Esports world champion, debuted as the center of a talent show

To ensure the fan meeting the following day was a success, the staff returned each of the nine members' phones and repeatedly reminded them: "Don't make the promotional copy too formulaic. It must have your own style. Each picture should include a selfie and a promotional poster."

So when Jiang Zhiyu got his phone, the delayed messages kept vibrating, causing Lin Sen, who was standing next to him, to glance at him frequently.

Almost simultaneously, a call popped up at the top of the screen of the phone, which had only been turned on for a short time. The caller ID read "Lin Shi".

Jiang Zhiyu was not surprised at all.

Over the past few years, it's as if Lin Shi has installed a surveillance camera on his phone, always managing to pinpoint the exact moment he checks it and contact him.

The call notification continued to vibrate persistently. Jiang Zhiyu glanced at Lin Sen, only to meet his questioning gaze.

His eyes flashed, and he pointed to his phone: "I'm going out to take this call."

Lin Sen nodded, watching the other person leave with their phone in hand. Then, he turned his head curiously and muttered to himself, "Why does Jiang Jiang seem a bit strange today?"

Jiang Zhiyu walked to the window at the end of the corridor and looked out. There were almost no stars in the gray-black night sky.

He looked up, his gaze sweeping across the thick clouds, the sultry air thick with the earthy and grassy smell.

He then pressed the answer button, and Lin Shi's voice came through the phone.

"It can't be hidden any longer." Lin Shi said bluntly, his tone certain.

Many thoughts flashed through Jiang Zhiyu's mind in an instant, including "If I get caught, I'll deny it to the death," "Why not do some extreme public relations?" and "Why not just give up and admit it on my own?" But in the end, he rejected them all.

"Well, let nature take its course." Jiang Zhiyu sighed softly. "I was prepared for this, but I didn't expect it to happen so soon."

"Someone is stirring things up, a third party who isn't in the public eye."

Lin Shi on the other end of the phone was silent for a moment before speaking, emphasizing the last three words, "third party."

Jiang Zhiyu frowned, glanced at the gloomy sky, and said softly, "It's going to rain."

"Yes, the weather forecast says it will rain tomorrow, so please be careful when you go out." Lin Shi's voice was very gentle, but it sounded slightly distorted through the phone's speaker.

"I see."

They didn't have any further communication. Lin Shi hurriedly said a few words such as "take care of yourself" and "get some rest" before hanging up the phone.

Jiang Zhiyu walked back to 310. Mi Lan had already returned to her dormitory and was currently discussing the publicity project with Lin Sen.

"Did you take a selfie? I just took several, but I'm not satisfied with any of them." Mi Lan frowned, her tone troubled.

"Not yet, my phone's charging, it's not even turned on yet!" Lin Sen sighed. "What time did they say they'd send it out? I hope I won't miss it!"

Mi Lan held up the mirror and looked at herself repeatedly, muttering, "Nine o'clock... half an hour left."

Just then, Jiang Zhiyu, who had just finished his phone call, pushed open the door and entered.

Mi Lan caught a glimpse of it out of the corner of her eye, turned around and greeted, "Jiang Jiang! Have you decided what to post?"

Jiang Zhiyu shook his head: "Not yet."

The massive online investigation continues with great fanfare, and the deeper netizens dig, the more "coincidences" they discover.

So when Jiang Zhiyu sat down again and turned on his phone, he found several messages from Yan Zuo.

[It's over, Jiang.]

[My account is in danger!]

[(Link: #Wait a minute??? Isn't this outfit the same style as River's??????#)]

[(Link: #GamestylesDontLie, I've decided to analyze this esports variety show frame by frame, anyone want to join?#)]

[(Link: #A detailed look at River and Jiang Zhiyu's movements, guess what happened?#)]

[(Link: I searched high and low for topics related to "Shining Project" and actually found Lin Shi in fan-taken photos of other trainees!#)]

Jiang Zhiyu pursed his lips, smiled helplessly, and silently replied with six dots: [...]

His gaze lingered on the titles of these posts, but he couldn't resist clicking on one of them in the end.

#A detailed look at River and Jiang Zhiyu's movements, and guess what happened?# [HOT]

[1L: You're good at writing headlines. I'll definitely support you if you become a marketing account sometime.]

[2L: I've wanted to dig up this for a long time, and someone's already done it, so I'll just start eating and wait for the food!]

[3L: What's wrong? What's wrong? What's wrong? Tell me what's wrong!!]

[4L: Where's the original poster?? Why did you disappear after posting a title? Are you playing hard to get?]

Jiang Zhiyu quickly scrolled through the floors with no information at the top, then froze the moment he caught a glimpse of the poster's comment.

[OP: Don't rush, don't rush, let's analyze this slowly.]

—Reply: [It's very urgent, I need to see this immediately, or I'll control you.]

—Reply: 【Urgent! Urgent! Urgent! Urgent!】

—Reply: [Quickly, quick! Waiting in the front row!]

[OP: Attentive viewers will notice that the show "Shining Project" premiered (i.e., aired live) a month after River officially announced its break. Furthermore, information later revealed by a convenience store employee suggests that Jiang Zhiyu's training at the industrial park also coincided with that month.]

—Reply: [Think carefully about the nostrils!]

—Reply: 【Oh my god, it's true!】

—Reply: [I couldn't help but smirk at this post.]

[OP: Moving forward in time, on the day the theme song evaluation ended and the program required trainees to post their first message on their verified accounts, the long-dormant account @RXG-River suddenly went online and posted a message before immediately going offline. A few minutes later, the verified account @熠熠计划-江执屿 posted a promotional message. (A reasonable guess is that someone's phone was logged into their main account by default, thus requiring them to switch accounts and start over.)]

—Reply: 【Ahhh, I remember now! I remember everything!】

—Reply: 【Wow, it really is! I was a casual fan of Jiang Zhiyu back then, and it just so happened that they both posted on Weibo at almost the same time. I was amazed at how coincidental it was!】

—Reply: [It turns out everything has a traceable pattern!]

—Reply: [Anyway, I don't believe it's a coincidence. It's common knowledge that River doesn't like using social media. His account, apart from posting about winning a championship, doesn't have much activity.]

[OP: The other post is practically confirming that this is an e-sports variety show, so I won't go into details. If you haven't seen it, go check it out (link: #GameStyleCan'tLie,OPDecidesToAnalyzeThisE-sportsVarietyShowFramebyFrame,AnyoneWantToJoin?#)]