31: Chapter 31 So impatient already?

Inside an inconspicuous rented room in Jianghai City.

Su Yun stood before the floor-to-ceiling window, holding a glass of plain water.

Outside, the city lights blazed, the neon signs dyeing the night sky in color.

In the distant square, a group of middle-aged women were dancing, the music faintly drifting over.

Even further away, high-speed trains, like silver dragons, cut through the city's heartland.

This was the world those people fought desperately to secure.

It was noisy, crowded, and sometimes utterly infuriating.

But it was stable.

Su Yun turned around and glanced at the system panel behind him.

[Emotion Value Collection: 12,450,000,000 / 10,000,000,000]

[Congratulations, Emotion Value has overflowed.]

[Producer Level Increased: Senior Producer -> Soul Architect.]

[New Permission Unlocked: Collective Subconscious Resonance (Beginner).]

[New Asset Library Unlocked: Battle of Seoul (Panoramic), Panmunjom Negotiations (Top Secret Archives), MiG Alley (Air Combat).]

That was an astronomical figure.

In just a few short hours, the tears, anger, shock, and emotion of hundreds of millions of people had converged into this massive energy.

Su Yun smiled, raised the water glass in his hand, and gently tapped it against the empty air.

He tilted his head back and drank the water in one gulp, his Adam's apple bobbing.

"A few tears like this aren't enough to wash clean those hearts clouded by greed. The main course is next."

He sat back down at the computer, his fingers dancing rapidly across the keyboard.

Just as he was preparing to upload the new trailer, the mobile phone resting on the corner of the desk suddenly vibrated.

It wasn't a call; it was a news push notification.

Su Yun glanced at it, his eyebrows raising slightly.

On the screen was a headline in bold black font:

[Breaking News: Eagle Country's Embassy in China Holds Emergency Press Conference, Strongly Condemning a Certain VR Game for 'Seriously Distorting History and Vilifying the Image of the Allied Forces'.]

Su Yun clicked on the news.

In the video, a Caucasian man wearing a dark blue suit and a red tie was standing at the microphone.

His hair was meticulously combed, and his face carried the arrogance and hypocrisy typical of Western politicians.

It was the spokesperson for the Eagle Country Embassy in China, Smith.

Flashes from the cameras relentlessly illuminated his face, making his well-maintained features look deathly pale.

"We have noted the recent circulation online in China of a VR game named 'ice and snow world'."

Smith gestured dramatically with both hands, his tone intense.

"This game is filled with gore, violence, and malicious distortion of history! It portrays the Allied Forces, who maintained world peace, as butchers, and glorifies suicidal charges lacking tactical sense as heroism!"

He paused, looking directly into the camera, his gaze sharp as a knife.

"This is a provocation against the free world and a blatant disregard for the international order established after World War II! We demand that this game be immediately taken down for rectification, and that an apology be issued to all descendants of the Allied Forces! Otherwise, we reserve the right to take further punitive measures!"

Below the video, the comment section had exploded.

Some angry Chinese netizens were cursing, while many so-called rationalists and public intellectuals were making sarcastic remarks:

[I knew this game was too radical, it made the foreign masters angry.]

[Although I love my country too, a game is just a game. You can't arbitrarily change history. Americans have dignity too.]

[Hurry up and take it down, don't bring trouble to the country.]

Su Yun looked at these comments, his face showing no anger, but rather a hint of a mocking smile.

"Getting anxious?"

Outside the window was a prosperous era; inside was a deathly silence.

The computer screen on the desk emitted a pale light, browser tabs densely packed, every title like a loaded gun.

The Washington Post front page: "Savage Aesthetics of Violence: How a VR Game from the East Blasphemes the Civilized Order After WWII."

The Times: "From Chosin Lake to Digital Opium: Beware the Digital Revival of Hate Education."

BBC Special Report: "We Need Art, Not Butchers—A Review of 'ice and snow world'."

The public opinion gallows had been erected, the noose swaying in mid-air.

The official Twitter account of the Eagle Country Embassy in China had pinned a sternly worded statement, demanding that the game developer issue a public apology within twenty-four hours,

take down the "seriously untrue" Chosin Lake instance, and compensate for the act of "vilifying the image of the Allied Forces."

Under this tweet, the official account of Spark Interactive Entertainment instantly replied with a "folded hands praying" emoji, followed by CEO Zhao personally posting on Weibo:

"As a peer, I feel deeply ashamed. Games have no borders, but being a person has a bottom line. Because of one person's arrogance, the entire domestic game industry is being targeted by foreign media. Su Yun, if you still have any conscience, don't drag everyone down with you; apologize quickly."

Paid trolls and public intellectuals, like sharks smelling blood, instantly propelled the hashtags #SuYunApologize and #TakeDownIceAndSnowWorld to the top of the trending search list.

Su Yun held a tablet in his hand, displaying real-time data from the live stream room.

Before going live, the online viewer count had already surpassed thirty million.

But no one knew how many of those thirty million were there to watch a joke, and how many were there to kick him while he was down.

Su Yun sat in his chair, unmoving. The faded, washed-out hoodie he usually wore had been changed.

Now, he was dressed in a black Zhongshan suit.

The buttons were fastened up to the topmost one; the collar was crisp, his bearing formal and upright.

He was carefully polishing the medal left to him by his grandfather.

His rough fingertips brushed across the mottled tarnish, as if touching a time frozen in ice.

Su Yun did not look up, pinning the medal to the left side of his chest.

Su Yun stood up, smoothing the hem of his jacket.

"You want me to kneel?"

He walked up to the camera and reached out to remove the lens cap.

"Then let them see if the knees of a Chinese person are still there."