Chapter 718: This Is a Very Well-Intentioned Reminder

In the editor-in-chief’s office, Mason Hughes knocked and peeked his head in furtively.

“Where the hell have you been?”

The moment he showed his face, the editor-in-chief unleashed on him. “Do you have any idea how busy the company is today? The entire internet is tracking the news about Lily Sterling! Hundreds of trending topics are blowing up, and you decide to play the disappearing act?”

Normally, Mason Hughes would have been scared to death by his boss’s fury.

But today was different. He had come prepared.

He entered and closed the door, walking up to the desk with a fawning smile. “Boss, don’t be angry. I’ve been with you for so long. Don’t you know whether I’m reliable or not?”

“Let me tell you, I don’t have time for your games today. You’d better give me a reasonable explanation, or I’m docking your entire bonus and attendance pay for the month!”

“Boss!” Mason Hughes put on a placating expression. No longer beating around the bush, he pulled the equipment right out of his bag. “Look at this.”

The editor-in-chief, dressed in a suit and wearing glasses, had sharp features and looked respectable enough on the surface.

He first gave Mason Hughes a suspicious glance, then took the device and fiddled with it for a moment. The video inside began to play.

The footage hadn’t been edited yet, so the entire interview was visible.

The editor’s expression visibly shifted from simmering anger to surprise, then excitement. Mason Hughes smirked with satisfaction. He knew that as long as he managed to corner those two, he could pull this off.

Before the video was even finished, the editor-in-chief’s attitude had done a complete 180. “Not bad, you… S-so you didn’t show up this morning because you were working on this?”

“Of course! This is fresh out of the oven, still hot, Boss. We’re the first to have it!”

The editor-in-chief grinned. “Excellent, excellent. I’m giving you major credit for this!”

“But, Boss… it cost me twenty dollars to get them to talk…”

“Expense it! Go to accounting and get it reimbursed right now. This thing is incredibly valuable, twenty is nothing!” The editor-in-chief looked at Mason Hughes with approval and praise. “Sharp intuition and the drive to act on it. Mason, it looks like the mid-year Chief Reporter position for the entertainment department is yours for the taking!”

“That’s only because you’re a great leader, Boss. I’m your soldier; how could I not have a few skills up my sleeve?” Mason Hughes was ecstatic. Once he became chief reporter, his salary would at least double, and his status in the entertainment journalism circle would rise accordingly.

“In that case, Boss, I’ll go and edit this video right away. For convenience, I recorded almost the whole thing. I’ll trim it down and aim to release it during prime time tonight. With the reach of our company’s marketing accounts, this will be an absolute bombshell. It’ll blow up the trending topics, easy!”

Mason Hughes assumed the whole process would go just as he described. News had to be served hot; once the hype died down, the impact would be greatly diminished.

But the editor-in-chief held onto the device. He looked at Mason Hughes and said, “Don’t be in such a rush. You can edit the video when I tell you to. For now, just go to accounting and expense the cost for this story.”

“We’re not editing it now, Boss? It’s already noon. It’ll take two or three hours to edit and review it a couple of times.”

“Tsk, why are you being so slow? I’ll tell you when it’s time to edit.”

Seeing his boss’s impatience, Mason Hughes didn’t dare say more. He just nodded and left the office, his mind filled with confusion.

After Mason Hughes left the office, a cunning smile appeared on the editor-in-chief’s face.

‘Such a valuable story… I have to maximize its worth.’

He opened a drawer, took out a business card holder, and flipped through a few pages until he found Connie’s card. He then dialed the number on it.

「Meanwhile, at Locke Entertainment」, no one was idle. The entire PR team was scrambling to deal with Lily Sterling’s sudden news crisis. Connie was personally directing every step, determined to minimize the impact of the whole affair on Lily.

It was in the middle of this frantic, non-stop work that she received a call from the editor-in-chief of Stellarwind Media’s entertainment department.

The man on the other end seemed to know that Locke Entertainment must be in total chaos, so he didn’t waste time with pleasantries and got straight to the point.

He had in his possession a firsthand interview video with Lily Sterling’s biological father and sister. The contents were explosive enough to set the entire internet on fire and could drag the whole incident out indefinitely. Therefore, he wanted to ask Connie if Locke Entertainment was willing to make a deal with him.

In short: pay up to make the problem go away.

Connie’s brow furrowed before he had even finished speaking.

This sort of thing was nothing new in the entertainment industry. Many media companies had paparazzi who engaged in exactly this kind of business: relentlessly stalking artists’ private lives, trying to capture some private footage. Whenever they succeeded, they would demand an exorbitant price from the management agency to buy and destroy the video.

This happened most often to young, trending idols. Locke Entertainment had dealt with artists who’d had dirt dug up on them before, and in the end, they had no choice but to pay to resolve it.

“Lily Sterling was abandoned. What could you possibly have to expose?”

“Is that so? Because that’s not what her father says in the interview. He claims Lily was abducted. In that case, wouldn’t that make Lily’s adoptive mother a potential buyer?”

“Don’t you spout such nonsense. Stellarwind, is it? Your company has some real nerve, threatening me of all people.”

“Connie, please, calm down. Who in the Cathay entertainment circle doesn’t know your status? I wouldn’t dare threaten you. You’re an insider too; you know this is how we make a living. Please bear with us. It doesn’t matter whether you believe the information I have or not. All that matters is that the netizens believe it once it’s released. When this blows up, the fallout will be… considerable.”

Connie took a deep breath. If what this man said was true, and the interview was released, its authenticity wouldn’t even matter. Hundreds of millions of netizens were an uncontrollable force.

The public was already calling for buyers in trafficking cases to be held as culpable as sellers. If Lily’s mother was really labeled as a buyer, and rival companies used their hired trolls to steer the narrative, the situation would spiral out of control. Even if they managed to clarify things later, the impact on Lily Sterling and her family would be immense.

“You’ve got some nerve.” Connie calmed herself slightly. She didn’t agree to his terms immediately, instead offering a “kind” warning: “But let me be blunt. Threatening Lily Sterling is not a wise choice. You’d better be prepared to face the consequences.”

“Connie~” the man’s voice on the phone was laced with amusement as he drew out her name, clearly unconcerned. “You’re a veteran, and I wasn’t born yesterday. We should all try to get along and make money. Why are you threatening your little brother?”

“This isn’t a threat. It’s a very well-intentioned reminder.”

“Well then, this little brother thanks you, Connie. I’ve received your reminder. Now, may I state my price?”

Connie’s expression hardened. “Go on,” she asked in a cold tone. “How much?”

The man paused for a moment before saying, “Given Lily Sterling’s current popularity… I want ten million. That’s not too much, is it?”