IBO -Chapter 167 The True Culprit Behind the Scenes

This novel contains sensitive and taboo content like R*pe, Mu**er etc. Read only if you are comfortable.

“I’m done too,” said Song Xianyue.

“Me too!”

“Same here.”

All the children had packed their things, except Song Xiuhu, who was sitting in a corner with his back turned, mysteriously occupied.

Song Yinyun curiously approached. “Hu Hu, what are you doing?”

As he peeked at Song Xiuhu’s Light Brain screen, he saw it displaying the comment section under the official drawing competition account.

Thinking Song Xiuhu was sad over the online comments, he gently patted his shoulder.

“Hu Hu, let’s not pay attention to the online comments. They’re just nonsense.”

Hearing this, the other children also thought Song Xiuhu was upset, so they gathered around to comfort him.

Song Fuyi said seriously, “Hu Hu, those people are just big fools. We don’t listen to fools. Fools only say foolish things. Listening to them will make us foolish too.”

Song Xianyue speculated, “Huxu, I think those people might have been hired by other contestants… some kind of ‘paid army,’ I think it’s the ice army. These people do things for money, deliberately trying to slander you. We shouldn’t believe them!”

Song Yinyun sighed. “Correction: it’s called a ‘shui jun’—a water army. But I agree with your guess. Maybe other contestants were jealous of you and Yuexin, so they deliberately hired the water army to smear you two.”

Song Yuexin offered his shoulder. He silently walked over to Song Xiufu and pressed his shoulder close against Xiufu’s.

“Huxu, what people are saying online is all fake. We don’t listen to them!”

Just as the kids were trying everything to comfort Song Xiufu, he suddenly shook his head excitedly and displayed something on the holocomputer for everyone to see.

“Look!” Song Xiufu’s voice was brimming with excitement, his tail swishing so fast it left a blur. “Brother had a lawyer send a legal notice to those spreading rumors about us. The comments section has completely changed direction!”

When he first found out someone had spread rumors about his competition results, his initial reaction wasn’t sadness—it was anger.

Earlier, he had only wanted to quietly hide in a corner and go head-to-head with the online trolls in the comments for 300 rounds.

Not a fan of rumors? Then let’s see who’s better at spreading them!

Though Song Xiufu was young, he wasn’t someone who could be pushed around.

Just as he was getting ready to take on the trolls, he noticed the comments had completely flipped.

Everyone was now overwhelmingly on his and Song Yuexin’s side. Tracing the source, he realized the change was because of the lawyer’s notice.

And the lawyer’s notice had been issued by their brother, Song Yiran.

After the notice was published, those who had confidently spread rumors about Song Xiufu and Song Yuexin cheating immediately fell silent. No one dared question their results anymore.

Song Xiufu could guarantee these trolls had definitely been paid to stir up trouble.

But these weren’t matters for a little cub to worry about. Right now, he was happily swishing his tail, showing off in front of everyone.

“Hehe! Look at these trolls—they’re too scared to even fart after just one legal notice! Haha, they’re so pathetic!”

Song Xiufu stomped his paws on the floor in vented fury, as if he wasn’t stomping on the floor but on the trolls’ ugly faces.

The kids carefully looked at the new comments under the official art competition account. Ever since the lawyer’s notice, everyone had sided with Song Xiufu and Song Yuexin.

Gradually, the comments stopped discussing the incident. Everyone moved on to other topics. The storm had completely passed.

“Yay!”

“Amazing!”

Song Buli’s eyes were sparkling stars as he exclaimed with full admiration, “Brother is so awesome! He got a lawyer involved, sent a legal notice, and perfectly turned the comments around. Brother is amazing!”

“Brother is amazing!”

“Brother is the best!”

For a moment, all the kids were blindly praising Song Yiran. Luckily, he wasn’t here, or he would have blushed red from all the compliments.

Song Yutu stood by and watched the whole scene. Only after the kids had chatted for a while did he clear his throat, asserting his presence.

“Alright, now that you’ve settled things, go back to your rooms and sleep.”

Song Yutu didn’t give the kids a chance to respond. He scooped them up from the floor one by one, delivered them to their rooms, and thoughtfully closed the doors.

Late at night, in Xiao Zhong’er’s room:

Song Yiran was secretly investigating the mastermind behind the rumors and plagiarism incident.

After the lawyer’s notice went out, those who had doubted Song Xiufu and Song Yuexin never posted similar comments again. They vanished from Xingwang entirely.

Song Yiran immediately sensed something interesting.

Generally, a person’s mindset is hard to change—especially trolls, whose thoughts are stubborn and illogical.

If these trolls truly believed that Song Xiufu and Song Yuexin had cheated, they wouldn’t have stopped; instead, they would have intensified their mockery:

“Can’t argue, so just send a lawyer notice? Tsk, tsk, must be rich!”
or
“Ha, think a legal notice can scare me? Clearly guilty, or why not livestream the painting?”

But after receiving the lawyer notice, all the trolls disappeared from Xingwang, some even deleting their accounts.

This clearly wasn’t ordinary trolling.

Ordinary trolls are usually low-quality and stubborn. Even if most were temporarily scared by the legal notice, some would still persist.

Song Yiran suspected these trolls were actually paid water army accounts, deliberately steering public opinion.

And who would benefit most from this?

Song Yiran guessed it was a contestant—or the parent of a contestant—who hired the water army.

The goal was to manipulate the comment section so everyone doubted Song Xiufu and Song Yuexin’s results, ideally causing them to be disqualified, leaving their ranks open for two other contestants.

So Song Yiran had Xiao Zhong’er check if these trolls were water army.

The results were as expected. Xiao Zhong’er traced the accounts to the same company—a well-known water army firm.

Upon learning this, Xiao Zhong’er was furious: “Oh my God! Who’s so heartless? Buying a water army to slander two four-year-olds! How shameless can you be?”

“Damn it! I want to see which shameless person did this!”

Fueled by anger, Xiao Zhong’er dove into hacking. In under three minutes, he unearthed the mastermind’s full information.

“Damn it! Song Yiran, just like you guessed—it’s a parent of a contestant! This person’s heart is so black!”

Xiao Zhong’er sent the info to Song Yiran’s holocomputer. Song Yiran skimmed it quickly.

The culprit was the father of a boy contestant—Pamila.

Pamila’s son had won an encouragement award. Dissatisfied with his son’s ranking, he schemed.

He thought if he could push someone out of the top twenty, his son might take their spot.

After reviewing the top twenty, he found most contestants had backgrounds or early fame—not easy targets.

Then he spotted Song Xiufu and Song Yuexin, who had no backgrounds or online fame. They seemed like the easiest targets.

So he hired the water army to skew the comments, suggesting the two four-year-olds cheated.

This move was vicious. How could two four-year-olds cope with online slander?

A misstep, and they could suffer psychological trauma, or even quit painting forever.

After reading the info, Song Yiran gritted his teeth and let out a low laugh: “Hahaha… it’s because of this? Really…”

“Disgusting.”

Xiao Zhong’er worried about Song Yiran’s mental state and asked softly, “Are you okay?”

Song Yiran smiled lightly, eyes bright. “I’m great. Better than ever.”

“I’m going to sue this guy. I’ll ruin him,” Song Yiran said calmly, yet with a cold edge. “He’ll pay the price he deserves.”

In the early hours, Pamila was asleep at home when a knock woke him.

“Who’s there? Knocking at this hour!” he grumbled, dragging himself out of bed and opening the door roughly.

A police badge and arrest warrant were revealed, shocking him fully awake.

“We are the police. Suspect Pamila, you are accused of defaming children. You need to come with us.”

Still in pajamas and slippers, Pamila was unexpectedly taken away by the police.

Song Yiran had hired a lawyer to sue Pamila. Even though it was late and outside work hours, he paid ten times the normal fee. The lawyer took the case without hesitation.

The lawyer’s professionalism was excellent. In court, Pamila was forced back repeatedly, every excuse shattered.

Finally, Song Yiran won. Pamila had to compensate Song Xiufu and Song Yuexin 100,000 credit points, issue a public apology online, and serve three years in prison.