Chinese Medicine: Starting with Daily Intelligence

Chapter 636: Chapter 636: Dropped

Tongming Media Culture Co., Ltd.

The office was thick with cigarette smoke, and the clatter of keyboards sounded like a bloodless war.

You Hao sat in the boss’s chair, feet propped up on his desk, a cigarette between his fingers. He was smugly commanding his army of "keyboard warriors."

"That’s right, write it just like that. Slam them hard. Carcinogenic, scalp-rotting—the more disgusting, the better."

"That post about it causing hair loss—bump it to the top. Buy five thousand likes for it."

"And that clarification video from ’Vanilla Honey Peaches’—flood it with ten thousand negative comments. Show her what a real online mobbing looks like."

Watching the reputation of Ding’s shampoo crumble bit by bit on the screen, You Hao felt a thrill of satisfaction.

’If this job is a success, my reputation in the industry will soar,’ he thought. ’After this, won’t smear jobs like these be lining up at my door?’

"Boss, we’ve got a big order."

An employee shouted excitedly, "Someone’s offering a high price for us to flood..."

Before he could finish his sentence—

"BANG!"

The office door was violently kicked open.

A team of fully armed police officers stormed in, descending as if from the heavens.

"Don’t move! Police! Everyone get down on the ground with your hands on your head!"

The cigarette fell from You Hao’s hand in fright. Before he could even react, two officers were on him, slamming him onto the desk. A pair of cold handcuffs clicked shut around his wrists with a sharp "CLACK!"

"What... what are you doing? What law did I break?"

You Hao struggled, still trying to argue his way out.

The lead officer sneered, pointing at the still-glowing computer screens. "Commercial defamation, provoking trouble, illegal business operations. The evidence is conclusive. Take them away."

At the same time, many similar black PR firms across the country were facing identical raids.

A thunderous operation targeting the black market of online services was closing its net.

...

At the headquarters of the Cosmetics Association, in the president’s office.

Gao Tang was leisurely sipping his tea, chatting idly with representatives from several major giants like P&G and Unilever.

The sun shone brightly outside the window, just like their moods over the past few days.

"So, how goes the battle?"

Gao Tang asked with a grin, looking as if victory was already in his grasp.

The P&G representative swirled the tea in his cup, his triumphant expression unconcealed. "Extremely well. Ever since we suppressed Ding’s, our company’s shampoo sales have steadily recovered. Our market share is even a bit higher than before. Headquarters was very pleased with how I handled this and approved a handsome bonus. It just came in yesterday."

"Haha, excellent," Gao Tang nodded. "This is what you call ’killing the chicken to scare the monkeys.’ Let those traditional Chinese medicine factories thinking of crossing over and stirring up trouble see that not just anyone can enter the daily chemical industry."

The Unilever representative also chuckled and pulled out his phone. "Speaking of which, I should check our company’s stock. I even bought a lot more shares a few days ago. With this wave of good news, I should make a nice profit."

He opened his stock app, full of anticipation.

However, in the next second, his smile froze. He rubbed his eyes, wondering if he was seeing things.

The screen was a sea of glaring red.

The K-line, which had been soaring upwards, was now plummeting like a kite with its string cut.

"It... it dropped?"

He refreshed the page in disbelief. No mistake!

It hadn’t just dropped—it had plummeted!

It had even hit the limit down!

"What’s going on?"

He couldn’t help but cry out, his voice cracking.

"What is it?"

Startled by his shout, Gao Tang and the P&G representative hurried over to look.

One look, and they were all stunned.

"This... this is too much, isn’t it? Is it just a technical correction?"

Gao Tang guessed. "It’s the stock market. Ups and downs are normal."

"No, this isn’t a correction." The Unilever representative’s face was pale. "This is a crash. Look at the trading volume—it’s all panic selling. There must be some major negative news."

"Could it be... a problem with our products? Like they found some carcinogen in them?"

The P&G representative’s heart skipped a beat, and he quickly pulled out his own phone to check.

Sure enough, P&G, BaWang, Unilever... the entire hair care products sector was a sea of red today, a scene of utter devastation.

Just as they were guessing wildly, their hearts pounding with fear, all of their phones rang at almost the same time.

They were urgent calls from their respective corporate headquarters.

"Something’s happened. Something big."

"Just now, the police issued an official notice—the kind with white text on a blue background."

"The notice states that recently, certain companies were suspected of organizing an online water army to maliciously attack the shampoo products produced by Ding’s Pharmaceutical Factory through large-scale, prolonged rumor-mongering and defamation. After a thorough investigation, the police have already dismantled several large water army gangs and have secured key evidence identifying the masterminds behind them! Further legal action will be taken against the involved shampoo companies!"

Even more damning, at the end of the notice, the police had specifically added a "Rumor Debunking Statement":

"Following testing by authoritative institutions, all indicators for Ding’s Natural Botanical Shampoo meet national standards, and it contains no hormones or harmful substances. Online claims of it being ’carcinogenic’ or causing ’hair loss’ are all unfounded rumors."

This hammer blow didn’t just crush the water army; it utterly shattered the credibility of these major corporations.

The stock market is the most sensitive of all.

As soon as the capital market saw news of suspected commercial crimes—which could lead to massive fines and a credibility crisis—investors immediately voted with their feet and fled in a frenzy.

That was why the stock prices had plummeted.

"It’s over..."

Gao Tang collapsed into his chair. The teacup slipped from his hand and shattered on the floor with a "CRASH."

They had worked so hard for more than half a month, spent so much money, and mobilized so many resources, all thinking they could strangle Ding’s in its cradle.

And the result?

Not only had they failed to crush their target, but they had also dragged themselves down in the process.

This was a total reset back to square one.

What terrified them even more was that with this veil of deceit torn away, the truth about Ding’s shampoo would be completely exposed to the light of day.

Once the public learned of its heaven-defying effects...

...would any other shampoo stand a chance?

...

Following the police announcement, the tide of public opinion turned in an instant.

Without the slanderers and the water army muddying the waters, the real voices that had been suppressed finally began to surface.

"I knew it! How could a huge company like Ding’s sell fake products? It turns out they were being slandered."

"Where are all the trolls who were slinging mud? Why aren’t you popping up anymore? The police are inviting you over for a ’cup of tea.’"

"I thought it was weird before. The shampoo worked really well for me, but all I saw online were negative reviews. Turns out we were all being manipulated."

More and more people began to speak out.

Among them, a video posted by a blogger with the screen name "A Bald Girl’s Guide to Saving Herself" went viral.

In the video, she tearfully recounted her experience. "To be honest, I didn’t believe it at first either. When I saw so many bad reviews online, I actually threw away the Ding’s shampoo I had bought. But then I ran out of shampoo, so I fished it out of the trash and gave it a try."

"And the result... it was amazing, you guys."

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