Dong Anlan slung an arm around Zhang He's shoulders. "This was all Lanzhou's idea. You forgot? She said she wanted to disgust that Lin girl, remember?"
"Of course I didn't forget! Lanzhou also said she was going to dig up the truth about Lin Moyao's plagiarized paper!" Zhang He clenched her fists, fuming with righteous anger.
Shu Lanzhou smiled softly. "It won't be long now. We'll have something soon!"
"So, what's next?" Zhang He handed them her phone. "Look at this—it's blowing up. People are already digging into the posters who spread those rumors about you."
"Think they'll find out they were just hired trolls?"
Shu Lanzhou nodded. "Once the posts exposing those paid posters are out, help me find someone with a good writing style to draft an analysis thread."
"You mean, have someone break down who really benefited from all this once things got blown up?" Ding Yuejiao joined the conversation.
Shu Lanzhou nodded again.
"Exactly. Think about it—when Lin Moyao's plagiarism scandal exploded online, who stood to gain from the attention shifting? And when I was accused of misconduct—who did that hurt, and who walked away clean?"
"But wait…" Ding Yuejiao frowned. "Why didn't we do this sooner? We could've posted clarifications ourselves back then. Why wait till now?"
Dong Anlan chuckled.
"Because before, it was just speculation. We thought Lin Moyao was behind those rumors about Lanzhou, but the posts got taken down quickly and we didn't have any proof."
"Wait, are you saying you have proof now? That those trolls were really hired by Lin Moyao?" Zhang He was practically grinding her teeth in rage.
Dong Anlan gave a mysterious smile. "You'll see tomorrow. Now, enough for tonight. Everyone get to bed. We'll talk more tomorrow."
No matter how much Zhang He pressed, Dong Anlan wouldn't spill another word.
Zhang He flopped onto her bed in mock exasperation. "Ugh, I can't believe you two have secrets now. And it's only been a few days since you got together!"
Shu Lanzhou laughed helplessly. After tidying up and getting into bed, she tried coaxing her.
"It's not really a secret. We're just waiting on results, like everyone else. Whether we get evidence or not isn't up to us."
Though she was almost certain that the people spreading rumors and those attacking Lin Moyao were one and the same, without solid proof, she couldn't say a word.
Zhang He suddenly perked up. "Wait… did you guys get help from some kind of tech wizard? Do we know them?"
Ding Yuejiao looked over curiously too.
"You do know him." Dong Anlan smiled meaningfully. "It's the campus heartthrob himself—surprised?"
"Oh my god!" Zhang He practically screamed.
"You're telling me it's Senior Ke?! You met him in person? And he's not just pretty, he's a computer genius too? And he helped you investigate this? AHHHH! It's fate! Campus belle and campus beau!"
Ding Yuejiao was equally thrilled. After all, they had voted for that campus heartthrob—this was like their fan dream come true!
"Stop saying nonsense! Lights out, go to sleep!" Dong Anlan turned red and scrambled up to her bunk, flipping the light off with a dramatic gesture.
Ding Yuejiao called up from her bed, "He'er wasn't wrong though. The campus belle and campus beau really do make a perfect match. And honestly, Senior Ke is way better than that Luo Jialin. Think about it!"
"Jiaojiao!" Dong Anlan yelped and buried her face in her blanket.
Zhang He chimed in, "I agree with Jiaojiao!"
Seeing the group all teasing her, Dong Anlan was flustered but not really angry—which gave Shu Lanzhou a tiny bit of relief.
Whatever Dong Anlan thought about Ke Beichen, as long as she didn't still like Luo Jialin, it was already a huge win.
Shu Lanzhou laid back in bed and slowly closed her eyes.
Tomorrow would be her first real strike back against Lin Moyao since she returned to this life. No matter what, she couldn't afford to lose. She needed to be well-rested.
——
The next morning, Shu Lanzhou woke up and immediately reached for her phone.
The comparison post that Dong Anlan had someone publish last night already had over ten thousand comments. She blinked in disbelief, rubbed her eyes, and checked again—yep, the number was still climbing.
What's more, the identities of the posters who had spread those rumors—about Lin Moyao plagiarizing and about her own alleged misconduct—had been exposed. Completely. With screenshots and proof right in the comments.
Fans of Luo Jialin and the other involved students had flooded the comment section denying any involvement. They claimed those posters weren't them and would never do something like that.
This clearly reeked of hired trolls—paid to spread dirt on either Lin Moyao or Shu Lanzhou.
The more Shu Lanzhou read, the more thrilled she became. One post in particular completely exposed the trolls' backgrounds—right down to which departments they were in, what other posts they'd made, and even how much they'd been paid.
She jumped out of bed. "Lan-jie, Lan-jie, do you know this person?!"
"Who?" Dong Anlan yawned, climbing down from her top bunk. "Nope, never seen that name before. Let me take a look."
"Holy crap, who is this goddess? She did everything we wanted to do! If I'd known she'd go this hard, I wouldn't have bothered Senior Ke!"
"This girl dug deep. She even found out what department they're in, how many posts they made, and how much they got paid. Incredible!"
"You think it's one of the trolls confessing? Maybe Lin Moyao stiffed them on payment?" Dong Anlan's sleepiness vanished completely.
"Let me see!" Zhang He came over and scanned the post.
"They really were trolls! Then the mastermind has to be Lin Moyao, no doubt about it!"
Ding Yuejiao also crowded over.
"Keep scrolling—there's a link to an analysis post. Click it. The author explains that after everything that happened, the person who benefited the most… was Lin Moyao."
"Check the comment section. People are already calling her out for hiring trolls to spread the plagiarism rumor and to slander Lanzhou!"
"Some people tried to defend her, but they got roasted instantly."
"And the logic was kind of amazing too—they said the school should conduct a formal investigation into the plagiarism. Only that would truly clear anyone's name. Otherwise, no one should be trying to spin it."
Shu Lanzhou clicked the link Ding Yuejiao mentioned. Most of the comments were calling out Lin Moyao:
"What a manipulative little snake!"
"Such a perfect pity act!"
"Crying thief while being one!"
"So Lin's application paper for Professor Han's team was plagiarized?"
"If that's true, does that mean Shu should've been the real pick?"
"Funny how the fake got in and the real deal got pushed out. Is this justice?"
"Why didn't anyone investigate back then? Was it covered up?"
"Pretty privilege strikes again!"
"Poor Shu—booted from the team, smeared and insulted… how can people be so vile?"
"No wonder she chose to leave instead of fighting. She's got real integrity!"
"We don't know all the facts yet. Don't jump to conclusions. Let's wait for the investigation."
"Investigate the plagiarism!"
"Investigate the plagiarism!"
"Investigate the plagiarism!"
…
"If what the OP said is true, this kind of shady behavior crushes the hopes of so many students from modest backgrounds!"
…
Shu Lanzhou's hands trembled slightly as she scrolled.
She hadn't expected things to go this smoothly—the troll exposure, the analysis post… everything fell into place.
It turns out, good people still existed. Most people could still see the truth. They weren't blindly siding with Lin Moyao based on a few crocodile tears.
This time, she wanted to see—just how Lin Moyao was going to wriggle out of this one.
Just as she was about to close the forum, her phone rang. When she saw the caller ID, her lashes quivered.
"You going to answer that?" Dong Anlan took her hand gently.
Shu Lanzhou hesitated, then splashed some cold water on her face before picking up just before it went to voicemail.
"Professor Han…"
Before she could say anything, a furious voice exploded from the other end.