The people being taken away were blank and panicked, and Yu Hai, currently sitting in the hospital ward, found it all a bit hard to believe.
"The evidence has been found?"
"Yes." The captain of the police team in charge of the case had the surname Shen; he was only thirty, but looked nearly forty, with deep forehead wrinkles already etched into his skin.
He tried to speak to Yu Hai in a gentle tone: "We found a wine bottle in the bushes at a corner just ahead of the accident scene. It was thrown from the car by the perpetrator before the crash. Surveillance cameras captured the process, and fingerprints and DNA were found on that bottle."
"Furthermore, we questioned Su Yucheng's assistant, and he confirmed that Su Yucheng has your composition notebook in his possession. Your fingerprints and bloodstains should still be recoverable from it, and your handwriting can also prove it's yours."
"He actually didn't destroy it?" Yu Hai found that completely incomprehensible. Was he really that audacious and fearless? "What was he thinking?"
Faced with this, the two policemen could only shake their heads, indicating they had no idea what was going on in the mind of this top-tier celebrity.
"The police will issue an official announcement in a couple of days, and you can see it then." The criminal investigation team captain stood up and patted Yu Hai on the shoulder. "So, stay strong and live well."
Yu Hai nodded in silence, feeling a deep sense of grievance on behalf of the original owner.
If only he had held on for two more days—just two days—the truth he wanted would have arrived.
What a pity.
He sighed, his right hand involuntarily stroking the gauze wrapped around his left wrist.
Before leaving, the police officer arranged for a psychologist to see Yu Hai.
The diagnosis was moderate depression.
After confirming that Yu Hai had no intention of committing suicide again, they left the hospital with a copy of the evaluation report.
Finally, Yu Hai had some privacy of his own.
He leaned on his crutches and went to the bathroom, let the water run, and took a good look at his reflection in the mirror.
The next moment, he couldn't help a silent sigh of amazement; he hadn't expected the original owner to look so strikingly handsome.
Wispy short bangs fell across his temples, his gaze was deep, the bridge of his nose high and straight, and the contours of his profile were exquisite. Aside from his skin being slightly less than flawless with a few lingering acne scars, his facial features were practically perfection itself.
These features and looks were not a whit inferior to that top-tier star Su Yucheng.
No wonder he had felt the young nurses were acting with such exceptional warmth and friendliness.
It turned out not to be out of pity at all—it was entirely down to his good looks.
In a much brighter mood, Yu Hai washed his hands, returned to his hospital bed, took out his phone, and opened the web browser.
Sure enough, the news headline "Su Yucheng Taken Away by Police" was hanging right there on the trending searches.
With a slight curve of his lips, he clicked into it.
Inside, a crowd of onlookers was watching the drama unfold and making guesses, while another faction of fanatically devoted fans was desperately trying to whitewash him and clamoring loudly.
"Why on earth are they arresting my idol?"
"We demand that the Sucheng police release him immediately."
"Maybe he just went to help out."
"Are you people idiots? The police arrested him directly; they obviously have evidence in their hands!"
"There's no way to spin this; his career is definitely over!"
"Are there any sisters going to protest at the police station gates?"
"There must be some terrible mistake."
...
Weibo was in complete chaos, and after flipping through a few pages, Yu Hai lost interest.
He looked at the Weibo account that his phone automatically logged into. The username was: Ocean Vast 1999.
The level of technological development in this world was somewhat better than on Earth. Perhaps due to a trade-off, however, compared to Earth, it lagged just a bit behind in terms of entertainment and culture.
And Weibo here was actually short for Micro-Name-Broad-Knowledge. It combined the functions of numerous social networking software applications like WeChat and Weibo from Earth, making it arguably the largest social networking platform in the world.
Each person's national ID number could only be linked to a single account, which was strictly controlled and managed by specialized official agencies, largely eliminating the existence of paid internet trolls.
The original owner had registered the account during his freshman year of college, but he had always focused on his studies. Aside from using the messaging function to stay in touch with people he knew, he had published very little public content.
Tallying it all up, the original owner had only posted a handful of messages over the entire year, with the most recent one celebrating landing a job for the summer vacation.
To this day, not a single stranger followed him.
Before committing suicide, the original owner had posted messages on Su Yucheng's Weibo page, but that was already several days ago, and they had long since been buried among the masses of his fans. Naturally, none of those people would remember him now as a former "anti-fan."
After a moment's thought, Yu Hai didn't delete those old posts. Instead, he changed his account name to: Whale Fall Returns to the Sea.
Then he posted the very first Weibo update since arriving in this world:
Facing the sea, with spring blossoms in full bloom.
Below it was Haizi's famous poem:
"Starting tomorrow, be a happy person."
"Feed horses, chop firewood, travel around the world."
...
One could easily imagine that an invisible nobody with zero followers wouldn't receive a single "like."
He then checked the messages posted by his classmates and friends.
Perhaps due to a relatively introverted personality coupled with his family's financial circumstances, Yu Hai had virtually no friends.
Aside from a few notifications in the class chat group, his chat app was remarkably clean.
Closing Weibo and putting it out of his mind, Yu Hai opened the official website of the Huaxia Literary and Art Association and found the detailed information regarding the upcoming new songwriting competition.
The registration deadline was July 25th.
With only a few days left before the deadline, time was a bit tight.
The original owner had previously intended to use the song "Give You Everything" to enter this competition.
It was a pity that just as the song was fully polished and before he could find anyone to record it, the car accident happened.
Since he happened to have the song right at hand, Yu Hai decided he would fulfill the original owner's wish to win the competition's grand prize.
Enduring two more days in the hospital, on July 20th, the Sucheng police officially issued an announcement regarding Su Yucheng's drunk driving, hit-and-run, and theft of another person's musical composition.
Simultaneously, disregarding the enthusiastic pleas of the young nurses for him to stay, Yu Hai resolutely went through the discharge procedures.
His leg injury was not yet fully healed, but after two weeks in the hospital, he was well enough to leave. From then on, he just needed to stick to rehabilitation exercises and regular check-ups.
He hailed a cab back to the old apartment where the original owner used to live with his father. In the car, Yu Hai couldn't help taking out his phone to check the situation on the internet.
The police bulletin issued at this moment was like pouring a bowl of water into a wok of boiling oil; the internet, already bustling because Su Yucheng had been placed under criminal detention, completely exploded.
"Oh my god, is this real?"
"I don't believe it, impossible!"
"The police have already issued a bulletin, which means the evidence is conclusive."
"Brainless fan groups can wash up and go to sleep."
"Drunk driving, hit-and-run, and on top of that stealing the victim's work and passing it off as his own—is this something a normal person would do?"
"‘Give You Everything’ wasn't even written by Su Yucheng?"
"Just how low can a traffic-generating celebrity go?"
"I became a fan of Su Yucheng precisely because of ‘Give You Everything’, and now you're telling me I backed the wrong person?"
"How did he manage to do that with a clear conscience?"
"The ugliness of human nature can actually reach such a degree..."
"I've always said Su Yucheng couldn't write a good song to save his life."
...
Aside from the vitriol of netizens and the massive wave of fans deserting Su Yucheng, many people were also extremely concerned about the current status of the original author of the song "Give You Everything."
Numerous people speculated that the victim of the traffic accident—the original author of "Give You Everything"—might already have been murdered; otherwise, Su Yucheng would never have dared to be so arrogant as to claim the work as his own outright.
Such voices grew louder and louder. By the time Yu Hai returned home, rumors were already circulating that he had died from excessive blood loss at the accident scene because he hadn't received medical treatment in time.
The comments section under the Sucheng police's Weibo account was flooded with inquiries about the victim's current condition.
Petitions demanding the return of the copyright for "Give You Everything" to the original author were plastered all over the official Music Association website, while the Weibo pages of Su Yucheng's studio and his agency had been completely trashed by angry mobs.
Su Yucheng's studio simply gave up and played dead, while his agency struggled to do damage control, posting a message on Weibo claiming that the company had no knowledge of the matter, announcing that they would pull Su Yucheng's albums from shelves, and expressing willingness to help the original author re-record the song for free, with the company taking not a single penny of the proceeds, and so on.
Regardless of what netizens thought about all this, Yu Hai paid it no mind whatsoever.
The moment he got home and sat down in the living room, he received an unfamiliar call.
"Hello, is this Mr. Yu Hai?"
"Yes, it is."
"Hello, I'm Su Li, a staff member at the Music Association. We are deeply sorry that our lax supervision allowed you to suffer such harm."
"You're not to blame for this." Yu Hai's tone was mild, his voice calm.
"Thank you for your understanding. The Association has already updated the copyright registration for 'Give You Everything' and placed it under your name. Would you be willing to have the author's relevant information published on the Association's official website?"
Yu Hai thought for a moment and said, "I'm still recovering from my injuries and don't wish to be disturbed. Just put down my name as the lyricist and composer."
"Very well." The tone on the other end of the line seemed to soften a fraction more.
"We will be taking down the version of 'For You All' released by Su Yucheng. Does Mr. Yu wish to record a new version to release? Our Association can help you get in touch with singers. I believe many artists would be more than willing to perform it for free."
"No need." Yu Hai paused, then said, "I wanted to sing this song for my father, but now that he can't hear it, there's no longer any need for me to record it. As for the copyright, let's just make it freely available to the public."
The female voice on the other end of the line fell silent for a few seconds before speaking in a low tone: "I am deeply sorry for your loss, and thank you for your generosity!"
After hanging up and waiting a few minutes, Yu Hai refreshed the music section page of the Literary and Art Association's website in high spirits. Sure enough, he saw the latest announcement regarding "Give You Everything," listing Yu Hai as the lyricist and composer.
Simultaneously, the Music Association under the Literary and Art Association released an official statement:
The content stated that official personnel had successfully made contact with Mr. Yu Hai, the author of the song "Give You Everything," and that the other party was currently recovering from injuries and preferred not to be disturbed.
The copyright for "Give You Everything" would be made freely available to the public, and anyone was welcome to perform it.
Throughout the entire announcement, aside from knowing that the author's name was Yu Hai and that he was male, no other personal details were leaked.
Between the lines, one could vaguely sense a protective stance toward Yu Hai.
This was precisely why Yu Hai had said so much to the representative on the phone and chosen to open up the copyright.
The Literary and Art Association in this world was an official, mainstream institution, and virtually everything in the entertainment industry fell within its purview. Gaining the goodwill of such an organization would undoubtedly make his future path much smoother.
For instance, the songwriting competition Yu Hai was preparing to enter was hosted and organized by the Literary and Art Association specifically to discover musical talent, which basically guaranteed fairness in the competition rules.
As for the financial returns abandoned by making the copyright public, in Yu Hai's view, the profits Su Yucheng had previously reaped from this piece would all belong to him before long, which should be more than enough to cover his expenses in the near term.
Meanwhile, on the internet, Su Yucheng's albums had long since been pulled from shelves, and both his backer agency and other entertainment figures who smelled profit had been blocked by the Literary and Art Association's "do not disturb" stance.
Observing the netizens' discussions and seeing that while many were curious about him, no one was digging into his true identity, Yu Hai finally set his mind at ease.
As a transmigrator equipped with a system, he believed that his grand debut in this world had to be a momentous occasion, rather than simply being dug up by netizens in such a slapdash manner.
That would be entirely lacking in style.