Are You Crazy? He’s only an Intern Lawyer?
Chapter 479 - 475: Public Opinion, Trending Searches, Adding More Fuel to the Fire

Chapter 479: Chapter 475: Public Opinion, Trending Searches, Adding More Fuel to the Fire

Weekend.

In a luxurious villa, inside the master bedroom on the second floor.

Zhang Dihu lay with his eyes open, staring at the ceiling, with a faraway look on his face.

Next to him lay a naked woman.

"Lord Tiger, can’t you sleep?"

After the woman woke up and saw Zhang Dihu lying motionless, there was a look of concern between her eyebrows.

"Yeah, I can’t sleep!"

Zhang Dihu’s eyes remained fixed, his gaze unwavering, and his brows were perpetually furrowed.

Because just last night, the place hiding the secret of Fierce Tiger Hall was set ablaze.

As for the cause of the fire, he was unclear.

But he knew that place was specifically chosen, with no gas pipelines underneath it.

Even if there were gas pipelines, and even if there had been an actual explosion, with the defensive measures at that place, neither the explosion nor the flames would have been able to threaten the location underground.

So, it was clear that someone had entered there and then set fire to the place from the inside out.

Only this could explain why the fire was so fierce at the time, why not only outside but even the inside was completely burnt down.

But were the secrets really all destroyed in the fire?

What if someone had snuck in and taken away his secrets, then set the fire to destroy the evidence?

Once this thought occurred, Zhang Dihu became unsettled.

Because if it was true, if he wasn’t mistaken, then it would be bad news indeed.

Over the many years he had controlled Fierce Tiger Hall, all those records, those account books, those trade details he’d kept.

All the things he had done, the secrets of so many years, wouldn’t they all be exposed?

If that really was the case...

He would have sleepless nights.

So, the question arose.

Who set the fire last night?

Although the official message was a gas pipeline leak, he knew what the actual problem was.

He was waiting, for a phone call that would set his mind at ease.

Ding-a-ling!

Soon enough, the phone rang.

"Lord Tiger, we’ve investigated, and none of the guests who attended the party last night seem suspicious!"

"You specifically instructed to look into Zhang Wei, but he and his girl were in the bathroom the whole night, until they hurried out when the fire broke out, then both fled the party scene."

Hearing this news, Zhang Dihu still wasn’t reassured.

"Are you sure they were in the bathroom the whole time?"

On the other end of the line, the subordinate paused, then spoke with certainty,

"Yes, I asked the waiter who was keeping watch. That kid didn’t come out until right before the fire, he was in there the whole time."

"Later, because the fire was too big and because of the crowd fleeing, causing traffic congestion, the fire trucks arrived very late. Not to mention the inside of the mansion, even the outside party venue was affected by the blaze, and the bathroom where they were on the second floor was also burnt down."

"Speaking of which, that kid was lucky. If he were still in there, he might have been consumed by the fire that night!"

The jest from his subordinate was of no interest to Zhang Dihu.

"I see."

He said that and then hung up the phone.

Though he had heard the report from his subordinate, the anxiety in his heart hadn’t subsided.

"Lord Tiger, why don’t you rest for a bit? You haven’t slept all night~"

The pillow talker spoke in a delicate voice.

But how could Zhang Dihu sleep at a time like this?

"Moli, let’s leave it for today, I’m not in the mood."

Pushing the woman aside, Zhang Dihu got up.

The woman was Qian Moli.

As a businesswoman and lady president, she was nothing more than a doting servant in front of this man.

Seeing Lord Tiger getting up, she hurriedly waited on him, helping him to dress.

"Lord Tiger, are you leaving?"

"Of course, there are some matters I must verify personally!"

"About my case..."

"Don’t worry, Master Tang will take care of it."

Facing Qian Moli’s request, Zhang Dihu was clearly not in the mood, dismissing her with a phrase.

"Lord Tiger, if Master Tang can’t handle it, you won’t abandon me, will you?"

"Rest assured, you’ve been with me so long, I couldn’t bear to lose you!"

Zhang Dihu left, but before he did, he gave the woman a guarantee.

Upon hearing this guarantee, Qian Moli’s mood instantly improved, and most of the gloom in her heart vanished.

Because she knew how tremendously powerful her man was.

As long as he could promise to protect her, then no one would dare to touch her.

Let alone one Zhang Wei, even ten of him wouldn’t scare her.

...

What is Zhang Wei doing now?

He’s very busy, extremely busy.

Ever since he returned that night, he had locked himself in his room without stepping outside for a whole day.

Even lunch and dinner were brought to him by his second daughter from the neighboring Zhang’s Martial Arts School.

Only in the wee hours did the door of his room gradually open.

Zhang Wei, with dark circles under his eyes, stepped out one foot at a time.

"Wow, how many days have you been staying up?"

Dressed in her pajamas, his second daughter, who had just been about to go upstairs to sleep, exclaimed in surprise upon seeing him.

Zhang Wei’s current state was like he had pulled several all-nighters in a row.

"Although less than 24 hours have passed, would you believe me if I said I’ve been up for 10 nights?"

"You’re lying, hmph!"

As a smart person, Zhao Xiaoxiao naturally didn’t believe Zhang Wei’s "nonsense."

But Zhang Wei sighed.

Why do many people not believe it when you tell the truth?

However, he then looked into his room.

"Fierce Tiger Hall, Zhang Dihu, you really are something else, to have done so much evil!"

In his room lay Fierce Tiger Hall’s biggest secrets, all of which he had managed to take out during that fire.

The trial on Monday was going to be interesting.

But before the trial began, Zhang Wei had some things to arrange.

He pulled out his phone and quickly made a call.

"Hello, is this Chief Editor Pei, how are things with you and Guan Zhubian over there?"

"Oh, don’t worry, once this is over, you can come back. Going away is just a temporary measure to dodge the spotlight, right?"

"You say there’s no problem, then that’s good, that’s good, I appreciate your hard work."

"Right, I’m calling because I want to know if you still have media friends in Dongfang Capital, preferably those who dare to expose and aren’t afraid of offending people."

"Oh, I see, thank you Chief Editor Pei, I’ll contact them in a bit."

"No trouble at all, you’re very welcome, take care then."

After hanging up the phone, Zhang Wei waited a bit before dialing another number.

Afterward, his plan began.

...

In the evening.

Dongfang Capital’s news media landscape exploded with major exposés.

"Shocking, Dongfang Capital’s number one evil force Fierce Tiger Hall, actions are heinous!"

"Shocking, the true face hidden behind the philanthropist is actually..."

"City Council Speaker implicated too, are the brothers both inhuman?"

"Why did the anti-gang operation fail, the truth is actually..."

Almost simultaneously, a storm swept through the news media landscape of Dongfang Capital.

Many obscure and minor media outlets and freelance writers suddenly published numerous exposés on Fierce Tiger Hall.

It’s said that the content even directly pointed to the City Council Speaker of Dongfang Capital City, Zhang Tianlong himself.

An otherwise peaceful weekend turned lively due to the media’s surge.

The internet was full of onlookers, frantically consuming the juicy news.

But no one could stand up and tell them whether the melon was ripe or not.

Yet these news reports were not unjustified, as many included various types of evidence.

Among them were photographs, video screenshots, and even alleged transaction records, internal account books.

Inside Dongfang Capital’s Investigation Department.

"Hello, this is the Investigation Department, how can I help you?"

"This is the Report Center, what trouble are you encountering?"

"Hello, madam, you’re calling us because..."

During the evening rush hour, the Investigation Department was inundated with reporting calls non-stop.

The content of the calls all pertained to one question: whether there really was an organization called Fierce Tiger Hall in Dongfang Capital.

V–blog’s trending searches were similar, with more than half of the top ten related to Fierce Tiger Hall, and there was even mention of an elusive Lord Tiger.

After all, there were rumors that Lord Tiger was Zhang Dihu!

The online public opinion exploded, and emotions surged violently.

Countless people wanted to seek the truth, and the only thing they could naturally do was to look for the Martial Association, the bearers of justice, and the Protectorate Investigation Department.

Therefore, the Investigation Department had to urgently convene a press conference, making the spokesperson explain the situation to the media.

"Please rest assured, citizens of Dongfang Capital, our city is very safe..."

...

Dongfang Capital City Council.

Speaker’s office.

Even on a big weekend, Zhang Tianlong also drove here. He hurried to the office and before his butt even hit the seat, his assistant rushed to knock on the door.

"Speaker, Councilor Mo and the others have arrived."

"Let them wait in the conference room, I’ll be right there!"

After giving instructions, the assistant hurried off, and Zhang Tianlong covered his head, looking impatient.

"Looks like my brother is in trouble too, huh!"

Although he hadn’t looked at the news in detail, he could roughly guess what had happened.

Possible!

The secret of Fierce Tiger Hall had been exposed.

It must be said, it was almost certain.

If so, to cover up this matter would require a huge expenditure of manpower, material resources, and financial resources.

Although the Zhang Family lacked none of these things,

as soon as this issue arose, it was indeed a headache for him.

"Forget it, let’s go see Old Mo and the others first. This time, they have to suppress this matter for me!"

Zhang Tianlong muttered to himself and then headed to the adjacent large conference room.

A few hours later.

While the onlookers were still waiting for news, some sharp-eyed netizens noticed that the content in the top ten trending searches started to change.

The original hot searches about Fierce Tiger Hall saw a sudden drop in popularity, and many posts, once clicked on, displayed messages like "Article content cannot be found."

404!

The great god of censorship had made a move!

But even more onlookers were puzzled as to why a gang force like Fierce Tiger Hall could command the intervention of such a powerful censor.

For a time, speculation about Zhang Dihu’s identity became even more overwhelming.

Even chat topics, discussion groups, and communities with keywords started to appear online.

The netizens all discussed in this way.

We don’t talk about Fierce Tiger Hall, we don’t discuss the rest, just focusing on this Zhang Dihu. This should be alright, right?

If we can’t even discuss a "philanthropist" like Zhang Dihu, a celebrity, doesn’t that prove there’s something fishy going on?

While the online public opinion was controlled, the netizens’ enthusiasm for gossip still surged.

Zhang Dihu’s name even replaced the previous hot search and re-entered the top ten.

Inside the Speaker’s office.

Zhang Tianlong had just finished the meeting and was about to leave when his phone rang again.

"What, my brother’s name is on the trending searches and is steadily climbing up?"

Zhang Tianlong’s headache came back.

He had not expected this issue to keep making waves, had he?

Are these netizens idle and hellbent on getting to the bottom of it?

With all this free time, wouldn’t it be better to read more books and improve themselves?

Zhang Tianlong quickly dialed his assistant’s number.

"Tell Weibo to take down my brother’s trending search!"

"Speaker, I just had a talk with Director Wang in charge, and he said it’s not easy to pull down!"

"What’s the issue, why is it not easy to pull down?"

"Because doing so would be too obvious. Their Weibo’s trending searches claim to be openly transparent; if suddenly removed, they say it would create a bad impression."

"Openly transparent, ha!"

Hearing this explanation, Zhang Tianlong himself laughed.

Open and transparent, data integrity, such things could fool those who are ignorant in the matter.

You’re using that line with me?

Who doesn’t know that your company is like a prostitute, up for anyone with the money.

Now you’re trying to set up a facade?

"Tell that Wang, to immediately remove it for me. If in 10 minutes I still see my brother’s name on the trending searches, let him face the consequences!"

In Zhang Tianlong’s tone, there was already a hint of anger.

"Yes, yes, yes, I will contact them immediately, right away!"

The assistant promptly ended the call with Zhang Tianlong and set out on his mission.

Soon, Zhang Dihu’s name once again cooled down in the top ten trending topics; within just two minutes, it was pulled from the list.

But less than a minute later, a trending topic called "Zhang Old Tiger" reappeared in the top ten, and its popularity and momentum grew rapidly.

This time, netizens could tell that someone was orchestrating an organized campaign to butt heads with V-blogging.

"Aren’t your V-blog trending searches touted as being open and transparent? How come with one or two searches, they mysteriously decrease in heat?"

"Now, we’ll throw another one in the ring and see how quickly you can lower it."

Many netizens even started forum threads and initiatives, inviting friends and family to join in and increase visibility.

Lots of people on the internet started instigating, saying they wanted to show some color to the "trending search" that played innocent after committing a scandal.

After all, everyone despised companies with one policy in front and another behind the scenes.

"Zhang Old Tiger" soared to the number one spot on the trending searches within minutes, aided by the entire web.

The top executives at V-blog were shocked and even held an emergency meeting overnight.

The board of directors immediately instructed to bring down the heat and suppress the incident, or else they couldn’t bear the consequences.

So, a few minutes later, the heat on "Zhang Old Tiger" died down again.

But before long, another topic titled "Zhang Second Tiger" rose, with a similarly astonishing momentum.

Upon seeing this name, the top brass at V-blog collectively exclaimed, "Fuck!"

This generation of netizens must be really bored, picking a fight with us, huh?

Another round of intense late-night meetings, teleconferences, and video conferences ensued.

Afterward, the company’s top executive issued a challenge, "keep it coming, let’s see who’s afraid!"

Following that, the heat on "Zhang Second Tiger" quickly waned, soon leaving no trace.

But in just a few minutes, another "Zhang Family Tiger" started trending and shot up into the top ten.

Seeing this, the board of directors knew that this generation of netizens was really turning the world upside down.

They too made a decision, they wouldn’t sleep tonight; they had taken up the gauntlet with this generation of netizens and resolved to fight to the end.

The battle lasted until 4 a.m.

At this moment, the trending list now featured a topic called "Zhang IIIV tiger."

Before this, the V-blog executive had already lowered the rankings of topics like "Zhang II tiger," "Zhang II Tiger," "Zhang two tiger," and others.

Furthermore, the top ten included other provocative topics like "V-blog executives can’t sleep tonight," "V-blog has really embarrassed itself this time," "Let’s see how V-blog denies this now."

The top ten was almost completely filled with mocking and satirical references to the trending list.

Inside the video conference room of the executives.

"I can’t handle this anymore, this generation of netizens is too much to handle!"

"So, what do we do now?"

"Let’s shut down the trending searches, close it for a few days, otherwise we can’t get any peace!"

"But the top ten search trends represent our company’s revenue."

"What’s more important, revenue or keeping him [an unnamed superior or entity] satisfied? It’s a critical moment of life and death for us now!"

"Then... I understand..."

In the end, the V-blog executives held a meeting overnight and passed a unanimous resolution.

In less than 10 minutes, the trending list that netizens were snacking on was suddenly closed off.

[Sorry, the trending list has encountered a systematic error and will be temporarily closed. The specific restoration time will be announced separately.]

Netizens who had been feasting on the drama received such a uniform response message.

"Is V-blog a sore loser?"

"They’ve surrendered just like that, throwing out a notice just to deal with us?"

"Realizing they can’t win, did they just pull the plug?"

"Now let’s see how you deny it, claiming data openness and transparency, pah!"

Netizens, all too eager to find entertainment, continued to post related threads and mock V-blog.

For a time, V-blog once again became the subject of ridicule among netizens outside of the trending searches.

Later, when V-blog’s top executives learned about the saga, their faces all turned green with anger.

They never could have imagined that such a seemingly simple trending list would lead to an irreversible reputation collapse for their company.

Of course, all that came later.

At the onset of the online opinion ferment, the instigator, already preparing to recharge his energy for Monday’s court hearing, was oblivious to the cyber war.

He rested for the entire night, unaware of the strife on the internet.

After all, online issues are but fleeting memories; in a few days, no one would even remember this rascal.

His use of the internet to stir trouble for Zhang Tianlong and Zhang Dihu was merely "lighting another fire."

Though that fire hurt no one, it made certain people more anxious than the first.

Making the enemy uncomfortable meant they would make mistakes, become distracted, and even reveal their weaknesses.

That was Zhang Wei’s goal.

Next, his sole purpose was to leverage these pieces of evidence against Dongxing Securities and those behind them!