Following this, seemingly "objective" and "rational" analytical articles began to quietly appear and were widely circulated.
"Timeline Analysis: Lin Chen's fall was purely an accident during a police operation!"
"Beware of conspiracy theories! Don't let emotions obscure the facts!"
"The police officer involved has a clean background and no connection to Xingyao; the accident theory is highly credible."
"According to 'insiders,' Lin Chen's mental state has been extremely unstable recently due to cyberbullying and enormous debt pressure; he had previously shown suicidal tendencies..."
Meanwhile, some new, carefully edited "evidence" began to circulate online. A blurry video clip, purportedly from surveillance footage at a convenience store near the library, showed Lin Chen buying a small bottle of cheap liquor about an hour before the incident and "appearing to drink" it at the store entrance. Another screenshot of "internal hospital documents," leaked from an unknown source and taken from a tricky angle, suggested that alcohol was detected in Lin Chen's blood test.
"An accidental fall after drinking."
This explanation quickly replaced "murder to cover it up" as the new focus of public opinion.
The online trolls were mobilized again, driving the narrative wildly.
"So he was drinking; no wonder he couldn't stand."
"I felt sorry for him before, but I didn't expect him to be an alcoholic!"
"Probably too much pressure, drowning his sorrows in alcohol, and then this happened."
"The police report said it was an accident, but some people are still harping on it. Were they paid off?"
Dissenting voices still existed, but under the official conclusion and the organized guidance of the online trolls, they were quickly drowned out and labeled as "conspiracy theorists" and "irrational." Major social media platforms also began "technically" limiting traffic and deleting posts that questioned the official report or discussed the Xingyao scandal too deeply.
The official conclusion, coupled with the capital-controlled media machine, began efficiently "correcting" the narrative direction of the event. A tragic story full of shady dealings, resistance, and persecution was quickly distorted and simplified into an "accident" caused by personal mental problems and a slip while drunk.
The truth, under the interference of power and the pollution of information, became blurred.
Outside the hospital ICU, Chen Kai and Su Yuqing, who had rushed to the scene, looked grave. Looking at the meticulously worded police report and the rapidly shifting public opinion online, they knew perfectly well this was no "accident."
"They've started silencing witnesses and covering up the truth," Su Yuqing said, her voice low and angry. "We must get our hands on the encryption device Lin Chen risked his life to deliver! It's the key to turning the tide!"
Chen Kai sighed heavily, looking at the closed ICU doors: "That child… will he live to see the truth come out?"
The official conclusion, like an invisible hand, was trying to forcefully smother the curtain that had just been lifted.
The evidence Lin Chen obtained with his life became the last spark of hope in this tug-of-war between truth and lies.