126: Chapter 126 Public Opinion Reversal, the Whole Internet Feels Sorry (Not Really)

In the top-floor office of Titan Center, the air conditioning was on full blast.

Chen Yuan sat in the boss chair that symbolized absolute power, holding a cup of black coffee that had already gone cold.

On the massive holographic projection screen, real-time comments from the Chinese internet were scrolling crazily.

It was a belated "cyber confession" filled with cheap sentimentality.

"I'm sorry, Brother Chen Yuan, we misunderstood you. You are the one who has been carrying everything."

"I'm crying so hard. Kicked out of the house at eighteen, struggling alone in a foreign land, and having to face the pursuit of your own family... How desperate must that have been?"

"Arms dealer? That was for self-preservation! If it were me, I would have gone crazy long ago! Chen Yuan is a real man!"

"Heartbroken! The whole internet feels heartbroken for Chen Yuan! That bunch of vampires from the Chen family must pay the price!"

The screen was filled with "heartbroken," "I'm sorry," and "hugs."

Some people even started an absurd campaign to "crowdfund buying candy for Chen Yuan," raising millions in just half an hour.

Chen Yuan watched these numbers, his expression devoid of any fluctuation.

There were no tears of being moved, nor the relief of having his name cleared.

Only a faint, cold mockery.

"Boss, it seems your image has been completely turned around."

Victor stood to the side, looking at those cringeworthy comments, and couldn't help but rub the goosebumps on his arms. "Now, netizens in the country treat you as the epitome of 'beautiful, strong, and miserable,' and some are even writing fanfiction about you."

"Beautiful, strong, and miserable?"

Chen Yuan chuckled softly, his fingers tapping gently on the desk.

"Victor, do you know? In this world, sympathy is the cheapest thing."

He stood up and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, overlooking Manhattan below, illuminated by neon lights.

"When you are weak, they will trample you, curse you, and treat you like trash."

"When you are strong and show your wounds, they will swarm to you, using tears and likes to satisfy their own ridiculous sense of moral superiority."

"They don't feel heartbroken for me."

Chen Yuan turned around, his eyes as sharp as knives.

"They are just moving themselves."

"I don't need sympathy, nor do I need understanding."

"I only need..."

He clenched his fist, his knuckles cracking with a crisp sound.

"Awe."

"Or even... fear."

Victor looked into his boss's deep eyes and subconsciously lowered his head.

Indeed.

A ruthless man who can tear tanks apart with his bare hands and throw people into zombie cages, why would he need anyone's pity?

That would be an insult to a lion.

"Don't worry about those comments, let them ferment."

Chen Yuan waved his hand, as if shooing away a swarm of buzzing flies. "The focus now is the Chen Group. My uncle is probably smashing things at home right now, right?"

"According to the footage sent back by the 'flies,' Chen Tianba has already smashed all the antiques in his study."

Red Queen's voice sounded at the right moment. "Moreover, the Chen Group's stock has fallen below the issue price, banks have started withdrawing loans, and their capital chain is completely broken."

"Very good."

Chen Yuan's mouth curled up slightly. "This is the effect I wanted. Force them into a dead end, force them to..."

"Beep—beep—beep—!!!"

Suddenly.

A sudden, sharp red alarm cut off Chen Yuan's words without warning.

The lights in the office instantly turned a dangerous dark red.

The public opinion interface on the holographic screen vanished instantly, replaced by a huge, flashing red warning box.

[Warning! Warning!]

[Ultra-high intensity data stream intrusion detected!]

[First layer of firewall breached... Second layer is under attack...]

Chen Yuan's eyes instantly froze.

That nonchalant laziness vanished without a trace in a tenth of a second, replaced by the alertness of a hunter discovering danger.

"What's going on?"

"There is a hacker."

Red Queen's voice was no longer the simulated emotional tone, but had turned into an absolutely rational mechanical voice.

"The intensity of the opponent's attack is extremely high, with a data throughput exceeding 500TB per second."

"This is not an ordinary hacker organization."

On the holographic screen, countless waterfalls of green code were scrolling crazily; that was the defensive Great Wall that Red Queen was building.

But in that green ocean, a black, virus-like stream of code was, like a sharp scalpel, precisely and ruthlessly cutting into the core of the system.

"What is their target?" Chen Yuan asked in a deep voice.

"It's not the capital accounts, nor the weapon blueprints."

Red Queen's voice sped up.

"They are attempting to gain root access to format the underlying database."

"Target locked—"

On the screen, a file folder icon encrypted with layers of security lit up.

It had two words written on it: [Zhao Ya].

"They want to delete the database."

Chen Yuan narrowed his eyes, a cold, deep blue glint flashing in the depths of his pupils.

That folder contained photos of Zhao Ya before her face change, recordings of her calls with that mysterious Japanese man, and all the evidence that could uncover the Chen family and even the secret experiment from back then.

This was the thing that the "shadow" feared seeing the light of day the most.

"It seems the master behind my good stepmother finally can't sit still anymore."

Chen Yuan walked to the server racks, looking at the crazily flashing indicator lights.

"They lost the war of public opinion, now they want to play a technical war?"

"Want to destroy the evidence to leave no proof?"

"Naive."

"Red Queen, has the opponent's IP been traced?"

"Tracing..."

Red Queen's voice carried a hint of anthropomorphic annoyance. "The opponent is using multiple jump hosts, with the signal jumping crazily between South America, Europe, and Southeast Asia. That is military-grade quantum encryption technology."

"Moreover, their attack algorithm is very strange."

A strange icon popped up on the screen.

It was a black chrysanthemum with only sixteen petals, yet it exuded an uncomfortable, sinister feeling.

"This is... a Chrysanthemum Crest?"

Victor leaned in to take a look and exclaimed in surprise, "This is the symbol of the Japanese imperial family? No, that's not right, it's a bit deformed... Is this the family crest of that zaibatsu?"

"Regardless of whether it's the imperial family or a zaibatsu."

Chen Yuan sneered.

He reached out and pressed the red [Counterattack] button.

"Dare to run wild on my turf, you must be prepared to leave your hands behind."

"Red Queen."

Chen Yuan's voice was low, carrying a chilling killing intent.

"Stop defending."

"Mobilize all computing power for me."

"No matter which mad dog is biting me..."

He stared at the black chrysanthemum icon on the screen, a cruel arc curling at the corner of his mouth:

"Follow the internet cable for me, and take his dog teeth..."

"Pull them out one by one."