One of Juncheng's ten largest newspapers, the Linyin Newspaper, had its owner slumped in his office chair as he watched the heated torrent of insults online.
"How could this happen? How is this possible? This video... what other evidence is there? This..."
"Quick! Publish a clarification! Say... say that we were deceived too!"
The owner shoved open the door and roared frantically.
The editor-in-chief, who was working on his phone, was sweating profusely with anxiety as well!
Seemingly relieved, he put down his phone and smiled. "It's already been posted. It should... it should be fine."
"It's posted?" The owner was overjoyed. As long as they issued a clarification, even if they faced insults, things would gradually settle down. This was their usual trick, and it had worked every time!
"Good, that's it. Keep watching things. I'm going back to have some tea and calm my nerves!" The owner returned to his office in satisfaction.
The supervisor working outside picked up his phone again after a while, looked at the countless comments inside, and smiled.
But...
A moment later, he received a direct message.
It was a direct message from Doushi's official account.
After reading it, the editor-in-chief's expression changed drastically, all color draining from his face.
He stood up shakily and looked toward the owner's office, his lips beginning to tremble.
After a moment, he finally gathered his courage and pushed open the door. "Boss..."
"What is it? Didn't you already post it? Has everything settled down?" The owner sat in his office chair, sipping tea comfortably.
"No, it hasn't..."
The editor-in-chief forced himself to say, "Our... our official account has been banned!"
"What? How is that possible? Banned?" The owner looked up in terror. The teacup in his hand clattered to the floor, shattering into pieces. Scalding tea splashed onto his thigh, and he let out a scream like a slaughtered pig!
Who knew how much money they had poured into building up that official account.
To gain followers and traffic, they had practically emptied out several years' worth of income in manpower and resources.
And now he was being told that their official account had been banned?
"Y-Yes... Boss, it was a message from Doushi. It said... the number of reports had reached over ten million! The video we posted violated the rules!"
Slap~
The owner tried to stand, but stepped on a large shard from the teacup. With water all over the floor, he fell straight down.
His face hit the ground and smashed into the shards, and blood immediately began pouring out.
Several cuts were sliced across his face. He rolled around on the floor before finally climbing up after a long while. Clutching his face, he ignored the pain and grabbed the editor-in-chief in a panic. "Go, notify the owners of the other newspapers. We have to get the account back! Right, don't we have Manager Huang's number at Doushi? Call him and ask Manager Huang to help. We have to get it back!"
"Yes, Boss! I'll handle it right away!"
The editor-in-chief rushed out, only to run back less than five minutes later.
Looking at the owner, who was having his wounds cleaned, he clenched his teeth and said, "Boss... Manager Huang said... he can't help us with this. He also said we offended their largest shareholder."
"The largest shareholder?"
"I heard recently that more than fifty percent of Doushi's shares had been acquired by someone! Could this new major shareholder... know the person we targeted?"
"N-No. Manager Huang said the person we targeted... is their major shareholder!"
Boom~
Those words struck like a bolt from the blue, leaving him slumped in his chair with a face as gray as ashes!
The other newspapers were in the same situation.
As countless media accounts were banned all at once, Doushi itself was hardly affected.
After all, they were merely Juncheng media outlets. Doushi served users nationwide; losing their Doushi accounts was their own loss.
To a giant like Doushi, it was not worth mentioning at all.
Juncheng's major media outlets were blanketed in gloom.
Yet many small media outlets profited from the situation.
They immediately began promoting themselves in large numbers, drawing in Juncheng's traffic.
Some even became among Juncheng's top traffic media outlets overnight.
As for the top ten media outlets, they suffered devastating losses.
In this atmosphere, someone finally lost patience and called the ten media outlets.
Some newspapers that had been implicated also received calls.
"Huangyun Grand Hotel! Come immediately."
With only that short sentence, they knew what it was about.
The call came from Juncheng's largest media outlet, which had also been hit the hardest.
Naturally, they wanted revenge.
Thus, everyone began driving toward Huangyun Grand Hotel.
Huangyun Grand Hotel had been fairly quiet, with few guests around. Since it was not mealtime, the crowds had not arrived yet.
Yet within half an hour, all kinds of luxury cars had filled the area outside Huangyun Grand Hotel.
Media big shots who were usually impossible to meet rushed into the hotel one after another, their expressions ugly, as though their parents had died.
With so many people charging in, they quickly occupied a large private room.
Everyone waited inside the private room as time slowly passed.
No one knew how long they had waited when the door outside was finally opened.
A bald, middle-aged man with a beer belly walked in. His name was Chen Wei, and he was the owner of Juncheng's largest media outlet.
He was also the organizer of this gathering. Who else was it for, if not the many media outlets affected by this incident?
This sudden wave of account bans had caused them tremendous losses as well.
Under such circumstances, he naturally could not remain unaffected.
Besides, other than them, no one seemed capable of gathering so many people here.
"Is everyone here?" Chen Wei glanced at the crowd and smiled.
Under everyone's gaze, Chen Wei sat down calmly, not looking worried in the slightest.
Seeing this, everyone asked hesitantly, "Manager Chen, what is this..."
"Yes, Manager Chen, do you have some kind of solution? Why aren't you worried at all?"
"Haha!"
Chen Wei laughed loudly. "Well, there is a solution!"
He glanced at everyone with a smile but said nothing further.
Everyone grew anxious. One person even stepped forward and grabbed Chen Wei's hand. "Manager Chen, if you have a solution, just tell us. We're suffering terribly right now. Having our accounts banned is simply the heaviest blow possible for us."
"Yes, Manager Chen, please help us!"
"Manager Chen, if you don't save us, we're really finished!"
Chen Wei swept his gaze over everyone. After a brief silence, his expression finally turned serious. "I called everyone here because I want to borrow your collective strength. Otherwise, I can't accomplish this alone!"
"Oh? What is it that you need us to do, Manager Chen?"
"This matter... came from some intelligence I obtained by accident. Do you know Biyue Bay Beach?"
The group of media owners exchanged looks. "Of course we do."
"Haha! I happen to know a wealthy man nearby. That guy has coveted that plot of land for a long time. Perhaps we can make some major news there and turn the situation around!"