"This virtual idol is..." Xia Qingtian looked at Wen Ning.
"It's the latest virtual idol launched by Wanqing Entertainment, called [Yi Xia]," Wen Ning explained. "This is Wanqing Entertainment's single of the same name, 'A Summer with You'."
"Suisui's first album is already in production. For something like this to happen now is extremely bad."
"Those in the know would immediately recognize that the voicebanks for both virtual idols were built based on the same person's voice and singing style," the music director said, his gaze serious as he looked at Xia Qingtian.
"So, you suspect I sold my voice to Wanqing Entertainment?" Xia Qingtian finally understood the reason for their grave expressions.
Gu's Entertainment had invested heavily in Suisui. Wen Ning and industry bigwigs were overseeing the production. From the start, a major star like Ling Fenghan was brought in to promote her. Recently, they were preparing to produce an album, and subsequent promotions and concerts were likely already being arranged.
If this situation, at this juncture, was not handled well, it would be a disaster for the entire project.
"Qingtian, you definitely didn't do this! Right!" Li Mengxiao looked at Xia Qingtian nervously. She refused to believe Xia Qingtian would do such a thing, she never had.
"It wasn't me," Xia Qingtian said immediately. "I've never done anything like this."
Hearing Xia Qingtian's words, Li Mengxiao immediately nodded and said, "I believe you!"
Xia Qingtian smiled at Li Mengxiao, knowing that no matter what happened, Mengxiao would always be the one who believed in her the most.
Wen Ning also felt that Xia Qingtian wasn't that kind of person, but she had seen too many people with ulterior motives in this circle, which made her have to regard Xia Qingtian with suspicion.
"But this voice and singing style..." The music director still trusted his ears and professional experience more. "It's the same person, no doubt."
"Could the voicebank have been stolen or the data leaked?" Xia Qingtian asked.
"Impossible," the production company representative immediately denied. "Our system has top-tier encryption, and such a thing absolutely cannot happen. If it were our problem, there would be traces of intrusion in the system. Everything is normal now."
"Then, could someone have directly recorded your voice? Or used your voice directly?" Li Mengxiao looked at Xia Qingtian and said, "I mean, didn't you have a song that went viral online for a while? That was when you were singing a cappella and someone recorded it."
"Impossible," Wen Ning directly denied. "A voicebank requires the clearest possible audio recording for subsequent production. If it was just stolen recording, there would be impurities and it couldn't be used for production."
"Then... if it wasn't a stolen recording..." Xia Qingtian suddenly thought of someone and narrowed her eyes slightly.
"Hmm?" Everyone immediately looked at Xia Qingtian.
Xia Qingtian then took out her phone and brought up her WeChat chat history. "An acquaintance said they really liked my songs before, so I sent them the audio of me trying out songs in the recording studio that Sister Ning had arranged."
"That makes sense." Seeing the chat history Xia Qingtian provided, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, understanding dawning on them.
"But if it's just these few songs, it's not enough data to support the creation of a voicebank," the production company representative said curiously.
"But if she used my demo songs to find someone with a similar vocal timbre who could imitate my singing style, wouldn't that greatly increase the possibility of this happening?" Xia Qingtian asked.
"Indeed." Everyone nodded.
Since they had a lead, Wen Ning said to Xia Qingtian, "Give me that acquaintance's information. We'll need to investigate further."
"Okay." Xia Qingtian complied immediately and provided Mo Jianing's basic information to Wen Ning.
Afterward, everyone else got busy. Li Mengxiao and Xia Qingtian couldn't help much with the follow-up matters, so they left Gu's Entertainment together.
After the two of them left, Wen Ning went to Mr. Gu's office with Mo Jianing's information. Before she could even finish explaining, Mr. Gu interrupted her.
"The document bag on the desk contains detailed information, including the specific details of the voice double," Mr. Gu said. Although he always found Bai Yuqi to be frivolous and unreliable, as a private investigator, Bai Yuqi had no other shortcomings besides being greedy and overcharging.
But that was fine, he wasn't lacking in anything, especially money.
Even though Wen Ning had already witnessed Mr. Gu's capabilities, she couldn't help but be astonished by his competence once again.
"Comfort the artist. This matter has nothing to do with her," Mr. Gu said to Wen Ning.
"I understand," Wen Ning replied before leaving Mr. Gu's office.
At the same time, the issue of similar voicebanks for virtual idols began to spread online.
Initially, it was some music bloggers questioning it online in text. Soon after, some up-loaders created videos, extracting audio clips for detailed comparison.
Before long, the hot search topic of Wanqing Entertainment's newly launched virtual idol [Yi Xia] colliding with Gu's Entertainment's own beloved artist [Suisui] was trending at the top.
Everyone recalled the gossip they had recently consumed, and now they were all energized again.
Gu's Entertainment, having obtained the evidence, immediately issued a formal statement online, pointing fingers at Wanqing Entertainment for infringement and declaring their intention to pursue legal responsibility.
Meanwhile, Mo Jianing was urgently summoned to Wanqing Entertainment.
Facing her manager's questioning, Mo Jianing's first reaction was to deny everything.
She had already spent all the money. Admitting it now would be like shooting herself in the foot!
Besides, the voice double she hired sounded almost identical to Xia Qingtian's voice, and her singing style was also based on Xia Qingtian's. There was no way anyone could detect any issues.
The quality was guaranteed, otherwise Wanqing Entertainment wouldn't have paid so readily.
Recently, she had been buying designer brands and treating people to meals. Everyone called her Sister Jianing, and she was living a carefree and happy life.
Now, it was just a collision. Who knew if Gu's Entertainment had also found a voice double similar to Xia Qingtian?
As long as she firmly denied it, who could do anything to her?
Seeing Mo Jianing's firm and confident attitude, her manager became suspicious.
"Then, were you earning money from Wanqing Entertainment while also making money from Gu's Entertainment?" the manager guessed.
"I didn't!" Mo Jianing immediately denied it. She had some legal knowledge. She could betray her conscience and earn a little money, but she would never sign contracts with both sides. That was a sure way to go to jail!
But...
Mo Jianing's eyelids twitched, and she began to suspect her voice double.
Could it be that the voice double, blinded by money, had done something so despicable and shameless?
After fooling her manager, Mo Jianing finally managed to escape from Wanqing Entertainment, and she immediately dialed the voice double's number.