boyutpedia Chapter 62 The Moment of Counterattack: Who is the Prey?
Chapter 62 The Moment of Counterattack: Who is the Prey?
2 PM, press conference hall of Jingzhou Public Security Bureau.
The air was so thick it was suffocating.
Before the appointed time, the several-hundred-square-meter hall was already packed to capacity. In addition to local media from Jingzhou, there were many more self-media influencers who had flocked from all over the country, and even a few unfamiliar faces wearing "overseas observer" signs, their eyes sinister, talking in hushed tones in foreign languages.
The cameras were set up so tightly that there was no gap, and the dark lenses looked like rows of gun barrels, all aimed at the empty podium.
The lobby was filled with a cacophony of noise, like boiling porridge. Even with the air conditioning on full blast, it couldn't mask the stench of sweat, anxiety, and a certain bloodthirsty excitement.
"I heard the Municipal Bureau is going to suffer a major setback this time."
"That video is too convincing. Let's see how Qi Tongwei tries to cover this up."
"Wash? With what? Unless he can turn that beaten worker into a terrorist."
Several paid marketing reporters huddled together, their faces beaming with schadenfreude, their fingers flying across their phone screens as they prepared a press release titled "Police Chief Collapses at Press Conference."
"Click".
The handle of the side door is turned.
The once noisy hall fell silent instantly, as if someone had grabbed its throat.
Qi Tongwei walked in.
He had no entourage, no secretaries. He was all alone.
He wore a crisp, high-ranking police superintendent's uniform, every metal button gleaming with a cold, sharp light. The belt cinched his lean, powerful waist, his broad shoulders and narrow waist making him stand as straight as a javelin. His stern face was expressionless, except for his eyes, which were as deep as two ancient wells, concealing a chilling coldness that could freeze a person to death.
Every step he took was precise, as if he were surveying a battlefield. The sound of his leather shoes striking the ground was dull and rhythmic, one step, two steps, as if stepping on everyone's heartbeats.
"Click-clack-clack-clack!"
The flashbulbs exploded instantly, the white light stretching out as if to expose the person's soul to the scorching sun.
Qi Tongwei didn't even blink.
He walked to the podium, placed his hands on the surface, and leaned forward slightly. This imposing posture made him look less like an official being questioned and more like a lone wolf surveying its territory.
Down in the audience, the troublemakers who had taken the money exchanged glances, a signal to take action.
"Director Qi!"
A reporter wearing wire-rimmed glasses suddenly stood up, his voice shrill, "The video circulating online shows you threatening workers demanding unpaid wages with a gun. Is this the arrogance of public authority?"
"Director Qi, did your violent assault on someone at the nightclub involve any organized crime connections?"
"Was the truck driver being tortured while screaming in the interrogation room?"
Please answer directly! Don't evade the question!
The questions came at me like a machine gun, clearly manipulative and malicious. Every word was a trap, every sentence a knife.
The chat in the live stream was flooded with comments:
"get out of class dismissed! get out of class dismissed!"
"Does this kind of person even deserve to wear a police uniform?"
"A protective umbrella for organized crime!"
Faced with this overwhelming accusation, Qi Tongwei remained silent.
He simply stared quietly at the man with the gold-rimmed glasses who was shouting the loudest, his eyes carrying a hint of indifference as if he were looking at a dead man.
The system interface flickered slightly on his retina.
[Hostile target detected: Reporter from XX Evening News (who accepted a bribe of 5 yuan).]
[Hostile target detected: XX self-media blogger (accepted bribe of 3 yuan).]
One second, two seconds, ten seconds.
The suffocating silence seemed to freeze the air in the room. The man with the gold-rimmed glasses felt his scalp tingle under Qi Tongwei's gaze, cold sweat beading on his forehead. His initially aggressive demeanor inexplicably deflated by half, his voice growing softer and softer until he finally shut his mouth in embarrassment.
The entire room fell silent.
It was a silence that was forcefully suppressed by the aura.
"Finished asking?"
Qi Tongwei finally spoke. His voice wasn't loud, but it carried throughout the venue through the microphone, carrying a metallic calm and power: "Now that you've finished asking your questions, shut up and watch carefully."
He took a black USB drive out of his pocket and plugged it into the computer in front of him.
His movements were slow and deliberate, yet they exuded a chilling composure.
"You want to see the truth, I will give you the truth."
The large screen suddenly lit up.
The first video is no longer the blurry version that was cut off and only lasted a dozen seconds; it's now 4K high-definition footage from a law enforcement recorder.
A chaotic crowd gathered at the entrance of Dafeng Factory.
The so-called "leader of the workers demanding back wages" was pulling out a dark object from his pocket with a ferocious expression—it was a homemade double-barreled gunpowder gun! The muzzle was even pointed at his unsuspecting coworkers behind him, attempting to create bloodshed to muddy the waters.
The image freezes, marked with a red circle.
In that instant, Qi Tongwei drew his gun, loaded it, aimed, and confronted the crowd with lightning speed. His actions were to protect the people, not to threaten them.
A collective gasp rippled through the crowd.
"This is... a gun?"
"Holy crap, that guy's going to kill his coworker?"
Before everyone could finish processing what was happening, the scene changed.
The second video. A private room in a nightclub.
The "innocent guest" who was kicked away by Qi Tongwei was grinning maliciously as he forced a packet of white powder into the mouth of an unconscious girl a split second before he was kicked away. The girl's clothes were torn to shreds, and her face was covered in tears.
That was a scene of attempted rape and drug trafficking!
That kick wasn't violence; it was a life-saving gesture.
The third video clip. The interrogation room.
The truck driver, who was crying like a victim, had just been sitting with his legs crossed, spitting at the police officer and arrogantly yelling, "I have connections! It's Chen Hai's bad luck that he ran over! If you say another word, believe me, I'll go out and kill your whole family!"
It wasn't until Qi Tongwei slapped a photo of the police car, now a complete wreck, in his face and told him, "You hit the head of the provincial procuratorate's anti-corruption bureau," that the man instantly broke down and wet himself in fear.
The audience was silent.
The reporters, who had been so aggressive just moments before, seemingly standing on a moral high ground, now stared wide-eyed, their faces turning a deep purplish-red, as if they had been slapped hard across the face by an invisible hand.
Especially that man with the gold-rimmed glasses, holding the microphone, his hand was shaking like he had Parkinson's.
The chat in the live stream paused for a second, then exploded, completely reversing the tide of discussion:
"This is awkward..."
"It's a plot twist! Holy crap, it really's a plot twist!"
"That man has a gun! Director Qi is saving someone!"
"May those marketing accounts die a horrible death! How dare they lie to me!"
Qi Tongwei stood on the stage and tapped the table lightly with his knuckles, making a "tap-tap" sound, as if tolling a death knell for someone.
"Is this what you call police brutality?"
His voice rose an octave, laced with undisguised sarcasm, "What do you think I should do with this scum who points a gun at workers, drugs underage girls, and attempts to murder police officers in his car? Invite him for tea? Or kowtow to him and beg him to reform?"
No one dared to speak.
Those "foreign observers" who were just jumping around so enthusiastically are now bowing their heads and trying to shrink themselves into their chairs.
"I know you're curious about where those videos that are taken out of context come from."
Qi Tongwei pressed the page-turning pen in his hand.
The screen changed again, displaying a complex topology diagram of fund flows. The lines were densely packed, but there was only one destination.
"This is a fund tracking report. In this era of big data, every move of money leaves a trace."
Qi Tongwei's voice was icy cold, devoid of any warmth.
"At 2 a.m. last night, a shell company registered in the Cayman Islands named 'Golden Shield Investment' transferred five million yuan to the corporate account of Jingzhou 'Blue Ocean Culture Media'. The note was 'promotion fee'."
At 2:30 a.m., three marketing accounts under "Blue Ocean Culture" with millions of followers simultaneously released those three edited videos.
"At 3 a.m., 20,000 overseas troll accounts began to flood the screen, pushing the trending topic to the top of the hot search list."
On the screen, the transfer records, chat screenshots, price lists for online trolls, and even the WeChat profile picture of the person in charge were clearly visible.
"And this 'Golden Shield Investment'..."
Qi Tongwei looked at the camera, a dangerous smile slowly curving his lips—the expression of a hunter closing in his net. "Its actual controller is the Shanshui Group."
boom!
The scene was in complete chaos.
This isn't just debunking rumors; it's a counterattack! It's dragging the mastermind out of the gutter and exposing them to the scorching sun!
The reporters went wild, flashes raining down like a storm. The Shanshui Group hired an online troll army to smear the police chief? This is absolutely the biggest scandal in Handong Province this year!
At the same time, public opinion on the internet exploded.
Ye Cunxin's phone call worked.
At that very moment, the official accounts of several major state media outlets, including CCTV News and People's Daily, almost simultaneously reposted the complete law enforcement video, along with extremely harsh short commentaries:
Don't let heroes bleed and weep; crack down on online smear campaigns!
Justice may be delayed, but it will never be absent!
Those netizens who were just criticizing Qi Tongwei now felt their intelligence had been insulted, and their anger instantly turned around, surging towards the big V accounts that spread rumors and the official Weibo account of Shanshui Group.
"That's so tough! That's what a people's police officer should be like!"
"Shanshui Group? Isn't that the company of that beautiful boss, Gao Xiaoqin?"
"It turns out it was capital that was behind this! Investigate them! Investigate thoroughly!"
"Director Qi is so impressive! That comeback was textbook perfect!"
The conference site.
Qi Tongwei looked at the pale-faced reporters below the stage, who were secretly deleting their articles, but he did not show a victorious smile.
His gaze swept past the crowd and fixed directly on the camera lens behind him.
He knew that on the other end of that internet cable, in a luxurious villa in the Mountain and Water Manor, that woman was watching.
"Zhao Xiaohui, I know you're watching."
Qi Tongwei's voice wasn't loud, but it carried a chilling penetrating power, as if it could crawl along the signal and choke the other person.
"You think you can hide behind a keyboard and hire a few mice to distort the truth?"
"Do you think the sky over Jingzhou is still the same one that money can cover up?"
Qi Tongwei raised his left hand and glanced at the tactical watch on his wrist.
The hour hand points to 2:30.
"The internet is not a lawless zone, and Jingzhou is not your Zhao family's backyard."
He adjusted his police cap, his eyes beneath the brim sharp as knives.
"The press conference is now adjourned. Also, I have some news to share."
Qi Tongwei paused, revealing a set of white teeth with a sinister smile.
"Based on the IP address we just located, the Municipal Public Security Bureau's Special Police Detachment has surrounded an office building belonging to 'Blue Ocean Culture Media' in the High-tech Zone."
"The arrest operation is now underway."