Beast World: From Villainess to Cub-Raising Chef
Chapter 134 - 133: An Uproar on the Internet
*
Yelias returned to the Lanton Family to investigate the Medical Alliance, while Lu Tingyan was busy preparing for the wedding.
Bai Su spent her days at home with the children, also making time to livestream cooking tutorials.
The brief, pleasant daily routine centered around Bai Su was like a small flame, burning calmly and warmly.
Until a stone was suddenly thrown into the lake, sending out a thousand terrifying waves. Like a butterfly’s wings causing a tsunami, it all came without warning.
At some point, a new narrative began to circulate online, claiming that the person who killed Bai Xue was Bai Su.
Overnight, Bai Su’s name shot to the top of the trending topics along with Bai Xue’s.
An overwhelming wave of cyberbullying rushed in like a flood from a broken dam.
Lu Tingyan immediately launched a PR response overnight, but the more he tried to delete posts and silence the discussion, the more intense the netizens’ emotions became.
Bai Xue’s death had already caused a huge uproar online. Netizens were blowing up the Federation’s phone lines every day, demanding they find the murderer quickly.
They even hurled all sorts of insults, calling them useless freeloaders living off taxpayer money.
Bai Su being revealed as a Level 8 Female and then being ennobled as a Duke had sparked even greater debate and national attention, which had gradually shifted the public’s focus from Bai Xue to her.
But now, with the news breaking that Bai Su was the one who killed Bai Xue, everyone completely lost it.
[What the hell? Am I still asleep? This news sounds so bizarre.]
[No way, right? I know Bai Su. Wasn’t she that internet-famous restaurant owner in the Jing Suburb? And she and Bai Xue are blood sisters, right?]
[It’s *because* they’re sisters. One was a high and mighty young lady from a wealthy, noble family, while the other was down on her luck, running a restaurant in the Jing Suburb to get by. It’s easy for problems to arise from that, isn’t it?]
[Bai Xue dies and has her uterus cut out, and the next thing you know, Bai Su levels up to Level 8 and becomes a Federation Duke. Think about it. Let that sink in.]
[Holy shit! I think the person above nailed it! The more you think about it, the more terrifying it is!]
[So scary, holy shit! I’ve been following Bai Su for a while, she’s always smiling! Don’t scare me like this!]
[You can tell just by watching her kill fish and chickens and butcher those ingredients every day. I thought back then that she had a really violent streak, but the comment moderation on her livestream is super strict, so I didn’t dare say anything!]
[Oh my god, could Leader Lu have been fooled by her smiling facade?]
Occasionally, a comment would pop up saying: [We don’t know if it’s true or not yet. I think we shouldn’t just jump on the bandwagon.]
It would immediately be ganged up on by others, who would furiously spam it with hundreds of replies.
[The Bai family said it themselves. How could it be fake?]
[Bai Su’s own father, Bai Ruyan, said it personally. If you don’t believe it, go look at the gossip accounts. A reporter interviewed him!]
[Oh my god, you can really feel Bai Ruyan’s anguish in that video.]
[Life in a wealthy family is tough. It’s not scarcity that’s the problem, but inequality. Bai Ruyan is so old. Imagine how devastated he must be, knowing his older daughter killed his younger one.]
The video mentioned in the comments showed Bai Ruyan having an emotional breakdown during a press interview, where he bitterly accused Bai Su of murdering Bai Xue.
Immediately after, many females from noble families began coming forward to denounce Bai Su on their own social media accounts.
[She’s just like that. She never sticks with other women. She’s super competitive with them!]
[No way, no way, no way? You mean there are still people who don’t know Bai Su shuns other women? She only befriends men and doesn’t have a single female friend!]
[Maybe you’ve heard of Bi Yue, the daughter of the Bear Clan’s leader? She just questioned Bai Su’s food once, and she still hasn’t been released!]
[Bai Su is famous in the Imperial City’s noble circles for not getting along with other women. I’m not surprised at all that the news revealed her as the murderer.]
[Bai Su, get the hell out here! Why did you have to kill your own sister?]
[The Federation’s laws protecting females are very strong. How has someone like her not been thrown in jail yet? Is Leader Lu protecting her?]
[The more I think about it, the more terrifying it is!]
When Bai Su saw these messages, Lu Tingyan was by her side, comforting her. "Susu, don’t pay any attention to this. It’s all just the Medical Alliance’s scheme."
"Bai Xue and Rachel were their sleeper agents planted in the Bai family. Now that we’ve removed them, they’re targeting you."
"Don’t worry. In a few more days, I’ll have the evidence of the Bai family’s collusion with the Medical Alliance, and everything will be cleared up."
Bai Su nodded. "I trust you."
But it was impossible to say she wasn’t affected.
After all, she had never been a public figure before, and this was her first time being attacked and vilified by the entire internet.
The fact that so many females had gotten pregnant with the help of her food, that so many had treated her like a goddess, that so many had wept with gratitude—all of it was being erased by the netizens.
So many people had regained their health because of her food, yet now, no one mentioned it.
If anyone dared to say even a word or two in her defense, they would be flamed to death by netizens, who would shut them down with comments like, "Stop trying to whitewash a murderer," and, "Hope you get a sister just like Bai Su."
As her good friend, Yan Qingya quickly sent her a message: [Susu, don’t worry! We’re investigating this matter!]
[We all believe you. Don’t listen to that bunch of fucking idiots spewing bullshit!]
Bai Su replied: [I’m fine.]
She thought for a moment before adding: [Lu Tingyan and the others will help me solve this. Don’t you worry, just focus on your pregnancy.]
Yan Qingya: [That’s good. I’ll come over and keep you company later. It must be so boring for you to be all alone.]
Bai Su knew her friend’s due date was approaching and that she was very tired.
Her offer to visit was because she was still worried, afraid that Bai Su would be affected by the online attacks and feel down.
Bai Su’s heart warmed. [Come on, I’m really fine. You just rest up at home and don’t look at the comments online. They’re all paid posters.]
She was worried that if a pregnant woman read such things, she would get agitated, which could affect the birth.
Seeing that Bai Su was able to comfort her in return, Yan Qingya finally breathed a sigh of relief: [Alright then.]
Bai Su gave her a couple more reminders, then stopped looking at her messages.
’It was true that Bai Xue died because of me.’
’But I don’t regret it. Even if I’m being attacked for it now, I still stand by it: Bai Xue deserved to die.’
’Those who harm others will ultimately harm themselves. This was her retribution.’
’It’s just that netizens are always like this. They have a natural filter when it comes to the dead.’
’When people are alive, the public isn’t necessarily so righteous. They certainly wouldn’t rally to my side this overwhelmingly.’
’Only after someone dies do people forgive all their faults and begin to memorialize them.’
Lu Tingyan was already investigating for evidence from back then.
To change the current situation, they had to reveal everything to the public so that everyone would know about the crimes Bai Xue and her mother committed back then.
Moreover...
Lu Tingyan had already pried information from Bai Rongrong about the secret dealings between Bai Xue, her mother, and the Medical Alliance over the years.
All Bai Su had to do was wait patiently.
The online rumors grew more and more intense. Some agitated people even went to the street outside the Duke Mansion to throw trash and vegetable scraps, holding up banners insulting Bai Su.
Many even paraded through the streets with banners, demanding that the Federation sanction Bai Su and not allow a "murderer" like her to continue living a life of luxury.
The number of protesters parading in the streets grew, most of them demanding that the Federation police take Bai Su in for investigation.
[Even if there’s no evidence now, Bai Su is at least a suspect, right? Are you just going to remain indifferent toward a suspect?]
[Since when can the power of the nobility override the laws protecting females?]
[Why should a murderer who persecutes females get to enjoy such a good material life? Is that something a suspect like her deserves?]
[If it were any other male suspected of killing a female, he would’ve been arrested and brutally interrogated long ago, right?]
[What kind of Level 8 Female is she? She reached Level 8 by stepping on her own sister’s corpse! We in the Federation don’t welcome or need a high-level female like that!]
[Bai Su, get out of the Federation!]
[Sanction Bai Su! Down with elitism!]
Due to the Federation’s passive handling of the situation and Bai Su not coming forward to respond, the public gradually grew tired of the commotion.
It wasn’t as if people didn’t have their own lives. They had to work and live, with their own things to do. They couldn’t afford to be so idle as to take time out to protest every single day.
So, many people shifted from offline protests back to online protests.
Just as the fervor had died down a little, the Bai family stepped forward again, making a public statement that stirred the public’s emotions to a new height.
Bai Junlan personally responded to the news of Bai Xue’s murder.
Dressed in a blouse and suit, she recorded a video in her capacity as the president of the Female Protection Institution. In a formal, official tone, she stated that they would resolutely combat any actions that harmed the interests of females and would firmly protect vulnerable female groups.
After finishing her official-sounding speech, she added one final sentence: the entire Bai family would not be attending Bai Su’s wedding.
Although that was the only sentence in the entire video that mentioned Bai Su, in the eyes of the netizens, it was undoubtedly an indirect admission that Bai Su was the one who murdered Bai Xue.
With that, the netizens who had just started to calm down were instantly given a shot of adrenaline, and the public fury surged to a new peak.
Almost the entire internet was cursing Bai Su, ostracizing her, and boycotting her.