69: Chapter 69 The Princess Wants to Be a Big Star? Using Culture to Represent the Country!

"Apply for the Film Academy?"

Lin Zhou's brain buzzed. He wondered if he was having auditory hallucinations from days of exhaustion.

The Film Academy?

What on earth?

In his overall plan, Lin Wan was the only princess of the Cyber Freedom Republic, the treasure of this nascent nation.

Upon returning home, with her status, couldn't she just take her pick of Tsinghua or Peking University?

Even if her grades were a little bit lacking, what did it matter?

In the name of an international exchange student, or by directly establishing a special scholarship, he could send her into any top domestic institution in a heartbeat.

She could study finance to manage the national purse strings in the future.

She could study management to help him handle internal affairs later on.

She could study international relations to become the nation's most brilliant diplomatic calling card.

Every path had a boundless future, allowing her to become his most trusted right-hand person and the core of this nation!

But what was she saying now?

She wanted to apply for some Film Academy?

Lin Zhou's face instantly darkened, and the atmosphere in the conference room suddenly turned cold.

"Lin Wan, are you joking with me?"

His tone was calm, but it carried an unquestionable weight.

This was the first time he had ever spoken to his sister in such a tone.

"Do you know what the entertainment industry is like? There's too much mess and chaos in there; it's not suitable for you."

However, Lin Wan didn't retreat a single step.

She stood there in the center of the conference room, her small frame held ramrod straight.

"I'm not joking, Brother. I've never been more serious."

She met Lin Zhou's gaze, pushing back without showing any sign of weakness.

"I know the entertainment industry is complicated, but precisely because it's complicated, we have the opportunity to go in and change it completely!"

At this moment, Lin Wan was a completely different person from the little girl who only knew how to follow her brother around and act cute in a soft, sweet voice.

"Brother, you, Grandpa Chen, Sister Qin Yue, and the others—what you are doing is building hard power for this country! Sovereignty, the economy—those are things that can be put on the table so others won't dare look down on us!"

"But that's not enough, far from enough!"

Lin Wan took out her phone, swiped quickly a few times, and shoved the screen directly in front of Lin Zhou.

On it were several screenshots: some were news about K-dramas being global hits, others were of K-POP boy bands and girl groups holding concerts in Europe and America with massive, frenzied crowds of fans.

"Look! South Korea! Such a small place, what do they rely on to influence the whole world? It's not their aircraft carriers, not their banks—it's K-dramas, it's K-POP!"

"They used culture to take a country that originally had almost no presence internationally and forcibly turned it into a trendsetter pursued by young people worldwide! That is soft power! That is the power of culture!"

Her voice grew louder and more excited, her fair cheeks flushing with a rosy hue from the agitation.

"What about us? What does our Cyber Freedom Republic have right now?"

Lin Wan swung her arm forcefully through the air, gesturing across the entire conference room.

"What do we have? The King is you, and you're very capable. The citizens are just the two of us. The territory is a patch of unwanted desert."

"What are we going to use to attract talent from all over the world to immigrate? What will make others believe in us and identify with our ideals?"

"We can't just rely on your Black Technology, right? That's called deterrence, not attraction! We need a cultural symbol that everyone can aspire to, a living idol, a story of our own!"

In the conference room, everyone was stunned by her words.

Qin Yue opened her mouth, but couldn't say a single word.

She looked at the sixteen-year-old girl before her and felt that her previous perception of her had been completely overturned.

How was this some naive little princess who knew nothing of the world?

This was clearly a strategist!

Lin Wan's chest heaved violently. She took a step forward, coming almost face-to-face with Lin Zhou, and looked up with eyes full of a burning light.

"And I, Lin Wan! The only princess of this nation, am the most suitable cultural symbol!"

"I'll study acting, make movies, and sing! I want to take the story of our nation's founding and turn it into an epic film, so the whole world can see how we built a Utopia from nothing!"

"I want to use my identity to attract media and fans from all over the world! Let them follow me, and then through me, get to know our country, come to love our country, and finally, join us of their own free will!"

She stared intently at her brother.

"Brother, don't you always say that dignity is fought for punch by punch?"

"Then our country's cultural dignity—I, Lin Wan, will fight for it on your behalf!"

The final sentence left everyone rooted to the spot in shock.

The entire conference room fell into a deathly silence.

Everyone looked at Lin Wan with expressions as if they had seen a ghost.

They hadn't expected that this Her Highness the Princess, who usually seemed quirky and at most a bit clever, actually harbored such a blueprint and ambition in her heart.

Lin Zhou fell silent.

His Adam's apple bobbed up and down, but he couldn't say a word.

He had to admit it.

He had been convinced by his sixteen-year-old sister.

The things he had been thinking about seemed to be on a completely different level compared to his sister's plan.

He had always stood from the perspective of a head of state, thinking about hard things like geopolitics, the economy, and military technology.

He was thinking about how to let the nation gain a firm foothold and how to survive while surrounded by great powers.

But he had overlooked one thing.

The soul of a nation is its culture.

It was an invisible, intangible, yet equally lethal battlefield.

Lin Wan's idea sounded bold, even somewhat impractical.

But upon careful thought, this was indeed a path to rise tailored specifically for the Cyber Freedom Republic.

Establishing the nation through entertainment, expanding international influence through cultural export, and then using a high-profile idol to leverage the global talent market.

Genius!

This really was a stroke of genius!

This sister of his... what kind of monster was she?

After a long silence, Lin Zhou finally found his voice, but it was no longer as forceful as before.

"But... what about the money?"

He raised a very realistic and fatal question.

"Everything you mentioned—making movies, making music, creating idols... behind every project, astronomical sums of money are burned. Our national treasury is currently cleaner than my face; it can't withstand that kind of tossing around."

To found the nation, he had almost emptied all of his savings.

The little money currently in the treasury was barely enough to pay the civil servants' salaries; where was the spare cash to start some entertainment industry?

Lin Zhou's words caused Lin Wan's high spirits to vanish instantly.

Right, money...

She had only thought of the grand blueprint but forgot the most basic reality.

The young girl's shoulders visibly slumped.

Just as the atmosphere in the conference room fell into a deadlock again, a steady voice suddenly rang out.

"As for the money problem, I'll find a way."

Everyone turned their heads in unison to look.

The one speaking was Chen Yuan, who had been silent the whole time.

This 'Iron Abacus' who controlled the nation's financial power and wished he could split every penny in half currently had not a hint of opposition on his face.

Instead, there was an irrepressible admiration and the excitement of meeting a kindred spirit!

Chen Yuan pushed up his reading glasses, stood up slowly, walked to Lin Wan's side, and gently patted her shoulder.

"Head of State, Her Highness's proposal is a brilliant move."

He looked at Lin Zhou and spoke each word very clearly.

"No, it can be called a stroke of divine inspiration!"