I asked you to write a light novel, but you wrote about living?

Yu Wen read it from beginning to end.

The wording was sincere.

The facts are clear.

And indeed, we made corrections and apologized as requested by the other party.

He clicked publish.

……

On the StarNet.

Before the onlookers could even finish reading those few paragraphs, online trolls and haters had already sprung into action.

They didn't care at all what Yu Wen wrote.

Upon seeing the words "statement" and "apology," they immediately followed the original plan and unleashed a deluge of pre-prepared text:

[Haha, couldn't withstand the pressure, finally resorted to kneeling in defiance?]

[If you knew this would happen, why did you do it in the first place? Weren't you pretty arrogant when you were cursing?]

Low character is low character. Issuing a statement to try and whitewash the fact that they insulted the entire news industry?

[People from the Lower City area are just ill-mannered; they should apologize to all journalists immediately!]

Almost instantly, the screen was flooded with insults.

Some accounts didn't even bother to revise their posts, repeatedly posting the same sentence, "I refuse to accept an insincere apology," more than a dozen times.

But after a dozen seconds, the first group of people who actually read the statement finally began to understand what it meant.

Immediately afterwards, the sentiment in the comments section shifted dramatically, like a mudslide.

This time, the book fans did not present the full interview as they had done before, nor did they explain word for word which type of account Yu Wen was criticizing.

They simply ducked into the comments section of the online trolls' posts and replied with a bright, cheerful remark:

[We've already apologized, what more do you want? (Funny.jpg)]

The same replies quickly appeared under other insults.

[They've already said it wasn't rigorous enough and apologized to the media outlets that diligently verified the information, so why are you still so relentless?]

[Exactly, we've already apologized, what more do you want? (Funny.jpg)]

[It's a great virtue to admit one's mistakes and correct them; let's give Teacher Yu a chance. (doge.jpg)]

These few replies may not be very offensive, but they are extremely insulting.

The first wave of online trolls to rush in clearly sensed something was wrong.

They stared at the statement and read it again.

When the gaze fell upon that sentence again:

[In the media industry, some media outlets are not the kind of propaganda dogs that feed models excrement.]

The comment section paused strangely for a few seconds.

The next moment, the accounts that had just been mocking Yu Wen for "sliding to his knees" collectively lost their temper, and the anger in their replies instantly escalated three levels.

[Holy crap, is this what they call an apology?!]

Who apologizes like that? He's clearly using roundabout methods to continue insulting people!

This is an open provocation! This is a second humiliation for the entire news industry!

[Let's get this straight: which media outlets are involved, and which aren't?]

Is playing word games meaningful? Can this be called sincerity?

Faced with these furious questions, the book fans and onlookers finally lost their temper.

[Just tell me if he apologized or not, right? (doge.jpg)]

[Dude, we were urging them to apologize yesterday, and they did apologize today, so why are you guys getting so worked up now?]

[You've already apologized, what more do you want? Do you want Teacher Yu to apologize again? (Funny.jpg)]

He's listened to so much advice, and you're still not satisfied?

The more the online trolls emphasize that this doesn't count as an apology, the more comments like "Just say he didn't apologize at all" are flooded the comments section.

What should have been a solemn public apology turned into a massive, repetitive back-and-forth.

The comment section was refreshing at an almost terrifying rate.

As more netizens who came to watch the spectacle arrived, they were immediately bombarded by the solemn statement and the chaotic comment section below.

[Holy crap! A logical genius! Old Beng has moved to Bengbu!]

[That's amazing!]

Got it, this is the spin-off of "Running for Governor".

I only knew he was a great novelist, but I never imagined he was so skilled at both yin and yang.

Wait, how come this apology is even worse than not apologizing at all?

[12 media outlets: What's the response? We're waiting online, it's urgent.]

[Caught in a dilemma, sweating buckets, aren't you, buddy?]

Yu Wen's statement was quickly screenshotted and forwarded to various topics.

Someone placed the open letter from twelve media outlets on the left and his response on the right, with the caption:

The apology you requested has been delivered. Please check your inbox.

Within ten minutes of the photo being posted, it had been shared over a million times.

The twelve media outlets that had previously urged Yu Wen to make a statement suddenly fell silent.

They certainly know that not responding is impossible.

The open letter caused such a huge stir, and now that Yu Wenzhen has responded, if they all pretend to be dead, they will immediately be ridiculed for only daring to force apologies but not daring to accept them.

However, once you respond, you can easily fall into the traps left by Yu Wen's words.

After more than an hour of silence, one of the media outlets that had participated in the joint statement finally spoke up.

It published a commentary article that was over three thousand words long.

The article discusses the social responsibility of the news industry, the boundaries of public figures' speech, civilized expression, and cyberbullying, concluding with a solemn emphasis:

This account has always respected the facts and insisted on verification, and has never engaged in the behavior of using models to mass-produce false information.

The article is lengthy and eloquent, and the language is intense.

However, after reading it, the reader's attention was entirely focused on the last part where the author proves his innocence.

No, who asked you?

Why are you suddenly explaining this?

[I didn't suspect you at first, but after you wrote these three thousand words, it feels like you're confessing to something.]

[This is a case of trying to hide something obvious.jpg]

[Some things only get worse the more you explain them, buddy. Take my advice, just say less.]

This media outlet clearly didn't heed the advice.

As the number of questions in the comments section increased, it immediately released a supplementary statement, explaining in detail that the title it used when it forwarded the seven-second video was generated by an automatic editing model and was not a subjective distortion of Yu Wen's original meaning by its staff.

This supplementary explanation caused an uproar among netizens who were initially just making a joke.

【No, you're blaming the model?】

[What a coincidence! It's said that in ancient times, when something went wrong, people liked to blame it on temporary workers. Now, temporary workers have been upgraded to models, haven't they?]

[Model generation, model review, model release—and you're just responsible for getting paid, right?]

The title was written by the model, so who clicked "send"? Was it a dog?

[Wow, Yu Wen said he fed the models poop, and you guys have proven that it really was the models who ate it.]

Please stop explaining, really, it's too dark to see anything.

Some people even dug up content that this media outlet had previously published.

The distorted title of the seven-second video, the speculative article without evidence, and the open letter demanding an apology from Yu Wen were all neatly arranged together.

Now even the online trolls don't know how to defend themselves.

Just over ten minutes later, the 3,000-word article closed its comments section, and the supplementary notes were quietly deleted.

The responses prepared by the remaining eleven media outlets were all stuck in the backstage.

No one dared to speak up easily anymore.

Because the first company has already proven one thing through its own experience.

Some things, the more you explain them, the worse they become.

But even though they didn't say anything, netizens weren't going to miss out on this ready-made spectacle.

The open letter was quickly flooded with new comments, and the new topic soon surged to the top of the trending list.

[I suggest you stop researching this; one company has already demonstrated the wrong answer.]

[We've already apologized, what more do you want? (Funny.jpg)]

[Just tell me if he apologized or not. (doge.jpg)]