Chapter 16: Why Invite Such Humiliation Upon Yourself

They returned to Jibei City the following day, arriving at four in the afternoon. After dropping Chen Xiaozhu off at home, the two of them turned around and headed straight to their unit.

The new office for the Fifth Intelligence Department was also located in the Shinjuku district, as this was Jibei City’s busiest commercial hub and a central junction for the city’s overpasses. From here, one could reach most parts of the city within one to two hours by car.

They had barely arrived when they received new intelligence. At around 2:00 PM that afternoon, Chikuma Media, located in the Sanhe district, had been attacked. The scene was reportedly like the aftermath of a flood; immense water pressure had burst all the doors and windows from the inside, and the corpses were so bloated from soaking in water that their identities could only be confirmed through DNA matching.

When Chen Zi'ang and Tsukimiya Reina arrived at the scene, they saw several colleagues from the Intelligence Section standing in the puddles, investigating the area.

"Oh, Section Chief Chen," a familiar-looking woman approached them. "And Deputy Section Chief Tsukimiya, weren't you both on vacation?"

"We heard there was an incident and came back to take a look," Chen Zi'ang said. After looking closely, he realized this was Tian Xiaoyun—the same woman who, along with another, had been on the bus during their earlier investigation in Lingyi Town. She had sat in the row in front of him and Reina, and was later detained by Countermeasure Section Six due to Nishikawa Mie's contamination, which was when she first learned of the supernatural.

It seemed she had since been successfully recruited into the Intelligence Section.

"Would you like me to brief you on the case?" Tian Xiaoyun asked.

"Go ahead," Chen Zi'ang nodded.

"The crime occurred at 2:14 PM," Tian Xiaoyun said quickly. "The location is right here, on the third floor of Office Building 13, at Chikuma Media."

"There are 18 victims, including the CEO, Sakai Mie. The cause of death was drowning. The perpetrator summoned a massive amount of floodwater in the center of the office, drowning all the victims."

"Furthermore, all the deceased were operational staff responsible for 'media services.' The support staff in finance, audit, administration, and human resources were not harmed; they were knocked unconscious beforehand and left in the restroom next door."

"Only those responsible for 'media services' were killed?" Chen Zi'ang pondered. "What exactly does this media service entail?"

"Simply put, they were a 'water army' (internet astroturfers)," Tian Xiaoyun explained. "On major internet platforms—like Gige for search engines, Buzz for microblogging, Metaverse for social networking, or SCUM for short videos—each platform has its own algorithm for trending topics. If you want a specific topic to trend so more people see it, you hire a 'water army,' commonly known as 'buying traffic.'"

"Chikuma has been in the business for a long time, starting out as a private studio. The boss, Sakai Mie, was known in the industry for being 'all-powerful.' Whether it was hype, whitewashing, or smear campaigns, she took any job and could handle anything."

"About two years ago, Sakai Mie’s studio upgraded to 'Chikuma Media' and formally registered with the Legal Affairs Bureau. From then on, they stopped taking outside private work. Rumor has it that she signed a long-term contract with a 'major client' and hit the big time."

"We questioned the surviving employees. Apparently, after the company was established, they shifted their focus to 'gender-related topics' at the client's request."

"Gender-related topics?" Chen Zi'ang frowned.

"Uh, primarily controversial gender topics," Tian Xiaoyun explained. "Things like domestic violence, marital infidelity, sexual harassment in the workplace, etc. Any news where the victim is female would be collected by the [News Team] and placed into a test pool."

"The [Refinement Team] would then perform secondary processing and emotional rendering on these news items, rewriting them into a style that is more provocative and eye-catching."

"Once processed, the [Deployment Team] would use the company's verified 'Big V' accounts to spread these stories across major platforms, continuously tracking the data. Finally, they would select the ones with the most intense reactions and focus their resources to push them to the top of the platforms' trending lists."

Tian Xiaoyun pulled out her phone, expertly opened the Gige search page, and showed it to Chen Zi'ang and Tsukimiya Reina: "Look, if you search for any term on Gige, the search results are on the left and the trending topics are on the right. Here... the third, fifth, and seventh items were all pushed there by Chikuma Media."

"So you mean," Chen Zi'ang mused, "Chikuma Media signed a long-term contract with a major client to incite controversial gender-related hot topics on major platforms every day?"

"Based on our investigation, yes," Tian Xiaoyun replied. "And they've been doing this for over two years, so it's not exactly an industry secret; many peers seem to be aware of it."

"Reina, what do you think?" Chen Zi'ang turned to her.

Tsukimiya Reina thought for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Is there a connection between Chikuma Media and the Women's Mutual Aid Society?"

"Yes," Tian Xiaoyun nodded. "Boss Sakai Mie was a member of the Women's Mutual Aid Society group. She didn't join early enough to become an admin, but she was very active and reportedly often chatted privately with those seeking help... We suspect she had an assistant manage her account to gather firsthand information, which she then turned into news stories."

"It's obvious," Tsukimiya Reina added. "Because of this identity, she was tracked down by Takano Seiko and killed... Alright, case solved."

"Who is the major client collaborating with Chikuma Media?" Chen Zi'ang asked Tian Xiaoyun again.

"Still investigating," Tian Xiaoyun replied. "Sakai Mie kept the client's information to herself. Even the income was paid into her personal account first, and then she would arrange for others to transfer it to the finance department to be booked. So, no one in the company knew the client's identity."

"We are already tracing the funds from the bank accounts provided by the finance department."

"Good. Let me know as soon as you have news," Chen Zi'ang instructed.

After Tian Xiaoyun left, Tsukimiya Reina sighed and said, "Senior, Sakai Mie is neither the first to die, nor will she be the last."

"We must find Takano Seiko as soon as possible!" Chen Zi'ang said firmly. "And the fastest way to find her is..."

"Is to get ahead of her and figure out which other 'corrupted' members of the Women's Mutual Aid Society have cooperative interests with this unknown organization!" Tsukimiya Reina interjected quickly.

"I'll tell Qingyu," Chen Zi'ang said, intending to follow office protocol by reporting the plan to his superior first and seeing what she thought.

But Tsukimiya Reina pressed down on his arm to stop him.

"Senior."

"What is it?"

"If you report to that bitch, she'll just say things like, 'I'm surprised it took you this long to figure that out,' or 'Are you trying to show me your primate-level intelligence?' and so on..." Tsukimiya Reina sighed. "Do we really have to subject ourselves to that humiliation?"

Chen Zi'ang was silent for a moment, realizing that the situation would likely unfold exactly as Reina predicted. He frowned and asked, "You have a point. So, we... act first, then report?"

"Once the dust settles," Tsukimiya Reina smiled.