126: Chapter 126 The Rolling Wheels, Unstoppable

"Trash, you're all a bunch of brainless trash!"

A thick stack of paper analysis reports was slammed heavily onto the large solid wood desk.

The pages scattered, fluttering down all over the floor.

The Other Side of the Ocean.

A certain high-level intelligence analysis center, underground command room.

The person in charge, Smith, pressed his hands firmly against the desk, his chest heaving violently.

Recalling the contents of the briefings he had just seen, he gritted his back teeth, squeezing the words out one by one.

"Are those people in communications filled with nothing but manure in their brains?"

"Engaging in public opinion warfare? In their territory, trying to incite health anxiety?"

Smith suddenly kicked out, violently knocking over the metal trash can beside him.

"Clang—!"

A deafening crash echoed throughout the enclosed command room.

"Now look at this!"

"Not only did you fail to delay their progress by even half a day, but you also gave the Xia authorities a chance to use your own strength against you, providing a thorough, free science lesson to over a billion people nationwide!"

"Even a pig wouldn't do something this stupid!"

The more Smith spoke, the angrier he became; he backhanded a crystal ashtray off the table, sending it crashing to the floor.

The several senior intelligence analysts standing nearby were terrified, keeping their heads bowed extremely low.

No one dared to get on his bad side at a time like this.

Smith calmed down for a moment, then put his hands on his hips and paced back and forth behind the desk.

His leather shoes made dull thuds against the dark carpet.

The more he thought about it, the angrier he got.

Those stupid businessmen in communications, instead of thinking of technical countermeasures in their own field, had to be clever and run to the Xia internet to engage in public opinion infiltration.

Was that even their job?

Now look, in less than twenty-four hours, they were uprooted by the Xia authorities like dead leaves in an autumn wind.

Not only were they uprooted, but they were also used as a negative example to teach over a billion Xia people a vivid science lesson.

What did that amount to?

It amounted to spending their own high public relations fees to perfectly promote the opponent's new technology.

Smith stopped, pressed both hands on the edge of the desk, and stared at the scattered papers, his anger surging in waves.

But beneath this anger, there was a chill that made him tremble.

The Xia authorities' counterattack was not the most terrifying part.

The most terrifying thing was the attitude Xia demonstrated in the face of this public opinion war.

Or, to be more precise, that hair-raising reaction speed!

From the release of the rumor articles across the internet, to the official media delivering a definitive, final counterattack, to top domestic authorities stepping in with detailed data to crush the narrative, and finally to the three major telecom operators sending personalized text messages...

How much time did it take to complete this entire textbook-level crisis public relations combination?

Less than twenty-four hours!

Twenty-four hours!

Smith's back teeth ground together, and cold sweat dripped down his temples.

What did this mean?

It meant that regarding such underhanded tactics, the Xia side not only had a contingency plan, but even the materials for the counterattack had been prepared in advance.

A complete crisis response chain, interlocking and without any lag.

This level of coordination efficiency was unimaginable for the Xia of the past.

In the past, when dealing with Xia, whether it was technical blockades or public opinion pressure, their response always had a long window period.

Hesitation, meetings, arguments, seeking instructions, compromise.

At least a week, sometimes half a month.

But now?

One day!

From discovering the problem to solving it, not even a day.

Was this still the same Xia that required three-day meetings and half-month approval processes for everything?

Smith's mind kept revolving around the same thing.

Xia had changed.

It hadn't just changed a little; it had changed to its very core.

This terrifying efficiency, this determination to burn the bridges, this executive power that commanded obedience from top to bottom...

Smith closed his eyes in pain, and a young yet unfathomable Eastern silhouette appeared in his mind.

Given the executive power reflected by the Xia side, their claim at the press conference to complete the Fifth-generation Communication and Artificial Intelligence in half a year was by no means unrealistic.

Furthermore, and more importantly, at the press conference two days ago, Lin Yuan had casually mentioned the "energy field" and "biological science field" in just a few words.

If it were in the past, people might have taken that as just a simple example.

But now, connecting these absurd clues...

A chill that penetrated to the bone rose on Smith's back.

He didn't want to think about anything further, but his professional instinct forced him to.

Was Xia about to rise again?

He had to submit a red-level risk alert to his superiors.

...

Meanwhile.

Xia, Xia Academy of Sciences, Research Building No. 7.

In the spacious and bright Chief Engineer's office, sunlight spilled onto the floor through the windows.

Lin Yuan leaned lazily against the back of the large chair, holding an internal paper briefing that Qin Meng had just delivered.

The briefing densely listed the monitoring data of the entire internet's public opinion over the past twenty-four hours and the latest progress of base station construction across the country.

A bright red line graph on the coordinate axis showed an extremely steep, almost cliff-like downward trend.

That was the popularity curve for the topic of "base station radiation causes cancer."

Lin Yuan's fingers gently rubbed the edge of the paper as he turned to the last page, his gaze sweeping over the final conclusion at the bottom.

"Currently, public opinion has basically calmed down. In all cities above the first-tier level nationwide, the first phase of base station construction has fully broken ground and has not been substantially affected."

"Heh..."

Lin Yuan closed the briefing casually, tossed it onto the desk with a "clack," and couldn't help but chuckle.

The tactics from The Other Side of the Ocean really were the same as they had been for decades, still just as boring and low-level.

In the space-time of his previous life, where technology was more advanced, this kind of drama—exploiting the public's fear of unknown electromagnetic waves to fabricate radiation hazards and base station cancer claims—had been staged countless times.

Even the logic of the forged data, the rhetoric used to incite emotions, and the use of pseudo-academic terms were exactly the same as those "public intellectual" marketing accounts from his past life.

Nothing new.

Did they really think that by throwing some dog food on the internet, hiring a few trolls, and publishing a few press releases, they could slow down a nation's industrial upgrade?

Lin Yuan picked up the thermos on the desk, blew on the steam, and took a sip of warm water in a leisurely manner.

As someone who had lived two lives, how could he not have made full preparations in advance for these trite routines he had already experienced?

Back when his first batch of base station construction blueprints and underlying data were issued, he had already made this rumor-refuting counterattack plan extremely complete and submitted it to his superiors.

Media press releases, expert data, text message notifications.

All were ammunition prepared in advance, just waiting for the opponent to offer their face.

The people The Other Side of the Ocean thought they were smart, but in reality, they had actively handed over a knife, allowing Xia to make use of the issue, push back in one wave, and perfectly dispel the ordinary public's concerns.

Of course, Lin Yuan knew very well that no matter how perfect the popularization of science was, it was still impossible to avoid a very small number of "stubborn" people.

Lin Yuan recalled some sporadic reports he had seen on the supplementary page of the briefing earlier.

In a few residential areas, many people were still stubborn, calling to complain, and even demanding that existing towers be removed.

For this situation, Lin Yuan was not angry, just found it somewhat ridiculous.

He was not surprised by the existence of such people.

Even in the information-exploding era of his previous life, absurd incidents of cutting base station fiber optic cables and forcing the removal of towers could not be avoided.

Let alone in this era where smartphones were just emerging.

Ignorance and stubbornness would never completely disappear because of one perfect rumor refutation.

There would always be a group of people who only wanted to believe in the narrow world they had decided upon in their own minds.

However, he didn't care.

This did not affect the overall situation.

Small-scale protests could not stop the rolling wheels of the national industrial war machine.

For such people, there was no need to waste manpower and resources to force it; just withdraw the construction team.

When everyone else was using high-speed networks later, those areas that refused to build base stations would naturally beg for them to come and build them.

Having thought this through, Lin Yuan pulled a new blank blueprint from the drawer.

The tip of the fountain pen glided across the paper, making a slight friction sound.

The public opinion war outside had already turned the page; those noises were completely not worth mentioning.

The current focus was to accelerate the implementation of communication and intelligent technology.

At the same time, it was time to start considering the next "world-shaking technological lie"...