Jiang Qin didn’t just have someone look into Xiong Yuanyuan’s case; she also had all three of her trainees investigated.

’A quick background check would put everyone’s mind at ease. That way, if any other scandals came up later, she could defend her own without any reservations.’

So when she saw Xiong Yuanyuan crying, she quickly comforted her, "I’ve already hired the best lawyer in the Empire for you."

"Don’t worry, none of those people will get away. That includes the irresponsible association receptionist from back then, and all the bloggers who have been slandering you recently."

"Every single one of them will be held accountable."

"Mentor, thank you!" Xiong Yuanyuan couldn’t stop crying.

Tang Wanqing put an arm around her shoulder, comforting her as well. "It’s all right. This is a good thing."

Having the injustice she’d suffered for years finally cleared was indeed a good thing.

It was certainly better than living with that stigma for the rest of her life.

So, Xiong Yuanyuan quickly got her emotions under control.

Jiang Qin, worried she was emotionally unstable, suggested she go rest, but she refused. "Don’t worry, Mentor, I can do this!"

’I will work my way to the top and not let my mentor down!’

’And I won’t let down my family, who was forced to wander with me all these years.’

"Since you don’t want to rest, then let’s get to work."

...

The evidence and witnesses in the statement were irrefutable, especially with the interrogation videos of the males involved.

As a result, everyone believed that Xiong Yuanyuan was innocent.

The ones hit hardest by this were the victim’s family.

For years, they had been convinced that Xiong Yuanyuan was the mastermind, focusing all their energy for revenge on her.

But now they discovered they had been hating the wrong person...

The people who had caused their child’s death felt no guilt; they didn’t even think they had done anything wrong...

The child’s mother went into a frenzy, screaming that she would kill them, but they had already been locked up again.

She couldn’t even get near them, let alone kill them.

The netizens’ hearts ached watching this unfold.

[Ma’am, you don’t need to rush. Let them face the Empire’s justice first. Once they’ve served their time, it’ll be easy enough to do whatever you want, right?]

[Exactly. Use the next few years to build up some influence.]

[It’s not even certain they’ll be imprisoned. It depends on whether Xiong Yuanyuan presses charges.]

[After all, they already served their sentence for the bullying. Unless Xiong Yuanyuan sues them, they probably won’t go back to jail.]

[Don’t worry, everyone, just go read the announcement! Our Qin Bao hired a lawyer for Yuanyuan. She’s definitely suing.]

[That’s good. It’s better to leave some things to the law. No need to sacrifice your family for scum like that.]

[Yeah, ma’am, just focus on living a good life with your family. Someone will deal with those scumbags.]

[Just you wait. This big sis has connections. I’ll make sure their life in prison is... eventful.]

It’s unknown if the family was persuaded by the netizens’ comments, but on the morning the show was set to air, they posted a video apologizing to Xiong Yuanyuan and then disappeared.

Bloggers big and small on the Star Network also began publishing apology statements one after another.

Netizens who had jumped on the bandwagon to flame her also apologized and deleted their comments.

After all, Xiong Yuanyuan had been through a lot. The entire trajectory of her life had been altered by this incident.

She had originally wanted to apply to an arts academy, but after the incident, she was constantly transferring schools. Later, she dropped out entirely, and her grades plummeted.

In the end, she simply settled in a small, remote city, earned her nursing certificate, and became a nurse.

Small cities like that were always short on medical staff, and since she was a female Beastman, she got the job easily.

But the fire in her heart was never extinguished.

She kept practicing her singing and dancing. When musical instruments became available, she gritted her teeth and bought a guitar to practice with.

Xiong Yuanyuan even took out a loan just to buy that guitar.

***

At seven in the evening, the challenge round began its live broadcast right on schedule.

Onstage were eight chairs, numbered one through eight according to the votes each of the eight contestants had received.

Ye Jing, who had a bye, was in the eighth seat.

The host quickly drew the performance order for the seven challengers.

The first to take the stage was Lian Del.

"I want to challenge contestant number eight."

After all, Ye Jing had only participated in one group stage three days prior, so many people were eager to challenge him today.

Since no one was sure of his individual skill, he might just be a soft target.

The result was obvious: he wasn’t.

"All right, contestant Lian Del has failed his challenge. He will be leaving the stage."

The host passed the microphone to the male contestant, whose eyes were red-rimmed. "Contestant Lian Del, do you have any parting words for the stage?"

With a choked voice, Lian Del spoke of his tragic background and his reluctance to leave.

After a final plug for himself, he left the stage.

"Next up, let’s welcome our second challenger, Mr. Tai Xingwen!"

"And who would you like to challenge, Mr. Tai Xingwen?"

"I would like to challenge Miss Li Yuanhui."

Li Yuanhui was the pure-human trainee on Sili’s team.

It had to be said, his choice of opponent was very clever.

Anyone with eyes could see that Sili disliked Li Yuanhui. The songs prepared for her were half-hearted, and might not have even been written by Sili herself.

Moreover, to ensure this contestant she disliked was eliminated, Sili might even deliberately make things difficult for her.

Sure enough, when Li Yuanhui took the stage, her performance was worse than it had been three days ago.

Three days ago, she had at least been able to sing a song completely, but today she stumbled her way through it.

Everyone listened with furrowed brows. The song was a complete mismatch for Li Yuanhui’s voice.

And she was clearly unfamiliar with the song as well.

By the end, Li Yuanhui had already burst into tears. She probably knew she was about to be eliminated.

Some members of the voting audience cast sympathy votes for her, making her loss a little less crushing.

However, the majority still voted for Tai Xingwen, and he successfully claimed the seventh chair.

The host came out, beaming, to announce the third challenger.

After Li Yapa came on stage, he thought for a few seconds before choosing to challenge Heimu Ying.

The same contestant who had eliminated him three days ago.

It seemed he was still bitter about his loss and wanted to redeem himself.

Heimu Ying was a contestant from Ophina’s group. Her song was another dance-pop track. With her cute looks, sweet voice, and stable breath control, she had undoubtedly won the affection of many audience members.

Li Yapa himself wasn’t bad, but he wasn’t particularly outstanding either—just average.

His voice wasn’t distinctive, making it hard to leave an impression. The song Josh had written for him was a generic pop hit, the kind popular across the Interstellar.

It was decent, but nothing unique.

If he had chosen an opponent of a similar style, he might have had a chance. But he chose Heimu Ying.

Their styles were different, but their skill levels were comparable. Naturally, the contestant with the more popular style would get more votes.

Thus, his challenge failed.