Chapter 179: The Price of a Handle

Shocking! BW Comic Con Organizer: Competition Prize Money Turns Out to Be an Empty Promise?!
【Eye-catching Headline】Flower-of-Youth Girl Forced to Delete Her Account?! The More You Think About It, the Scarier It Gets! What kind of organizer is this?!

Lin Yu lay sprawled on the sofa, his elbow propping him up as he frantically swiped.

Despite being only seconds away from Manager Qian’s office, the moment he realized something was wrong, he relied on years of single-life keyboard speed to delete the post at lightning speed—and even deactivated the freshly registered account named 【An Innocent Girl Screwed Over by the Organizer】.

However, he had clearly underestimated the sheer boredom of netizens—
and even more so, the terrifying power of a so-called traffic password like “Beautiful Girl Tragedy + Capital Black幕.”

Although the original post was gone, before he deleted it, countless “kindhearted netizens” and “marketing accounts” had already completed the full process of screenshots, screen recordings, secondary edits, and re-uploads.

At this very moment, Douyin, Xiaohongshu—everywhere—was flooded with content about the incident.

It’s over. Completely over.

Lin Yu felt his blood pressure skyrocketing.

He had only wanted to delete the account to lie low during the storm.

Who would have thought that this instinctive “cutting the line” move would, in the eyes of netizens, turn into the most perfect piece of “evidence of the victim being silenced by capital.”

Somewhere on Weibo’s trending list—

As the video views surged, the topic
【#SearchingForTheMostBeautifulMagicalGirl】
was riding an unstoppable wave toward the very top.

Lin Yu stared at the virtual screen, watching the constantly jumping hot-search rankings, pressing his palms together like he was praying.

Please, stop sharing…
All the gods and Buddhas, please bless me—
Don’t let this thing hit number one!

If people at the company saw this…
Forget Manager Qian—even the logistics department, whose sole mission was “protecting the company’s image,” would skin him alive.

“Please—!”

Just as he was panicking like an ant on a hot pan, a lazy, perfunctory sound came from the windowsill.

On the sun-drenched bay window lay Xiao Bai, the little thing that had been brought back earlier. It was stretched out lazily, basking in the sunlight.

It lifted one eyelid slightly, shot Lin Yu a look that clearly said “this human is hopeless,” then lowered its head again and continued sunbathing.

“Ding-ling-ling—!!!”

“Wha—!!!”

Lin Yu jumped in fright.

He stared at the vibrating contract bracelet on his wrist, his face going pale.

A company call?
They’re here to hold me accountable?!

Gulp.

He swallowed hard.

Xiao Bai, the household’s so-called “only workforce,” flipped over lazily on the windowsill.

Those ruby-red eyes showed pity for a moment, then disdain—before it buried its head back into its fluffy paws.

Lin Yu trembled as he accepted the call.

“Hello…?”

“…Hello? Your delivery—”

“Whew—!!!”

Scared the hell out of me!

It was just food delivery!

Lin Yu let out a long breath and collapsed back onto the sofa like a pile of boneless meat.

“Ah… okay… put it by the door, thanks for the hard work!”

After hanging up, the post-disaster exhaustion hit so hard he didn’t even have the strength to move a finger.

“Xiao Bai! Go! Help me bring the takeout in!”

He ordered it around without thinking.

However—

The white furball on the windowsill didn’t even twitch an ear, maintaining its comfortable pose like a truly lifeless object.

“Hey! I’m talking to you!”

Lin Yu was annoyed.

“What’s with this AI? So arrogant! Weren’t you built to serve humans? Why do you just lie around all day—doesn’t the First Law say—”

Faced with its owner’s threat, Xiao Bai finally reacted.

It slowly turned around—
and pointed its fluffy butt straight at Lin Yu.

Lin Yu felt his blood pressure spike again.

“Tch—! Lazy thing, rot where you are!”

Fine. Can’t count on this lord.

The door opened and closed.

When the rich smell of fried food filled the living room, Lin Yu finally relaxed a little.

“Heh heh… Crazy Thursday…”

He tore open the packaging impatiently and took out a piece of golden, crispy fried chicken.

Original flavor. He inhaled deeply.

“Mmm~ smells so good~”

He deliberately walked over to the windowsill and waved the chicken under Xiao Bai’s nose.

“Oh dear, what a shame~ Some high-tech products might be intelligent, but—”

Xiao Bai didn’t even bother lifting an eyelid.

It cast a contemptuous glance at the human with greasy lips, then slowly jumped down from the window and walked over to the charging cable next to Lin Yu’s tablet.

With one swipe of its paw, it knocked the tablet aside—rudely.

Then it turned around, skillfully raised its fluffy tail, revealing a hidden Type-C port underneath.

Click.

With a crisp sound, it sat its butt down perfectly onto the charging cable.

Instantly, its previously dull red eyes lit up, emitting an extremely satisfied “Beep—”.

It sprawled on the floor, eyes half-closed, as if enjoying a top-tier electronic SPA.

“Pff—hahaha—”

Lin Yu couldn’t hold it in anymore and burst out laughing.

“You little bastard—so you really are ‘any milk makes a mother,’ huh? Even eating with your butt…”

“Ding-ling-ling—!”

Lin Yu’s heart clenched. The chicken nearly slipped from his hand.

“Who now?!”

He was about to check the caller ID—

But at that moment—

“Beep.”

Xiao Bai suddenly hopped over and deliberately pressed the green [Answer] button!

“Holy sh—! What are you doing?!”

Before he could finish, a virtual light screen popped open in midair.

A gloomy, fat face filled his entire view.

Manager Qian’s eyes—usually narrowed into smiling slits—were now wide open.

That gaze looked like it was staring at a dead man.

Gulp.

Lin Yu swallowed the half-chewed chicken whole and nearly choked.

“Oh? Xiao Lin.”

Manager Qian’s voice was eerily calm.

“Eating, are we?”

“Ah… ah… Manager Q-Qian…”

Lin Yu hurriedly hid the chicken behind his back, guilty as hell.

“Y-Yes, I was eating. Uh… Manager Qian, have you eaten yet?”

Manager Qian tugged at the corner of his mouth, smiling without smiling.

“Looks like you’ve got nerves of steel. You screwed up this badly and still have the appetite to eat so happily.”

“Haha… Manager Qian, you flatter me…”

Cold sweat soaked Lin Yu’s back, but he still tried one last struggle.

“As the saying goes, people are iron, rice is steel—you miss one meal and you panic. I’m just… taking care of my body so I can better serve the company! Even if I’m crying inside, I still have to eat a ‘V-me-50’ combo to fill my stomach, right?”

“Heh. Serve the company?”

Manager Qian sneered.

“Do you know that the boss got chewed out by the director like a dog just to clean up your mess—and hasn’t even had time to drink water yet?!”

“Huh?!”

Lin Yu immediately put on his signature over-the-top concern.

“That won’t do! Manager Qian, if you go hungry, that’d be terrible!”

“How about this—where are you right now? I’ll immediately order you a deluxe meal! Let’s do McDonald’s—eat whatever you want! I’ll pay!”

“V your mom’s head!!!”

Finally, the last taut nerve snapped.

Manager Qian roared so loudly it felt like spit was flying through the screen.

“Is your brain full of water?! Did you wipe your ass with the Employee Code of Conduct the company gave you?!”

“I know you’re greedy! I know you love money! Normally, you butter people up, sneak some side gigs—fine, I turn a blind eye!”

“But what the hell were you doing this time?! Posting rights-protection selfies?! You think you weren’t dying fast enough?!”

“Do you know how long 【#SearchingForTheMostBeautifulMagicalGirl】 has been sitting on hot search?!”

“Do you know how much money PR had to burn to scrub your ugly mug from billions of data points across the internet?!”

Manager Qian grew angrier by the second, his fat trembling violently.

“I’m telling you! Just this PR expense alone—deducting your pathetic bonus wouldn’t even come close to covering it!”

Plop.

The half-eaten chicken slid down Lin Yu’s pant leg and fell to the floor, dripping oil.

He didn’t even notice.

“Manager… Manager Qian…”

His voice shook.

“I… I didn’t expect it to blow up like this… The moment I realized something was wrong, I deleted the post! The video too! I even deleted the account! I really tried to fix it…”

“Fix it?!”

Manager Qian slammed the table.

“That was trying to cover it up! That’s screaming guilt! Now the whole world thinks you were a victim silenced by capital! You poured gasoline on the fire yourself!”

“I’m sorry… really sorry…”

“Sorry does what?! If sorry worked, why would we need police—or a logistics department to wipe asses?!”

His gaze was sharp as knives.

“If this isn’t handled properly, the very concept of magical girls could be completely exposed to the public! When that happens—forget you—even me and the entire C-District will be buried with you! Can you bear that responsibility, you tiny C-rank executor?!”

“I… I…”

Lin Yu was completely broken, tears welling up, his mind blank, only able to whimper helplessly.

“Manager Qian… please save me…”

Manager Qian snorted coldly, straightened his tie, and returned to full corporate mode.

“Since you caused this mess, if I don’t give you a serious punishment, make an example of you company-wide, who would take the confidentiality agreement seriously?”

“Disciplinary action?”

Lin Yu’s heart sank halfway, but he still clung to a sliver of hope.

“W-What kind of punishment? A write-up? Self-criticism…?”

“Public criticism. A major demerit.”

Manager Qian delivered the verdict flatly.

“And—full deduction of this year’s performance bonus.”

“For the next year, you’ll receive only basic living support.”

“Salary—three thousand yuan.”

Boom.

If the scolding before was a grill, this was being burned to charcoal.

“Th-Three thousand?!”

Lin Yu’s eyes bulged.

“A year! Every month only three thousand?! This is Newsea City!”

“Rent, utilities, food, family remittances…”

“Three thousand?!”

Even Xiao Bai’s charging beep seemed to echo like thunder in his ears.

“No—no, Manager Qian! Please!”

Lin Yu completely collapsed.

He dropped to his knees on the sofa with a thud, crying like a child, tears rolling everywhere.

“You’re my dad, Manager Qian! No—my real dad wouldn’t even be this close! You can’t let me starve! I still owe a mountain of debt! If you take my money, I’ll really die poor!”

“Wuwuwu… punish me! Make me clean toilets! Scrub urinals! Anything but docking my pay!!!”

“Hah—”

Manager Qian laughed coldly.

“Now you’re scared? Where were you earlier?! When you clicked ‘post,’ didn’t you think about today?!”

Seeing Lin Yu bawling like a joke, Manager Qian snorted.

“Where’s that righteous ‘rights-protection’ spirit now? Weren’t you going to plaster that big face of yours all over the internet? Why not post again today?!”

Lin Yu wiped his tears, trembling, staring pitifully through the screen.

Truth be told, there weren’t that many tears—he wasn’t a magical girl anymore. This was just adult acting, on instinct.

“Hmm…”

The misery act seemed to work a little.

The storm clouds on Manager Qian’s face eased slightly.

He waved a hand.

“Alright, alright! Stop bawling! You’re a grown man—don’t turn yourself into Lin Daiyu!”

“Mm…”

Lin Yu barely stopped crying, wiped his face with his sleeve, and stared at the screen with puppy eyes.

“Hmph. You think I can’t see through your little tricks?”

Manager Qian shot him a sideways glance.

“But… fine. You’re stupid—very stupid—but considering you handled the previous task pretty well, and you’re one of my old subordinates, I can’t really watch you and your family starve.”

He paused deliberately.

“So… I stuck my neck out with Director Bai and pleaded for you.”

“Huh?!”

Lin Yu’s eyes lit up. He was so overjoyed he nearly crawled through the screen to kowtow.

“Really?! Manager Qian, you’re my real father! No—closer than my real father!”

“But—”

Before he could celebrate, Manager Qian changed tone, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes.

“The death penalty can be waived. But punishment cannot.”

“Director Bai said the impact of this incident is too severe. If you want leniency…”

“You’ll need to help the company with a small favor.”

“Help? What kind of help?!”

Lin Yu immediately puffed out his chest.

“Look at you saying that! Can the company really call it help? This is filial piety service!”

He leaned closer to the screen, fawning.

“So… what exactly do I need to do? Be bait in a high-risk zone? Or bodyguard some young miss?”

“Heh…”

Seeing Lin Yu’s money-before-dignity grin, Manager Qian smiled meaningfully.

“Nothing that complicated. No need to risk your life.”

He said slowly,

“Tonight at eight, come to company headquarters.”

“There’s a special… old friend.”

“As long as you can calm him down, we can talk about everything else.”

“Old friend?”

Lin Yu froze.

Who did he even have left as an “old friend” in this line of work?

Looking at Manager Qian’s unreadable smile, his heart suddenly skipped.

A chill crept up his spine.

But for the sake of the money he forced out a bright smile.

“No problem! Leave it to me! Reuniting with old friends is my specialty…”

Though somewhere deep down, an uneasy feeling was already rising.

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