Chapter 221 Public Opinion

When the door opened, there was a delivery man standing outside.

"Oh, the marinated food I ordered is here," Liu Ping pushed Xu Lin aside, took the takeaway, walked slowly to the table, and opened the package.

She glanced at Xu Lin and said with a grin, "This restaurant is a hit online. You've probably never tried it, have you? I heard their seafood is all air-shipped that day, so it's super fresh. Furthermore, any unused ingredients are thrown away and destroyed, never left overnight."

Xu Lin didn't hear the boasting in her words and shook her head. "I can't stand eating it raw. I think it smells too fishy, and I'm also worried about parasites."

There was another thing she didn't say: It's been pickled like that, how can you still tell whether it's fresh or not?

Liu Ping snorted coldly, "No wonder they say wild boars can't eat fine bran. I was thinking of sharing some with you."

She happily picked up a piece of crab meat and put it in her mouth. After just two chews, her brows furrowed uncontrollably. Why did it taste so weird? Rotting and sticky, it was completely different from the delicious and refreshing food those online food bloggers described.

Xu Lin: "What's wrong? Is it not tasty?"

Liu Ping immediately swallowed the crab meat in her mouth and praised it in an exaggerated tone, "Oh my God! This is so delicious! It's true that the price is justified. This kind of high-end internet celebrity restaurant is different from the street stalls you usually eat at."

Xu Lin frowned in confusion. What was wrong with the street vendor? Didn't she eat there often?

Just as I was about to say something, the doorbell rang again.

This time, it was finally the courier who delivered the material machine.

Xu Lin put aside the unpleasantness with Liu Ping just now, happily signed for the express delivery, and asked the courier to move the machine into the living room.

She unpacked the carton, plugged it in, and started the machine while reading the instructions.

"Is this the material machine you mentioned? It looks quite realistic." Liu Ping watched from the side and curled her lips.

When Shi Nian'an's case first broke, she firmly believed that the Crown Prince of Huangtian was wrongly accused. In her opinion, Qiao Yanzhi, who was in his thirties, was a simple, kind-hearted man, while Shi Nian'an, who had just graduated from school, was the scheming one who plotted to kill him.

Unfortunately, when the final verdict came out, Shi Nian'an was acquitted. She was so angry that she cursed the darkness of the world and said that rich people could do whatever they wanted.

However, she didn't expect that her online comments would be dug up and criticized. Seeing those comments scolding her for being a man-loving and licking dicks, she was so excited that her hands and feet were shaking, and her hatred for Shi Nian'an grew stronger and stronger - why did that woman have such a good life?

Therefore, she would quickly scroll away when she saw posts praising Tianqiong, and would eagerly click on posts criticizing Tianqiong to join in the comments. Gradually, her homepage was filled with negative reviews of the material machine, which made her even more convinced that it was a scam.

What kind of ability can someone like Shi Nian'an have? Xu Lin believes that her company's inventions are also funny.

"How much is this?"

"It's not expensive, just 10,000 yuan."

"Huh? Ten thousand yuan?!" Liu Ping's eyes widened as she said with certainty, "You must have been scammed. What could you do with that money? You might as well learn from me. I bought 100,000 gold futures, and in just six months, it doubled to 150,000. If the price of gold keeps going up, I could even make enough for a down payment on a house!"

Xu Lin was so angry that her face turned red. She was about to argue, but then she thought that it was useless to argue with her. It would be better to just show her the facts directly.

She stopped talking and quietly followed the steps in the instructions. Since she hadn't had dinner yet, she clicked on the food category, checked a few of her favorite dishes, and confirmed the start.

Ten minutes later, rice, lemon-fried salmon, vegetarian cabbage, and three-fresh soup were neatly placed on the table.

Liu Ping looked at the cold marinated seafood in her bowl, then looked at the steaming dishes opposite her, and was stunned.

She couldn't help swallowing, but she still refused to give in. "This... the food produced by this machine, there won't be any radiation, right? What if I get cancer after eating it?"

Xu Lin finally couldn't stand it anymore. She raised her phone and said coldly, "I don't know if I have cancer, but your internet celebrity restaurant was just exposed. The ingredients were piled up in the kitchen for half a month without being processed. Maggots have grown on them."

Liu Ping looked at the photo held in front of her, her eyebrows suddenly frowned, and she stiffly lowered her head to look at the bowl in front of her. She stirred it twice with her chopsticks, and a few indescribable long white strands floated to the surface of the soup.

She suddenly felt nauseous and stood up and rushed to the toilet.

vomit!

Immediately, a loud retching sound was heard from inside.

Xu Lin chuckled somewhat unscrupulously, quickly put away her phone and concentrated on eating.

She was still a little skeptical about food synthesized by material machines. This kind of standardized synthetic food probably wouldn't taste very good, right?

But this is easier than cooking at home, cheaper and more hygienic than ordering takeout, and has almost no cost, so it’s already great!

Xu Lin first tasted a small bite of the salmon, and then she was stunned.

This...this is so delicious!

The taste is almost the same as what she had eaten in high-end restaurants outside before!

The rich and delicious taste of the salmon exploded on her tongue, making her unable to resist taking several more big mouthfuls.

After Liu Ping came out of the toilet after vomiting, she felt even worse when she saw her eating with relish.

Xu Lin greeted her, "Do you want to eat? I'll make some more."

Liu Ping's already pale face turned even uglier. What was there to brag about? Isn't it just that she can cook a few dishes? She'll know she was wrong when she gets cancer from eating too much!

"No, I'm full." She went into her room and slammed the door.

The smile on Xu Lin's face faded. She and her roommate really had different personalities. They had only agreed to share the house in order to save rent.

But now, with the material machine, she can save a lot of daily expenses. In addition, she can also make some extra money by reselling synthetic items on second-hand platforms.

People's acceptance of new things is always different. After all, only a few people can buy physical machines at the moment. Even if they see relevant news, many people may still question its authenticity because of prejudice, just like Liu Ping.

She could make a lot of money by taking advantage of this information gap, and she wouldn't have to share a house with others anymore.

The more Xu Lin thought about it, the more he felt that he had made the right decision to buy this material machine. He also admired Tianqiong more and more. The person who could invent this machine must be a genius, and he sold it so cheaply, it was almost like doing charity, right?

After eating, she threw the dishes directly into the material machine, which disassembled and reassembled them, saving her the trouble of washing the dishes.

She then clicked on the Xinhuo app and browsed for items that were easy to resell, adding the codes one by one to her favorites. Suddenly, her gaze paused, and she raised her hand to rub her eyes, almost suspecting that she had seen it wrong.

Gold?!

Just as she was stunned, a scream suddenly came from Liu Ping's room, "What's going on? Why did the gold futures plummet?"

She stared at the almost diving curve on the screen in disbelief, completely stunned.

Gold futures plummeted by 50% in just one hour, which not only caused the 50,000 yuan profit she had just earned to evaporate instantly, but also wiped out the 100,000 yuan original investment.

"This is impossible..." Her voice began to tremble.

Isn't gold considered the safest hard currency? It couldn't possibly have fallen this far, no matter how much it fell. There must be something wrong with the system.

However, she kept hitting refresh, but nothing changed.

At this point, the system prompted her to pay an additional 50,000 yuan in margin. Her leverage was too high, and not only did she lose her principal, she also owed the futures company 50,000 yuan.

Liu Ping's heart was bleeding. This was all the savings she had accumulated after working for many years. Not only had she lost it all, but she also had to pay back the 50,000 yuan she owed.

It's a complete loss of all money!

Liu Ping couldn't understand what was happening. Even if it was the end of the world, the price of gold shouldn't have fallen this much!

She took out her phone and was about to search when she heard a knock on the door.

"What?"

Xu Lin's voice came from outside the door, "I know why gold futures plummeted."

Liu Ping got up irritably and opened the door. "How can you, who can't even manage your finances, know—"

The sound stopped abruptly.

I saw Xu Lin holding a piece of gold in his hand.

"The material machine can now synthesize gold infinitely. You'd better close your position quickly, otherwise, I'm afraid the price of gold will fall into negative territory."

Liu Ping widened her eyes and looked at Xu Lin's face which was full of sincerity. She felt as if she had been whipped hard and her face was burning with pain.

If I had known this would happen, I wouldn't have laughed at her for buying the material machine.

Thinking of the debt she owed and her empty wallet, she could only swallow her pride and said softly, "Xu Lin, um... can you lend me 50,000 yuan?"

"Borrow money? Why would you borrow money from me?" Xu Lin was surprised. "How can I, a person who only lives on street vendors, come up with 50,000 yuan?"

Liu Ping's whole face was burning, and she stammered, unable to utter a word.

She thought Xu Lin was gentle and easy to talk to, but she didn't expect her to be so unkind.

That wasn't all. Xu Lin continued, "By the way, I'll find a house to move out next week. I'm letting you know in advance."

After saying that, he turned and left with a cold expression.

Liu Ping was stunned, feeling that all her strength had been drained away. She was filled with despair. She had lost her money and no one to share the rent with. What should she do now?

Suddenly, she thought of the material machine, and her eyes lit up. If she could grab one and then sell it, she would definitely make a lot of money!

Liu Ping no longer cared about her hatred for Shi Nian'an. She immediately downloaded Xinhuo and found the order page.

What? They're all sold out?!

She threw her phone in anger. "What a rubbish company! They're actually using hunger marketing? I'm so angry!"

When I picked up the phone, I found a crack on the screen, and my heart ached even more.

————

On this day, many people received the second-generation material machine newly released by Tianqiong Technology, and social platforms were instantly flooded with various unboxing videos.

All those who received the goods excitedly showed off their synthesis results, including simple food, basic clothing, ordinary daily necessities, as well as precious metals such as gold and platinum, etc. It can be said that it completely covers people's daily needs. No matter whether it is imaginable or unimaginable, the material machine can make it all for you.

Netizens in front of the screen were shocked.

Among them, the most popular one is a video that converts waste paper into gold. In just half a day, it received tens of millions of likes.

The comment section immediately exploded with people shouting "unbelievable". Those who failed to get the goods were even more jealous and crazy. Some offered several times the price to buy it, and some asked around for scalper channels.

However, unlike the carnival among netizens on the Internet, the real market has suffered an unprecedented blow.

People frantically sold gold futures, causing the price of gold to plummet by 50%. The impact on other manufacturing industries was no less severe. The share price of the mining company under the Huangtian Group even hit the limit down, and its market value evaporated by tens of billions overnight.

No one could have imagined that just a material machine would allow the once unknown Tiankong Technology to achieve exponential expansion in just half a year, and even shake the monopoly position of the capital oligarch Huangtian Group.

Skydome Technology was like a high-speed train, roaring and singing along. By this time, everyone could see clearly that if Huangtian did not try to stop it, it would definitely be crushed under its wheels.

"Are all the experimental subjects for filming ready?"

Qiao Zhizhang and his assistant emerged from the elevator, feeling a sudden chill. He frowned and glanced back at the screen—L10, the biological laboratory on the tenth floor below the group's headquarters. This place was always cold, no matter when he came, and the air was filled with the smell of disinfectant, which he disliked.

The assistant replied, "Everything is ready. The subject selected was Experiment No. 13 from the gene editing project five years ago. While the disease-causing gene was successfully knocked out, it unexpectedly affected a key gene for skin development. The subject developed a strange skin flaking phenomenon after birth. Because the client refused to accept and pay the balance, the subject has remained in the lab."

As they talked, they walked quickly across the corridor and came to a simply decorated clerk's office.

Project manager Tang Jianshan was already waiting inside. When he saw the two people come in, he hurried forward to greet them.

Qiao Zhizhang spoke a few official words to him before looking at the five-year-old experimental subject.

He looked younger than his actual age, wrapped tightly in a down jacket with only his face exposed. His skin was gray and cracked, most of it had fallen off, revealing the bright red dermis with bloodshot eyes. He looked like a peeled person, giving people an extremely uncomfortable feeling.

A trace of disgust flashed in Qiao Zhizhang's eyes. Why keep such a failed experimental subject? It should have been destroyed at birth.

Fortunately, he can still be of some use at the moment.

After all, the Empire was still very democratic. If they wanted to legislate against the civilian use of physical machines, they had to have a legitimate reason. Since the public was very accepting of physical machines, he had to create some negative public opinion to get them to oppose it.

Then, proposing to ban material machines is a natural and easy thing to do.

Thinking of this, he asked anxiously: "Where is the child's mother?"

"The actors have arrived and are putting on makeup."

As soon as he finished speaking, a young woman in plain clothes and with a pale face painted with powder came out.

She looked at the child with disgust, but still walked over, picked him up, and sat down on the sofa in the corner.

The lights came on and the cameras were set up.

The woman looked at the camera, tears immediately welled up in her eyes, and her expression became sad.

Qiao Zhizhang nodded in satisfaction. "Once the video is finished, send it directly to Assistant Zhang. This time, I want Tianqiong to be ruined."

Tang Jianshan smiled ingratiatingly, "Mr. Qiao, don't worry."

More than a decade ago, he was jailed for illegal gene editing research. Qiao Zhizhang eventually bailed him out and made him the head of the group's biological laboratory, free to conduct research as he pleased. Therefore, he obeyed Qiao Zhizhang's every command, no matter how unethical or unethical.

After watching them shoot two videos, Qiao Zhizhang thought the results were good, so he left with peace of mind.

The next day, a video of a young mother accusing the Skydome Material Machine of causing her son to develop skin cancer quickly went viral.

In the video, the woman hugged the child tightly in her arms. His face with festering and peeling skin was shocking and unbearable to look at.

She complained tearfully, "Don't use the Sky Dome material machine anymore, and don't eat anything produced by this machine! My child got skin cancer because he came into contact with this machine and ate food produced by it. He's only five years old, but his life is ruined! Sky Dome is a murderous company!"

"When the first-generation material machine first came out, I spent five million to buy one for my child as a toy. Who would have thought... this machine would actually give him cancer? I really regret it now. I would rather it was me who got sick."

"I'm not short of money, and I don't want compensation. I just want the truth! The reason I'm speaking out is because I don't want anyone else to be deceived like I was!"

The kind mother and the victimized child touched everyone's heart at once, and the rumor that the substance caused cancer spread quickly and became very rampant.

This mother is so pitiful! She spent five million dollars, only to have her child develop cancer, which can't be cured even with money.

[I've already said that Shi Nian'an is a murderer. With a leader like him, it's understandable that Tianqiong Company doesn't care about personnel matters.]

I really don't understand those who brag about the technology behind these machines. What's the difference between food produced by these machines and genetically modified food? They're all chemically processed.

I have a friend who used to work at Sky Dome. He said the CEO is a bit of a witch. Because she'd been hurt by men before, she's extremely discriminatory against them, beating and scolding them. This kind of person has a low mindset and no sense of social responsibility. It's easy to imagine what kind of person they can produce.

I was wondering how such an incredible machine could be sold so cheaply. Turns out everything it produces is harmful. Could the company just be looking to make a quick buck and run?

[We strongly demand that the government conduct a thorough investigation and give everyone an explanation!]

[Block Tianqiong! This fraudulent company must close down immediately!]

Tianqiong was currently at the height of his popularity, and the release of this video was like dropping a bomb on the crowd, instantly igniting public opinion. Those who already disliked Tianqiong immediately denounced him angrily, and the "troll army" hired by the emperor took advantage of the situation to fish in troubled waters and manipulate public opinion. Some experts who were just trying to capitalize on the hype also came out to smear him without any bottom line.

Qiao Zhizhang looked at the public opinion on the Internet, and a smug smile finally appeared on his gloomy face, with a hint of disdain flashing in his eyes.

Just a mere sky, yet you want to go against him? That's really wishful thinking.

At the same time, inside Skydome Technology.

When Shi Nian'an saw the malicious comments online, he was so angry that he was shaking all over. He wanted to reach into the screen and slap every person who spread rumors in the face.