Chapter 43: Collapse of the House

Although it was Feng Ling who exposed it first, she couldn’t really force a life-or-death conflict with Senior Chiyun.

After all, between magical girls, it’s not all about fighting—it’s about relationships and social grace.

Feng Ling quickly pushed her hands forward, trying to smooth things over for the camera, and said:

“Everyone, don’t misunderstand. Senior Chiyun probably didn’t know about this. After all, the Association only released a draft; it hasn’t been officially enacted yet, and the information hasn’t been fully communicated. Please don’t read too much into my words, okay?”

While Feng Ling was trying to give Chiyun an easy way out, Lian Ge, on the other hand, completely missed Feng Ling’s cue to defuse the situation.

She frowned slightly and said in a matter-of-fact tone:

“Feng Ling, why don’t we tell her to cancel it right away? Since we already know there’s a problem with the product, we can’t let the fans keep buying it.”

“Me? You want me to do that?”

Feng Ling pointed at herself.

‘If I make Chiyun lose face like this in front of everyone, how am I supposed to survive in the live streaming world?’

‘There’s no way I, with less than a tenth of her fan base, can just ride on her downfall and say, “I can replace her,” right?’

If she really did that, she couldn’t even imagine how explosive her private messages would be.

Actually, even if she wanted to deal with this, she should wait until after Chiyun finishes her stream and send a private message as a heads-up.

After all, the draft hadn’t been officially enacted yet, so Chiyun had legal ground to stand on.

Let her issue a statement tomorrow saying she just found out and had voluntarily taken the product down—that way, she saves face and covers herself with the fans.

Feng Ling was still rapidly calculating a stopgap measure in her head, but Lian Ge had already pulled out her phone before Feng Ling could even react.

At first, Feng Ling thought Lian Ge was just sending a text message to alert her, avoiding a direct confrontation and letting Chiyun explain things however she wanted afterward.

But the next moment, Lian Ge raised the phone to her ear—she had clearly already dialed.

Feng Ling’s mouth dropped open into an O shape.

‘Wait, Lian Ge, what are you doing?’

In the live stream room, the phone screen on Chiyun’s desk lit up at the same time.

On the screen, Chiyun was holding up a box of Momo Ointment, explaining its texture and how to use it.

When she heard the phone ring, she paused, glanced sideways at the caller ID, and then made an apologetic gesture to the camera.

“Everyone, hang on a moment. I need to take a call.”

She picked up the phone and stepped out of the camera’s range, leaving the stream empty.

After a brief silence, the chat exploded.

“The Captain is taking action, hahaha!”

“Here we go, here we go! The fight is really on!”

“Lian Ge works so fast!”

Feng Ling watched the frenzy in the comments and felt a wave of helplessness wash over her.

‘Lian Ge says I don’t understand humans, but she’s the one who doesn’t understand social grace.’

First, she spent half a year butting heads with Feng Ling over Association rules, and now she’s calling Chiyun out in front of the entire stream room audience—that’s a surefire way to make enemies.

Feng Ling frantically waved her hand at Lian Ge, pushing her palm downward repeatedly, using her whole body to express ‘calm down, leave some leeway for future interactions.’

But Lian Ge just glanced at Feng Ling’s waving hand from the corner of her eye, nodded, and kept that stern captain expression on her face.

Judging by her look, she probably thought Feng Ling was cheering her on.

“Hello, is this Chiyun? I just saw you were live-streaming an ad for Momo Ointment. Didn’t we discuss that product in our meeting before? The test results showed it contains magical power tied to the concept of ‘jealousy.’ How could you still take that ad?”

Feng Ling couldn’t hear Chiyun’s response on the other end, but from Lian Ge’s increasingly serious tone, it seemed Chiyun wasn’t willing to cooperate, and Lian Ge’s voice grew more heated.

“Chiyun, I’m not targeting you. I’m just stating the facts.”

“Even if the rules haven’t been implemented yet, you can’t do this as a magical girl. You know there’s something wrong with the product, yet you stubbornly keep promoting it. Have you considered what might happen to the consumers who bought it?”

“…They ended up in a full-blown argument. Now Feng Ling is caught between a rock and a hard place.”

Of course, choosing sides wasn’t that hard for her.

Between her childhood sweetheart and Chiyun, the one who brought her traffic, she would choose her childhood sweetheart.

Feng Ling scooted her chair closer to Lian Ge, then nodded along with every word Lian Ge said.

Noticing Feng Ling’s support, Lian Ge glanced sideways at her, a fleeting smile crossing her lips before she refocused on the call.

In the end, of course, Lian Ge had the better argument and won.

Chiyun was silent for a long time on the other end before saying, “I understand,” and hanging up.

On the live stream screen, Chiyun quickly reappeared in front of the camera, but her lips were tightly pursed, her professional smile completely gone.

She was rushed when she announced the cancellation.

“The product promotion segment is cancelled. That’s all for today. Goodbye, everyone.”

Without further ado, she ended the stream, leaving only a black screen with gray text in the middle: “The streamer has gone offline.”

With the atmosphere so tense, Feng Ling couldn’t continue streaming either.

She quickly leaned forward, pressed her hands together, and made a closing gesture toward the camera:

“Alright, that’s all for today. We’ve said everything we needed to say. If you have any questions, you can check the full draft on the Association’s official website. That’s it for now. See you next time!”

She clicked the button to end the stream, and the feed cut off.

Feng Ling collapsed back into her chair, letting out a long sigh from deep in her chest, releasing the pressure that had been weighing on her heart.

Then she looked at Lian Ge, who still wore that righteous expression.

She didn’t need to ask what Lian Ge was thinking; she could tell at a glance that Lian Ge was feeling happy about having upheld justice.

Feng Ling, on the other hand, had a headache.

She had just completely torn apart her already flimsy fake friendship with Chiyun.

From now on, they’d probably be at each other’s throats.

But Feng Ling didn’t say anything to blame Lian Ge.

After all, even someone like Feng Ling couldn’t help but feel relieved when she saw a magical girl like Lian Ge, who maintained her sense of justice equally for everyone, no matter the circumstances.

Compared to herself and Chiyun, Lian Ge truly deserved to be a magical girl.

However, relief was one thing, but practical problems still had to be faced.

If Chiyun’s fans came after her, Feng Ling’s fans would have to fight ten to one.

What was she supposed to do?

Feng Ling chatted absent-mindedly with Lian Ge while running a risk assessment in her mind.

In the end, she could only decide to take things one step at a time.

Lian Ge was still enjoying the rare time alone with Feng Ling.

Even though Feng Ling was deeply worried, she forced a carefree smile and kept Lian Ge happy for the rest of the evening.

As expected, the next day, the situation blew up.

Feng Ling woke up with a yawn, grabbed her phone, and started scrolling through social media.

Her finger had barely moved a few times before her groggy head snapped to full alertness.

“Chiyun’s Scandal: The Captain Herself Takes Her Down – Full Call Recording Exposed”

Feng Ling clicked on it.

Of course, it was about yesterday’s incident.

The video had recorded the entire phone call between Lian Ge and Chiyun from Feng Ling’s live stream.

Although it was only Lian Ge’s side of the conversation, every word was crystal clear.

Using the context of Lian Ge’s words, viewers could easily conclude that Chiyun had known she was in the wrong but refused to back down, and only under Lian Ge’s harsh criticism did she reluctantly end the promo.

What surprised Feng Ling even more was that the comment section had also dug up a ton of old dirt.

For example, that time Chiyun dropped down from the sky and knocked Feng Ling flying while she was catching a demon beast—the video taken by bystanders had been dug up again.

Scrolling further, there were even things Feng Ling herself hadn’t known.

Someone said that in another battle, to create a dramatic effect for the stream, Chiyun deliberately delayed until the demon beast went berserk, and in its death throes, it destroyed several shops along the street.

The repair costs still hadn’t been paid.

Another person brought up a health product Chiyun had promoted that supposedly had magical effects, but it turned out to be just regular vitamin pills—no magical reaction at all.

Chiyun had never explained it.

Feng Ling was amazed that such things could be dug up.

It just proved that the internet never forgets—it only settles accounts when the time is right.

She searched for more related discussions and checked the forums to gauge public sentiment.

Completely contrary to what Feng Ling had expected, public opinion was overwhelmingly on her and Lian Ge’s side.

Despite Chiyun’s massive fan base, very few were willing to fight a losing battle.

Occasionally, she saw a few posts trying to defend Chiyun, but they mostly used excuses like “She’s young and immature, she’s just being rebellious—please forgive her.”

They had essentially already admitted that Chiyun was in the wrong.

It seemed Feng Ling had vastly underestimated Lian Ge’s influence.

She had expected to wake up the next morning to find her and Lian Ge’s ID cards leaked in fanatic fans’ DMs.

But instead of getting cyber-bullied, she ended up winning thanks to Lian Ge’s intervention.

Thinking about it carefully, it was probably only someone with Lian Ge’s utterly impartial persona who could pull off this effect.

When she stood up against Chiyun, no one suspected she had ulterior motives.

Her rigid fairness became her shield, and even in situations like this, no one doubted her.

Add to that Chiyun’s previous controversies, and once this blew up, everyone jumped on the bandwagon to tear her down.

Chiyun’s reputation took a nosedive.

But it served her right.

Even someone as greedy as Feng Ling knew there were some things you just didn’t do.

Chiyun’s downfall wasn’t undeserved.

Feng Ling had been hesitant at first, only pushing the wall under Lian Ge’s encouragement, mainly because she was afraid that if public opinion reversed, she’d be the one to take the brunt.

But now that the matter was settled, she could safely ride Chiyun’s downfall.

As one of only two individual magical girl streamers in Haicheng, with Chiyun’s reputation in tatters, Feng Ling could logically absorb Chiyun’s heartbroken fans.

If she could inherit even a fifth of Chiyun’s followers, she’d be set.

“Chiyun, the world of live streaming is too deep for you. You’d better just go back to being a normal magical girl.”

Feng Ling hummed happily, her legs swaying in the air.

But she couldn’t forget the one who dug the well.

If it weren’t for Lian Ge’s call yesterday, she wouldn’t have gotten such a massive wave of traffic.

Feng Ling planned to invite Lian Ge, the hero of the hour, to join her for a collaboration stream tonight.

With Chiyun out of the picture, her and Lian Ge’s combination would basically be a monopoly in all of Haicheng.

However, starting a stream in the afternoon might look too much like exploiting Chiyun’s downfall, so Feng Ling decided to be patient and wait.

Since it was still the weekend, she had plenty of time to rest in the afternoon.

The past few days—going to the factory with Lian Ge to investigate, staying up to write the draft, dealing with the live stream incident—had been so busy that even Feng Ling was starting to feel drained.

Just as she was about to take a nap, her phone rang.

It was Lian Ge.

As soon as she answered, Lian Ge said bluntly:

“Feng Ling, come quick! We need to deal with the magical products still circulating on the market. A lot of products are likely to be sold during this window before the law is enacted. We have to inventory and control them as soon as possible.”

Lian Ge really couldn’t rest for a second—she was still working on the weekend.

But to repay Lian Ge’s favor, Feng Ling obediently agreed and followed her.