229: Chapter 229 You have this too?

The second after Lin Yuan's reply was successfully sent.

Across the country, countless netizens who had set Lin Yuan's account to "Special Follow" saw their phone screens light up simultaneously.

Piercing special notification tones exploded frantically in countless bedrooms, offices, and even noisy internet cafes all over the nation.

Inside a male dormitory at a certain university.

A college student with heavy dark circles under his eyes, who had been browsing comments all night, was already losing his battle with sleepiness. He let out a long yawn, and his phone almost slipped from his hand to hit him in the face.

"Ding—"

The moment the notification pop-up appeared.

He leaped up from his bed, his sleepiness completely vanished.

With trembling hands, he shoved the phone in front of his eyes. When he clearly saw those four words, a roar erupted from his throat, loud enough to wake the entire dorm.

"Ahhh! God Lin replied! He replied!!!"

His roommates were startled awake and poked their heads out while cursing. Just as they were about to give him a piece of their minds, they saw the push notification on their own phones. The curses instantly caught in their throats, and a second later, they were howling along with him.

Within just a few seconds.

The data for the thread under Lin Yuan's reply skyrocketed in a cliff-like surge.

"'Landing soon!' Am I dreaming? Can we really pilot mechs soon?!"

"I was so excited last night that I didn't sleep at all. I finally managed to get a bit of sleepiness going, only to see this reply! Ah! I can't sleep again!"

"Hahaha, I've been playing mech simulators since I was a kid. I'm definitely ace pilot material in the future!"

Countless howls of excitement, nearly bordering on loss of control, turned into a dense thicket of comments. The entire Xia Country internet fell into a state of collective frenzy known as "The Mech Dream Coming True."

Lin Yuan leaned back on the sofa, watching the near-manic feedback data in the backend, the corners of his lips curling up slightly.

Then, his finger lightly swiped the screen, and his gaze naturally fell on the second highest-rated comment on the upvote list.

The style of this comment was completely different from the hardcore sci-fi of the first one; it carried a thick, unmistakable air of trolling.

"Lunar New Year is coming up. I hope this year's Spring Festival Gala can have a performance of someone wearing Iron Man armor singing 'Me and My Motherland'!"

The replies below were also a uniform carnival.

"Brilliant! I give this imagination a perfect score!"

"Just thinking about the scene is exhilarating! On Lunar New Year's Eve, over a billion people across the country are glued to their TVs, and then Iron Man sings to the global audience: 'Me and my motherland, cannot be separated for a single moment...'"

"People from The Other Side of the Ocean will probably be so angry they'll ascend to heaven on the spot. I'll laugh first to show my respect, hahahaha!"

After Lin Yuan finished reading, he couldn't help but let out a light chuckle.

He knew all too well what this meant.

Modern netizens' imaginations were truly "wicked" enough.

But this wasn't just the ultimate mockery of the cultural hegemony of The Other Side of the Ocean; it was also the perfect lever to harvest the nation's emotional value.

This idea was quite good.

So Lin Yuan did not hesitate.

With a light tap of his fingertip, he replied directly below with two words—

"Not bad!"

The moment the reply was sent.

The netizen who made the suggestion let out a groundhog-like scream right in his blankets when he saw the gold-V verified "Lin Yuan" ID appear under his comment!

Then, his fingers moved so fast they became a blur as he posted several comments in a row in the comment section.

"Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap! I got noticed by God Lin!!!"

"God Lin said 'Not bad'! He said 'Not bad'!!! Does this mean he's actually considering bringing Iron Man to the Spring Festival Gala?!"

"Mom! Your son has made it! God Lin personally replied to your son! This is bringing honor to the ancestors!!!"

At this moment, the atmosphere in the comment section completely spiraled out of control.

"Hahahaha, I'm dying of laughter. Just thinking about this scene will keep me laughing until next year!"

"God Lin is so wicked, I love it! This isn't just a scientist; this is clearly the founding master of the dimensional strike world!"

"Friends from The Other Side of the Ocean, your superhero is going to perform at our Spring Festival Gala. Remember to adjust for the time difference to watch. You'll regret it for the rest of your lives if you don't!"

Countless Xia Country citizens, who loved a good spectacle, pushed this comment to the top, and the screen was filled with a sea of "hahaha."

In stark and tragic contrast.

Were the netizens and intelligence personnel from The Other Side of the Ocean, who were braving high latency and going to great lengths to bypass the firewall to secretly monitor the screen.

Translation software converted the comments into English line by line.

When they finally understood the full meaning of that conversation, all the foreigners' faces turned as black as the bottom of a pot.

The people of Xia Country were actually brazenly incorporating their sci-fi icons into a gala program?

And even arranging for them to sing Xia Country's mainstream patriotic songs?!

This mixture of extreme humiliation and absurdity produced a chemical reaction strong enough to cause a mental breakdown.

In front of countless screens on The Other Side of the Ocean, the sounds of broken-hearted cursing and the muffled thuds of keyboards being smashed rose and fell.

"This is an insult! A blatant insult!"

"Protest! We must lodge the most solemn protest with Xia Country!"

"I swear, if this actually happens, I will never watch another superhero movie for the rest of my life..."

However, no one cared about their wailing.

Because at this time, the Xia Country internet was immersed in an unprecedented carnival.

...

Subsequently, Lin Yuan briefly skimmed through the other top-rated comments.

virtual reality game pods, medical nanobots, anti-gravity flying cars...

Every one of these represented extremely high public demand, with upvotes often reaching tens of millions.

He took note of these ideas, a sharp light flashing in the depths of his profound eyes.

These most simple technological fantasies, representing over a billion people, would all be excellent nourishment for him to harvest massive amounts of confidence in the future.

Afterwards, Lin Yuan locked his phone screen with satisfaction, tucked it back into his pocket, and got up to push open the bedroom door.

The morning air at Xishan Base was dry, cold, and crisp.

Lin Yuan walked down the hallway with his hands in his pockets at a steady pace. Just as he reached a corner, he ran right into a hurried Shen Changhe.

Seeing Lin Yuan, Shen Changhe's eyes suddenly lit up. He hurriedly stopped and grinned.

"Academician Lin, morning."

"Chief Engineer Shen, morning," Lin Yuan nodded calmly.

After the greeting, Shen Changhe looked around, stepped forward, and lowered his voice, his tone carrying an irrepressible sense of inquiry and doubt.

"Academician Lin, I also saw the commotion online last night."

"I saw you were soliciting research directions for the next stage on the platform..."

"You're not actually planning to conduct R&D based on those netizens' wild suggestions, are you?"

Hearing this, Lin Yuan smiled composedly.

"Chief Engineer Shen, those are the most simple wishes of the people."

His tone was relaxed, but every word carried an indisputable weight.

"The higher the upvotes, the higher the demand."

"The south heaven gate project has placed our Xia Country's military strength at the top of the world. But while we develop the sharp sword of the military..."

"The livelihood technology used to benefit the people... cannot be left behind either."

"In the final analysis, don't we build weapons so that we can stand tall, keep the common people from being bullied, and let them live good lives?"

Upon hearing this, Shen Changhe's footsteps faltered.

He opened his mouth, then closed it again.

A moment later, this old chief engineer, who had worked in the military industry for most of his life, nodded heavily, the look in his eyes changing.

"You're right... I was thinking too small."

He let out a long breath and sighed from the bottom of his heart.

"Military and civilian progress should indeed go hand in hand."

But despite the sentiment, Shen Changhe's tone suddenly shifted.

His Adam's apple bobbed violently, and his voice dropped to an extremely low level, even carrying a faint, almost imperceptible tremble.

"By the way, Academician Lin."

"I just... also saw your reply online saying 'Landing soon'..."

Shen Changhe stared at Lin Yuan's face, his breathing unconsciously becoming rapid, as he asked word for word.

"Does this mean..."

"That you already have the blueprints for the Large Mechas in your hands too?!"