Chen Lin stood up, smiling obediently as she spoke.

"Young people really are full of drive, not bad. It’s a pity I have to go pick up my kid, otherwise with such great overtime benefits at the company, I’d probably stay and work a bit more too."

The middle-aged woman gave her a word of praise, then shook her head regretfully before clocking out and leaving.

Chen Lin sat back down again, picked up the big cup of milk tea next to her and took a big gulp, then continued scrolling through short videos on her phone, feeling quite relaxed.

Even in a city like Magic City, there aren’t many companies that can openly and legitimately pay overtime, and Wangzhou Group not only has overtime pay, but also provides free dinner, drinks, and reimbursement for transportation after hours...

Anyway, going back would just mean lying around in her rented room playing on her phone, so she might as well sit here in the air-con and even save a meal. Chen Lin certainly knew which option to choose.

She swiped up on the phone screen again, and suddenly a banner popped up in the notification bar:

"BlackPink’s show in Huaxia suspected of hidden rules, there’s video, there’s truth!"

Chen Lin’s gaze was immediately drawn in.

This notification came from Weibo, posted by a gossip blogger she followed. This blogger wasn’t some big verified account, but because their narration was objective and they had dug up quite a few niche secrets in the entertainment industry in a well-organized way, they had a loyal fanbase on Weibo.

Chen Lin was one of them.

But even if she hadn’t been this blogger’s fan, just seeing the word "BlackPink" alone was enough to grab attention.

After all, this is one of the hottest girl groups in the world. Chen Lin couldn’t be counted as a fan, but she really liked their songs, and for a while her dressing style was all copied from Jin Zhixiu.

Chen Lin quickly tapped on that push notification and started reading the post the blogger had made.

The article wasn’t long, but with concise wording it laid out the whole beginning and end of the incident very clearly. The general meaning was—

BlackPink were currently on a world tour and arrived on Ao Island in Huaxia two days ago. After the show ended, during an interactive session with die-hard fans, two members, Lisa and Jin Zhixiu, were suspected to have been subjected to sexual harassment.

The blogger did not express any opinions, nor did they reveal the harasser’s identity. They just attached a several-second video below, stating it was reposted from overseas, and also screencapped some comments from Korea’s online communities, very considerately adding translations.

Chen Lin glanced at those screenshots first. Needless to say, the comments from Korean fans were full of outrage, with all kinds of harsh words, strongly demanding that the harasser’s identity be exposed and that he kneel and apologize. Some more extreme voices were even calling on Huaxia’s authorities to give an explanation...

Chen Lin was utterly stunned. To be honest, the moment she saw the post’s title, she actually thought this gossip blogger might be exaggerating things this time.

Given BlackPink’s status and fame, not to mention whether they’d ever encounter sexual harassment, even if something did happen, who would dare to act brazenly in public, right?

But after she finished reading those screenshots, Chen Lin realized this probably wasn’t fake.

She hurriedly tapped into the video.

In the slightly shaky footage, three figures were clearly visible. At a glance you could recognize Lisa and Jin Zhixiu on the left and right, with a man in the middle whose face couldn’t be seen clearly. But at this moment, the face wasn’t important. The man’s hands were resting, left and right, behind the two girls, and actually...

In today’s world with such a highly developed internet, this kind of footage doesn’t even count as restricted-level content, so it naturally wouldn’t make a female college student blush. The key issue, however, was that this was BlackPink!

And not just any members, but Lisa and Jisoo, whose popularity was sky-high and whose individual fan numbers ranked among the top!

Because of the angle, Lisa’s expression couldn’t be clearly seen, but Jisoo’s side profile on the other side was clearly visible. She was still smiling, though the smile was a bit stiff...

Chen Lin stared, dumbfounded. She hadn’t expected to get such a massive piece of gossip. She immediately started browsing related topics again, only to discover that in just this brief moment, the topic "BlackPink hidden rules" had already shot up into Weibo’s trending list.

In addition, BlackPink’s official statement and posts from the four members’ personal Instagram accounts were all being reposted domestically.

In BlackPink’s official statement, Lisa and Jin Zhixiu were, of course, portrayed as complete victims. Although nothing was stated outright, between the lines the implication was that during their show in Huaxia, BlackPink had encountered some kind of powerful "resistance."

If they didn’t make certain compromises, they wouldn’t even be able to perform normally.

So, for the sake of their fans, Lisa and Jin Zhixiu had no choice but to give in. Even though that Mr. Z took advantage of them a bit, they could only endure the humiliation and temporarily submit; everything was for the sake of completing the performance.

Then, in their personal updates, the other members each supplemented the story from different angles.

Jenny said: "I can’t let my fans down, but I’m also afraid of Mr. Z’s powerful influence, so I only finished the performance. I didn’t attend the fan meeting because I was scared of further harassment from Mr. Z."

Rose said: "It was because Mr. Z made other, even more excessive demands that we chose to fly back overnight and didn’t complete the second show as scheduled. We feel really sorry for the fans..."

Lisa’s post was relatively reserved. She just said she hadn’t expected the other party to go that far, taking advantage of her in front of everyone. If he was willing to apologize, she personally could forgive him.

Jisoo’s post was the simplest, mainly expressing her apologies to the fans and not going into too many other details.

But no matter what, once all of this was dug up together, it quickly caused a huge uproar on Weibo.

The main chorus of voices was naturally condemnation and scolding, especially from BlackPink’s fans, who almost unanimously stood firmly on BlackPink’s side.

"Now you know why BP doesn’t like coming to Huaxia, right? Some people among us really are disgusting."

"You can really feel how much BlackPink cares about their fans. I feel ashamed on behalf of this damn Mr. Z. People like him should have their citizenship stripped..."

"We’ve long known the hidden rules were bad here, but I didn’t expect it to reach such a brazen level. They don’t even spare international Superstars."

There were also countless onlookers and lurkers. Even if they weren’t BlackPink fans, after reading what happened, they all, unsurprisingly, took BlackPink’s side.

Only a very small number of people were curious about one thing...

What does Lisa and Jin Zhixiu’s "big moons" feel like to the touch?

But this kind of comment, which violated public morals, was quickly drowned out in the tidal wave of hot comments.

Chen Lin was also furious. She subconsciously clicked on another hashtag that had rapidly climbed into the top ten of the trending list—

"Mr. Z’s identity."

Yes, whether they were cursing, just watching the drama, or among the few who questioned the authenticity of the incident, everyone would first focus on this most crucial question.

That is, who exactly was this person, code-named "Mr. Z," described by BlackPink as a powerful hidden-rules figure?

Clicking into the related topic, there were all sorts of messy posts. Chen Lin picked a few with high engagement and was quickly drawn to one of them.

"Judging from the codename, ’Z’ most likely represents a surname, which already rules out most people. Let’s look at the video again. Although his face isn’t clear, from his tall build and the condition of the skin on the back of his hand, his age wouldn’t exceed thirty... From his refined outfit and the bespoke JOHN LOBB handmade leather shoes, we can deduce that he belongs to the Billionaire class."

"Combining all of the above, the range has already become very narrow: a domestic young Billionaire with a surname starting with Z, who also wields significant influence on Ao Island or Hong Kong Island."

"Although there are still a few people who fit this profile, everyone, pay attention to the watch on his wrist... a diamond-encrusted Rolex Rainbow Daytona."

"It just so happens that I’ve received a tip-off from a warm-hearted anonymous netizen: a few days ago in Harbour City in Hong Kong, a young Billionaire happened to buy this exact watch, and he also fits all of the above conditions."

"Yes, I’m ninety percent sure that... this mysterious figure is the young Billionaire who rose mysteriously in the country this year—Zhou Wang!"