Seven days after the robbery incident.
Professor Xu's office, Qingzhou University.
Teacher Xu frowned as he watched the video of someone being beaten at the hospital.
“Teacher Xu, this incident has blown up. Almost everyone we hired has been arrested,” Xiao Li said, putting down his phone. “But according to the live broadcast at the time, Mo Chuan was beaten half to death.”
“No…” Teacher Xu frowned and pointed to the camera on the screen. “The scene was too chaotic, I couldn’t see the face of the person being beaten.”
“Even if we could see it, it wouldn’t matter… his face was swollen like a pig’s head,” Xiao Li said, shaking his phone. “Should we continue to use paid commenters to suppress them?”
“Mm… I heard that the universities in the south are about to loosen up, and it’s estimated that after a while…”
“Holy shit!”
Xiao Li’s sudden curse interrupted Teacher Xu. The latter frowned and looked over, seeing Xiao Li typing furiously on his phone.
“What’s wrong?”
“The paid commenters… they’ve all been banned!”
…
An hour earlier, Nancheng Branch of Jishi City Public Security Bureau.
Xiao Dao pushed the keyboard and said with a smile, “Done! Based on the IP address and the source of the transmission, these over three thousand accounts spreading rumors are basically these people.”
“Most of them are from the city…” Zhang Henshui squinted his eyes and said, “Xiao Dao, delete the comments that need deleting. Ma Li, Old Wu, Liu Shuang, go to the command post to get people. Split into three teams and arrest the ‘main force’ within Jishi City first. I’ll notify the police in other regions to assist with the arrests.”
“These maggots, you never see them giving orders like this when fighting demonic beasts or ghosts, but they’re quite active when it comes to spewing filth and distorting facts. Act quickly, don’t let these people escape!”
“Understood!”
…
In a rental apartment in xx residential area.
A man with a full beard carried a large bag filled with instant noodle cups, cola cans, and takeout boxes out of the building.
He threw the garbage bag into the trash can and was about to turn back when his phone rang.
“Wang Junshui! If you don’t pay last month’s rent by tomorrow, you pack your things and get out!”
“Okay, okay… Sister Hua, I’ll pay you tomorrow. My royalties will be out tomorrow…”
After a long session of flattery, bootlicking, and fawning, Wang Junshui hung up the phone and muttered, “Stupid fat woman… I’ve never been so polite to my own mother…” He then entered the elevator.
Just as the elevator doors were about to close, a young man wearing a baseball cap pressed the button to hold the elevator and walked in.
The elevator doors then closed.
Wang Junshui paid no attention to the man. He took out his phone and noticed he had a missed call.
“Li Ping’s call? What does he want? Didn’t we already send out the last wave…” Wang Junshui looked up, seeing that the elevator still had over ten floors to go, as his phone had no signal.
“This broken elevator… it’s so slow…”
Wang Junshui held his phone, occasionally looking up at the floor indicator and then down at the time. Finally, the elevator doors opened.
Wang Junshui walked past the young man and out of the elevator. Seeing that he had signal, he intended to call Li Ping back.
“Ding dong—Ding dong—Ding dong—”
There were suddenly over a dozen WeChat message notifications. Wang Junshui frowned, opened WeChat, and saw Li Ping sending him a barrage of messages:
“Answer the phone! It’s important!”
“Why are you out of service area? Where did you go?”
“Listen, the paid commenter group on my side has been shut down by the police. You need to keep a low profile now and stop the encirclement for the time being. Control your people. I estimate that the police have already figured out your movements, and you’re already being targeted!”
“Reply when you see this!”
“Po… Police?” Wang Junshui’s movements suddenly froze. He looked at the chat history on his phone with disbelief, then put his phone in his pocket and quickly took out his key to open the door, intending to inform his allies about this matter. Kuai Shu Ge.
Just as Wang Junshui opened the door, a hand patted him on the shoulder. Wang Junshui froze and looked back behind him.
The man wearing the baseball cap looked at Wang Junshui coldly and asked, “Are you Wang Junshui?”
“Who are you!? I’m telling you! If you’re trying to rob me, I’ll call the police! Don’t come any closer!”
Wang Junshui shook his shoulder forcefully, trying to shake off the hat man’s hand, but except for his fat shaking, there was no change – the hat man’s hand still gripped Wang Junshui’s shoulder like steel pincers, not moving an inch.
Wang Junshui seemed to realize the problem. He let out a strange cry, then forcefully slapped his own face, making it as swollen as a pig’s head. Then, using his body weight advantage, he fell to the ground and shouted loudly, “Help! They’re beating me! They’re attacking a law-abiding citizen in broad daylight!”
The hat man quietly watched Wang Junshui perform, then took out his identification from his pocket and said, “I am a police officer from the Action Team of the Jishi City Public Security Bureau Headquarters. We have gathered evidence of your illegal spreading of rumors online, malicious defamation of others, and theft of private information. I advise you to come with me obediently and do not resist, otherwise, you will be prosecuted for assaulting a police officer. You have the right to remain silent, but everything you say will be used as evidence in court.”
The hat man finished his admonition as if reciting a script, then pointed to his chest and said, “Stop acting. I have a body camera here, and others will know whether I hit you or not.”
Upon hearing this, Wang Junshui deflated like a leaky balloon and slumped to the ground, no longer speaking.
…
The ninth day.
As the police cleared out the main force of online paid commenters, the discussion, criticism, and heat of the incident instantly began to decline.
However, some guerrilla forces and herd-mentality netizens stubbornly argued:
“What about the hostages who were victimized?! What about their justice? Did all the real-name reports that went into the Public Security Bureau disappear without a trace?”
“Don’t get excited upstairs, the family of the only hostage who died is causing a scene at Yamamoto Mo Chuan’s ward right now, link: https//:www…”
“Holy crap, let’s watch the show!”
“I believe the police department will not let the people’s appeals fall through! Sentence Mo Chuan!”
…
Mo Chuan looked at the old man lying on the ground, rolling and throwing a tantrum, and felt speechless.
“Bastard! Give me back my daughter’s life!—”
The old man cried out in his gravelly voice, repeatedly slapping the ground with his hands, creating a pathetic scene.
The people around them all took out their phones to record or broadcast the scene.
Mo Chuan coldly watched the old man perform on the ground. Mo Fei sat to his left, Abe Haruko to his right, and Tang Jingjing watched from not far away.
Just as everyone began to murmur, Mo Chuan coldly said to the old man, “Speak, how much did they pay you?”