Chapter 357: Malicious Comments

Chapter 357: Chapter 357: Malicious Comments

"You’re insane." Lily Hart was just coming out of the restroom, drying the water from her hands, when she heard the outrageous comment and cursed under her breath.

Lily Hart saw everyone staring at her and couldn’t help but feel puzzled. "What are you all looking at? Is there something on my face?"

The moment Roman Rowe saw Lily Hart, his anger flared.

"Boss Hart, come look at this!" Roman Rowe exclaimed, frantically waving her over.

Seeing his pathetic—no, his panicked expression, Lily Hart quickly walked over. She noticed that Frost Shaw also looked terrible.

The others, curious about what was happening, all gathered around as well.

Roman Rowe enlarged the screen and scrolled to the very top so they could read it from the beginning.

The headline read: [Major Bases Successively Shut Down Material Exchange Points. What’s the Real Reason?]

It was accompanied by a lot of data, information, and images.

Today alone, more than twenty bases had shut down their material exchange points one after another, announcing they would no longer sell supplies to outsiders.

Most of them were bases around Kaelus.

The post had a lot of comments, some of which were clearly trying to manipulate public opinion.

[Why are they closing? Where are we supposed to exchange for supplies now?]

[They were expensive, but at least the goods were legit. If even they’re gone, where do we get supplies?]

[Isn’t there Boss Hart?]

[We’re a million miles away from Boss Hart, we can’t benefit from her!]

[I heard Boss Hart was behind this. I heard she wants to monopolize the market. She’s super ambitious!]

[No way, Boss Hart is a good person. She really looks out for everyone.]

[Then you tell me why so many exchange points suddenly closed. Would they just close for no reason? Did they have too many Crystal Cores?]

[You can’t say that. What if they’re running out of supplies?]

[Oh, so for all these years since the apocalypse started, they weren’t running out, but now that Boss Hart is famous, they suddenly are?]

[No one in this world is nice to you for no reason. Boss Hart has her own selfish motives~]

[Let’s not talk about this anymore. First, let’s figure out what to eat tomorrow!]

There were some even nastier comments. Roman Rowe got angry just looking at them and quickly scrolled past, not wanting Lily Hart to see.

After a quick read-through, Lily Hart let out a long, meaningful, "Ohhh~"

"It’s fine. Ignore it. These are all just rumors, don’t take them to heart," Lily Hart said, completely unflappable.

The others weren’t so broad-minded. They were quite bothered by it, and having read everything from top to bottom, they were furious.

Roman Rowe said nothing, his ten fingers flying across his Light Brain’s keyboard. They moved so fast they were just a blur.

With a serious expression and furrowed brows, he muttered to himself as he got into an argument with multiple people at once, completely unafraid.

Frost Shaw was also looking at other related posts and silently began arguing with people as well.

They just couldn’t stand seeing people talk about Boss Hart like that, and all sorts of nasty insults started flying.

Leo Colby asked, "Why did all these bases’ material exchange points close, and all on the same day?"

Without even thinking, Lily Hart blurted out, "The Mysterious Clan, obviously."

Everyone looked at her. It seemed that besides The Mysterious Clan, there were no other suspects. Only they would have such power.

"Solara Base, Prudence Base, and Phanfly Base. All three of them proactively shut down their own operations and then started purchasing supplies from me. I guess that must have upset them," Lily Hart recounted.

She continued, "I knew they wouldn’t just take this lying down, but I didn’t expect them to be so extreme and just shut everything down at once."

"So what do we do now?" Frost Shaw asked with a frown.

"Right now, you all need to get back to your posts. You still have customers. Let’s not have any more trouble," Lily Hart said, shooing them away.

No one moved. Roman Rowe looked at her with concern, but Lily Hart immediately glared him back into place.

"Don’t worry about it. They’re just rumors. The truth will prevail. And you guys shouldn’t say too much online either, or you’ll just give them ammunition to use against us."

Frost Shaw, Roman Rowe: ’We’re so screwed!’

The moment Lily Hart saw their expressions, she knew they had already been running their mouths online.

"If we’ve done nothing wrong, we have nothing to hide," Lily Hart said, her gaze firm.

Seeing this, the others didn’t say any more and left one by one.

After everyone had left, she opened her Light Brain, searched for the post she had just seen, and cursed every time she saw a malicious comment.

’Damn that Mysterious Clan.’

She got tired of scrolling and cursing. Lily Hart stood up, stretched, and walked to the front desk.

Although it was dark, the area outside was still bustling with people.

But a quick glance told Lily Hart that the crowd was much smaller than in the morning. Logically, the evening should have been the peak period.

It was cold now, and the wind was even stronger at night. The zombie killers should have been back from their hunts, ready to spend.

But there were fewer customers than in the morning. ’Strange...’

Not only that, but some people were giving her strange looks. It was like they were scrutinizing her, and their gazes made her skin crawl.

Lily Hart scanned them one by one. They were all unfamiliar faces. ’Could they have seen that post and now hold a grudge against me?’

’Didn’t Phanfly Base start purchasing supplies from me? The prices are definitely cheaper than their old exchange point!’

’So what are they still unhappy about?’

’Whatever. There will always be people who don’t like you. That’s normal.’

But Lily Hart had always been thick-skinned. In a flash, she put their gazes out of her mind and decided to go check on the kitchen.

That’s right, Donnie’s kitchen.

She had thought that after their talk yesterday, he would start operating today, but he hadn’t. He had been in there all by himself, and she had no idea what he was working on.

He had even gotten a room at the hotel using the employee discount after learning that the kitchen would move along with the lottery shop.

On her way to the kitchen, Lily Hart inevitably ran into some customers.

These customers had always been the type to ask whatever was on their minds.

One of them shouted right to her face, "Boss Hart, I heard you want to monopolize Cathaya’s supply market?"

Lily Hart froze for a second. "That’s not true. Let’s not believe rumors or spread them, okay?~"

Someone visibly breathed a sigh of relief, but others still thought she was just making excuses.

They pressed on relentlessly, "Really? Then why were so many base exchange points forced to close today? Does it really have nothing to do with you?"

Lily Hart couldn’t help but roll her eyes. ’Good grief, what could that possibly have to do with me?’

’I’ve been diligently selling lottery tickets all day!’

"No," Lily Hart answered decisively. After speaking, she continued toward the kitchen, but someone blocked her path.

"Boss Hart, please give the survivors an explanation!" someone demanded sharply.

Lily Hart met his gaze, strongly suspecting he was a plant sent by The Mysterious Clan—and a bad actor at that.

A customer nearby spoke up for Lily Hart, declaring, "Boss Hart isn’t that kind of person! What good would monopolizing the market do her? Just earn more Crystal Cores? You can’t eat Crystal Cores!"

Someone else chimed in, "Exactly! Boss Hart is already practically running a charity! Aren’t you people satisfied yet?!"

Lily Hart’s lips twitched. ’I’m not as noble as they’re making me out to be.’

That’s what she thought, but her face wore a pained expression, as if to say: ’I’m so disappointed that you would think that of me!’