He fiercely criticized the Manchu scholar clique and the twelve emperors of the Qing Dynasty.

The number of viewers in the live stream remained steadily below 20,000, and the barrage of comments on the right side of the screen scrolled at an extremely fast speed, so fast that the naked eye could only catch a fleeting afterimage.

Zhao Shuyao sat at his desk, leaning back slightly, his gaze fixed on the monitor as he quickly extracted the various colored text information.

The interactive area was filled with words like "support," "integrity," and "great righteousness."

Picking up the water glass, the first tactical objective of this online self-defense counterattack has been achieved: the filth on the level of private morality has been cleansed, and the logical closed loop of behavioral motivation has been completely established.

Zhao Shuyao put down his water glass, picked up the mouse, and closed the screenshot of the timeline in the center of the screen.

"Now that everyone understands the sequence of events and realizes I didn't smash the pot just to steal food, let's leave this topic at that," Zhao Shuyao said calmly, looking at the camera's sensor. "Let's talk about something more realistic."

There was a brief pause in the comment section, followed by a series of question marks.

Zhao Shuyao placed his fingers interlaced on the table: "I just saw many friends leaving messages saying they want to crowdfund to help me with the lawsuit, and some even want to donate money for my medical expenses."

A slight smile appeared on his lips. "I appreciate everyone's kindness, but a gentleman loves money, but he earns it in a proper way. I cannot take this kind of money."

He stopped smiling, his expression turning solemn: "Frankly speaking, everyone, the actual pressure I'm facing right now is far greater than you can imagine."

The moment this statement was made, the information flow in the live stream changed immediately.

"Teacher Zhao, has someone threatened you?" a netizen with a red diamond icon asked.

"Could it be that the Yan family is going to make exorbitant demands, and the medical expenses will bankrupt you?"

"Is the school putting pressure on you again? Didn't you say there were no more spots available for you to stay on campus? What else could they be doing to stop you? Stopping your graduation?"

"Your family will definitely be implicated. This kind of capitalist tactic is the dirtiest. If they can't find any flaws in your case, they'll go after your parents!"

Within seconds, speculation about his studies, work, personal life, and family filled the screen.

Zhao Shuyao scanned the questions intently, categorizing the information. He devised a progressively challenging response strategy in his mind, which involved using humor to defuse the panic and then using facts to escalate the confrontation.

"Let's go through it point by point." Zhao Shuyao raised his right index finger. "First of all, there are the exorbitant medical expenses. I mentioned in a previous video that the patient's blood and qi were attacked, leading to hospitalization. This is due to individual physiological differences."

"If you want me to pay, you need a legally valid causal appraisal report from the court. As long as the court dares to rule, I dare to pay. We still have this much legal common sense."

Then he bent his index finger and raised his middle finger: "Secondly, there are threats to personal safety and family."

Zhao Shuyao spread his hands, his tone becoming extremely relaxed: "My parents work on construction sites in the south year-round, living and eating there. It's a world of reinforced concrete."

"If a well-dressed man were to go down to the scaffolding and talk about the big picture, or try to coerce or bribe me, my fellow workers who deal with cement every day wouldn't give a damn about any academic giants."

The live stream chat immediately erupted with a barrage of "hahahaha" comments, instantly dispelling the previously tense and oppressive atmosphere.

"Teacher Zhao is an educated person, but his family has a physical defense against it!"

"A shovel can quell any rebellion!"

Seeing that the atmosphere had become more lively, Zhao Shuyao tapped his finger twice on the table to steer the conversation back on track.

"Finally, let's talk about studies and future prospects." Zhao Shuyao looked directly into the camera, his gaze sharp as a knife. "You all guessed right, the spot to stay at the university is just the beginning. Someone passed on a message to me yesterday afternoon."

"If I don't delete the video and publicly admit my mistake, my three years of graduate studies will have been wasted, I won't be able to get my diploma and degree, and I might even get a disciplinary record."

The live chat was instantly filled with anger.

"Why should they? Does their family own the school?!"

"Just because you argued with that old man, the school is going to expel you? Where's the backbone of Tokyo University?!"

"This is no longer an academic debate; this is blatant persecution!"

In the live chat window, reporter Wang frowned, his pen flying across his notebook. This involved the abuse of power within the higher education system, making it an extremely newsworthy story.

Zhao Shuyao did not allow netizens' emotions to remain at the level of simple anger; he needed to guide this force to recognize the deeper systemic cancers.

"Friends, don't rush to criticize the school." Zhao Shuyao's tone was calm, suppressing the surging comments in the live chat. "Dongda is a century-old institution, and the vast majority of its teachers and leaders are principled. But have you ever thought about this question?"

He leaned forward, bringing the camera closer: "What kind of power could make certain administrators at a century-old university willing to risk public backlash to destroy a student who spoke the truth?"

He paused deliberately for a second.

"What kind of force could mobilize a massive online army, bribe various influential self-media figures, and even get major print media outlets to adopt a unified narrative to attack me within just a few dozen hours?"

The comment section fell silent as over ten thousand people pondered this crucial question.

Zhao Shuyao leaned back in his chair: "Today I'm going to introduce a term to everyone."

He slowly and clearly pronounced two words: "academic clique."

A series of repeated comments immediately appeared on the live stream screen: "Academic clique?"

"This word sounds familiar, but what does it actually mean?"

"Isn't it similar to a chaebol?"

Zhao Shuyao smiled. This was exactly the teaching pace he needed. It's better to teach a man to fish than to give him a fish.

"There should be quite a few high school freshmen in our live stream, and most of you adults have gone through nine years of compulsory education," Zhao Shuyao tapped his fingers on the table. "History textbooks all have a concept called 'warlord.' Can anyone explain the characteristics of a warlord to everyone in the simplest terms?"

This interactive, classroom-style questioning greatly stimulated netizens' sense of participation.

A user with the online name "History Exam 90" quickly commented: "Warlords are like kings who occupy mountains and call the shots in their own territories."

Following closely, another netizen added: "He keeps a group of people under his command, and beats anyone who disobeys him. He ignores orders from the central government."

"Those who obey prosper, those who oppose perish; they'll do anything, no matter how unscrupulous, to seize territory!"

Zhao Shuyao looked at the answers and nodded in satisfaction.

"Very accurate." Zhao Shuyao pointed to the screen. "Now, let's switch the guns and territories in the hands of the 'warlords' and replace them with 'academic resources' and 'the right to interpret history,' and then everyone can think about the term 'academic warlord' again."

These words, when they landed in the live stream, were like a bombshell, instantly facilitating a complete understanding among the viewers.

The barrage of comments immediately exploded.

"I get it! Old Man Yan and his gang are treating the history of the Ming and Qing dynasties as their private domain!"

"My God, the right to interpret history has become their territory. On this territory, only they can say that the Qing Dynasty was good. Anyone who dares to say a single word against it is infringing on their territory!"

"No wonder! Graduate students and scholars who want to make a living in Ming and Qing history have to become their private soldiers, writing papers and conducting research according to their rules, or else they'll cut off your funding and take away your livelihood!"

"This is the academic world's 'those who conform prosper, those who oppose perish' mentality. If you don't pander to them, they won't even give you a diploma!"

"It's terrifying to think about. If even history is monopolized by these academic tyrants, will ordinary people like us ever be able to see the truth again?"

Reporter Wang nodded heavily in the lower left corner of the screen. He had done a lot of in-depth reporting and knew how precise and deadly Zhao Shuyao's deconstruction was.

This is no longer just a dispute between a student and a tutor; it has completely exposed the hypocrisy of cultural compradors and vested interest groups.

Zhao Shuyao looked at the boiling public opinion on the screen with unusually clear eyes.

"Everyone's summary is spot on," Zhao Shuyao said, his voice firm and resolute. "When history loses its pursuit of truth and becomes a tool for certain people to maintain their vested interests, that is the greatest evil of academic cliques."

He gripped the mouse: "I'm doing this live stream today not only to prove my innocence, but also to show everyone with my actions that as long as I don't back down, these academic cliques can't cover up the sky of the internet."

Click on a folder on the desktop: "Words are no proof. As I just mentioned, if I fail to graduate in the end, it's all their fault. Here is a recording of a conversation I had with the dean's office."

Zhao Shuyao moved the cursor to the audio file, and just as he was about to press the play button, the phone on the desktop suddenly vibrated violently. The crisp ringtone penetrated the computer microphone and entered the ears of tens of thousands of viewers in the live broadcast room.

Zhao Shuyao stopped what he was doing and looked at the incoming call display flashing on his phone screen.

He picked up his phone, flipped the screen, and pointed it directly at the camera.

Under the high-definition lens, the words "Assistant Li from the School of Humanities" were clearly displayed in bold font to more than 10,000 viewers.

Zhao Shuyao's lips curled into a cool smile: "Friends, unfortunately, the school is calling." His tone was relaxed. "Please wait a moment, I need to take this call and handle this."

The live chat exploded instantly.

"Don't mute your microphone, Teacher Zhao, don't mute your microphone!"

"Put it on speakerphone and let us hear how these lackeys of the academic clique bite!"

"Put it on speakerphone. With over ten thousand people as witnesses, let's see how they dare threaten you!"

"Take this, put your phone next to the microphone. We're going to handle this today!"

The crowd was outraged, with over ten thousand eyes fixed on the phone on the screen.