Lin Xuan continued to manipulate his computer, his movements deliberate, as if he were taunting him. He slowly rotated the mouse, lingering near the option to delete the account.
No, this can't be happening!
This account couldn't be deleted. It was something he had nurtured with both time and money, investing three years to cultivate over two hundred thousand followers!
If the account were to be deleted now, all his efforts over these three years would be for nothing!
Wang Ge Shuo Yu was sweating profusely.
Finally, Lin Xuan clicked on the option to delete the account.
The page popped up.
【Are you sure you want to delete your account?】
A loud bang echoed.
In a fit of desperation, Wang Ge Shuo Yu smashed the computer, shattering the screen into darkness.
He exhaled in relief.
His computer was broken now; surely the other party wouldn't be able to do anything to his account anymore.
He replied to Lin Xuan, "Hehehe, I'd like to see what else you can do to me. Bring it on!"
Before he even finished typing, his account was forcibly logged out.
"This, what's happening..."
A bad feeling washed over Wang Ge Shuo Yu.
His hands trembling, he tried to log back into his Weibo account, only to find that it had already been deleted!
Wang Ge Shuo Yu collapsed onto his chair, his face pale with shock.
How could this be?
He had clearly smashed his computer; how was the other party still able to delete his account?
It's over, everything is over...
Nurturing a Weibo account required time, money, and sometimes even luck. Once successful, an account could bring in tens, even hundreds of thousands of dollars per year.
Now that the account was deleted, he would have to start everything from scratch.
Wang Ge Shuo Yu, hands still trembling, logged into the QQ Weibo account group.
【Quick! Everyone, go and delete those defamatory Weibo posts about Lin Xuan, and post an apology to him! Hurry up!】
No one listened to him, instead, they started mocking him.
【Old Wang, weren't you the bravest one among us? Why are you suddenly acting so scared? What can they really do to us?】
【Yeah, Old Wang, we're in this business, threats and reports are part of the game. If we delete every post every time we're threatened, we might as well quit.】
Wang Ge Shuo Yu's forehead veins bulged aggressively.
This time it's different! This time, our accounts really will be deleted!
Wang Ge Shuo Yu was about to inform them about this when a flood of messages suddenly appeared.
【Holy crap! Why has my Weibo account been deleted?!】
【Mine too, what's going on?】
【Damn it! My six-year-old Weibo account is gone, who's behind this?!】
【Could it be a Weibo glitch? Let's go demand an explanation from Weibo.】
At that moment, Wang Ge Shuo Yu spoke in the group.
【It's not Weibo's fault! It's the person who deleted and apologized in the comments under Lin Xuan's post! He's the one who deleted my Weibo account!】
What?
All the marketing accounts stared in disbelief.
It was him!
That's why Old Wang had previously urged them to delete those posts!
Those who hadn't had their accounts deleted yet reacted, scrambling to delete comments and posts.
But!
By then, it was already beyond the deadline Lin Xuan had set for them, and those who had deleted comments still ended up having their accounts deleted!
The usually bustling QQ group fell into dead silence, each person too shocked to say a word.
These accounts were money! Losing them was equivalent to losing their livelihoods!
【This wasn’t us who deleted our accounts; Weibo has to be able to fix this. Let's all go demand Weibo to restore our accounts!】Wang Ge Shuo Yu suggested.
Everyone whose accounts had been deleted rushed to seek an explanation from Weibo.
After understanding the situation, Weibo immediately had the technical department attempt to restore their accounts.
Technician Wang Hai sat in front of his computer, typing away, trying to restore the accounts.
The computer page displayed: 【This account has been permanently deleted and cannot be restored.】
Attempts to restore several marketing accounts yielded the same result!
Wang Hai felt a chill run down his spine.
It’s happening again, that eerie sensation!
He was considered one of the best in the computer field in Greater China. Since joining Weibo's technical department, he had rarely encountered challenging issues.
The incidents with the Feiyue website and Zhang Xinbao novel website were like this – they were unable to remove trending topics then!
This time, once again, he was unable to do anything about it!
Wang Hai quickly reported the matter to the technical department manager.
“Pfft—” The manager spat out his drink in surprise. “You’re saying several dozen marketing accounts have been deleted for no reason? And we can’t restore them!”
“Yes,” Wang Hai nodded. “I’ve checked. Only Wang Ge Shuo Yu’s account wasn’t officially deleted. The others were all deleted in one go. It’s clear that it was done by hacking into our backend.”
"This time, the issue involves Lin Xuan being defamed and used as a tool for stirring negative sentiment. Interestingly, the owner of the Zhang Xinbao novel site also uses the pen name 'Xuan.'"
“Could it be that Lin Xuan is the owner of Zhang Xinbao Novels? The same person has interfered with our backend operations on both occasions, both related to Lin Xuan,” Wang Hai speculated.
“Definitely!” The manager slapped the armrest of his chair with such force that his veins bulged on his hand.
“Manager, since we know the mastermind behind this is Lin Xuan, should we report this to the police? The hacker poses a constant threat to us,” Wang Hai said worriedly.
If the hacker succeeded in crashing their software, it would only take a day or two for a large number of Weibo users to abandon the platform.
If it were to be paralyzed for a week, Weibo would essentially be finished.
“No, we can’t report it,” the technical department manager shook his head. “We have no evidence to prove that Lin Xuan is behind this. Reporting it might anger him, and if he launches an attack on Weibo, do we have the capability to counter it?”
“Then, Manager, are we supposed to just wait and do nothing?” Wang Hai asked urgently.
“We have no other choice but to sit and wait.” The technical department manager clenched his fists!
“Since he successfully hacked Weibo last time, we’ve hired three top computer experts to upgrade and strengthen our defense systems. We’ve also set up countless alarms, yet none of it helped! He breached our backend as easily as before, leaving absolutely no trace!”
“A person with such capabilities is way beyond our reach. We cannot afford to provoke him,” the technical department manager said through gritted teeth.
Wang Hai fell silent.
Indeed… there was no way to counter it.
The technical department manager sat back in his office chair, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I’ll report this to the chairman afterward. This hacker – let him do as he pleases.”
There’s no other choice.
Wang Hai withdrew.
Weibo's staff also contacted the marketing accounts affected.
【Sorry, our backend indicates that your Weibo accounts were deleted by yourselves. This being an individual act, we cannot provide the service to restore your accounts.】
Seeing this message, all remaining hope in Wang Ge Shuo Yu vanished completely.
He regretted it.
He shouldn't have taunted that person.
If only he had listened and deleted the posts earlier, apologizing to Lin Xuan, he wouldn't have lost his account, all for the sake of earning those four thousand dollars.