411 Star Shooters
The direction of the comments was turning. When the real victims’ families were willing to tear open their internal wounds to stand by Han Fei’s side, the rumor-mongers had already lost. The edited video, the accusatory post written by a professional team, the lies were unraveled one after another.
This showed how wicked the culprit was. Han Fei had helped the police solve many cases, which involved many victims and their families. The families from different cases didn’t know each other so the culprit thought no one would discover if they pretended to mix in their ranks. Furthermore, some of the people that accused Han Fei did have some tenuous relationship with the victims. They might be the victims’ friend’s friends or their family’s family. As long as there was money, certain people would do anything.
Most netizens wouldn’t investigate that deep behind the rumors. They only saw what they wanted to see, which in this case was that the helpful actor was actually a ruthless character who trampled on other people’s wounds. The perpetrator didn’t even need to do much. They only needed to bury the seed and the sin of humanity would cultivate it to grow into a large and ugly monster. If there were 10 family members and 1 of them was bought over, then the public would see that Han Fei was in the wrong. If the families from the human jigsaw case didn’t react so timely, then Han Fei would be overwhelmed by negative comments, he wouldn’t even have the chance to explain himself. Han Fei would sink under the sea of criticism and he’d never be heard from again.
Fortunately this did not happen. Han Fei helped the police with the cases not for the sake of money or fame, he purely wanted to return justice to his neighbours in the cryptic world. This world was horrible but it was not unsalvageable.
The perpetrator didn’t expect the real victims’ families to react so sharply, they also didn’t expect Xin Lu Law Enforcement to intervene before they could launch their second phase of operation. When all the lies had been exposed, they discovered something impossible, Han Fei was so squeaky clean that they couldn’t do anything to him anymore. After the perpetrator knew that they couldn’t use the ‘victims’ family’ to boycott Han Fei anymore, they changed their tactic. They used the 50 cent army to spread another piece of news. This time, they claimed that it was the crew members of the Thriller Novelist who were the ones who pretended to be the victims’ families as a promotional method for their movie. They started to attack the crew members of Thriller Novelist. The accusation was the same, just the target had changed. The tactic was the same, they lambasted the crew of Thriller Novelist for tearing open the wounds of the victims’ families just to promote their movie, Thriller Novelist’s team even went so far as to disguise themselves as the families to release that disgusting video and post!
This group of animals really had no bottom line. They had the moral high ground but they reached that height by stepping on the dead bodies of the victims.
However by then, not that many people were willing to believe the rumors anymore. After all, the original post that targeted Han Fei had been deleted and the account who first released the video had disappeared. The videos left on the internet were the ones taken by the real victims’ families. The videos had low quality, no subtitles but that lent to their authenticity. The negative comments had already started to be replaced by words of warmth. The perpetrator had escaped and the haters disappeared. Soon their horrible comments would be deleted or covered by other messages. The only thing unchanged was Han Fei.
At 9 pm, Han Fei once again appeared on the national hot searches list, this should be the closest he would get to Huang Yin on the list. Han Fei walked out from his dressing room and ran into Director Zhang who was on a video call with several men. Once he saw Han Fei, Director Zhang pulled him into the camera. “These are the main producers and the sponsors for Thriller Novelist, we’re discussing our retaliation.”
When they attacked Han Fei, that was Han Fei’s problem, but now that they attacked Thriller Novelist, this was an issue for the whole crew. Director Zhang looked prepared, after all, it was his belief that these people’s target had always been Thriller Novelist.
“Director Zhang, I don’t care how you retaliate but you cannot drag the victims’ families into this anymore. They shouldn’t have to face the pain of losing their families again and again, it’s too cruel.” Han Fei told the men in the video. “I hope you won’t use the videos released by the families and the popularity they brought. I wish for this to settle down as soon as possible.”
Han Fei’s attitude was firm even when he was with the director, main sponsors and producer. It was more like he was telling them what to do than discussing the situation with them. The men in the video looked at each other. They already planned to use this opportunity to help promote both Thriller Novelist and Han Fei.
“Han Fei, look at your placement on the actor ranking and the number of your fans. They have boomed. This is a perfect opportunity, you sure you want to let that go?” A man asked with confusion. He showed the screen beside him to Han Fei. “Currently, the entire internet is talking about you! An actor who has no company and no agency donated all of his salary and reward money to help the victims’ families. Your acts of kindness have won you this opportunity! We will be promoting you! This is an opportunity given by…”
“Even so, there has to be a bottom line. Furthermore, I didn’t help the police for the sake of money and fame.” Han Fei’s voice was strong and powerful. He stared at the people in the video, no one dared to counter him. “Don’t disturb the families anymore, that’s all I ask.” The man in the video continued to persuade Han Fei but his eyes that viewed Han Fei colored with admiration.
After a whole day of shooting and the torment of the internet rumors, Han Fei was already quite tired. But mainly it was because he had photographic memory. It meant that a lot of information was stored in his mind. He would be reminded of them often. “After being scolded for so long, I am only feeling a little bit tired, looks like I’ve matured.” Han Fei didn’t know if this incident would continue or not but he would not stop now, after all, he carried many people’s hopes on him.
After greeting every crew member who was concerned about him, Han Fei prepared to leave. Han Fei just changed and walked out from the set when he heard the motor engine. He turned his head over and saw Li Xue in plain clothes. “When did you arrive?”
“Quite some time already.” Li Xue tossed Han Fei a helmet. “Get on, the Butterfly is still out there. The superior is worried about you walking home alone so he sent me to drive you.”
“Thank your superior for me.”
“Wait, you believe that?” The engine grunted and Li Xue carried Han Fei away from the factory compound and rode down the Xin Lu highway. The bike cut through the night and the barren countryside. “Did you expect to run into so many troubles when you decided to help people?”
“No.”
“Would you still help people after this?”
“Yes.” Hearing Han Fei’s answer, Li Xue stopped talking, she only gave a long sigh. The streetlights lit the road ahead. After Li Xue saw the storm online, she rushed to the set after she clocked off from work.
After they got into the city district, Li Xue slowed down. “Would you like to go for a drink?” Li Xue had seen Han Fei’s social media, and it was filled with various horrible comments. They were enough to drive a person insane so she was trying to distract Han Fei from being alone with them. After one had enough alcohol in them, the problem wouldn’t appear so impossible anymore.
“Do all the police drink after work?” Han Fei looked at the stalls by the roadside. Now one could only find them in the old city. After the intelligent city expanded, they too would disappear.
“Who said that police can’t drink after work? We’re humans too, just like you.”
“Nah, you need to ride home after this. You shouldn’t drink.” After Li Xue arrived at Han Fei’s neighbourhood, Han Fei treated Li Xue to a quick supper. They chatted during the meal. The topic was mostly about the murder cases around Xin Lu. It scared the waiter so much that his hands were shaking when he served them the dishes. Han Fei returned home at 11 pm. He took a cold shower and then called Jin Jun. “Did you find anything?”
“I did, but it’s quite problematic.” Jin Jun hesitated, “The culprit is a madman who worked for money. I think it’s wise for us to stay away from him.”
“A madman? How mad is he?” Han Fei’s lips curled and his eyes were scarily dark.
“Most of the people in my industry are like me, we are independent but there is a group of animals who survive on slandering others. They have formed a group among themselves called Star Shooter. The meaning is simple: no matter how high the stars are, they can shoot them down. This group of people has no bottom line, stalking, black-mailing, threatening, harassing, for the sake of money, they would do anything.”
“They are the one who used the victims’ families?”
“The reason why the campaign against you got so big is because the leader of this group is involved.” Jin Jun sighed. “You sure you want to challenge them? If you do, they will do everything within their power to attack you. They will watch your every move and then try to use public pressure to kill you.” Jin Jun said seriously, “I’m not exaggerating. These people have once killed a person for the sake of money. You can still find details of that case on the internet now. About 10 years ago, there was a female livestreamer with an incurable disease who was forced to her death because of them.”
“A female livestreamer with an incurable disease?” Suddenly everything clicked for Han Fei. He was reminded of the deliveryman who kept slandering the red dress. The deliveryman’s Id in the red dress’ livestream was Star Shooter 1.
“10 years ago, they were already so crazy. It has only gotten worse over the years. A few weeks ago, they had just ruined a female starlet. They claimed that she was a drug user and photoshopped her face on a real addict and spread that on the internet as evidence…” Jin Jun shared everything he knew with Han Fei. He didn’t hide anything. When Jin Jun knew Han Fei planned to fight with the Star Shooters, he understood the severity of the situation. The Star Shooters were not normal 50 cent armies, they were mad murderers who killed with keyboard. So far, no celebrity dared to challenge them.
“Han Fei, think about it, they are well-hidden and they are numerous. They are not going to crumble after their leader is caught. Even if the main culprit is captured, they will at most be imprisoned for several years for internet slander, however the rest of the group will come after you for life! Your career is just starting, is it really worth it to mess with these maggots?” Jin Jin persuaded.
“I didn’t plan to but after hearing what you said, be it for the livestreamer 10 years ago or the starlet recently, I believe I need to do the right thing.” Through Jin Jun, Han Fei got to know the names of the leader and the central members of Star Shooters. “Don’t worry, I won’t do anything crazy. They’ve slandered my name, I’ll only whisper their names into the ears of certain people.” What Han Fei didn’t say was that he was going to use cursed words to whisper their names into the ears of the red dress. “You said they would do anything for money, right? I’ll prepare a lot of money for them…” Paper money that is…
Even if they didn’t own a Perfect Life account, it didn’t matter, Han Fei didn’t plan to let them go in real life anyway. When the time was right, he would report them to the police for them to receive justice.
These days, Han Fei rarely got angered anymore but when he saw Wei Youfu’s father standing beside Wei Youfu and his wife’s deceased portraits, fury burned within him. “They dare to masquerade as the families of the victims. Since they don’t care about other people’s despair, then I don’t need to care about theirs either.” After hanging up, Han Fei glanced at the clock.
When midnight arrived, he crawled into the gaming hub and put on the black gaming helmet.
