[Huh? Does this mean Li Lu is a liar?!]  

[Could it be that Li Lu is the fake innocent one, and Cheng Shuang was the real victim?]

[After Cheng Shuang’s incident went viral online, Li Lu milked the attention to build her persona. She gained a ton of followers and then started live-streaming sales, making a fortune. Look, she even has more fans than the host now.] 

[Dammit, I told you guys back then that Li Lu acted like a scheming “white lotus” and not to believe her, but you all just dogpiled on me!]  

Li Lu’s pupils contracted sharply, and her voice faltered as she spoke.  

“Wh-what are you talking about? I didn’t lie! Xiao Yu and Xiao Qing really were killed by Cheng Shuang.”  

“Auntie Wang really did commit suicide.”  

“If it weren’t for the protective charms, Miao Miao and I would’ve died too. But today, my charm broke—Cheng Shuang really is trying to kill me!”  

As she spoke, her eyes reddened.  

Overwhelmed with grievances she couldn’t vent, she broke down sobbing in front of the camera.  

Huo Ning remained expressionless. A beauty’s tears might move others to pity, but unfortunately, she had a heart of stone.  

“You and Su Miao Miao did almost die, and Li Qing and Zhang Yu’s deaths were caused by Cheng Shuang. But isn’t that exactly what you deserved?”  

Her words dropped like a bomb in the livestream, leaving the audience reeling.  

For a moment, the chat fell silent.  

But soon, a flood of question marks swept across the screen.  

[Host! Don’t leave us hanging!]  

[Holy shit, so Cheng Shuang was the real victim? Was her dad’s plea for help back then actually true?! Did Su Miao Miao really kill Cheng Shuang?]  

Huo Ning gave a slight nod. “It’s true.”  

Her confirmation sent shockwaves through the audience.  

[But back then, when Li Lu came forward as a witness, she not only exposed Cheng Shuang’s ‘true nature’ but also presented her depression diagnosis and proof of suicidal tendencies. That’s why the police ruled it a suicide.]  

[Does the Su family have that much power? They can interfere with police investigations and even fake a depression diagnosis?]

Huo Ning shook her head.  

“The depression was real. Her suicidal tendencies were real too. The reason the case was ruled a suicide was because there was no evidence of foul play.”  

A faint, cold smile tugged at her lips as she fixed her indifferent gaze on Li Lu.  

“That’s where you were clever—mixing lies with just enough truth. Li Lu, you didn’t just deceive others. You even fooled yourself, didn’t you?”  

“I don’t understand what you’re saying!”

Li Lu panicked, her face turning pale with anxiety as she frantically tapped on her screen, trying to disconnect the call.  

But her phone seemed to be infected with a virus—no matter how hard she tapped, she couldn’t exit. Even the power button suddenly stopped working, completely unresponsive no matter how many times she pressed it.  

Trembling with fear and anger, she glared at Huo Ning. “What did you do to my phone?!”  

Huo Ning tilted her head, smiling with a mix of mischief and innocence.  

“I’m just an ordinary flesh-and-blood human. What could I possibly do to your phone?”  

“Could it be that you’ve done so much evil even the heavens can’t stand it anymore?”  

Li Lu shuddered, her gaze at Huo Ning now filled with hatred.  

“I’m warning you—don’t spout nonsense! Or I’ll make you regret it!”  

She had worked so hard to build her persona and get to where she was today. She was going to be a top influencer—there was no way she’d let this host ruin her future!  

Huo Ning smirked dismissively.  

“Who knows if you’ll even survive tonight? Make me regret it? Do you even have the ability?”  

Li Lu clawed at her hair in frustration, on the verge of losing her mind.  

“Why does a damn fortune-teller like you have to meddle?! Just exorcise the ghost and be done with it! Is it about money? Name your price, I’ll pay you, alright?!”  

“I’m human, you’re human—you should help me! If you side with Cheng Shuang, you’ll pay for it!”  

[Watching a white lotus have a meltdown in real time.]

[Always knew she was a scheming b*tch. Finally exposed!]  

[How can someone be so shameless? I wanna slap her to death!]  

[Host, don’t let her scare you. Starting today, I’ll chant sutras for you—just focus on punishing evil. Any lost karma is on me!]  

[+1 on the sutra chanting. Host, I’ll play you digital prayer beads!]  

[Buddha, please bless our immortal Huo. This humble believer is willing to stay single for ten years in exchange for Huo’s boundless merit.]  

[Just ordered prayer beads. Once they arrive, I’ll start chanting. Host, go ahead and spill the tea—I need to know the truth about Cheng Shuang’s death.]  

[Watching a live fortune-telling session × Live gossip session √]  

“Alright, I’ll do the fortune-telling, you all enjoy the drama. My karma’s in your hands now.”  

Ignoring Li Lu’s venomous glare, Huo Ning chuckled lightly before her expression turned cold again.  

Her sharp, detached gaze locked onto Li Lu as she spoke with biting sarcasm.  

“Li Lu, you—an accomplice to school bullying—haven’t faced retribution yet. What makes you think I will?”

Li Lu’s legs gave out, and she collapsed to the ground.  

This host actually knew everything!  

That meant everything she had painstakingly schemed for was over.  

But Li Lu still refused to accept it. Tears welled in her eyes as she glared at Huo Ning with hatred.  

“I did nothing wrong!”  

“Fine, yes—Cheng Shuang was bullied by Su Miaomiao and the others. I saw it with my own eyes. They cornered her in the bathroom, Su Miaomiao stripped her clothes off and filmed it.”  

“Dead rats and live snakes would appear in her desk every day. They poured red ink in her hair, stuck gum in it, and dumped buckets of ice water on her clothes in the dead of winter.”  

[Holy shit! These scumbags! I’m so angry I could kill someone!]

[What kind of parents raise monsters like this?!] 

[How could the school ignore such blatant bullying?!]

[Ignore? Didn’t you hear? Su Miaomiao’s a rich heiress while Cheng Shuang’s family was poor. As long as no one died, the teachers turned a blind eye!] 

[Li Lu’s such a hypocrite. She knew what her best friend went through, yet still became friends with her bullies!]  

[All living things have a soul… except Li Lu.] 

“You make it sound so easy!”  

Li Lu gritted her teeth, tears still glistening in her eyes.  

Didn’t it hurt her to see her best friend treated like that?  

Didn’t she want to help her?  

Her voice choked with sobs as she shut her eyes in anguish.  

“At first, I did care. When her clothes were drenched, I lent her mine. When they spat in her food, I shared my lunch with her.”  

“But the consequence was that Su Miaomiao started targeting me too!”  

“A curling iron pressed against your skin burns—if I kept helping Cheng Shuang, I would’ve died!”  

Li Lu screamed, on the verge of a breakdown, “I just wanted to survive! What’s wrong with that?!”  

[Classic white lotus, still playing the victim.]  

[Crocodile tears. Who’s buying this act?] 

[Cheng Shuang was so unlucky to have a snake like her as a ‘best friend.’]

[Oh? So what should Li Lu have done? Let Su Miaomiao beat her to death to prove she was a ‘good friend’?] 

[Why is everyone blaming Li Lu? Back then, she had no choice!]  

[Self-preservation is human instinct. Kindness requires protecting yourself first—I don’t think Li Lu did anything wrong.] 

[Ngl, Su Miaomiao wasn’t wrong either. Cheng Shuang was the one who chose to degrade herself by getting involved with older men. The bullying was justified!] 

[Ah, found the self-righteous bully in the comments.]

Huo Ning glanced coolly at Li Lu.  

This girl was good with words.  

If she hadn’t already divined the full truth, even she might’ve been swayed.  

“Standing by and doing nothing, choosing self-preservation, cutting ties with Cheng Shuang—none of that was your fault. Cheng Shuang herself knew you had no choice.”  

“But later, when you spread rumors that Cheng Shuang was sleeping with older men for money, that she’d had multiple abortions and contracted STDs—was that also ‘having no choice’?”