29: Information warfare

Those State-owned Major Factories cooperating with Xinghai were currently in a state of utter chaos.

However, being large pharmaceutical enterprises that had weathered many storms, they immediately organized a joint delegation to North America, hoping to resolve the issue peacefully through negotiation.

But Xinghai's Big Boss behind the scenes gave the most direct strategy.

Since the opponent had already fired, they would see who would fall first.

With a clear direction, Xinghai once again demonstrated astonishing execution and efficiency.

The two major production bases reduced capacity, relying on inventory to sustain operations for two months.

When the State-owned Major Factories cooperating with Xinghai saw that Xinghai chose to reduce production, they could only grit their teeth and follow suit.

A week later, everyone in the country realized that longevity water seemed to have completely vanished from the market.

Only the medical system was still supplying it normally.

This time, Xinghai's official announcement was not in the form of text.

Brother Zhe led his team to produce an extremely professional educational video.

"Friends, I know everyone is very concerned about the tight supply of longevity water recently."

"Today, Brother Zhe will help everyone thoroughly sort out this issue."

"A week ago, the raw material supplier for longevity water, [Verlander Biotechnology], suddenly announced a price increase for the key raw material of longevity water, increasing it tenfold all at once."

"Many people don't understand: why didn't Xinghai raise prices when the raw material price went up?"

"Why would we rather reduce production than raise prices?"

"Today, Brother Zhe will use the most straightforward way to explain the life-or-death situation behind this."

"Raising the price is equivalent to committing suicide."

Brother Zhe pointed at the projection screen behind him.

A simple balance scale appeared on the screen, with one side reading [Public Burden] and the other [Xinghai Credibility].

"If Xinghai raised the price along with them, even by a little, what would be the result?"

"First, Xinghai would bear all the blame."

"The accusations that we were profiting from national misfortune would immediately be confirmed, and the trust Xinghai worked so hard to build would quickly collapse in a short time."

"More importantly, this would be equivalent to surrendering to Verlander."

"And the other party would only intensify their actions, because strangling the supply chain genuinely works, and they would certainly dare to do it again next time."

"Today they can raise the price tenfold; tomorrow it will be fiftyfold, until longevity water becomes a luxury product affordable only to a very small number of people, and this violates Xinghai's original intention of benefiting more people."

"If we don't raise the price, things get even harder."

The screen behind Brother Zhe changed to a cash flow statement, showing a red line plummeting sharply.

"The raw material price has increased tenfold, meaning every set of longevity water sold results in a loss."

"No matter how rich Xinghai is, it cannot withstand this endless depletion."

"The result would be the company's cash flow breaking, and production coming to a complete halt."

"At that point, people wouldn't even be able to buy a single bottle of longevity water."

The screen changed again, showing the logos of Xinghai and several state-owned enterprises, tightly bound together by a thick line.

"Why would the national team suffer along with us? This involves a deeper issue."

"Xinghai and these powerful state-owned enterprises are deeply bound partners.

We prosper together, and we suffer together."

"Verlander's move appears to be targeting Xinghai, but it is actually an indirect attack."

The screen showed the stock prices of several state-owned enterprises plummeting.

"As soon as the news broke, the stock prices of these state-owned enterprises immediately dropped sharply."

"This is because the market fears the cooperation will collapse and worries that they will be implicated."

"If the stock prices continue to fall until they hit rock bottom, the international capital manipulating events behind the scenes can harvest these core pharmaceutical enterprises of our country at extremely low prices, like picking cabbages."

"Even if the state personally intervened to save the market, it would be in an extremely passive situation."

"Therefore, if Xinghai wants to survive, it must sacrifice an arm to save its life, buying time to research and develop an equivalent substitute for the core raw material."

The decision to reduce production while maintaining prices appeared on the screen.

"Xinghai will never bow to evil forces.

At the same time, we strongly condemn Verlander Biotechnology for its egregious act of unilaterally tearing up the agreement."

"Friends, this is a war without smoke."

"What we need is understanding and time, giving Xinghai and our partners a chance to find a way to break these shackles."

Brother Zhe's video presented complex business and financial logic to the public in the most intuitive way, instantly provoking immense resonance and understanding.

Public opinion pressure almost completely sided with Xinghai, turning against Verlander and the capital forces behind it.

Comment section.

A rapidly soaring comment voiced the feelings of many.

[Tech Old Wolf: Alas, this scene is too familiar.

When many of our industries first started, we were constantly being strangled like this.

We made the product, but the lifeline was held in someone else's hands.

It's truly frustrating.]

Below this comment, a large number of replies quickly gathered.

[Sweet Tofu Brain Tastes Best: Big Brother is right.

It makes me angry just thinking about it.

Back then, when we couldn't produce advanced composite materials, they would raise the prices sky-high.

Later, when we finally broke through the technical blockade, they immediately dumped their product at low prices, just wanting to completely crush us.]

[Your Sister's Cousin's Daughter-in-law's Uncle: What Xinghai is facing this time is a composite material in the field of biotechnology.

The technical barrier is not so easy to break through.

It is truly difficult.]

[Health Guru Grandpa Wang: I don't understand the rest, I just know that this longevity water really works for my wife's chronic tinnitus.

Now that I hear the supply might be cut off, what should we do?]

[Gossip Enthusiast Little Li: I stand with Xinghai on this one.]

[A Small Patience Leads to a Big Cuteness: It's like when we developed our own navigation system back then.

True independence only comes after the pain.]

The atmosphere in the comment section gradually shifted from initial pure anger to support mixed with helplessness and understanding.

A true battle for public opinion often begins with undercurrents beneath the surface.

Shortly after Brother Zhe released the video, internal information and deep exposés began to quietly circulate in certain corners of the internet.

On a professional financial forum, a highly reputable analysis account published a post titled "A Detailed Look at the Capital Maze of Guangming Pharmaceutical."

The post calmly analyzed the intricate yet intentionally hidden connections between Guangming Pharmaceutical and Verlander, using detailed equity penetration charts and cross-border capital flow data.

The article concluded with a meaningful observation.

[Months ago, Guangming Pharmaceutical attempted to acquire the channel business of a certain emerging biotechnology company with a sky-high offer, but the offer was rejected.]

On various social media platforms, several industry exposé accounts with large followings simultaneously began educating the public about raw material monopolies in the biomedical field, implicitly pointing to a certain international giant that used its technological advantage to systematically suppress emerging companies daring to challenge its position.

People in the comment section quickly made spontaneous associations.

[They must be talking about Verlander and Xinghai, right?

So what does that make Guangming Pharmaceutical, which wanted to acquire Xinghai's channels before?]

Many trending questions also appeared on several well-known Q&A platforms.

[How to evaluate Guangming Pharmaceutical?]

The highly upvoted answers below provided professional and objective analyses of its foreign capital background, reliance on core technology, and past business tactics.

This information, like carefully sown seeds, quickly sprouted and spread wildly under the nurturing of interested parties.

The narrative framework—that Guangming Pharmaceutical was Verlander's representative and was maliciously retaliating after failing to acquire Xinghai—was quietly constructed in the public consciousness.

Zhang Kaiwen sat in his office, observing the direction of public opinion with a sneer.

This was his area of expertise.

Since the boss said they were going to war, he could only go all out.

A hardcore science blogger, [Big Hammer Talks Tech], released a short video.

At the beginning of the video, the blogger's expression was serious, with various chemical formulas in the background.

"family members, today we won't talk about chips, let's talk about something closer to life."

He picked up a box of Vitamin B complex.

"Look at this.

One of the coenzymes inside is patented by Verlander."

"Why can the same product be sold so expensively?

Just because they hold the patent?"

Big Hammer suddenly threw the box into a trash can labeled "Technical Shackle."

"Today, I, Big Hammer, will take the lead and stop using it."

"We should support all domestic enterprises like Xinghai who want to break the monopoly."

"On this matter, I stand with Xinghai!"

Lifestyle blogger [Meow Meow's Frugality].

In the video, the blogger was organizing her family medicine cabinet.

"Huh, these calcium tablets are actually under Guangming Pharmaceutical?"

She frowned at the camera, making a cute expression of distaste.

"No way, no way.

Seeing this name now just makes me uncomfortable."

"How can they help a foreign company bully our own conscientious enterprise?"

"Xinghai was forced to reduce production rather than raise prices.

How difficult is that!"

Meow Meow decisively threw the calcium tablets into the trash can.

"From now on, we must be careful when buying things and make sure to check the manufacturer."

A wave of condemnation targeting Verlander swept across the Dragon Country's domestic internet.

Although it affected Verlander's stock price to some extent, the impact was very limited.

Instead, Guangming Pharmaceutical, which operates domestically, faced a comprehensive boycott and suffered heavy losses.