He fiercely criticized the Manchu scholar clique and the twelve emperors of the Qing Dynasty.

Zhao Shuyao unplugged the USB drive, watched the green progress bar on the Toutiao backend indicating that the video upload was successful, then decisively shut down the computer, paid the bill, went back to the dormitory, and went straight to sleep.

There's no need to keep an eye on the data; the logical loop is already complete. The rest is up to the algorithms and ordinary people who have been suppressed for too long.

But during the few hours he fell into a deep sleep, a cyber net woven by capital, academic cliques, and online trolls had silently descended upon him.

It started with a slight shift in the trend of comments on Toutiao videos.

The meticulously edited, seven-minute interview video garnered over 100,000 likes in less than two hours after its release, with the comments section overwhelmingly expressing shock at the "cultural foundation" and the "theory of height regression."

It's 11:30 p.m.

The first batch of unusual data appeared.

Hundreds of default numeric accounts, without even profile pictures, began intensively copying and pasting comments below the top-rated posts.

"Everyone, keep your eyes open and don't be fooled by this clown. He's just a crazy person desperate for fame!"

"Talking nonsense and turning history into a fictional story—is this the level of a graduate student at the University of Tokyo?"

At first, this kind of meaningless online rhetoric was quickly drowned out by netizens' criticism, but at midnight, a bombshell was detonated without warning.

A popular influencer with 300,000 followers, whose ID is "Academic Fraud Buster Lao Zhou," posted a set of high-resolution screenshots.

The image shows a letter of self-criticism signed by Zhao Shuyao, as well as a paper he published in the school journal during his first year of graduate school, titled "On the Positive Significance of Territorial Expansion in the Early Qing Dynasty for Modern Geopolitical Strategy".

The letter of self-criticism was a deep reflection on a certain instance of arguing with the teacher, and the words were sincere, even to the point of being extremely tactful.

Old Zhou captioned the post: "Look at your 'literary integrity' that you worship like a god. When Zhao Shuyao wrote this kind of article pandering to the mainstream to secure a spot at the university, why didn't you mention your cultural background?"

"Now that staying at the university is hopeless, they immediately switch sides, packaging themselves as champions of the people. This isn't backbone; it's opportunistic behavior for online traffic, it's sophisticated egoism!"

These screenshots are like a drop of water being poured into boiling oil.

The information processing in the online world is brutal and impatient.

A college student who had just liked Zhao Shuyao's video saw this post.

His gaze fell on the obsequious words in the self-criticism, and his brows furrowed instantly.

His brain quickly made a judgment: So Zhao Shuyao used to be a spineless coward who bowed to the system.

Immediately unlike the post and follow suit in Lao Zhou's comment section.

"Damn, I really thought we'd produced a cultured person with a backbone, but it turns out he's just a two-faced person who flipped the table because he didn't get a share of the pie."

This reversal of emotions is extremely terrifying. When flaws are exposed on the moral high ground, people's ruthlessness in trampling on idols is always greater than when they were created as gods.

It's 1:30 a.m.

A real nuclear bomb fell.

A newly registered account, "The Stolen Youth Rain," published a lengthy 3,000-word accusation.

The writing is heart-wrenching, with every word dripping with emotion, and is extremely provocative.

"I once thought he was my safe haven, but it turns out he only used me as a stepping stone to get ashore."

In the long post, Xiaoyu, as Zhao Shuyao's ex-girlfriend from college, described in detail their life in a cheap rental apartment. She described how she would go to the market to pick up cheap vegetables after get off work every day, how she would wash his smelly sneakers, and how she would put all the meat she bought after getting paid into his bowl.

As for Zhao Shuyao, she comfortably enjoyed the fruits of her labor during her postgraduate entrance examination preparation.

"The night he got accepted into the history department of Northeastern University for graduate studies, I bought half a roast duck to celebrate with him. He didn't come back. He sent me a text message: 'We're in different social classes now. Let's not keep in touch.'"

Below the article are several blurry photos of the group from behind, along with a long list of densely packed WeChat transfer records, ranging from tens to hundreds of yuan, all with notes such as "buying books" and "living expenses".

"Phoenix Man", "Small Town Test-Taker", "Vampire".

These three labels, which perfectly align with the current gender antagonism and class anxiety, were firmly nailed to Zhao Shuyao's forehead.

The internet was in an uproar.

Angry female netizens flooded Zhao Shuyao's Toutiao account via the internet, and the comment section was instantly filled with insults.

"He schemes and plots everything for his own success, even kicking away the women who suffer with him. You can't believe a single punctuation mark in the history told by this scumbag!"

"If Yue Buqun were alive today, he'd spout platitudes about benevolence and righteousness, but his heart would be filled with wickedness and debauchery!"

"I heard his family is from a rural area in northern Jiangsu. Haha, it's true that bad people come from poor and remote places. I bet his whole family are bloodsuckers."

In the private message list, vulgar insults scrolled by at a rate of more than a dozen per second. Academic fans who originally wanted to discuss history had no room to speak out under the massive influx of traffic.

When the emotions of the lower classes are stirred up to the extreme, the so-called "academic elites" begin to emerge and reap the rewards.

Three o'clock in the morning.

Several well-known history UP masters with yellow V certification on Toutiao simultaneously published long articles analyzing Zhao Shuyao's interview video frame by frame.

The influential blogger "Qing History Unveiled" with millions of followers was the first to respond, throwing out three rebuttals.

"First, Zhao's claim that 'Tiangong Kaiwu' was destroyed by the Qing Dynasty is pure alarmism. The Qing government did conduct text censorship, but this was mainly to consolidate its power. Many fragments still circulate among the people. Blaming the technological backwardness entirely on text censorship is a complete misunderstanding of the laws of historical development."

"Secondly, regarding the decline in the height of ordinary people in late Qing Dynasty, Mr. Zhao completely ignores the rampant plunder of the Qing economy by Western powers after the Opium War. How could people grow tall when they couldn't even get enough to eat? This is the evil of Western capitalism, yet he uses it to smear the Qing Dynasty's agricultural policies. How sinister his intentions are!"

"Third, the struggle for legitimacy in the Central Plains during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period was entirely a geopolitical concept constructed by scholars throughout history. Zhao forcibly interprets it as a cultural foundation, attempting to use regional economics to sever the great process of national unification. This is typical academic tailoring, taking things out of context!"

In conclusion, the influential blogger offered a definitive verdict: "A morally bankrupt, lying, small-town exam-taker who, for a quick click, resorted to inciting nationalistic sentiments. Our academic community will never condone such a scoundrel!"

This combo was executed extremely smoothly.

Capital creates hype, ex-girlfriend defines private morality, and influential figures deconstruct academia.

Overnight, Zhao Shuyao went from an outspoken young scholar to a pariah despised by the entire internet.

Six o'clock in the morning.

Room 302, Northeastern University.

Zhao Shuyao opened his eyes on time, having slept to excellent quality.

He threw off the covers, put on his gray tracksuit, and didn't touch his phone on the table. The morning belonged only to fresh air and dopamine; the noise of the outside world could only enter after he finished his run.

Wash up and go out.

In early spring, the cold air in Fengtian City carried a harsh, cutting sensation.

Zhao Shuyao, wearing sneakers, jogged to the playground.

During the first lap, my body started to heat up.

As he ran the second lap, several boys wearing sports academy jackets walked towards him; they were the same boys who had stopped to greet him yesterday.

Zhao Shuyao maintained his breathing rhythm and habitually prepared to nod in greeting.

The moment their eyes met, the other person abruptly looked away.

The tall boy who called him "Senior Zhao" yesterday not only didn't stop, but quickened his pace. As he passed by, Zhao Shuyao heard the boy mutter under his breath, "Damn, I almost got my feelings cheated on by a jerk."

Zhao Shuyao raised an eyebrow and continued running forward.

On the third lap, several girls who were stretching their legs by the stands stopped immediately when they saw him approaching, stood up and took two steps back, looking at him with extreme disgust.

An inexplicable sense of repulsion permeated the air.

Zhao Shuyao adjusted his breathing rhythm.

His brain was rapidly processing these unusual responses: evasive eyes, disgust, whispers.

ignore.

In Zhao Shuyao's opinion, the amount of information in last night's interview video was indeed too much and too sharp. The public has been conditioned by the established textbook concepts for so many years, so it is normal for them to feel psychological discomfort and resistance when they suddenly see such subversive theories.

This is similar to a patient who has just undergone surgery; the wound will always hurt for a few days.

He thought these people were stunned and overwhelmed by the truth in the video.

Zhao Shuyao's lips curled up slightly, and his steps became even lighter.

The fifth lap ended, and I reached the finish line.

Gu Nanxi sat on the steps of the first row of the stands.

She was still wearing that beige down jacket. But today, her posture showed no sign of relaxation; she was clutching a bottle of mineral water tightly in both hands.

Zhao Shuyao walked over, his body steaming with the heat of evaporating sweat, and sat down on the step a body length away from her.

"Good morning, Gu." Zhao Shuyao casually wiped his forehead with the back of his hand.

Gu Nanxi turned her head and looked at him. Her eyes, which were usually filled with bright smiles, were now filled with complex emotions: doubt, anxiety, and a hint of disappointment.

He handed over the bottle of water.

Zhao Shuyao took the water, unscrewed the cap, took a sip, and joked, "I remember you said yesterday you were a chemical engineering major. You get up this early every day, but I never see you sweating on the track. Are you here to analyze the composition of the morning dew?"

Gu Nanxi did not take the joke seriously.

Her gaze fell on Zhao Shuyao's calm profile. She hesitated, her lips moved twice, but no sound came out.

The air was so quiet it felt almost oppressive.

Zhao Shuyao put the bottle cap back on, noticed the unusual situation, stopped smiling, leaned forward slightly, and looked into Gu Nanxi's eyes.

"What's wrong?" Zhao Shuyao's tone remained gentle, carrying a strong sense of stability. "Has something happened?"

Gu Nanxi took a deep breath.

"You..." Her voice was a little hoarse, "You didn't check your phone this morning, did you?"

"I didn't look at it. I don't bring electronic devices to exercise."

Gu Nanxi took out her phone from her pocket, unlocked it, opened a page, and the screen lit up.

Instead of handing it over directly, he stared intently into Zhao Shuyao's eyes, as if searching for an answer.

"Zhao Shuyao, the internet is full of news about you right now."

She paused, her voice trembling noticeably: "That girl named Xiaoyu, was she really your girlfriend from college? You really... used her money to take the postgraduate entrance exam, and then dumped her?"