248: Chapter 248 Cyber ​​Warfare (Part 1)

Testing had progressed to the tenth day, and the covered population had surpassed two hundred million.

Everything was operating normally in the data aggregation room, with a cumulative total of forty-seven SS-ranks, while SSS-ranks remained at zero.

Zhou Peide had already grown accustomed to staring at that vacant spot. Every morning when he came in, he would take a glance first, see that it was empty, nod, and continue working.

However, the outside world was already in an uproar.

...

The fuse of the matter was a blogger.

His online handle was [Rational Citizen Mr. X], with over four hundred thousand followers. He routinely published articles critiquing current affairs, always maintaining the tone of a frustrated-yet-caring middle-aged intellectual. Every piece was written with burning passion, as if he were the only sober person in the entire world.

On the second day after testing started, he published a long article titled: "Who Will Protect the Genetic Data of 1.4 Billion People?"

The core argument of the article was—once the state collected the genetic data of the entire population, the consequences of a leak would be unimaginable. Furthermore, such a massive project had completely skipped thorough public discussion, making it a classic example of a "hot-headed policy."

The final paragraph of the article read: "I am not opposed to testing; I am opposed to this opaque way of operating. We have the right to know what these data are used for, where they are stored, and who has the right to access them."

On the first day this article was published, it received eight thousand likes and three thousand shares, with cheers filling the comment section.

Then came the second day.

Someone dug out the original notice, took screenshots of the clauses regarding genetic data protection within it, enlarged the text, and explained them point by point.

Someone posted a video recording the entire testing process—sit down, grip the iron balls, get the results in thirty seconds, and then explain clearly one by one which System the data was transmitted to, whether it was encrypted, and whether de-identification processing was performed.

The most fierce one was a programmer whose online handle was [You Say You Understand Technology], who specifically wrote a refutation post. The first sentence at the beginning was:

"The author of the original article wrote very emotionally, but got three things wrong. Let me list them one by one."

And he really listed them one by one, writing a full two thousand words to meticulously break down and explain every single error in the original text, citing exclusively public documents and technical specifications, with a source link attached to every single point.

At the end, he added a sentence: "Right, if you ask me, our circle has looked over this data collection architecture, and it's much safer than the medical Systems of certain so-called democratic countries."

This sentence ignited the comment section.

[I Am A Taxpayer]: Of course, the foreign moon is always round.

[Love Eating Coriander]: No, what he said makes sense. The issue of data security is worth discussing in the first place.

[Fat Sisters Daily Life]: I don't care about all that. Anyway, it was free so I went to get tested; the country isn't going to screw me over, and in the afternoon I even caught the box of milk distributed by the community.

This last comment was shared eighty thousand times.

The most upvoted reply in the comment section came from [Too Lazy To Think Of A Name Let It Be Like This], with only a single sentence:

"Milk... The country truly understands us."

[Fat Sisters Daily Life] herself appeared in the comment section to add: "At the time, I even complained that it was skim milk and not fragrant enough."

This cracked the comment section up.

[You Say You Are Skim I Say You Are Whole Milk] replied: "Fat Sister, you are the most sober person in this entire incident."

On this day, [Rational Citizen Mr. X] quietly deleted the original post without any explanation, and even the pinned reply stating "I am merely expressing reasonable doubt" disappeared along with it.

Sharp-eyed netizens took a screenshot, with the accompanying text being just three words: "Ran away."

But the matter did not end there.

...

On the second day after [Fat Sisters Daily Life]'s post flooded the screens, another piece of news quietly popped up.

It was posted by a middle-aged man whose online handle was [Foshan Liangzai], with no buildup whatsoever, just a single sentence:

"I went to get tested, and the factory deducted half a day's wages from me, but the subdistrict office compensated me with three hundred yuan for lost work time, and gave me an extra box of milk."

Then he added: "I actually quite like this testing; it would be best if it happened every day."

At the very beginning, this post didn't make much noise, with only a few hundred shares and sparse comments underneath.

Until the next day, a major account screenshotted and reshared this post with the accompanying text: "This is the most infuriating comment I've seen today."

Then it blew up.

Within twelve hours, the share count surpassed two million.

Just at this moment, a batch of accounts whose IPs were not within Great Xia densely appeared.

[I Am A Taxpayer] [IP: Little Notebook] took the lead in popping out, carrying an inexplicable sense of superiority in their tone: "Hehe, the state just wastes taxpayers' money like this, doing such boring things. Panpan-men only know how to follow along and have never known how to think independently."

[Human Rights Observer 2024] [IP: US] closely followed up with a comment: "This is a classic case of government-manipulated public opinion. Free? There is no free lunch in this world; your data is the real price. Wake up."

[Wind of Freedom] [IP: Bangzi] sarcastically posted: "Dismissing people with a box of milk, hilarious. Is this the major power in some people's mouths? I wonder if they can even afford tea eggs nowadays."

Immediately after, an account with no name and only a string of digital numbers [IP: Europe], posted a passage that looked like it was directly copied and pasted from some commentary article:

"The government of Great Xia has always been adept at placing citizens into experiments, while these citizens are often completely oblivious to it. This time's 'genetic screening' is perhaps no different. One can only say they are quite pathetic."

The atmosphere in the comment section changed at this moment.

The Great Xia netizens who were originally still discussing whether the milk was skim and whether three hundred yuan was enough to spend, collectively came to a halt.

There was silence for about three seconds.

Then the comment section completely blew up.

Everyone seemed to have suddenly found a common target, and the tone of the conversation uniformly shifted in the same direction.

[Fat Sisters Daily Life] [IP: Sichuan Province] rushed up first, her tone three notches harsher than usual: "Sorry, me saying the milk wasn't fragrant enough was my own way of complaining about myself. When is it the turn of an IP account in Taiwan to worry on my behalf when people from our own family are talking about our own family matters? How many years have you been using that tea egg meme? Can't you change to a new one?"

[Foshan Liangzai] [IP: Guangdong] followed up, his tone still maintaining that leisurely middle-aged man cadence, unhurried and calm: "Exactly, whether we complain about the policies above or agree with the policies above, those are all our own family matters. Who are you? By what right do you point fingers at our family affairs."

[Too Lazy To Think Of A Name Let It Be Like This] [IP: Sichuan] pieced together the IP screenshots of several overseas accounts and posted them, with the accompanying text being just a single sentence: "The US, Bangzi, Little Notebook, and Europe, all neat and tidy. What a fine group of international friends caring about the common people of Great Xia."