The richest man started taking advantage of loopholes after joining Alibaba.

Weiguang Public Relations Department, 8:00 AM.

This doesn't look like a tech company's office; it looks more like a trench that's just been bombarded.

The telephone rang incessantly, its shrill sound threatening to lift the ceiling.

The printers were spitting out paper like crazy, and dozens of employees with messy hair were yelling into the phone with red eyes and thick necks, or frantically typing on the keyboard, trying to stop this sudden tsunami.

"It's blown up! It's all blown up!"

Public relations director Lao Zhang, clutching a tablet computer, stumbled into Lin Che's office without even knocking.

"Boss! Do you even have any shame?!"

He slammed the tablet onto the coffee table in front of Lin Che. On the screen was a post that a Weibo influencer with millions of followers had just pinned.

The bold, black-lettered title is like a slap across the face of the dim light:

Exclusive Exclusive: Is Lin Che's "Safety Whitelist" a Protection Fee or a Book of Life and Death?

The accompanying image was a photoshopped picture: Lin Che sat on a pile of money with a ferocious expression, while Tang Jun knelt on the ground begging for mercy with an innocent look on his face.

Lin Che picked up the tablet and swiped his finger across it.

The article, written with great emotion, stated: "According to insiders, Lin Che, the founder of Weiguang Technology, privately demanded a 'technical service fee' of up to 10 billion yuan from Jubaopen. Because President Tang refused to pay this exorbitant protection fee, Weiguang, taking advantage of its monopolistic position, maliciously removed Jubaopen, the industry leader, from the whitelist and fabricated data to suppress it..."

The comments section was even more appalling.

In less than half an hour, it was forwarded over 50,000 times and commented on over 100,000 times.

"This is outrageous! This is the true face of capitalists!"

"I feel sorry for President Tang. A perfectly good private enterprise has been ruined by this kind of rogue company."

"Get Weiguang out of the financial industry! Boycott Weiguang Payment!"

"So, the so-called big data risk control is just a tool for extortion? Disgusting!"

A chorus of insults.

Some "enthusiastic netizens" even doxxed Lin Che's office address and called on the victims to come downstairs at Weiguang Building to "demand an explanation".

"It's not just this one."

Old Zhang was sweating profusely, his voice trembling. "Zhihu, Toutiao, WeChat official accounts... even WeChat Moments, it's all over them! This is clearly organized, how much money must they have spent on these online trolls! Right now, three out of the top ten trending topics are insults against us!"

"Boss, we have to issue a statement! And a lawyer's letter! Also, contact Weibo immediately to remove it from the trending topics list, no matter the cost!"

Lin Che leaned back in his chair, looking at the foul language on the screen, without even a trace of anger on his face.

He even had the leisure to comment: "The writing is good, and the persuasiveness is very strong. This 'insider' has made up a very detailed story, even describing the detail of me smashing a glass at the dinner party—although I never even went to that dinner party."

"Boss! The fire's already at our eyebrows!" Old Zhang stamped his feet anxiously, looking at Lin Che's state. "If we don't withdraw, our brand image will be completely ruined! Merchants are already calling to ask if they can terminate their contracts!"

"We cannot retreat."

Lin Che put down the tablet, his voice cold and hard, "Don't withdraw any of them."

"What?!" Old Zhang thought he had misheard.

At that moment, Xie Yu pushed open the door and rushed in, carrying a laptop in his arms, with strings of green code running on the screen.

"Boss, I've already written the blocking script in the backend. As long as the keywords match 'extortion' or 'protection money,' I can prevent it from being published! Give me ten minutes, and I can clear out half of these smear articles!"

Xie Yu's finger hovered over the Enter key, his eyes bloodshot from staying up all night and being furious.

"stop."

Lin Che's voice wasn't loud, but it carried an undeniable sense of command.

"Take your hand away."

Xie Yu froze, staring at Lin Che in disbelief: "Boss, they're spreading rumors! They're trying to pin this on us! How can we tolerate this?"

"This isn't a scapegoat, this is evidence."

Lin Che stood up, walked to Xie Yu's side, and slammed his laptop shut.

"If you delete it now, we'll really be acting like we've done something wrong. More importantly..."

Lin Che pointed to the Abyss terminal server next to him, which was in a dormant state.

"Tang Jun spent a lot of money this time, such a large-scale deployment of naval forces, there must be traces of the funds flowing through the water. Does he think he can clean it up by just flipping a few offshore accounts? He's too naive."

Lin Che's eyes sharpened.

"Xie Yu, don't delete the posts. I want you to bring all of Abyss's computing power to me and reverse trace the IPs of these posting accounts and the financial chains behind them."

"Every smear article is evidence that Tang Jun hired someone to kill. The louder he shouts online, the more footprints he leaves behind."

"I want the complete chain of evidence—how every penny transferred from his so-called 'protective umbrella' account ended up in the pockets of these influential figures and marketing accounts, even if it went through a hundred layers of intermediaries, I want to dig it all out!"

Xie Yu was stunned for a moment, then the anger in his eyes turned into excitement.

"You mean... this idiot bought the smear campaign with his own money?"

"A cornered dog will jump over the wall and won't bother to clean up its mess," Lin Che said coldly. "Right now, he just wants to ruin my reputation so that his stock price can stop falling and he can climb out of that quagmire. But he forgot that on the internet, everything leaves a trace."

"Got it!" Xie Yu grabbed his laptop, turned, and ran off. "I'm going to expose him right now!"

The office fell silent again.

Old Zhang was still a little uneasy: "Boss, what about public opinion...?"

"Have the PR department issue a brief statement." Lin Che straightened his cuffs. "Just one sentence: 'Trust the law, await the truth,' then go about your business. Don't get into a shouting match with those mad dogs; it'll lower your standards."

"Yes..." Although Old Zhang was unsure, he could only do as instructed.

Lin Che walked to the window and looked downstairs.

Although he couldn't hear anything, he could see that several people holding signs had gathered at the gate, clearly "professional medical malpractice protesters" hired by Tang Jun.

That "besieging Wei to rescue Zhao" tactic was executed quite skillfully.

By stirring up public opinion and dragging Weiguang down to the same moral low ground as him, no one will pay attention to the data fabrication of Jubaopen.

Unfortunately, Tang Jun didn't know what cards his opponent held.

Just then, the red secure phone on the table suddenly rang.

That's a hotline that regulators only call for urgent matters.

The ringtone sounded particularly jarring in the quiet office, carrying a sense of oppressive officialdom.

Old Zhang stopped abruptly as he was about to leave, turning back to look at the phone in horror.

Lin Che's gaze sharpened slightly.

coming.

Public opinion has become too strong, and the authorities can no longer sit still.

He walked over, picked up the receiver, and said calmly, "Hello, this is Lin Che."

A serious and deep middle-aged male voice came from the other end of the phone, getting straight to the point without any pleasantries.

"Lin Che, the matter online has caused a huge uproar. Someone has reported that Weiguang is suspected of using its market dominance to engage in commercial extortion. Although we don't entirely believe it, the public opinion is too intense, and the higher-ups have ordered us to investigate."

"You need to provide a reasonable explanation. If the situation cannot be calmed down within two hours, we will consider suspending some of Weiguang Payment's operations and cooperating with the investigation."

Lin Che's fingers tightened slightly as he gripped the receiver.

Business suspended.

This is exactly the result the Tang army wanted.

As long as the glimmer of light stops, even for just one day, the treasure basin will have a chance to catch its breath, and may even turn the tide.

"Boss, give me half a day."

Lin Che glanced at the clock on the wall.

"I will give everyone an explanation before tonight, not just a formality, but concrete evidence."

There was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the phone.

"Okay, if things are still in this chaotic state by 8 p.m. tonight, we'll have no choice but to follow the rules."

"Beep—beep—"

The phone hangs up.

Lin Che put down the receiver and took a deep breath of the gunpowder-smelling air.

The pressure was at its peak.

But the light in his eyes grew brighter and brighter.

"Old Zhang."

Lin Che turned his head and looked at the public relations director who was completely terrified.

"Notify the legal department to prepare the indictment. Tonight, we're going to have a tough fight."