Trending!

The venue grew increasingly lively, as the audience could no longer contain their enthusiasm for discussion.

Finally, the chairman of the organizing committee stepped up to deliver the closing remarks: "I hereby announce that the total amount raised is: 4.211 billion!"

Thunderous applause erupted from below.

"It is my sincere hope that the Earth Era will be able to withstand the test of 20 light-years, successfully reach its destination, and build a second star system for all of humanity!"

"I declare the 43rd Galaxy Award ceremony officially closed!"

Amidst a spectacular artistic performance, the attendees began to leave one after another.

"Phew... finally over."

Zhang Yuan let out a long sigh of relief, lamenting that an entire afternoon of his life had been wasted just like that.

He quickly ran to the restroom, took off his suit jacket, and handed it to Wang Lili.

"Little handsome, I didn't expect you to be so good at speaking!" Wang Lili took the clothes and teased him with a smile, "I was sweating for you just now!"

"Why?"

"Because it was being broadcast live! It's the biggest award in the country, and with the ceremony taking place right before the spaceship's departure, it had a lot of attention. That question was way too sharp; if it were me, I definitely would have panicked a little..."

Wang Lili tapped on her phone screen, waving it back and forth in front of him.

"If you hadn't answered well, you'd be trending. No, wait, you're already trending!"

Zhang Yuan took Wang Lili's phone and focused his gaze.

A bold, black headline appeared right in the center of the screen.

<Shocking! Son of a scientist donates entire prize money, faces cold sarcasm from female reporter!>

<Even if the poor starve to death, he refuses to help them!>

The popularity was skyrocketing!

Zhang Yuan was dumbfounded; these unscrupulous media outlets would risk anything just to grab attention.

He let out a long sigh: "Forget it, forget it. No matter what I answered, I was going to get roasted anyway; I had already prepared myself for that. Donating the prize money was something I had decided beforehand, how was I supposed to know it would cause this kind of..."

On top of that, there were endless bickering matches over whether poverty alleviation was more important than supporting aerospace development, and so on.

The world is mostly populated by people of average means, and it seemed as if not donating money to them was a sin; internet trolls can always find the most comfortable angle to attack someone.

They kept spouting strange comments like "pretentious jerk" or "spoiled brat."

"Thanks for the invite. Currently on the Moon, just got off the ship, monthly income of one million. Too many insiders here, hard to comment, going anonymous."

"Young Master Zhang, do you have a girlfriend? You must be a huge tycoon!"

"Probably, and maybe even a few. Interested?"

"Hehe, aren't you?"

"Having a few is fine too, as long as he's a tycoon. He's so handsome!"

Being praised for his looks made Zhang Yuan feel inexplicably satisfied.

However, he wasn't actually a tycoon.

"I bet my life this guy is going to break into the entertainment industry! This is a great piece of packaging, creating a very good persona. (Strive)(Strive) Next, he'll be filming dramas or joining variety shows, blooming in both literature and sports. Everyone, stay tuned!"

"Spending ten million to run an ad and gain fame—a very smart choice. It's just a pity that a great scientist's son wants to be a celebrity."

"What's wrong with being a celebrity? Being a celebrity is great!"

"You don't know a damn thing!"

Zhang Yuan felt a bit dizzy, marveling at the powerful imagination of the general public. If they were so good at imagining things, why didn't they become scientists?

"Do you want to be a big star? With some packaging, it could actually work!" Wang Lili said with a smile.

"I don't want to. I'm tone-deaf and can't dance."

There were also busybodies trying to doxx Zhang Yuan. Fortunately, he had never had the habit of posting on social media, so these people dug for a long time without finding any special information, only uncovering his alma mater and exam scores.

"He only got into Z University, didn't study abroad, and his GPA is only 4.58..."

"What era are you living in, still talking about studying abroad? Are you an idiot? Going to study at some indigenous school?"

"What do you mean 'only' 4.58? The maximum GPA at Z University is 5, okay? That's equivalent to an average score of 95.8. Can you morons who haven't been to college just shut up!"

No matter how you looked at it, the former Zhang Yuan, while not the absolute best, was certainly not bad, and he didn't have many dark spots. But there were still a group of people tirelessly searching; even real-name verification couldn't stop this bunch of idle people...

Of course, there were also a ton of people supporting him, and a large portion of them were women.

Zhang Yuan had a bit of a headache; how was he supposed to know it would turn into this?

It was just a donation, what was the big deal?

Where there is envy, there is jealousy, and where there is jealousy, there is hatred. An upright person doesn't fear a crooked shadow; let them be.

Listening to his various complaints, Wang Lili also opened her social media app and commented bluntly: "Other than being a bit handsome, this guy doesn't have many merits. Witnessed his wasteful behavior firsthand, so angry!"

[Like][Like][Like]

Within a few seconds, he had harvested a whole heap of likes.

"You're really kicking a man while he's down..." Zhang Yuan shook his head helplessly.

"Mr. Zhang, please come over here to sign your name!" someone suddenly called out from behind him.

"Oh, alright."

Zhang Yuan turned around, signed his name on a "Donation Agreement," and pressed his fingerprint onto the document.

Words once spoken could not be taken back; once this was done, the ten-million prize money was officially donated.

Since he was going to run away anyway, Zhang Yuan didn't feel any heartache; it felt just like donating game currency from a video game account, and he didn't even blink an eye.

This feeling was quite strange.

According to policy, national-level science and technology awards were tax-free, which was equivalent to the foundation moving funds from its left hand to its right.

However, the corresponding procedures still had to be followed. With a century of history, the Deep Space Foundation had developed into such a behemoth that it had long since formed a highly standardized administrative system, and most of its capital flows were transparent.

Wang Lili and Xu Yunjing, the two volunteers, watched the whole process from the side, occasionally exchanging glances with each other and putting on very resentful expressions.

"A '1' at the front, followed by so many zeros—when will I ever be able to earn that much money? Maybe not even in this lifetime..." Xu Yunjing sighed.

Wang Lili also said gloomily, "Yeah, a perfectly good rich, handsome guy, just throwing his wealth away until he's a pauper... It's like you're very rich, but in reality, you only have this much money."

"...I know friends and relatives with assets in the hundreds of millions, but none of them have ever donated this much. Ten million! I really want to snatch it to buy clothes, so many, many clothes!"

Xu Yunjing nodded in agreement, "It's a good thing he's not my boyfriend, otherwise I'd be angered to death by him. I just want to beat him up..."

Although he knew they were joking, Zhang Yuan still felt quite awkward and didn't know what to say.

Wang Lili threw out another strange question, "You astronauts, can you still change your minds at the last minute? For example... suddenly not wanting to go and wanting to stay home instead."

"Of course you can."

Zhang Yuan thought for a moment and said, "However, without a reasonable excuse, changing your mind at the last minute is treated as desertion, and you would face significant risks."

"You know what a deserter is, right? The kind who refuses military service... First, you have to pay a fine, which is roughly several hundred thousand in training costs, and most of your social benefits will be revoked, plus you'll be blacklisted on social credit reports and so on. There are a whole bunch of punitive measures; anyway, once you become a deserter, it will be very, very difficult to land a good job in the future..."

(Thanks to book friend "Shiyanti Jungui" for the alliance leader reward. Although the collection count for this book is growing slowly, I didn't expect to have an alliance leader so early. Thank you, thank you!)