Super God-Level Top Student

When this notorious country joined the fray, it was like directly poking a hornet's nest, igniting the fervor of a bunch of countries across the sea. Various opinion leaders began using major media outlets to make sarcastic remarks.

Even social media online saw netizens' enthusiasm being fully rallied.

Especially regarding the impressions of various nations toward others, they weren't as glamorous as polished. Once mainstream opinion leaders began leading the mockery, all sorts of voices started emerging.

Initially, it continued with a sarcastic tone, but soon, as more people joined in, countless social media platforms began erupting with extremely simple profanity, and within a day, people with various IPs began furiously hurling abuse at each other.

The only regret is that the English-speaking world's various vulgar words are indeed lackluster, far less versatile than Chinese in terms of nuance. Thus, a massive international language show of frantically greeting each other's relatives and ancestors suddenly went online.

Obviously, this farce couldn't salvage the stock market's decline; it even exacerbated things, causing many elites to become even more pessimistic. After all, once the foundation of shared values disappears, so does the joke of so-called unity.

The turmoil on Wall Street began affecting markets all over the world. On the second day, not only did the US stocks continue their plummeting trend, but all other major markets worldwide also entered a relentless downward spiral.

Just the stock market is one thing, but scarier yet, is the thing that elites feared most also appeared: the price of Xilin's national debt was close to collapsing. Particularly with long-term national bonds, some ten-year bonds already fell below face value.

Although it's not uncommon for national bonds to fall below face value, this situation seems distinctly different. This time, the fall below face value can't even be called volatility; it's a descending line, continuously hitting new lows.

The stock market's collapse obviously began triggering many institutions' concerns over this largest global bond.

The underlying logic is that more and more people started doubting if Xilin still maintained as absolute control over this world as before.

Causing some people to hoard enough bonds to maintain a good relationship with Xilin, even if it meant eating chaff and wild herbs.

But now, people think that the three dollars they saved by eating less are completely useless. It might not even buy the sense of security they need, so naturally, their thoughts change.

If they're all paying protection fees, why not give the money to a stronger boss?

Especially since the new boss might be easier to negotiate with and not as greedy. And geographically speaking, the new boss is closer, and if something happens, it would be easier to intervene.

This is what it means to see the vastness of the world in a single thought.

Of course, for some countries, making such a sudden shift isn't such a simple matter. Even if the wise want to steer away, long-standing education prevents ordinary people's minds from pivoting, but these aren't really important...

In fact, the biggest trouble in modern society lies in the lack of unity in the upper echelons of thought, which easily leads to societal thinking splits. Once those at the top of the pyramid roughly align their opinions and directions, there is always a way to quickly unify the thoughts below.

Creating a sense of powerlessness when facing a certain opponent is hardly difficult.

For example, by massively publicizing those videos from the sea.

When those boats that usually flaunt their power everywhere can't even locate the so-called seabed scientific research exploration robots during missions, it naturally strikes the souls of ordinary people.

Not to mention that this time, the material is particularly rich.

Even if found, when confronted with these robots provocatively up close, they didn't even dare to fire a shot. This says a lot.

For many inland countries, they might still watch temporarily, but for many island countries surrounded by the ocean, they clearly don't have a basis for watching and waiting.

The only thing that might depress them is how the Huaxia officialdom has remained silent, as if nothing happened.

But it doesn't matter, smart people will always make the right choices.

Of course, this doesn't mean the world's former strongest has entirely lost their temper and reaction.

When many large ships abruptly sailed out of ports and headed towards sensitive locations, subtly aiming their guns at certain sensitive spots, it naturally exerted vast pressure on some rebels wanting to defect.

Some important phones started to get busy. More people began watching and hoping to hear more voices from Huaxia. However, Huaxia still maintained its silence.

But the good news is, there were still movements.

In the waters surrounding Huaxia, countless carriers and explorers floated to the surface, appearing like large migrating schools of fish, covering several areas and coating the once blue ocean with a layer of silvery-gray metal color...

Many satellites, and even passing boats, captured this scene that could almost be described as grand.

A drone fleet also soared over the sea, completely recording this scene.

During a news program that started at 7 p.m. that night, nearly five minutes were devoted to introducing the deep-sea unmanned clustering exploration project. Similar to what Dou Dou said, this great project aims to discover and explore seabed mineral deposits, study seabed geology, find safe navigation routes, etc...

In short, scientific research, with the ultimate goal of striving for the benefit of all humanity, unraveling the mysteries of the ocean and providing a more thorough understanding of Earth, is indeed one of the ultimate directions for human scientific research.

While interstellar migration is important, so is fully understanding the mother planet.

As the project leader, Qiao Ze was naturally mentioned in the news, although they used audio-visual materials from when Qiao Ze attended the National Scientific Progress Award ceremony before.

It's not that they didn't want to interview Qiao Ze this time; mainly, Qiao Ze declined citing being very busy recently.

Fortunately, there were plenty of backups in the archive, and it just so happened that the interview back then touched on this project. Even if Qiao Ze didn't say much, Dou Dou's speech at the publishing event provided ample addition...

After the news broadcast, at least everyone around Huaxia quickly calmed down.

Subsequent events happened almost routinely. Many people who initially were unlikely to be invited to the Huaxia Capital finally came to the Capital through various efforts.

Truly, throughout December, important visitors to the Capital almost never ceased, nearly all requiring a mention in the news. It goes without saying how exhausting it was for the involved personnel.

One could see Lv Bei and Li Chengze smirking every day from their expressions of schadenfreude.

Especially Lv Bei, as he is truly professional at this. According to him, it's fortunate he came to Xilin; his colleagues in the Capital are now on the verge of death from overworking...

It's said that many people were transferred from Li Chengze's unit to help.

Of course, to Qiao Ze, these were all trivial.

He doesn't even know the difference between Lv Bei's and Li Chengze's units.

Frankly, the biggest trouble this event caused him was that his father-in-law, who resents the Dongsheng country, saw them capitulate rather quickly and decisively this time!

That was really awkward.

After all, this project was initially a deep-sea unmanned clustering project, with scientific exploration being a side task. The initial goal was to take a stand for his father-in-law and fulfill his wish.

The plan hadn't even been implemented when the other side suddenly capitulated, offering such low-bottom line conditions to gain comprehensive protection from Huaxia that it left Dou Dou speechless for quite a while.

This is indeed an awkward situation, as the Dongsheng people were perceived to be stubborn and strong-headed in earlier thoughts.

Then again, often, it's not about what they say but what they do that matters. The other side had numerous inconsistencies between words and actions. However, after the December talks, by the next January, a series of agreements signed in the Huaxia Capital genuinely started to be implemented one by one, from easy to difficult.

For instance, they genuinely dismantled a certain worship site and converted it into a social welfare shelter. Although it did spark some controversy at the time, with even protests at the demolition site, it undoubtedly received support from the majority.

As there were even volunteers maintaining construction the next day...

The more challenging task was perhaps beginning to urge some non-national military units based on the island to hurry up and get out.

The wording had to be more civilized, and the other side didn't comply immediately, considering their leader was still in discussion with Huaxia. But at least the necessary posture was presented.

It's thought-provoking...