Chapter 18: Into Long Aotian’s World, Day 18

Chapter 18: The Eighteenth Day of Transmigrating into the Dragon King Story

In the study, An Yi was reading a book.

By the time the comment sounds echoed in his ears, he could keep a completely straight face now, not even a twitch of his eyebrows.

He just wondered what trouble Du Guyuan was stirring up again.

He tuned in with half his mind, listening to the real-time complaints from the comments:

"Is Du Guyuan really the male lead? Or just some buffoon?"

"I'm done. I came for a dragon king novel!"

"Chang Tongxin's a beast!"

"But why is he going after Chairman An? He hasn't appeared for many chapters, right? Suddenly popping up?"

"So he's just the fall guy?"

"Tch... Isn't this just how this kind of story goes? Kill the dudes, collect the girls. I bet An Yi will be ruined, go bankrupt, die, and Chang Tongxin will join the harem. Simple as that!"

"Especially since An Yi is a heretic who plays for the other team in a guy-centric novel! It's an insult to us straight men!"

"Burn the heretic! Author, get a grip!"

"Why did the author write this character? Doesn't he know guy-centric novels are our heaven?"

"Exactly! Queers, GTFO!"

"..."

An Yi: "..."

Speechless.

Going after me?

What now?

From the comments, the idiot Du Guyuan hadn't even figured out Chang Tongxin was the mastermind? He just dumped it on me.

Was he really making shit up?

An Yi clenched his fists.

Rock hard.

The next morning, An Yi walked out of his apartment building with two faint dark circles under his eyes. He'd stayed up half the night figuring out how to hit back.

Just as he reached the entrance, a familiar figure "just so happened" to show up again.

Shao Xiuya was dressed in casual sportswear today, his hair slightly damp, his cheeks flushed with the healthy glow of post-exercise.

Seeing An Yi, his smile was brighter than the damn sun: "An Yi! Good morning."

An Yi took in his whole "fitness-model-who-just-got-back-from-a-run" vibe and blinked.

"Morning." An Yi mumbled.

Shao Xiuya fell into step beside him like it was nothing. His sharp eyes fell on An Yi's face, and his brows immediately knitted with concern: "You look beat. Rough night?"

"Mm... a bit." An Yi dodged the question.

"What's wrong?" Shao Xiuya frowned. "You've even got bags under your eyes."

He paused, then added, "Something going on?"

"If you want, spill it. We'll figure it out."

An Yi yawned and cracked a smile. "It's nothing, really..."

Seeing Shao Xiuya's eyes, full of pure worry, like two warm springs, the thought of brushing him off just disappeared.

"Well... thank you." An Yi finally gave in to Shao Xiuya. He smiled helplessly, with a kind of 'screw it' honesty: "You really want to help me?"

Shao Xiuya nodded seriously: "Yes."

This time, An Yi was unusually calm, even though those damn, traitorous ears were starting to burn again.

He raised an eyebrow, with a hint of teasing and probing: "Shao, you don't even know what kind of 'trouble' it is, and you're already promising help? Not afraid it's a total shitshow?"

Shao Xiuya looked at his reddening ears, and the warmth in his eyes deepened, like honey dripping: "No matter what it is."

His voice was soft, "If it's about you."

Du Guyuan's revenge came fast and dirty, just like he expected.

----------

He didn't have the balls to go head-to-head with the An Group and Yuanchen Group. Instead, he chose the sleaziest way possible: stirring up a shitstorm online.

First, a bunch of "dirt" suddenly popped up online targeting a high-end residential project under the An Group:

"An Group cutting corners? Homeowners crying about leaky, cracked walls!" (Attached: several blurry photos of cracks)

"The dirty truth! An Group forced an old man out and he died?"

All vague. Some 'insider post' full of 'supposedly,' 'maybe,' 'I heard.'

But it got the haters riled up against the rich.

"An Yi's scandalous private life? Seen coming and going with a mysterious man—maybe he's a sugar daddy?" (Attached: ambiguous photos of An Yi and Shao Xiuya walking together)

Bots started pushing the narrative hard. Topics like #AnGroupScandal# and #AnYiOutOfBusinessCircle# briefly hit the trending list.

Li Xuan stood in front of the desk, reporting: "Chairman An, as you predicted, the public opinion tracking shows that negative posts about the company and you personally blew up at 7:32 this morning. The traffic spike was unnatural—clearly bot-driven."

He pushed up his glasses: "Currently, the topic popularity is inflated, but actual discussion is low. The overall narrative is under control. PR is on standby, and we've triggered the contingency plan."

An Yi was pissed at first, but he calmed down fast.

He rubbed his forehead and told Li Xuan to just shut it down, no debating.

"Just kill the trending topics. Everything else goes according to plan."

Li Xuan: "Yes!"

An Yi tapped his fingers on the desk and added, "Go sync up with President Shao. He's found stuff."

"Right away, Chairman An!" Li Xuan nodded, his expression solemn. "I'll excuse myself now."

An Yi looked at his expression and couldn't help but smile. "Alright, go ahead!"

"Oh, and don't be nervous. Once this is handled, I'll double your bonus and give you a week of paid leave."

"Yes! Thank you, Chairman An!" Li Xuan's lips twitched almost imperceptibly upward, then he straightened his back and strode out with vigor.

Soon, the official account of An Group released a strongly worded cease-and-desist letter with a bright red official seal, calling out the loudest rumor-mongering accounts and the orchestrators behind them, accompanied by detailed quality inspection reports, project compliance documents, and notarized demolition records from back then.

As for his "scandal," it didn't take long for people to dig up one of the individuals as Shao Xiuya from Yuan Chen.

An Yi and Shao Xiuya's response was remarkably consistent—they kept a low profile, no denial, no clarification.

When questioned by reporters, Shao Xiuya merely smiled and replied, "Chairman An is a very excellent partner and... friend. We share many common interests and get along well."

This ambiguous, almost teasing attitude only stoked the gossip flames, and successfully diverted some of the attention away from An Group's negative news.

An Yi privately joked to Shao Xiuya, "President Shao, 'a very excellent partner and... friend'?"

Shao Xiuya blinked innocently. "I'm just stating the facts, An Yi."

He smiled. "When will I get a different title?"

An Yi snorted, laughing. "We'll see."