Chapter 35: Roommate Got Scammed

Xiao He’s role in "Thief Catcher" officially ended.Pu Rong looked at Xiao He, a hint of reluctance flickering in his eyes. "Old Xiao, if you leave, who’s going to endure Director Lin’s scolding with me?"

Xiao He: "...I usually don’t get scolded by Director Lin anyway."

"Wah wah, what are you saying? Such a heartless guy." Pu Rong pretended to wipe away nonexistent tears at the corner of his eyes. "Anyway, when you become successful, don’t forget us. Next time you come to our martial arts school, I’ll give you a full discount."

Xiao He laughed helplessly. "A real 100% discount? Make it a fake 10% discount instead."

After getting familiar, he had realized that Pu Rong and Jiang Rushu were really quite similar—especially in their seemingly upright and reliable but actually totally unpredictable personalities.

Pu Rong playing Jiang Rushu was truly a perfect match.

"Ahem ahem, this reminds me, Pu Rong’s martial arts school actually has a rule: anyone who defeats the schoolmaster in a challenge can use the school facilities for free, forever."

At this moment, Lin Yipeng also chimed in beside them.

Xiao He: "...So just say it if you want to beat me to death."

"Hahaha—"

Everyone burst out laughing instantly.

Although this production team was pretty broke, the atmosphere was always very good. They were all young people, united in effort, sincerely polishing their work.

Moving forward with a group of like-minded partners was indeed very joyful.

After bidding a reluctant farewell to everyone from "Thief Catcher," Xiao He returned to his school.

What surprised Xiao He was that someone was still in their dorm this time.

"Ahao!"

Xiao He saw someone sitting in the dorm and called out in surprise.

"Hey, isn’t this our big star!"

He Junhao strode forward and gave Xiao He’s shoulder a heavy punch. "Can’t believe you actually came back!"

Xiao He winced and covered his shoulder. "What big star?! When I walk out, who knows me! Don’t exaggerate!"

He Junhao’s eyes widened. "Long time no see, have you already mastered this level of humble bragging?"

Xiao He: "..."

He made a speechless face, put down his backpack and luggage, then asked, "You have the nerve to talk? You haven’t stayed in the dorm for a long time either. Why are you willing to come back now?"

He Junhao, the guy who had dragged Xiao He to run background roles before and lent him a GoPro, was currently a lifestyle and food vlogger on Bilibili with nearly 900,000 fans. He was also the first in their dorm to move out.

Because he was a food vlogger, He Junhao often cooked or bought food, and occasionally received snack packages from brands, so over the past three university years, the dormmates had never lacked treats from him, and their relationships were very good.

But Xiao He had a bad feeling.

Why would He Junhao suddenly come back to live in the dorm?

His gaze swept over the instant noodles placed next to the trash can, estimating that the other had been back for quite a while.

Normally, He Junhao rented those half-open, high-end kitchens at a higher price just for filming videos to give his fans the best viewing experience.

But now... He Junhao was back in the dorm. What about his videos?

Seeing He Junhao suddenly fall silent, Xiao He frowned.

Because of frequent cooking and a dislike for exercise, He Junhao was actually a little chubby, but fortunately, his facial features were well-proportioned. Even a bit chubby, he didn’t look greasy but rather fresh and very likable.

But this time, seeing him, Xiao He realized he had lost a lot of weight.

Although his face looked delicate and handsome, his condition was far from good—he looked very haggard.

"What’s going on?"

Xiao He asked seriously.

"Waaah, Brother Xiao, waaah—"

The person in front suddenly started crying. The roar of his sobs startled Xiao He badly.

"W-what’s wrong?" Xiao He hurriedly fumbled for the tissue on his desk and handed it to He Junhao.

"Brother Xiao, my account’s gone!"

He Junhao sniffled and said this, then burst into tears again.

It was obvious that recently He Junhao had been living under great pressure. He hadn’t let out a hint in the group chat, but now that a familiar person asked, all his sorrow and grievance exploded at once.

"What? How did it disappear?"

Xiao He pulled him to sit down, his expression unprecedentedly grave.

Through He Junhao’s tearful and broken explanation, Xiao He roughly pieced together the situation.

It turned out He Junhao had been stuck at 900,000 fans for a while and wanted to push hard this year to break a million total followers.

But in his haste, he gave some people an opportunity.

An MCN agency claiming to be very powerful approached He Junhao, hoping to sign him, promising to help promote him, manage his traffic, and find more business opportunities to advance his career.

At first, He Junhao didn’t believe it, but the agency was persistent. He asked around in the circle and found the agency really existed and had incubated multiple big creators with millions of fans. Many hosts and vloggers with tens of millions of fans on platforms like Yinfu and Xiaoshu also belonged to this agency.

He even went to the agency’s office in person to investigate and seriously studied for over half a week before deciding to sign the contract.

But unexpectedly, he fell into a trap.

At first, the agency did help with streaming and support, but soon He Junhao found that many of his past videos were "technically flooded," which is now rarely known as "malicious flooding." Using paid commenters or "chicken meat" (controlled device accounts) scripts, they maliciously boosted views and interactions, causing video traffic to fluctuate abnormally in a short time, exceeding the platform’s hidden rules. The platform’s detection system caught this and judged it as "data fraud."

The consequence was that all He Junhao’s videos started to be downgraded in ranking, meaning reduced traffic and exposure. His Bilibili account was currently in a soft ban state. If you didn’t search for him actively, other viewers wouldn’t see him anymore, let alone appear on the homepage. All his future videos would be cold-shouldered.

In other words, He Junhao’s account was half-blacklisted.

Meanwhile, the MCN agency immediately changed their tone, claiming that He Junhao’s past videos had problems that affected their current streaming cooperation, demanding breach-of-contract compensation from He Junhao.

Only then did He Junhao realize that this agency was actually a subsidiary of a big company! In other words, it was just a name to scam people like them!

Although the contract superficially looked fine—He Junhao just needed to make videos honestly, improve quality, reach a million fans, and accept commercial orders without issue—digging deeper, the agency had long set this trap, just waiting for He Junhao to fall into it.

Even worse, with this contract, if the platform wanted to pursue responsibility for "data fraud," He Junhao would definitely be the primary person held accountable!

He might even end up imprisoned for a while.

So He Junhao was completely trapped.

Furious after understanding everything, He Junhao immediately argued with the MCN agency and collected evidence to hire a lawyer and sue. But such traps had caught more than just He Junhao.

The agency was experienced and not afraid of him at all.

In the end, He Junhao not only lost the account he had managed for years but also faced a major lawsuit that could bankrupt him.