Chapter Sixteen: The Ridiculous Man

Moreover, this former beacon of positive energy, the streamer, underwent an overnight transformation in the style of his short videos, completely adopting the so-called "universal values" and a "woke" persona.

How to put it—it was like a caterpillar breaking free from its cocoon.

His “Truth Unveiled” public account had once dedicated itself to analyzing similar themes. This kind of video style from the "Breaking Cocoon" platform uses fragments of truth to mask the overall reality, substitutes emotional resonance for rational analysis, and wraps a specific ideology in the guise of "universal values." Under the banner of so-called "human rights," "democracy," and "freedom," it merely serves to marginalize the society’s original mainstream ideology.

Yet, none of this could be proven with concrete evidence.

Liang Feng stood by the office window, gazing distantly at the towering, ostentatious Breaking Cocoon building.

Five years ago, his sister Qianqian had walked into that building with great joy, becoming a contracted streamer for the Breaking Cocoon company.

But within just six months, she was driven into depression by online harassment, covered in infamy, and fled the city.

The sister who had grown up with him, the sister with whom he shared everything, left behind only a fragmented diary and a single line: “Sorry, brother,” before vanishing without a trace.

He returned home, reported to the police, and exhausted every possible means, but could only learn that his sister was alive yet unwilling to make contact.

Due to privacy protections and her refusal, the police could not disclose her whereabouts to Liang Feng.

That very year, Liang Feng established the “Truth Unveiled” studio, renting office space at a distant street corner from which he could still see the Breaking Cocoon building.

He vowed to expose all the hidden ugliness and disgrace beneath Breaking Cocoon’s falsehoods, to reveal their cruel disregard for streamer rights and public decency.

Up until today.

There were countless Breaking Cocoon videos promoting universal values, yet one could never tell where their traffic came from, where their content originated, or what their true intentions were.

A beam of light had pierced the dark iron tower, exposing the filth and sin within—and thus this beam of light was deemed a crime.

If he dared to call them out by name, Breaking Cocoon could sue him for defamation. Even though he had countless clues proving that their traffic algorithms consistently framed “traditional family ethics” as “oppression and rebellion,” slandered “struggle changes fate” as “no coal miner can become a coal boss just by mining faster and better,” and disparaged “national rise” as “what does that have to do with my monthly salary of 3,000 yuan?”—speculation and clues were not evidence.

Unless he could get hold of internal documents from Breaking Cocoon.

“Brother Liang, I think this streamer seems quite naive. With your skills and a bit of disguise, you’d definitely win her trust in no time. Then she’d tell you all her secrets,” said employee Xiao Zhao confidently.

Liang Feng’s spirit shattered instantly. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

Xiao Zhao scoffed, unimpressed: “What’s the big deal? To take down Breaking Cocoon, it’s nearly impossible to find anything substantial from public clues alone. Having an insider would make things so much easier. Besides, this streamer doesn’t even seem like a proper role model. She might be more than willing.”

A flicker of annoyance passed through Liang Feng’s eyes.

Why were there always people so quick to cast malicious judgments on complete strangers? Wasn’t this the very predicament his sister had faced?

“We must act within the law, and with righteous methods,” he said firmly.

“Pfft!” Xiao Zhao thought his boss was hopelessly naive. Great achievements required bending the rules! A girl like this could be bought easily; getting her to talk would save so much effort.

They were just a small studio!

Their public account barely garnered tens of thousands of views per article!

How could they confront a behemoth like Breaking Cocoon without some extreme measures?

“We just contacted a streamer who was about to jump ship to Breaking Cocoon, showed her a bunch of dirt, and convinced her to give up that plan. Breaking Cocoon must be gearing up to strike back at us! The sword of Damocles hangs over our heads, yet here we are preaching justice. Brother Liang, your heart’s just not cold enough.”

Liang Feng cut him off. “Enough! If our conscience is clear, we fear no shadow. We have done nothing shameful and are not afraid of Breaking Cocoon’s retaliation. Get back to work! Are the articles for tomorrow ready?”

No matter how cold he was, he couldn’t warm himself with the blood of others.

Liang Feng’s fight against Breaking Cocoon was not because it was a giant, nor because it held a status and traffic he could never match, nor because hitching a ride on that giant vessel would grant him unimaginable exposure.

It was because he wanted to illuminate the places where sunlight could not reach.

He wanted the truth.

Ridiculous, wasn’t it? Like an ant shaking a tree, a moth flying into the flame.

He knew it was absurd.

But this heartless, unfeeling world needed people who dared to be absurd.

...

The Breaking Cocoon “Hundred Butterflies Rising” competition was in full swing. With real money poured in to recruit streamers of all kinds, each with their own unique style, the app’s daily active users kept soaring.

On the APP’s homepage, a large banner remained pinned at the top, listing the real-time popularity of each contestant streamer. Internally, the company had been comprehensively evaluating each streamer from multiple dimensions since the first stage.

“Two weeks have passed, and the first phase of the competition has ended. Each streamer should now be adapted to Breaking Cocoon’s rhythm and have formed their own strategies.”

At a group meeting, ten seed streamers sat neatly in the conference room, though they did not know there was more than one such room.

“We here are all seed players, receiving full packaging and support from the company, but not everyone has met expectations.”

Supervisor Ice stood at the end of the long table, pointing at the big screen with a highlighter.

“In the first phase, the streamer with the highest overall score is Monroe. She ranks seventeenth on the total popularity list of ‘Hundred Butterflies Rising’—the highest among our seed players.”

Monroe had a substantial base of followers and high user engagement. Among all the cycling streamers, her video style was the most diverse, her speech humorous, occasionally slipping in a hint of the risqué, harmless yet closely watched by many.

Her image was far from positive—the “Cycling Queen” title upfront, a borderline reputation behind—inviting much vulgar language and abuse. But Monroe didn’t care; as long as the fans wanted to watch, that was performance.

Lin Ke instinctively applauded for Monroe, clapping a few times before realizing no one else was following, and awkwardly lowering her hands.

The other streamers showed varying expressions; only Monroe smiled warmly, giving Lin Ke an understanding look.

Lin Ke felt reassured and continued listening.

“Everyone starts at different points, with varying followers and daily active users—that’s normal. But when completion rates and interaction rates differ so greatly, it’s time for self-reflection.”

Monroe was not a professional short-video blogger; she had mostly focused on live streaming before, only editing a few videos to compete.

Yet in these two weeks, only five short videos reached a completion rate exceeding 70%, with interaction rates as high as 13%—data rivaling top streamers in the short-video field.

Ice’s expression was grave, perfectly matching her English name. No wonder Breaking Cocoon’s legend held true: there were no wrong names, only wrong codes.