It had been a week since the cave-in at East Lake. Ren Xiaosu was holed up in the hotel every day as though the cave-in at East Lake had nothing to do with him.
Zhou Yingxue, on the other hand, was very busy. As Li Ran's bodyguard, she had to accompany her to various events all the time. The stronghold's media even started paying attention to Zhou Yingxue and gave her the title of "Most Beautiful Female Bodyguard". This allowed her to show off for several days.
After a few performances, Li Ran also looked a little tired.
However, on the way to Stronghold 73, Li Ran did not take the minivan. Instead, she got into the vehicle that Zhou Yingxue and Ren Xiaosu were in. This surprised Ren Xiaosu a little.
As a matter of fact, he could not speak freely with Li Ran in this vehicle. After all, he was Zhou Yingxue's assistant.
Ren Xiaosu wondered, "Wouldn't it be more comfortable for you to sit in the minivan?"
The seats in the minivan had been modified so that they could lie flat and rest while sleeping. When they woke up, they would arrive at their destination. How great would that be?
However, Li Ran's reason was also very good. "I'm worried that there will be danger in the wilderness, so I want to sit in the same vehicle as my bodyguards. That way, you guys can protect me immediately if I encounter any danger. Besides, everyone thinks I'll be sitting in the minivan. If someone attacks the convoy, they can just attack the minivan immediately and I'll be able to escape. "
Ren Xiaosu said in a speechless manner, "Why would there be so many bandits attacking the convoy in the wilderness of the Central Plains?"
However, since the other party's reason was valid, they could not really refuse to let Li Ran into the vehicle.
After they set off, Ren Xiaosu and Zhou Yingxue remained silent. Li Ran was reading the newspaper in the back of the off-road vehicle. She even shook the newspaper loudly.
Ren Xiaosu couldn't help but turn around to have a look. Li Ran immediately pretended to be reading the newspaper seriously, and the newspaper in her hand was facing Ren Xiaosu's page. Ren Xiaosu was surprised to discover that the entire page was filled with news about Li Ran's successful tour. From the looks of it, it was even on the front page.
No wonder he was shaking the newspaper. It turned out that he wanted to show off.
The most eye-catching photo on the page was of Li Ran. It was probably the outfit she wore during the concert. It looked dazzling and eye-catching.
Ren Xiaosu glanced at it before turning around and closing his eyes to get some rest. Behind him, Li Ran coughed and said, "Hope Media's newspapers are very influential. They can be bought from the Zhou Clan, the Wang Clan, and the Kong Clan's consortiums. Moreover, it's said that you can buy their newspapers from any newsstand in the Pyro Company's strongholds."
As Zhou Yingxue was driving, she rolled her eyes. This woman was just trying to say that the most impressive thing about her was that she could occupy the front page of a newspaper like this.
However, Ren Xiaosu was more concerned about something else. "What's going on with Hope Media? Which company is it from?"
In his opinion, the various consortiums were still relatively isolated from each other. After all, if one wanted to go to another organization's strongholds, they would have to apply for clearance documents in advance.
But what right did Hope Media have to expand their business to such a large scale?
"It's the Qinghe Group's business." Li Ran said with a smile, "The final stop of the tour is Luoyang City because we want to pay a visit to the chief editor of Hope Media."
Realization dawned on Ren Xiaosu. So it was the Qinghe Group's business. No wonder.
As a mouthpiece for public opinion, a newspaper would indeed have to belong to a neutral organization in order to have a chance to expand their influence in several strongholds.
It would be very difficult for the Wang Clan's print media industry to develop into the Zhou Clan's. After all, the mouthpiece industry could not be controlled by others.
Moreover, the Qinghe Group controlled more than half of the Barrier Alliance's satellites. In terms of the speed at which news could be transmitted, they completely crushed the other print media companies.
News was always about timeliness. The faster the news spread, the more advantage they had.
However, Ren Xiaosu asked, "Can I have a look at this newspaper?"
Li Ran was overjoyed, but she pretended to be a little reserved as she said, "Of course."
However, Li Ran was immediately disappointed. Ren Xiaosu flipped through all the pages, but he did not look at the entertainment section or the front page at all!
He must be deliberately giving her the cold shoulder, right? That must be it!
Meanwhile, Zhou Yingxue found it funny. She knew very well that her master was really not interested in entertainment news at all.
After Ren Xiaosu finished reading today's newspaper, he even specially asked for all the newspapers from the past that were stored in the convoy and read them for the entire day.
Hope Media's newspaper was also quite ruthless. The current affairs section was dedicated to criticizing the ills of the times. The Wang Consortium, the Zhou Consortium, and the Kong Consortium were all criticized, and the Pyro Company was not spared either.
Ren Xiaosu wondered, "Hasn't the editor-in-chief been beaten to death for a newspaper like this?"
"When Hope Media first started, there were people who tried to threaten and intimidate them. However, the editor-in-chief still did what he did. I heard that he was once kidnapped and locked up for three days and three nights with his legs broken. But after he was released, the contents of his articles were still the same," Li Ran explained. "Later on, for some reason, no one bothered with him anymore. And because Hope Media likes to tell the truth, it rapidly expanded."
Ren Xiaosu was stunned. The editor-in-chief was not killed? Was it because the organization still cared about their reputation?
To be honest, he did not really understand this matter.
However, after reading so many newspapers, Ren Xiaosu suddenly became interested in Hope Media's newspapers. That was because he had learned a lot about the Central Plains in just a few days' worth of newspapers.
For example, the Wang Clan and Fortress 178 had signed an agreement to build an expressway and a railway. Both sides had been preparing for this for a long time, and it was said that the expressway would be ready to be opened to traffic by the middle of next year. However, it would take another five years for the construction to be completed.
It looked like the Wang Clan had an urgent need for resources in the Northwest.
In Hope Media's newspapers, they also specifically reported on the cave-in at East Lake. However, they did not seem to understand the whole story and only focused on the reactions of the various consortiums to the matter.
During this period, Ren Xiaosu also saw a report on Luo Lan. However, the reports on him were basically just gossip. In the media and newspapers, he was just like a nouveau riche from the Southwest who had come to the Central Plains to enjoy life.
However, there was a sentence at the end that said Luo Lan's purpose in coming to the Central Plains might not be that simple.
Ren Xiaosu suddenly felt that Hope Media's newspapers were good stuff. Later on, when he passed by the stronghold, it became a must for Ren Xiaosu to buy the day's newspapers.
Only Li Ran was sulking in the back of the off-road vehicle. That was because she had been watching Ren Xiaosu flipping through the newspapers the entire time. She realized it was not that Ren Xiaosu did not read the entertainment news, but that he did not read the entertainment news about her!
On this point, Zhou Yingxue was also wrong. Ren Xiaosu still paid a lot of attention to the entertainment news. He was really looking forward to seeing Luo Xinyu's photo on one of the entertainment news pages, but unfortunately, there was none.
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