บท 20: 20. Acid Attack

First category; softies: dolls, plushies, blankets, and the likes. Second one was the luxury items; it came with a note of love still fresh with the shopping bag. Some got his name engraved with it and others got his stickers on the box.

The third category was handicraft; cookies, candies, craftings, scrapbooks, photo albums, etc. The fourth one was the most important, letters. It was the most harmless looking and usually packed with care cutely

The second layer of security was Katrina's job, it included unboxing and testing everything. It ranged from checking the box corner for non metal pointy objects, reading the letters to check it wasn't a hate letter and might damage the artist's mind, and it had no camera or anything illegal or dangerous for the artist. Some crazy 'fans' went as far as putting a wireless camera in a hard object or dolls so it won't be detected by security screening, although most of it caught on x-rays but there might be slipping fish they didn't know about.

The haters on the other hand were harmful and super purposeful, from a razor blade on the lid of the letter envelope, poisoned cookies and candies, to illegal drugs on a gift box and then called the police for illegal possession of drugs. Some of them were simply a whackjob, the more creative nutcase even replaced the razor blade or poison straight with pointy vines or poisonous herbs. It was an anti hazard suit level of job sometimes.

Katrina even got her number specially recorded on the nearby fire fighter, police station, and laboratory because of how many times they need professional intervention.

It was a tedious job and it deserved another paycheck.

People might think that an actor at Wu Yige's level was immune to this, but instead he was receiving the most hate from others. It used to be Melanie Lu's fans that hated their relationship, now the hate was from the CP fans.

Katrina still couldn't get her head around the fact some people used hateful words to express their 'love' on him, scolding him for betraying their trust and deceiving their sincere feelings.

Some of these people were so unhinged they needed a slap of reality, that was why Katrina was again in Qian Kun's office. To send a lawyer notice and directly file a lawsuit against the haters.

"How many this time?"

"Just 12 notices and 3 filing, we've seen worse."

Qian Kun sighed, receiving the stack of documents. "Are you free now? I need a hand to go to court."

"My pleasure."

Unlike the celebrity vans that usually parked in the basement, the white collars parked their cars in the valet or first floor parking lot across the street.

"Boss! Please wait!" A member from the legal team followed them outside and talked about something to Qian Kun.

The man scratched his head and apologetically handed the car key, "Kat, you got first. I need to sign this first."

"Take your time, Brother Kun."

The Wang Media building was in a prime area and everything around it screamed metropolitan. As she walked on the sidewalk, she looked up and found live news on the billboard.

Wang Media and 14 other agencies signed an anti cyber bullying cooperation with the National Police Agency's Department of Cyber Crime.

Wu Yige's slendering case from before was the biggest public manhunt, his stellar accomplishment and public standing made him an easy target. From passerby, fans or the haters, everyone was scolding Wu Yige for having a love child and having an affair. They didn't even verify the truth before wagging their tongues and in a typing frenzy cursing and wishing him to die like it was a party.

At the time the accusation broke out, he was in Jeju with her and too heartbroken to even check on his phone. He didn't know anything until they finally flew back home 2 weeks after and by then the news had dissipated.

The news garnered national concern not only because it was an actor scandal, but because two ordinary citizens were brought up and to make matters worse, one of them was a child.

The news outlet was being overboard by not blurring Katrina - the alleged mistress that had her self portrait rights because she wasn't a public figure, they also put Lin Zhi's blurred picture with them to further enraged the public.

Wang Media immediately got the police involved because the easy way to break the allegations was not only to show the paternity test between Wu Yige and Lin Zhi to present personal government records of Katrina and Lin Zhi, but Wang Media insisted on protecting both Katrina and Lin Zhi. They had a Supreme Court judge to verify the authenticity of the record of Lin Zhi and Katrina's relationship. The judge also personally opened the result of the DNA test on the same live streaming.

The scale of clarification and clean up was so big the Chairwoman of Wang Group - Wang Lin using her entire network to make this happen.

The storm passed, but Wang Lin didn't stop there. She demanded a rectification of cyber bullying law, the public servants on her back and calls immediately moved and the entire entertainment industry supported her.

Wu Yige was the national anti cyberbullying ambassador and news on the billboard was another cleaning method Wang Lin used to protect the show biz entities.

The Chairwoman's determination resembles Shen Fe, back when she was offered Katrina to enter the show biz, her best friend already mapped out the plan on vengeance to Zhang Siyuan, Katrina could only pity them for not being a real aunt and niece. But then again, maybe heaven knows if they did become related, the world might turn upside down.

The light on traffic lights changed from green to red, Katrina was the only one on the road side because everyone else had already crossed before. She was amused and got a sense of pride because of the news, besides she was standing on the right side of the road for pedestrians.

A motorcycle was in full speed from afar, the biker wore all black and no clue of the identity could be seen from the helmet's tinted glass.

"Katrina!"

Qian Kun shouted with horror as the biker splashed the content of the bottle to Katrina's side.

"Fuck!"

"Shit!"

The biker drove away, leaving behind traces of corroded asphalt.

"Katrina, are you okay?" Qian Kun and some passersby checked on them and helped the duo on the ground.

"You-? Why are you here?"

"Are you out of your mind? What are you doing daydreaming on the road?!"

Others might not know, but Qian Kun heard this voice enough to recognize it right away. It was Wu Yige.

"Ah!" Katrina got no time to argue with Wu Yige because there's a burning sensation on her leg.

"Wu- Mr. Wu, we better get inside," Qian Kun saw the holed asphalt, "It's a targeted attack with acid. She needs immediate help."

Wu Yige lifted her bridal style to the agency's building. They had an infirmary and medical professionals there.

"MOVE!" Wu Yige roared at everyone on his way, frantically throwing her shoes and tearing Katrina's socks.

"Wu Yige!"

She never saw him like this, it was as if someone saw the world around him crumbling and almost lost everything. His eyes trembled and his entire body was shaking.

"Wu Yige!" Katrina cupped his face and made him stare into her, "I'm fine. Let the doctors do their job."

The doctor immediately cut the leg of Katrina's pants and performed first aid.

Katrina had no time to cry in pain or look at the damage on her legs because Wu Yige's grip almost stopped the blood flow on her hand.

"Mr. Wu, your hand.." A nurse realized his reddening hand, but the man didn't respond, just staring at Katrina's gauze wrapped legs.

Katrina pulled him to sit on the bed and handed the nurse his hand for treatment.

"Excuse us."

The doctor and nurses left after they moved to the private room in the back. The duo enjoyed the silence as one didn't want to talk and the other didn't want to tell.

Qian Kun left with the aftermath, he was at the scene with the police and currently at the police station. Because of the nature of the victim, the lab report classified priority and they already got the result back.

"We analyzed the liquid on the ground and it was indeed sulfuric acid. Had it splashe directly onto her face or skin, in that concentration and amount, it would've melted and could've been fatal," the police confirmed everyone's suspicion. "It was definitely a targeted attack."

"Thank you for your time, Sir. The victim is still under doctor's care. We will back on another day for the victim and witness statement."

"Of course, have a nice day, Lawyer Qian."

Qian Kun just entered his car when Wang Lin's name displayed on the screen. "Yes, Chairman."

"What happened? Everyone is talking about it in the group chat."

"Someone is attacking Katrina with acid and based on evidence and circumstances, it was a targeted attack. I just finished talking to the police and we can make a statement after the shock wears off."

"This definitely is not as simple as we thought, Katrina had been under public eye for some time now. This level of attack is not a simple hatred," Wang Lin remembered that Katrina and Kun had been in and out of the security office frequently, "Did you two do something without me knowing?"

A stalker suspicion flashed through Qian Kun's mind, "I'll report directly to you tomorrow, Chairwoman."

"Alright, be careful and keep me updated."