Chapter 394 Sit Back and Watch You Play House

• Li Guangyun was ruled by lust and had planned to ignore it. He’d even stripped his little girlfriend bare. But his pricey Apple kept ringing again and again. In the end, it doused his desire. “Damn it, who the hell is ruining my fun at a time like this!” he snapped, snatching up the phone. The second he saw that number—strange yet familiar—his heart slammed hard in his chest. He hurried to pick up. “Mr. Han,” Li said carefully. “Middle of the day and Mr. Li is this busy?” The voice on the other end held a trace of annoyance. “No, no.” Li fumbled for an excuse. “Just took a shower. If I’d known it was you, Mr. Han, no way I’d have kept you waiting!” While talking, he shot his little girlfriend a sharp hush gesture. The caller let it slide and said, “Your video is trending with huge views. Phoenix Pharmaceuticals is jumping mad. They held an emergency press conference yesterday evening.” “I know. And thank you, Mr. Han, for the push,” Li replied. The other continued, “This is a partnership. That’s normal. But the company wants you to ride the wave and post a few more videos attacking the Common Cold Wonder Drug.” Li blinked, thrown. He hesitated. “But… didn’t we say just one video?” “Mr. Li doesn’t want to make money?” The caller let out a cold laugh. “One million per video. You in or not? If you’re not, plenty of people are.” Hearing that number, Li’s eyes lit up like slot machine reels. The voice added, “Don’t worry about fallout. You’re talking facts. The internet is just the internet—it won’t touch real life.” Li still wavered. “The Bloudence Drug Regulatory Bureau already issued a statement: Phoenix Pharmaceuticals didn’t sign a market agreement for regional sales. If I keep attacking Phoenix Pharmaceuticals, wouldn’t that be going against Bloudence’s official stance?” “You do realize that’s just Bloudence’s official stance, right? What’s that got to do with Yunhai State? Phoenix’s reach isn’t long enough to grab you over there.” The caller sounded impatient. Thinking about several million, Li clenched his teeth and agreed. When he hung up, a faint red streak skimmed across his screen—gone in a blink. He figured he was seeing things and didn’t care. His head was full of money. … Bloudence. Phoenix Pharmaceuticals. Knock, knock, knock! The office door tapped. “Come in,” said Maverick. Zhao Yandong stepped inside and laid a few photos on Maverick’s desk. “Mr. Maverick, these people are all tied to this.” Maverick glanced over them—exactly the faces he’d foreseen. But court is all about evidence. He could foresee who was stabbing him in the back, but he still needed hard proof. Otherwise, it’d just be his word. Who would buy that? He picked up one photo. A man with slicked-back hair and a scar on his face. “Name?” Maverick asked. “Han Libo,” Zhao said. “One of the personal assistants to Evergreen Pharmaceuticals’ chairman, Timothy. Ten minutes ago he called Li Guangyun. We already secured the recording and the video.” Hearing that, Maverick shot Zhao a look. He knew their team had gone to Yunhai State. But Han Libo wasn’t in Yunhai State; he was still in Doveston. Barely ten minutes, and Zhao’s team had the guy’s photos. Maverick couldn’t help respecting the special operatives’ methods. “Han Libo’s small fry. We need to hook the big fish behind him,” Maverick said. “Understood.” Zhao nodded. “Per Han’s instructions, he wants Li to post more videos attacking Phoenix Pharmaceuticals. I’m guessing other creators have received similar messages.” “Good. Let them post. The more, the better!” Maverick snorted. “The more they post, the more damages Phoenix Pharmaceuticals will collect.” He paused to think. Then: “Collect every shred of evidence fast. Once we win, half of the compensation goes to the Security Department as a reward.” “Yes.” Zhao’s face didn’t show a flicker of emotion—that’s what set him apart from most people. “Right.” Maverick lifted his pen and wrote a name on a blank sheet: Pei Shi. “He’s the dean of Bloudence’s Ruige Hospital. Start tailing him today. You’ll see results in three days at most.” Zhao froze for a second. He didn’t ask questions. He took the paper and left the office. … Two in the afternoon. Maverick did, in fact, see more of Li Guangyun’s new videos. Still slamming Phoenix Pharmaceuticals. The copy was clear and logical, words hitting like a hammer. The rage under the text practically screamed to skin Phoenix Pharmaceuticals alive for being a shameless company. The guy definitely had talent—even Maverick felt anger flare reading it. Following Li’s posts, Nanzhou Evening News and other creators who had attacked Phoenix before fired off videos one after another. This time, their focus wasn’t “regional sales.” It was “hunger marketing.” Even though Phoenix Pharmaceuticals had started today allocating forty million boxes of the Common Cold Wonder Drug daily to other states, those creators insisted Phoenix had stockpiles and was hiding them. One even claimed Phoenix was hoarding inventory to hike prices. In the comments, people sang the same tune—calling on the authorities to investigate Phoenix Pharmaceuticals and give flu patients a straight answer. Since the day Maverick founded Phoenix Pharmaceuticals, it had been smooth sailing—almost no bumps. Now came the first not-quite crisis. After his initial anger, Maverick didn’t stay mad. He felt… a little excited. He could predict the future. He could see everything from above. These attacks wouldn’t topple Phoenix. They’d become the stepping stones for Phoenix Pharmaceuticals to rise quickly through the ranks. The truth always comes out. It’s just a matter of time. He opened his computer. Logged into the partner backend. The Common Cold Wonder Drug’s inventory still showed +0. That meant sales hadn’t dipped. Selling out early every day had become a habit. But now Phoenix Pharmaceuticals was sending most of the wonder drug to hospitals, and the online quota had shrunk a lot—only about one hundred thousand boxes a day.