While Shu Yu was making her decision, Yan Yu had already begun accusing the vocational and technical college of suppressing him.
“They never intended to let me speak at all!” Yan Yu accused tearfully in the livestream.
“They’re framing me as a murderer just so I’ll never be able to seek justice for my sister again!”
Yan Yu seemed to be inside a private residence. The place didn’t look very large. Shu Yu calmly listened to his accusations, hoping to find more information in them.
Right now, she was extremely curious about what exactly the other side was trying to accomplish with all this.
“My sister was sexually assaulted by Hong Guodong at the school back then. We had nowhere to turn for help. The officials protected one another, and now they’re not even planning to let me go!”
As Yan Yu spoke, he covered his face and began crying.
“His sister never even reported it to the police.” Feng Tang was looking through the records. “There’s no police report at all.”
“Team Leader Liang and the others wouldn’t lie to us about something like this.” Shu Yu was absolutely certain. “Just how powerful would the vice president of a vocational and technical college in a county-level city have to be for the entire judicial system of K City to cover for him? If he really had that kind of influence, would he have spent ten years as vice president of a vocational and technical college without ever getting promoted?”
Shu Yu watched Yan Yu’s livestream with undisguised mockery on her face.
“Contact Chen Heng. Tell him to start a livestream,” Shu Yu said decisively.
“This place isn’t ideal. The background doesn’t look formal enough. I suggest going directly to the special investigation team,” Xiao Que said. “But there’s one thing we need to consider. When we respond, we still have to take personal privacy into account.”
“We can only respond to whatever they throw at us now. They’re deliberately forcing us to respond,” Shu Yu said. “Instead of waiting until their livestream ends and responding afterward, giving them plenty of time to pick apart our response and find something they can exploit, we might as well confront them head-on.”
“That makes sense. Rather than turning this into a turn-based battle and dragging out the front line, we might as well set the record straight while attention is at its peak.” Lu Anran strongly agreed and immediately began calling Chen Heng and the special investigation team.
Since they were going to do this, they needed to completely defeat the other side on the livestreaming platform.
Of course, that was under the condition that Shu Yu could confirm Hong Guodong truly had not assaulted any female students.
Chen Heng followed them to the special investigation team without really understanding what was happening. When he heard that he would have to show his face on a livestream, he froze.
He hesitated before saying, “This… I might need to report it to my superiors first.”
“Right now, we are your superiors,” Shu Yu said concisely. “I know what you’re worried about. Having the government directly respond through a livestream might seem somewhat undignified, but you need to remember one thing: suffering just to save face is pointless.”
In the end, Chen Heng nodded, because he realized that after the case had been taken over, Shu Yu really was his superior.
And so, the neatly suited Chen Heng was seated in front of a desk and had some makeup touched up. Feng Tang skillfully set up the livestreaming equipment, adjusted its position, and added some lighting while she was at it.
Chen Heng sat stiffly in front of the camera, looking somewhat at a loss.
“Later, just read directly from Xiao Que’s script,” Shu Yu said when she noticed his nervousness. “Lu Anran will handle everything in the backend. You don’t need to worry about that.”
Only then did Chen Heng relax slightly.
Xiao Que was already sitting in front of the computer and had finished writing the first script. He looked up, saw that Chen Heng was seated in front of the camera, and asked, “Ready?”
Lu Anran had already taken her position to the side and was preparing the livestream room while capturing backend data.
Feng Tang stood outside the camera’s view, assisting with the other livestream operations.
Shu Yu coordinated the overall situation, ready to communicate with the police and mobilize resources at any moment.
After Chen Heng took a deep breath, Feng Tang started the livestream for him.
They were using the official account of K City’s public security department. Before starting, Feng Tang had changed the livestream title to:
“Response to Yan Yu’s Questions.”
Under Lu Anran’s operation, the livestream quickly became popular and was pushed onto the livestreaming platform’s trending searches.
By then, Chen Heng had also finished his opening remarks. He had originally started his career writing speeches for leaders, so his public-speaking skills weren’t weak. Once he adjusted to speaking in front of the camera, he looked much more natural.
“I will represent the K City police here in responding to all the questions raised by Yan Yu. At the same time, we will connect directly with Yan Yu through the livestream and speak with him face-to-face.”
After Chen Heng finished speaking, Feng Tang enabled the live connection feature.
Lu Anran operated the account and successfully connected their livestream with Yan Yu’s.
“Hello, Yan Yu. We are the K City police. If you have any questions regarding our law-enforcement process, please repeat them. Under the joint supervision of the tens of millions of viewers in this livestream, we will provide detailed responses to your questions.”
By now, Chen Heng could calmly face Yan Yu, who had frozen on the other side of the livestream.
Clearly, Yan Yu had never expected K City to respond by directly connecting to his livestream—and to do so right after he had started broadcasting.
Shu Yu noticed him beginning to panic as he glanced outside the camera frame.
Clearly, there were other people in the room with him.
“There really are other people in the room,” Xiao Que said. He had noticed the same detail.
“Our colleagues have already confirmed Yan Yu’s location. Neither he nor the people in that room can get away now. Just tell me whenever you’re ready for us to move in,” Team Leader Liang came over and whispered.
This was also his first time seeing this kind of livestream confrontation, so he wasn’t entirely sure how to handle the current situation.
“I’ll communicate with you immediately if anything happens,” Shu Yu said.
She knew what Team Leader Liang was worried about. This unprecedented method of responding was naturally concerning to him as well.
As Chen Heng began speaking, the livestream chat immediately became lively.
Shu Yu had specifically told Lu Anran not to disable the live comments.
【Whoa, what am I watching?】
【666, they’re confronting him on the spot!】
【Looking at this, the police must be absolutely confident】
【Now all the pressure is on Yan Yu】
…
The comments flashed rapidly across the screen.
Shu Yu glanced over them on her phone and found that most viewers were currently there to watch the excitement.
By this point, Yan Yu had already calmed down.
He had probably received new instructions.
“Fine! Then I want to get to the bottom of this!” Yan Yu once again returned to his original furious expression.
“What exactly are you planning to do about my sister Yan Xue being sexually assaulted?”
Yan Yu directly turned the conversation into an interrogation of the police.
The moment Xiao Que heard the question, he wrote a response as quickly as possible and sent it to the screen in front of Chen Heng.
“Hello, Yan Yu. First, we need to confirm one thing. After your sister was sexually assaulted, did you or your family report the incident to the police?” Chen Heng asked calmly.
His tone sounded exactly like a government employee serving the public from behind a service counter.
Shu Yu strongly suspected that he had once worked at a public service hall.
“Of course we reported it!” Yan Yu reacted fiercely. “But you police said you wouldn’t do anything!”
“All right. Could you tell us when and through what method you or your family reported the case?” Chen Heng continued asking.
By now, he had completely grasped the rhythm of speaking during a livestream and appeared thoroughly at ease.
“We… we reported it more than a year ago.”
There was a trace of guilt in Yan Yu’s voice.
【He can’t even say when. Did he really report it?】
【Even if it was more than a year ago, surely you wouldn’t forget the approximate date of something like this】
【Did he actually report it or not?】
【If he did, there should definitely be a record, right?】
【What if the police deleted the record?】
【Wouldn’t there still be surveillance footage from that day?】
【Surveillance footage can be deleted too】
…
The comments began arguing over whether police reports and surveillance footage could be deleted.
“Could you provide the specific date?” Chen Heng asked.
This time, he no longer needed Xiao Que to write a script for him.
“How am I supposed to remember the exact day?” Yan Yu looked as though his answer were perfectly reasonable. “Anyway, it was more than a year ago.”
“Then let me ask a different question. Do you remember the date your sister was sexually assaulted?” Chen Heng continued after seeing the message Xiao Que had sent him.
The other side was clearly improvising as well.
Shu Yu didn’t think they would necessarily be able to fabricate a perfect date.
“I don’t remember.”
Once again, Yan Yu acted as though that were perfectly reasonable.
【He keeps saying his sister was sexually assaulted and was crying his eyes out over it, but he can’t even remember the date】
【I’m starting to wonder if this even happened】
【How does this guy know nothing no matter what they ask?】
【He says he doesn’t know anything, so who was he trying to fool with all that crying just now?】
…
The viewers were gradually beginning to notice that something wasn’t right.
In fact, after so many years of widespread internet access, netizens who had witnessed all kinds of online incidents suddenly reverse course had become much sharper than before.
They were still easily deceived and still easily moved by their own emotions, but after being fooled enough times, no one remained a fool forever.
This was no longer an era where whoever cried the loudest was automatically right.
With just a little guidance, many people would come back to their senses and begin noticing the inconsistencies.
“Mr. Yan Yu, the police have never received any report concerning the sexual assault of your sister, Yan Xue,” Chen Heng continued steadily. “Furthermore, during Hong Guodong’s twelve years as vice president of the vocational and technical college, we never received any police report or anonymous complaint accusing him of sexually assaulting anyone.”
Chen Heng paused.
“The police have always been committed to protecting the personal rights and interests of every citizen. If there truly was a case where a report was made but refused, we will deal with it seriously.”
That final sentence was directed at the viewers in the livestream.
Seeing the viewers who had just been supporting him so easily switch sides, Yan Yu immediately became anxious.
“Who said we never reported it?” Yan Yu suddenly shouted.
“My sister was sexually assaulted on September 15 two years ago! We reported it to the police on September 16!”
Yan Yu, who had repeatedly insisted that he couldn’t remember the date, suddenly gave them an exact one.
“Very irrational answer,” Shu Yu commented.
“Why?” Team Leader Liang still hadn’t left.
“Earlier, he behaved as though his sense of the dates was extremely vague. But now he suddenly gives an exact date without receiving a phone call or checking his phone in between. It’s as though he suddenly remembered it out of nowhere. No one is going to be fooled by that,” Shu Yu said with complete certainty.
It was obvious that Yan Yu himself didn’t have much experience with stirring up public opinion or steering a narrative in his own favor.
Previously, Shu Yu had assumed that the other people in the room were the masterminds behind this incident. But judging from the way Yan Yu had responded after becoming anxious, that clearly didn’t seem to be the case.
This method of responding was simply too stupid.
So stupid that it seemed like whoever was behind it didn’t understand the internet at all.
That was completely inconsistent with everything the other side had done before.
“Check what Hong Guodong was doing on that date,” Shu Yu told Lu Anran.
Lu Anran didn’t even raise her head.
Clearly, she was already searching.
They had previously obtained all of Hong Guodong’s phone records, WeChat chat records, and other information, so retrieving records from a particular date was quite easy.
Team Leader Liang suddenly froze.
A moment later, he seemed to remember something.
“I know what he was doing that day two years ago!”
Team Leader Liang slapped his thigh.
“We were at a study session. Both he and I were there.”
“What kind of study session?” Shu Yu didn’t immediately understand.
“Wasn’t it almost the 90th anniversary of the September 18 Incident that year? K City organized a study session and required Party branch secretaries from every work unit to attend. Hong Guodong was the Party branch secretary of one of the departments at his college, so he went too,” Team Leader Liang explained.
“Did you take photos during the event?” Shu Yu asked.
“Of course we did. There was even an official post about it.” Team Leader Liang looked as though that were perfectly obvious.
“Found it!” Lu Anran had started searching for the post the moment Team Leader Liang mentioned it. “You studied for three days?”
“Three days and two nights. I’ve forgotten what the exact theme was, but we visited some old revolutionary base areas,” Team Leader Liang said. “I remember it especially clearly. I barely get a few days off all year. Attending this kind of study event where they confiscate our phones is about the closest thing I get to relaxing.”
“This group photo…”
Lu Anran had already found the picture.
She enlarged it many times before finally locating Hong Guodong. He was standing in an inconspicuous corner of the second row. If someone weren’t specifically searching for him, they probably wouldn’t notice him even after staring at the photograph for half an hour.
“How could the other side not know about this?” Feng Tang found it strange. “And they specifically chose a date for which we actually have evidence. Isn’t that way too strange?”
“For study sessions or meetings like this, we usually receive the documents directly. We aren’t notified through WeChat,” Team Leader Liang said. “The documents are generally sent to the school’s Party committee and handled centrally by a secretary. There’s no way Hong Guodong would have had the relevant documents on his phone.”
Shu Yu immediately understood.
A meeting organized through directly issued documents, without any notification through mobile communications, would be extremely difficult for the other side to know about.
The other side had probably investigated Hong Guodong’s schedule in much the same way they had—through WeChat chat records, phone records, and other data that could be obtained through online channels.
They hadn’t considered study sessions and meetings where documents were issued directly and phones were confiscated.
So in the other side’s eyes, those three days and two nights had instead become a blank period for which Hong Guodong seemingly had no way to prove his whereabouts.
“The other side doesn’t seem very familiar with some of the rules and procedures within our system,” Xiao Que said, looking up. “Otherwise, they wouldn’t have made this kind of mistake.”
“Their IP addresses are all overseas. What else would you expect?” Shu Yu didn’t find it particularly strange. “But I’m guessing that after this, they’ll start learning about these things too.”
There was nothing they could do about that.
Every time they defeated one of the other side’s schemes, their opponent would become even more difficult to deal with.
“I’ve sent you the photo and the official post,” Xiao Que told Chen Heng.
Chen Heng nodded, enlarged the photograph on his phone, and held it up to the camera.
Feng Tang also posted the link to the official article.
“From September 15 to September 17 two years ago, Hong Guodong was participating in K City Party Committee’s ‘Studying the Spirit of the Old Revolutionary Base Areas’ activity. Participants gathered and departed at eight in the morning on September 15, arrived at a memorial hall in a neighboring city at nine, and afterward participated in activities in rural areas and activities supporting local farmers. The timeline is clearly documented,” Chen Heng explained in detail.
“This is the official post published at the time. The person marked with a red circle is Hong Guodong.”
After saying that, Chen Heng looked toward Yan Yu.
“The link to the post is in the title of the livestream. Anyone who has doubts can open it and check for themselves.”
By this point, Yan Yu had already lost any chance of pulling public opinion back to his side.
But he was now riding a tiger and couldn’t get off.
If he simply ended the livestream, it would effectively confirm that everything he had said earlier was nonsense.
“If I were him, I’d end the livestream right now,” Shu Yu said. “Clearly, the person who was advising him from behind the scenes isn’t there. If he keeps responding on his own like this, he’ll only expose more and more flaws.”
Shu Yu had noticed that whenever Yan Yu panicked, he tended to speak recklessly.
That was actually a normal reaction when an ordinary person was caught lying. It proved that his psychological resilience wasn’t particularly strong.
So how exactly had the other side designed this plan for him?
And how had they instructed him to carry it out?
“Prepare to move in,” Shu Yu said, turning toward Team Leader Liang. “His livestream is going to be cut off very soon.”
Things had already developed this far.
If the other side still had another move prepared, there was no way they would continue allowing Yan Yu to recklessly say more irrational things during the livestream.
Sure enough, just as Yan Yu was about to continue arguing, his livestream was abruptly cut off.
He hadn’t done it himself.
There really was someone from the other side monitoring the livestream from inside the room.
“Looks like they really do have another move prepared.” Shu Yu sighed. “It seems handling this matter properly in the shortest possible time is going to be difficult. We’ll just have to wait for whatever they throw at us next.”
Chen Heng’s livestream was still running.
By now, the viewers in the comments had clearly realized what was going on.
【Did Yan Yu run away after getting slapped in the face?】
【The police evidence is that clear. What else can he argue?】
【The guy’s already dead. Surely they can’t claim the photos were taken afterward】
【Doesn’t look Photoshopped either. I clicked the link and checked it】
【I can’t believe I actually believed him just now】
【Same here】
…
The viewers were clearly still excited, and the comments were scrolling just as quickly as before.
“Anran, Feng Tang.” Shu Yu stopped paying attention to the livestream. “Coordinate with Weibo immediately. Contact several major verified government-affiliated accounts and have them help repost it. Get the trending topic moving too. Push it directly into the top ten.”
They had finally managed to pull public opinion back onto their own ground through such a risky method.
Now was the time to stabilize and expand the gains they had made.
“This public-opinion war really isn’t easy to fight,” Team Leader Liang said with deep feeling.