Rebirth 70: I am a Koi

Bai Hanchuan's face became uglier and uglier. The knuckles of his fingers holding the phone turned white, and veins on the back of his hand bulged. My heart tightened, and I had a premonition that something bad was going to happen.

"What's wrong?" I asked softly.

Bai Hanchuan took a deep breath, hung up the phone, and frowned: "It was Manager Wang who called. He said that our vegetables are not selling well in the market. Many customers reported that..."

He paused, as if choosing his words, "They said that our vegetables were treated with banned pesticides, and that eating them would be harmful to the body..."

My heart sank suddenly, and a chill ran straight up from the soles of my feet to my heart. How could this happen? We have always insisted on green planting and have never used any banned pesticides. How could such a rumor suddenly appear?

"Someone must be maliciously slandering us!" I gritted my teeth, and the sinister faces of the international agricultural giants emerged in my mind.

"I also suspect it's them." A cold light flashed in Bai Hanchuan's eyes. "They are desperate and want to use such despicable means to attack us."

We immediately rushed back to the base and convened a meeting of all employees overnight to understand the situation. After investigation, we found that a large number of negative comments and articles about our planting base suddenly appeared on the Internet. Most of the content was fabricated facts, maliciously slandering our agricultural products, and some people even made up false cases of people getting sick and hospitalized after eating our vegetables.

"These rumors spread very quickly. Now they have become a hot topic on the Internet and have had a great impact on our reputation," said Xiao Li from the marketing department anxiously.

I suppressed my anger and calmly analyzed the situation. It was obvious that this was an organized and premeditated cyber attack, the purpose of which was to completely destroy everything we had worked so hard to build.

"Hanchuan, what should we do now?" I turned to look at Bai Hanchuan. His face was terribly gloomy. I knew that he must be as angry and worried as I was.

"Don't worry, I will investigate this matter thoroughly and will not let them succeed." A trace of determination flashed in Bai Hanchuan's eyes, "I will contact ..."

Before he could finish his words, the office door was flung open and a familiar figure appeared at the door with a serious expression.

"It's too late to explain, they..."

"It's too late to explain. They are planning a bigger conspiracy!"

Standing at the door was the retired gardening master who had helped us improve the soil and had been living in seclusion near our base. At this moment, he looked panicked and spoke in a hurried tone, and it was obvious that the situation was urgent.

"Old man, please tell me slowly, what happened?" I hurriedly supported him and handed him a cup of hot tea.

He took a deep breath, calmed down, and said, "When I was investigating the background of international agricultural giants, I found that they were colluding with some foreign forces. Recently, these forces have infiltrated the country and seem to be secretly carrying out some plans. I am worried..."

"Are you worried that they will harm the base?" Bai Hanchuan took over the conversation with a sharp tone.

The old man nodded solemnly. "I have been secretly following them for a while and found that they have frequent contact with several experts in the field of botany and seem to be studying a new type of virus..."

Before he finished speaking, the office door was pushed open again, and a middle-aged man with gold-rimmed glasses, elegant and easy-going, walked in. He introduced himself as an expert in botany, who had been studying the movements of international agricultural giants. This time he came to remind us that the remnants were developing a virus targeting vegetables, which spread quickly and was extremely destructive. Once successful, it would bring us a devastating blow.

"They are trying to repeat their old tricks!" My heart sank. I still remember vividly how international agricultural giants had used viruses to attack their competitors. I didn't expect that they would point the finger at us this time.

"We can't let them succeed!" Bai Hanchuan made a prompt decision, "We must take the initiative and respond to the rumors publicly. We can't let them manipulate public opinion in the dark."

I agree with his idea. The most important thing now is to keep people's hearts stable and not panic. We contacted major media overnight and prepared to hold a press conference to publicly clarify the rumors and invite authoritative agencies to test our vegetables to prove our innocence. At the same time, we began to strengthen the base security measures to prevent virus invasion, and carried out scientific education for employees to raise their vigilance.

However, the situation turned out to be more serious than we thought. After the press conference, although the public opinion environment improved, some people were still skeptical, and sales did not see a significant recovery. To make matters worse, some discordant voices began to emerge within the base...

"Boss, how long can we hold on? If this continues, we will all be out of work..." Several employees surrounded me, their voices filled with anxiety and uneasiness. I opened my mouth and wanted to say something encouraging, but found that my throat was dry and I couldn't say anything... The worried eyes of the employees pierced me like needles. I suppressed my inner uneasiness and squeezed out a smile: "Don't worry, everyone, we will definitely get through this difficult time. The most important thing now is to unite and face the challenges together."

However, my words did not have much effect, and the atmosphere in the base was still dull and depressing. Some rumors began to spread among the employees. Some suspected that we were hiding the truth, some worried that the base would go bankrupt, and some even began to secretly look for new job opportunities.

Bai Hanchuan also noticed this change. He came to me and said, "Jinli, the current situation is more complicated than we imagined. We must find a solution as soon as possible, otherwise the base will really collapse."

I know the seriousness of the problem, but facing the current predicament, I feel unprecedented powerlessness. The conspiracy of international agricultural giants is like an invisible net that binds us tightly and makes me breathless.

Just when we were at our wits' end, something even more terrifying happened. That morning, I went to inspect the greenhouse as usual. As soon as I walked into the tomato planting area, an unusual smell hit my nose. I looked closely and broke out in a cold sweat. The tomato seedlings that were once emerald green were now wilting in large areas, and the leaves were covered with dense black spots.

"Oh no, something has happened!" I hurriedly called the nearby workers and ran over anxiously. The workers were also shocked by the scene in front of them, and they gathered around and talked about it.

"How could this happen? He was fine yesterday, how come he suddenly became like this?"

"Is he suffering from some disease or insect pest? Why have I never seen such symptoms before?"

"Is it contagious? Should we quarantine and treat it immediately?"

I suppressed my panic and carefully observed the diseased plants. An ominous premonition came over me. These symptoms were very similar to the new virus described by the old man!

"Hurry, go and notify Bai Hanchuan and ask him to come over immediately!" I realized the seriousness of the matter and immediately arranged for someone to notify Bai Hanchuan and organized workers to isolate the diseased plants to prevent the virus from spreading further.

Time passed by, and my heart became heavier as time went by. At this moment, Bai Hanchuan rushed over, grabbed my hand, and asked anxiously: "Jinli, what's the situation? What happened?"

I pointed at the withered tomato seedlings and said in a trembling voice: "Look, this... this seems to be..."

Before I could finish, Bai Hanchuan's face instantly turned livid. He gritted his teeth and said, "As expected, they really did it!"

Bai Hanchuan's face was heavier than the dark clouds outside the window. He looked around and finally his eyes fell on the shocking withered tomatoes. After a long while, he said solemnly, "It seems that our opponent is more cunning than we thought."

I took a deep breath, trying to suppress my inner panic, and asked him, "What do you think is..."

"Apart from them, I can't think of anyone else who would do this." A cold light flashed in Bai Hanchuan's eyes. "The old man reminded us before that although the international agricultural giant has collapsed, there must be remnants of forces operating in secret. They will not let us go easily."

My heart sank suddenly, and a chill ran from my feet to my head. Since we exposed the conspiracy of the international agricultural giants last time, we have been living a relatively peaceful life. I even thought that we had completely gotten rid of their shadow. I didn't expect that they were still lurking in the dark, waiting for an opportunity to strike!

"What should we do now? We have no experience in dealing with this new virus. If we allow it to spread, the consequences will be disastrous!" I anxiously grabbed Bai Hanchuan's arm, my tone trembling slightly.

Bai Hanchuan held my hand with his backhand and gave me a firm look: "Don't be afraid, Jinli, we still have a chance. I have contacted the old man and the botanical expert, and they will be here soon."

I nodded and tried to calm myself down. Now is not the time to panic. We must trust the old man and the botanical experts. They will definitely find a solution to the problem.

Time passed by minute by minute, and every minute seemed as long as a century to me. I paced anxiously on the ridge of the field, watching the once vibrant tomato seedlings gradually wither. My heart seemed to be tightly grasped by an invisible hand, and I could hardly breathe.

Finally, a jeep drove into the planting base, and the old man and the botanical expert got out of the car.

"What's the situation?" The old man went straight to the point as soon as he got off the car. His eyes swept across the fields sharply and his brows were tightly furrowed.

"See for yourself." I sighed helplessly and led them to the tomato planting area that was worst hit.

The old man and the botanical expert carefully observed the diseased plants, talking in low voices from time to time. Their expressions were very solemn, and the atmosphere was so oppressive that it was almost suffocating.

"It is indeed this!" After a long while, the old man spoke slowly, his tone heavy, "This new virus is more difficult than I thought. It spreads quickly, has a high mortality rate, and..."

He paused, his eyes fell on my and Bai Hanchuan's faces, and he said word by word: "Besides, no effective treatment has been found yet."

My heart instantly sank to the bottom, and a feeling of despair spread in my heart. Are we really going to watch the planting base we have worked so hard to build destroyed?

"But..." The old man changed the subject, "It's not completely hopeless."

I raised my head suddenly, and a glimmer of hope lit up in my eyes.

The old man pointed at the withered tomato seedlings and said in a serious tone: "If we want to solve the problem completely, we must find the source of the virus and follow the clues to bring the culprit behind it to justice!"

Bai Hanchuan and I looked at each other and saw the same determination in each other's eyes.

"We will definitely cooperate with you to the fullest extent!" Bai Hanchuan said firmly.

I know that a new battle is about to begin... We found some clues...