Chapter Ch12 - The Storm That Followed
translator: xiin
editor: Pyromancer
“An astonishing scandal explodes across the e-sports compet.i.tion circle! Match fixing in the top four causes the compet.i.tion schedule to be suspended!”
“Lu Chaofan is suspected of match fixing, and the A League’s Organizing Committee has begun to investigate.”
“Exposed! Match fixing in A League’s compet.i.tion!”
Less than an hour after the end of the compet.i.tion, most of the major real-time news websites had already posted all kinds of headlines, followed by a push to spread the news by tens of millions of viewers who followed e-sports news.
These onlookers soon began to make an even bigger wave than the media, and within two short hours, the hot topic of #Lu Chaofan Match Fixing# topped the social media headlines.
Many busybodies uploaded their recordings of the match on the internet as soon as the game was over.
The videos came from many different perspectives, and many different users, which corroborated the authenticity of the information and thoroughly exposed exactly what had happened during the matches.
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The third hour after the game.
Lu Chaofan was hiding at home, the windows closed, curtains pulled down, his head covered in cold sweat as he made a call.
“There’s too little room for maneuvering.” His agent said, “At the scene! Right there! The news broke out simultaneously! It was definitely your words, and the time and place match up perfectly, there’s no way to refute it at all. How could you be so careless?!”
Lu Chaofan wanted to cry when this was brought up, “It’s all that silly host’s fault! She left the microphone in the backstage lounge, and it wasn’t even turned off! The backstage is completely isolated from the outside world during the compet.i.tion. How could I possibly have thought that this would happen?”
Agent: “By the way, the woman named Pei Ying came to look for you and asked about how the intermediary fee should be calculated?”
Lu Chao burst into a rage, “Calculate her *beep—* what *beep—*! She lied to me and still dares to come out and collect money. Even if she’s seeking death, that’s not how it should be done! If you see her again, put a sack on her and beat her up. If she ends up disabled, I’ll gladly take the blame!”
Lu Chaofan contacted his company and learned that his contract was temporarily suspended. It was obvious that if this matter did not subside immediately, what was waiting for him was the fate of being frozen out of the industry and the death of his career.
Lu Chaofan went to look for a.s.sistant Director Xu whom he regarded as a brother, wanting to find someone who could help him clarify matters, but unexpectedly he heard nothing but curses when a.s.sistant Director Xu answered the phone.
Moreover, he was referring to Lu Chaofan by name as he cursed him and his mother.
a.s.sistant Director Xu had been suspended from his post pending the investigation of the A League’s Organizing Committee. The committee moved very quickly, and had already obtained all the surveillance videos and recordings of both the compet.i.tion stage and the backstage lounge. It was possible that they would set up an investigative team on the same day that would take charge of this matter.
Finally, Lu Chaofan was left with no choice but to call a financial backer of his who had expressed goodwill towards him before.
The backer said, “Forget it, spend some money to suppress the news, and wait a few months before returning to the public eye. Netizens are easy to suppress, but there’s nothing that can be done regarding the A League’s Organizing Committee. You will probably end up with a two-year suspension. Little deer, don’t go into the e-sports compet.i.tion circles in the future. Come back and sing. After this storm is over, I’ll buy you a headline as compensation.”
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That evening, the trending topics on social media regarding the fake match disappeared, and the reports related to this matter were slowly withdrawn from the headlines of major media sites.
The frenzy surrounding this event disappeared too suddenly, allowing many netizens to notice something was amiss.
Moreover, Lu Chaofan was unwilling to be scolded in such a way on the internet, and hired a large navy to wash himself white on various social media platforms.
The navy, to a large extent, would affect the opinion of the general public, but at the same time, it also aroused many people’s anger.
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“It’s not fair! This fellow is simply terrible!”
At this moment, someone was clutching at their head and shouting, angrily grabbing their keyboard and tossing it to the ground.
A loud bang rang out, shocking his roommate.
Victor stuck his head in from the doorway, and asked curiously, “What’s wrong? Did you lose in a ranked game again?”
The roommate was full of rage that he had nowhere to vent. He heard Victor’s words and immediately pulled him into the chair, tirelessly explaining the context of the situation to him and finally summing up angrily, “Lu Chaofan then hired a navy to wash himself white! If even something like this can be cleaned up, then my worldview is broken! I will no longer believe in fairness in this world!”
When Victor saw the situation, he also became very indignant. He asked, “Didn’t he get punished for fixing the match?”
“The Organizing Committee only has the power to suspend the match and cannot hand down any real punishment, because he isn’t a contestant that has signed a contract.” The roommate continued, “Look at his fans, they’re really making me disgusted!”
On Lu Chaofan’s official website, the message that was now topping the headlines was, “We believe in your innocence! Little Fan is the purest and most beautiful person~ You absolutely cannot let these filthy things affect you. We’re looking forward to your next alb.u.m, muah~!”
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Victor didn’t pay any attention to the e-sports compet.i.tion circle, but when he saw this, he became shocked by some people’s brazenness.
He said, “Are there any other materials? Show me. Such a serious incident must be punished accordingly. Otherwise, the rules of the whole compet.i.tion will be messed up in the future.”
When he had gone through all the materials, he discovered that there was a force behind Lu Chaofan that had constantly been working to clear his name. The news media were all acting as though it was none of their business as long as they could make money, and up until now, the only people who strongly supported the Organizing Committee to make a fair ruling and appealed for heavy penalties on Lu Chaofan were those who wanted to give justice a helping hand.
His roommate was one such person. He was a single person standing against the thousands of posters in the navy; so angry that he wanted to roll his eyes, but he was still outnumbered and could only watch on as the truth was covered up by glorified praise.
These people pushed on through the night, but their numbers became fewer and fewer, and their words had less and less strength, because they found that their efforts were becoming more and more futile.
“Lu Chaofan’s agent came forward to sue us for damage to his reputation, and then a lot of supporters were scared away. I guess the trending topics will disappear by tomorrow, and then in half a month everything will be calm and quiet. Lu Chaofan’s new alb.u.m will make it onto the billboards, and capture the hearts of a fresh batch of people.” The roommate clutched at his head and spoke bitterly, “TMD, this is the reality.”
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Victor thought for a moment and asked, “What about that Lu Chaofan’s opponent? The one who signed a contract to fix the match results with him.”
“Oh, Lord Four? It seems he was forced.” The roommate said, “You saw it too, the a.s.sistant Director was Lu Chaofan’s person and could add lag to his response time, arranging it as easily as buying groceries.”
“Will he not receive any compensation? Those contestants who were bribed or coerced by Lu Chaofan, as well as those who were disgraced due to the lag…”
“Where would the compensation come from?!” The roommate asked, “Who will pay for it? The Organizing Committee? Media platforms? Or are you hoping the netizens will do it? In any case, these contestants can only submit to their fate.”
“What if they’re unwilling?” Victor pressed, “If someone sues Lu Chaofan, things will have a chance to turn around.”
The roommate laughed bitterly, “How would the powerless people be willing to offend others, let alone a lawsuit? Alas, the only thing we can do is appeal and send out messages of support over the internet… I hope someone will stand up for them.”
Victor paused, and said, “I will.”
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The two of them looked at each other.
The roommate said, “Vic, are you kidding? Are you going to sit down next to me? The two of us can hold an eloquent debate against the educated lords tonight?”
Victor laughed. “Sure. You’re in charge of the eloquent debate, and I’m in charge of finding the educated lords.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Victor began to make calls.
The first call was to consult his law teacher at the Imperial College of Engineering, his alma mater.
The second call was to the official hotline of the A League’s Organizing Committee to ask them in detail about their investigation process.
The third phone call was to commission a private detective to help investigate more of Lu Chaofan’s previous opponents.
The next few calls were to different compet.i.tion-related agencies, official legal departments, public welfare rights organizations… Anything that might be necessary or related.
Then, Victor sat down and began to write out a plan. He planned to invite legal experts, watchdogs, a.s.sociated e-sports compet.i.tors, and representatives of the A League investigation team to attend an unofficial hearing on the matter next Monday.
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Victor’s roommate: “…” muddled.jpg
After listening to everything, the roommate’s legs were trembling. He asked, “Vic! Are you trying to make major news?!”
Victor replied, “Not really. I was thinking that this matter might need to be settled from a legal point of view. After listening to my professor’s a.n.a.lysis, I found something promising.”
Roommate: “Vic, you’re awesome! I thought that smashing my keyboard to fight against several thousand navy members was already the limit. I didn’t expect that you… How much time do you plan to spend on this?”
Victor: “Ah, the entire process should take two months to… over a year?”
Roommate: “… Vic.”
“Hm?”
The roommate calmed down and said, “You will miss the employment season like this. Although I’m very angry, you shouldn’t waste so much time on this matter for nothing…”
“Why is it for nothing?” Victor asked blankly, “There are mistakes in the rules. Someone has to fix them. Seeing that injustice is happening, and trying and make it fair is the right thing to do.”
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So, the next morning, when Tyron looked through his mailbox, he saw two very eye-catching letters:
The first letter, was a response from the Organizing Committee, saying that the investigation team would contact him soon.
The second letter, was a private letter sent by an individual named ‘Victor Li’, inviting him to meet with a legal advisor in order to sue Lu Chaofan; if he didn’t want to come out and sue him, they could do it on his behalf. Victor Li also requested a copy of the original contract.
Tyron spent some time reading the second letter, and suddenly found it quite interesting, so he replied and made an appointment to meet.
He had originally had no intention of letting Lu Chaofan off so lightly, because he had been ready from the start to extract some value from this foolish enemy of his.
Don’t forget that the confidentiality clause of the contract was very clear: Whoever leaked the contents of the contract would be fined for breach of contract and need to pay a fine of 20 million dollars.
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At this point, receiving Victor’s letter was a complete coincidence for Tyron.
However, there were many other things happening that were not coincidental.
Because a.s.sa.s.sins were used to always scoping out their target and venues in advance. For example, watching the rehearsal and observing the environment.
a.s.sa.s.sins were also used to mixing in with key people, such as eating potato chips and chatting for a while with the cute host, and casually getting a better look at that thumb-sized microphone.
Master a.s.sa.s.sins never acted when they hadn’t properly grasped the situation.
Only after the plan had been simulated in his mind more than a dozen times would he show a kind smile to the enemy and say, “Happy cooperation.”