From cannon fodder to sweeping across thousands of stars.

Chapter 446: Space Casting Jingguan

For the military-industrial complex, this week is definitely the most difficult week ever.

Ever since the stock market opened on Monday, the situation has begun to get out of the control of Paris and others after the "combined fleet's disastrous defeat" and the scandal of Bochi Heavy Industries and the military-industrial complex were exposed.

The Atlas Group not only attacked rapidly in the financial market, but also moved extremely quickly in occupying the public opinion front. The overwhelming news and revelations, taking advantage of Atlas's advantages in communication networks, swept across all public platforms of the Federation like a tsunami.

Even the Empire, which is currently at war with the Federation, is no exception. It has also promoted itself through the expansion of its telecommunications business, and eventually became the most popular topic of conversation among the young and old members of the 'Old Saint Saunière Star Dragon Flag'.

According to what Amber said at the internal meeting, occupying the public opinion front must be quick, accurate and ruthless, especially in the public opinion war where the first-mover advantage is too great, because the other party is likely to fall into a passive position in order to respond, and ultimately be led by the nose, and cannot make an effective counterattack at all.

To some extent, just like the relationship between "spreading rumors" and "debunking rumors", the cost of spreading rumors is really too low, while the difficulty of debunking rumors is countless times higher, and it is also very likely to fall into the "self-proving trap".

Moreover, the bullets Atlas fired in the war of public opinion were not "rumors" but all true, especially the black material about the military-industrial complex provided by Van Fleet, which was like a knife and a fire, and every bullet and every bullet was a real wound.
The most popular picture on the Internet at present is a space photography officially released by Atlas.

The main subject of the photo is the huge A.B.A.Ku asteroid fortress, and the caption of the photo is: "A.B.A.Ku, our home."

It seems that the Atlas Group is promoting their strength, or flexing their muscles.

But 'careful viewers' will see a 'matrix' composed of a large number of warship wreckage fragments in the lower right corner of the photo, and the selection of these fragments is also very 'heartwarming'. They are all picked from the locations where the company logos are sprayed on the warships, and they try to choose the largest logo on the side, for fear that others will not be able to see it clearly.

Soon, everyone's focus was placed on this "space Jingguan".

Some people have identified the logos on each piece of wreckage and made a table listing the names and profiles of these companies.
For these companies in the military-industrial complex, this is undoubtedly a "pillar of shame", but what makes them even more scratching their heads is that they can't do anything about this "pillar of shame".

If a fleet is temporarily assembled to rush over and try to tear down the Pillar of Shame, the final outcome will probably be that Atlas will erect a second "Space Jingguan".

In this case, the companies can only make public statements, saying that the Atlas Group is deliberately discrediting their corporate image by spreading fake photos and videos, and emphasizing that they will take all possible measures to protect their own rights and interests.

The scene of more than a dozen "Universe" giant companies issuing these statements at the same time was still quite spectacular. Under the guidance of their public opinion, many people who did not know the truth began to doubt whether all this was directed and acted by Atlas.

At the same time, with the instigation of certain corporate mouthpieces and KOLs, the Atlas Group's background from the Thousand Star Empire was once again pushed to the surface, and quickly evolved into remarks such as "The evil giant company from the Thousand Star Empire is using all means to attack the Federation's local patriotic companies!"

Such topics can obviously arouse the enthusiasm of some "patriotic masses". For a time, more and more voices in the public opinion field supported Nutao Group, Deep Space Mining and other companies.

Atlas' response to this counterattack was also very simple.

First, the "Eye of Truth" opened a 24-hour live broadcast room. The live broadcast content was to insert a probe in front of this "Space Jingguan", and then directly cut to the optical sensor of the probe, and just shoot directly at the "Space Jingguan", and also specially put the LOGO of Nutao Group in the "C position".

Soon after, the Atlas Group officially announced the specific coordinates of the "Space Jingguan", and welcomed all interested people to explore it on their own.

Moreover, no matter who comes to explore, they will receive souvenirs made from the wreckage of the battleship, and they said that if more people come, they can consider opening a "special tourist line".
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"Everyone is laughing at us. Everyone! Including those imperial dogs, who are probably hiding in their dark and dilapidated castles and laughing secretly!"

In a private club not open to the public, Mrs. Paris, dressed in a gorgeous dress, no longer has her previous elegance, calmness and composure.

However, the others around her also expressed their understanding of Mrs. Paris's gaffe and did not say anything. After all, if their company logo was placed in the most eye-catching position of the "Space Jingguan" for public execution, their reaction might be greater than that of the usually calm Mrs. Paris.
"We have been losing ground in the public opinion field and the securities market. Three consecutive rescue operations have failed. In the past week, 13 companies have been delisted and 4 companies have declared bankruptcy. We have also wasted nearly billion credit points."

Mrs. Pallas paused, a hint of hatred flashing in her eyes. In addition to the reasons others had guessed, the more important thing was that two of the four companies that declared bankruptcy were actually secretly controlled by her. "We can't let the situation deteriorate any further. Now it's time to fight back. Since Atlas wants to fight us in the capital market, we will satisfy the wish of this 'bold man'."

"I agree with Mrs. Paris." Hamilton, the actual controller of Deep Space Mining, said:

"The capital market is our home ground. The failure of the combined fleet before really made us pay the price for underestimating the enemy and being reckless. But if the battlefield comes to the capital market now, I believe we can definitely teach Atlas a good lesson and take back everything we lost!!!"

The voice was very passionate and the content was very bloody, but unfortunately, there were very few people around who responded. It was obvious that under Atlas's high-intensity attacks in the past week, some people in the military-industrial complex had begun to get scared.

Seeing this, Mrs. Paris narrowed her eyes and glanced at the faces of the people around her with ill intent. Her sharp gaze made many people avoid her sight in embarrassment.

"Why, are you scared now? So you plan to just wash your neck and wait for death?"

"That's not the case, Mrs. Paris." Under the gaze of everyone, a middle-aged man who was obviously pushed to be the representative to speak stood up.

"It's just that we don't seem to have a strong enough chance to fight back now. Atlas Group is not listed on the federal securities market at all. The ones who launched the siege these days are a large number of short-selling institutions, hedge funds, and a large number of retail investors.
This also means that the Atlas Group has been hiding behind the scenes from the beginning to the end. Even if we know that these forces participating in the encirclement and suppression may be controlled by Atlas, what can we do? We can only passively defend and counterattack, and there is no chance to take the initiative to attack."

Following the explanation given by the middle-aged man, the others nodded in agreement. It was obvious that this was their common understanding, and the middle-aged man continued:
"Everyone has seen the stock market situation this week. I believe that the information you have, Madam Paris, is more accurate than the rest of us. Atlas has made a huge profit while defeating a large number of our allies. Obviously, the other side will use these profits as 'ammunition' against the rest of us.

With all due respect in this case, I find it hard to believe Mr. Hamilton's assertion that we can teach Atlas a lesson."

When the middle-aged man finished speaking, the whole room fell into silence. Some people looked at each other, some lowered their heads and remained silent, and some were silently observing other people's expressions. It was obvious that everyone had different plans in their minds.

"Then go ahead, Mr. Jace from Quiet Technology. We don't force you to stand with us and face all this."

Mrs. Paris suddenly spoke, breaking the silence, and many people looked at her in surprise. They didn't expect that Paris, a difficult woman, would be so easy to talk to this time.

Some people even began to think that they might as well withdraw from the conflict like Tranquility Technology did, and then find a way to reach a reconciliation with Atlas, so that they could at least survive.

But Mrs. Paris' next words calmed down these people who were ready to make a move.

"But I still want to remind you that once you walk out of this door today, you will no longer be a member of our circle, and naturally you will not be our 'ally'. No matter what crisis your company encounters in the future, we will no longer help you. Do you understand?"

Mrs. Paris's words seemed to be fine at first, but others who were familiar with her immediately heard the subtext behind her words - if they were no longer allies, they would be enemies. At this juncture, the military-industrial complex would not mind using Quiet Technology to "recover its strength".

The middle-aged man called 'Mr. Jess' clenched his fists at this moment.

But after a moment, he calmed down, finally sat back in his seat and stopped talking.

"Very good, a wise choice~"

Mrs. Paris smiled, picked up a glass of champagne and drank it all, then continued:
"At this critical moment, I hope everyone can unite. As long as we can make a fist, I believe we will have the last laugh."

(End of this chapter)