024. Exposed Online?

Lin Mi’s heart gave a sudden jolt—this must be the inkstone worth three million. At this moment, she finally understood why no one had paid any attention to it. It was simply too ordinary. If not for her “Get Rich System,” even if this inkstone landed right in her hands, she wouldn’t have realized its true value.

She carefully picked up the inkstone, feigning nonchalance as she asked, “Boss, is there any story behind this inkstone? It looks a bit old, even has a layer of patina. Are you sure it’s not just some discarded junk you picked up somewhere?”

“Hey now, missy, listen to yourself! Our shop doesn’t sell fakes. Though I can’t pinpoint the exact era of this inkstone, it’s definitely got some years on it. If you like it, you can take it for a thousand yuan,” the shopkeeper replied.

Hearing Lin Mi’s question, another owner hurried over to explain, putting on a look of pained generosity, as if haggling any further would be simply unreasonable.

“A thousand? That’s expensive. Can’t you go any lower? I’m just spending my family’s pocket money,” Lin Mi bargained half-heartedly. Compared to the inkstone’s true value, a thousand yuan was nothing. But she couldn’t appear too eager.

Seeing her hesitate, the shopkeeper shook his head in resignation. “Young lady, this price is already very low. I’ve got too much old stock in the shop and need to clear some out quickly. If you’re really sincere, how about 888? It’s a lucky number—let’s both prosper!”

Lin Mi’s lips twitched; this shopkeeper was quite particular. Even if he hadn’t budged, she would have bought it anyway. After all, she had already claimed the biggest bargain.

So, Lin Mi took out her phone to scan the code and pay, then walked out of the shop with the inkstone, poorly packaged.

Leaving Elegant Harmony Studio, Lin Mi let out a long sigh of relief, carefully tucking the inkstone into her bag. She wasn’t short on money now, so there was no rush to sell it. Still, she needed to have an expert authenticate it—if she could get a certificate, all the better. That would make it easier to handle later.

With her business done, it was only about ten in the morning. She’d told the sales center she’d come by in the afternoon, so with time to spare, Lin Mi found a quiet café to sit down.

She’d been up early hunting for hidden treasures and hadn’t had a chance to complete her daily system task yet.

“What’s going on?” she muttered, staring at the glaring red notification showing 99+ messages. Lin Mi was dumbfounded. What happened? Was her inbox exploding? “I’m just a nobody—why so many messages all of a sudden? No way… Am I being cyber-bullied? I haven’t done anything!”

Her heart started pounding as she nervously tapped open her “Interactions.”

Faced with a screen full of little red notification dots, she swallowed hard.

“Wow, this young lady is beautiful!”

“@Qiuqiu, is this her?”

“My God! She’s even prettier than in the surveillance footage.”

“She’s a goddess, right?”

“She looks like a college student—so brave! Gotta give you a thumbs up.”

“Heroine! I salute you!”

“Ahhh, my goddess, love you!”

Lin Mi frowned and skimmed the messages, feeling increasingly puzzled. Scrolling quickly, she found that almost all the comments praised her, mixed with alerts about new followers and likes on her previous videos.

“Whew—what a scare. At least it’s not cyber-bullying.” She patted her chest, still shaken. Seeing that explosion of notifications had frightened her—she’d only ever gotten a couple hundred views on her videos before, never anything like this. Naturally, she’d assumed she was being doxxed and attacked.

“What on earth happened…”

Once she calmed down, Lin Mi carefully read through the messages. A few minutes later, she finally pieced together what had happened.

Everyone was coming from a trending video—a clip of her in the hallway and conference room of Starlight International Hotel, guiding and calming the crowd. The footage wasn’t very clear, but a few shots showed her face distinctly. In the video, the hotel manager repeatedly expressed a desire to thank her in person for saving countless lives and asked her to get in touch if she saw the video.

Because the scene had been chaotic, all the hotel staff were busy tending to guests and had no time to investigate the details. Once Lin Mi confirmed there were no casualties, she’d left early without leaving any information behind. Only later, after receiving a flood of feedback from guests, did the hotel realize a young woman’s timely intervention had saved the day. That’s when they checked the surveillance and put out a public appeal online to find the “heroine who saved lives,” attaching the footage and a touching write-up. Within half a day, it had shot to the trending charts.

Countless curious and enthusiastic netizens joined the search.

Genius lies among the people; the internet breeds talent! The masses displayed their resourcefulness and, scouring the web, finally found her. One had to admit, these netizens were impressive. Lin Mi’s “Melody” account had only about ten videos, just two of which showed her face. Even so, they managed to pinpoint her identity with uncanny accuracy. She couldn’t help but be impressed.

No wonder she’d worried she was being cyber-bullied at first.

“So this is what it means to go viral overnight…” Her “Melody” account, which had just 117 followers, had shot up to seventy thousand after the trending search! Lin Mi couldn’t help but laugh. She hadn’t expected things to unfold this way—it was an unexpected blessing.

Her “Get Rich System” required popularity to generate energy values. She’d been hoping to boost it through comments and likes, but after a few days, she’d found the efficiency disappointingly low. She’d never thought yesterday’s rescue mission would bring such a windfall. With so many new followers, her energy value should soar as well.

As for fame? She didn’t care. Becoming an internet celebrity was never her goal! But if a surge of popularity could occasionally boost her energy value, she certainly wouldn’t complain.

“Today is really a wonderful day~”

First, she’d scored a three-million-yuan inkstone, and now she’d harvested a wave of popularity energy. Lin Mi’s face blossomed with delight.

Happily, she switched to the system panel to complete her daily sign-in task. With the familiar chime, her balance jumped again. Seeing the string of zeros now added to her total, Lin Mi couldn’t help but smile.

Sixteen million and counting! She was finally someone with a “little goal” of her own.