CH 96.1

Chapter 96: Headline News

A few days later, three lesser-known news agencies on StarNet suddenly released reports one after another.

《The Truth About Interstellar Pirates Attacking Civilian Shuttle Ships and Causing Untold Deaths! The Murderer Behind the Scenes Is a National Idol?》

《Shock! The Eldest Young Master of the Xing Family Joined the Interstellar Pirates After Being Kicked Out?》

《Big Reveal! The Bloody Road Behind the New Talented Energy Engineer!》

…

Relying on their sensationalist headlines, these tabloids with little actual content quickly caused a large number of reposts on StarNet.

“On July 18, 1522, a civilian shuttle ship on the border of our country was robbed by a gang of interstellar pirates. The shuttle departed from Vermi, which had just held a stone gambling auction. Lin Luo and Xing Mo, the former young master of Xing’s family, were also on the shuttle ship. The two of them had recently been in the limelight for winning a purple-gold two-colored glass jade at auction…”

This report was not only taken out of context, but also inverted black and white by cleverly patching things together. It planted the idea that the fault of the interstellar pirates having attacked the civilian shuttle ship was ultimately on Lin Luo’s head, claiming that the attack only happened because Lin Luo carried a priceless piece of glass jade that had attracted the attention of the interstellar pirates.

If this one report wasn’t enough to convince people, then the other two reports just served to corroborate it.

The second report directly released a surveillance screenshot. Although the screenshot was a bit vague, it was still possible to see Xing Mo’s iconic handsome face, and he was obviously wearing the clothing of the interstellar pirates.

The fact that Xing Mo was expelled from the Xing family was no secret among the upper class, but his cooperation with Yin’s Auction House wasn’t well known.

As such, the media took it for granted that after the accident in his mine, Xing Mo began to suffer from a lack of sufficient funds. From there it was easy for people to wonder, “Where did Xing Mo, who is penniless, get his money for gambling on stones?” The article both explicitly and implicitly stated that Xing Mo must have relied on being an interstellar pirate to rob people in order to have the capital to buy gambling jadeite.

As for the third report, it was even more exaggerated. It directly exposed the relationship between Lin Luo and Xing Mo, and it was inferred that they staged the whole thing on purpose as part of a very realistic scam in order to make off with the best jade all for themselves.

This media outlet also made an exclusive revelation, which stated that when Xing Mo and Lin Luo went to gamble on stones, the money they were using for the stone gambling this time was actually borrowed. It also went on to speculate that the two of them were trying to dodge the debts while taking the jade for themselves, thus hiring the interstellar pirates. The pirates pretended that the jade was robbed, but in fact they had colluded with the interstellar pirates all along. Although there was a discrepancy with the previous media’s speculation, it could be written off different routs to the same end. They all insisted that Xing Mo and Lin Luo were colluding with the interstellar pirates.

These reports together were enough to make people question the truth. Each one had detailed descriptions, and they were able to support each other’s speculations. Coupled with a few specious pictures and it was enough to give the fictitious articles lifelike detail [1], which made it so that people couldn’t help but talk about the articles.

At first, everyone thought it was a fabricated joke, but as some analysis gradually appeared in the comment areas, more “insiders” picked up the fact that Xing Mo’s parents had left the Xing family, after which the rumors suddenly exploded.

【Good patriarch, why did you suddenly retire? Is it that you know what your son is doing, so you have to run away with your family before conviction?】

Xing Mo rarely logged into StarNet. When people couldn’t find him, they rushed into Lin Luo’s personal social media platform, clamoring for him to come out and give an explanation!

【Shit! Really? Really? Lin Luo, come out and clear things up!】

【Can’t be true? If there’s no response for such a long time, isn’t it a guilty conscience?】

【Roll Roll Roll! What genius energy engineer! Just a beast who pretends to be a pig to eat a tiger! How black hearted!】

【If you don’t dare to come out and respond, it means it’s true!】

【Coward, come out if you have the ability!】

【This kind of person should be sentenced! Send them to a barren planet!】

【Interstellar pirates colluding with the Federation constitutes a crime of treason. It’s too cheap to send them to a barren planet, so they should pay with their lives!】

In the Xing family mansion of Capital Planet, Xing Shang was paying attention to the news on StarNet. Once he saw that the netizens’ emotions had been railed up, he couldn’t help but show a malicious smile, “Haha, father, it really is just like you said. Now that the public opinion on StarNet has been mobilized, when do you think the families of the victims will come forward?”

“Wait a little bit longer and see what’s going on with Xing Mo and that Lin Luo.” Xing ZhengYuan hooked his mouth and said.

“What if they don’t respond out of guilt?”

“Then we add another fire, and after the incident has become serious, then the military will have to investigate the matter publicly. Once the case is filed, they won’t ever be able to wash off the dirty water.” Xing ZhengYuan glanced at Xing Shang and said, “Let Xue Ning keep a close eye on the military side of things and get the list of survivors from her as soon as possible.”