291: Chapter 291 Waste Utilization

On the television screen, brilliant stage lights intertwined and shifted, with festive song and dance performances following one after another, pushing the New Year's Eve holiday atmosphere to its peak.

Lin Yuan leaned back casually on the sofa, with his parents sitting beside him, and his grandfather sitting upright not far away, watching the television.

He didn't pay much attention to the program, simply enjoying this rare family time, chatting sporadically with his family, and feeling the simple, ordinary warmth of domestic life.

Time flowed slowly.

Songs, dances, crosstalk, skits, magic shows...

One program after another played in rotation, and the atmosphere in the living room remained warm and gentle.

Finally, after a lively ethnic minority dance concluded, two hosts walked to the center of the stage, their faces beaming with radiance.

"Audience members here at the venue and in front of the television, was that dance just now spectacular?"

"Spectacular!"

A tsunami-like response thundered from the audience below.

The female host took over, her smile becoming even brighter; she paused deliberately for two seconds, building suspense.

"Then, for the following program, I believe that audiences nationwide, and even worldwide, have been looking forward to it for a long time!"

Hearing this announcement, countless people across the Xia Kingdom who had been dozing off in front of their screens suddenly became energized, jumping up from their sofas as if they had been injected with adrenaline!

"Holy crap! It's here, it's here!"

"Finally waited for it! Hurry, hurry, turn up the volume!"

"Hurry, hurry, get the melon seeds and peanuts ready, the annual blockbuster is starting!"

The anticipation of countless Xia Kingdom citizens was completely ignited at this moment, and the atmosphere reached a fever pitch.

Meanwhile, on The Other Side of the Ocean, countless foreign netizens watching the Xia Kingdom Spring Festival Gala were gritting their teeth tightly.

"I don't believe it! Tony would never sing that!"

"This is false propaganda from the Xia Kingdom! He will definitely protest on stage!"

Just as the foreign netizens were frantically self-hypnotizing.

On the television screen, the stage lights suddenly dimmed.

Immediately following, a familiar melodic prelude resounded throughout the entire studio hall.

It was the prelude to "my people, my country"!

Just three seconds after the melody began, a streak of red and gold light flashed across the sky above the stage!

"Bang!"

A dull sound of metal hitting the ground slammed heavily into the hearts of billions of viewers.

Tony, wearing that complete suit of Iron Man armor, landed steadily in the center of the stage in an extremely classic half-squat pose!

The camera zoomed in rapidly, showcasing the Iron Man armor, full of violent aesthetics, from every angle without any blind spots.

The seams of every armor plate, the details of every component, and even the faint blue reactor on his chest were all revealed in minute detail under the high-definition lens.

The brilliant lights of the entire venue focused on this spot.

"Holy crap!"

"That's so cool! This entrance!"

"If those people on The Other Side of the Ocean see this, they'll probably have a heart attack on the spot!"

Under the intense gaze of billions of viewers, the armor slowly stood upright.

The next second.

"Click—hiss!"

A crisp mechanical clicking sound rang out.

The streamlined helmet faceplate split down the middle, smoothly flipped upward, retracted, and finally perfectly hid itself within the neck armor structure.

An iconic Western face, one that the whole world was all too familiar with, wearing a slightly cynical smile, was thus exposed under the spotlight without any concealment.

He held his exclusive microphone in one hand, while his other hand was tucked naturally at his waist.

The musical prelude reached its climax.

Tony raised the microphone, grinned at the camera, and flashed a brilliant smile.

Immediately after, he used his broken, heavily-accented Mandarin to sing the lyrics that would be enough to cause a total breakdown on The Other Side of the Ocean:

"My... peo... ple, my... coun... try..."

"One... heart... can... not... be... se... par... ated..."

That broken, bizarre pronunciation where every word took eighteen turns, paired with Tony's dead-serious expression as he tried hard to sing with emotion.

This extreme contrast, with its immense visual and auditory impact, caused the nationwide audience to collectively freeze for a second.

The next second.

"Pfft—hahahahaha!"

"Oh my god, I can't take it! I'm dying of laughter! What kind of tongue-twisting Mandarin is this!"

"My... peo... ple, my... coun... try? Hahahaha, damn it, this is like pressing the faces of people on The Other Side of the Ocean to the ground and scalding them with boiling water!"

"The national team getting personally involved in trolling is the most lethal move! This wave of cultural export is a perfect score!"

"They really know how to play! I feel like those people on The Other Side of the Ocean won't be able to sleep tonight out of anger! Their own big hero singing an anthem on our Spring Festival Gala, and singing it so... distinctively!"

Countless Xia Kingdom viewers in front of their televisions were laughing until they were doubled over, slapping their thighs, pounding the tables, and laughing until tears were streaming down their faces.

This move was just too good at stirring things up!

Meanwhile, the audience on The Other Side of the Ocean was completely disheartened.

"Fuck! Fuck!"

"My God, just kill me!"

"That expression... is he actually singing it so seriously?"

In the Lin family's living room, Zhou Xiulan was laughing so hard she couldn't close her mouth, tears of laughter welling up in her eyes.

She looked at the mecha on the television, radiating light under the stage lamps, then turned to look at Lin Yuan, asking with great curiosity.

"Xiaoyuan, is this iron shell... the same one you wore at the press conference before?"

Lin Yuan heard this, nodded with a smile, and replied.

"Yes, it's that very set."

Having received a confirmed answer, the smile on Lin Jianguo's face beside him slowly faded a bit.

He looked at the foreigner on the television who was putting his all into "singing," frowned slightly, and his tone revealed a hint of confusion and regret.

"Such a high-end armor, why just casually let a foreigner wear it on stage to show off?"

"This is just too..."

Lin Jianguo couldn't find the right words to describe it for a moment, only feeling it was somewhat regrettable and rash.

Listening to his father's words, Lin Yuan smiled indifferently and explained slowly and methodically:

"Dad, you're overthinking it."

"Do you really think that is some irreplaceable high-end piece of equipment?"

"If not for this stunt today, this mecha would basically just be gathering dust in the base warehouse, and it would eventually be phased out."

Lin Yuan's gaze returned to the television screen, watching Tony, who was trying hard to keep up with the melody but whose tongue was still tied, and said slowly.

"But now, look at its value. From attracting foreign celebrities to change their nationality, to letting him wear this skin tonight to sing an anthem on stage."

"This combination of moves, the psychological blow and the dismantling of cultural confidence on The Other Side of the Ocean, has a nuclear-level effect."

"We are using the idol they personally created to trample on their dignity."

Lin Yuan turned his head, looked at his thoughtful father, and smiled as he gave the final definition.

"This is an extremely successful case of waste utilization."