Genius Chapter 106: Defamation

Chapter 106: Defamation

Translated by Karai of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Addis

Small Bear Biscuit was a warrior, and in Su Mo’s impression, he was exceptionally skilled at operating as one.

Since Desert Inn, they hadn’t been in contact for a long time. This time, Small Bear Biscuit reached out on his own initiative for a specific reason: he had discovered a quest clue—a team quest—and was looking for teammates. He specifically came to ask Su Mo if he was interested.

[Small Bear Biscuit: My friend and I found this, it seems to be a quest-type quest. At the end of the task, there’s a hint about a team emblem. It’s just the two of us here, wondering if you guys are interested?]

Su Mo hadn’t done a quest-type quest before, but he knew they were quite special and that many players specialized in them.

He heard Small Bear Biscuit’s words and indeed felt a bit interested. However, aren’t quest-type quests generally single-player and single-line? A team quest?

[Momo: Wait a moment, I’ll ask my friend later.]

[Small Bear Biscuit: Sure, let me know after you confirm.]

Su Mo hadn’t done quest-type quests before. Since it was a team quest, it would be best to ask his teammates first.

He shouted a few times in the team channel, but didn’t see many responses from his teammates. It wasn’t until he opened the terminal’s group chat that he found it had been taken over by posts from the StarNet forum.

-Mo: Are you guys afk in the game?

He asked in the group, and instantly both teammates became active, their tones unusually sharp, as if they had just withdrawn from the forum, full of complaints.

“Bro, we just AFKed to the forum and got into a confrontation with some people,” ClearWind explained. “I’m speechless. How can there be such people? Just because they have some so-called evidence, they can smear a girl’s reputation.”

Su Mo saw them so indignant for the first time. The group chat was full of posts. He couldn’t access the StarNet forum, so he asked, “What happened?”

“Those guys are lunatics. Before quitting the game, they’re still out there spreading dirt. It’s unbelievable,” ScarletFruit’s voice was full of anger. “I’ve seen these kinds of people before. It’s disgusting when it happens around you.”

After venting, ScarletFruit began explaining the posts on the forum to Su Mo.

This incident was related to ZenSlasher, but it also had something to do with them. ZenSlasher was originally a guild member of Temple of the Gods. Due to controversies over wilderness command, she was targeted by the management, who spread malicious rumors and eventually kicked her out of the guild. After leaving, she met Su Mo and others at the Desert Inn, gradually establishing connections and becoming regular teammates.

Because of the dispute with the management, ZenSlasher had been slandered several months ago, with accusations such as being a spy for another guild, engaging in inappropriate behavior, and being fickle in relationships. Later, public attention shifted to other more recent events, and the early gossip threads on the forum received less attention. This matter had already become a thing of the past. ZenSlasher didn’t mention it, and they didn’t pry into someone else’s personal issues.

Until last night, just after they had finished the dungeon, a forum user claiming to be a friend of ZenSlasher came out and started a thread exposing her.

The original poster claimed to be a friend of ZenSlasher’s, using numerous chat records to demonstrate a close relationship between her and ZenSlasher. Because the StarNet ID emblem cannot be edited, the chat records presented appeared very authentic to other netizens, proving that the account holder was indeed ZenSlasher.

After presenting the evidence, the original poster used various aggrieved tones to recount the previous incidents involving the management of Temple of the Gods.

“I considered her a friend, but she turned out to be an undercover agent for the Fruit Gang, gathering information from our guild after becoming close to us. Once during a skirmish with the Fruit Gang in the wilderness, she was part of the assassin team. When a critical point was exposed, she insisted we join them in that area. My friend A, who is a manager, refused her and they argued. The next day, she ended up killing my friend A and his wife.”

[She killed the manager and then left the guild, playing the victim everywhere. We later found out that she used to flirt with various big shots in other games as well. I have a friend B who’s also a high-ranked player; maybe she saw him as someone she could seduce. There was a time when she teamed up with my friend B for wilderness battles. I heard she’s now cozying up to the big livestreamer ClearWindIsHere, always hanging out with ClearWind and having a good relationship with Momo too. Her name has appeared in recent PvE clears several times, but have you seen her low-ranking account? Is it not embarrassing to fight alongside all those top-ranking players?

[I’ve posted the evidence. I won’t say much more. Lately, I’ve been seeing her ID around a lot, so I had to speak out. I hope others won’t be deceived by her appearance.]

[Oh, is she the female assassin from Momo’s team? I used to have a good impression of her, but I didn’t expect her to be like this.]

[ZenSlasher isn’t a low-ranking account either; he’s also on the leaderboard now.]

[The one above, maybe she’s rich, and the rich are paying for her?]

[Wow, these chat messages are so detailed. So she couldn’t climb up in Temple of the Gods, but managed to climb up with ClearWindIsHere and Momo? I often see her in ClearWind’s livestreams.]

[I feel like the undercover thing might be true too… Momo has been doing a lot of runs with the Fruit Gang recently, you all know that.]

[I’m speechless. You guys believe just based on some chat records? Sister ZenSlasher doesn’t talk much and handles things well. I don’t think she’s that kind of person.]

[Then why doesn’t ZenSlasher come out and clarify? I’ve seen those early gossip posts too. If it’s slander, clarifying would clear things up. If she’s capable, she should also post chat records. We’d love to see some solid proof.]

[Temple of the Gods may not have a good reputation, but this time they did provide evidence!] 

ScarletFruit posted many pictures, mainly excerpts, and also screenshots or videos of various chats with StarNet ID emblems that the original poster had posted. Su Mo’s eyes flickered slightly, lingering on a few of the photos. “What about ZenSlasher?”

“Just now, Windy managed to get through to her. She said she doesn’t care about this matter, and once things settle down, it will be over. She also said she doesn’t want to cause trouble for us,” ScarletFruit sighed. “We also asked her. Those chat records were indeed chats between her and her friends, but certain segments were deliberately taken out of context. For example, there were a few segments where ZenSlasher was asking about a hostile assassin account, mainly discussing how to stack attributes, but the OP twisted it to make it seem like she was inquiring about someone influential in the guild.”

“It’s so manipulative. The same chat records can be spun into a completely different meaning. The OP’s language was too suggestive,” ClearWind added. “After ZenSlasher left Temple of the Gods, she left all the guild groups. The OP was a friend of hers who had a good relationship with her in the guild before. After she left the guild, they lost contact, and the other person deleted ZenSlasher first. Later, ZenSlasher also deleted her.”

Su Mo hesitated slightly. “Are the complete chat records also gone?”

“They’re gone. She didn’t expect that a friend she had chatted with a few times in the past would use those chat records to spread rumors,” ClearWind continued to read the posts. “The chat records in the post are all real, and it’s difficult to resolve such a situation. Reporting on StarNet for spreading rumors won’t work either. We can’t provide evidence, and the process will be slow. By then, it will spread quickly, and everyone will know. She is too indifferent; she said if it doesn’t work out, she’ll just quit playing games. How can we handle this?”

With a StarNet account being deleted singly, previous chat records could still be accessed, but with a double deletion, all records would be wiped clean. ZenSlasher and that OP had both double deleted their accounts. She simply hadn’t expected that what were once simple chat records would be intentionally backed up and ultimately twisted into a weapon to harm her.

“This time there’s a lot of evidence involved. Haven’t Temple of the Gods been at odds with Fruit Gang and ScarletFruit for a long time? Then, since ZenSlasher is close to us, they concocted various things until it finally became that sister ZenSlasher was a spy sent by Fruit Gang to infiltrate Temple of the Gods.”

ScarletFruit also went to inquire about the situation. “Didn’t we just first clear the System yesterday? The post came out after the first clear. I checked, and it was posted by a friend of LethalSlash.”

“LethalSlash? Su Mo has some impression of this ID,” Su Mo said. “So it was from Temple of the Gods?”

“Not exactly. LethalSlash led his group of friends to leave Temple of the Gods,” ScarletFruit said, familiar with these gossip details. “Recently, even the Ascension Alliance hasn’t been calm. There’s tension between Zenith Expanse and Temple of the Gods. Eventually, the original guild master of Temple of the Gods returned, and things calmed down. Then they removed LethalSlash from management, and when he didn’t agree, he quit the guild.”

“The jealousy of people is really terrifying. They can’t stand seeing others doing well. I heard LethalSlash was going to quit the game for another game, probably wanting to disgust us before leaving, so he aimed the spearhead at sister ZenSlasher.”

During the conversation, members of the Fruit Gang also came to inquire about the situation. They must have heard about the related posts and came to ask if they needed help.

As for ZenSlasher’s character, anyone who has interacted with him knows it well. Naturally, they wouldn’t change their impression of this sister just because of a rumor post.

ScarletFruit and ClearWind discussed indignantly. From their conversation, Su Mo roughly understood the situation. In fact, even without ScarletFruit’s explanation, he could discern the traces of editing in the so-called chat records.

StarNetID indeed cannot be edited, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t ways to manipulate it elsewhere. These manipulations were likely done by someone with expertise—while they appear covert, to those skilled in the art, they are basic editing techniques like stitching records, adjusting image pixels or video frames, ultimately achieving a near-perfect falsified result.

With insufficient evidence on their side, reporting or even directly calling the police wouldn’t be straightforward; investigating and gathering evidence would also take time.

As time dragged on… even if the rumor were clarified later, the false impression spread by word of mouth would eventually become “truth.”

Of course, this is assuming there is no evidence. If evidence was available, everything would be much easier.

Su Mo pondered for a moment, “Can you guys package the evidence from the post and send it to me? I can’t access the StarNet forum.”

“Bro, is your internet that bad? Or did StarNet block you? You still can’t access the forum?” ScarletFruit opened the forum to start compiling. “Hold on, I’ll send it to you shortly.”

ZenSlasher was contacted several times by ClearWind before finally joining the team. Originally, she didn’t want to cause any more trouble for her teammates. After her time in Temple of the Gods, she started playing solo, preferring not to trouble others. She had thought this matter was behind her, but she didn’t expect it to cause trouble for her friends now.

“What kind of trouble is this?” ClearWind said, “ZenSlasher, you don’t know. When I was a small livestreamer, I was slandered and targeted with rumors every day. The weaker you appear, the more others will bully you. It’s not about avoiding trouble; the more you try to escape it, the more trouble finds you.”

ZenSlasher fell silent for a moment. “This situation is difficult to resolve. I don’t want to cause trouble for you guys.”

ScarletFruit said, “Just treat us as friends and tell us everything properly. Before I became a merchant, I used to be a troll in other games.”

ClearWind looked at ScarletFruit in surprise. “You were a troll too?”

“When I was broke, I did anything. Joining the water army in groups, 10 stars for a post, it was easy money,” ScarletFruit chuckled. “I don’t do it anymore now, but if you need water army services, I still have the contacts. For you guys, I’ll give an 80% discount as a brotherly favor.”

ZenSlasher felt conflicted, but hearing his teammates joking around, his mood suddenly changed. “Thank you.”

“It’s too early to say thank you,” Su Mo suddenly spoke up. “You were chatting with that poster using your StarNet account, right? Is it connected to the terminal?”

ZenSlasher paused for a moment, unexpectedly looking at the summoner beside her. After a moment’s thought, she replied, “Yes, but there are no chat records on the terminal anymore.”

Su Mo asked, “So the terminal is still there? What model?”

ZenSlasher nodded, “Yes, it’s there. The model should be L-OJK.”

“L model, huh?” Su Mo chuckled, then continued, “That makes things easier. Let me teach you how to export StarNet account records from the terminal’s hidden storage board.”

The team was momentarily stunned. Hidden storage board?

Yu Zhen had to step out briefly for something urgent, and when he returned, he found Su Mo had taken over the lead, with all four team members AFK. After quickly sorting through in-game friend mails, he noticed a forum post from 25000 and CloudTraveller. After checking the group chat, he roughly understood what had happened.

When he joined the voice chat in the terminal group, he happened to overhear the plans of his three teammates.

The voices in the chat were filled with excitement. After listening to their plan for a while, he suggested a new idea, “This approach seems a bit indirect. Do you need any help?”

***

In the gossip section, there were quite a few players, especially when it came to gossip involving big shots, which always managed to attract more onlookers.

Last night, this post’s popularity was average, but today it suddenly gained traction. It was clear that LethalSlash had brought in a lot of supporters to bump the thread. Coupled with word of mouth, the post spread widely. Although Temple of the Gods had a poor reputation on the forums, everything still relied on evidence, especially in such posts that uncovered many secrets.

As it spread, more and more players joined the discussion.

Meanwhile, the original poster had been silently monitoring the situation of the post.

“The post’s popularity is increasing, and many people are discussing it,” the original poster couldn’t help but look at LethalSlash, “Fruit Gang hasn’t made a sound either. Are you sure this is a good idea?”

“I’ve been kicked out of Temple of the Gods, so why would I care? I’m just seeing if Momo’s crew is unhappy. They can’t kill us in the wild, and I can’t even disgust them? Don’t worry, Fruit Gang hasn’t come out to explain yet, which means they haven’t got any evidence from ZenSlasher. If ZenSlasher had real evidence, why didn’t she expose it when the guild was spreading rumors? Besides, ClearWindIsHere was live streaming at the time, so they weren’t clear on the situation either. ZenSlasher probably didn’t tell them, which would make things easier to handle, right?”

LethalSlash was full of resentment. Originally, Temple of the Gods was almost within his grasp. Who knew Zenith Expanse suddenly wanted to sever ties with them? The old group of spineless managers in the guild even brought back the former guild master who hadn’t been active for a long time. He had initially relied on the guild master’s connections to cozy up to Zenith Expanse. However, things went haywire upon his return, exacerbated by the guild master’s unchanged position. Eventually, his management role was stripped away.

His plans fell into disarray. He and his friends, along with recruited elites, attempted to establish their own foothold, only to face suppression from former management. Now, he had no ground to stand on. Coincidentally, a guild was preparing to venture into a new game, recruiting managers. He decided to disgust his enemies before quitting the game for good. If he couldn’t live well, neither would these people.

“Is this really okay? Are you sure ZenSlasher didn’t leave any evidence?” The original poster still had some concerns. “What if they come out to clarify?”

LethalSlash replied, “Why fear their rebuttal? If they can’t handle it, they’ll just leave and play other games. Wait until more people gather, then release Temple of the Gods’ secrets too. No one will get away unscathed.”

The original poster felt relieved after hearing this and continued browsing posts on the forum.

Late at night, past midnight, during the peak hours of late-night forum surfing, she suddenly came across a post in the gossip section:

[After years in the game, she left with grievances and betrayal, only to be vilified until today… she has returned.]

[LuckyScarletFruit: Rumor has it that within the Celestial Horizon continent, there’s a notorious woman. Rumors say she betrayed and killed former guild teammates, and manipulated behind the scenes among all the big shots… Curious about the aftermath? Feel free to click on [ClearWindIsHere Late Night Story Livestream] and [ZenSlasher Incident Text and Video Clarification Post], where you’ll uncover her story. PS: New arrivals at ScarletFruit Store, repost and comment on this post to enter a draw for 6 lucky water friends to enjoy LuckyScarletFruit’s new purchase privileges and item packages, with an unprecedented 20% discount.]

“What the heck!? Story post?”

“Am I the kind of person who would fall for discounts?”

“I got tricked into this, what’s going on?”

“Finally responding, sit down and listen.”

Meanwhile, ClearWindIsHere’s livestream had also started.

“Hey there, welcome to ClearWind’s late-night emotional program. First, let’s watch a video to understand today’s story, teaching you how to smear and muddy waters with edited chat logs. Please, watch with caution, and let’s first thank the tech support from the big shots here.”