A Warning of Capsizing

The soft bedside lamp illuminated Sun Tingting's face, covered in a white sheet mask. She was reclining against a soft pillow, watching the hottest sweet romance drama on her tablet. The misunderstanding between the male and female leads had been cleared up, and they were about to embrace and kiss.

The corners of her mouth rose involuntarily, and she became completely immersed in the pink bubbles of romance the story brought her.

Only a few hours ago, she had finished savoring the taste of victory in the spotlight on social media. Now she was enjoying the peace and satisfaction of the "postwar" period. As for Lin Feng, whom she had personally sent to prison, she had long since cast him beyond the ninth heaven. He had become an insignificant footnote, proof of how "powerful" she was.

"Tingting! Tingting! Something's happened!"

The dorm room door flew open, and her roommate Wang Meng-the one from the recording-rushed in, panic-stricken. Her face was deathly pale, and even her voice had changed pitch. She ran to Sun Tingting's bed and, without caring that she was wearing a sheet mask, shook her shoulders hard.

"What are you doing? You scared me!" Sun Tingting pulled off the mask in displeasure, her delicate brows knitting together. Having her comfort interrupted left her thoroughly irritated.

"Look! Quick, look at this!" Wang Meng practically jabbed her phone into Sun Tingting's face and tapped a video link with a trembling finger. It was a video made by a marketing account, complete with a sensational headline and captions. Its central content was none other than the dorm recording that had already been circulating privately among a small group!

Although the original anonymous audio had been taken down by the platform, the internet had a memory-and an even greater obsession with archiving. Countless downloaded and reposted copies spread like a virus through major group chats, cloud drives and alternative platforms. What Wang Meng had brought her was only the tip of the iceberg.

Puzzled, Sun Tingting took the phone and pressed play.

A familiar voice flowed from the speaker-her own voice, full of undisguised boasting and malice, clearly recounting how she had framed Lin Feng, plotted to get the graduate-school recommendation and exploited the counselor's weakness... Every word was like an icy awl, stabbing viciously into her own eardrums!

The laziness and displeasure on her face froze in an instant, then peeled away layer by layer like cheap foundation, revealing the pallor and terror beneath. Like a doll drained of blood in an instant, she sat rigidly in place, staring so hard at the phone screen that she seemed ready to burn a hole through it.

The recording ended, and the dorm room fell deathly silent.

Sun Tingting jerked her head up. Her gaze, like poison-tipped nails, pinned itself to Wang Meng's face, and her voice turned shrill and distorted with extreme fear and fury. "Back then... we were the only two there! Wang Meng! Was it you?! Did you secretly record it?! Why did you want to hurt me?!"

Wang Meng recoiled half a step, frightened by her savage expression, and defended herself, aggrieved and panicked. "Tingting! How could you think that of me?! What good would hurting you do me? We're grasshoppers on the same rope! Is this the time to worry about that? What are we going to do?!"

"Who else could it have been?!" Sun Tingting was almost screaming, her reason swallowed by panic. "You were the only one there! What did you record it for? To blackmail me? Huh?!"

"Sun Tingting, are you crazy?!" Wang Meng flared up too. "I was kind enough to tell you right away, and you turn around and blame me? I think you offended someone yourself, and they set you up! The whole internet is cursing us now! What good does yelling at me do?!"

"Get out! Get out of here!" Sun Tingting grabbed a pillow and hurled it at Wang Meng.

Wang Meng dodged the pillow and looked at the raving, utterly unreasonable "best friend" before her. The last trace of affection in her eyes vanished. She gave a cold laugh. "Fine! I'll go! You made this mess yourself, so clean it up yourself! Let's see how you die!" With that, she slammed the door with a bang and turned to leave.

The tremendous slam made Sun Tingting shudder. In the empty dorm room, only her heavy breathing and the faint sound of traffic outside remained. Fear rose like an icy tide, washing over her ankles and climbing to her chest, suffocating her.

She snatched up her own phone from the desk. Its screen kept flashing with the flood of abusive private messages and @ notifications. Ignoring them, she found the number saved as "Sister Zhang" with trembling fingers and called.

"Beep... beep... beep..."

The phone rang for a long time, but no one answered.

She refused to give up and called again. Once, twice, three times...

On the fourth or fifth try, the sound from the receiver was no longer a ring, but an icy female voice. "Sorry, the number you have dialed is temporarily unavailable..."

She had been blocked.

Zhang Qian had blocked her!

The realization was the last straw that crushed Sun Tingting. The world spun around her, and despair, like the gaping maw of an abyss, threatened to swallow her whole.

Her gaze swept across the desk and landed on the phone Wang Meng had left behind in her panic. A crazy thought surged into her mind.

She grabbed Wang Meng's phone and, relying on her memory-she had secretly noted it down before-dialed another of Zhang Qian's numbers, one that might be her private number.

This time, the call was answered quickly. Zhang Qian's familiar voice came through, unusually cold now and distant in a strictly businesslike way. "Hello, this is Zhang Qian."

"Sister Zhang! It's me! Tingting!" Sun Tingting sounded close to tears, as if she had seized a life-saving straw.

"Oh, what is it?" There was not a ripple in Zhang Qian's tone, as though she were speaking to a stranger.

"Sister Zhang! Online... did you see that recording online? What am I supposed to do now? You have to help me!" Sun Tingting begged incoherently.

"Student Sun Tingting," Zhang Qian said, her voice as cold as iron, "the court has already issued a verdict in your case in accordance with the law. As for the unverified information circulating online, that does not fall under police jurisdiction. I suggest you stay calm and consult a lawyer if necessary. I still have work to do, so if there's nothing else..."

Hearing how eager Zhang Qian was to cut ties, and even the hint of schadenfreude in her tone, Sun Tingting felt her last shred of hope shatter. Her pleading instantly turned into the anger of betrayal and the ruthlessness of someone ready to let a broken pot smash.

"Sister Zhang," she interrupted, her voice abruptly calm but carrying a chill, "we're in the same boat. Now that the wind and waves are here, you haven't even gotten off yet, and you're already in such a hurry to scuttle it and swim ashore yourself?"

Zhang Qian was silent for a second or two. When she spoke, her tone was noticeably wary and angry. "What do you mean?"

Sun Tingting said nothing. She put Wang Meng's phone on speaker and set it on the desk, then picked up her own phone, deftly found the audio files and played two recordings-

The first was a recording of Zhang Qian explaining the entire plan to her when they had last met at the café.

The second was their phone conversation in which Zhang Qian had solemnly assured her that "the judge is a close sister" and "there's no problem with the case."

The two recordings clearly outlined the whole process, from Zhang Qian exploiting and instigating her to decisively abandoning her afterward.

The recordings finished playing in the silent dorm room. On the other end of the line, a long, deathly silence followed. Only Zhang Qian's breathing could be heard, growing heavier by the moment.

A long, long time passed before Zhang Qian's voice sounded again, filled with shock she was struggling to suppress and teeth-grinding anger. "Sun Tingting... what are you trying to do?"

Hearing Zhang Qian's tone, Sun Tingting knew the upper hand was hers again. She resumed that cloyingly sweet yet spine-chilling tone and spoke slowly.

"Sister Zhang, this really isn't that big a deal for me. At worst, I can change my name and move to another city. I can still live just fine. Besides, it's only audio; it can't strictly be admitted as evidence in court. It won't be easy for the other side to sue me for making a false accusation on that basis. But..."

She deliberately drew out her words, like a cat playing with the mouse under its claws.

"You're different, Sister Zhang. You're a people's police officer. If it comes out that you colluded privately with the 'victim,' interfered with the administration of justice, and maybe even... well... your fate won't be as simple as moving to another city. Whether you can even keep that uniform would be in question, wouldn't it?"

"You!" Zhang Qian nearly roared on the other end of the line, but forced herself to hold back and squeezed a few words through her teeth. "What do you want me to do?"

A victor's smile appeared on Sun Tingting's face, and her voice was sickeningly sweet. "Why, weather the storm together with you, of course, Sister Zhang~ Ideally, we'd come up with a foolproof plan, so that not a single drop of those towering seas splashes on me."

Zhang Qian was silent for even longer on the other end, evidently engaged in a fierce internal struggle. Finally, she took a deep breath and proposed a plan.

"How about this... post a statement on your account immediately. Say someone used AI technology to fabricate the audio circulating online, with the aim of defaming you and interfering with judicial fairness.

Then I'll find some familiar... 'channels' to help you guide public opinion and clear away the negative impact. Finally... I'll find a way to see if the authorities can issue a simple notice warning internet users to beware of AI-generated fake audio and video. That would serve as an indirect endorsement for you. Doing all that should reduce the impact to a minimum."

Sun Tingting was overjoyed when she heard it! It was like finding life in a desperate situation! She immediately said in a cloyingly sweet voice, "That's wonderful! Thank you, Sister Zhang! I knew you were the most reliable, Sister Zhang! Love you, mwah!"

Zhang Qian was evidently in no mood to exchange insincere pleasantries. She coldly hung up, leaving only the busy signal in the receiver.

Sun Tingting put down the phone and let out a long breath, as though the thrilling confrontation just now had never happened. She even leisurely picked up the unfinished snacks on her desk and restarted the romance drama she had paused.

Meanwhile, inside the high walls, in that special prison cell.

Lin Feng slowly opened his eyes. The corners of his mouth curved into an extraordinarily complicated smile, tinged with a measure of admiration.

Through the listening device he had left behind earlier, he had just "listened in" on the splendid spectacle of dogs biting dogs between Sun Tingting and Zhang Qian.

From Sun Tingting's initial panic, to her despair upon discovering she had been abandoned, to the ruthlessness and quick thinking with which she had seized on the other woman's weakness in a desperate situation and turned the tables, and finally to those watertight threats and negotiations...

This woman's mental fortitude, ability to adapt on the spot and capacity to turn on someone without mercy went far beyond those of an ordinary female college student.

He shook his head gently and, facing the cold moonlight outside the window, murmured something that sounded like both admiration and mockery.

"The original owner... really had it coming, losing to her."