Reporting the Case

Late September, and the weather was still scorching hot.

In the afternoon, the city, baked by a full day of sun, felt like a furnace.

After wandering the streets for a while, Ning Yifan found a milk tea shop, ordered a cup of milk tea and some pastries, and finished them under the air conditioning.

Carefully thinking through the possible scenarios ahead, Ning Yifan muttered to himself, "About time."

He paid the bill and stepped out.

Arriving before five in the afternoon, Ning Yifan reached the nearest Lianhua Street Police Station.

With a look of anxiety on his face, Ning Yifan hurried inside, taking two steps at a time.

"Hello, I want to report a crime!" Ning Yifan said firmly as he approached the counter.

"What happened?" a police officer asked.

Taking a couple of deep breaths, Ning Yifan steadied his anxious expression and began to speak.

"I want to report a crime. Someone extorted six hundred thousand yuan from me!"

The officer perked up at the mention of such a large sum, picking up a pen to take notes as he said, "Don't panic. Tell me the details carefully."

Ning Yifan nodded and said, "Here's what happened. About ten days ago, a video blogger called Boiling Digital Reviews online contacted me through my company's product purchases. He said he wanted to collaborate with us—he'd endorse and promote our products for a fee of five hundred thousand yuan. At the time, our product sales were doing well, so I didn't agree to his request. Because I turned him down, things ended on a sour note between us. Before we finished chatting, he threatened me, saying he'd ruin our product's reputation. I didn't think much of it then—figured he was just bitter about not making the money and it was an empty threat. But the very next day after our failed negotiation, he uploaded a fake video on his channel, deliberately twisting the facts and slandering the quality of our company's products. Since he has a decent fan base on several video platforms, the video got a lot of attention right after it was posted. Consumers who didn't know the truth watched it and started doubting our product quality, causing huge losses for my company. On top of that, there were these paid trolls popping up out of nowhere online, smearing our products everywhere. He has millions of fans, but my company was just founded recently, and we don't have many fans who've bought our products. Even when some people spoke up for us, no one paid attention. Over the past few days, I've been really stressed about this, not knowing what to do. Since my company is a small startup—actually, I'm the only employee and the boss—I had no idea how to handle this situation or do any crisis management. At first, I thought, 'It's normal for a new company to run into tough problems. The product's reputation will naturally improve as more people buy and experience it, and the rumors will die down on their own.' So I didn't bother much, thinking I just needed to focus on making a good product. But then, just this afternoon, the Boiling Digital Reviews blogger contacted me again. He said he could help me solve my company's current troubles—for just another one million yuan! I was about to think it over, even feeling like the hardship would pass, and I didn't want to agree. But during the call, he threatened me again, saying if I didn't pay up, he'd escalate things and make sure I could never sell my products again! He's a public figure with millions of fans, and my company is barely a month old. With no experience handling this kind of thing, I lost my head in the moment. About half an hour ago, I transferred six hundred thousand yuan to him via bank transfer, hoping he'd take the money and go easy on us—maybe even say something good about our products to get sales back to where they were. But after I calmed down and thought it through, I realized this wasn't the right way to handle it, so I came to report it."

As he recalled the events, Ning Yifan spoke to the two officers, everything he said being true.

The officer taking notes stopped writing and said, "Alright, sir, we've recorded everything you've said. Can you provide us with your ID and any evidence of the extortion?"

Ning Yifan pulled out his documents from his pocket: "I have my ID on me—used it for the bank transfer earlier too. Here you go!"

After a moment's thought, Ning Yifan added, "As for evidence, there's the phone recording, the bank account number he sent me via phone, the transfer record from half an hour ago, the screenshots and chat logs from our conversation on JD.com's merchant service window, and oh, the video he posted online smearing our products—it's completely different from what our product actually does. Would that count as evidence too?"

The officer nodded: "Alright, we've got the picture. The phone recording, the smear video, the transfer records—all of that can serve as evidence. We'll launch an investigation as soon as possible. If things are exactly as you described, we'll file a case immediately."

After speaking to Ning Yifan, the officer said to his colleague, "Contact the team. Assemble now and prepare the tools for investigation and evidence collection."

Ning Yifan said gratefully, "Alright, thank you for your trouble!"

Then he asked, "Oh, I'm not really familiar with this stuff. Would it be okay if I hired a lawyer?"

The officer patiently replied, "Sure. For a lawyer, head out the door, turn left, and about two hundred meters down, there's a law firm. You can find one there. Also, we might need your help with the investigation and evidence collection later."

With that, the officer glanced at the clock on the wall: "About ten minutes—I'll give you ten minutes to find a lawyer. We'll assemble the team and start the investigation right away. This case involves a large sum of money, so the sooner we get it sorted, the less your losses will be."

Ning Yifan said gratefully, "Thank you, thank you so much!"

Then, with a hint of pain, he added, "That six hundred thousand was all the working capital my company had. Please help me get it back!"

The officer comforted Ning Yifan, "Don't worry, we'll do our best to help you. Alright, time's short. If you need a lawyer, please go quickly."

Ning Yifan nodded in agreement: "Okay, okay."

Hurrying out of the police station, Ning Yifan went to the law firm, briefly explained the whole story again, and spent ten thousand yuan to hire a lawyer who was said to be the best in the firm to handle the case.

A middle-aged lawyer in a suit, after listening to Ning Yifan's account, said, "I've roughly understood the situation. It's pretty clear-cut. With his real-name registered phone number, the call recording, and the bank account owner, we can definitely identify him. This is an easy case to handle—rest assured!"

Ning Yifan said seriously, "Then I'll leave it to you. I need him to publicly apologize to my company on the video platform, clear up the slander about our products, and compensate for my company's financial losses and my emotional distress!"

"No problem. That's part of our job, especially since you've paid my fee. Alright, no time to waste—let's go coordinate with the police on this."

With the lawyer in tow, Ning Yifan returned to the police station. By then, a full team of ten officers had assembled. As soon as Ning Yifan and the lawyer arrived, everyone set off immediately.

Two police cars led the way, and everyone rushed to Ning Yifan's rental apartment.

Inside the apartment, the police carefully examined the chat logs between Ning Yifan and Zhou Yuanlei, and also randomly sampled and inspected ten units of the virtual projector products produced by Ning Yifan's company. Each unit displayed excellent results, leaving everyone quite impressed.

The actual performance of the Phantom Projector is completely different from what was shown in Boiling Digital Reviews' video—this is nothing but malicious slander distorting the facts!

And in front of everyone, the Automatic Robotic Arm assembled a Phantom Projector in just a few minutes, earning Ning Yifan a newfound respect from the crowd.

The leading police officer praised him, saying, "Truly, heroes come from the young. At such a tender age, just at home, you can craft such sophisticated mechanical and electronic products—your future is boundless!"

Ning Yifan smiled bitterly and replied, "What hero from the young? I just got extorted for six hundred thousand yuan. That money was meant to buy parts for the projector production, and it's all because of Boiling Digital Reviews' malicious slander, damaging our company's product image and causing me heavy losses. I estimate the damage might be in the millions!"

The officer patted Ning Yifan on the shoulder and comforted him, "No one is perfect. It's normal to be flustered when something like this happens at your age. We've seen plenty of cases like this. With this experience, you'll know how to handle it next time."

"We've looked into the matter, and the evidence collection is complete. The facts are clear—the other party indeed committed extortion. We'll take immediate action next. Please be patient!"

"Alright, thank you for your trouble!"

"Protecting the lives and property of the people is our bounden duty. Dismissed!" With the team of officers, the police swiftly left Ning Yifan's rented apartment, ready to proceed with the next steps.

At the same time, the lawyer Ning Yifan had hired, after reviewing the relevant evidence, also went back to prepare the materials needed for the court hearing.

With everyone gone, Ning Yifan let out a sigh of relief. Now he could continue selling his products and making money. He just wanted to quietly sell his goods, but there were always people running straight into the line of fire!