The police's conclusion of an "accident" was like a bucket of ice water, extinguishing most of the public skepticism online. However, in corners untouched by the official narrative, a silent mourning and unyielding questioning quietly burned like subterranean fire.
Lin Chen's fans, especially those longtime admirers who had been moved by his pure voice since the early days of the competition, spontaneously created a memorial section called "Echoes of the Mountain" on the "Echo" music platform. The section contained no vehement accusations, no rebuttals to the official conclusion, only countless uploads of their own a cappella renditions of "Mountain Questions," or melodies played on simple instruments.
Without organization or promotion, this section spread at an astonishing speed. Thousands upon thousands of "Mountain Questions" from different places and with different voices converged, forming a silent, sorrowful, yet resilient river. Someone left a comment under the song:
"Chenchen, we're still listening."
"The mountains remain, the rivers flow, your song will never disappear."
"Waiting for the truth, never forgetting."
These comments were quickly deleted in large numbers by the platform under the pretext of "avoiding sensitive topics," but new comments would stubbornly sprout up like spring grass.
Meanwhile, Su Yuqing and her investigative journalism team, under immense pressure and potential danger, began a race against time. Chen Kai successfully transferred the encryption device, which Lin Chen had risked his life for, to Su Yuqing through extremely secretive channels.
The technical team worked through the night to crack the encryption device. As expected, it was a military-grade encryption device, extremely difficult to crack, and had a self-destruct mechanism. After several failed attempts, cold sweat beaded on the forehead of the technical lead.
"No, conventional methods are ineffective; forcibly cracking it may trigger data destruction."
"We must obtain the key, or find a vulnerability in the algorithm!" Su Yuqing stared at the constantly flashing error messages on the screen, her tone resolute.
Just as the technical breakthrough reached a stalemate, Su Yuqing received an urgent call from an insider within her team. The call came from a mid-level manager at Xingyao Entertainment who had long harbored resentment towards Lu Tianyu's actions but had dared not speak out. With Lu Tianyu arrested and the company in chaos, he chose to step forward.
"Reporter Su, I have some things… that might be useful to you," the caller said in a low voice, filled with fear and determination. "It's about the key patterns in Lu Tianyu's private ledgers, and… some backup data storage locations he used to threaten and control artists."
This was undoubtedly a godsend!
Based on this crucial intelligence, the technical team adjusted their approach and, at the last moment before the encryption device triggered self-destruction, successfully bypassed the core defenses and read the data!
The amount of data was astonishing! It not only contained Xingyao Entertainment's complete financial records of money laundering through film and television projects over the years, the structure of affiliated companies, and records of the transfer of benefits with powerful figures like President Liu, but also a large amount of private information obtained through secret filming and wiretapping, used to control artists, officials, and business partners. There's even an audio clip that clearly records Lu Tianyu on the rooftop, muttering to himself, "An accidental fall after drinking... This ending is perfect!"