Chapter 158: PowerPoint-Style Rumor Clarification
At 1:00 in the afternoon, after a thirty-minute bus ride, Shen Xiu stood in front of a small, family-run internet café tucked away in a crowded alley.
“This is the place.”
He raised his hand to adjust the baseball cap on his head, then fixed his mask and sunglasses. Only after making sure everything was tightly and securely fastened to his face did he begin to climb the stairs.
The dim stairwell reeked faintly of dampness and mold, but Shen Xiu climbed with unwavering steps, ascending one level at a time.
Before entering this old residential building, the system had already checked its exterior through nearby surveillance cameras.
No matter how you looked at it, this place was just an ordinary, self-built apartment block.
So used to being surrounded by towering skyscrapers, the system hadn’t even realized that such seven-story self-built buildings still existed in the city center—until Shen Xiu came here.
Before arriving, Shen Xiu had already searched the forum. Once at the door, he followed the secret knock pattern described in the post—seven knocks.
The door cracked open from the inside.
Red-Hair opened the door and, seeing only the visitor’s chest at first, instinctively looked up, craning his neck to see how tall the man actually was.
Though he couldn’t make out the man’s face, the cold and commanding aura the man radiated made Red-Hair feel a primal fear.
Red-Hair swallowed hard, gripped the doorknob nervously, and subconsciously straightened his posture, retreating a step in stiff, anxious fear.
Even a short sentence came out in stutters.
“H-hello, may I ask what you need…?”
Crap, did their shabby little internet café mess with someone they shouldn’t have? But he’d never seen this guy around here before… no, wait—he didn’t even know what the man looked like. Still, someone with that kind of oppressive aura—if he had seen him before, there’s no way he’d forget.
Shen Xiu: “…Hello.”
So socially confident. Compared to him back then… no, even compared to the way he is now, he couldn’t match the level of social ease this man in front of him exuded.
Red-Hair: “…”
So… polite?
Seeing the red-haired teenager staring at him in silence, Shen Xiu awkwardly said, “Floor 473.”
Upon hearing that familiar code, Red-Hair’s face showed obvious shock.
Clearly, he hadn’t expected that someone who looked this cool and aloof would actually recite their internet café’s cheesy secret passphrase—the one every newcomer had to say to get in, unless they were a regular.
“…Please come in.”
Red-Hair opened the door wider and stepped aside to let Shen Xiu in.
Even as Shen Xiu entered, Red-Hair didn’t dare get too close.
He kept feeling as if this tall man had some kind of invisible force field around him—like a vacuum zone—pushing people away, making them instinctively fearful of getting too close, like getting near might suffocate them.
The moment Shen Xiu stepped in, the previously lively and noisy internet café seemed to hit the pause button. The chaotic chatter fell instantly silent, and everyone’s gaze turned to him.
Even though it was daytime, for atmosphere—and security—all the curtains in the black-market net café were drawn tight, plunging the place into a dim gloom.
With Shen Xiu’s face fully covered—cap, mask, sunglasses—no one could see his features. They only saw that Red-Hair had let in a tall, powerfully imposing man.
He was dressed simply: a plain black T-shirt and matching dark casual pants. Yet the moment he appeared and stood there, he was impossible to ignore.
There was a natural intimidation to him, but it drew people in as much as it made them nervous—eyes couldn’t help but sneak glances his way.
With him there, the entire internet café seemed shrouded in a heavy, invisible pressure. No one dared raise their voices like they had before. Some even felt anxious about the lingering smell of cigarette smoke from earlier, unconsciously holding their breath and trying to breathe more quietly.
“Thank you.” Shen Xiu stepped inside, immediately sensing countless gazes from the dim corners all around. His posture stiffened as he asked the red-haired attendant, “Where’s terminal 28?”
Being stared at by so many people, Shen Xiu just wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible.
Red-Hair shut the door and pointed in a direction. “Over there.”
“Thanks,” Shen Xiu said again, then strode toward the area the attendant had indicated.
It didn’t take long for him to find Terminal 28. He plugged in the USB drive he had brought and, based on the timestamp of the slanderous post, began extracting all operational data from the machine—ten minutes before and after the posting—into his drive.
“Is our secret base gonna get busted or something?”
“Maybe he’s on some kind of secret mission?”
“Totally possible… shhh, keep your voice down. Let’s just pretend we know nothing. If we get dragged into this, we might die without even knowing how.”
“No doubt. Just look at all those colorful numbers on his screen—it looks super high-tech. He’s definitely doing something scary.”
“See? Spies do act just like in the movies. You can’t even see his face, and he already looks crazy cool. And those hacking skills? I bet he’s using our net café’s computer to break into some secure system or whatever.”
“I mean… is it possible someone suspicious snuck into our café and now he’s secretly investigating us?”
“I think you’ve figured it out!”
…
As the group of teens in the dark corner—average age probably fifteen—whispered increasingly dramatic, anime-like theories, the system’s database nearly crashed from secondhand embarrassment.
Quietly, the system shifted its surveillance feed back to Shen Xiu, who was seated at Terminal 28.
Looking at Shen Xiu—someone whose imposing aura could be felt even while sitting—the system could only respond with: [……].
If the system hadn’t known Shen Xiu had come to a black-market internet café, just judging from his cold, stern expression and tense posture, it might’ve assumed he was “back in the game.”
Somehow finding itself unintentionally aligned with the chuunibyou logic of those teens, the system fell into a deeper state of existential crisis.
Three minutes later, Shen Xiu pulled out the USB drive, slipped it into his pocket, and stood up to walk toward the front desk where the attendant sat.
Shen Xiu wasn’t unfamiliar with black-market internet cafés. In fact, he knew all about the unspoken rules and hidden operations that went on in places like this.
Back in high school, he had worked at one of these cafés as the front desk cashier. The owner said most people who frequented black-market cafés were troublemakers.
Shen Xiu, being tall, always wore a mask, had slightly long hair that covered part of his eyes, and rarely smiled—his cold, aloof expression gave off a brooding, unapproachable vibe. He looked like the kind of guy you really wouldn’t want to mess with. That image alone made him the perfect deterrent against fights or chaos and fit the hiring profile. So, he was placed front and center to collect payment.
But during that time, Shen Xiu lived in constant anxiety.
On one hand, he didn’t know how to fight and was always on edge, afraid someone would cause trouble and he wouldn’t be able to handle it—leading to him getting fired.
On the other hand, he worried the boss would find out he wasn’t some street-smart thug, just a regular high school kid who didn’t smile simply because… well, he just didn’t like to.
He was actually super easy to mess with!
Red-Hair saw Shen Xiu approaching and immediately straightened his already-rigid posture even more. Ever since laying eyes on him, he hadn’t dared relax. Now he widened his round eyes nervously and watched Shen Xiu approach.
Under Red-Hair’s intense stare, Shen Xiu—feeling immense pressure—came to a stop at the counter, pulled out the money he had prepared earlier from his pocket, and placed it on the desk with the USB drive on top of it.
In a low voice, he said to the attendant:
“Please copy the surveillance footage from this time period onto the drive.”
Although the black-market internet café told customers there were no surveillance cameras, for safety, they always secretly installed a few—known only to the owner and the attendants.
Hearing the man’s cold, emotionless voice—so low and authoritative it sounded like a command—Red-Hair nervously swallowed. His mind didn’t even try to process it; he just nodded instinctively. “Y-yes… okay…”
He didn’t dare touch the money, only picked up the USB drive. His fingers were trembling so much it took him a few tries to plug it in correctly. Following Shen Xiu’s instructions, he pulled up the surveillance footage from that time period and copied it onto the drive.
“I-it’s done,” he said, pulling out the USB and handing it back to Shen Xiu.
His mind had been a complete mess the whole time, ears buzzing, thoughts scrambled—he had no idea what he was doing.
“Thank you.” Shen Xiu hadn’t expected the process to go so smoothly. After offering his thanks, he turned and left.
It took a full five minutes after the man left for Red-Hair’s buzzing brain to finally start clearing up.
Once he had calmed down, Red-Hair looked down at the few red bills left on the counter. He quickly scooped them up.
If that guy gives you money, you take it. There was absolutely no way he had the courage to chase him down and say, “You forgot your change.”
He walked to the door, locked it from the inside, then went back to the counter and downed half a bottle of cold water before finally feeling halfway human again.
Only after Shen Xiu had left did the regulars in the café start creeping up to Red-Hair, now that they saw he’d locked the door.
“Brother Feng, Brother Feng, what were you guys whispering about just now?”
“Brother Feng, do you know him? He was so tall, and looked so scary…”
“Is this some kind of secret operation or something?”
Hearing all the gossip and speculation around him, Red-Hair lifted a hand to massage his throat before saying, “I don’t really know the details either. All I know is that he seemed to be checking something in our café… very secretive. Judging by how cold and serious he sounded, it must be something big. I didn’t dare ask more.”
After hearing this, the colorful-haired, hormone-fueled teenagers around him grew even more excited.
“I knew it had to be something like that!”
“See? Someone shady must’ve used our café before. He’s here investigating!”
“Let’s keep an eye out. Maybe we’ll find out more in the next few days.”
“Or maybe not. If it’s serious enough, they won’t let people like us know about it.”
“Hmm… yeah, that makes sense.”
…
“Phew…” Shen Xiu finally exhaled when he got on the bus. He secretly patted his chest, where his heart had been pounding wildly.
Being stared at by that many people in such a stuffy, sealed environment had almost made his heart jump right out of his chest!
With the surveillance footage from the black-market café secured, Shen Xiu returned home without wasting a second. He headed straight into his study, opened his laptop, and began playing the copied video files.
He adjusted the timeline to match the timestamp of the rumor-spreading post, and quickly locked in on the relevant footage.
Only then did he finally remove his sunglasses, mask, and baseball cap, setting them on the table beside him.
The moment the video started playing, Shen Xiu immediately recognized the person sitting in front of the computer with the traced IP address.
“Ling Yuanzhen?”
Muttering the name aloud, Shen Xiu fell into momentary disbelief.
“What is he doing?”
Shen Xiu couldn’t make sense of it at all.
He had always known that Ling Yuanzhen didn’t like him, but Shen Xiu had never done anything to harm him—so why did Ling Yuanzhen keep coming after him?
System: [That guy in the footage is fully disguised, just like you were earlier. How can you tell it’s him?]
Shen Xiu: “…It’s not like this is a drama with a script that says I shouldn’t recognize him. We were classmates for over three years, and roommates for a long stretch too. It’s normal that we know each other well.”
“Given that familiarity, I can tell from his build, height, clothing, even how he walks, types on the keyboard, and the scar on the back of his hand… All of that makes it obvious the one at Terminal 28 is Ling Yuanzhen.”
System: [……]
A devil.
[Didn’t you say you don’t like Ling Yuanzhen? Then why are you so clear about all his physical details and habits?]
Hearing that, Shen Xiu suddenly remembered his childish move of intentionally not giving Ling Yuanzhen a movie ticket. His face flushed slightly.
“Why wouldn’t I know?”
Shen Xiu sounded genuinely puzzled. “Just because I don’t like him doesn’t mean I’m blind. It’s not like disliking someone makes them invisible. I’ve seen him plenty—of course I know what he looks like.”
System: [……]
Are all humans like this? Just from seeing someone often… they can develop such detailed observational skills?
Now that he had confirmed it was Ling Yuanzhen, Shen Xiu silently opened the class-shared cloud drive.
As film and television students, every student in their class had, at some point, played the role of actor or model in one another’s video assignments.
Starting from their second year, all group video projects were routinely uploaded to this shared cloud folder by the instructors for everyone’s reference.
Shen Xiu began downloading every video and photography project that featured Ling Yuanzhen, carefully combing through them one by one—searching for the exact outfit and disguise Ling Yuanzhen had been wearing when he entered the internet café.
Twenty minutes later, Shen Xiu took his hand off the mouse.
Looking at the completed PowerPoint presentation on his laptop screen, the heavy mood he’d been carrying since being slandered by Ling Yuanzhen finally began to lift. “It’s done.”
With that, he converted the carefully organized PPT of evidence into a shareable link. Then, he logged into his Weibo account and began composing a post.
@ShenXiu: Clarification.
—[Web link]
After sending out the post, the lingering gloom in his heart vanished completely.
It wasn’t just his word against the rumor anymore—he now had solid proof. With such conclusive evidence, no one would mistake him for a hit-and-run fugitive again!
In a much better mood, Shen Xiu cheerfully logged out, shut down the computer, closed the laptop, and headed toward his bedroom.
System: [Where are you going?]
Without slowing down, Shen Xiu replied, “To sleep.”
Still in a good mood, he became a bit chatty. Before the system could say anything more, he added, “I can sleep now.”
He didn’t have class during the first period that afternoon, which meant he could squeeze in a half-hour nap before getting up to prep for his next class.
System: [……]
Old Shen Xiu, the kind of guy who held grudges over the tiniest offense, was already a handful. But this new Shen Xiu couldn’t be messed with either—he’d go as far as making a full PowerPoint presentation just to clear his own name!
Truly the devil incarnate!
Then, a delayed realization hit the system.
System: [Wait—why didn’t you just report it to the police?]
Shen Xiu: “……”
Why did the system have to poke right where it hurt?
Though embarrassed, Shen Xiu didn’t want to lie. “I was scared…”
Just dealing with strangers was enough to make him nervous. The mere thought of the word “police” sent a chill through him—made his hands and feet go cold.
A complete stranger who happened to be a police officer—that was a nightmare-level combo. The mere thought of having to file a report in person, sitting in a police station for questioning, made Shen Xiu’s brain short-circuit.
Losing his voice, cracking mid-sentence…
Even just imagining it was enough to make his scalp prickle with secondhand embarrassment.
System: [?]
Hadn’t Shen Xiu once said something like, “The stuff I go through is minor. The police are already super busy. No need to bother them with small things!”?
Now the system was just confused. It couldn’t tell anymore—what part of what Shen Xiu had said was actually true?
System: [Heh. As expected… A man’s mouth is full of lies.]
Shen Xiu: “?”
Hey! I really wasn’t lying!
—
Online.
At exactly 1:30 p.m., the Xiuologists noticed that their selectively followed account had suddenly posted something new.
Curious, they eagerly clicked into the fresh Weibo post and saw just one word: Clarification, followed by a web link.
Puzzled but intrigued, they clicked.
Ten minutes later.
The Xiuologists who had just finished reading the entire PowerPoint exited the page in a daze.
— How do I even put this… After going through Overachiever Xiu’s clarification PPT, I’m honestly just… shocked. Do you feel my shock?
— Oh I definitely feel it, girl!! Great Demon King Xiu really lives up to the name. He actually made a PPT just to clarify things. It gave me serious flashbacks to training camp days when we had to dissect song compositions via slides. This was so meticulous and cold-blooded it gave me chills.
— He literally dissected Ling Yuanzhen from scalp to sole. Every slide was like another nail hammered into the coffin. There’s no escape. Not even a little wiggle room. Sisters, it was brutal. BRUTAL. All I can say is: absolutely legendary.
— Maybe this is the world of the “God of Overachievement”—even being misunderstood requires a full PPT to clarify. It’s all about competitive clarification!
— As a bystander, I’m in total disbelief. He actually tracked all this down?! Shen Xiu is definitely a computer expert!
— It hasn’t even been that long since the rumors started, and in such a short time, Shen Xiu already put together a full PPT to clear his name. My knees? They’re his now.
— Stanning a treasure like this is just so satisfying. He’s never once played the victim!
— Say no more. Thinking about my poor softie at home… tears of envy are streaming down my cheeks.
— Wait, isn’t this Ling Yuanzhen the same guy who previously spread rumors with a marketing account, and ended up holding up his ID to apologize?! What the hell—he’s back again?! Won’t go away like a cursed ghost! A guy with such trash character, constantly slandering his classmates… how is he not expelled yet? @JingheUniversity
— If he’s making up rumors about classmates now, who knows who else he’ll defame once he’s in society? Totally support expulsion. @JingheUniversity
— Can’t stand rumor-mongers. If it happens once, twice… there’ll definitely be a third. @JingheUniversity
— Jealousy is so ugly. Trying to drag down people better than you? You’re just a sewer rat. @LingYuanzhen
— Shen Xiu posted directly, confronting things head-on instead of pretending nothing happened like some fake saint. This is peak protagonist energy!
— Shen Xiu had the skills to defend himself. But what about those who don’t? Wouldn’t someone like Ling Yuanzhen just b*lly them even more? If he’s not expelled, that’s honestly hard to justify. @JingheUniversity
After recovering from the shock of Shen Xiu’s high-efficiency PPT-style clarification, gossip-loving netizens quickly turned their attention to the real issue—Ling Yuanzhen’s smear campaign—and began tagging @JingheUniversity en masse, demanding his expulsion.
#ExpelLingYuanzhen
#JingheUniversityShenXiuLingYuanzhen
#ShenXiuClarifiesWithPPT
#DeservesTheTitleGreatDemonKingXiu
#ProtagonistOfTheYear
—
The online buzz surrounding Shen Xiu’s PPT clarification gradually shifted toward a new focus: demanding that Jinghe University expel Ling Yuanzhen.
At the same time, after finishing the PPT, Qin Mo made a call to the lawyer.
The moment the call connected, Qin Mo’s soft, cool voice came through:
“No need to rush the lawsuit—Mr. Shen has other plans.”
The lawyer, who had been busy preparing case materials and hadn’t seen Shen Xiu’s Weibo post, was unaware of the PPT clarification. But since Qin Mo had spoken, he could only comply:
“Understood.”
After hanging up, Qin Mo thought about Shen Xiu’s move and couldn’t help but shiver.
“As expected of Mr. Shen… ruthless.”
The first time Ling Yuanzhen had to hold up his ID and apologize, Shen Xiu hadn’t said a word. He didn’t even share the apology—clearly, he had considered it a first offense and wanted to give Ling Yuanzhen a chance to redeem himself.
But Ling Yuanzhen showed no remorse, repeating his offense.
This time, Shen Xiu chose to publicly post direct evidence of the slander on his own social media, letting everyone know it was Ling Yuanzhen who had spread the rumors. With the post going viral, Jinghe University would have no way to quietly sweep it under the rug—they had to expel him.
Getting expelled meant losing his university degree. With the news spreading widely, who would dare hire him? Who would dare date him?
Unless he left the country, Ling Yuanzhen’s future was essentially ruined. The judgmental stares and overwhelming public opinion would leave him with no way to lift his head.
But given his family’s financial situation, studying abroad wasn’t even an option.
When Shen Xiu decided to be ruthless, he didn’t leave even a sliver of mercy.
—
Less than five minutes after Shen Xiu lay down, his phone—resting on the gray wood-grain nightstand—began to vibrate.
Awakened by the noise, Shen Xiu sat up and reached out. His long, well-defined fingers scooped up the phone.
When he saw the caller ID displayed the word “Counselor”, his drowsy mind instantly cleared.
Nervous, Shen Xiu hesitated for three seconds before forcing himself to pick up the call.
“…Hello?”
Hearing Shen Xiu’s calm, indifferent voice through the phone, the counselor glanced excitedly at the university administrators seated in the office.
“Shen Xiu, the PPT on your Weibo… did you post that yourself?”
Shen Xiu hadn’t realized that even his social media activity needed to be reported to his counselor, nor did he understand why they were asking. Still, he answered honestly,
“Yeah.”
After responding, he asked in confusion,
“Is there a problem?”
The moment the call connected, the counselor had put it on speaker.
So when Shen Xiu’s cool-toned “Is there a problem?” echoed from the phone, it sounded more like a calm, pointed challenge.
The counselor and school leaders: “……”
Following instructions typed and handed to him by the class advisor, the counselor spoke up again:
“Would you be able to come to the university right now?”
Shen Xiu didn’t really understand, but still responded promptly:
“Sure.”
The counselor let out a breath of relief.
“Then we’ll meet you later downstairs at the junior dorm building.”
Shen Xiu gave a slight nod.
“Okay.”
Counselor: “Goodbye.”
Shen Xiu: “Goodbye.”
After ending the call, Shen Xiu, still unsure why a counselor who had never sought him out before was suddenly calling, didn’t dare delay. He immediately threw off the blanket, got out of bed, changed clothes, grabbed his textbooks for the afternoon, and headed out.
By the second semester of junior year, the class schedule wasn’t too heavy. Plus, everyone in class knew the term was nearing its end. Even without paying much attention, Shen Xiu was aware that Ling Yuanzhen also had no classes scheduled for the first afternoon period.
As he walked along the path, Shen Xiu couldn’t help but think about the counselor asking him to meet downstairs at the dorm.
Was he… trying to get him to reconcile with Ling Yuanzhen?
