Chapter 40
My more laid–back fans couldn’t stand idly by anymore. They collectively formed a rights protection group, bombarding Kimberly’s account daily with questions and demands for an explanation.
Some even conducted video comparisons, pointing out that the person’s shape clearly resembled Kimberly’s–accusing her of framing me deliberately.
“Such a load of bull! She’s clearly the plagiarist! If you disagree, come and prove me wrong!“}
“Typical Ruth, that shameless orphan, stealing someone else’s work! Plagiarist fans, stay out of this!“>
The feud between our fan bases escalated beyond just plagiarism accusations; it turned into outright defamation. The drama reached a fever pitch, with my phone almost exploding from Kimberly’s barrage of messages and her mother’s harassment.”
Meanwhile, I had already run miles away to a neighboring town, living a carefree, easygoing life.
Wasn’t Kimberly hailed as a rising star in the literary world? Well, I wanted to see for myself how she’d manage once I stopped updating.”
After arriving in Riverdale, I upgraded my equipment, replacing my tablet and keyboard with the latest models and quietly resumed updating my chapters.
I kept a close eye on Kimberly’s updates.
She continued posting regularly, but her content was vastly different from mine–her writing quality had dropped as well. Readers even suspected she was using Al to edit her work, leaving numerous negative reviews.
The two fanbases clashed and her book quickly fell from the top spot across the entire website.
As a staunch non–believer, I found myself even more convinced that there was something wrong with the equipment I was using for writing.
I scheduled a top–notch computer technician to check everything out for me. His expression was grave as he scanned my tablet with a sophisticated device and then took apart my keyboard piece by piece.
In an instant, the heavy mechanical keyboard was reduced to a pile of parts. He held out a tiny component the size of a grain of rice in front of me and quietly said, “Do you know what this is?“}
My heart pounded like a drum and I just stared at him, shaking my head.”
“This is the latest tracking device. It can detect your general location and, when linked to the keyboard’s wiring, it allows the other party to use an encrypted network to real–time transmit everything to her device, making an exact replica.”}
I was stunned, my mouth hanging open–never in a million years did I think such high–tech tools existed!}
She must have slipped the tracking device into the keyboard while I was away.
I had always been tight on cash and never waste money–if it’s not broken, I wouldn’t replace it. Kimberly knew this and took full advantage.%
Looking at the keyboard in front of me, an idea suddenly struck. I casually put the sensor back in place and continued to use the new keyboard to store my manuscripts, just as usual.
The online drama only escalated from there. Sure enough, just a few days later, as soon as I opened the door to my Airbnb, there they were–two figures standing right in front of me.
Kimberly’s face flashed with anger when she saw me. She raised her hand to hit me, but her mother quickly pulled her back.
“Ruth, your book is a bestseller, yet you’re not updating it? How can you be irresponsible of your own work!“}]
Kimberly stood beside her, chiming in, “Yeah, you’re such an idiot for not making money when you can!”
I ignored them and tried to close the door, but Kimberly’s mother was quick to seize the opportunity, forcing her way in.
“Everyone online is attacking Kimberly,” she said, “just issue a statement and admit that you plagiarized. This whole thing will soon be over. Once Kimberly’s book is published, she can pay you some money. How’s that?”
She must be dreaming‘
I could still vividly remember the video from my past life, where she falsely accused me of stealing her work. I begged her to give me the original video–if I had that, I could prove it was all a lie.!!
But instead, she slapped me hard and shouted, “You’re so shameless! Stealing my work and not even owning up to it! I can’t believe my family ever adopted someone like you!”
12:53 PM
