Chapter 275: Those Years, the Posts We Deleted Together

To be precise, this case is no longer under the jurisdiction of the Zhonglou Police Station.

After five days of review, the Guangming District Branch decided to initiate a Case Filing, because by comparison, this case was still a bit complex.

It is necessary to lock onto the real suspect accounts among these accounts, and then use technical means to find the real people behind the Internet Water Army.

This was all just Zhou Yi guessing; he didn't know the specific situation either, but it was good that the case was filed.

The Guangming District Branch was also quite straightforward; they likewise wanted to handle this case well and make it a classic.

The reason for this actually had to do with Zhou Yi, because he had been a bit too active during this period; basically, not long after he finished clashing with one enterprise, he would clash with the next.

And as it happened, these large enterprises and companies were all masters at playing with the Internet Water Army!

On the internet, to be honest, it is now too hard to distinguish the real from the fake; all kinds of swearing and vowing, even willing to use their parents as collateral, only to be slapped in the face moments later, is very common.

Consequently, because of Zhou Mouren's activity, these large enterprises were also extremely active, which in turn kept the Internet Water Army very active.

They were earning a fortune, filling their bowls to the brim.

But their being so active naturally made Fang Dazhuang quite happy.

You have to keep an eye on the vegetables planted in this field; you never know when they will ripen, and once they ripen, you have to harvest them quickly, otherwise they are prone to spoiling.

A report was filed, and after the relevant departments investigated, the situation was indeed quite serious; the internet itself is meant to allow everyone to communicate with each other, reflecting a genuine expression of intent.

But what was the result? Unexplained topics were pushed to the top of the charts, while some topics that needed attention had absolutely no heat at all.

This era is no longer the time when "good wine doesn't fear the depth of the alley."

Without exposure, without traffic, no matter how good you are, it won't work!

Do you think it's possible for something to become an overnight sensation without someone pushing it from behind?

However, when this case will be solved and when arrests will be made is still unclear, because it has only been filed, and it is currently in the investigation stage.

Fang Dazhuang is in Modu, while Zhou Xinran has returned to Jingzhou, because the person has already been caught for the Criminal Private Prosecution case.

Once the procedures are finished, the trial will begin.

Everyone is busy, and the comrades handling the case are already so busy they can't even touch the ground, but Zhou Yi feels a bit bored.

The only thing he is looking forward to now is how Pinduoduo will respond.

As for the Market Supervision Department, Zhou Yi thinks they probably won't file a case for now, because a Lawsuit has already been initiated.

A related case has already been filed, so naturally, it must be subject to the Court's judgment.

Pinduoduo is truly feeling a bit scalp-numbing right now; the other party is purely playing without any martial virtue.

Still the same point: if a single experiment were released, it might cause a relatively big sensation, but it would be just like that time with Zhou Yi.

Many people would stand up and say they had successfully bargained, so they did indeed pay out in real money.

But this time is different.

This time, Zhou Yi's spear is not aimed at whether your activity is real or not, but at whether the rules within your activity are transparent!

You cannot keep inducing others, saying that the next cut will succeed; this is definitely wrong.

In the Company, Tian Zong looked at Manager Han in front of him, his complexion having already turned very poor.

"Don't speak now, and don't worry about him; whatever we say now is wrong. Even if we want to explain, we have to wait until this storm dies down a little."

"But Tian Zong, this will have a huge impact on our reputation," Manager Han said.

Tian Zong spread his hands: "If I had a good way, I would definitely use it, but there is no good way right now."

"The other party is clearly determined to pester us relentlessly; he is an internet celebrity, and we are a company, so we cannot use force."

"Like this, I will go report it, hold a meeting, and see how to divert everyone's attention first."

Public opinion is a matter that can be big, or it can be small.

As long as you are willing to spend money to make everyone divert their attention so you aren't in the limelight, then everything is easy to handle.

Slowly, it will be forgotten.

Never mind this little bit of trouble for Pinduoduo; even those events that sound shocking, look at how few people mention them now.

What kind of heat do they have left?

Because everyone on the internet always has that freshness period when eating melons; once the freshness period passes, the sweet darling becomes the old cow-wife.

Manager Han nodded to show he understood and returned to his office.

About two hours later, Tian Zong called.

"Double Eleven is coming soon, and the Company has decided to start promoting with full force, mainly focusing on the Billion Subsidy and various coupons."

"There will be instructions on how to operate specifically; you just follow them."

"Understood, Tian Zong."

Manager Han was not surprised at all; next month is Double Eleven, so starting the warm-up now is not early at all, and the site next door has already launched all kinds of mini-games.

Every year at this time, the only thing everyone discusses is shopping; everything else has to step aside!

Tian Zong didn't finish speaking at the time, but Manager Han understood in his heart.

Pinduoduo's success today relies on the sinking market, and it relies on being cheap!

Don't talk to me about quality; let's just talk about price.

Things you have to spend one hundred yuan to buy on other websites, here, I only need five yuan, and it includes shipping!

Just ask yourself how you would choose. Yes, some people feel that you get what you pay for, but for things that aren't expensive to begin with, it's almost cheap to the extreme here—are you buying or not?

After all, the country still has many poor people; you must remember this sentence.

Don't think that all the gods on the internet, with luxury cars and mansions everywhere, and an average net worth of millions, are really that awesome; if they were, we would have already crushed the United States next door, right?

So, Pinduoduo is worried, but it's not like they are afraid.

After all, the scale is right there.

And how to promote? Good question. Besides finding celebrities and internet celebrities to promote, that leaves the cheap and easy-to-use Internet Water Army.

Moreover, celebrities and internet celebrities will also hire the Internet Water Army to make their promotion data look better.

This is absolutely no lie; as far as Zhou Yi knows, within the circle of Miss Xiao Xu, who writes novels, there are also all kinds of brushers and all kinds of Internet Water Army.

Think about other areas; how could industries with a much larger scale than web novels possibly not have an Internet Water Army?

Naturally, given Manager Han's status, he would not directly contact the Internet Water Army; their department has its own rules regarding how to promote.

…………

In the Imperial Capital, inside an ordinary rented apartment, Liu Qiang climbed out of bed, looked at his girlfriend sleeping soundly beside him, smiled, and then went to cook.

Perhaps by now, the term "Beijing Drifter" doesn't appear much anymore, because many of the young people who grew up watching those stories have themselves become Beijing Drifters.

It's not that they want to stay in the Imperial Capital—few people dream of that—it's mainly the thought of earning a bit more money in the Imperial Capital.

Liu Qiang and his girlfriend are the same; one graduated from university and went through a sweet romance.

But after graduating from university, they had to start considering how to walk the path ahead.

After discussing it, they came to the Imperial Capital and began the life of a working person.

Every day, when Liu Qiang goes to work, he has to endure a commute of one and a half hours in total, by subway plus bus.

Then he goes to work at that Internet Company.

"Are you up so early?"

"It's not early; let's leave early after we finish eating."

The two were chatting casually when, at this moment, Liu Qiang's phone rang.

He picked it up to take a look, then walked to the side to answer it.

"Ah? Really? Okay, of course no problem, I guarantee I'll get the heat up; I've already been working hard on those previous posts, it's just that the other party's heat is too high, okay, okay."

Putting down the phone, Liu Qiang came to his girlfriend's side with an excited look and shouted: "Xiao Yuan, we are going to get rich!"

"The boss for that private job I took just called; as long as this order is completed, I can buy a house in Jingzhou!"

Really?

The girlfriend beside him was equally happy and said: "Really? That's great!"

Xiao Yuan was still very satisfied with the boyfriend she had chosen; besides working at the Company, he also took private jobs, and the private jobs earned even more than his job.

Hugging his girlfriend and kissing her several times, Liu Qiang finally calmed down a little and began to take the breakfast he had made to the dining table to eat.

This order was indeed very large; to be precise, the orders in the recent period have all been very large!

From the moment that Up Master named A Yi appeared, the orders on the internet started to increase.

Yes, Liu Qiang's so-called private job is the Internet Water Army.

He doesn't feel there is anything wrong with this; the other party pays money, and he helps by liking, deleting posts, setting heat, and eliminating heat.

Of course, he is not alone; he is a leader of the Internet Water Army, receiving orders from above and then contacting the Internet Water Army below to do the work through his own methods.

Of course, whether there is subcontracting above that, that is unclear.

There was a joke back then: someone spent one million to hire a killer, but only ten thousand reached the killer's hands, so the killer refused to do it.

Double Eleven, every year's Double Eleven is not only a carnival for shopping websites and a carnival for customers, but also a carnival for them, the Internet Water Army.

Websites need heat, shops also need heat, and the Anchors and celebrities who promote goods need heat even more.

Everyone needs heat, but the heat on the internet is fixed.

So, under such circumstances, the participation of the Internet Water Army is necessary to make everyone feel that the heat is very high.

In the end, the merchants might not lose or gain, or even lose money just to make a scene.

Shoppers who racked their brains to get a bunch of discount coupons and deduction vouchers later discovered that the things sold during the event were not as cheap as usual...

So the question arises: who earned the money?

That, of course, would be those platforms that lose money every year.

They, the Internet Water Army, are just getting a small share of the spoils.

After finishing the meal, before leaving, Liu Qiang smiled and said: "After this order is finished, I can go to your house to propose marriage!"

Everything is developing in a good direction.

Arriving at the Company, Liu Qiang greeted his colleagues and sat down at his workstation.

He generally doesn't do other things during work hours, but this time others were urging him a bit tightly, so taking advantage of the time before work, Liu Qiang intended to take a look.

And by the way, assign the relevant tasks to the Internet Water Army below.

Opening the computer, Liu Qiang began to operate with intense concentration.

However, he did not know that at this very moment, outside their office area, several police officers were standing there.

"Comrade, are you really sure it's him? But this young man is very capable at our Company and is also an honest person; how could he possibly do such a thing?"

The boss of the Company said with a puzzled look.

The police officer shook his head: "According to the evidence we currently possess, he is a relatively large leader of the Internet Water Army in several incidents, and is also one of the suspects we have currently locked onto."

The reason for locking onto Liu Qiang is that he occupies a position of connecting the top and the bottom in the entire chain of the Internet Water Army.

He doesn't just collect money and find people; he also does the work himself and is very active, which is why they locked onto him so quickly!

The boss sighed and said: "That's a pity; this young man is very hardworking and is almost married."

After a pause, the boss didn't know what else to say, and could only say, this society...

Since it was already confirmed, the boss could only let people make the arrest; he only felt a little pity, but he didn't want to get involved in these things.

In the office area, a group of working people were working hard, and then they saw a line of police officers walk in.

Suddenly, they were all a bit dazed, because these police officers were fully armed; they had never seen such a formation before.

What's the situation? Did something happen to the boss?

Someone thought subconsciously.

As a result, they saw the line of police officers walk straight to Liu Qiang's desk.

Liu Qiang was also startled by this sound, raised his head from the computer, looked at the police officers in front of him, and said: "Comrade, are you looking for me?"

One of the older police officers stepped forward and said, "Liu Qiang, is it? Your ID number..."

Liu Qiang, who was in front of them, froze. He hesitated for a moment before saying, "It's me, officer. Is there something going on with me?"

Holy crap, the colleagues nearby were all stunned; it really was Liu Qiang they were looking for!

This young man was usually a very "Old Honest Man," so how did it look like he had committed a crime?

The lead police officer asked, "Are you helping people collect money to delete posts online, acting as an Internet Water Army?"

Liu Qiang was stunned for a moment. It was actually about this?

This—they could even track this down?

He had actually been working as an Internet Water Army for two years, though at the beginning he was just the lowest level of minion, the kind that got paid fifty cents per post.

Even for that kind of work, you had to have connections, otherwise, you'd get scammed if you weren't careful.

He had been doing this until now, and yet he had actually been tracked down by the Public Security Bureau?

Could it be that doing this was actually against the law?

Liu Qiang didn't quite understand, but he still replied, "Officer, I didn't do anything, I just deleted a post and liked a post for someone."

"Just deleted a post and liked a post? How much money did you take?"

The old police officer was asking there, while the young police officer nearby had already crowded over to the computer and started flipping through the things on Liu Qiang's computer.

Being in the Internet Water Army, there were naturally many programs on the computer, and the young police officer dug out the evidence in a few quick moves.

"Right here, this is the tool you use to delete posts, right?"

"No, officer, this isn't it, this is just a..."

As Liu Qiang was speaking, he subconsciously prepared to delete it on the keyboard, but he was discovered immediately!

"Don't move, don't move! Who told you to delete that!"

"It's not that, officer, this is just redundant data, it's useless, you guys don't understand..."

As a result, the words had barely left his mouth before he was snapped back at.

"I don't understand? I graduated from a 985 university with a master's in computer science and you're telling me I don't understand? I told you not to move!"

Liu Qiang was taken to the side, Handcuffs were put on him, and his colleagues at the Company were already stunned.

"Officer, officer, can I make a phone call home?"

Liu Qiang's heart had completely sunk; he wasn't even sure if being an Internet Water Army was against the law.

But many big shots in the industry had told him that this wasn't illegal at all.

They were just helping to stir up some heat or something, acting as a "hype squad"—when had you ever heard of a hype squad breaking the law?

But now, why was this happening?

Watching the other party constantly flipping through his computer, Liu Qiang finally couldn't help but say, "Um, officer, can I make a phone call home?"

The old police officer glanced at him upon hearing this and said with a calm face, "We will notify your family later, don't worry, they will definitely find out."

Liu Qiang shut his mouth; he would rather his family not know.

After flipping through for a while, the young police officer raised his head, looked at Liu Qiang, and said, "Found it, it's the article written by this person."

"Is it that article saying that A Yi is using the guise of being a stickler for details, but is actually a 'walking five hundred thousand'?" the old criminal investigator asked with a chuckle, showing interest.

The other party was laughing, but the young man didn't dare to laugh; don't think that just because this old guy looked kind and benevolent now he was easy to mess with—this was an extremely senior criminal investigator in the bureau, a true backbone of the force, and he wasn't even sure he could beat him in a fight.

"Yes, that's the article. It caused quite a stir at the time, but I didn't expect it was actually written by him."

Liu Qiang didn't speak. He had indeed written that article, but it was all written under instructions from above. As for whether that A Yi was a "walking five hundred thousand," he had no idea at all.

Anyway, it was just to stir up everyone's emotions; he had done this kind of thing many times before.

The old criminal investigator looked at Liu Qiang and didn't speak. Libel, and it had reached the threshold...

This arrest operation was no longer something the Guangming Branch could handle alone; the Municipal Bureau was leading it because there were really a lot of people to arrest.

When it came to the Internet Water Army, it was a case of pulling up the radish and bringing out the mud; as long as this thread was confirmed, many people would be implicated.

It didn't matter if you were a big Water Army boss or a small one, they only looked at the amount; as long as the amount was reached, they were all arrested!

Very quickly, relevant content was found on Liu Qiang's computer, and after comparison, officers from the relevant departments began rushing to various places to make arrests!

In Modu, Wang Xianghong, a sophomore college student, was taken away from his dormitory, and a high-level executive at a certain Company was also taken away from the office.

There was no need to mention Handong Province; all the locked-on suspects had been captured. The youngest was a seventeen-year-old student; in the same class, he and three of his classmates were all doing Water Army work together.

Furthermore, it was discovered during the arrests that these Water Army bosses located at the upper levels were generally thirty to forty years old, and they took the lion's share.

Those doing the actual work below were mostly students and workers who hadn't graduated long ago, and there were even some children currently in vocational school.

Many people, when they were young, actually thought about growing up quickly, and the concept of growing up was being able to earn money for themselves, and they all wanted to earn their own money.

So, after having such an opportunity, many people shared it with their friends, and as a result, they were caught in a whole string.

Water Army bosses like Liu Qiang had a habit, which was that they would write a diary or something after finishing each task.

Or it could be called bookkeeping, and so this became very important evidence. The reason so many people could be caught was mainly because he had recorded things so clearly there.

On such and such a year, month, and day, giving so and so much money—the amount was instantly there.

And so, very quickly, many family members received phone calls.

"What? You're saying, you're saying Liu Qiang was arrested? But, how is this possible? He's such an Old Honest Man, how could he commit a crime?"

In the rented apartment, Xiao Yuan stood there, stunned.

…………

Three days had passed.

Zhou Yi was still slacking off in Jingzhou. The case in Modu had been postponed, which was no surprise; as long as the application procedure submitted by the other party was legal, the postponement was understandable.

So Fang Dazhuang had also returned to Jingzhou, too lazy to wait. However, compared to Zhou Xinran, he hadn't received any reports here.

Or rather, someone had wanted to report him, but they had been blocked.

The gap between people is sometimes even greater than the gap between a person and a dog.

Fang Dazhuang returned mainly because of that Criminal Private Prosecution Case; the other party naturally wanted to choose Mediation, so he had to meet with them.

It's just that Zhou Yi didn't think much of it, because Zhou Xinran had already spoken with them over the phone as the agent.

The mother was still alright, but the father was a bit irrational, feeling that just cursing a few times online, how could that be a crime.

But it is estimated that he was persuaded to try Mediation first.

It's just that Zhou Xinran felt very uncomfortable, because the other party kept saying on the phone, "My child still has to take the civil service exam; you doing this is ruining his whole life."

Isn't the one who ruined his life actually himself?

On the other side, because the arrest process was strictly confidential, no one knew that in these few days, many of the Internet Water Army had been caught.

Consequently, Manager Han was called to Tian Zong's office.

"What's going on? Didn't I say our popularity needs to rise? What about the Billion Subsidy and all those activities? What is the situation?"

Upon hearing this, Manager Han was also very surprised and said: "Tian Zong, I was just asking people about it there, but they don't know either; many people can't even be contacted anymore."

Such normal commercial promotion, hiring the Internet Water Army is of course fine and not illegal, but Manager Han didn't understand why, all of a sudden, no one was taking such orders anymore.

Relying only on those influencers for promotion is definitely not enough.

"Go check and see what happened, but promotion is still the priority; broaden the promotion channels and add more money."

The same thing didn't just happen here; it also happened in the homes of many influencers, Anchors, and the like.

Some shopping Anchors, some live streamers, and even some celebrities woke up today and habitually intended to buy the Internet Water Army again, only to find that they couldn't contact anyone!

"How is it possible that I can't contact anyone? I don't care what method you use, you must buy them for me. Double Eleven is coming up soon; with such a big dividend, are we just giving it up?"

In a villa in Modu, a young man who looked a little handsome was flying into a rage.

His name is A Fa, a well-known shopping Streamer under the Kuaizhang short video platform, and he has already opened his own Company; every time he starts a broadcast, the popularity is astonishing.

Naturally, the sales volume is also astonishing; for this Double Eleven, he had already prepared to make a killing!

But the result was telling him that suddenly, the fixed Internet Water Army he used before could not be bought.

Many people were curious about what exactly happened, and in Jingzhou, Zhou Yi received a call from Lao Yang, that is, the Brother Yang from the Propaganda Department last time.

"We have already caught people on our side, and then the higher-ups felt that this case could be well publicized, letting everyone know that the Internet Water Army is also illegal, and if the amount is large enough, it also belongs to a Criminal Case!"

"And because the previous cooperation with you was quite good, the Municipal Bureau wants to cooperate again, so I'm asking when your video will be released."

What? There's such a good thing?

Zhou Yi's video here had already released one experimental episode, and originally the next episode was planned to be released after the lawsuit ended.

But now it's uncertain when the lawsuit will go to court, and it turns out they can publicize this together?

If you put it that way, I'm not sleepy anymore!

"Brother Yang, what kind of talk is that!"

"Huh?" Lao Yang was a bit confused; this kid must be getting carried away.

Yet he didn't expect Zhou Yi to say very seriously: "What do you mean by when my video can be released? You want it whenever you want it, and it will be there!"

Going out again today, another day on the road; a 6,000-character long chapter to help you sleep.

Thanks to Douluo Ming Shiyin, another novice brother, Brother Wenchi, Reader 142, Flying Cat Story, and finally all the Sea brothers, Reader 2022, Reader 2019; thanks to the brothers for the tips, thank you.

(End of this chapter)