CH 69

Chapter 69: A Demand: Pay Me Back...

The official rankings of "Pick eleven" had not been announced yet, but fans from all sides had already captured screenshots of the voting page at the moment of the deadline. Soon, someone posted the rankings of the top three contestants.

【Third place: Song Yiqi, second place: Qiao Dai, first place... Xu Mengya?!】

【Xu Mengya? Who the hell is that?】

【?】

When fans saw the name of the contestant ranked first in the top three, almost everyone was stunned for a moment. They couldn't help but ask themselves, "Who is Xu Mengya?"

Not only were the fans confused, but even the other contestants who were observing the rankings were also momentarily puzzled. Soon, the name Xu Mengya came to their minds, and their feelings became somewhat complicated.

Xu Mengya was also a contestant on "Pick eleven" and was initially considered a popular trainee by many netizens before the show started. She was one of the highly anticipated trainees, just below Galaxy, Song Yiqi, and Luan Zhen, and her company, Superstar Entertainment, was a well-known talent agency in the industry. Many viewers hoped that she would shine on the show.

However, Xu Mengya's performance on the show was mediocre, and her rankings remained stuck in Class A. Although her eventual debut was not in question, the result was far from satisfactory and did not meet the initial expectations of the public.

As more and more outstanding contestants emerged and made their way through, the audience had almost forgotten about this trainee whom they once had high hopes for. Who would have expected to see Xu Mengya's name again in this manner during the top three voting? However, instead of feeling excited or thrilled at seeing Xu Mengya take the top spot, they couldn't help but develop a deep sense of disgust towards her.

"Has Xu Mengya gone crazy? Did she backstab the other contestants like this?"

"Damn it! She's obviously last-minute vote boosting, clearly aiming for the top rankings!"

"I'm disgusted. Just when I was feeling nostalgic for the peaceful days of the girls, someone pops up and slaps me in the face?"

This sudden turn of events caused an explosion among almost all the top-ranking contestants and even the entire fan base of the show.

Xu Mengya's original ranking was also in the top eleven, but she was far from being in the top few. Now, she aggressively boosted her votes in the last minute before the deadline, surpassing several contestants and securing the first-place position before anyone else could react. Such behavior naturally ignited anger among others.

Especially, the audience had just been deeply moved by Qiao Dai's joint resistance against the program's malicious competition. Who would have thought that in the next second, someone would ruthlessly slap them in the face with the harsh reality, shattering the beautiful image in their hearts once again.

The two words "Xu Mengya" written in the first-place position undoubtedly mocked Qiao Dai and the fans for their innocence. Qiao Dai's goodwill had not been rewarded but had instead given an opportunity for someone with ulterior motives to seize and take away her rightful position.

"I thought the girl had taught reality a lesson, but little did I know that reality would teach all of us a lesson. It's disgusting."

"Xu Mengya, do you not feel any guilt holding that first-place position? Look into your own conscience and ask yourself if you deserve that first place."

"Xu Mengya, the queen of betrayal! I hope that a certain miss who betrayed her teammates thinks it through. This is about debuting as a group, not as individuals. Now she's betraying her teammates. Which company would dare to work with her?"

The viewers were driven to madness. Even though it wasn't the final night of the group's formation, and even though their beloved idols were still leading, Xu Mengya's actions felt like a thorn piercing their hearts, making them extremely uncomfortable.

If these fans were feeling so upset, let alone the betrayed contestants.

Just the thought of the stunned expression on Qiao Dai's face when the results were announced and how her kindness was ruthlessly exploited made the fans feel heartbroken. If Qiao Dai was being scolded by her agency because of this, how miserable must she be feeling right now?

As much as the fans sympathized with Qiao Dai, they despised Xu Mengya. It was not just because she took away the positions of other contestants but also because she ruthlessly trampled upon the beautiful imagination in everyone's hearts.

The situation continued to ferment on the internet, taking an uncontrollable direction within a short span of ten minutes. Initially, Xu Mengya's team didn't take it seriously, thinking that it would blow over as just some complaints from netizens. But to their surprise, the hashtag #XuMengyaBetrayal kept trending, with the overwhelming majority of the discussion condemning Xu Mengya.

This result greatly exceeded the expectations of Xu Mengya's company, and the staff couldn't help but wipe their sweat and become restless.

At the beginning, when Xu Mengya saw the fans of Qiao Dai and Song Yiqi scolding her, she couldn't stop laughing and mocked her assistant, saying, "It doesn't matter how much they curse, it's useless. Who told them to act foolishly and expect others to be foolish with them? If they don't have brains, they shouldn't blame others. It's hilarious."

Xu Mengya didn't care about those insults thrown at her. After all, she had already secured the first-place position in the top three, and it would be enough for her company to do some damage control. After all, in this industry, there weren't many things that couldn't be whitewashed.

At that time, Xu Mengya would have her team issue a press release stating that it was the actions of the management team and not her personal behavior. She would then play the victim in front of the camera, apologize to Qiao Dai, and also take the opportunity to taunt her fans. Could she really be overturned by such a small incident? What a joke!

Xu Mengya created a fake account and waited in her fan group to witness the spectacle. It was amusing to see those mocking her for being brainless and offending her teammates. She circled these comments in the group and mocked, "Just a small group acting like they're some big deal? Who cares about that lousy group? I never took that seriously."

Xu Mengya's company, Superstar Entertainment, was well-known for being an idol factory and highly skilled in manipulating data for their artists. That was why Xu Mengya dared to do what she did without fearing the companies of the other top-ranking contestants. From the very beginning, she only wanted to use Pick Eleven to boost her popularity  and didn't care about anyone else. After all, eventually, they would disband and go their separate ways, so it was better to consolidate her fan base as soon as possible.

While some netizens were still accusing Xu Mengya of betrayal, the hashtag #XuMengyaDeservesFirstPlace soared to the top of the trending list at lightning speed. Major marketing accounts joined in the promotion, congratulating the talented contestant Xu Mengya on winning first place.

The netizens were dumbfounded.

They had seen shameless people before, but never someone this shameless. Who didn't know how Xu Mengya obtained her first-place ranking? Yet, she could shamelessly buy herself a trending hashtag online with a clear conscience? She was truly the embodiment of shamelessness in the real world.

"Wow, her backing is so strong, even after betraying everyone! Miss Backstabber!"

"Disgusting. She really doesn't regard us, the viewers, as humans, huh?"

"The program team is pure trash."

Xu Mengya's team initially thought that these viewers were just venting online, so they went ahead and bought the trending hashtag congratulating Xu Mengya on her victory. However, they didn't anticipate that instead of subsiding, the hashtag would ignite the viewers' emotions. Countless fans flooded into the topic's discussion area, passionately expressing their opinions. Some even created memes of Xu Mengya as the "Betrayal Queen" and shared them everywhere. The situation quickly spiraled out of control.

Soon, someone exposed Xu Mengya's alternate account and the things she said in her fan group. Initially, she and her fans were mocking the other contestants from different companies. Upon learning that there were netizens criticizing her, she didn't even care and mockingly dismissed the netizens as jealous fools. Her last comment was made just ten minutes ago, calling them a "rabble." Regardless of how chaotic the group chat had become, there were no more messages from her, as if the company had urgently intervened.

Seeing that Xu Mengya showed no remorse for her betrayal and instead arrogantly mocked others, the netizens' anger reached its peak. They went to the official account of "Pick Eleven" and questioned the program team, asking how they could allow Xu Mengya to destroy Eleven Girls, which was built through the joint efforts of the contestants.

"Director, what should we do now?"

《Pick Eleven》's operations team is currently overwhelmed with work. The supervisor himself feels wronged. Xu Mengya manipulated the votes at the critical moment, and it was not just the front-ranking contestants she undermined, but also the program team!

Now fans from various companies were accusing the program team of shady dealings, and he felt unjustified. It was because he intentionally suppressed the vote counts of the top few contestants earlier, hoping to make the company and fans compete in spending money. However, the system had a delay, and he didn't have time to restore Qiao Dai's vote count before the deadline. Xu Mengya's team started frantically manipulating the votes, pushing her to first place. Otherwise, this kind of turmoil wouldn't have happened.

The supervisor was also anxious and sweating profusely. He was torn and didn't know what to do. He could only helplessly endure the criticism.

"What should we do about Qiao Dai's votes?"

The staff members were also anxious and uneasy. They look at the out-of-control comments section and think about how Qiao Dai's fans would react when they discover that Qiao Dai missed out on first place due to the program team's manipulation.

The supervisor grits his teeth, his voice trembling. "What else can we do? Let's find a way to privately compensate them. If we stir up trouble now, won't we also offend Superstar Entertainment? "

The supervisor knows that their actions were unscrupulous, and he didn't intend to target Qiao Dai. However, he must admit that his behavior caused losses for Qiao Dai. But now he can't afford to sever ties with Superstar. Even if he helped Qiao Dai regain her votes, it would also raise suspicion from others. After much consideration, he could only leave it at that, even if it meant unfairly affecting the rankings of the top contestants.

Just as the supervisor decided to have his subordinates help reduce the heat of the topic, he suddenly received an urgent phone call. His heart skipped a beat, thinking that it might be someone from Galaxy's team calling to demand an explanation. He quickly stepped aside and respectfully began to explain.

"How did your votes turn out tonight?"

The voice on the other end sounded somewhat impatient. The supervisor was already tired today and was ready to go home and rest. He just wanted to stay up until midnight to see the news of Qiao Dai taking first place before going to sleep. Who would have thought that this night would keep him wide awake, and now he received this phone call.

The man's anger turned into a sarcastic laugh. "Are you that desperate for money? You want to get involved with Superstar? If you're short of money, come to me. I'll invest in you. Don't play these tricks on the show."

The supervisor had never heard such a tone from the person on the other end before. He knew that the other party was truly angry. He quickly replied, "Mr. Cheng, you have to believe me. I didn't manipulate Superstar Entertainment’s votes. It was Qiao Dai. I was caught off guard by Xu Mengya's vote manipulation."

The supervisor truly hated Xu Mengya. This time, she had truly ruined him with Superstar!

"I know you wouldn't dare to touch Galaxy's votes. It was Qiao Dai's votes that you manipulated. What do you think you’re doing?"

Cheng Su’s  tone sounded impatient, but his voice was icy, making the supervisor shiver involuntarily.

The supervisor was taken aback. He didn't expect to hear Qiao Dai's name from Mr. Cheng's mouth.

What? Did he hear it correctly? Mr.  Cheng was demanding an explanation for Qiao Dai's votes?

Before the supervisor could process it, Cheng coldly delivered an ultimatum, "Either return Qiao Dai's votes to what it is, or return my money to me. You decide."

The supervisor, drenched in cold sweat, quickly nodded and signaled his staff to investigate the account Mr. Cheng had mentioned. When he saw the amount of money invested in support of Qiao Dai in that account, he couldn't even catch his breath.

He couldn't afford to pay for this!

Who could have imagined that Mr. Cheng was actually a fan of Qiao Dai!

"Hurry up and add Qiao Dai's votes for me!"

Upon hearing Mr. Cheng's words, the program team's staff didn't dare to delay any longer. While the official list hadn't been announced yet, they quickly added the votes that were missed for Qiao Dai and announced the rankings of the top three.

"Official rankings have been announced!"

"Due to a system delay in vote counting, the official rankings for the top three are based on the announced list. First place goes to Qiao Dai?!"

The netizens, who were just furious a moment ago, were shocked when they saw the results. Then they couldn't help but scream.

Xu Mengya, who was being heavily criticized by netizens, was gloating just a moment ago, saying that even if everyone hated her, she would still be the official first in the top three. But when the results came out, she was dumbfounded.

Has the program team gone crazy? Isn't this blatantly slapping her in the face?

She was just celebrating how high she had jumped, but now Xu Mengya felt utterly embarrassed. She looked at the trending topic that had prematurely congratulated her for winning the championship and felt as if she had been publicly slapped multiple times, leaving her with no dignity.

At this moment, she felt like a living joke.