Countdown: Humanity's struggle to survive against yesterday

Chapter 31 Popularity Across the Internet

The ninth time, everyone thought that Jiang Hua had a fever and was unconscious "last night", so he wouldn't go to Shanghai today.

But as soon as he rolled back in the world, he went out.

Two hours later, the "Grandpa Jiang Goes to Shanghai" group was re-established, and the number of riders expanded from 11 to 15.

Mayor Zhang even had a table brought over and placed at the intersection of Huishi Town, with a touchscreen monitor mounted on it.

Once connected to the internet, a national road traffic map will be displayed directly.

"Here, here, you took a detour yesterday, the person in charge of scouting today should pay attention."

"And this cross-river bridge, you must send someone to scout it out in advance, so that if it gets blocked, you'll have a chance to detour. Similarly, you need to pay extra attention to the tunnels along the way; if they get blocked, you won't even be able to find a detour..."

The dozen or so team leaders listened attentively, even Nan Shaofei, who had dyed his hair orange, listened obediently. At that moment, they suddenly had a feeling that they were no longer helping Grandpa Jiang, but were about to go to the battlefield, and a commander was assigning them tasks.

As for Jiang Hua, the protagonist of this story, he was squeezed to the side and could only smoke silently with his fellow villagers.

Sun Lingmin didn't join in the smoking. Instead, he huddled behind Mayor Zhang, one hand on his hip and the other holding a cigarette. He would always quickly chime in after Mayor Zhang finished speaking, a look of sudden realization on his face.

"Hmm, that makes sense!"

"Yes, we did take a detour!"

"Wow, this is a fantastic new idea! How come we didn't think of that?"

Meanwhile, around the makeshift command table, several young people were frantically recording videos and uploading them online.

On his phone, the number of people in the "Grandpa Jiang Goes to Shanghai" chat group grew rapidly from 300 to 500, and then to 1000. Soon, the second and third groups of "Grandpa Jiang Goes to Shanghai" were also established.

Last night, the popularity of the local internet celebrity Xiaohua's live stream skyrocketed, with countless comments scrolling rapidly:

"Oh my, I'm moved to tears. I feel lost every time I wake up, but Grandpa Jiang has a new beginning."

"Grandpa Jiang proved one thing with eight failures: the world may go backward, but the wheels of a father's work will always move forward."

"Really? With traffic so chaotic outside these days, who would do something so thankless and exhausting?"

"I know this person. This is definitely not a publicity stunt. They once came to my bike shop late at night to borrow bicycles..."

"I know them too. I saw them in front of the Ningshou High-Speed ​​Railway Station..."

"@Little Biscuit, you idiot, no explanation needed. Didn't you see the town head has transformed into a frontline commander, and you're still barking like a dog!"

"That's so cool. I'm a soldier. Now the world is in a backward state, and we soldiers have basically lost the possibility of going to the battlefield. But life can also become a new battlefield."

"I'm sorry everyone, but I can vouch for this. It's true. A few days ago, a few of us had a fight with Grandpa Jiang, and now we're staying in a deluxe single room..."

"@GoldenHand, you guys can still use your phones even in a luxury single room, tell me more, tell me more..."

......

Meanwhile, BJ.

After finishing his routine live broadcast, Minister Chen Xiao of the China Emergency Management Bureau sat alone in his office, lost in thought, a rare occurrence for him.

The world is regressing every day, and matter is being reset. Logically, people should become younger and more energetic every day.

But even when Chen Xiao was lost in thought, his expression was tense, and his eyes were bloodshot.

In fact, the body may become younger through regression, but the memory is continuous, while the mind will not. As memories accumulate, people will become more and more tired.

In the words of one of the researchers, there will be no visible changes in the short term, but if this generation of elderly people were to regress to the age of infants, they would become insane and stupid.

It's actually quite easy to understand, because an underdeveloped brain simply cannot hold a person's memories spanning a century.

"Sigh~"

Chen Xiao couldn't help but sigh heavily, not because he was worried that he would become an idiot in the future, but because he was worried that the "yesterday" survival plan was not popular and had not stirred up the public's emotions as expected.

Since the "Yesterday" survival plan was proposed on the spot in the live broadcast room, it has been highly valued by the higher-ups, and everyone agrees that it is a good suggestion.

The top leader even praised himself during an internal meeting, saying that he had inadvertently prevented a global catastrophe. Now, the "Yesterday" survival plan is highly valued by high-ranking officials around the world, who believe that the proposal is not only strategically significant but can also effectively divert public attention.

However, after the meeting ended, the top leader said earnestly and seriously, "Comrade Chen Xiao, it's not that the country wants to put pressure on you, but we hope you understand that the whole world is watching China. If China doesn't take the lead in coming up with a feasible plan, losing face is a minor matter; it could very well cause this grand strategy to fail, which would be tantamount to putting the world on a powder keg again..."

"But how do we evoke strong emotions?"

Chen Xiao rubbed his temples, and only stood up slowly after his headache subsided. "Xiao Cui, come with me to the Public Opinion Monitoring Office. I want to see what the whole country is most concerned about today."

The two arrived at the public opinion monitoring room. Chen Xiao waved his hand, signaling everyone to continue their work. He stood silently and watched everyone work for a while before turning around when Cui Huaiyu walked back with a tablet computer.

"Minister Chen, this is the most talked-about news among the public today..."

As Cui Huaiyu spoke, she clicked into Xiaohua's live stream and handed the tablet computer to Chen Xiao.

"Friends, here's the latest news: Grandpa Jiang has set off. Let's wait and see if he can make it to Shanghai today..."

Chen Xiao watched quietly for a while, first puzzled, then slightly surprised, and when he saw the comments, he couldn't help but frown:

"Here he comes, here he comes, it's enough to bring tears to my eyes. Grandpa Jiang doesn't ride 800 kilometers every day, he rides to say 'Son, Dad's here.'"

"Let's cheer for Grandpa Jiang! We can forget what we forgot yesterday, but we can't forget who we're going to be for tomorrow. This is the best example of surviving yesterday."

"Yes, failure resets things, but starting is voluntary. Grandpa Jiang won time because time can't steal his lover's abilities."

"The whole internet is looking for ways to 'survive the past,' but Grandpa Jiang has already given the answer—he lives today as if he's running towards his loved ones, even if he never gets there."

"..."

Cui Huaimeng had been watching Chen Xiao's expression closely. Seeing his brows furrow slightly, she assumed that Minister Chen was unhappy with the video of the junior anchor she had handed him. But a moment later, his brows relaxed, and his expression suddenly became serious, which made her even more uneasy.

Five minutes passed in the blink of an eye. Just as Cui Huaimeng was about to explain that this was the hottest news among the public, Chen Xiao's hearty laughter suddenly rang in her ears.

"Xiao Cui, this is great, fantastic! This is exactly the emotional breakthrough we need right now."

As Chen Xiao spoke, he stepped half a step to the side, gesturing for her to watch along. His tone suddenly became excited: "Immediately arrange for simultaneous online coverage of this matter, and dispatch a helicopter from the local provincial television station to broadcast it live!"

Cui Huaimeng quickly agreed. She didn't need to watch the video anymore; she had already learned about Grandpa Jiang's deeds before handing the tablet to Chen Xiao.

But after taking only a few steps, she stopped again.

"Is there anything else?"

Chen Xiao seemed to sense something, and looked up at her from the tablet.

"Minister Chen, if we're sending a helicopter for a live broadcast, should we... bring Grandpa Jiang directly to Shanghai?"

"etc."

Chen Xiao's expression hardened, then he showed some thought. "It was my oversight. We can't do a live stream, and we certainly can't start this..."