Chapter 78

Wax was getting more engrossed as she scrolled through her phone, especially when she saw a post that had utterly exposed the identity of one of the rumor-spreading accounts and confirmed that they were indeed paid trolls. She quickly jumped out of bed: “Jade! Do you know this person?”

“Who is this?” Jade yawned as she climbed down from the top bunk. “No, I don’t. What—”

“Holy crap! Who is this amazing goddess? She did exactly what we were planning to do! I wouldn’t have bothered asking Evan to look into this if I had known the—”

“Look at how detailed her findings are. She even dug up what department this person was in, what other stuff they had posted before, and how much they got paid.”

“Do you think it’s the post author who exposed themselves? Could it be that Mia tricked them and didn’t pay up?”

Jade was so excited that her sleepiness vanished instantly.

“Let me—”

Nicole also joined them. “Keep scrolling. There’s a link to another post. You’ll be redirected to…most after these two incidents.”

Talia leaned in and scanned the page. “Harry really were paid trolls. Does that mean the mastermind behind this whole thing is Mia?”

It says that Mia was the person who gained entry into Professor Hanley’s team with a plagiarized paper.

“Check out the comment section, too. People are already cursing her out, saying she’s the one who hired trolls to spread plagiarism rumors and smear Luna! Some people tried defending her, but they got shot down almost immediately. The responses were interesting.”

They’re demanding that the school conduct a formal investigation into the plagiarism allegation. They’re writing, “Otherwise, there’s no point trying to defend her.”

Luna clicked on the link Nicole had mentioned and realized that most comments below were blasting Mia. “What a manipulative witch!”

“Classic pity play!”

“What a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black!”

“If that’s true, does it mean that Lama had been the one who actually earned her spot?”

“Unbelievable! The imposter stays while the real one gets pushed out. Where’s the justice?”

“Why didn’t anyone investigate this back then? Was something being covered up?”

“Pretty privilege strikes again! Beautiful people always get special treatment!”

“That’s the only way to clear both girls’ names.”

“Poor Luna. Not only did she get kicked out of the team, but she had also been slandered online. How cruel can people be?”

“No wonder she chose to quit. She would rather choose an unpopular team than stay where she wasn’t respected. That takes guts!”

“We don’t know the full story yet, so let’s not jump to conclusions so easily. We should wait for the plagiarism issue to be properly investigated before passing judgment!”

“Investigate the plagiarism!”

“Investigate the case!”

“Investigate it!”

“This kind of academic dishonesty cannot be tolerated. How devastating this is for students from underprivileged backgrounds if what the post author said is true.”

Luna’s hand trembled slightly as she scrolled. She hadn’t expected things to go so smoothly—not the investigation into the paid trolls, not the detailed analysis post. It turned out there were still good people in the world. There were still people who could see clearly and wouldn’t blindly take Mia’s side merely because of a few well-worded lies. She wanted to see how Mia planned to clean up this mess this time.

Luna’s phone rang just as she was about to exit the forum. Her lashes quivered when she saw the display of the incoming call.

“Are you going to answer it?” Jade held her hand.

Liina paused for a while and turned around to wash her face. She grabbed the phone and answered it just before it stopped ringing. “Professor Hanley.”

A barrage of angry shouting came through the receiver before she could say anything else.