Chapter 847 - 866: Wind Fills the Tower Before the Mountain Storm

A storm was brewing, and the signs were everywhere.

The enemy was in the shadows while they were out in the open. The looming threat had just begun to bare its fangs, yet no one could see it clearly. Wanxing, Qian Xingxing, and the rest could not predict exactly which direction things would take. After discussing for over an hour, they could only instruct the PR department to keep a close eye on public opinion and be ready to fight back at any moment.

At this point, everyone still felt relatively confident. After all, while Federation News was official media, the message had only come from their online division. When it came to a war of public opinion, the team had plenty of experience, and the Ju people had no shortage of discipline and combat power.

Thinking of this, their minds were put at ease, and Little President Qian urged Qiuqiu to hurry up and get some rest. She had been busy all day; how could she function without a good night’s sleep? Moreover, after seeing Qiuqiu wearing that helmet, he felt such equipment was far too low-end. It would be much better if she had a mental healing cabin.

"Should I have one transferred, buy one, or borrow one?" he wondered.

He drew a sharp breath.

"Borrowing one it is."

Even at dawn, the planet Q3 rarely saw any dew. The cold wind rustled in the air. The robot butler arrived at the temporary kitchen and treatment area ahead of Jiang Qiuqiu to tidy up, while Qiuqiu stayed in her room to do a spiritual power meditation and awaken her Spirit Sea. Another busy day was about to begin.

Before heading out, Qiuqiu opened her terminal and took a quick look. The Q3 zone was still a bit chaotic. After a moment of thought, she called over a factory worker and had them fetch a camera robot from Qian Xingxing’s office.

The treatment began. As the sky brightened, the factory lights were turned off, but another bright light was steadily rising.

After Qiuqiu had been working for over an hour, the joint school competition next door also commenced. Students entered the venue one after another, but today, many of them were whispering among themselves.

Many of the students here only found out about Jiang Qiuqiu’s withdrawal from the competition and her subsequent whereabouts after checking the Q3 circles upon returning yesterday. Some felt the post’s analysis was wrong. It was entirely her own freedom to decide her comings and goings based on her own thoughts. Besides, her direct supervisor had agreed to it, so it made no sense for bystanders to jump in and run their mouths.

However, others felt she was a massive hypocrite and was just putting on an act.

"What’s her deal? So many people were lining up; why didn’t she go earlier? Weren’t there even more people at the beginning? Why not go on the second day?"

"Look at the timing. She only went after the people from Federation News arrived," one person spoke with absolute certainty, as if they had glimpsed the ultimate truth. "What do you think it’s all for? And she even gave it some high-sounding excuse—"

"You!"

Amidst the coming and going crowds, Jiang Qiuqiu had become a hot topic.

The people from Room 501 were also quite silent. Walking on the cobblestone path, Gu Xiang felt a heavy weight in her heart. "Should I not have said those things in the interview? I feel like the situation has gotten somewhat serious."

Wang Shasha also felt they shouldn’t have spoken so much. "Those people are just talking nonsense now. It’s clearly not like that... We know exactly what kind of person Qiuqiu is. But no one online is listening to what we have to say."

Just last night, they had staunchly supported Jiang Qiuqiu in the circles as her close friends, but the engagement on their replies was extremely low. They were quickly buried under hundreds of other comments, rendered completely invisible.

"Our traction is still so low," Wang Shasha sighed. "It would be great if the professor could support Qiuqiu today."

"He definitely will," Gu Xiang said. "Qiuqiu is Dean Zhu’s top student."

Once Dean Zhu checked the Star Network today, he would definitely see those false reports. As long as he stepped forward to speak out, his influence would surely turn the tide of public opinion.

Dean Zhu did want to speak out, but—