Greed

Back home, Zuri transferred the contents of the USB drives. To her astonishment, she found a treasure trove of shocking material: insider information on senior executives at Yingxian Media, evidence of an affair involving a certain celebrity, and numerous Japanese adult videos. The variety and explosiveness of the content were staggering.

At the very end, she finally found the video from that fateful day. The footage was comprehensive.

It was clear that the facts had been deliberately twisted for the sake of generating buzz.

Zuri retrieved the surveillance footage that Azura had previously recorded. By cross-referencing the angle from which Li Le filmed, she quickly spotted him in the crowd, recording the entire event until it ended.

Zuri encrypted and saved both the surveillance footage and Li Le's video recordings.

Before going to sleep, Zuri glanced at the online comments and watched an interview with the Liu family. The amount of money they were raising on the charity platform was skyrocketing. A cold smile tugged at her lips.

"They asked for it," she thought.

How many people have heard the saying, "If you play with fire, you get burned," yet how many actually take it to heart?

In the hospital, the four members of the Liu family were fixated on the donation amount on the charity platform, their faces flushed with excitement.

"Seventy thousand in just one day?" Mrs. Liu's eyes were wide with greed.

"Yes, and it's still increasing," Rhea replied, smiling.

Mrs. Liu couldn't stop grinning. "If I'd known it was this easy to make money, we wouldn't have asked that brat Zuri for ten thousand yuan."

Luis scoffed at his mother. "If this hadn't blown up, no one would be donating. We're still riding on Zuri's notoriety. The worse her reputation, the more people will sympathize with us and donate."

"Then let's give that recording to the reporters," Mrs. Liu suggested.

Luis rolled his eyes. "Mom, how can you be so dumb? We're still going to sell that recording for money."

Mrs. Liu fell silent, scolded by her son.

"How much should we ask for?" Rhea asked.

"One million," Luis said without hesitation.

Mrs. Liu interjected, "Son, a million is too little. Let's ask for another two hundred thousand."

Rhea looked at the mother and son in exasperation. "What can you do with 1.2 million? It's not even enough to buy a house in Oceanic City. This is clearly very important to the Lin family. We shouldn't ask for less than five million."

The Liu family was stunned by the amount.

"You always think things through," Mrs. Liu said, nodding.

Five million. She had never seen that much money in her life.

This time, they were really going to strike it rich.

She was glad she had gone to report the incident in a fit of anger. Otherwise, they wouldn't have had this golden opportunity.

Mr. Liu, lying in bed, listened silently to their conversation. He wanted to speak up several times, but after hearing "five million," he kept his mouth shut.

"Ask the Lin family tomorrow if they still want the recording and video," Mrs. Liu urged. "We can't settle for less. Five million is five million. With that money, we can buy a house for Junsheng and not worry about his wedding expenses."

Rhea's eyes dimmed slightly at these words.

At the FX Venture Capital headquarters in Shanghai, a tall, elegant man with gold-rimmed glasses walked into the chairman's office area. Every employee he encountered greeted him with respect.

"Good morning, Mr. Xiao."

Brayden nodded slightly.

"Mr. Xiao."

"Good morning, Mr. Xiao."

"Good morning, Attorney Xiao."

As Brayden reached the office door, Grayson stood up and opened it for him.

"Mr. Feng, Attorney Xiao is here."

Owen looked up from his computer screen.

"Have a seat."

Brayden took a seat opposite him and handed over a file.

"Take a look at this case."

Brayden read through the file carefully and then closed it. "It's challenging, but we can win. We could bankrupt them."

"I'm entrusting this case to you."

Brayden nodded in agreement. His phone vibrated in his pocket. He glanced at the name flashing on the screen and raised an eyebrow. "What's up?"

"Has she contacted you?" Owen asked eagerly.

Brayden arched an eyebrow. "No."

"She hasn't?!" Owen's voice rose a few octaves, loud enough for his brother Nolan to hear.

"Uh-huh," Brayden replied.

"If she does, let me know. And whatever she asks you to do, help her immediately. You can put my brother's matters on hold; he's not in a hurry anyway," Owen said nonchalantly, oblivious that his brother was right there listening.

Brayden glanced at Nolan, curious to see his reaction to being sold out by his brother. Unfortunately, Nolan's face remained impassive.

After ending the call, Brayden said with interest, "Your brother seems to be smitten."

"With whom?" Nolan asked.

"A girl named Zuri. He called me first thing yesterday morning about her and now again. I've never seen him so concerned about a girl before."

"Zuri?" Nolan recalled the girl he saw at the school gate.

"You know her?" Brayden's curiosity piqued.

"I've seen her once," Nolan replied. "What's going on with her?"

Brayden gave him a skeptical look. "If you didn't know her, you wouldn't ask."

"It's nothing serious. She's being maliciously attacked online, her reputation damaged. In entertainment terms, she's facing a full-scale online smear campaign. The poor girl is probably stuck at home, unable to go out."

Nolan logged onto an entertainment news site and quickly found the video. His brows furrowed slightly.

"The footage has been deliberately edited to defame her."

"How can you be sure?" Brayden asked.

"I was there."

Brayden understood. "In that case, solving this is straightforward. Find the complete video or get an impartial witness with a good reputation to vouch for her."

He looked pointedly at Nolan.

Most of the people there were students from Windsor, who might not be seen as credible due to potential bias. The best solution was to find a reputable, impartial person to testify. If that person had status and authority, it would be even more convincing.