Warhammer: The Time Traveler

Chapter 51 Chen Yu's Plan

Dorothy looked at Sasha's distraught appearance and sighed heavily: "What you should have done was to tell us everything exactly as it happened and send us the data backup."

Let's figure out a way to spread the word, using all our connections and networks in Night City.

As for yourself, you should do everything you can to survive.

We had already reached the ground floor and even temporarily disabled their security system. We had every opportunity to rush in and rescue you!

But you chose the most extreme, the most... futile way.

Falco added in a low voice, his tone cold and realistic: "The bounty for biotechnology has been issued, but in Night City, the effect of such a bounty is limited."

A capable team will weigh whether it's worth going to war with us for this bounty; those without the strength will only be throwing their lives away.

The fact that the company hasn't yet dispatched its elite task force is a stroke of good luck amidst misfortune.

But your actions have indeed failed to achieve your goal of 'not implicating us,' and have instead put us in an even more passive position.

These chilling facts struck Sasha's heart one after another, shattering her self-righteous belief in the value of her "sacrifice."

Not only did she fail to reveal the truth, but she also nearly caused the entire team to be wiped out, and even put them on the company's bounty.

Self-blame, guilt, despair...

A multitude of emotions, like venomous snakes, relentlessly gnawed at her already fragile nerves.

Seeing Sasha completely break down and retreat into self-isolation, Rebecca was still full of anger, but her scolding unconsciously subsided, replaced by a kind of frustration with nowhere to vent and a faint heartache.

She slammed her foot on the workbench next to her with a loud crash, and yelled furiously, "Damn it! This is so frustrating! This is so damn frustrating! If you ask me, let's find a chance to sneak into the heart of biotechnology and blow up a few of their labs! Let's get revenge for Sasha!"

Mann rubbed his furrowed brow, trying to soothe her: "Rebecca, calm down. Violence won't solve the problem; it will only make us a target of public criticism."

He paused, his gaze shifting to Sasha, who stood there like a soulless puppet, and softened his tone: "However, it's not entirely hopeless to get information. I know an independent journalist; although he doesn't have the influence of a giant like News 54, he has his own special channels."

Moreover... she owes me a considerable favor.

Perhaps we can give the message to him and see if we can get it out.

These words were like a glimmer of light in the endless darkness, causing Sasha to suddenly open her eyes again.

She grasped at a straw, straining with all her might, and looked at Mann with desperate longing, her voice broken but filled with a humble hope: "The data... I... I backed it up... on my private encrypted node... the key is..."

She recited a long, complex string of passwords and node addresses, a faint glimmer of light rekindling in her eyes.

Mann carefully noted down the information and nodded: "Okay, I'll contact him as soon as possible. But Sasha, you need to be prepared. The power of independent journalists is ultimately limited. Even if the news gets out, it may soon be completely overwhelmed by the company's propaganda machine." Just then, a calm, monotone synthesized voice interrupted the conversation, like ice water poured over a head, causing the faint flame of hope that had just been ignited to flicker violently.

"Inefficient, and most likely meaningless."

Chen Yu's tall, dark red figure had quietly arrived near the medical bed, and his scarlet optical lens swept over Sasha and Mann.

He had just finished another round of analysis of the Dimension Transmitter data, seemingly drawn in by the heated discussion here, or perhaps by an instinctive judgment of its inefficiency.

“Your assessment is based on emotional appeal, not realistic probability.” Chen Yu’s mechanical tentacles unconsciously traced a complex geometric trajectory in the air, as if simulating an invisible flow of data. “Independent journalists live in the cracks of the corporate system. They may have the desire to publish, but they absolutely lack the strength to resist a full-scale counterattack from the company.”

The legal departments and top-notch cybersecurity teams in the biotechnology industry are fully capable of blocking, deleting, stigmatizing, or even making the publisher 'disappear unexpectedly' before the message has any substantial impact.

The information you provide will likely only become fleeting bits of gossip on underground networks, causing no quantifiable damage to the company's stock price, reputation, or policies.

He paused slightly, then turned the optical lens toward Mann: "Your description of the 'media machine' is accurate. The corporations have a firm grip on mainstream information channels, and they can easily create reverse narratives, portraying whistleblowers as mentally unstable former employees or as slanderers bought off by competitors."

A comprehensive analysis from both technical and social control perspectives suggests that this plan has a success rate of less than three percent.

Chen Yu's words were cold and precise, stripping away all possibilities of warmth and laying bare the bloody reality before everyone.

The members of Mann's team fell silent, knowing that Chen Yu was telling the truth.

In Night City, engaging in a direct public relations battle with the company, especially against a giant like a biotechnology company, is tantamount to throwing an egg against a rock.

Rebecca's "blow up a few labs" comment was more of an emotional outburst, while Mann's search for independent journalists was more out of a desire to comfort Sasha and a glimmer of an unwillingness to give up.

Rebecca's face flushed with frustration. She glared at Chen Yu defiantly, though she rationally understood that what he said made a lot of sense, she simply couldn't accept such a complete denial.

She retorted defiantly, "Then what do you suggest?! Are we just going to let it go like this? Just stand by and watch those bastards get away with it? Let Sasha's mother and so many other victims die without ever knowing why?! As long as the message gets out, someone will see it! Someone will remember it!"

Chen Yu's crimson lens focuses on Rebecca, his gaze seemingly able to penetrate her prosthetic eye and directly analyze the intensely pulsating emotional center in her brain.

"The vague expectation that 'someone will always see it' has no practical value. What we need is to ensure that the information cannot be completely deleted and can be forcibly delivered to a sufficient number of terminals, forming an undeniable media tsunami that will temporarily paralyze the company's public relations response capabilities, thereby triggering a chain reaction—such as significant stock price fluctuations or prompting a mandatory investigation by government agencies."

His mechanical tentacles then turned to the workshop's main control terminal, quickly bringing up a complex network topology diagram and data flow analysis interface.

“Based on my ongoing analysis of local network architecture, especially the ‘black wall’ protocol, I have devised a more efficient solution.”

“The Black Wall?” Mann frowned deeply. This term represented the most dangerous and uncontrollable mysterious realm in the online world.

(End of this chapter)