Chapter 598: Police Report

Worried about catching the new virus, Melody Summers had been staying home and hadn’t gone out at all lately.

Before dinner, while she was sitting on the sofa scrolling through her phone, a news notification suddenly popped up—

She opened the app and discovered a trending topic with Autumn Sawyer’s name was the top headline in both the entertainment and current events sections.

Seeing the "viral" tag at the end of the topic, Melody Summers clicked on it without hesitation.

The top post was a police report regarding the suspected illegal and criminal activities of an organized gang. The report was lengthy, detailing how a criminal group headed by the actress Autumn Sawyer had illegally operated an underground entertainment venue, "The Serene Leaf Teahouse," and engaged in multiple illicit activities, including selling drugs, harboring drug users, organizing gambling, and prostitution.

At the same time, the criminal group was suspected of using violence, threats, and other methods to illegally confine, assault, and molest multiple victims, resulting in severe injuries and deaths.

Due to the exceptionally heinous nature of the crimes, the extreme cruelty of their methods, and the severe consequences, the entire criminal group had been apprehended by the police and was awaiting official sentencing.

Melody Summers patiently read through the entire report, her brow furrowing slightly—

’The report actually only mentioned Autumn Sawyer’s name, with no mention of Kylie Walsh or the others at all.’

Unwilling to accept it, Melody read the report again carefully, sentence by sentence. After confirming that the Walshs’ names were nowhere to be found, Melody couldn’t help but laugh in anger—

’The Walshs just pinned everything on Autumn Sawyer??’

’And the police actually fell for it?!’

’So this is what Roman Rhodes meant when he said to "trust that the nation won’t let any criminal escape justice"??’

At this thought, a surge of anger rose in Melody’s heart. ’Many people were involved with The Serene Leaf Teahouse, but now Autumn Sawyer is the only one being pushed out as a scapegoat to take the fall. This isn’t the outcome I wanted.’

Still not resigned, Melody scrolled through the trending topics again, hoping to see if anyone had mentioned the Walsh Family. But to her surprise, not only did she fail to find any posts related to them, she was instead forced to witness a massive showbiz flame war.

Because Autumn Sawyer was a famous star with a huge fanbase, the police report brought a horde of her fans out of the woodwork. The top comments were filled with Autumn’s fans losing their minds and wailing in despair:

"Netizen xxx: I don’t believe it! This has to be a coincidence, someone with the same name! It can’t possibly be her!"

"Netizen xxx: It’s definitely not her. I’ve been a fan since her debut, I’ve followed her for ten years. No one knows her character better than I do! She could never do something like this!"

"Netizen xxx: ...Fans, face reality! What are you still fighting for? Didn’t the report say, ’actress Autumn Sawyer’? It’s without a doubt your idol..."

"Netizen xxx: How is this possible?! I don’t believe it! Autumn is so kind, she donates to poor regions and does charity work every year. How could she do something like this?"

"Netizen xxx: @AutumnSawyerStudio Can the studio please come out and respond? Right now, I don’t trust anyone but the studio!"

"Netizen xxx: Autumn fought her way up all by herself. Because she has no powerful backer and refuses to play by the ’unspoken rules,’ she’s constantly getting smeared by her rivals. I wonder which rival is behind this. To think they even bribed the police, that’s just too vicious!"

"Netizen xxx: This is obviously a deliberate smear campaign by a rival! Someone leaked before that Autumn had landed a role in a major film production from a famous director and a top-tier screenwriter, set to start shooting after the cataclysm ends. Her peers must have heard about it and gotten jealous, so they’re intentionally trying to ruin her!"

"Netizen xxx: On behalf of the Autumn Sawyer Fan Club, I have three questions for the official Anworth Police Department: 1. Since the report uses the word ’suspect,’ it means this is still just the suspicion phase and she hasn’t been convicted. Why would the Anworth police issue such a report before a conviction? Is this not a suspected attempt to mislead the public? Where is the solemnity of a police report? 2. Ms. Autumn Sawyer has been in the industry for ten years, with numerous well-known, high-quality, award-winning works. She is highly accomplished in both film and television and has extremely high commercial value. If this incident turns out to be a misunderstanding, how will you compensate Ms. Autumn Sawyer for the damage to her reputation and commercial value caused by this report? 3. The police report lists multiple suspicions against Ms. Autumn Sawyer but fails to produce any photographic or video evidence. Your claims are unsubstantiated and unconvincing. Could there be other capital forces at play, bribing high-level police officials to frame and slander Ms. Autumn Sawyer? To prevent the police from losing public trust, we ask the Anworth Police to provide precise answers to the above three points. Do not evade the questions!!!"

Melody felt dizzy after reading this long-winded "three questions for the police" tirade. ’What in the world is all this...?’

’Since the police issued a detailed report, it means the suspect’s criminal acts are a foregone conclusion, and the police already have sufficient evidence. It’s nearly impossible for this to be overturned.’

’Instead of questioning why their own idol broke the law, these fans are questioning the police???’

The more Melody read, the more speechless she became. Fortunately, the fan comments only made up a small portion; most netizens were still rational:

"Netizen xxx: Have Autumn Sawyer’s fans lost their minds..."

"Netizen xxx: Do you fans even hear yourselves?"

"Netizen xxx: I’m speechless. ’Rivals bribed the police’? Even a grade-schooler wouldn’t say something so ignorant!"

"Netizen xxx: Sigh, if you don’t even believe an official police report, what will you believe..."

"Netizen xxx: LMAO, these fans are sick in the head. ’Three questions for the official police’? Please, officer, just trace their IP and arrest them! Stop making a fool of yourselves online every day!"

"Netizen xxx: Who said there’s no picture? There is! If I remember correctly, the person in the picture, Chloe Sharp, is one of Autumn Sawyer’s biggest professional fans, right? She works at the same company as my older sister. The photo of what happened to her went viral in our company’s group chat! I was wondering why she died, but now, connecting it to this police report, she was probably murdered by Autumn Sawyer! [Image]"

"Netizen xxx: Oh my god, that picture is horrifying. Was her eyeball gouged out?!"

"Netizen xxx: So brutal! All you fans making excuses for Autumn Sawyer, stop being so ridiculous! If the victims at The Serene Leaf Teahouse were your family members, would you still be able to defend her?"

"Netizen xxx: If Autumn Sawyer is this vicious even to her own fans, she must be even worse to others! The other victims from The Serene Leaf Teahouse must have suffered even more! She deserves to die!"

"Netizen xxx: Haha, it really is Chloe Sharp! You guys get it, right? Autumn Sawyer is done for, and Chloe Sharp is dead. It’s a double dose of good news today! I’m going to host a giveaway to celebrate!"

"Netizen xxx: How can the person above say that? The poor girl died so horribly, and you’re making such callous remarks. Have you no respect for the dead?"

"Netizen xxx: To the person above, if you don’t know the full story, then shut your mouth. This Chloe Sharp used to publish 100 smear articles a day about my idol and sabotaged several of his business deals. As far as I’m concerned, she got what she deserved!"

"..."

Thanks to Autumn Sawyer’s fame, what should have been a comment section for a serious news story had devolved into a war between fans and anti-fans. The more Melody read, the more her head ached. She forced herself to scroll through a few more pages, but still saw no mention of the Walshs’ name.