Chapter Summaries

Tokuda Kyoichiro and the foreign companies preparing to discredit USTC were shaken by its announcement of a press conference, while USTC deliberately intensified the online backlash to expose its opponents. By morning, coordinated attacks and outrage had surged, and Ke Da’s press conference was about to begin.

• Tokuda Kyoichiro learned that USTC would hold a press conference and accepted Corinna’s assurance that the plan to discredit it remained on track.
• USTC’s announcement drew fierce criticism online, and its comment section quickly accumulated more than 110,000 comments.
• Wang Qingchen told Zhang Rui and Tian Liangwei that USTC had repelled 43 waves of cyberattacks, and Zhang Rui ordered him to intensify the online conflict.
• USTC suspended the accounts of [Who Can Save Me From The Claws] and [Tiao Tiao Wants to Eat Enough], prompting verified influencers to claim the school was silencing its accusers.
• The foreign companies’ War Department redirected funds to boost the backlash, unaware that USTC was fueling the storm, and Ke Da’s press conference arrived the next morning.

USTC drew a massive online audience for a press conference meant to address the backlash against Xu Yun. The event began with Xu Yun appearing onstage as viewers flooded livestreams with insults.

• Chen Shanshan livestreamed outside USTC’s Administration Building and urged viewers to wait for concrete evidence before judging Xu Yun.
• Wang Qingchen and Gao Tian monitored the online response as the press conference audience grew to more than 16 million.
• A woman stripped to her underwear at the venue and shouted that scumbags did not deserve a home.
• At 9:30 a.m., Tian Liangwei, Zhang Rui, Xu Yun, and others entered the stage, prompting viewers across platforms to post “Scumbag!”

At the University of Science and Technology of China’s public opinion press conference, Gu Qunqing began presenting evidence about the accusations against Huadun Biotech and its chairman, Xu Yun. The first witness challenged the claim that the blogger Tiao Tiao Wants to Eat Enough had cremated her cat, setting up the next step of the university’s response.

• Shen Jianze opened the press conference by promising to reveal the truth about the online attacks on Huadun Biotech and Xu Yun.
• Gu Qunqing outlined the two stages of the controversy and displayed posts from the account Tiao Tiao Wants to Eat Enough about her cat’s alleged poisoning and funeral.
• Yang Wenjuan, director of the Magic City Animal Harmless Treatment Center, explained that the center handled pet cremations and had reviewed its records for January 10 to 12.
• Yang Wenjuan said the center had no cremation record for Tiao Tiao and that the only Ragdoll cremated during that period belonged to a foreign couple.
• Viewers questioned Yang Wenjuan’s evidence, while Shen Jianze told Gu Qunqing through his earpiece to proceed to the next step.

At a press conference, Gu Qunqing showed surveillance footage revealing that Tiaotiao’s owner had dumped the cat’s body after learning the cost of a pet funeral, then explained how officials recovered the remains. The University of Science and Technology of China now had Tiaotiao’s body through a documented chain of custody, setting up the next step in its case.

• Yang Wenjuan said the Magic City Animal Harmless Treatment Center had found no record of Tiaotiao and had sent related pet hospital footage and authorization documents to the University of Science and Technology of China.
• Gu Qunqing showed footage of Tiaotiao’s owner asking about funeral costs, then leaving without arranging a service.
• Gu Qunqing showed nighttime footage of the same woman putting a bag containing a cat’s body into a trash can.
• Gu Qunqing explained that sanitation workers had taken the body to the animal treatment center, where staff stopped it from being cremated.
• Ye Guohong explained to Chang Licheng that the evidence-gathering process gave the university legitimate possession of Tiaotiao’s body with a clear chain of custody.

USTC revealed Tiaotiao’s autopsy report, which showed that the cat had died after ingesting a fatal dose of Contac rather than the insecticide blamed in the smear campaign. With the evidence laid out and the audience silenced, Gu Qunqing moved on to the next topic: Xu Yun’s private life.

• Gu Qunqing revealed that the document was Tiaotiao’s autopsy report from Huaxia Agricultural University’s Animal Hospital and introduced Academician Shen Jianzhong.
• Shen Jianzhong established that the autopsied body was Tiaotiao’s and said the cat had no significant injuries but had ingested more than 600 milligrams of acetaminophen, a fatal dose for cats.
• Shen Jianzhong explained that the insecticide blamed for Tiaotiao’s death was virtually harmless to mammals and that Contac was deadly to cats and dogs.
• Gu Qunqing showed surveillance footage revealing an opened box of Contac on the table, prompting viewers to suspect that Tiao Tiao Wants to Eat Enough had poisoned Tiaotiao.
• Ye Guohong told Chang Licheng that USTC could have uncovered evidence through the body, police searches, or purchase records even without the camera footage.
• Gu Qunqing promised to publish the evidence and independent testing reports, then announced that the next topic was Xu Yun’s private life.

Corinna Asensio confronted Carlot after USTC exposed a flaw in its paid pet-death accusation, but he insisted their separate article could not fail. At the press conference, Zhang Rui dismantled a viral post accusing Xu Yun of abuse by presenting records and footage, then ended by revealing tests showed Xu Yun was still a virgin.

• Corinna Asensio demanded an explanation from Carlot after USTC disproved the pet blogger’s claims, and Carlot blamed the blogger’s greed while assuring her their other article was safe.
• Gu Qunqing introduced USTC Executive Vice Principal Zhang Rui, who examined the viral post accusing Xu Yun of mistreating a woman.
• Huang Zhou reported that official records showed Xu Yun had never registered for the game where the post claimed the couple met.
• Zhang Rui showed library and hospital surveillance footage proving Xu Yun was elsewhere during the dates of the woman’s abortions, and demonstrated that the man accompanying her was far taller than Xu Yun.
• Zhang Rui presented 16S rRNA test results from three institutions and declared that Xu Yun had never had sex with a woman.

USTC cleared Xu Yun’s name at a press conference with evidence that included a biological test report, provoking widespread laughter and ending the accusations. Afterward, Xu Yun saw his online attention grow and learned that Yi Ge Lang Mie sales were recovering, though the press conference’s deeper purpose was to draw out and eliminate the people behind the attack.

• Zhang Rui revealed Xu Yun’s test report, which showed that he was a fledgling, and the press conference erupted in laughter.
• Zhang Rui used frame-by-frame analysis to disprove the fabricated chat logs, and Shen Jianze concluded the university’s presentation; reporters had no further questions.
• Xu Yun returned backstage to 377 unread messages from friends and saw that the press conference had pushed the #XuYun topic to the top of Weibo’s trending list.
• Xu Yun noticed his follower count had risen and asked Gu Qunqing about product sales; Gu reported that sales were recovering and some customers had placed new orders.
• Xu Yun concluded that the press conference could restore Yi Ge Lang Mie’s sales but would not make it a hit again, as its real purpose was to expose and eliminate the people behind the attack.

After the backlash against Xu Yun began, influencer Ding Xiaxia’s account was permanently suspended, and police arrived at her home with a detention notice. The chapter left Ding Xiaxia and her husband facing detention over allegations of colluding with foreign forces and endangering public-opinion security.

• Ding Xiaxia’s history revealed how she built a large following by posting increasingly inflammatory relationship content and accepting payment to spread radical talking points.
• Ding Xiaxia and her husband’s team joined the campaign against Xu Yun, but Zhang Rui’s proof that Xu Yun was a virgin helped trigger a backlash against them.
• Ding Xiaxia’s husband told her their main account had lost about ten thousand followers, then discovered it was suspended and locked.
• Ding Xiaxia refreshed her own Weibo page and saw that her account had been permanently suspended for violating community guidelines.
• Ding Xiaxia opened her door to Director Ye, where Lin Ziming and several police officers presented her with a detention notice for her and her husband.

Lin Ziming arrested Ding Xiaxia and her husband for their online harassment, while Wang Li and her colleagues asked Meng Liang to testify against the people who ruined his life in the April 23 incident. Meng Liang agreed, and the chapter ended with him seeing sunlight break through the clouds.

• Lin Ziming showed Ding Xiaxia a detention notice, rejected her offer to repay the money, and ordered Wu Fan to take her and her husband away.
• Neighbors spread increasingly outrageous rumors about Ding Xiaxia after police took the couple from their home.
• Meng Liang finished a plumbing job and returned to his repair shop, where Wang Li, Qin Mingyan, and Yuan Shun were waiting for him.
• Wang Li's mention of the April 23 incident brought back how a student and an online influencer had falsely accused Meng Liang, doxxed him, and triggered harassment that cost him his education and his mother's health.
• Wang Li told Meng Liang that authorities had linked a professional troll to the incident and asked him to sue and testify; Meng Liang and his father eagerly agreed.
• After the officers left, Meng Liang looked up and saw the clouds had cleared, with sunlight shining down.

Wang Xiong reviewed the results of a nationwide sting operation against online harassment and coordinated accounts, finding millions of bots and over a million real people involved in repeated abuse. He ordered Old Chen to ensure platforms tightened registration checks and learned that many arrested influencers had posed as women or were married mothers, prompting him to conclude that it was all business.

• Old Chen reported that the operation had identified more than 36 million rule-breaking accounts, including overseas and domestic bots, and over 1.1 million real people behind accounts involved in repeated harassment.
• Wang Xiong told Old Chen to personally oversee account bans and the platforms’ tighter registration checks.
• Old Chen reported that more than 2,000 verified accounts had been banned and over 600 people identified for suspected dealings with overseas NGOs, while local police tracked those not yet arrested.
• Old Chen revealed that over 55% of the more than 400 people already in custody were men pretending to be women online, while most of the women were married with children.
• Wang Xiong imagined couples stirring up online conflict from home and sighed that it was all business.

After Huadun Biotech survived the public backlash, Xu Yun thanked the employees and led executives in deciding how to handle suppliers who had cut off materials during the crisis. The meeting approved building a factory to produce raw materials in-house, then turned to planning future sales.

• Xu Yun thanked Huadun Biotech's executives and employees for staying with the company through the crisis.
• Gu Qunqing and Zheng Zu explained that eleven upstream suppliers had terminated their supply agreements during the backlash and now wanted to resume business.
• Zheng Zu warned that switching suppliers would raise costs, while Qian Guanglin said the equipment needed to make key materials was relatively inexpensive.
• Xu Yun proposed building a factory to control the raw-material supply, and the meeting voted in favor.
• Xu Yun assigned Qian Guanglin to manage the project and contact Hanhua Heavy Industries for equipment; Gu Qunqing then introduced the sales plan discussion.

Huadun Biotech’s executives discussed cutting costs and rebuilding sales after the smear campaign pushed daily toothpaste sales far below their target. Tian Liangwei then revealed that evidence of the rival companies’ plot had reached the Academy of Sciences, and hinted that the first person to defect was a Gaul.

• Gu Qunqing reported that Huadun Biotech’s daily sales had recovered to about twenty-two thousand tubes but were likely to level off below their earlier peak.
• Xu Yun and Gu Qunqing proposed building loyalty among existing customers, reducing spending, and preparing for another competitive push in June.
• Zuo Ziyi and other managers suggested ways to cut costs and attract customers, while Guo Hua asked whether the company had to limit itself to damage control.
• Tian Liangwei received a call from Dean Hou and revealed that someone had given the Academy of Sciences a list of the plotters and a recording of their Webex meeting.
• Tian Liangwei named executives and representatives from several foreign companies who had attended the meeting, including Gareth Touré of Gaul’s Valeni Pesticide Company.
• Tian Liangwei told Gu Qunqing that the Risunon marketing specialist was not the first to switch sides, then hinted that the first defector was a Gaul.

Tian Liangwei explained how Gareth Thure used a Webex recording to negotiate a fertilizer contract with the Academy of Sciences, which decided to release the recording publicly. After the video spread online and triggered public outrage, Yi Ge Lang Mie's sales surged, leaving Huadun Biotech poised for further growth.

• Tian Liangwei told Gu Qunqing that Gareth Thure had obtained a backup of the Webex meeting recording after Yuri de Oliveira threatened to expose it, and explained that Yuri had attended because Risunon's senior executives were off for a Catholic holiday.
• Tian Liangwei said Valeni Pesticide Company had secured a five-year fertilizer contract worth 150 million Huaxia currency in exchange for Gareth's cooperation, and that USTC would publish the meeting recording.
• A Korean hacker group posted the recording on X, and Korean users spread it before Sichuan Province Observation reposted it, sending the story about seven foreign companies plotting against Huadun Biotech to the top of the trending list.
• Gu Qunqing told Xu Yun that Yi Ge Lang Mie's daily sales had passed 60,000 units, and sales continued to climb over the next days, reaching 114,514 units on January 19.

Huadun Biotech and Yi Ge Lang Mie saw surging sales after the leaked Webex footage stirred public opinion, while the companies implicated in the smear campaign faced mounting backlash. The six remaining firms agreed to apologize and dismiss the employees involved, and their statements appeared online three hours later.

• Yi Ge Lang Mie's daily sales exceeded ten million as customers bought cockroach poison in large quantities.
• Tokuda Kyoichiro learned that Asahi Company's sales had plunged and that the Japan Pest Control Association planned to revoke its market entry qualifications.
• Tokuda Kyoichiro discovered that Takeda Heizo had signed the notice against Asahi Company.
• Executives from Advion, Vilosi, Valeni Pesticide Company, Risunon, Nutrien, and Bayer met to decide how to respond to the leaked footage and their falling market values.
• Paul Linde warned Angelica Alda Braga that mishandling the scandal could help rivals take control of Nutrien, and she eventually agreed to apologize.
• Three hours later, the six companies published apologies and announced that they had dismissed the employees who attended the smear meeting.

After foreign companies fired the experts involved in the smear campaign, Tian Liangwei told Xu Yun that the Academy of Sciences had secured substantial compensation from them. Bayer would help Huadun Biotech qualify to export Yi Ge Lang Mie to the EU, and Tian Liangwei was about to explain the other two forms of compensation.

• Corinna Asensio and the other experts involved in the scandal were fired, and foreign media showed Corinna leaving Advion's headquarters in disgrace.
• Tian Liangwei told Xu Yun that the Academy of Sciences would demand compensation beyond the companies' apologies and dismissals.
• Tian Liangwei described Bayer's transfer of pharmaceutical formulae, Advion's non-patented technologies, and Nutrien's embargoed equipment as compensation.
• Tian Liangwei revealed that Bayer would help Yi Ge Lang Mie qualify for export to the EU, a major opportunity for Huadun Biotech.
• Tian Liangwei said Bayer had agreed under pressure from natural gas concerns and Muddy Waters Capital's short position, and that qualification might take one or two months.
• Xu Yun asked Tian Liangwei what the other two forms of compensation were.

Tian Liangwei explained that Xu Yun had been granted the chance to present a Hundred Talents A proposal and could choose among several promising research projects. He then revealed that the Academy had used the Advion smear campaign to negotiate Lu Xiao’s return from Microsoft, giving Xu Yun access to a leading biointelligence expert.

• Tian Liangwei told Xu Yun that the Academy would let him present a Hundred Talents A proposal, provided his project passed its internal assessment.
• Xu Yun considered possible proposals, including a microbial battery, ground-state processing of Isolated Point Particles, MR Technology, hemostatic gel, and DNA storage.
• Tian Liangwei asked Xu Yun about Advion and then brought up the HealthTOHO project and its leader, Lu Xiao.
• Tian Liangwei explained that Lu Xiao had wanted to return to China but Microsoft had blocked his departure because of his advanced research.
• Tian Liangwei said the Academy had leveraged the Advion incident to make AstraZeneca negotiate with Microsoft, securing Lu Xiao’s return for Xu Yun’s team.

Xu Yun spent New Year's Eve in Hefei with friends and helped Old Su ease his impatience about adapting to the modern era. After dinner, Xu Yun entered Halo Space.

• Xu Yun encouraged Old Su to be patient by showing him the account of Su Song's nine years at the imperial library in the History of Song.
• Old Su asked why people no longer set off fireworks, and Xu Yun explained Hefei's ban on them.
• Xu Yun, Old Su, Gu Qunqing, Weng Yujing, Qiu Sheng, and Zhang Heguang shared a New Year's Eve dinner and discussed their plans for 2023.
• Xu Yun considered revealing God King Star to the public through Zhang Heguang but decided the timing was not right.
• After the guests left, Xu Yun returned to his room and entered Halo Space.

Xu Yun entered the Halo Space and discovered that two regular instances were now available, then chose the special instance and received a cloth pouch that would appear once he entered. He prepared for the Imperial Seal mission by considering possible historical periods and ordering supplies, and the chapter ended as the New Year began.

• Xu Yun saw the 1665 gate rise to [47/100] and the regular gate reach [100/100], then read a prompt offering a choice between Instance A and Instance B.
• Xu Yun chose B and received a small cloth pouch that would materialize inside the instance after he entered.
• Xu Yun decided to delay opening the instance until he had finished his Spring Festival obligations and considered possible settings, including Later Tang, the Sui and Tang dynasties, the Five Barbarians Uprising, the Late Eastern Han Dynasty, and the Xin Dynasty.
• Xu Yun ordered gold, silver, period clothing, and other supplies to prepare for the Imperial Seal mission.
• Firecrackers sounded outside as Xu Yun noticed that midnight had arrived and the New Year had begun.

Xu Yun, Tian Liangwei, and Chen Yunji welcomed Lu Xiao and his daughter, Lu Wenjia, back to China and discussed Lu Xiao’s fears about returning from abroad. The chapter left Lu Xiao safely headed toward his new work at Huadun Biotech, with Xu Yun welcoming him home.

• Xu Yun met Chen Yunji at USTC and learned that Chen had come to represent their shared mentor, Academician Chen Guoliang, in welcoming Lu Xiao.
• Xu Yun, Tian Liangwei, Chen Yunji, and Tang Li drove to Xinqiao Airport and waited for Lu Xiao’s delayed flight from Incheon.
• Lu Xiao arrived with his five-year-old daughter, Lu Wenjia, greeted Chen Yunji, and was introduced to Tian Liangwei and Xu Yun.
• Lu Xiao joined Tian Liangwei and Xu Yun in a van while Tang Li and Lu Wenjia rode in the other vehicle, and he admitted he had feared for his safety before returning to China.
• Xu Yun recalled the deaths of Chinese scientists abroad before their planned returns, then welcomed Lu Xiao home.

Xu Yun outlined Huadun Biotech’s finances and promised Lu Xiao generous funding and resources to establish an MR research center. Convinced that the company offered the expertise and support he needed, Lu Xiao agreed to join, completing the company’s short-term team.

• Lu Xiao asked about Huadun Biotech’s situation, and Xu Yun described its ownership, staff, profits, and ongoing research.
• Xu Yun gave Lu Xiao a proposal for an MR Technology Research Center, which impressed him with its scope and direction.
• Xu Yun explained the company’s plan to build a supercomputer and promised Lu Xiao startup funding, regular research budgets, and access to USTC recruits.
• Lu Xiao weighed the support against his original plan to stay for only a year and decided Huadun Biotech was a good place to work.
• Lu Xiao and Xu Yun shook hands and agreed to work together.