Possessed No More: The True Star Returns to Claim Her Throne-Chapter 79: Cursed onto the Hot Search

Riley Perry was speechless. "Have you ever seen a D-list celebrity with an assistant *and* a bodyguard?"

Cole Sinclair said nothing, just stared at her with his cold, somber eyes. The meaning was unmistakable.

"Alright, alright, we’ll do it your way, happy now?" Riley cupped his face and planted a loud smooch on his lips. ’Mmm, so soft! No wonder I’m addicted.’

’I’ve got to get in a few more kisses while we’re still under contract. It’d be foolish not to seize the opportunity!’

Cole Sinclair: ...

He pulled her in for a few more kisses. If he hadn’t been mindful that she was hungry, things might have escalated right there in the car.

About half an hour later, the car finally came to a stop.

"Come on, you’re hungry, aren’t you? Let’s go eat."

Cole Sinclair got out first, then extended a hand to help Riley out.

Once she was steady on her feet, Riley glanced at the sign. "Gourmet’s Private Kitchen? Did you make a reservation?"

Cole Sinclair shot her a look but didn’t answer.

Riley got it. ’Of course, Mr. VIP has his privileges. He either owns this place or one of his friends does.’

Sure enough, the moment they stepped into the lobby, a middle-aged man greeted them. "Welcome, CEO. The private room is ready. Shall we prepare today’s meal according to your usual preferences?"

"And add a few spicy dishes." A concession to his companion’s tastes.

"Of course, CEO." 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

The private kitchen didn’t have a fixed menu, but as the owner, he could certainly add a few dishes at the last minute.

They were led to a private room. While waiting for the food, Riley turned on her phone, which instantly erupted with a cacophony of dings and chimes. Joanna had called seventeen times and left twelve voice messages. There were also three calls from William West, and then a few from Chloe Sterling and the others.

She sent a group message to everyone to let them know she was fine, then casually opened Weibo.

In just over two hours, Riley had been flamed by paid trolls all the way to the top of the trending list again: #MostInsaneTrollArmyEver, #RileyPerryFlamedToTrendingAgain.

The post trending under the hashtag was surprisingly impartial. It laid out the whole story clearly: a D-list celebrity received a call for a job, suspected it was a scam, and started a livestream to expose the fraudsters.

It then described how after Riley sent the scammers to the police, she was hit with an unprecedented storm of online abuse. In a single hour, comments from paid trolls and anti-fans accusing her of being self-righteous and manipulative surpassed 100,000. By the time the post was published, that number had climbed to over 200,000, with comments from her actual fans making up less than a tenth of the total.

Her fans were being flamed so viciously for defending her that they were too scared to post anything.

The post ended with a question: Just whose path did this celebrity, Riley Perry, cross to make someone willing to spend a seven-figure sum on paid trolls just to run a smear campaign against her?

Below the trending post, many users commented: [I saw the livestream today, too. It was so satisfying to watch. You could tell just by looking at them that those scammers had pulled this kind of stunt more than once.]

[If Riley hadn’t exposed them, who knows how many other young celebrities would have fallen victim to their scheme. Riley obviously did a good thing, yet all these people online aren’t empathizing with the potential victims. Instead, they’re feeling sorry for the criminals and their families. What kind of twisted logic is that?]

[Feeling bad for Riley for a sec!]

[Feeling bad for Riley for a sec!]

[This is the craziest army of trolls in history, bar none! There’s no difference between them and a pack of rabid dogs!]

[You guys want to know the most ridiculous comment I saw?]

[Riley Perry is a total scumbag who’s three-timing his partners. He should’ve been canceled ages ago!]

[It had over seven hundred likes. But the top reply to that comment, which was just "LMAO," had over ten thousand likes.]

[For fuck’s sake, they start attacking her without even knowing if Riley’s a man or a woman. Can’t these paid trolls have a little professional integrity?]

[If it were me, I’d definitely be depressed from all this hate!]

[Now that I think about it, Riley must be incredibly mentally tough!]

[Just a neutral observer here, but it feels like this girl is getting a really raw deal. Dropped her a follow.]

[Ditto.]

[Ditto.]

Riley glanced at her Weibo follower count and chuckled. It was already at 6.01 million.

’Tsk. If this keeps up, a couple more smear campaigns and I might just hit ten million followers.’

Little did she know, while she was amusing herself, the two people who had paid for the smear campaign were about to explode with rage. They had spent a fortune to get her flamed on the trending list, but what was the result? Not only had a ton of neutral observers started following her, but some of her anti-fans had even defected and become fans. They had paid for their own frustration while simultaneously helping their enemy. The regret was enough to make them want to die.

Cole watched as she focused entirely on her phone from the moment they entered the room, not even sparing him a single glance. He started to feel annoyed. ’Is that phone really so interesting? More interesting than me?’

He tilted his head, glancing at Riley’s screen. Seeing what she was looking at, he calmly looked away, took out his own phone, and opened Weibo. He navigated to Riley Perry’s verified account, which he had bookmarked under "Special Follows."

His brow furrowed in anger as he read the vicious comments.

But being a highly intelligent man, he quickly noticed something fishy about some of the comments.

"These paid trolls... you didn’t hire them yourself, did you?"

Riley shook her head. "Dropping a seven-figure sum on paid trolls? How much do you think I make in a year? I’m broke, I can’t afford that!"

The luxurious private room fell silent for a moment.

Cole Sinclair: ... ’If I hadn’t personally watched you win over a hundred million at The Grand Banquet, I might have actually believed you!’

’That’s right... she’s a rich woman now.’

Cole Sinclair’s lips thinned as he thought of their contract.

Just then, a knock came at the door, and the servers began bringing in the dishes. Cole spoke up, "No phones while we eat."

Riley: ’Why is he suddenly giving off such strong dad vibes?’

She obediently put down her phone and focused on the meal. The food at Gourmet’s was absolutely worth its hefty price tag; it tasted incredible. After such a long day, Riley was genuinely famished.

The meal lasted for over half an hour. It was only after she put down her chopsticks that she noticed his expression seemed a bit off.

Usually, he was just habitually serious, which made him seem cold and stoic. But now, his coldness was clearly tinged with emotion.

"What’s wrong? You seem a little upset. Did someone tick you off? Tell me who it was, and I’ll go sort them out for you!"

Cole put down his chopsticks. "Are you finished? If you’re done, we should go."

Riley had no idea that throughout the entire meal, Cole had been preoccupied with a single thought: how to make someone stay.

That’s right. He still wanted to change his contract with Riley. The one-year term now seemed a bit too short.

Moreover, over the course of the meal, he had finally found a reason for his insistence: habit.

He hated change, especially when it came to the people in his life.

Take Henry Hayes, for example. The man had plenty of flaws, but Cole had never replaced him over all these years.

’Yes, that must be it.’

A completely oblivious Henry Hayes: *Gee, thanks a million!*

Riley thought the man was angry with her. As he was her sponsor, she figured she ought to placate him a little.

She reached out and linked her arm with Cole’s, her voice turning soft. "Do you have anything else to do tonight?"

"No, why?"

"Then let’s go see a movie together. I’ve never been to the movies with a guy before. No, to be more precise, you’re the first guy I’ve ever asked. Will you do me the honor?"

She wasn’t lying. The body’s previous owner had questionable character, but she was obsessed with her reputation. Aside from Vernon Jacobs, she never got too close to any man, and she hadn’t even gone to the movies with him.