99: Chapter 99 A Historic Vote! A Historic Victory!

The large screen in the conference hall suddenly lit up.

The voting has begun!

Swish!

The moment the voting opened, a large patch of green lit up on the screen!

The African nations, led by Egypt, collectively pressed the "In Favor" button.

The numbers on the screen jumped frantically!

[In Favor: 54 votes!]

Immediately after, Vatican City and several South American countries also lit up their green lights.

[In Favor: 61 votes!]

A smooth start.

But before the delegation could breathe a sigh of relief, a large patch of eye-piercing red lit up on the other end of the screen!

The Western camp, led by the United States, also collectively cast votes against.

[Against: 45 votes!]

The growth momentum of the votes in favor was forcibly halted.

The vote count between both sides reached a stalemate.

61 to 45.

Everyone knew that the ones who would truly decide the outcome were the swing states that had not yet voted.

The conference hall was terrifyingly quiet; everyone's eyes were fixed on the screen.

The numbers on the screen climbed as slowly as a snail.

[In Favor: 62 votes.]

[Against: 46 votes.]

A small Caribbean island nation lit up with a faint but firm green light.

A slight smile tugged at the corner of Qin Yue's mouth; she had just chatted with that country's representative for two full hours the night before.

[In Favor: 63 votes.]

[Against: 48 votes.]

Under pressure from the United States, two Pacific island nations helplessly lit up red.

Time ticked away, minute by minute.

Every jump in the vote count tugged at everyone's heartstrings.

The process was agonizing.

Qin Yue's gaze swept over the United States delegation's seats. A man named Johnson was leaning back leisurely in his chair, a smile on his face as if everything was under control.

He even had the leisure to raise his coffee cup toward Qin Yue, a hint of mockery curling at the corner of his mouth.

Qin Yue's heart sank bit by bit.

Still over thirty votes short—where could they fight for them?

She had already done her best, but the cards in her hand were simply too few.

Was she really going to lose here?

Just as Qin Yue was about to give up, the situation suddenly changed!

On the screen, the votes in favor suddenly began to increase rapidly!

One!

Another one!

The Middle Eastern countries, which had previously been ambiguous, lit up in favor one after another!

Following that, several Southeast Asian countries also cast their votes in favor without hesitation!

[In Favor: 75 votes!]

[In Favor: 83 votes!]

[In Favor: 90 votes!]

Whoosh!

Within a dozen seconds, the situation was instantly reversed!

The smile on the face of the U.S. representative, Johnson, completely froze.

He sat up straight abruptly, looking in shock at the representatives of the countries he had thought would abstain.

But those people didn't even meet his gaze.

This... what on earth was going on?

Qin Yue was also stunned.

She hadn't lobbied these countries; why were they suddenly supporting her collectively?

Her gaze instinctively turned toward one side of the venue.

Sitting there was the delegation from Huaxia.

The steady middle-aged man at the head of the group seemed to sense her gaze.

He didn't speak, but simply gave an extremely slight nod toward Qin Yue.

His expression was calm, yet it radiated a powerful force.

Boom!

Qin Yue understood instantly.

It was the Motherland! The Motherland had acted behind the scenes!

At the most critical moment, it was the Motherland that had utilized its international influence to help them.

No words were needed, nor were promises.

A single look, a single gesture, was enough to change the final outcome.

Qin Yue's eyes suddenly welled up.

[In Favor: 96 votes!]

Only one last vote away from victory!

The breathing of everyone in the hall completely stopped at this moment.

Everyone's eyes were fixed intently on the screen.

Who would cast this decisive vote?

One second, two seconds...

Finally!

Behind the flag of an obscure small European country, a nation known for its permanent neutrality, a green light quietly lit up.

[In Favor: 97 votes!]

It's done!

The moment the number was fixed, the venue was dead silent for an instant, then erupted into thunderous applause!

"Awoooo—!"

A Niu could no longer control himself; he jumped up from his chair and let out a low roar, waving his fist.

The young diplomats around him had long since ignored etiquette, embracing each other excitedly, with some shedding hot tears on the spot.

We won! We won!

Qin Yue slowly stood up, her eyes moist, desperately trying to keep her tears from falling.

She bowed deeply toward the surroundings, toward the countries that had voted in favor.

When she looked up, a radiant smile appeared on her face.

She did it.

She had secured the first opportunity for this newborn nation to step onto the world stage!

...

That night, inside the hotel room.

Qin Yue immediately called Lin Zhou, who was far away at headquarters.

The moment the call connected, she could no longer hold it together.

"Head of State, we won."

Her voice was weary, but more so filled with an uncontrollable excitement and trembling.

On the other end of the line, Lin Zhou's voice was as calm as ever, yet very powerful.

"Good work. Qin Yue, remember, you and all the members of the delegation are heroes of our country."

The word "hero" made Qin Yue unable to stop her tears from flowing.

The moment the call was hung up, a line of pale blue virtual text appeared before Lin Zhou's eyes.

[Ding! Congratulations to the host for completing the hidden achievement: First Appearance in an International Organization!]

[Achievement Description: Obtaining a legal seat in an international organization with more than 150 member states marks your country's official transition from a cyber concept to an international entity, a key step in having its sovereignty recognized by the world.]

[Achievement Reward: $500 million National Development Fund.]

[Current National Development Fund Balance: $2.9434 billion.]

Looking at this huge sum of money, Lin Zhou didn't feel much of a stir in his heart.

Money is just a tool.

The true value was this opportunity to enter the international stage.

This was merely the beginning.

"Buzz buzz..."

Another satellite phone rang; it was Zhao Li calling from Cairo.

"Head of State! Great news! Wonderful news!"

As soon as the call connected, Zhao Li's voice, excited to the point of changing pitch, came through.

"Just now! The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Egypt officially notified us that they have nominated us to join the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)! This is the first step in recognizing our technical strength!"

"And there's more!" Zhao Li gasped, his voice even more exuberant. "General Mubarak just called me personally and asked me to tell you that at next month's African Union Summit, Egypt will act as the proposing nation and officially nominate the Cyber Freedom Republic to become an observer state of the AU!"

A series of good news arrived one after another.

From an unrecognized cyber nation to a member of the Universal Postal Union, then to being nominated for the ISO, and even having the chance to become an AU observer state...

All of this was happening too fast.

So fast it felt somewhat unreal.

However, listening to Zhao Li's excited report, the expression on Lin Zhou's face didn't change.

Instead, his brow furrowed slightly.

Were things going too smoothly?

Would there be a price to pay behind this kind of "pie falling from the sky" good fortune?