Tagged by multiple people, Jiang Qin followed a link into a livestream room.
The person livestreaming was a female. She looked like a normal human, with long, blonde hair flowing freely and features that leaned more toward a Western appearance.
"Hello, everyone, and welcome to my livestream. I'm Lilia."
The girl looked to be around twenty years old, though appearances could be deceiving. After all, Interstellar cosmetic medicine was quite advanced.
Besides, female Beastmen aged very slowly.
Seeing that there were over ten million people watching the livestream, Lilia's smile grew even brighter.
Jiang Qin watched in silence. She was certain she didn't know this person and had never met her before, which made her very curious as to how this woman planned to claim those songs as her own.
'It's true that I plagiarized them, but I copied them from Earth.'
'I bought the musical scores from the system, and all the paperwork is in order. There shouldn't be any loopholes.'
Soon, the livestream reached the trending recommendations on the homepage of the Federation's largest short-video platform.
The bullet comments below were filled with questions, asking Lilia how she could prove Jiang Qin had plagiarized her and questioning why, if she was the original creator, she hadn't applied for the copyright.
Perhaps seeing that the hype had reached its peak, Lilia began her performance.
She tapped a few times on her Light Computer, then projected its interface for everyone to see.
Displayed on it were the three songs Jiang Qin had uploaded.
But she wasn't a complete fool; she had only copied the musical scores, changing all the song titles and lyrics.
She had changed "As Wished" to "Wish You," "Ningxia" to "Summer," and "Anonymous Comfort" to "Secret Crush."
The originally grand and refreshing lyrics were butchered into sappy, overly sentimental words that even involved polyamorous relationships.
After all, the prevailing trend in the Interstellar era was one female with multiple male partners; one-on-one relationships typically only occurred among pure human females and Half-beastman females.
"The reason I'm livestreaming today is that I can't stand to see a certain someone steal another person's work.
Her popularity was too high before, so I didn't dare to step forward. It's only now, with all of you having my back, that I have the courage to come out and say this."
"I am a currently enrolled student in the music department at Duolun University on Blue Star. I composed these three songs during my time at university, but because I was struggling to finalize the lyrics, I never applied for the copyright.
But then, a month ago, after this Miss Jiang came to our dorm to deliver something to the young miss of the Jiang Family, my paper copies of the musical scores went missing.
At first, I thought I might have accidentally misplaced them, but it wasn't until I saw the trending topic online that I realized she must have taken them."
Someone in the comments below questioned:
[If your things went missing, didn't you suspect the person who visited that day?]
Lilia replied helplessly, "I did suspect her, but she's Ruming's sister, after all. I was afraid of wrongly accusing her and making things awkward with my roommate."
[Oh my god, Miss Lilia is too kind! Even when her things went missing, she didn't suspect her roommate's sister.]
[So that female from some low-level star really did steal someone else's songs. How can she be so shameless?]
[Hah, what shame would you expect from someone from a Barren Star? Stealing is just a skill they've practiced since they were kids.]
[Duolun University is the best university on Blue Star, and Miss Lilia is a top student!]
[...Hold on, are you guys just going to believe everything she says? I actually think Jiang Qin's version of the lyrics fits the melody better.]
[It's the internet. It's a mix of truth and lies, who really knows?]
[All of Jiang Qin's songs have official copyright certification. How are you going to prove what you're saying is true?]
Seeing these doubts, Lilia's eyes reddened, and she began to wipe away tears right in front of the camera.
"I have no way to prove it now. It's my habit to write songs on paper, and the original copies have been lost.
The musical scores on my Light Computer are ones I wrote out from memory afterward. I had even written new lyrics and was preparing to release them next month. I never expected something like this to happen.
It's not easy to write a song. I've been working on these three since high school. I was originally planning to use them to climb the charts and earn my graduation certificate, but now that they've been stolen, I might not even be able to graduate…"
A beautiful female sobbing and shedding tears on camera would undoubtedly draw a great deal of pity from many people.
The number of people below cursing Jiang Qin grew.
One was a female who had been accepted into Duolun University; the other was a female who had never even been to school. Public opinion had already shifted.
Jiang Qin watched in silence, her pale face completely expressionless.
Her memories were a bit jumbled, but she finally recalled that she had indeed gone to the school a month ago to deliver something to Jiang Ruming. It was Jiang Yulian who had sent her.
This was before her rebirth, back when she was just a girl who still held onto aspirations for her family.
When she arrived, Jiang Ruming wasn't there, so she waited in her dorm for a while.
There had been another girl in the dorm at first, but she left. Five minutes after she left, Jiang Ruming returned from class.
After Jiang Qin handed her the Space Button that Jiang Ruming had asked for, she went home.
So, there was indeed a period of time she couldn't account for.
'The person pulling the strings behind this is truly impressive,' she thought. 'To find this vulnerability so quickly…'
As for why Lilia would step forward to frame her, the reason was simple: fame and fortune.
For someone already planning to enter the entertainment industry, the choice to make a debut by riding on someone else's popularity was an obvious one.
***
Jiang Qin watched the one-sided tide of public opinion in the livestream comments, a hint of defiance showing on her pale face.
She used her Light Brain Number to contact You Wei, asking him to deliver the finished musical instruments to her apartment.
While waiting, she washed up, changed into a pure white long dress, and put on some light makeup.
You Wei arrived quickly.
He never delayed when it came to a request from Jiang Qin, so the items were delivered in less than half an hour.
Along with them came some daily necessities and a month's supply of nutrient liquid.
Only after repeatedly warning her not to go out did You Wei leave.
'He looked so rushed and weary,' she thought. 'He must be busy investigating who's behind all this.'
But it probably wouldn't be easy to investigate. After all, the ID that made the post was listed as being in the Empire, which meant it was likely a virtual ID.
In any case, Jiang Qin had agreed to everything he said, appearing obedient, gentle, and good-natured.
What he didn't expect was that the moment he left, Jiang Qin turned around, started her own livestream, and directly requested to connect with Lilia.
She made no attempt to hide, changing her account name directly back to her real name.
Everyone in the livestream was stunned to see Jiang Qin actually choose to confront her directly, and they all urged Lilia to accept the connection request.
The blonde girl raised an eyebrow and accepted the connection, her face full of confidence.
The first thing she said was, "Sister Jiang, are you here to apologize? If you can admit your mistake and change your ways, I suppose I could forgive you for Ruming's sake."
Jiang Ruming, who was also watching the livestream, felt utterly disgusted at that moment.
'A mere D-level female trying to make it as a star... what right does she have to call me so intimately?'