Chapter 24 The Media's Frenzied Coverage
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Translator: JayM
Chapter: 24
Chapter Title: The Media's Frenzied Coverage
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This was the fact that would be laid before everyone's eyes.
With such a tragedy serving as a warning…
When a greater disaster came in the future — when tens of thousands, or even millions of people were about to meet with misfortune — far more people would believe the warnings from the Association and do everything in their power to save their own lives.
That was when it would truly be time for Shen Yi to earn points in earnest.
His sights had always been set on the truly catastrophic disasters — and this was also the growth he had gained from his previous world.
"I understand." Dingxiang replied in a tone of affirmation, which indicated that she genuinely did.
"What you did wasn't bad, all things considered." Shen Yi said with a smile. "After all, you saved more people. I think that after this, even without going to such lengths, quite a number of people will choose to believe our future warnings. So going forward, a text message will do — at most a phone call."
What came next was to watch public opinion ferment.
Even if it fermented poorly, or if someone attempted to suppress coverage of the matter…
Shen Yi wasn't worried.
After all, with Dingxiang now at his command, he was the true king of information in this world.
Every piece of information that anyone received would be determined entirely by him.
After brushing his teeth and washing his face, Shen Yi picked up a tablet and headed downstairs. Mo Qiu had already arrived and was preparing breakfast. Shen Yi caught the aroma of shrimp congee drifting through the air and couldn't help but smile faintly.
He had mentioned it offhandedly while eating the day before. He hadn't expected Mo Qiu to have it ready this morning.
The texture was probably going to be considerably better than what he had drunk before.
Shen Yi sat down on the sofa and started up the tablet.
Though it had only been one night, just as he had anticipated, news reports about the incident were everywhere online.
To a degree that it could almost be considered frenzied.
"Mysterious Organization Predicts Disaster!"
"Massive Blaze in Faro in the Dead of Night — Over Seven Hundred Caught in the Tragedy, Yet Every Single Person Had Received an Advance Warning!"
"Who and What Is the Pan-Humanity Protection Association?"
"On the Ground: Interviews with Dozens of Survivors."
"Predicting the Future — Is It Actually Possible?"
"Astonishing! A Terrifying Fire Foretold in Advance, Continuous Warnings Issued Through Every Device! If It Was You, Would You Have Believed It? Those Who Didn't Are Now Dead in the Flames!"
"......"
An entire high-rise engulfed in flames in the dead of night — the last time a fire of this scale had occurred was at a five-star hotel two years prior, and the harrowing images from that incident were still fresh in many people's minds. That such a thing had happened again naturally drew enormous attention, and what was more, the mysterious elements present in this incident were simply too staggering.
Nearly all of the coverage wasn’t centered on the firefighting effort or the death toll…
But on the mysterious warning instead.
Official news outlets!
Independent media!
Newspapers and magazines!
Almost every media outlet descended on the topic like cheetahs that had caught the scent of prey.
This sudden, concentrated burst of news naturally drew the attention of a great many netizens, and once they came to understand the course of events through the reports, the live footage from the scene, and the survivor interview videos, one after another they were left stunned — some even began to wonder whether today was April Fools' Day.
"Is this real?"
"We haven't been fooled by foreigners, have we? Has any official media reported on it?"
"They have, they have — every outlet has reported on it."
"If this is true, I'll do a headstand and wash my hair on a livestream! Even if someone installed a lightning rod on the building, it would be impossible to control the exact moment a lightning strike occurred. Only God knows the probability of one — if humans could predict it, they'd have already ascended to godhood by now!"
"For those saying that it can't be done — take a look at this video!"
Netizens' own debates always found all manner of ways to prove their respective points. Shen Yi noticed that one particular video kept appearing across various discussion threads.
He casually clicked on it.
The backdrop of the footage was a building that had been burned entirely to charcoal, and the sight of the exposed, pitch-black structural framework alone was enough to send a chill through anyone.
There were even flames that hadn’t yet been fully extinguished on it.
Within the video, a man who appeared to be of East Asian descent was being interviewed by a crowd of media reporters.
Comment after comment scrolled continuously across the screen.
"Holy crap, a heavyweight just appeared."
"Someone in the know, tell us who this is."
"That's the Chief Engineer of Kona Corporation — a titan in the IT industry, everyone in the field knows him. Our company even requires all staff to study his public lectures."
"Kona? Isn't that the big company working on cutting-edge automation?"
The man on screen was, naturally, Ralph.
As both a firsthand witness to the incident and one of the top experts in the IT field, the media had naturally not let him slip away.
"Was your experience last night the same as everyone else's?" A reporter posed the first question.
"Of course — I would say that it was much the same as all the other survivors." A look of genuine gratitude surfaced on Ralph's face. "The warning from the Pan-Humanity Protection Association saved my life. I was living on the fortieth floor. If not for that warning, I would certainly have never made it out in time."
Engineers weren't actors, and everyone could see that his gratitude was genuine.
It was also tinged with a lingering fear — the fear of someone who had barely escaped with their life.
"Why did you choose to believe it?" Another reporter spoke up. "According to the information we've received, you and Lawyer Conrad were on the same floor, and you two even had a brief exchange at the time — and he chose not to leave. He remains among the missing to this day."
"Missing" was the word they used, but everyone knew…
He was essentially already dead.
A complicated expression crossed Ralph's face. When he had been exchanging those words with Conrad, he hadn't imagined for a moment that those would turn out to be the last words they ever spoke to each other.
Especially when he thought about it — if he himself had made the same choice Conrad did.
Then he would have ended up the same way.
"Mr. Conrad's misfortune grieves me deeply." Ralph looked into the camera. "I hadn't fully believed the warning at first. What astonished me was their information capabilities — they effortlessly and comprehensively took control of my phone, my computer, even my smart speaker, and every single smart appliance I owned. And to my knowledge, there isn’t a single hacking organization in the world currently capable of doing that. It was on the basis of this astonishing fact that I chose to believe and leave — even if it had been nothing but a prank, it would have been one capable of changing the world."
Whether or not Ralph had truly believed it at the time was something only he himself knew.
But he had left. That was a fact.
And that he had survived because of it was equally a fact.
This stood in sharp contrast to the unfortunate lawyer mentioned in the reporter's question.
The comment stream grew even denser with activity all at once.
"Holy crap, respect! 66666*!"
"A heavyweight's phone wouldn't be that easy to take control of, would it?"
"God, I have a smart speaker at home too."
"Terrifying — what exactly is the Pan-Humanity Protection Association?"
"There it is! A shadowy organization lurking in the dark corners of the world!"
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*A popular Chinese internet slang used to express that something’s extremely impressive or skillful. "六" (liù/six) is a homophone for "溜" (liū), meaning "smooth" or "slick."
T/N - Well now… I swear I don’t read in advance before I write these comments. But now that I’ve basically predicted what the MC was planning, am I now a qualified Chinese MC? 😂