Possessed No More: The True Star Returns to Claim Her Throne-Chapter 99: Stardust V

Neither of them were the type to waste time. Once they understood each other, they ended the call immediately. Sleep was now out of the question. Thomas Lynch got right up and had the public relations department issue a notice.

Stardust Entertainment Corporation V:

Over the past six months, defamatory material has suddenly surfaced online, intentionally tarnishing the image of our company’s artist, Riley Perry. Furthermore, some have deliberately orchestrated a campaign of malicious slander and insults against Riley Perry, which has had an extremely detrimental effect on her personally. In light of this situation, our company issues this stern warning: we demand that certain individuals immediately delete all inappropriate statements and issue a formal apology to Riley Perry on Weibo within three days. Otherwise, our company will take legal action to protect the legitimate rights and interests of our artist.

The haters who were having a field day, along with a few others with ulterior motives, quickly discovered this post. But they paid Stardust’s warning no mind. Instead, they switched to making passive-aggressive and sarcastic comments under the verified accounts of Stardust and Riley Perry. Even the livestream for Go on an adventure together wasn’t spared.

Director Warren was furious. He just wanted to produce a good variety show, but it seemed there were always people who couldn’t stand to see him do well and just had to cause some drama.

"Mute whoever needs to be muted, and report whoever needs to be reported. Also, have the production team issue another statement: ’Please be mindful of your comments. The internet is not a lawless space. We urge our viewers not to create, believe, or spread rumors, and to avoid perpetuating misinformation. Let’s work together to foster a civil and safe online environment.’"

Soon, in Riley Perry’s livestream channel, many users were muted, and those posting malicious insults were kicked out. Combined with the production team’s statement, the comment section finally cleaned up a little.

[The production team has guts. They really aren’t afraid of the viewer count dropping, huh?]

[Ha, why don’t you take a look at the viewer count on this stream before you talk?]

[Whoa, that gave me a shock. Is that over eleven million people? I’m not seeing things, am I?]

[There are three livestream channels. One has an A-list action star. Another has a mix of a popular starlet, a veteran award-winning actor, and a top-tier celebrity with a massive following. And yet, they all got crushed by these two who aren’t even that famous. Who would believe it?]

Believe it or not, it was true!

After all, the show had only been filming for a few hours, and Riley Perry had already trended multiple times!

The key was that she did things no one else could, and on top of that, you had the lovably dense Victoria Koenig, who was like her little echo, doing whatever Riley Perry told her to do. Yet the atmosphere between them was incredibly harmonious—the kind of harmony you’d find between sisters.

This left Victoria Koenig’s fans very satisfied. They would even jump in and chew out anyone who tried to bad-mouth Riley Perry. The more controversy, the more attractive it became, so reaching over ten million viewers was well within reason.

Of course, the viewer count for channel 3 wasn’t low by any means—it was over nine million. For any other variety show, that number would have left the competition in the dust. Unfortunately for them, they ran into a freak of nature like Riley Perry.

...

The viewers who had been drawn to the adventure livestream by the trending topics could finally relax.

But the haters who had been kicked or muted completely lost their composure. They swarmed Riley Perry’s Weibo page and unleashed a torrent of abuse, their comments as foul and nasty as could be. Someone with way too much time on their hands even posted all of Riley Perry’s old "damaging material," including a photo of her in heavy makeup, dancing intimately with a man in a bar, and another of her getting into a luxury car with a bald executive.

There was even one of her being groped.

You could say they had everything short of nude photos!

The commotion got pretty big. Half an hour later, a comment was boosted to the top: [I just saw that bar photo and it looked really familiar, so I did a little searching online. I found one with the exact same background, even the same camera angle. The only difference is the woman in it.]

Attached below were two photos: one of Riley Perry dancing intimately with a man, and another of a plain-looking woman dancing intimately with a man.

Aside from the woman in them, the two photos were completely identical.

[This must be Riley Perry trying to do damage control, right? Photoshopping a pic to try and confuse people? Can any pros out there take a look and verify?] 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

[I’m on it! Hang on, I’ll be right back.]

OP: [I swear on my life I didn’t Photoshop this! I have a few more pictures from the same day at the same bar. Go ahead and compare for yourselves.]

The OP then attached several more photos showing the same woman and man together. The background was clearly the same bar, and their outfits were identical.

At this, the comment section exploded.

By now, it wasn’t just Riley Perry’s haters stirring up trouble on her page; a good number of neutral onlookers had been drawn into the drama as well.

Someone asked: [If this one is fake, does that mean the others might be fake too? Hey, experts, go and check them out!]

[Every time Riley Perry makes a move, someone pops up to say she has a sugar daddy or a sponsor. I’m starting to suspect someone is deliberately trying to sabotage her.]

[She debuted over three years ago and hasn’t gotten a single decent project? And you’re saying she has a sponsor? Is there something wrong with your brain?]

[My cousin works in media, and he said their agency has accepted jobs to slander Riley Perry more than once. The poor girl has it rough, but she helps them meet their monthly KPIs. She’s a real saint; everyone at his agency is a fan of Riley Perry.]

Many people didn’t believe it, thinking the commenter was lying. But less than two minutes later, that user deleted their comment.

Suddenly, the skeptics were starting to have second thoughts.

After all, it’s illegal for paid online trolls to maliciously spread false information. They must have been afraid of implicating their cousin, which is why they deleted the comment.

This made some of the neutral observers hesitant to comment carelessly, and they just kept urging the experts to verify the other photos.

Soon, one of the pros posted their findings: [The one of Riley Perry is Photoshopped. When you zoom in, the pixels are blurry in certain spots. What’s more, all of these are fake. I got lucky and found the original photos. See attachments: Fig. 1, Fig. 2, Fig. 3, Fig. 4.]

[...So, this person we’ve been hating on for so long... she didn’t actually do any of it? She was just framed?]

[No way. This must be people Riley Perry hired to whitewash her image. How could those photos possibly be fake?]

[To the user above, if you’re blind, go get a new pair of eyes. Is it really that fun to hate just for the sake of hating?]

[What about the one of her drinking in a bar, then? That one has to be real, right?]

[To the user above, are you trying to make me die laughing? Is it illegal for an artist to have a drink at a bar? Since when did the standards for celebrities become this strict?]

Just then, someone else leaked more evidence: a recording of a conversation where a woman paid 200,000 yuan to hire online trolls to slander Riley Perry, complete with a record of the bank transfer.

If this audio clip had been released earlier, no one would have believed it. After all, neither party in the conversation stated their name, and even the leaker was anonymous, making verification impossible. But with all the groundwork that had just been laid, people automatically assumed the recording was authentic.

Just then, Stardust Entertainment posted on Weibo again: Since entering this industry, our artist Riley Perry has been nothing but diligent and conscientious in her work. She has never done a single thing that goes against public decency or violates any laws or regulations. Yet, such a hardworking and ambitious artist has been the target of continuous, malicious slander.