Incident, Spread, Ripples... The Terrifying Butterfly Effect

At the Shen residence, in the madam's private cinema.

"Ugh..." The noblewoman gradually regained consciousness from her daze, her long lashes trembling slightly as she opened her eyes.

Her beautiful eyes were filled with confusion. What time was it now? And... had she fainted from fright again?

Noblewoman: "..."

This wasn't even the first time in the past two days. Every time, she fell at the same spot. Sigh... her courage really was too small. No wonder their little Tongtong was such a scaredy-cat too.

Even when watching cartoons as a child, Tongtong couldn't handle anything with even a hint of horror. She would just "pass out" the moment she saw it. Back then, they'd always wondered why that was.

Turns out, the problem was with her all along?

Her courage was also way too small. She'd fainted again. Hmm... a blanket?

The noblewoman seemed to think of something, and a warm feeling spread through her heart. Their dear Wanyi was still thinking of her, even knowing to grab a blanket to cover her with. Though there was one thing that puzzled her a bit.

Why did she let her sleep on the floor? Wouldn't it have been better to just carry her to a seat? That would've been more comfortable to sleep on, and less likely to catch a cold or anything.

"Huh? Why is this a rug?" The noblewoman's eyes widened as she finally recognized that the so-called blanket covering her was actually the doormat by the entrance.

The one you step on when you walk in.

Noblewoman: "..."

The noblewoman fell silent for a moment, then climbed to her feet. Hearing that there was no more sound coming from the cinema screen, she finally gathered the courage to look around and search for someone.

What could she do? Her courage was too small. What if she accidentally caught a glimpse of the screen and fainted again from fright?

Would she just fall asleep again?

No way, she felt like she'd been sleeping nonstop for the past two days, day and night without distinction.

"Da Huang, where's Wanyi?" The noblewoman looked left and right, only finding Da Huang... wait, no, a dog, over there savoring its own bucket of popcorn with great relish.

It was almost empty.

Da Huang chewed, swallowed the popcorn in its mouth, hopped down from the seat, walked ahead of the noblewoman, glanced back, and made a "follow me" gesture.

Noblewoman: "..."

This dog... was way too intelligent.

She knew Da Huang was clever, but to be this clever was honestly a little eerie.

She'd kept plenty of small pets at home before. Even the so-called smartest Border Collie couldn't match Da Huang's level. It felt like pitting a grade schooler against a high schooler.

As for why not a college student... simple, they've gone full circle back to simplicity. College students have that clear, pure look of innocence in their eyes.

Da Huang didn't have that kind of innocent look, so one could deduce that Da Huang was a high-school-level dog.

The noblewoman's lips twitched, but she still followed, eventually finding, in an inconspicuous corner of the private cinema, the madam squatting on the ground drawing circles, radiating an aura of pure negativity.

Noblewoman: "..."

"Wanyi? Wanyi, are you okay?" The noblewoman called out tentatively twice. Du Wanyi didn't respond, still keeping her head down, drawing circles.

This state had been going on for hours now. Da Huang would check in every so often to make sure Du Wanyi was still alive, and to monitor the noblewoman's sleeping situation.

The noblewoman seemed to recall something and stepped forward to pat her good friend on the shoulder: "Hanhan is still young and doesn't know any better, so don't take it to heart, Wanyi. I'll figure something out for the game account. I know the owner of that gaming company. Let me see if I can pull some strings again."

Hearing these words, Du Wanyi, who had been squatting there drawing circles the whole time, finally came back to life. Her eyes, once radiating negative energy, became lively again.

"Really, Hehe?!" Her eyes were full of hope.

Noblewoman: "..."

Seriously, just like a little kid. She went into full shutdown over a game issue.

The noblewoman sighed, a fond smile spreading across her face: "Of course it's true. Wait here for me, I'll be right back."

Click-clack, the crisp sound of high heels echoed through the private cinema. The noblewoman left, and from outside came the sound of her making a phone call.

Du Wanyi stayed motionless, squatting there, staring at the door. It wasn't fully closed—a small gap remained, and through that gap came a decent amount of light.

Du Wanyi's eyes sparkled. In that moment, the noblewoman in her sight had become light itself...

About ten-plus minutes later, the noblewoman returned: "Wanyi, take another look. Is it fixed now? If not, I'll have them fix it again."

Du Wanyi nodded, opened her phone, and checked the status of her game account. Sure enough... it was unbanned.

Not only was it unbanned, even the deducted points were restored. No backend notifications, just done directly. Her mute was lifted too!

Instantly, Du Wanyi was reborn!

"Hahaha, I'm back, I'm back!!!" Du Wanyi's wild laughter echoed through the cinema, as if the self-deprecating personality who'd been squatting in the corner drawing circles wasn't her at all.

Noblewoman: "..."

Was there seriously a faster face change than this?

Her lips twitched, but the noblewoman also let out a relieved smile, silently breathing a sigh of relief. Problem solved, that's what mattered.

"Come on, Hehe, let's get on and play a couple rounds. I'll carry you!" Du Wanyi raised an eyebrow, looking rather smug.

"Um... I'm not really good at this game, and I've never played it before..."

"See, even you're rejecting me, ugh..." Du Wanyi instantly shifted back to her self-deprecating persona, squatting on the ground drawing circles again, surrounded by horrifying negative energy.

Noblewoman: "..."

"Alright, alright, I'll give it a try. I'll ask Tongtong for an account." The noblewoman sighed and made a call to the head maid.

As for Du Wanyi... she was fully revived, a triumphant smile on her face. Hehehe, Hehe, you're still too young!

"Brrr..."

"Madam?"

"Um, Xiaoyu, could you ask Tongtong if she has a spare account? Borrow one for me. Your mother and Auntie Wanyi want to play for a bit."

"Madam, miss just went to sleep. I know the account and password; I'll give them to you." The head maid's voice came through the phone, carrying an undeniable note of exhaustion.

The noblewoman frowned, instinctively sensing that something wasn't quite right. Something was going on with their Tongtong.

"Xiaoyu, what happened? Did Tongtong get into trouble again?"

Her first thought went to her little golden retriever. For the head maid to sound this drained, she had to be practically burned out.

Otherwise, she would never show any signs of fatigue in front of her. To prevent her from worrying too much, she'd always hid it. The fact that she could no longer conceal it meant things were serious.

"No, madam. Miss has been very well-behaved and hasn't caused any trouble. It's my own fault—I'm just a bit tired." The head maid replied.

The lady paused for a moment. "Mm, alright then. Xiaoyu, if there's anything you can't resolve, you must tell me. Your matters are Tongtong's matters. Don't keep everything bottled up inside."

"Mm, thank you, ma'am. There's nothing wrong with me. I should be fine if I get some early sleep tonight."

Hearing this, the lady didn't press further. Among all the children, the head maid was the one who put her most at ease. Since the other party didn't want to say, that meant she had her own plans in mind. The lady trusted the head maid's judgment and respected her wishes. The two hung up, and the head maid quickly sent over the account and password.

Loli Number 2, logged in. No need to add friends—she found she could team up directly once online. Of course... the lady didn't dare say it out loud, but she quietly logged in first and deleted the friend before the other could see.

"Hehe, what's your ID name? Send it over so I can add you." Du Wanyi said happily while fiddling with her device.

For the next stretch of time, she was going to go on an absolute rampage, venting all the grievances she'd suffered before. That's the kind of combat thrill she lived for!

Soon, the lady sent her ID, and the two successfully added each other as friends... AGAIN, as if for the first time.

"Messed-Up Loli/... pfft, hahaha! Hehe, your little golden retriever's got quite the name. Oh wait, should be little pink retriever. One punch and they'd cry for ages, hahaha..." Du Wanyi was clutching her stomach, laughing at Xia Tongxin's childish screen name, completely unaware of how ridiculous her own "Eighteen-Year-Old Pure College Girl" was. In fact, she seemed almost proud of it.

The lady: "..."

The pot calling the kettle black—six of one, half a dozen of the other...

"Buzz!"

The game started, and went incredibly smoothly. No surprises. A total slaughter. Du Wanyi went the jungle route, reason being, that path cleared monsters the fastest.

The lady wasn't much of a gamer, so she picked a support character and just latched onto the madam's head to provide buffs or whatever.

As for the remaining teammates... they were already cussing each other out over a single minion. As for why they weren't cursing Du Wanyi out? Because she was too strong. When a big shot carries the game, you just lay back and enjoy the ride. Taking the free ride wasn't a bad deal either. As long as they won, that's all that mattered.

A few hours passed quickly. It was noon by now.

"Bang!"

"Victory!"

Another enemy base exploded. The enemy surrendered exactly six minutes in. Du Wanyi had a satisfied grin plastered across her face.

"Whoo, that hit the spot! So, Hehe, you feel that too?!"

The lady: "..."

Well... to be honest, she didn't really see what was so satisfying about the game. She just sat on top of the head, tapped occasionally, moved a couple steps here and there so she wouldn't get flagged as AFK.

All in all, it was extremely simple.

The lady glanced at the time. It was getting late—time for lunch.

"Wanyi, let's go eat first. After lunch, we can continue." The lady smiled warmly and put her phone away.

"Fine, let's eat first. Then we'll get back and I'll take on ten more!!!" Du Wanyi was bouncing around like an absolute nutjob, flexing her muscles and throwing punches and elbow strikes at the air.

She was like that one kid from the neighboring classroom who thought they were all that—Jayden, or rather, Janice—except this one had actual muscle to back it up.

Her punches whipped through the air with audible force. Whoosh, whoosh.

The lady: "..."

Half an hour later, the two were seated in the dining room. Du Wanyi was stabbing at a steak with her chopsticks and shoving pieces into her mouth, chewing away relentlessly.

Her bite force could rival a fully grown hyena—every bite left a clear imprint. Du Wanyi sat there grinning, scrolling through posts on her phone.

It was from the campus forum of Great Sea City Aristocratic Academy. The madam had created a bunch of accounts earlier when voting for the young miss, successfully infiltrating the internal circle.

For quite a while, that had given the young miss a decisive edge in her showdown against the student council president!

As for now... things had evened out. Both sides kept voting, which basically meant no one gained an advantage. The server, however, had crashed under the strain of the two factions.

After that crash, the entire war of words finally died down, with neither side making any major moves.

Of course, there were no major moves. But there were constant minor ones. And all of them were the madam's doing—she'd go to posts supporting Dongfang Zhixia and leave hateful comments, spam taunts, and trash-talk everywhere.

"Hehe, this is good stuff, love to see it... chomp chomp chomp..."

Du Wanyi was as happy as a kid who was, like, several hundred months old, continuing her hyena-level assault on the steak, leaving tooth marks with every single bite.

Then, Du Wanyi stopped scrolling when she spotted a post. It was trending at the number one fastest-rising spot, having climbed dozens of ranks in under an hour.

"Hm?" Du Wanyi raised an eyebrow, intrigued.

Oh, this is good. She loved this kind of content. She absolutely lived for the drama. Couldn't go a day without it.

Alright, let's see what we've got here!

"【SHOCK! Male lead of a power fantasy? The truth will bring you to tears—a tragic male lead!】"

"Ooh, clickbait title. I love it!" Du Wanyi's grin stretched so wide it nearly twisted into something sinister.

She kept scrolling. A video appeared—it was the hospital's back mountain. Someone jumped from a height of over twenty meters...

"Jumping from a building? Even better!" She was loving this. This was exactly what she lived for—rampant bloodshed!

"Wait... why does this person look so familiar? Don't they look a little like little Chengcheng..."

Du Wanyi quickly caught the detail. She backed out of the video and continued reading the post description below.

"Ye Cheng probably isn't a stranger to everyone here—the campus's celebrity, who managed to charm both the Young Master of the Shen family and the Student Council President with a single wink..."

Wait a sec...

Who jumped off the building?

Du Wanyi stopped chewing mid-bite. She froze for a moment, a massive question mark hovering over her head.

Not sure... Let me scroll back and check again.

Okay, confirmed. It was little Chengcheng.

Du Wanyi: "..."

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH—" Du Wanyi let out a piercing shriek. The wine glasses on the table rattled, the red wine in them leaping off the surface.