Chapter 94: Nationwide Outrage, National Sentiment Over the Rise of a Great Power Ignites

Chu Xuan lunged at his computer.

His fingers smashed against the keyboard with a clattering sound.

The computer case fan let out an overwhelmed roar, and hot air poured out.

"It's connected!"

Chu Xuan slapped his thigh hard, sending two drops of oily sweat flying from his center-parted hair.

"Tencent, Sina, Tieba—the highest-level livestreaming channels across the entire internet have all cut in!"

He panted heavily, staring fixedly at the number of online viewers in the top right corner of the screen.

The digital counter was shooting up like crazy.

Five million.

Ten million.

Twenty million.

Netizens had long been enraged by the videos of smashing and looting coming from overseas.

Now, they were all crowding into the livestream room, the bullet comments so dense they covered half the screen.

"What's happening with Xinghai Technology? I heard the Americans sent police to seize the goods?"

"Mr. Lu, say something! Are we going bankrupt?"

Lu Jingming pulled over a folding chair.

The metal legs scraped against the floor tiles with a harsh sound.

He sat down with a bold, imposing air and leaned close to the camera.

He wasn't wearing a suit; the collar of his black T-shirt was slightly open.

He didn't have a mournful look on his face; in fact, a faint, imperceptible smile hung at the corners of his mouth.

Lu Jingming reached out and dragged over several English documents printed with the bald eagle watermark.

Holding them by the corner, he shoved them directly in front of the lens.

"Good afternoon, everyone."

His voice was steady, without a hint of panic.

"This is a fax sent to Xinghai Technology by the American Department of Commerce half an hour ago. The original copy, still hot."

Lu Jingming tossed the documents onto the table.

The pages made a crisp rustling sound.

"For the brothers who aren't good at foreign languages, I'll read a couple of lines for you."

His fingers pointed at the bold text on the document, and he went through it slowly and methodically.

"According to the Entity List Act, Xinghai Technology is suspected of endangering the information security of North America."

"Effective immediately, seventeen direct-sale stores in North America are to be sealed. Port cargo ships are to be seized. The ten-billion-dollar account in the Swiss bank is to be frozen."

The bullet comments paused for a moment.

Through the screen, tens of millions of netizens all gasped in shock.

Lu Jingming leaned back against the chair.

He twirled a one-yuan plastic lighter in his hand.

"Click"—no flame appeared; the flint wheel spun in vain.

"Endangering information security?"

He scoffed, his eyes revealing a blade-like coldness.

"We at Xinghai Technology built a glass screen that doesn't lag. We wrote a clean system without pop-up ads."

"We made a small wristband to help ordinary people track their heart rates."

Lu Jingming leaned forward, staring intently at the camera.

"Is this what you call endangering security?"

"Because the foreigners' system is trash and YouTube is stuffed with ads."

He pulled up one side of his mouth, revealing a sharp canine tooth.

"We didn't play by their rules, so we smashed the foreigners' rice bowls."

Lu Jingming spread his hands.

"So, they stopped caring about business rules. They sent police to smash our glass counters and seize our stock."

"They even froze the money meant for refunds to scalpers in the bank."

His voice wasn't loud, but it hit like heavy hammers against the hearts of every Chinese person.

"This is the 'free market' they brag about to the heavens."

Lu Jingming sneered.

"If they can't compete, they just rob you openly. If they can't win, they just flip the table."

The livestream room went silent for two seconds.

Then, it was as if a nuclear bomb of staggering yield had been dropped.

The bullet comments exploded completely.

Red profanities and exclamation marks made the server lag so hard it created afterimages.

"Shameless! These are robbers! Naked robbers!"

"What right do they have to smash our stores! The Americans are afraid of our technology!"

"Mr. Lu, don't be afraid! If they won't buy, we'll buy it ourselves!"

Fury was ignited in an instant.

The pent-up frustration of hundreds of millions of netizens found a vent at this moment.

National sentiment, like a burst dam, surged and roared.

In Yanjing, inside an office building.

Mr. Lei sat before his desk, his eyes red.

He gripped his mouse tightly, his knuckles turning white.

"This is too much bullying..."

He panted heavily and grabbed the landline receiver on his desk.

"Public Relations Department! Log into our main account and post on Weibo immediately!"

Mr. Lei roared at the top of his lungs.

"Make the announcement as tough as possible! Tell the whole internet that our new company supports Xinghai Technology to the end!"

"We will use Xinghai Technology's system to the end! The more the Americans try to ban it, the more we will build it!"

At the headquarters of Bolang Mobile.

Fatty Xu watched the livestream, the flesh on his fat face trembling.

He swallowed dryly and poured the goji berry water he had just brewed into the drain.

"Go, bring out all the machines in the warehouse equipped with the Xialong Chip and put them on display!"

He roared at his assistant.

"Buying Xinghai Technology's chips right now is buying our Chinese confidence! If I don't capitalize on this traffic, I'm an idiot!"

The entire Chinese Anti-Foreign Capital Alliance, with over a dozen manufacturers, spoke out in unison online.

They firmly supported Xinghai Technology and condemned the American sanctions.

The waves of public opinion rose higher and higher.

At Xinghai Technology, in the financial operations room.

Shen Qingqiu stepped in her high heels and stood before several server monitors.

Her eyes behind her gold-rimmed glasses were wide open.

Her breathing was completely ragged.

"Ms. Shen! The orders on the domestic website have exploded!"

Financial officer Xiao Zhang pointed at the screen, his voice cracking.

"Two million units of reserved stock... they were snatched up in five minutes!"

Xiao Zhang frantically refreshed the page.

"Everyone isn't even looking at the specs; they're paying with their eyes closed!"

"There are even people leaving comments in the background saying they don't want the phone, they just want to donate money to Xinghai Technology as R&D fees!"

Shen Qingqiu clutched her chest.

Her white shirt heaved up and down.

Looking at the constantly rolling incoming funds, she felt her scalp tingle.

Billions of dollars had been frozen overseas.

Yet, domestic netizens had used their hard-earned money to smash out over ten billion in cash flow for Xinghai Technology in just half an hour!

She turned and rushed out of the operations room, slamming open the door to the CEO's office.

"Lu Jingming!"

Shen Qingqiu panted, tears welling in the corners of her eyes.

"The domestic warehouse is empty. Even the defective products were bought up at high prices by fellow companies. We've made a fortune."

Lu Jingming turned off the livestream camera.

He leaned back in his chair and lit the cigarette he had been holding in his mouth for a long time.

Bluish-grey smoke rose.

"The backbone of our countrymen has always been the strongest."

He blew out a smoke ring and tossed the lighter onto the table.

"The Americans think that cutting off the overseas lines can starve me to death. They don't understand this land."

Lu Jingming turned his head and looked at the blinding sunlight outside the window.

"However, we can't just take a beating without fighting back."

Across the ocean.

Washington, the top-floor office of the Department of Commerce.

John Smith stared at the computer screen on his desk.

His face was so gloomy it could drip water.

His golden slicked-back hair was a bit messy, and his tie had been violently pulled askew.

"Fuck!"

He swung his fist violently, slamming it onto the solid wood desk.

It made the mug beside it jump.

The cup rolled onto the carpet, spilling coffee everywhere.

He had thought that this combination of blows would work.

Xinghai Technology would definitely announce a broken capital chain within three days, and Lu Jingming would come crawling on his knees to beg him to lift the ban.

But what was the result?

The data sent back by the intelligence department was like a loud slap across his face.

Xinghai Technology's sales in China had seen an unprecedented explosion.

The revenue even filled the hole left by the frozen overseas accounts!

Not only did it not die, but it was living even more comfortably.

It had even twisted over a dozen Chinese mobile phone manufacturers into a single rope, all standing in opposition to the Americans.

A rush of footsteps came from outside the door.

The North America Cybersecurity Bureau Chief wiped the oily sweat from his forehead and ran in, pushing the door open.

"Mr. John, public opinion cannot be controlled. We are banning their bot accounts on Twitter, but we simply can't ban them fast enough."

The Cybersecurity Bureau Chief swallowed his saliva.

"Those foreigners who have already bought Xinghai Technology devices are all cursing us. They say we have deprived them of the right to use good software."

John Smith gritted his teeth, a bloodthirsty glint rising in his eyes.

He kicked the broken coffee cup on the floor.

The porcelain shards cut the surface of his leather shoe.

He walked up to the Cybersecurity Bureau Chief and grabbed him by the collar.

Pulling him close, he stared viciously at that pale face.

"Since they can make money domestically, I will wipe their traces overseas completely clean."

John lowered his voice, his tone filled with a manic ruthlessness.

He let go, pushing the Bureau Chief so he stumbled.

"Go to the server room. Notify the three major backbone network operators."

John pointed toward the door, enunciating every word.

"Sever their connections from the physical fiber optic cables!"

"I want their overseas server IPs to completely disappear from this planet!"