I'm Just Joking

Chapter 205

Qinglin City, University City Police Station.

Inside the interrogation room, the glare of the incandescent light was blindingly white.

Lin Yu shrank back into the specialized interrogation chair, her hands twisted tightly together.

Two dark tear streaks stained her face.

Where was even the slightest trace of her former arrogance?

"Officer, I really didn't know this was illegal..."

"I was just following the trend and making a post... It was really just a joke..."

"I'm a student, I'm only a freshman... I beg you, please don't leave a criminal record. If I have a record, my life will be ruined..."

Lin Yu cried until her whole body trembled, trying to use the get-out-of-jail-free card of being a "student" to win sympathy.

The police officer sitting opposite her remained expressionless, his fingers tapping rhythmically on the desk.

Tap, tap, tap.

Every sound struck right at Lin Yu's heart.

"Now you know to be scared."

The officer sneered and slammed a thick stack of printed documents in front of her with a loud smack.

"You registered thirteen burner accounts, spreading rumors and smearing someone at different times and from different IPs."

He flipped open the file, pointing at the densely packed data inside.

"Over a hundred thousand views, over five thousand shares. This caused extremely severe damage to the victim's reputation."

"Little girl, you call this a joke?"

The officer leaned forward, his gaze sharp.

"So young, yet so vicious. What, did you think we couldn't track it just because you deleted your browsing history? The internet is not outside the law, haven't you heard that before?"

Looking at the chain of evidence so detailed that it even recorded exactly when and where she logged into her burner accounts.

The light in Lin Yu's eyes completely went out.

She slumped in the chair, her mind going completely blank.

She just couldn't figure it out.

How was she exposed so thoroughly, down to her very core?

...

Out in the corridor.

The young officer who had just stepped out of the interrogation room pulled the station chief, Qin Weiguo, to the side and offered him a cigarette.

"Chief Qin, what do you think about this... Should we go through the mediation process?"

He lowered his voice.

"After all, they're just students, they don't know any better. If she really gets detained and sentenced, this girl's record will be stained, and her life will basically be over."

Qin Weiguo didn't take the cigarette; he merely gave his subordinate a deep, dark look.

"The chain of evidence provided by the victim is even more complete than what our cyber police brigade could dig up."

Qin Weiguo paused, his tone heavy.

"Do you know what that means?"

The young officer froze for a moment; realizing something, his pupils suddenly shrank.

"Furthermore..."

Seeing that the other understood, Qin Weiguo patted his shoulder, lowering his voice even further.

"Just now, the head of the municipal bureau personally inquired about this case. The exact words were: someone pulled some strings, so this must be handled strictly by the book."

Hiss—

The young officer gasped.

This wasn't just kicking a steel plate.

This was kicking a freaking nuclear warhead!

Right at that moment, Qin Weiguo's phone rang.

It was an unknown number.

"Hello, who is this?"

A clear voice came from the other end of the line.

"This is Gu Ran."

Qin Weiguo took a deep breath, his tone instantly becoming polite.

"Ah, student Gu! Look at what a mess this has become..."

Gu Ran didn't bother with pleasantries, cutting Qin Weiguo off.

"I do not accept any form of mediation."

The young man's voice was steady.

"Detain her if she should be detained, sentence her if she should be sentenced."

"Also..."

Gu Ran paused, a hint of amusement in his tone.

"Qin Chaoyang, do you know him?"

...

Beep—beep—beep—

Listening to the busy tone on the phone, Qin Weiguo almost dropped his cell phone on the floor.

In just a few words, Gu Ran had exposed everything Qin Chaoyang had been doing at school.

While he was still fuming, he looked up and saw his wretched son walking toward him, panting heavily.

Qin Chaoyang had just hurried over and before he could even ask about Gu Ran's background, he saw his father standing at the door with an ashen face.

"Dad, that Gu Ran..."

Smack!

Qin Weiguo slapped his son directly on the back of the head, his finger trembling as he pointed at his nose.

"I'm going to be killed by you, you little brat, sooner or later!"

"From today on, stay away from that Gu Ran! As far away as possible!"

"If you dare provoke him again, I'll break your legs! Do you hear me?!"

Qin Chaoyang looked at his furious father, completely dumbfounded.

When had his father ever lost his composure like this since he was a kid?

That Gu Ran...

Was there really some massive backing behind him?

...

That night, the lights in the conference room of the Qinglin University administration building stayed on until dawn.

The ashtrays were piled high with cigarette butts like little mountains, and the air was thick with the smell of nicotine.

For this century-old prestigious university, the scene on the sports field was not just a simple student dispute.

It was a severe political incident.

The chief of the Nanshan Police Station personally escorting him, and leaders from the municipal bureau calling to inquire.

This series of signals acted like heavy hammers, instantly knocking the school leaders wide awake.

Even though Gu Ran's file only had the simple words "public servant" written under his father's occupation column.

But anyone who had spent time in the system knew that the more vague the description, the more unfathomable the background usually was.

Since the other side's attitude was to handle things strictly by the book.

Then the school had to adopt the most severe stance.

To give that big shot a satisfactory explanation, and to teach the restless student body a vivid lesson in discipline.

...

Early the next morning, the thin mist of early autumn had not yet dispersed.

Most of the freshmen were still half-asleep as they shuffled toward the cafeteria, preparing to deal with today's military training rehearsal.

However, the bulletin board in front of the administration building had already exploded into an uproar.

A bright red notice was prominently pasted in the most conspicuous spot, its ink seemingly still exuding a fresh, chilling aura.

[Decision on Expelling Lin XX from the Clinical Medicine Department of the Medical School]

The notice was concise and to the point.

It listed a series of violations by Lin XX, including using the internet to maliciously fabricate facts, defame a classmate, and disrupt public order.

The severity of its wording and the swiftness of the punishment were unprecedented since the founding of Qinglin University.

"Holy crap?! Expelled?!"

A suppressed gasp erupted from the crowd, and everyone's sleepiness vanished instantly.

"This is too ruthless... She was only taken away yesterday evening, and her enrollment is gone this morning? They didn't even give her a chance for academic probation?"

"Is this the consequence of messing with someone untouchable?"

A bespectacled boy pushed up his frames, looking at the glaring red seal on the notice, and felt a chill run down his spine.

"Don't you guys see it yet? This isn't a punishment, this is a clearing of the field."

"That student Gu who drives the Audi A6 is using this method to tell everyone—"

"The price for messing with him is getting your account deleted and having to start your life over."

The originally noisy morning, because of this notice in black ink on red paper, inexplicably gained a hint of a grim and deadly atmosphere.

...