Chapter 336: Manned Landing on the Moon?

Vituperation. Overwhelming negativity and outrage. Almost no comments were made by normal, rational beings. Tom Bruce never thought that there would be so many people pointing fingers at him. He felt terrible, hit by displeasure and sadness.

Xing Hai Technologies stole our core technology. Are you actually defending those thieves?

That story sure sounded true enough. If that’s the case, you should move to the Z nation and so should that cousin of yours. Both of you should go to hell!

If such advanced technology wasn’t stolen, with their intellect, they would at least need another 10 thousand years to come out with such things.

Since Xing Hai Technologies’s products are so good, why don’t you leave and go back to the Z nation?

I suspect that you’re not an M, but a spy sent from the Z nation.

Scram you filthy bastards! You’ve already stolen everything from us and now you want to steal the truth as well? Nice wishful thoughts you have there!

Tom Bruch who couldn’t bear any of it and refuted these extreme remarks immediately. refuted immediately. He replied to many comments, expressing that he was not a Z but an authentic native from Montana! He even posted his photo and house address, saying that he could bring the skeptics to his cousin’s home.

Lies, I won’t believe even a single word from you.

Oh, this is your address? Very well you little punk from Z. You’re dead meat. I will smash your face open with my bare fist.

You bastard! Just wait, I’m on my way to your place, I’ll whack the sh*t out of you!

I will wipe you off the face of Earth you little Xing Hai Technologies spy.

Many netizens posted relentless threats, causing Tom Bruce to fear for his life for several days. He waited, but nobody came to smash their fists on his face.

Tom was struck by a feeling. It seemed that not long ago, he too acted this way, often squabbling under those posts that spoke badly about the M nation. He had also waved his fist, expressing, via the keyboard, that he would hurt the person in question. In the end, of course, he punched no one.

He had also once sworn to not buy any products incorporated with Qualcomm chips, but in no more than a few days, he gleefully bought a new phone incorporated with the most advanced Qualcomm Xiaolong 8550 with running scores of over 600 thousand points. It would greatly improve his gaming experience.

Tom Bruce remembered a term he’d heard. Keyboard warrior.

“So, I’m a keyboard warrior as well,” he thought.

Keyboard warriors were commonly timid and fearful in real life, but on the internet, their language would become extreme. They would bear no scruples as they spoke cheerfully and wittily on the internet, delivering their judgments on every aspect of society. They would become impassioned as they followed trends blindly, dancing along with the rhythms played by the others. For these reasons, keyboard warriors were often recognized as losers.

Tom Bruce kept his head down. He had to admit that he was a keyboard warrior and a loser, but he had his judgment and his own independent mind. News reports could blind him for a while, but after having experienced several of Xing Hai Technologies’s products, he could no longer be blinded.

“The Z’s can never steal something we don’t have! Besides, scientists from the M nation are so smart, why can’t they launch similar products immediately? Even if it’s just an imitation, we could also come out with a few similar products. As long as we have them too, even if the Z’s were a little earlier, we cannot rule out our suspicion of them stealing our tech,” Tom said to himself. “The problem is that we have no similar products, neither are we as advanced as them. This cannot be justified.”

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Although Tom Bruce was a keyboard warrior, in the end, he was not a brainless person. If nobody could answer his questions and convince him thoroughly, he would always doubt those opinions reported by the news media.

It was already May now. The final vote of the presidential election would be held in a few days. There were only two presidential candidates left, Lanfelord from Party A and Jefferou from Party B. Lanfelord was from the Academy of Sciences of M. He was a scientist and a representative of the elite. Jefferou, on the contrary, was a Cuban refugee. He had a low status and was a representative of the lower class.

Originally, Tom Bruce supported Jefferou and intended to vote for him in the final election because he’d promised to find ways to expand the nation’s armament and build 15 aircraft carrier battle groups. Not only that, but he’d also promised that the M nation’s hegemony would never falter. He vowed to exert more pressure to get back the technology the Z’s had stolen from them! If he failed to do so, he would end his life!

These hot-blooded words had won Tom’s heart back then. He’d immediately decided to cast his vote for Jefferou. Besides, on the internet, almost all the keyboard warriors were inclined towards Jefferou, believing that he would find a way to make justice prevail. According to online polls, Jefferou’s support rate was over 75%.

As for Lanfelord, his act had utterly disappointed many of the younger generation. They even called him “a coward without balls.”

“We should abandon our global hegemony, shrink our influence, reduce our army and give up on interfering with the internal affairs of other countries,” Lanfelord had said. “We should forgo the responsibilities that we could not take and live our own life. We have vast territories with enough oil, shale gas, coal, etc. to live off of our own resources. We are the world’s largest agricultural producer. Our farmers produce enough food to feed a billion people. We can earn a lot of income by simply exporting food.”

Lanfelord had continued, urging the people to consider worrying about themselves instead of interfering with others.

“We have the safest surrounding grounds. We can cut more than half of our army and shrink military funding to below 400 billion dollars while still ensuring that no one can invade us. We should also cut down our expenditures on unnecessary foreign operations and divert the funds into the fields of science and technology and infrastructure. Only in this way can we improve the lives of our people, reduce the unemployment rate, realize fiscal surplus, reduce our national debt by more than 300 billion dollars each year, and slowly pay off our 30 trillion dollar national debt. Our focus should be on ourselves! The M nation is not the savior of the world. The more we take on our shoulders, the more the countries will despise us. The more enemies we will make, and the more we will need to spend. Ultimately, we will become the second empire that collapses onto itself.”

He was a smart, well-rounded man.

“From now on, give the position of the hegemon to the Z nation. We should now just live our own life. What we need now is to recover, not continuing to tear our wounds apart!”

Lanfelord’s speech had gained the approval of many.

It was indeed as so. It was too easy for the M’s to live a good life. Their vast land, abundant resources, powerful technology, non-threatening boundaries, relatively light population burden, once they gave up the hegemony, retracted their fists and reduced military expenses, they could immediately turn losses into profits and ease their debt crisis. Even if they lost their hegemony, the life of the M’s would still be several times better than the Z’s in the next few decades. It all came down to whether they were willing to let go.

Lanfelord’s public support rate, however, was less than 30%, and his words only reached a small number of people. The keyboard warriors on the internet, who held the mass majority, would rather forsake a good life to get the vile breaths out of their system.

As for Tom Bruce, who had gone to his cousin’s house and had gone through cyberbullying after his primary awakening, he was added into an organization called the “House of Truth.” Not only that, but he became a supporter of Lanfelord and was tasked with a special mission.

Wake up those keyboard warriors who are kept in the dark by the media.

It doesn’t matter if they make any drastic comments on the web, but don’t let them be taken with the rhythm, don’t let them vote for Jefferou!

Once Jefferou is elected, the M nation will be destroyed, and we will have no hope at all. We must spread the truth as much as possible, and we must not let our country be destroyed by the hands of the keyboard warriors!

Tom Bruce accepted this difficult and sacred task.

Unfortunately, regardless of how hard the truth works, lies always prevailed because lies were more enticing and desirable.

May 25th, Three Days Before the Final Vote

Laughter erupted. Presidential candidate Jefferou smirked in triumph. His public support rate was still maintained at around 70%. There would be no suspense in the outcome of him securing himself a steady win.

Then, news from the East caught the entire M nation off guard. Jefferou was also in immense shock. The Z nation had suddenly announced the launch of their manned landing on the moon! There were only ten minutes left in the space shuttle takeoff countdown!