She thought of her former groupmates. The ones who had stayed silent. The ones who had looked away when she was cast out.
Was it really true?
Would this all be for nothing?
She shook her head violently.
No. Focus.
Her fingers moved in a burst, rapidly typing several sentences.
She paused.
Read them back.
They were incoherent. Rambling.
She grit her teeth.
Dammit.
She slammed her hands on the desk.
For a long moment, she just sat there, breathing heavily.
Then she reached into her pocket.
She pulled out her phone.
And a business card.
Lin FengFenghua Holdings[Phone number]
She stared at it.
Her thumb hovered over the dial button.
This is stupid.
I don't even know who he is.
How does he even know about the document?
What if he's working for them?
What if this is a trap?
Her thoughts spiraled.
But beneath all of it, one question kept surfacing.
What if he's right?
She took a deep breath.
Then she dialed.
It rang once.
Twice.
Click.
"Hello?"
His voice was calm. Unsurprised. As if he had been expecting her call.
She breathed nervously.
Her grip on the phone tightened.
"What do you want me to do?"
…
The call ended.
Shen Mengqi's legs gave out beneath her.
She collapsed to the ground, her back against the desk, phone still clutched in her trembling hand.
Her breathing was heavy and ragged.
This is definitely a trap.
And I'm falling right into it.
She pressed her palms against her eyes.
When will I ever grow up?
She sat there for a long moment, letting the silence of the apartment swallow her.
Then she looked up.
The photo on her desk caught her eye again.
Five girls. Bright smiles. A stage bathed in light.
A time when everything still seemed possible.
Tears welled up and spilled down her cheeks.
She wiped them away roughly with her sleeve.
Then her expression hardened.
Fine.
If it's a trap, I'll use it.
She pushed herself off the ground and sat back down at her computer.
Her fingers moved quickly across the keyboard.
First, she created a backup of everything. Every document. Every screenshot. Every recording. Every testimony. She copied it all to multiple encrypted cloud services under fake accounts.
Then she set up countermeasures.
If this was a trap, maybe she could use the opportunity to gather more evidence. Get closer to the people who wanted to silence her. Let them think they had won.
As for what she already had - even if it wasn't ready - she couldn't risk losing it.
She made a countermeasure. Just a simple one really.
She scheduled a release.
Every week, she would log in and postpone the scheduled release. If she ever failed to do so - if something happened to her - the document would automatically go online from multiple fake accounts she had set up, making it hard to shut down.
She tested it twice with some random stuff to make sure it worked.
That should be enough, right?
She leaned back in her chair and exhaled.
At that moment, her phone screen lit up.
[Your account ending in **** has been credited with ¥5,000.00 from account ending in…]
She stared at the notification.
Then she sighed.
I suppose I should get to work.
She stood up, grabbed her jacket, and left the apartment.
…
The Market Supervision Administration office was busy as usual.
Lin Feng stood by himself near the entrance, waiting.
He checked his phone. She should be arriving soon.
He looked up.
A woman was walking toward him.
He blinked.
Then blinked again.
This is...
She stopped before him.
Her hair was no longer a tangled mess - it fell in soft, dark waves past her shoulders, catching the light with every movement. The huge round glasses were gone, replaced by a simple black mask that covered the lower half of her face. Her skin was clear, her eyes bright and sharp behind subtle makeup.
She wore a fitted coat over a simple but elegant outfit. Nothing flashy, but everything about her screamed presence.
She looked like a completely different person.
"What are you staring at?" she asked flatly.
Lin Feng composed himself and smiled.
"I was just surprised, is all."
He observed her more carefully.
She really had gone all out. Or maybe she had always been like this.
As expected of a true idol.
Even Su Yue might struggle to match her in appearance.
He had sent her five thousand yuan and told her to make herself presentable before coming to meet him. But this...
He glanced around.
Everyone in the vicinity was staring.
"Well," he said, clearing his throat, "let's get this started."
He turned and walked toward the office entrance.
"Started?" she asked, following him.
She looked up at the sign above the door.
Market Supervision Administration
"Don't you already have an agency?" she asked.
"Of course not," he said without looking back. "I told you - we're building it together."
She stopped walking.
"You meant build from the ground up?"
He paused and turned to face her, a confused expression on his face.
"How else?"
She stared at him.
Is this really a trap?
This guy doesn't seem all that competent.
Lin Feng continued walking.
"Ah, that being said," he said casually, "I haven't come up with a name yet."
He glanced back at her.
"Can you work on that before it's our turn?"
"What?!" she shouted.
Several heads turned in their direction.
Lin Feng raised a finger to his lips.
"It would be best if you didn't attract attention," he said calmly. "Even with the mask on, some people might still recognize you."
She clenched her jaw and lowered her voice to a harsh whisper.
"You're telling me you dragged me out here to register a company and you don't even have a name?"
"That's why I'm asking you," he said, as if it were the most logical thing in the world. "You're going to be working here. You should have input."
"That's not…"
"Anyway, as I was saying," he continued, completely ignoring her protests, "we'll need to decide on the business scope too. Entertainment management is obvious, but we should also include talent training, event planning, music production..."
He kept talking.
Shen Mengqi stood frozen in place, watching him ramble on as he joined the queue.
What have I just gotten myself into?