Chapter 356 - 298: Enemy of the White-headed Eagle Country? Igniting Global Public Opinion

"Then again, they’re calling me the Son of Satan now."

Chu Bamboo mulled over the title. His expression was a little strange. For some reason, he felt ’Son of Satan’ sounded way cooler than ’Saint’...

"Um... what... what do we do next?" Hodges asked cautiously.

"Father!" Z suddenly spoke up, interrupting the conversation between Chu Bamboo and Hodges. "The vulnerability in the Golden Dawn’s online conference room has been patched. They’re starting to trace my position! I’ve rerouted the coordinates to the villa James just left."

"Oh." Chu Bamboo wasn’t too disappointed. Being able to listen in on their conversation was an unexpected bonus to begin with. Besides...

’Next time I enter the dreamscape, I can just look for another opening!’

More than that, he was now rather curious what kind of expression James was making.

After a brief pause, Z continued, "Online, the information blockade concerning you is gradually being lifted. A large number of videos are appearing on Platform X showing you being dragged out of a Tesla by the police. This incident has already created a massive stir online..."

After all, Chu Bamboo’s fame was enormous now, truly at its zenith. Of the three hundred million people in the White-headed Eagle Country, at least one hundred million knew who Chu Bamboo was. That meant one in every three people!

"I’m rather curious what kind of stunt Golden Dawn will pull next!" Chu Bamboo wasn’t surprised the blockade was being lifted.

Even an organization as powerful as Golden Dawn couldn’t maintain such a high-intensity blockade forever. The moment it was lifted, given his online traffic, an explosion of interest was practically inevitable.

As for forcibly deleting posts and suppressing the news... it was pointless.

Chu Bamboo was simply too famous now. In fact, you could say Golden Dawn themselves were the ones who had single-handedly pushed his fame to this level. Besides, Chu Bamboo hadn’t actually been caught, and Golden Dawn had remained hidden beneath the surface from start to finish...

So what would be the point for Golden Dawn to suppress the news? When this incident came to light, it would be the White-headed Eagle government officials who had the headache, not Golden Dawn.

"Father," Z said softly. "Coach Yuan... has called your virtual phone number dozens of times."

Chu Bamboo narrowed his eyes. His phone had, of course, been specially modified. Otherwise, they could have found his exact location with a simple trace.

"...Um!" Hodges spoke up cautiously, his face full of anxiety. "Are we... are we still going to save my daughter...?"

"Don’t worry." Chu Bamboo drove the Tesla to a deserted area, got out, and climbed into another fully charged Tesla that Z had hacked and was now controlling. He started driving again. "We are."

"Z, based on our current identities... no, to be on the safe side, let’s switch identities again."

Chu Bamboo thought for a moment before adding cautiously, "Use the third identity we set up, the one with serial number three. Book a flight online from Houston to Mexico City. As fast as possible. The most important thing is to make sure the process looks normal. It’s fine if we need to do things in person. You have to remember, Celestial Net is probably still conducting a high-intensity search... This is no time to let our guard down."

"By your command, Father." Z’s voice was as resolute as ever.

「At the same time.」

News of Chu Bamboo’s suspected arrest spread at an unimaginable speed, reaching every corner of the White-headed Eagle Country, Europe and America, and even the entire world.

It even swiftly jumped the Great Firewall and hit the internet in the Divine Continent.

On the Divine Continent’s internet, countless netizens were completely baffled when they saw the news... What the hell was going on?

They had woken up that morning to the news that Chu Bamboo had successfully broken the 200-meter track and field record and was, by all accounts, about to break the 100-meter record as well. He had become another god of track and field... the undisputed pride of the Asian people.

Given Chu Bamboo’s immense online following, this immediately ignited a war online...

A war between Chu Bamboo’s haters and his fans.

The haters believed it was either a rumor or he was doping. If it was a rumor, then Chu Bamboo was utterly shameless. His fans felt that even if it was a rumor, it had nothing to do with their idol. ’It’s not like our guy started it! This kind of topic is obviously the work of a rival camp...’

That’s right, both haters and fans were in unspoken agreement: the news had to be fake! Or, to put it another way, who would dare believe it was real?

It wasn’t until the national sports authority publicly confirmed it that the matter was settled... leaving both fans and haters completely stunned.

This time, the fans didn’t even bother to relentlessly attack the haters.

But the hype from that news hadn’t even died down, and now he was arrested?!?

Even the haters’ first reaction wasn’t excitement at having the tables turned, but utter confusion, as if they were dreaming.

And as they read the information being reposted from foreign websites, they only grew more and more baffled...

"Wait... even if he was really doping, shouldn’t he just be suspended from competition? What do you mean he was arrested on the spot?"

"??? Hold on, what do you mean they mobilized hundreds of police cars, blocked off all the city’s roads, and deployed dozens of helicopters to arrest him? Is it possible Chu Bamboo was actually filming a movie?"

"What’s this about a no-fly zone over Florida just being lifted? And it’s highly suspected to be related to Chu Bamboo’s capture? And they’ve already confirmed it has nothing to do with a movie? What do you mean the fans over there have already dug up all the inside info... and it’s definitely not a movie shoot? Holy crap, the fans over there have that much power?!"

"What’s this about... the National Guard got the intel and almost deployed to arrest him too? Are you kidding me? For a celebrity and athlete? Do they really need to go that far? Anyone who didn’t know better would think they were targeting a scientist capable of changing the global political landscape..."

"Ah... holy crap, what do you mean... Chu Bamboo’s fans in the White-headed Eagle Country are already gathering to start protesting, calling for the innocent Chu Bamboo to be released? Is this... is this even rational?!"

Countless people suspected this was all some kind of April Fools’ prank... but it wasn’t April Fools’ Day!

But after they jumped the firewall and took a look for themselves, they fell silent. They discovered that not only was the news reaching the Divine Continent real, it was actually an understatement. Over in the White-headed Eagle Country, they weren’t just *preparing* to protest—they had already begun.

As more and more news was reposted to the domestic web, the thousands of thoughts from countless Divine Continent netizens could be summed up in a single sentence: "!? Are you kidding me... is this really the scale of the operation for a doped-up athlete? You’re using a nuke to swat a fly!"

All one could say was that this whole incident was just too wild.

It didn’t just involve Chu Bamboo; it seemed to involve the White-headed Eagle government itself. And from start to finish, the whole situation was bizarre beyond belief. The average person couldn’t possibly understand why something like this was happening.

And yet, countless pieces of evidence proved that it was all real. The combination of all these factors detonated public opinion worldwide.

Although the incident certainly made huge waves on the Divine Continent’s internet—five of the top thirty trending topics on Weibo were about it, and you couldn’t scroll through Douyin without seeing related reports—it was nothing compared to the explosive popularity it had on the global internet.