45: Chapter 45 Universal Cloud Repair, You Call This Crowdfunding?

"Where did you get that fragment of the [King Yus Sea-Calming Needle] in your hand?!"

On the other end of the phone, the eerie voice synthesized from data streams carried an unmistakable hint of panic and confusion for the first time.

Zhao Zhenhua, who had been affectionately stroking the [Great Nation Craftsman] machine, froze upon hearing this voice. He jerked his head back to look at Lin Mo, his eyes filled with vigilance.

He was hearing this mysterious phone call again! And the other party actually knew about the [King Yus Sea-Calming Needle] too!

Lin Mo's smile remained unchanged. He simply tossed the incredibly heavy bronze fragment in his hand and lazily asked back into the phone, "Guess?"

The other end of the line fell silent.

The eerie voice seemed to be performing high-speed calculations and analysis, trying to glean more information from Lin Mo's simple word.

"I cannot guess."

Finally, it gave an honest answer.

"But I can warn you, Mr. Lin Mo, that object does not belong to the civilization of your dimension. Its existence will attract... the true 'Cleaners'!"

"Oh?" Lin Mo raised his eyebrows, the arc of his mouth widening. "Is that so? Then I'll be waiting."

"By the way, pass a message to that 'Cleaner' for me. Tell them I've taken a liking to their trash can, so have them wash it clean and send it over to me."

After speaking, Lin Mo didn't even wait for a response and hung up the phone with a sharp "snap."

"..." Zhao Zhenhua stood on the side, listening with a racing heart and cold sweat. Cleaners? Dimensions? Each of these terms felt like a great mountain, pressing down on him until he couldn't breathe. But Mr. Lin was fine; not only was he not panicked, he... he actually turned around and ordered a trash can from them?! What kind of mental circuit was this!

"Mr... Mr. Lin, they..."

"Enough, forget about those guys playing god."

Lin Mo waved his hand impatiently, as if he had just casually swatted a fly. He pointed at Zhao Zhenhua and issued a new instruction: "Business first! You have three days. I want to see nationwide publicity! I want every person in Dragon Nation, regardless of age or gender, to know that we are about to personally forge the needle that will guard our nation! I want the [Power of Faith from United People] to become the fire that burns the brightest!"

"Yes! Guarantee to complete the mission!"

Zhao Zhenhua stood straight, the confusion and fear in his eyes swept away, replaced by burning fighting spirit! So what if there were mysterious forces? So what if there were dimensional Cleaners? If the sky fell, Mr. Lin would hold it up! What they needed to do was execute! Execute at all costs!

The operational efficiency of the state machinery was terrifying. When Zhao Zhenhua returned to the Red Wall with Lin Mo's "highest directive," an epic national project named [Cast My Great Wall · Nationwide Cloud Restoration] was launched at an unprecedented speed!

That afternoon, all news channels, official media, and social platforms in the Dragon Nation simultaneously released an announcement that would go down in history!

"A Letter to All Compatriots: A Great Restoration Concerning the Future of the Nation Needs Your Strength!"

The announcement used an extremely passionate and mythical tone to describe the grand vision of the [key of the dragon vein] and the [Sky Screen System]. Although it omitted overly fantastical names like "King Yus Sea-Calming Needle," the call to "condense the faith of 1.4 billion compatriots to forge a national guardian artifact" instantly ignited the flame in every Dragon Nation citizen's heart!

Immediately following, a 24-hour non-stop livestream room co-created by the National Television and the Shark Live platform—[Cast My Great Wall]—officially went online!

The livestream screen was divided into two parts. On the left was the [Great Nation Craftsman] machine, full of industrial beauty, and the [King Yus Sea-Calming Needle] fragment quietly hovering above it. On the right was a huge energy bar representing the [Power of Faith from United People]!

According to official reports, as long as every Dragon Nation viewer entered the livestream room and prayed for the Dragon Nation from the bottom of their heart, contributing their own spiritual strength to the restoration of the artifact, the "faith" they contributed would be captured by a special "national destiny converter" and converted into energy to be injected into the energy bar!

When the energy bar reached 100%, the [Great Nation Craftsman] would activate and officially begin repairing the needle! This perfect combination of fantasy and technology, allowing every ordinary person to "personally participate" in the ceremony of forging a national guardian artifact, provided an unprecedented sense of immersion and involvement!

"Holy cow! Am I seeing this right? Nationwide participation in repairing an artifact? This is even more intense than a sci-fi blockbuster!"

"Brothers! What are we waiting for! Charge! For the Dragon Nation! For our future generations!"

"I'm seventy this year, half in the grave, I didn't expect to witness such a miracle! I am willing to use all my remaining life to pray for the prosperity of our national destiny!"

"Don't say anything more, I'm going to call all the old men and women in our village right now! Let's all kowtow to the livestream!"

In an instant, the entire Dragon Nation was boiling! Countless people put down their work and stayed in front of their TVs, computers, and mobile phones. They might not understand what the Planck scale was, nor did they understand what the Power of Faith from United People was. But they knew that the thing on the screen was related to the future of the country!

Thus, they contributed their strength in the simplest way. Some frantically typed "Long live the Dragon Nation" in the barrage. Some clasped their hands together and prayed piously to the screen. Countless overseas Chinese even flooded into the livestream, moved to tears!

In the livestream, the originally empty [Power of Faith from United People] energy bar began to rise slowly at a speed visible to the naked eye! 1%... 5%... 10%... The ancient bronze fragment also began to emit a faint, golden light as energy was injected! Sacred, solemn, and heavy!

The entire Dragon Nation was immersed in this solemn and fanatical atmosphere of unity. However, just as the energy bar was rushing toward the 20% mark! An anomaly occurred!

"Bzzt—"

The originally clear and smooth livestream screen suddenly flickered violently, filled with blinding static! Immediately after, the screen went black!

On the screens of billions of viewers worldwide, only a line of cold English prompts remained: [Connection Error.]

The stream was interrupted! At the same time, in Lin Mo's [Hardware Store], the black phone that had just gone silent began to vibrate frantically again! Zhao Zhenhua's roaring voice, filled with a trace of sobbing and monstrous rage, came from it!

"Mr. Lin! It's bad! The Eagle Nation... those beasts from the Eagle Nation, they've made their move!"

"They've deployed their highest-level cyber units! They have launched a full-scale attack on our livestream servers!"

"We... we can't hold them off much longer!"