From American Internet Celebrity to God Among Men

85: Chapter 85 The Eye of the Storm and the Sound FieldThe third Wednesday of November, 48 hours before the official release of ”Safe & Sound”.

On the seventh floor of an unassuming office building in downtown Nashville, inside the temporary command center rented by Rex’s team, the air held the tension of a wartime command post. A wall of six display screens refreshed data streams in real-time: social media sentiment analysis, mainstream media coverage tracking, network traffic monitoring, and a dynamic network map labeled ”Threat Source Map”.

Alex stood in front of the screens, holding a cup of coffee that had already gone cold. He had arrived at five in the morning, two hours earlier than the scheduled team briefing.

The system interface unfolded quietly at the edge of his vision:

【Current Popularity: 7,635,000 points】

【Ability Status: Spider-Sense (Intermediate) - Continuous environmental scanning; Information Tracing (Advanced) - Standby】

【Detected surge in coordinated media activity: 37 sources, intensity 72/100 and rising】

”They’ve started,” Marcus said, walking into the room with a stack of freshly printed report pages still warm to the touch. ”The Wall Street Journal’s digital edition this morning, third item in the business section.”

Alex took the report. The headline was restrained: ”Commercial Risks and Background Checks for Emerging Artists—What Investors Need to Know”.

The article used the valuation adjustment mechanism agreement between Alex Su and Universal Music as its entry point, spending two-thirds of the space ”objectively analyzing” investment risks in the entertainment industry, but inserted content ”according to anonymous sources” in the last three paragraphs:

· Mentioning Alex’s father ”had participated in multiple defense-related research projects”.

· Hinting that his mother’s family ”has long-term collaborations with overseas academic institutions”.

· Citing a ”comment from an education expert who wished to remain anonymous”, claiming ”adolescent artists who have experienced major trauma may require additional psychological support”.

Every statement was true. Every statement had been stripped of context.

”A classic surgical strike,” Rex said, standing in front of another screen displaying the article’s network dissemination path. ”No lies, just guiding you to think in a certain direction.”

Hank looked up from the security monitoring console: ”Agent Miller from the FBI just sent an encrypted message. Northrop’s media team has booked ’brand partnership feature slots’ with twelve mainstream media outlets this week, all within the next seven days.”

”Covering our release window,” Alex said, putting down the report. ””Safe & Sound” goes live on Friday; their ’in-depth reports’ start rolling out on Saturday.”

Marcus pulled up a schedule: ”What’s worse is that they bought time slots. Saturday morning news talk shows, Sunday print media in-depth features, the radio talk show series starting next Monday... This is a saturation bombing.”

The room fell silent for a few seconds, save for the low hum of server fans.

Just then, the door was pushed open. Taylor walked in, wearing no sunglasses or disguise, her blonde hair simply tied back, dressed in a black turtleneck sweater and jeans. She held a tablet in her hand.

”I received this,” she said, placing the tablet on the central conference table. ”Sent by the personal assistant to the Chairman of the Board of Universal Music, saying it was ’for reference only’.”

On the screen was a screenshot of an email, the sender’s email address ending in the Northrop Grumman corporate domain. The content was brief: an invitation for Universal Music executives to attend an ”Industry and National Security Symposium” scheduled for after Thanksgiving, with a bolded note attached— ”The latest risk assessments regarding certain crossover art projects will be shared at that time.”

”A threat wrapped as an invitation,” Taylor’s voice was dangerously calm. ”They want Universal to choose between us and their military industry.”

Alex looked at the email. With two days left until the release of ”Safe & Sound”, the enemy’s first wave of pressure had already been precisely delivered to all key nodes: public opinion, business partners, and even potential sympathizers.

”Is the Organization D system ready?” he asked.