Public Opinion's Carnival

The head of the Life Foundation's publicity department was taking action.

He knew the scandal could not be reversed and only hoped to minimize the damage it would inflict on the Life Foundation.

However, neither he nor Carlton Drake had expected that netizens hammering away with their keyboards in the virtual world would come harder and faster than anticipated.

Within just a few hours, netizens had banded together and left messages on the San Francisco city government's official website.

Even the White House website's message board was instantly flooded with thousands of posts related to the homeless, demanding that the White House order a thorough investigation into the matter.

At the same time, citizens who had long been displeased with the Life Foundation, along with those happy to cause trouble for the San Francisco city government, joined forces to pressure the city government.

Daily Bugle.

Anton sat in his office, staring at the various rumors on his computer screen with an odd expression.

The situation had slipped somewhat out of control.

Online public opinion was rapidly fermenting. Information about the Homeless Home had spread across most websites, as if it had become a carnival for netizens to offer up a sacrifice.

The Life Foundation was that sacrifice.

With the Daily Bugle's capabilities, it could certainly fan the flames around this topic, but for the buzz to explode to this extent was far beyond Anton's expectations.

Anton vaguely sensed that the Daily Bugle was not the only one taking action against the Life Foundation.

The Daily Bugle was merely the one who had flipped the table.

There were also many shadowy figures secretly exerting force behind the scenes, adding fuel to the fire.

Those old schemers who had quietly joined in without so much as a greeting, with no sense of fair play, had tacitly joined forces with the Daily Bugle to surround the Life Foundation from all sides.

On reflection, it made sense.

The Life Foundation had risen quickly and held numerous patents for new pharmaceuticals. With so many interests entangled, it was bound to make plenty of competitors jealous.

Not wanting others to succeed was simply human nature.

Even without any personal grudge, countless people were happy to see the Life Foundation suffer.

The Life Foundation was a huge cake.

Its collapse would give countless people a chance to grab a slice.

And the Daily Bugle, led by Anton, was the trailblazer holding the cutlery and making the first cut into that cake.

"So that's how it is. We're being used as someone else's blade."

Anton stroked his chin and muttered in realization, "You could tell from the rocket crash that these old schemers had their eyes on the Life Foundation. Otherwise, Carlton Drake wouldn't have been so eager to appear on all kinds of interview programs to stabilize the company. He was doing it entirely to warn those old schemers..."

"But this time, you're going to be disappointed, Drake!"

He smiled.

Click-clack!

Betty approached Anton in high heels, her hips swaying.

"Today's newspaper sales are three times last month's average. It looks like a lot of people, influenced by online public opinion, are waiting for us to reveal more."

Her expression was excited as she reported, "The Life Foundation just contacted us. They hope we'll remain silent from now on—preferably distance the Life Foundation from the Homeless Home. They're willing to pay one hundred million dollars in hush money."

"One hundred million dollars?"

Anton was startled and sighed. "That's quite generous."

"There's also an additional condition," Betty added. "Fire Eddie Brock. If we want the one hundred million dollars, we have to carry out that condition."

"Tell them to eat shit."

Anton showed no courtesy and scoffed.

Now that he knew the Life Foundation was facing not merely the Daily Bugle, but the joint siege of one or perhaps several old schemers, Anton was no longer as concerned about the Life Foundation's counterattack.

All he was thinking about now was how to save Eddie, who was trapped in prison.

"It's time to add fuel to the fire."

Anton looked at Betty and smiled again. "You know what I mean."

"Of course."

Betty nodded seriously.

Meanwhile, in San Francisco, Phil received Anton's order and hired two people to hold banners on the street.

[Human dignity is priceless! Boycott the Life Foundation!]

[Tear down the Homeless Home! The homeless are human too, not animals raised in pens!]

He organized a march.

More and more people joined in on the streets.

The incident had only been exposed for a short time, but the evidence was irrefutable, leaving the Life Foundation with no room to argue.

Combined with its earlier disgusting promotional material, many San Francisco residents felt they had been deceived.

Thus, the march quickly grew.

Phil secretly manipulated things, leading the march first to the Homeless Home.

The Homeless Association's security guards were powerless to stop them.

Though they held clubs in their hands, they were ultimately outnumbered in the face of so many people.

The conditions inside the Homeless Home were finally exposed before everyone's eyes.

Local San Francisco independent media reporters, video bloggers, and others carried cameras to record it all. It was as though they had discovered a treasure trove, and every one of them was exceptionally excited.

Even more people held up their phones to film.

This fresh wave of material immediately sent the Homeless Home trending again.

The offensive came like a violent storm. The Life Foundation could not defend itself, and its stain could no longer be washed away.

At the same time, the Daily Bugle's official media account released another piece of information that nearly alerted media outlets across the country.

Countless netizens shifted their attention away from the Homeless Home and fully onto the Life Foundation.

The Daily Bugle revealed that the Life Foundation had made homeless people sign volunteer agreements they could not understand at all and that were fundamentally unequal. Through illegal and noncompliant practices, it had used homeless people for human experimentation.

The reason the Life Foundation had developed so rapidly over the years was because it had secretly conducted countless human experiments.

Thousands upon thousands of lives had been consumed in the process.

The Homeless Home was a "pig farm" prepared by the Life Foundation for its human experiments, stocked with people waiting to be harvested at any time.

This news report was like a depth charge, once again causing an uproar.

Although the Daily Bugle's report provided no substantive evidence, the crimes were already there for all to see. The state of the Homeless Home, witnessed by countless people, practically confirmed the truth of the revelation.

Someone interviewed homeless people.

Sure enough, they learned that quite a few had already signed agreements with the Life Foundation and had been taken away because of it.

According to the homeless people interviewed, those who signed the agreements never returned after cooperating with the Life Foundation's experiments.

The Homeless Home's staff claimed that these people had returned to normal lives.

But someone seized on this point and asked the staff to provide the current locations, names, and detailed information of those homeless people. The staff refused, citing personal privacy.

That only further confirmed the revelation's authenticity.

For a time, the Daily Bugle rose to fame in the name of justice.

The Life Foundation, meanwhile, became a complete loser, branded as scum amid the carnival of countless netizens and media outlets.

Seizing the opportunity, Phil organized another march and led a group of San Francisco citizens calling for justice to the Life Foundation's experimental base.

This time, his goal was to rescue Eddie.