroy the sister.”

Jiang Yumian’s face was cold. Even though she knew this was all fake, just a story, she was still filled with rage.

“What’s even more ironic is that Jiang Xiaomian’s mother would collaborate with someone who hurt her own daughter to destroy another girl.”

No one’s face was pleasant. The story Lu Zhi provided was truly heartbreaking.

Ling Yisong couldn’t help but curse, “Beasts!”

Jing Xiaoyan took a deep breath and calmed down. She pointed to the phone screen as a reminder. “Look at the special effects.”

“Every comment in the Weibo app uses the rain effect.”

Chu Qianyuan pursed her lips. “So, this rain refers to the ‘rain’ of rumors and malicious words. The words spoken by every individual created this current situation.”

A rainstorm might not drown a person, but a rain specifically aimed at one person is like a deadly knife, a tsunami. That strong wind is the suffocating abyss.

She had originally wondered how much criticism Lu Zhi would face for filming this theme, but now she wouldn’t. Lu Zhi had elevated the theme to such a high level.

Addressing issues of cyberbullying, school bullying, and family education—these points would silence those critics.

Lu Zhi hadn’t originally intended to go with this storyline.

She had a Plan B, but yesterday’s live broadcast caused a lot of controversy. Seeing many people criticizing her choice of theme, her rebellious spirit flared up, and she decided to film it this way. She wanted to shut those people up, and even if she couldn’t, she could at least criticize them ironically.

Su Mumu flipped through all the Weibo posts, then tapped on the account settings and suddenly said, “He has a secondary Weibo account!”

Jiang Yumian angrily said, “See what else he did.”

After the school year began, Student Xie first anonymously reported Jiang Xiaomian to Teacher Chu, and then used the same method to spread rumors about Jiang Xiaomian…

Lin Xi was furious. She forcefully slapped the desk, her eyes red, and said angrily, “Did her mother regret it! I ask, did she regret it! Damn it! Collaborating with a wicked person to destroy someone else, and now her own daughter is also destroyed! Does she regret it!”

Luo Cheng looked at her and held her hand. Lin Xi truly easily immersed herself in the story.

She said softly, “Sister Lin Xi, whether she regrets it or not is no longer important.”

Jing Xiaoyan took a deep breath. “She must be angry. After the sister left, Jiang Xiaomian went to her house many times to look for her, staying in her room. The knocking, the cursing, and the crying she heard must have been her mother’s.”

“The mother probably felt that her daughter was out of her control, and the excellent daughter she raised was no longer dependable.”

“As for the knocking today, the reason Jiang Xiaomian was standing behind her is probably because the mother couldn’t see the already deceased Jiang Xiaomian, just like those NPCs at school who couldn’t see me.”

As for the sister’s family, the story didn’t elaborate much, and it probably wasn’t important. They could roughly guess that the sister lived alone, her parents likely absent.

The story was now presented almost completely.

Everyone had lost the mood to continue exploring, their emotions very low.

Just then, the classroom curtains, just like before, automatically opened. This time, unlike the last, there was no glass.

Everyone turned to look. The “Little Joker” stood with her back to them. At the end of the path lay the “Big Joker” in a transparent water tank.

Jiang Xiaomian suddenly took a step, and it started to rain in the passage. She walked toward her sister step by step.

Everyone watched the scene in silence. Beside the passage were black hands constantly pointing and accusing her, like the relentless “rain,” falling faster and faster.

When Jiang Xiaomian reached her sister, she also entered the transparent water tank, lying down and embracing her sister. Raindrops continuously fell on them, as if to fill the water tank.

The tip of Jiang Yumian’s nose tingled, her eyes felt hot. She gritted her teeth and whispered, “Idiot.”

Su Mumu’s eyes were also red. She couldn’t help but turn her back, resting her forehead on Chu Qianyuan’s shoulder, gently wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

The classroom projector suddenly turned on, and lines of text slowly appeared on the screen.

They only loved each other and didn’t harm anyone, yet they bore all the malice and harm.

A kind word warms one for three winter months, while a cruel word chills one for six summer months. Everyone’s “I just stepped on lightly” is a trampling by a thousand horses for the one bearing the weight.

This scarred world is not the world we want.

Your phones are at the end of this path. As public figures, if you are willing, you can use the same method to save them from being drowned by those few words and ‘rain’ of rumors.

At the final step, everyone understood their ultimate mission.

As for the same method, it was to utilize their popularity on the internet to post on Weibo, opposing cyberbullying and school bullying. With all eight of them posting simultaneously, the number of retweets and the level of discussion were foreseeable.

This was not a simple escape room adventure.

Jiang Yumian adjusted her raincoat hood, full of spirit, and clapped her hands. “Let’s go!”

The group walked into the passage. The hands on both sides waved and shoved more fiercely. The rain also grew heavier, stinging their bodies.

They struggled to reach the end, found their confiscated phones, and immediately opened Weibo. Below the phones were the pre-written texts for them to post.

After everyone edited and posted, the wind and rain behind them gradually stopped.

Jiang Yumian looked back at them. “They are the most formidable Big and Little Jokers combo.”

Jing Xiaoyan looked at her, her eyes filled with a smile. “Yes.”

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