Chapter 1 The Exile Star's Military Base
The base was situated on a rolling green mountain, with the Red Dragon River flowing below. This was where General Jiang Ye's army and the exiled forces had once spilled rivers of blood. A sign by the riverbank read, "Danger of Submersion, Fine of One Thousand," a stark reminder that sharp shrapnel still lay buried in the riverbed's silt.
A dark military spacecraft glided over the rushing river, ascended, decelerated, and finally came to a gentle halt on the base's tarmac.
As the hatch opened, Jiang Ye leaped out, taking a deep breath and smiling. "The air here is quite good."
Two rows of officers snapped to attention and saluted. Su Yueming approached, offering Jiang Ye a cup of hot tea. "Most of the personnel have arrived. We're waiting for you to start the meeting."
"Good." Jiang Ye drank two sips of the hot tea and handed it back to Su Yueming. "Let's go! We mustn't keep everyone waiting!"
Surrounded by officers, Jiang Ye strode into the base. Su Yueming led the way, heading directly for the conference center.
The conference center was quite grand, with over a dozen screens embedded in a towering, massive wall. Each screen was as large as a cinema's IMAX display. Steel and wood tables and chairs stretched from the first row to the last. The entire center could accommodate tens of thousands of people, even more spectacular than some interstellar assembly venues.
The carpet was a soft crimson, and the ceiling was adorned with small golden lights, making everyone present appear radiant.
Approximately four thousand people were already in attendance, the vast majority in military uniforms, engaged in boisterous conversation.
Each person had a laptop in front of them. This was their battlefield, and their keyboards were their firearms.
As Jiang Ye entered, a division commander standing on the podium tapped the microphone. A clear, booming command immediately echoed:
"Attention! All rise!"
With a thunderous rumble, the four thousand-plus people rose in unison.
The previously noisy hall fell into a sudden, profound silence, so quiet that Jiang Ye's footsteps could be heard. The atmosphere turned instantly solemn.
Jiang Ye strode onto the stage and spoke into the microphone with a gentle tone, "Please be seated."
Another thunderous sound, and the four thousand-plus people sat down in unison.
"Are the representatives from Rongping Star all here?" Jiang Ye looked up.
Over a hundred people stood up at the edge of the conference center.
"Good, please be seated, please be seated. Just raise your hands." Jiang Ye smiled. "Our people are also all here. Let's begin."
"All those present, effective immediately, the Rongping Star Network Warfare Working Group is hereby established," Jiang Ye announced. "I will name a few individuals: Xu Hongwei, Alexia, Qian Shasha, Shi Pengtao. You four will be the captains of Teams One, Two, Three, and Four, respectively, and will lead the four main assault teams."
"Shi Pengtao's Team Four will primarily be responsible for account creation," Jiang Ye continued. "First, we need to identify all websites on Rongping Star and the mobile apps with the highest daily active users."
A rustling of keyboards echoed from the west side of the hall. The members of Team Four had already begun their work, diligently recording Jiang Ye's instructions.
The atmosphere in the hall suddenly became tense with the anticipation of war, the sound of keyboards like a vast war machine coming to life.
"Any website or app that people on Rongping Star enjoy visiting falls within our coverage area, becoming a main battlefield," Jiang Ye elaborated. "Within 48 hours, create at least ten million accounts. For every ten thousand accounts, form one group, resulting in a thousand groups. These groups will be used by the combat personnel of other teams."
"Each of these large groups, with thousands of members, will have fifty administrators. These fifty administrators will be real people operated by other teams, responsible for content output. I will later emphasize the specific forms of content to be output."
"The remaining over nine thousand accounts will be operated by AI, responsible for liking, disliking, and following trends."
"When an administrator posts something, or comments under a popular video, they will immediately share the link to the group. The AI will be responsible for liking this post and comment, aiming to achieve nine thousand likes within ten minutes. This offensive efficiency is crucial for seizing the initiative."
"Simultaneously, the AI must identify enemy remarks within the post's context. If it's a post, it will be disliked. By applying a large number of dislikes, the weight of the enemy's post will be suppressed, pushing it down. If it's a comment, the AI can post a simple rebuttal, which will then be liked by other AIs, thereby creating an impression of a larger number of dissenting voices."
"The thinking of netizens is heavily influenced by the number of likes. It can be said that likes can change the opinions of eighty percent of netizens. This change is subtle but extremely powerful."
"As long as a certain voice on a topic receives a massive number of likes, netizens will naturally follow suit. Even if some netizens hold opposing opinions, most will be deterred. Therefore, network warfare is akin to positional warfare. Once you seize the initiative, it is difficult for the enemy to counterattack."
"Shi Pengtao's Team Four must also pay close attention to making the accounts look good."
"Avoid cheap accounts with no content, no avatars, and garbled names. These are primitive and outdated versions."
"Names should be random. You should have username generators. If not, copy from the internet. See what usernames Rongping Star netizens use, and directly duplicate them or make slight modifications."
"Each account should have its own style, meaning the avatar and username should match. Cartoon avatars should have names commonly used with cartoon avatars, and real-person avatars should use names commonly used by real people."
"You should also have face generators that can randomly generate tens of thousands of facial photos per second, complete with background images, just like real photos."
"I suggest selecting attractive facial photos as account avatars. 'Values follow looks' is not just a joke; attractive avatars are more likely to attract netizens' attention. You can also use popular celebrities or memes from Rongping Star. In short, your accounts should look appealing."
"Within each team, there should be three thousand key accounts, and these key accounts need to have content."
"The content should also match the avatar and username. I still suggest starting with appearance. Create some beautiful fake photos, generate a few videos showcasing figures, and display them on the account's homepage. In short, make all accounts look like real people."
"After the accounts are created and handed over, you need to monitor their combat attrition. For example, if a thousand accounts are lost on the first day, you must immediately create a thousand more to replenish them, ensuring that other combat teams have sufficient ammunition."
"These are the general tasks. Team Four, do you understand?" Jiang Ye looked at the audience.
"Understood!" came a deafening roar.
The Rongping Star representatives, who were listening in a corner, were stunned. Their expressions were a mixture of shock.
They had never encountered network warfare before. Suddenly witnessing the deployment of a cyber army had somewhat shaken their worldview.
Ten million accounts in two days? And they could be made to look so realistic?
Deeply impressed, the Rongping Star representatives began scribbling notes. The entire conference was highly classified, and they had surrendered their electronic devices upon entry, leaving them with only the most basic pen and paper for recording.