Episode 10: The Road of No Return

This day seemed exceptionally long.

The air was thick with the smell of rotting leaves. Sanitation workers swept the fallen leaves from both sides of the streets every day, up early and home late. To survive in this city, they toiled day after day, and a month's meagre pay was barely enough to keep body and soul together.

Yet thanks to their sweeping, the city remained clean and tidy.

But who knew how much hardship lay hidden behind that tidiness?

A city could be swept spotless, yet people's hearts only grew dirtier.

That afternoon, just as Song Yiyi's [#LiveStreamTrial#] was causing a huge sensation, a number of PR firms in the entertainment industry suddenly received an anonymous exposé file.

The file laid out in detail the suspected shady dealings between the well-known director Shen Yao and several senior executives, as well as the full story of his collusion with Song Yiyi.

The thick dossier was packed with one shocking word after another —

"Deals," "money laundering," "sleeping your way up," "climbing the ladder"... and "concealing evidence."

What shocked everyone even more was that on the last page of the file, there was a signature, stark and unmistakable —

"the Judge."

Almost at the same time, the industry's top agencies and conglomerates sent people to launch internal investigations. What they feared most was that the stack of documents might still conceal financial dealings and secrets connected to themselves.

To protect themselves, the companies swiftly activated emergency PR, trying to stop the material from leaking any further, lest it trigger an even bigger storm.

Meanwhile, Shen Yao's phone also received a message from a mysterious sender:

"Just a dead star. I can wait."

The senior executives desperate to clear their names, the agents secretly tossing damaging evidence to the public, and those who had once taken part and were now desperately trying to extricate themselves all began to move in secret.

Everyone feared that new evidence might still emerge.

Because any single document could utterly destroy them.

The threat posed by "the Judge" was steadily growing.

And at that very moment, Situ Hengyi was still quietly gathering every clue, laying out his moves in silence.

He knew that this confrontation with darkness concerned not only the future of the entertainment industry, but also the choice he himself would ultimately make between justice and revenge.

He soon spotted a pattern —

The intervals between each wave of leaked material were almost exactly the same.

Like a heartbeat.

Like a countdown.

Facing this invisible adversary, Situ Hengyi also had to contend with another force inside the police department.

Some people stopped him from continuing the investigation, some tried to suppress public opinion and cover up the truth, and others used the media to mislead the public, even manipulating public sentiment.

Whether Song Yiyi was alive or dead seemed not to be what certain superiors truly cared about at all.

What they truly cared about was —

Just how many inside secrets had the [#LiveStreamTrial#] exposed?

That very night, a file titled "Beneath the Light and Shadow" was anonymously uploaded to the internet.

The entire entertainment industry exploded.

The names of countless senior executives, PR staff, celebrities and directors were publicly exposed.

And the two names at the very top of the list were —

Shen Yao.

Song Yiyi.

The file ran to three hundred pages, with large numbers of transfer records, communication logs and signed contracts attached, and even audio recordings, videos and footage from the scenes of deals.

The celebrities who had once shone glamorously under the spotlight looked, in these documents, like "merchandise" with prices openly marked, for anyone to pick and choose.

Those who refused to follow the rules would be discarded, and might even lose any chance of ever making a comeback.

This was the game played beneath this circle's glamorous exterior.

"Beneath the Light and Shadow" laid bare a vast network of "unspoken rules."

Some people, under the guise of "auditions" and "collaborations," secretly controlled artists' futures, trading roles and resources, and even suppressing newcomers who refused to comply.

All of it was nothing more than a game of power and money.

Television stations, agencies and PR firms were thrown into chaos overnight.

The internet boiled over completely.

Netizens discussed, questioned and cursed openly; self-media bloggers began analysing the files page by page and kept up follow-up coverage, and major media outlets rushed out headline after headline.

The storm of public opinion could no longer be stopped.

Even attempts to suppress the trending topics were now futile.

If one platform deleted posts, people moved to another; if one account was banned, new accounts quickly appeared.

Once the truth had been torn open, it could never easily be sealed again.

Soon, major brands announced one after another that they were ending their partnerships.

[#ShenYaoResourcesScandal#]

[#SongYiyiManipulatesShowbiz#]

[#CelebritiesOpenlyPriced#]

Several topics shot rapidly up the trending charts.

Song Yiyi's polished endorsement posters were taken down overnight, her works were pulled one after another, her latest film lost its release slot, and the resources that had once belonged to her were all reclaimed.

Shen Yao's new film premiere was likewise cancelled at the last minute; his film company began facing enormous breach-of-contract penalties, his employees were preparing to look elsewhere, and even his investors began terminating their contracts with him.

This cascade of changes came so fast it was suffocating.

As if it were a grand drama scripted long ago.

In the shadows, a pair of eyes seemed to be coldly watching them sink step by step into the abyss.

And their faces became the outlet for the public's fury.

Some said they got what they deserved.

Others said this was only the tip of the iceberg.

Situ Hengyi, however, was unmoved by the online clamour.

He watched the [#LiveStreamTrial#] video over and over, pressing pause again and again.

The picture finally froze on the moment Song Yiyi wrote down that character "Yu."

Situ Hengyi stared at the screen, motionless for a long time.

The livestream had taken place in a completely sealed room.

Every time Song Yiyi struggled, the pressure device in the room seemed to shift, while "the Judge" watched her every move through the camera.

Until she spoke the inside story she knew, and finally wrote down that character "Yu."

Situ Hengyi gradually understood.

The other party's aim was not merely to kill.

What he wanted was fear.

Torment.

Pain.

Long, drawn-out suffering.

He wanted his prey to feel despair before death truly arrived.

This was perhaps the clue "the Judge" had deliberately left behind.

In the dim room, the computer screen gave off a cold light.

Situ Hengyi continued to look through the material published online.

All the information seemed ultimately to point to a single overseas account.

The entire entertainment industry had already been shaken to its core by this dossier, and on its last page there was still only that cold signature —

the Judge.

Situ Hengyi's brow was tightly knitted.

The pen in his hand trembled slightly.

"This doesn't look like a simple exposé..."

A sudden chill ran down his spine, and he said in a low voice:

"This is — a slaughter with a rhythm."

He finally realised that "the Judge" was not merely exposing the truth.

He was manipulating people's hearts.

Once the list was made public, Shen Yao and Song Yiyi's world would utterly collapse.

The other party was in no hurry to end it all.

He wanted to torment them slowly.

Just as a hunter does not kill his prey at once, but savours the chase and the fear.

This was a game.

A "trial game."

And the public, without realising it, had become part of the game.

Online opinion had become a weapon.

People revelled in the thrill of the hunt.

Justice was being turned into entertainment.

Studios were sealed off.

Accounts were frozen.

Agents went missing.

"The Judge" was closing in, step by step, on the real puppet master behind it all.

Fang Jin.

Fan Shiqi.

Song Yiyi.

Shen Yao.

These people all seemed to be prey he had chosen.

Yet Situ Hengyi increasingly believed they were not the final target.

The real target was the person hiding behind them.

And everything was connected to Yu Mengge's case.

What exactly was the link between them?

...

Shen Yao was already surrounded by reporters.

Questions rained down on him like shells, yet he could not answer a single one.

The once-glorious great director now looked like a rat crossing the street.

In the chaos, someone even picked up a brick to hurl at him, and the scene almost turned into a mob beating.

As for Song Yiyi, although she had luckily been rescued by the police after the "livestream trial," she soon fell into another disaster.

Cyber violence almost swallowed her whole.

The things she had done in the past were dug up one by one.

Some accused her of using the resources in her hands to threaten artists with no connections.

Bullying.

Humiliation.

Manipulating resources.

Even treating young artists as bargaining chips in deals for profit.

More and more videos were uploaded to the internet.

Song Yiyi, whose nerves had long been stretched to breaking point, was already on the verge of collapse.

Yet the world beyond the camera was revelling —

As if this so-called "trial of justice" had set everyone free.

People vented the anger in their hearts to their hearts' content.

Shen Yao and Song Yiyi became targets of universal condemnation.

But Situ Hengyi understood —

The real "trial" had only just begun.

As a well-known director, Shen Yao had once controlled vast resources.

Countless young people with dreams entered the entertainment industry, hoping that one day they might stand in the spotlight.

But for some of them, the place where their dreams began became the entrance to a nightmare.

Shen Yao stared at the topics flashing endlessly on his phone screen:

[#ShenYaoPreysOnMaleActors#]

[#ShowbizBlackGoldEmpire#]

[#DarkShowbizInsider#]

He dared not open the comments.

His hand would not stop trembling.

He had now lost all his former glory and become a rat everyone wanted to beat in the street.

This circle was so brutally realistic.

When he was riding high, everyone who met him respectfully called him "Brother Shen."

Now, they avoided him as if he were the plague.

He stared blankly at the screenshots circulating online —

Contracts.

Transfer records.

Audio recordings.

Even secretly filmed footage of meetings.

The young actors he had once threatened, whose resources he had "arranged," were now stepping forward one after another, denouncing in trembling words what had once happened.

"He said, if you want to get famous, you have to understand the rules."

"I refused, and he told me never to dream of appearing on screen again."

"He's a demon. He forced us to drink with clients, to sleep with them..."

Shen Yao's hands shook more and more violently.

The wine bottle slipped from his grasp.

"Crack —"

A crisp shattering sound rang through the room.

As if everything he had once possessed had, in that very moment, completely shattered.

He had once believed he could control everyone's fate.

From the film set, to the investors, to the actors.

A single look.

A single gesture.

A single sentence.

Even a single smile.

Could make one person soar to success, or ruin another utterly.

But now, all those who had once bowed to him had changed.

Online, only two characters remained —

Retribution!

On the television screen, a reporter was covering the latest police investigation:

"Suspected power-for-money deals, workplace coercion, and illegal distribution of benefits..."

In that moment, Shen Yao felt the blood throughout his body turn cold.

How glorious he had once been.

For fame and fortune, he had done far too many things that could not bear the light, and destroyed far too many young people with dreams.

Yet even at this moment, he still refused to admit his mistakes.

After a long silence, he suddenly muttered to himself:

"I did nothing wrong..."

"I gave them resources, I gave them opportunities, I gave them everything they ever dreamed of..."

"Yes, I did nothing wrong."

"They were willing themselves..."

"Who can you blame for that?"

His nerves were already stretched to the limit.

He kept telling himself —

He was not wrong.

He had not forced anyone.

Everything had been voluntary.

The Shen Yao in the mirror had become a completely different person.

His messy red hair piled on his head like a bird's nest, his face covered in stubble.

For days, he had numbed himself with alcohol and constant self-deception.

The once impeccably dressed great director had become a slovenly, haggard man.

Just then —

The doorbell suddenly rang.

Shen Yao jerked his head up.

On the electronic screen by the door, only three cold characters showed:

"Anonymous parcel."

In that instant, his hand froze completely.

Cold sweat kept seeping from his forehead.

He took a deep breath.

Only at this moment did he truly realise —

This was no longer revenge by online opinion.

It was a reckoning with a plan, with steps, with a rhythm.

Someone had, long ago, in the shadows —

Set the trap.

Shen Yao opened the parcel with trembling hands.

Inside was only a photograph.

In the photograph was a group photo of him with Fang Jin, Fan Shiqi, Song Yiyi and others.

Three of the faces had been circled in red pen.

And above Fang Jin's head, a bright red "×" had been drawn.

Even more eerily —

This was only a photograph torn in half.

Shen Yao's pupils contracted sharply.

He flung the photograph to the floor, then rushed to lock every door in the apartment.

He yanked the curtains shut.

Then he stood there, looking around in terror.

A camera?

A listening device?

Or was someone hiding somewhere, watching him?

He did not know.

At this moment, he even felt that the air was thick with the smell of death.

Shen Yao's eyes were vacant as he clutched his own shoulders tightly, and began to rave:

"It wasn't me who wanted you dead..."

"Everything was done on their orders..."

The room was unnaturally quiet.

From somewhere came only the sound of dripping water.

Drip. Drop. Drip. Drop.

The clock on the wall turned slowly.

Every tick of the second hand felt like a knock against his bones.

The silence all around was terrifying.

He could even hear the sound of his own teeth chattering.

What made him tremble was not the cold.

It was fear.

Suddenly —

The television screen lit up by itself.

Shen Yao jerked his head up.

A video began to play on the screen.

It was footage from many years ago, of Yu Mengge singing the theme song for one of his films.

The instant the music sounded, Shen Yao felt as though he had truly seen a ghost.

"Why did you have to come back!"

He screamed hysterically.

"As long as you're dead, we'll all be fine!"

The words had barely left his mouth —

When the screen suddenly went black.

A few seconds later, a line of white text slowly emerged:

"You finally remember him."

Shen Yao froze completely.

Memory instantly dragged him back to that night.

He remembered the moment Yu Mengge collapsed.

The light in those eyes seemed to have been wiped out in an instant.

And now —

Yu Mengge seemed to have returned as a ghost.

"Ah —!"

Shen Yao suddenly let out a piercing scream.

Almost the whole building was jolted awake.

The neighbours had long been driven to distraction by his nervous behaviour.

Someone downstairs could not hold back and cursed:

"Shut up! It's the middle of the night — are we allowed to sleep or not? You did your rotten deeds yourself, don't drag us down with you!"

Another neighbour chimed in, cursing:

"Are you ever going to stop? Being neighbours with someone like you is eight lifetimes of bad luck!"

Shen Yao, however, seemed to hear nothing at all.

He hugged his own body tightly, looking around in terror.

He felt that the air everywhere was thick with the smell of death.

His teeth would not stop chattering.

He did not even dare to look up.

He wanted to cry.

But no tears would come.

That night, fear kept him awake until dawn.

Because he finally understood —

He had no road back.

...

At the other end of the city.

On the roof of a tall building.

A dark figure stood quietly in the night.

Across the great distance, he gazed in the direction of Shen Yao's home.

His face showed no expression at all.

A cold wind swept across the rooftop.

The dark figure slowly extended a hand, as if touching the chill in the air.

He was not admiring Shen Yao's collapse.

He was only confirming one thing —

Whether the prey was ripe yet.

A moment later, a cold voice faded into the night wind:

"Not enough yet..."

"The fear must go deeper."

...

Meanwhile.

Situ Hengyi had spent the past few days at the police station, poring over a large volume of material.

Since almost nothing could be found on Yu Mengge himself anymore, he could only change direction and start from the social connections of Song Yiyi, Shen Yao, Fan Shiqi and the others.

Soon, he discovered something strange.

Not only had these people been in contact with one another, they had all at some point dialled the same phone number.

Situ Hengyi stared at the string of digits.

Perhaps —

This was the breakthrough.

There had to be some connection between these people.

It could not possibly be mere coincidence.

Just then, Su Yizhou, who had vanished for several days, suddenly returned to the station.

These past few days the station had been frantic over the case.

The hotline had been rung almost off the hook, and online opinion surged wave after wave.

Yet at the very height of the chaos, Su Yizhou had disappeared.

Now that the storm had subsided slightly, he reappeared.

Su Yizhou walked into the office, his gaze sweeping, seemingly casually, across Situ Hengyi's computer screen.

Then he put on that smile that hid a knife.

"Situ, any progress on the case?"

Situ Hengyi glanced up at him, then went back to typing.

"Chief Su, where have you been these past few days?"

Su Yizhou chuckled.

"Out on a business trip."

Situ Hengyi snorted coldly.

"The station hotline has almost been rung off the hook. Netizens have been cursing us in the comments, saying the police are incompetent, that we treat human life like grass, and even that we're the protective umbrella of dark forces."

He paused.

"We frontline officers have been so busy we can't even sleep, and at the critical moment, you went off on a business trip."

As he spoke, Lin Fan walked in from outside.

Seeing Su Yizhou, he deliberately raised his voice:

"Chief Su! I thought you'd gone invisible! That day the station was in total chaos, the case made no progress at all, and we were the ones being cursed by the public. Now it's even worse — 'the Judge' is practically becoming a hero."

Wang Yuan also put down his work and sighed.

"Chief Su, next time you go on a business trip, can you take me along? All we do every day is overtime — we could do with some fresh air too."

They all talked at once.

Situ Hengyi, however, suddenly fell silent.

His gaze landed on Su Yizhou's wrist.

There sat a watch.

A Rolex.

The instant Situ Hengyi looked over, Su Yizhou seemed to realise something, and unnaturally tugged his cuff down to cover the watch.

Then, as if nothing had happened, he smiled again.

Situ Hengyi's face showed no change at all.

"The case is rather complicated. There's no clear suspect yet."

He leaned back in his chair and said, deliberately offhand:

"Maybe it's just cyber violence, or maybe it's someone with an antisocial personality."

He sighed.

"The entertainment industry is a complicated place to begin with. We'll investigate it slowly in due course."

After hearing this, Su Yizhou visibly relaxed a great deal.

"Fine."

He waved his hand cheerfully.

"Carry on with your work."

With that, he turned and left the office.

Situ Hengyi kept watching his retreating figure.

Only when Su Yizhou had completely disappeared through the door did the expression on his face change in an instant.

He immediately opened his computer.

And searched for the watch he had just seen.

A few minutes later —

The search results appeared on the screen.

A limited-edition Rolex.

Manufactured in 2022.

Market value —

Over 100,000 yuan.

Situ Hengyi slowly leaned back in his chair.

He stared at the figures on the screen, motionless.

A chill crept slowly up his spine.

Su Yizhou...

A police station chief.

Why would he suddenly be wearing a watch like that?

More importantly —

Why had he just tried to hide it?

Situ Hengyi's gaze gradually turned cold.

Perhaps the "mole" he had been searching for all along —

Had never been far from him at all.