Chapter 43: The Rival Always Wants to Taste Him Again [43]

Chapter 43: His Nemesis Can't Stop Wanting Another Taste of Him "43"

When Shi Mo woke up the next morning, the chain on his ankle was already gone.

Ye Qi was sitting by the bed, his eyes full of guilt. Seeing that he was awake, he immediately helped him sit up, grabbed a pillow and propped it behind his back, then asked gently in a soft voice:

"How are you feeling, A Mo? I've already put medicine on you. Are you still in any pain? Hungry? Thirsty? I made soup and cooked some porridge—what would you like to eat?"

As he asked, he handed over a cup of warm water he had prepared on the side.

It was as if the man who had looked so crazed last night, trying to imprison Shi Mo, wasn't the same person at all.

Shi Mo looked up at him but didn't plan to call him out on it. He just cradled the cup and sipped at the water.

"I'm fine."

Shi Mo's voice was still a bit raspy. "I want some porridge..."

The moment he finished speaking, Ye Qi directly swept him up into his arms.

Shi Mo: "..."

Shi Mo: "I just wanted some porridge, that's all. Do you really need to carry me around like this?"

Ye Qi said without a hint of shame: "A Mo, you're not in any condition right now. Let me feed you."

Shi Mo: "If you wanna hold me, just say it."

"Yes, I want to hold you. I want to hold you every moment."

Ye Qi answered without any hesitation. He paused for a moment, then lowered his head:

"I know I went way too far yesterday. I'm sorry, A Mo. I was just a bit unhappy... I shouldn't have treated you that way."

"If you want to punish me, I'll take it willingly. But only after you've recovered."

After a night's rest, he had mostly digested everything, and his body had mostly recovered.

Shi Mo, who simply didn't feel like moving, raised an eyebrow and snorted at Ye Qi's words.

"If you really want to make it up to me, then quit bringing up wanting a label from now on. After all, we're pretty good together in bed."

He let out a soft sigh: "If I lost a lover as good as Young Master Ye, I really wouldn't know where to find someone else like you."

Ye Qi's fingers tightened slightly, but he didn't respond to that. He only said:

"Lin Ran has been getting boosted back into the spotlight lately. I don't know why his fans suddenly went so crazy, always defending him and demanding we give an explanation."

This was what Ye Qi couldn't figure out during this period.

At first, he thought those people were all paid trolls bought by the Lin family, but only later realized they were all genuinely Lin Ran's rabid fans.

Those people were just way too insane.

Shi Mo naturally knew why—after all, Lin Ran still had the protagonist's halo on him.

He didn't keep the conversation going with Ye Qi. After drinking a bowl of porridge, he said he wanted to rest, so Ye Qi carried him back to bed.

He watched Ye Qi close the door to the room.

447 silently flew in from outside the window, curled up in Shi Mo's arms, looked up at him, and asked, a bit confused:

[Xiao Momo, were you trying to provoke him on purpose just now?]

Shi Mo logged into his alt account while chuckling softly: "What makes Xiao Qi think that?"

447: [It's not like I want to think that—the system just alerted me that Ye Qi's corruption value has gone up quite a bit. If this keeps up, Ye Qi's corruption value will max out too!]

447 hesitated before continuing: [Xiao Momo, I've always believed you have a sense of proportion in what you do, and that you must have your reasons for acting this way.]

[But Ye Qi is our mission target, the protagonist of this world. It's fine if you're just playing around, but if you really break him, then our mission will be...]

447's voice grew quieter and quieter, until finally it curled itself into a little furball, not daring to look at Shi Mo at all.

He was afraid Shi Mo would get angry, but this concerned the mission, so he had to remind him.

Shi Mo just gently rubbed his head:

"Don't worry, Xiao Qi. I know how to handle this. It won't affect our mission."

Hearing this, 447 poked his head out again, looked at him with determined eyes, and nodded in agreement.

[Then, Xiao Momo, what do we do next?]

[Right now, most people online are starting to believe Lin Ran's claims. His rabid fans have lifted him back up, and he's slowly starting to plunder the luck on Ye Qi again.]

[Xiao Momo, is it time to have them release that evidence?]

447 asked excitedly.

Shi Mo withdrew his gaze from his phone, then waved it at him with a smile:

"Of course."

The phone screen clearly showed his previous chat group.

He had just told the people in the group to release the evidence they had prepared long ago.

Lin Ran must be feeling pretty pleased with himself right now, thinking he's climbed back onto the stage by stepping on the original creator once again.

But he was going to drag him back down at the very moment of his greatest triumph, and stomp him firmly into the ground, never letting him get back up!

A trace of bloodlust flashed through Shi Mo's eyes, quickly concealed by a smile.

"Xiao Qi, go add some fuel to the fire."

Shi Mo's thin lips parted slightly as he spoke casually, then reached out and tapped 447's head.

"The only reason the Lin family can still hold on right now is because of Lin Ran's protagonist's halo and luck. I'm going to destroy everything he has now and reclaim all the luck on him."

447's eyes lit up, and he immediately agreed:

[Alright! Don't worry, Xiao Momo. Leave this to me—I won't let you down!]

Then he turned around quite cheerfully and left, returning to the system space.

This was something he had already prepared long ago, so it was easy to execute.

Lin Ran had claimed quite a few original works as his own before, all to maintain his perfect persona.

But it was *Phoenix's Cry Across the World* that caused the biggest stir, so for a moment, they all forgot about everything else.

It didn't matter—he would make them remember!

Shi Mo played with his phone, watching the comments from people defending Lin Ran online, patiently waiting for the tables to turn.

He wasn't the only one. Those who had just released all the evidence were also glued to their screens, watching this unfold.

They feared the Lin family would shut it down before it could gain traction, leaving it dead in the water with no one caring.

They also feared people would blindly defend Lin Ran, making all their hard work look like a joke.

What they didn't expect was how fast and hard this would blow up—far beyond what they'd imagined.

#LinRanPlagiarizesYetAgain!

#30CreatorsCallOutPlagiarist!

#HowManyOfLinRan'sWordsAreTrue?

#LinRanSerialPlagiarist!

#SupportOriginalCreators!

#PlagiaristsBelongInTheGutter!

The trending hashtags blew up one after another, so fast that the Lin family barely had time to react and handle it.

By the time they came to their senses, the buzz had already become impossible to cool down.

Lin Ran had originally been live-streaming, keeping up his perfect image.

At first, a few scattered insults appeared in the chat, but he brushed them off.

It wasn't until the screen was flooded with hate that he started to panic, finally scrolling through the trending hashtags one after another.

And the original creators were all tagging him and releasing their evidence.

Lin Ran's works were almost straight-up copied, some only with a few names or tunes changed.

There wasn't even a need for a side-by-side comparison—you could tell at a glance that all his works were plagiarized.

Lin Ran instinctively tried to pin it on the Ye family like last time.

But netizens weren't buying it this time.

After all, they had gone out of their way to ask him on his live-stream whether all his other works were truly his original creations.

Lin Ran thought *Phoenix* was just an accident, so he confidently answered those questions, claiming that all his other works were original and had no deals or trades behind them.

They still had screen recordings of his statements. Now, trying to use that as an excuse again wasn't gonna fly.

Those who had been silent and sitting on the sidelines finally started speaking up, supporting the original creators' fight for their rights.

And those who had been grabbing their popcorn all along, seeing the tide turn once more, also piled on to curse Lin Ran.

The internet is a double-edged sword.

They could put him back on a pedestal, and they could just as easily tear him off it.

The Ye family jumped at the chance to directly sue Lin Ran and publicly demanded the Lin family give an explanation.

Lin Ran, who had been on top of the world just that morning, instantly became public enemy number one.

His luck was running out fast, and he instinctively wanted to go to his father for help.

But the Lin household was already in complete chaos—his father couldn't even handle his own problems, let alone have any energy left for him.

His mother wanted to help him somehow, but she was powerless, and in the end, all she could do was tell him to stay home and lay low.

Lin Ran, furious at the overwhelming backlash, smashed his phone and computer, trashing his room in a blind rage!

Staring at his unhinged reflection in the mirror, he muttered like a madman:

"No! No! This isn't how it's supposed to be! This isn't how it's supposed to be!"

"I got a second life—I'm the main character of this world! I'm the main character! This isn't how it's supposed to be!"

"Ahhh!!!"

He let out an agonized scream, grabbing a nearby cup and chucking it at the mirror!

With the sound of shattering glass, countless cracks webbed across the mirror.

Seeing his distorted reflection in the broken glass, Lin Ran's eyes were bloodshot, clenching his teeth, yet he laughed in a chillingly creepy way:

"Ye Qi! Ye Qi! Hahaha!!!"

"Even after I got a second life, you still won't let me go! You still won't let me go! Hahaha!!!"