Hard power, soft power

Smack, smack, smack.

Three slaps in quick succession sent the three men who had been running their mouths sprawling to the ground.

Zhang Hongxing was no hidebound gentleman. Faced with such blatant provocation from the three men, they had this harmonious society to thank for the fact that he had not killed them outright.

"You..."

One of the men struggled to speak, but Zhang Hongxing planted his foot on him.

"I'm not in the mood to argue with you. Tell me who sent you, now."

"No one... Aah!"

Zhang Hongxing applied a little pressure, shattering every toe in the man's foot. The excruciating pain nearly made him pass out.

"Are you just going to stand there and watch him assault us?"

Thud.

As soon as another man spoke up in support, Lin Kui rushed forward and kicked him to the ground. Then he rained blows down on the man's head, saying to Zhang Hongxing as he beat him:

"Boss, just leave little things like this to me next time."

"You... you people, do you have any respect for the la... stop... stop hitting me! I'll talk."

As the saying went, bullies feared reckless men, and reckless men feared those with nothing to lose.

Faced with Zhang Hongxing and his utterly uncompromising group, the man was genuinely terrified.

"We... we were actually sent by someone named Yang San. He offered each of us three hundred thousand to sabotage this place, and he's already paid us a hundred thousand each as a deposit. As long as we can shut this research base down, he'll transfer the other two hundred thousand right away."

"So someone really was pulling strings behind the scenes!"

"Changgui, Changgui, I trusted you so much. I never thought you'd deceive me like this."

"Youliang, I've lost all respect for you."

Once the local residents realized they had been deceived, every one of them wanted to rush forward and give the three men another beating. In the end, however, they all restrained themselves.

This was the reality of ordinary people in the Xia Kingdom.

When they encountered a scammer, most people simply accepted their bad luck, then passed on what they had learned so their friends and relatives would not fall for the same trick.

The local residents began to disperse. After each of the three men had been interrogated, they were handed straight over to the local police.

Even after witnessing Zhang Hongxing's domineering conduct, Elder Qian did not leave.

A fervent patriot, he genuinely hoped Zhang Hongxing's technology would succeed.

Given the international situation the Xia Kingdom currently faced, it desperately needed something like this to lift people's spirits.

When Zhang Hongxing still made no move to greet him, he simply took the initiative and walked over.

"Director Zhang, I'm Qian Zhong. I've come to take a look at your new technology."

"You're too kind, Elder Qian. I was busy just now and couldn't greet you. Please forgive me."

With Elder Qian taking the initiative to set aside his status, Zhang Hongxing could hardly continue to keep his distance.

"There's no need for that, Director Zhang. I saw what happened just now too. I don't think we need to waste words on it. Just take me to see your new technology."

"Since you're so eager, Elder Qian, come with me."

With Zhang Hongxing leading and Elder Qian following, the group headed toward the research base's levitating train test site. Even Zhang Chu and Big Belly came along.

About three minutes later, they finally arrived.

At that moment, the test site was running trials on a levitating train that incorporated the Flight Array.

A fully loaded, ten-car freight train hovered half a meter above the ground, circling along a fixed path.

The train moved very slowly, but its stability was quite good.

To the naked eye, there was no visible jolting at all.

The instant Elder Qian saw the train, he froze. Before coming here, he had imagined countless possible scenes, but not one of his guesses had been right.

The sight before him went beyond his scientific understanding.

There were no tracks, no visible propulsion mechanism, and not even the slightest noise.

Most astonishing of all, there was no radiation-shielding equipment anywhere around it.

"Mr. Zhang, what principle does this levitation rely on? Does it really produce no radiation of any kind that could harm the human body?"

Elder Qian's eyes brimmed with a thirst for knowledge.

"The principle isn't actually complicated. It makes use of the Earth's own magnetic field. As for how to harness it, that's far too complicated to explain here, so I won't go into it.

"And the Earth's magnetic field exists whether this train is here or not.

"So there's no issue with radiation."

"In that case, all your train still needs is a power source?"

"That's right."

"Suppose I teach you nuclear propulsion technology. How would you guarantee its safety?"

"I have a way, of course, but that also involves this new technology I've mastered. If you want to understand it, Elder Qian, you'll have to join my research base for the time being and start learning from the basics."

"All right." Elder Qian agreed without hesitation, but his two students immediately stepped forward to stop him.

"Elder Qian, please think this through. He's clearly trying to trick you into agreeing."

"That's right, Elder Qian. You haven't seen even a glimpse of the technology, yet you're going to join them. This..."

"Enough. My mind is made up. If either of you has a problem with it, you're free to leave."

Elder Qian officially stayed at the Shimen Research Base. His two students initially wanted to stay with him, but Zhang Hongxing sent them packing with a curt "Get lost."

With Elder Qian officially on board, the levitating train now had a solution for its power system.

A project involving nuclear propulsion would not actually be built at the Shimen County base.

According to Zhang Hongxing's plan, the levitating train's core propulsion unit would be manufactured at a secret nuclear base in the Xia Kingdom. Once completed, it would be transported to the Shimen County base for final installation.

To build a suitable core reactor as quickly as possible, Zhang Hongxing also devoted himself wholeheartedly to studying nuclear propulsion.

While Zhang Hongxing and the others were throwing themselves into learning and development, international news erupted once again, with Shimen County at its center.

One front-page article from America used Zhang Hongxing's public slapping of three citizens and crushing of one man's toes as a pretext to attack the Xia Kingdom's rule of law.

It declared that the Xia Kingdom was an utterly hegemonic nation, and that such a country should not exist in the world.

Goddess Country immediately followed America's lead.

A reporter from Goddess Country even traveled to the Xia Kingdom specifically to interview the three men. Unable to find them, the reporter simply picked three residents who looked vaguely similar and fabricated an interview report.

Afterward, Malaysia, Kangaroo Country, Artisan Country, Cherry Blossom Country, and Westland Country each built their own coverage around that report.

As the reports multiplied, they began borrowing from and imitating one another.

Seemingly overnight, the Xia Kingdom became an international pariah, reviled by everyone.

Faced with such slander, the Xia Kingdom naturally did not remain silent.

Early the next morning, Xia Kingdom Officials released a confession statement detailing how the three men had been bought off by a certain faction in Goddess Country, along with a video of their confessions.

The four leading diplomatic heavyweights likewise issued strongly worded condemnations.

Zhao Yunfei, who had always taken a hard line, went so far as to point fingers directly at Malaysia, Kangaroo Country, and Cherry Blossom Country, denouncing them as lackeys.

But all of this amounted to nothing more than a war of words and news coverage.

In the end, the real contest would still come down to each country's hard power and soft power.

And the nuclear-powered levitating train Zhang Hongxing was currently developing could accelerate the growth of both.