Chapter 255 Fishing Rod Progress!

Another day passed.

Across the ocean, in the Ugly Country.

Despite the time difference, the relevant departments in the Ugly Country were constantly monitoring the public opinion online.

They were also keeping a close eye on every move from the Eastern Country.

Why?

Because in recent years, the roles of offense and defense between the Ugly Country and the Eastern Country had swapped.

In the past, the Eastern Country was easy to deal with; they could just send an aircraft carrier for a stroll, and the other side would have to think twice.

But now, the Eastern Country was becoming increasingly difficult to handle.

The Eastern Country had many smooth little combos, one after another, making it impossible to guard against.

In their eyes, the Eastern Country was like a cunning rabbit that hid a brick behind its back.

This time, although they had taken the initiative by proposing the "Space as No Man's Land" motion to forcibly occupy that golden orbit...

...

Public opinion continued to simmer.

Even the Ugly Country's leader, Trump, who had a very performative personality, once again displayed his style of governing via Twitter.

Not wanting to miss this chance to trend, he immediately posted a response on Twitter.

The content was simple—the usual rhetoric about freedom and democracy, all in capital letters, with more exclamation marks than anyone else.

[SPACE BELONGS TO ALL MANKIND! IT IS FREE! NO ONE CAN STOP THE STEPS OF FREEDOM! MAKE SPACE GREAT AGAIN!]

As soon as this tweet came out, it instantly ignited the internet. Countless Ugly Country Netizens and Trump fans celebrated in the comments as if they had already conquered the Milky Way.

Then.

The Eastern Country also issued a response.

This time, the response wasn't filled with dry diplomatic jargon; instead, it was very down-to-earth, even carrying a hint of sarcasm.

The official Eastern Country account directly @'d Trump and said:

[This is a form of hegemony! If one day, you find that the altitude you want to launch to suddenly has over ten thousand Starlink satellites, what would you think?]

Trump knew the Eastern Country had always been rigorous. He immediately responded, his fingers flying across the screen to post a line that would become a classic in the future:

[That is freedom! Whoever arrives first owns it! Those are the rules! Even if there are ten thousand, they are still satellites of freedom!]

Immediately following.

The Ugly Country's lackeys, John Bull and Little Sun, also posted, following closely in their big brother's footsteps.

John Bull stated: "We support our ally's initiative regarding the freedom of space development."

Little Sun was even more eager: "Space is ownerless. First come, first served is international practice. We completely agree!"

In any case, the conflict was intense, and the internet was a chaotic mess of arguments.

In reality, the whole world was unaware that the Eastern Country's mention of ten thousand satellites wasn't a hypothetical—it was a statement of fact.

The reason no one noticed was that the Starlink system Li Jiajun created had stealth capabilities.

Currently, aside from the top brass of the Eastern Country, the world didn't know that over ten thousand satellites had quietly occupied the prime real estate between 300 to 500 kilometers.

They were like a pack of ghosts lurking in a dark forest, silently watching the Ugly Country people perform.

Of course, this stealth function didn't come without a price.

Activating the stealth function meant that some communication features of the satellites couldn't be fully used, and power would be limited.

...

Beijing, Liu Jianguo's office.

Liu Jianguo watched this escalating global drama, feeling that the Westerners had completely fallen into the trap.

Seeing Trump's line "Whoever arrives first owns it" on the screen, Liu Jianguo almost burst out laughing.

"That's the spirit."

"Remember what you said. Don't go back on your word later."

Then.

He took special note of the number mentioned in the Eastern Country's statement.

Although it didn't explicitly say ten thousand and thirty-six, the phrase "over ten thousand" was practically showing their hand to those in the know.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk.”

Liu Jianguo shook his head, took a sip from his teacup, his face full of the expression of someone enjoying a spectacle.

He couldn't help but chuckle and scold the person who wrote the post for being truly devious.

"This is basically digging a grave for the Westerners and handing them a shovel to ask if the pit is deep enough."

In a great mood, he hummed a little tune, feeling that his luck had been quite good lately.

He had solved a major concern and was now watching such a great show.

At that moment.

He thought of Li Jiajun.

The biggest hero of this drama was that kid making toys in Baishui City.

"I wonder what that kid is up to now?"

"Has he started researching the fishing rod yet?"

Thinking of this, Liu Jianguo pulled out his phone and opened the WeChat chat window he had managed to get added to—the one where he hadn't been deleted yet.

His fingers typed rapidly, and he sent a WeChat message asking:

"Any ideas for that fishing rod yet?"

...

Baishui City, Li Family Toy Factory.

Li Jiajun was slumped in his boss chair, boredly scrolling through his phone.

Seeing a message pop up on WeChat, he glanced at the sender—the one with the tacky 'Sunrise over the Sea' profile picture named 'Highest Good is Like Water'.

In other words, that old fraud Liu Jianguo's alt account. That's right, he still hadn't added the guy's main account back.

Li Jiajun's mouth twitched.

Looking at Liu Jianguo's WeChat, he felt a sense of weariness and distaste.

'This old fellow, why is he back again?'

'It's only been quiet for a few days!'

Li Jiajun muttered to himself, rolling his eyes.

Because he felt that this Liu Jianguo was a bit ominous.

You should know, previously this old fellow had even judged his fate as being too 'unholy,' saying that as long as he invented something, trouble would follow.

But!

While Li Jiajun had been idle over the past two days, he had carefully reviewed his experiences during this period.

Through his analysis, he discovered that it wasn't he who was ominous, but the other party.

After all, every time he was requisitioned, didn't it have something to do with this old fellow?

Even the robot dog from before was only created because this old fellow's hand slipped and he sent the wrong file!

As for the toy sky rocket, that was also the other party's fault. If he hadn't promised to give Li Jiajun a research direction but then stood him up, Li Jiajun wouldn't have researched any toy sky rocket, would he?

And that wasn't all.

While Li Jiajun was thinking, his thoughts went so deep that they triggered the Heaven-Defying Comprehension Panel once.

At that time, the familiar notification sounded in his mind:

[Ding! You have deeply analyzed the connection between causality and metaphysics, combining statistics and survivorship bias...]

In any case, the deduction result was that this old fellow was also ominous—no, not 'also,' but that this old fellow himself was the ominous one! The true source of all evil.

This was certified by his Heaven-Defying Comprehension Panel!

'No, I can't get too close to this old fellow.'

'This old guy is jinxed; he's specifically meant to counter law-abiding citizens like me.'

Li Jiajun made up his mind.

He didn't want to discuss anything with this ominous guy, fearing he'd be tainted by the bad luck.

If he talked to him too much, what if this fishing rod project he just thought of mutated into something weird again?

Thus.

Li Jiajun curled his lip and tapped the screen a few times.

Then, he brushed the other party off, saying he had no ideas yet.

[Li Jiajun: Not yet, Uncle Liu. This is too hard. A fishing rod looks simple, but there's a lot to it—carbon cloth tonnage, reverse thread ply... I'm still researching. I don't have a clue yet.]

After sending the message, Li Jiajun flipped his phone face down on the table.

"Hehe, as long as I don't move, you can't trap me."

...

Beijing.

Liu Jianguo looked at the reply on his phone.

[Still researching]

[Don't have a clue yet]

Seeing these words, Liu Jianguo wasn't disappointed. Instead, he let out a long sigh of relief, a gratified smile appearing on his face.

"No clue is good!"

"It's right to have no clue!"

Receiving the reply, Liu Jianguo thought the protagonist had truly run into difficulties in development and his inspiration had run dry.

After all, when this kid invented things before, he would have an epiphany just from watching Animal World or a perfume commercial.

It was like constipation—either nothing came out, or it was unstoppable.

Now he actually said he had to research carbon cloth tonnage and reverse thread ply?

This showed that the kid had finally returned to normal scientific research logic!

He was finally acting like a normal person, starting to worry about technical bottlenecks!

"Great."

Liu Jianguo slapped his thigh, feeling even more at ease.

As long as he was worrying about how to make a fishing rod, he wouldn't have time to cause any more chaotic trouble.

"It seems the fishing rod project was the right choice."

"It's difficult enough to consume his energy, yet absolutely safe."

He felt that this time, things could finally quiet down.

Liu Jianguo happily tucked his phone back into his pocket and went back to watching the international mud-slinging match online.

"Keep the music playing, keep the dancing going!"