Chapter 206: Hiring Trolls? He Knows All About That!

Chapter 206: Chapter 206: Hiring Trolls? He Knows All About That!

Regarding this, Liang He’s friend—the PR queen and Deputy Minister of Blue Star’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs—provided a solution.

"She means that we shouldn’t take the initiative; instead, we should take a passive approach."

It was simple: they just needed to hire a wave of paid commenters to guide the narrative. The main goal was to let the netizens discover for themselves that Liang He had donated to the rescue station.

Netizens tended to be much more convinced by truths they dug up themselves. This way, they wouldn’t suspect Liang He of faking it, and President Lucas’s reputation wouldn’t be damaged either.

"That’s a pretty good idea. I’ll go ask around. How do we hire paid commenters?"

No one present had any experience with hiring commenters. They could only count on Huo An to see if he had any connections.

Upon receiving the news, Huo An took the matter into his own hands and immediately initiated a video call with the Minister of Information Security.

Minister Cassie had been keeping a close eye on the trends on the Star Network. Just as he was debating whether to offer his help proactively, he received Huo An’s call and hurriedly answered it.

"Governor Huo, is there something you need?"

Although Minister Cassie really wanted to help, it wasn’t appropriate for him to offer first. It would easily make people think he was playing favorites, so he could only wait for Huo An to make the request. Well, to be perfectly honest, he was also putting on airs a little bit. After all, he was the Minister of Information Security. What was wrong with being a little pretentious?

"Minister Cassie, I remember the Information Security Department has specialists dedicated to guiding public opinion?"

As the Federation’s information security management body, the department occasionally needed to guide public opinion without leaving a trace. Steering the narrative in their desired direction often yielded twice the result with half the effort. Therefore, when Hoder mentioned they needed hired commenters, Huo An immediately thought of their "own people" in the Information Security Department.

"We do, but why are you asking?"

Minister Cassie had expected Huo An to ask the department to issue a statement or directly remove the trending topics. He was quite surprised that Huo An brought this up instead. Did Huo An want them to guide public opinion? However, netizens nowadays were very sharp. Liang He’s situation was highly complicated, so it probably wouldn’t be easy to fool them.

"It’s like this..."

Huo An explained the plan Liang He and the others had come up with, mainly wanting to hear the minister’s opinion. If it was viable, Minister Cassie would probably help even if Huo An didn’t explicitly ask.

"This method is quite clever."

Minister Cassie raised an eyebrow in surprise. Utilizing the netizens’ curiosity to let them dig up the truth themselves, thereby indirectly clearing Liang He’s name and changing the narrative—this was an angle he had never considered. He wondered since when those youngsters had become so adept at manipulating human psychology.

"I’m afraid you guys didn’t come up with this idea yourselves, did you?"

Ever since Liang He’s situation had been reported to him, Minister Cassie had investigated both her and the people around her. These kids didn’t seem like the type to come up with such a strategy; they were far more accustomed to solving problems with brute force.

"I heard it was a plan devised by a friend of Liang He’s on Blue Star."

Hoder had spoken in a hurry and hadn’t explicitly mentioned the friend’s identity as the Deputy Minister of Blue Star’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, so Huo An didn’t know the exact details.

"That’s a really smart kid. It’d be great if they could join our Information Security Department."

Merely hearing the solution was enough to make Minister Cassie want to poach this talent. Unfortunately, his wishful thinking was doomed to fail.

"Alright, I’ll arrange what you asked for right away. Rest assured and wait for my news."

Liang He’s method didn’t violate the rules of the Information Security Department or the Federation. Moreover, everything was based on facts; there was no fabrication involved. Now, they just wanted the department to help guide things a bit so netizens could discover the truth themselves. It was an easy favor, and Minister Cassie naturally had no reason to refuse. Furthermore, Liang He using the netizens’ donations to rescue animals was a deed worth publicizing in itself. It was also a good thing for the Federation.

"Great, I’ll leave it in your hands then."

Receiving a positive response from Minister Cassie, Huo An finally breathed a sigh of relief. Next, they just had to wait for the Information Security Department to take action. Liang He’s status was special. The Federation’s higher-ups had long since ordered that she be given as much help as possible, provided it didn’t violate Federation laws. Minister Cassie naturally wouldn’t drag his feet on such a minor matter and quickly gave the orders.

"Liang He, my uncle asked the Information Security Department for help! You can relax now!"

On the other side, Hoder, having received the update, immediately shared the good news with Liang He and the rest. Hearing that the Information Security Department was stepping in, Liang He was quite confused. However, after thinking about Huo An’s status, she figured she was just making a fuss over nothing.

"Alright, then let’s focus on our own things and wait for the results."

Liang He didn’t have the energy to spend all her time on the Star Network anyway. The Silver Shuttle was keeping a constant watch; if anything happened, he would definitely shout about it, and they would know everything they needed to know by then.

"I’m going to go check on Jiao Jiao and the others."

The sudden storm of public opinion had made Liang He too busy to attend to the fluffy animals. Now that she finally had a moment to catch her breath, they were the only ones on her mind.

"AWOO~"

Upon seeing Liang He, the fluffy animals who had been lying in their respective little beds all got up and gathered around her. The Mojin King Tiger had been helping Liang He watch over the Iron-eating Beast, so he was the first to have his fur stroked.

"Cedriel, thank you for your hard work."

Looking at the increasingly sensible Cedriel, Liang He’s heart felt both a pang of sorrow and a rush of warmth. He used to be an innocent, silly, and sweet tiger, but now he had become mature and steady just for her. It made Liang He feel quite guilty. In her heart, she felt the fluffy animals should always be like little children—pampered, spoiled babies who didn’t need to learn how to be sensible, but only needed to be happy.

"AWOO~"

Cedriel affectionately rubbed against her. His golden tiger eyes were full of reliance on Liang He, along with a trace of imperceptible worry.

After Liang He finished examining the Iron-eating Beast and confirmed that its condition was still improving as she had expected, her mood brightened considerably. Having a rare moment of free time, she played fetch with the fluffy animals for a while.

"ROAR?"

Yin Qi, who was seeing the fluffy animals scramble for a ball for the first time, squatted obediently beside Liang He. His beautiful eyes stared unblinkingly at the ball being tossed up and down, looking exactly like an adorable big dog. Ever since Yin Qi arrived at the service area, his condition seemed much better than it had been in the Endless Ice Domain.

"Yin Qi, come play together. Don’t be afraid. Cyril and the others are very easy to get along with."

Wanting Yin Qi to integrate into their big family as soon as possible, Liang He nudged him toward where the fluffy animals were playing, then instructed Lanton and the rest to include Yin Qi in their games.

When Silver Feather finished dealing with some work for the temple and came to find Liang He, dropping by to check on Yin Qi in the process, the sight that greeted her was Yin Qi acting like a big dog, fighting over a ball with the other fluffy animals.

"Is Yin Qi... cured of his illness?"

Silver Feather twitched the corner of her mouth, feeling a bit speechless. Although she really hoped Yin Qi would get better because of Liang He, wasn’t this recovery a bit too fast? It felt so fast that it defied science.

If Liang He had heard her thoughts, she probably would have asked, "Is the existence of Divine Beasts scientific in the first place?"

"He might not have been sick before. Did you guys ever get a formal diagnosis?"