On the third day after the whole internet erupted over Samsung Company accusing Shenma Technology Company of stealing its laboratory technology.
After two days of the controversy brewing, the issue had now become the focus of almost the entire internet.
The message Ning Yifan had posted on Weibo was useless. It hadn't made the trending list or become a topic, so hardly anyone had noticed it.
Online, netizens were fired up in the replies.
"What's going on? It's the third day already. Is Shenma Technology Company cowering like a turtle? Why haven't they come out and said what's happening? They've taken their products off the shelves, though."
"It's confirmed. Shenma Technology Company definitely stole their technology. That's why they don't dare show their faces."
"Did they run off? Anyone know what's really going on? Come out and tell us!"
"I just asked Shenma Technology Company's customer service on Taobao. Still all bots. They said Shenma Technology Company isn't running off and didn't steal Samsung's technology. They only took the products down because Samsung had beaten them to registering the core technology patent, and they're improving the production process these past few days. Do you think that sounds believable? It's a bot!!!"
"Shenma Technology Company, you pieces of shit! The Phantom Projector I bought broke in less than a month. I went to Taobao after-sales service, but couldn't find a real person. It was bots replying the whole time. Motherfuckers, here's five thousand yuan to buy your coffin. Hope you go bankrupt soon!"
"That's what happens with a new company. Their quality control is terrible. Their stuff breaks at the drop of a hat! You should buy from established brands, especially for appliances you need to last for years. Big companies have better after-sales service, too, so you don't have to worry about them running off."
"Shenma Technology Company has betrayed the trust of its own people. I'm never buying anything from a small company again. A whole month's wages, straight down the drain. Fuck!"
Zhou Linyue was doing his usual thing, leaving comments to bash Shenma Technology Company. He was a paid internet troll. When he had some free time, he took on odd jobs to earn a little pocket money.
He sent a screenshot of his comment to a newly registered QQ account and got two yuan. You had to admit, big companies were different. In the past, most paid comments had only earned him fifty cents apiece!
Thanks to his excellent typing speed and all the different accounts he had on various platforms, Zhou Linyue could bash Shenma Technology Company in all sorts of ways. In just over two days, he'd already made more than three thousand yuan!
Whenever he saw a post about Shenma Technology Company and Samsung, it quickly drew a flood of comments and seemed to cause quite a stir. Lots of people were following the issue.
But more than a thousand of those comments had been left by Zhou Linyue alone, not to mention the countless other paid trolls just like him.
That was how they drummed up the buzz. Even people who hadn't been paying attention would grow curious when they saw so many comments. What was everyone talking about? Once they took a look, they'd naturally come away with a worse impression of Shenma Technology Company. It played on the way people loved to watch a commotion.
After sending in his comment screenshot, Zhou Linyue switched accounts again and posted another comment bashing Shenma Technology Company. He sent the screenshot and had another two yuan in hand.
He used three accounts on one post, earning six yuan, then called it a day and started looking for the next post about Shenma Technology and Samsung.
Before long, another post caught his eye.
[Shenma Technology Company responds to Samsung: The thief cries "Stop, thief!" Let's talk with technology and see who stole whose!]
What was this?
Curious, Zhou Linyue clicked in to check the post.
It was a video news report. The person on screen was a blogger, a somewhat well-known news commentator online. Facing the viewers, the blogger smiled and began to speak.
"Recently, Shenma Technology Company and Samsung Company have been embroiled in a heated online dispute over technology theft.
"Samsung Company accused Shenma Technology Company of stealing its latest laboratory research, claiming that was how it had made the Phantom Projector product line.
"However, according to what I've learned, not long after Samsung Company posted its report across the internet, Shenma Technology Company responded directly on its official Weibo account.
"According to Shenma Technology Company's response, Samsung Company is the thief crying 'Stop, thief!' It cracked Shenma Technology Company's technology, and in its post, Shenma Technology Company accused Samsung Company of being the one that stole it.
"The two sides each insist they're right. So what's the truth?
"Shenma Technology Company also proposed a way to prove its innocence: have the two companies compete head-to-head on product technology and see whose is more advanced.
"One company was founded only a few months ago and had just one technical employee: its founder. The other was an international giant with a whole team of researchers. At first glance, this seems like the last desperate stunt of a con artist.
"But according to what I've learned, at ten this morning, Shenma Technology Company will release its latest product in response to Samsung Company.
"This product supposedly outperforms the current Phantom Projector in every way. Is Shenma Technology Company lying, or is Samsung Company the thief crying 'Stop, thief!'? We'll find out at ten this morning!"
It was a fairly balanced and impartial news post. After watching it, Zhou Linyue thought to himself,
But that won't stop me from making money!
"Just wait and see. It's almost ten. Shenma Technology Company definitely ran off! How many companies like this have I seen, taking the money and running? Like that bike-sharing company, for instance. It screwed people over so badly! In the end, didn't it just put out messages telling users to trust them? And what happened? They never even refunded the deposits!"
Comment posted. Two yuan earned.
He switched accounts and kept raking in the easy money.
"Shenma Technology Company is garbage! Give me my money back! A piece-of-junk product made with stolen technology! I bought a Phantom Projector just two days ago, and it's already broken. I don't know where all those good reviews online came from! Are paid reviews and fake orders getting out of hand or what? You can't trust a word you see online these days! I learned that the hard way!"
Comment posted. Another two yuan earned!
Third account.
"I'll hate Shenma Technology Company for life. I despise thieves more than anything, and that goes for companies, too. Why not make your products honestly instead of taking crooked shortcuts? A company without a shred of credibility is bound to make trash. Samsung Company, hurry up and sue Shenma Technology Company into bankruptcy. Just seeing them makes me sick!"
Two yuan.
After finishing with his accounts, Zhou Linyue refreshed the latest posts again.
Soon, he found another one about Samsung Company and Shenma Technology Company.
"Showdown coming? Who's right and who's wrong? The truth will soon be revealed. Go, Shenma Technology Company!"
Unlike the previous post, which had taken a neutral stance on Shenma Technology Company and Samsung Company, this one clearly leaned more in Shenma Technology Company's favor. It also mentioned the company's ten o'clock response.
"There's something unusual about this..." Zhou Linyue thought as he sat in front of the computer, sipping goji berry tea.
With a paid troll's keen instincts, Zhou Linyue sensed something was up. Perhaps Shenma Technology Company was about to make a move!
But what did that have to do with him? Making money came first!
He used a few more accounts and, as usual, bashed the company and moved on. But as time passed, Zhou Linyue noticed more and more posts speaking up for Shenma Technology Company. A public relations team had definitely gotten involved—or maybe, like Samsung, they'd paid for it!
"It's already the third day, the final day of the deadline Shenma Technology Company gave Samsung Company in its Weibo response. Let's wait and see how things develop."
"I'm not promoting them or bashing them, but Shenma Technology Company's Phantom Projector is a great product. It doesn't have any of the problems people have been claiming online!"
"As far as I know, there have been almost no cases of Phantom Projectors breaking during normal use since they went on sale. Even under harsh conditions, breakdowns are very rare!"
The news that Shenma Technology Company would release a new product at ten gradually spread to more and more people online.
The controversy Samsung Company had stirred up was also bringing more attention to Shenma Technology Company's announcement.
Ten o'clock in the morning arrived in no time.
As soon as the time came, updates went out through Shenma Technology Company's official Weibo account, the Phantom Projector's TV system, startup ads on televisions made by several major companies, their Weibo accounts and official Douyin accounts, and news outlets contacted by their public relations teams.
He tapped the update.
The video opened with a short clip.
An ink-wash animation.
A young man carrying a long sword and wearing a bamboo hat stood in a raging storm.
Howling winds and pounding rain battered him. Lightning repeatedly split the sky, striking down beside the young man.
Standing in the storm, the young man seemed to be at odds with the entire world!
Yet the swordsman was not afraid in the slightest. He moved at a steady pace, taking one firm step after another toward the distance.
The scene shifted. Far ahead of him stood an ugly, monstrous fiend-god, holding a wooden sword at the edge of the world.
The fiend-god was enormous. Mountains and rivers lay beneath its feet, clouds drifted around its instep, its legs were like pillars holding up the sky, and three bright stars circled above its head.
Before the fiend-god, the swordsman was as tiny as a speck of dust.
Yet despite the vast difference in size, the swordsman felt no fear. Through howling winds, driving rain, lightning, and thunder, he crossed mountains and rivers alone, finally reaching the fiend-god.
The swordsman quickened his pace, going from a walk to a run. At last, his body blurred into a trail of afterimages. He drew the long sword from his back, soared a hundred thousand meters into the air, and struck at the giant in a flash of fury!
The giant swung its wooden sword at the swordsman, swatting at him like a mosquito.
The screen went black. The battle was over.
The young man sheathed his sword and turned to leave. Behind him, the giant wooden sword had broken in two, and the fiend-god's mountainous body lay sprawled on the ground.
The animation ended. A line of text appeared.
"I have a sword that can slay fiend-gods. Samsung Company, dare you take a single strike from me?!"
The long sword carried on the young man's back appeared on the screen. Like flowing water, it gradually transformed into the shape of Shenma Technology Company's latest product: the Phantom Projector Super Edition.
Phantom Projector Super Edition. This sword can slay Samsung!!!
Before you continue