Several days later, the fully armed GARMR&D Corporation sent representatives again, but Zhou Tianming's reinforcements—the East Asia Lawyers Group—had also arrived. The two sides first engaged in a fierce "exchange" behind closed doors.
The East Asia Lawyers Group remained calm and steady, unwavering in their approach.
As the Junk Dealers busily rummaged through the satellite, GARMR&D Corporation grew anxious, fearing they might uncover something. They hastily issued a stern warning, claiming the area was private property.
Backed by Zhou Tianming, the Junk Dealers paid no attention and continued their work happily as scavengers.
Over time, GARMR&D Corporation realized the truth—they intended to devour the entire satellite!
Unable to sit idly by any longer, GARMR&D Corporation exposed the situation, condemning the Junk Dealers' bandit-like behavior.
For a time, scandals flooded the internet.
Zhou Tianming and the East Asia Lawyers Group had already anticipated GARMR&D Corporation's every move. Armed with substantial evidence, they remained unafraid, allowing the situation to escalate and grow more intense.
The instigator, Eurasia, took the bait and eagerly stepped forward to condemn East Asia for shielding the Junk Dealers.
Hearing that East Asia was being targeted, the Atlantic also caught wind of the situation. On the surface, they acted as a neutral big brother, but behind the scenes, they spread damaging information to undermine East Asia.
East Asia remained unshaken, indifferent to the external storm.
This composure made the Atlantic, the only party without any additional information, uneasy. They quickly shifted tactics and turned against GARMR&D Corporation. As the situation intensified and captured global attention, Zhou Tianming released some of the incriminating evidence of GARMR&D Corporation's human experiments, along with numerous videos of the biochemical crisis on Mendel Satellite.
The world was instantly in an uproar.
Cruel and bloody human experiments, terrifying vines spreading across the entire satellite.
GARMR&D Corporation attempted to defend itself, but Zhou Tianming's evidence was overwhelming, swiftly dismantling their entire case. One incident, however, left Zhou Tianming deeply regretful—he had inadvertently become an accomplice to Blue Cosmos.
Seizing the opportunity, Blue Cosmos vigorously promoted their ideology. Extremists broke into the homes of GARMR&D Corporation's leaders, resulting in fatal attacks. For a time, Blue Cosmos was hailed as heroes on Earth. Since most of GARMR&D Corporation's researchers were Coordinators, Coordinators on Earth faced persecution and fled to PLANT in droves.
This chain of reactions was something Zhou Tianming had not anticipated. He could only blame himself for not considering the full picture and sighed in regret.
As it turned out, East Asia had anticipated this development and had been actively recruiting and assisting Earth's Coordinators, thereby gaining a large number of elite talents. Faced with East Asia's actions, the Blue Cosmos in the Atlantic was displeased but had no choice but to swallow their pride and instead turned their attention to Orb, which had also been quietly stirring up trouble.
While one shouldn't provoke a tiger, a kitten is fair game to bully.
This left Orb scrambling in all directions for help, while East Asia found the situation both amusing and frustrating, using their own Blue Cosmos to restrain the Atlantic's mad dogs. This finally gave Orb a chance to catch its breath.
Back to Zhou Tianming—after taking down GARMR&D Corporation, the ownership of Mendel Satellite naturally became a contentious issue.
Its location was not as remote as the Junk Guild's, nor was it as dilapidated, so many had their eyes on it.
Eurasia was particularly determined to cause trouble and claim it.
The remnants of GARMR&D Corporation harbored deep resentment toward Zhou Tianming, spreading rumors everywhere and suspecting that the bio-leakage incident had been staged by the Junk Dealers themselves to abandon Mendel and seize control.
This narrative gained considerable traction, dealing a blow to the Junk Dealers' reputation.
At this critical moment, Zhou Tianming stepped forward.
He generously publicized GARMR&D's medical research findings. When people saw that the contents were all cutting-edge medical technologies, they were instantly awed by this grand gesture.
"I won't deny that we Junk Dealers have our own motives, but I will prove with facts that the current speculations are nothing but malicious slander. We Junk Dealers have always been diligent scavengers."
In the news, Zhou Tianming wore a serious expression.
Privately, the Medical Technology (Deluxe Edition) was sent to the Atlantic, Eurasia, and PLANT.
Soon after, public opinion shifted, and the Junk Dealers' reputation soared.
Zhou Tianming seized this opportunity to discuss the ownership of Mendel.
The Atlantic, still greedy and wanting more, decided to retreat and count their losses upon seeing East Asia backing Zhou Tianming.
East Asia, of course, praised the Junk Dealers and gladly agreed, secretly profiting from the situation.
Eurasia was reluctant, but Zhou Tianming overwhelmed them with the Medical Technology, and when East Asia applied pressure, Eurasia—preoccupied with the vast amount of Medical Technology—hurriedly agreed.
In that moment, Zhou Tianming flashed a triumphant smile.
When Eurasia eagerly sorted through the massive amount of Medical Technology, they discovered it was indeed all medical technology—none of the data they wanted was there.
When they confronted him, Zhou Tianming looked innocent and even kindly asked, "What data were you looking for?"
The curious gazes of the Atlantic and East Asia turned toward them.
Eurasia was left speechless and slunk away.
The more they thought about it, the angrier they became, and they decided to stir up trouble again, secretly spreading rumors that the Junk Dealers were hoarding research data and disregarding the families of the researchers.
Public opinion flared up once more, and Zhou Tianming "hurriedly" came forward to complain: "The research institute was too severely damaged, personnel records are incomplete, and matching names to individuals will take time. Once identities are confirmed, we will return the technical data—we would never hoard it!"
He then publicly returned the technical data of several researchers whose identities had already been confirmed to their families.
Eurasia eagerly spent a fortune to acquire the data and found it was genuine—and even included the remaining 30% beyond what they had already obtained.
Excited, Eurasia secretly sent out the complete list of names, and someone "accidentally" discovered it and passed it to Zhou Tianming.
Zhou Tianming immediately livestreamed the entire process of returning the materials one by one, further boosting the reputation of both Junk Dealer and himself.
Eurasia, meanwhile, purchased the materials at a high price the moment he left.
But upon review, they were all fake!
Enraged, they instinctively questioned Zhou Tianming.
On the livestream, Zhou Tianming curled his lips into an innocent expression: "This is all of their research materials. What did you expect?" He frowned, feigning confusion: "Do you somehow know they were involved in other research? How could you know right after I returned the materials?" With this series of questions, Eurasia immediately realized they had fallen into a trap.
But it was too late. Atlantic cast a thoughtful glance their way—seems like you've been keeping secrets, little brother.
Eurasia wanted to explain and defend themselves.
Zhou Tianming smiled: "There's an old saying in East Asia—explaining is just covering up. I get it."
Furious but helpless against the rising star Zhou Tianming, Eurasia knew that taking action would directly implicate them in the Mendel affair. Human experimentation and bioweapons—while done in secret—could not be publicly associated with them in any way.
Swallowing their anger only made them angrier, so they decided to retaliate against the researchers' families, even broadcasting internally to make an example and intimidate the researchers. But when they went to find the families, they had all vanished without a trace.
The previously anxious researchers instantly understood.
They "furiously" pledged loyalty to Eurasia, hoping to uncover their families' whereabouts.
Naturally, Eurasia directed all blame toward Zhou Tianming, encouraging the researchers to develop new technologies for revenge.
The researchers threw themselves into their work with renewed vigor.
Eurasia felt pleased, secretly mocking Zhou Tianming for his lack of foresight—ultimately paving the way for their gain.
In truth, Eurasia's accusations weren't wrong: Zhou Tianming, in collaboration with East Asia, had indeed relocated the researchers' families.
At sea, aboard a massive oceangoing cargo ship—
In a hidden room, an East Asian operations team leader communicated with Zhou Tianming:
"Was this really necessary? I don't like this approach—harming families…"
"Look at it from both sides. How can you be sure this isn't a form of protection?" Zhou Tianming replied. "Now we'll see how much my good reputation is worth."
"What do you mean?"
"If they trust that I've ensured their families' safety, then Eurasia will never obtain new technologies from them again."
Zhou Tianming's expression turned serious. "But if they don't trust me, they might wholeheartedly serve Eurasia and develop technology purely for revenge."
"This…"
"We've done all we can. The rest is up to fate."
The screen went dark. The team leader remained silent for a long time.