Chapter 65: Hanabi (Seeking Recommendations, Seeking Follow-Reads)

Accompanied by Deidara's shout before the camera.

Witnessed by billions of viewers worldwide, that park, that small hill, and the "toilet" built over decades behind the torii gate on the hill — perhaps unfamiliar to people of other nations, but very familiar to the island nation's people.

Boom—

Rumble rumble rumble——!!!

It was a scene like a movie special effect.

A pillar of flame over a hundred meters tall instantly surged upward, its diameter covering exactly the park's entire forested area — ninety thousand square meters in total. The night sky over all of Tokyo was illuminated crimson. The high temperature caused no damage to the surrounding buildings; the physical effects of the violent explosion were all contained within that patch of land.

As if it were a divine punishment deliberately bestowed by the heavens.

Within several kilometers around, countless people — some stepping outside, some standing on rooftops — stared dumbly at this unbelievable scene. Under the interference of an invisible external force, the top of the flame pillar began to grow rounded and tapered, while the middle section pulled out flame tornadoes on both the left and right sides; likewise, the top became rounded and tapered.

Like a giant flame cone, with two additional cones placed on its left and right sides.

On the television screens of viewers in every country around the world, the camera kept cutting between angles — ground, rooftop, high in the air, front, back, left, right — zooming in and magnifying, letting everyone admire this fantastical painting created by the manifestation of tremendous power.

Dozens of seconds passed before people gradually came back to their senses from the livestream. On television, the "starfish" formed by the flames slowly raised its arms, as if cheering and celebrating its own masterpiece.

In the island nation, some had their faith shattered, some were screaming madly and smashing their televisions, some were unmoved, some were fanatically obsessed — every kind of emotional reaction could be found.

In countries with no historical ties to this island nation, viewers merely felt they had watched a Hollywood blockbuster. Some were still wondering whether they had been pranked by some hacker group, while others revealed a fanatical pursuit of the power shown on television and began investigating whether it was a real event.

"Wuhu!"

"Awesome!!!"

"Bomb that motherf***er!"

"The greatest art of the 21st century!"

For viewers across the many Asian countries, aside from a very small minority, the vast majority were beating drums and gongs; all sorts of online social platforms began flooding with posts, a scene of jubilation, like a New Year celebration playing out across the internet.

"Whether it's real or not, I declare the birth of the greatest art of this century! Who's in favor, who's against?!!!"

"I'm in favor!"

"I'm in favor!"

"From today on, I'm Deidara's die-hard fan!"

"Now THAT'S art! This f***ing IS art!!!"

"Doesn't anyone care that this is superhuman?! Superpowers have appeared!"

Apart from hybrids, few ordinary humans knew that this world possessed abilities beyond comprehension. Su Lin's livestream was the first time such supernatural power was revealed to the public eye.

"Isn't he someone who crossed over? He said so himself."

"Seems like a character from some Naruto thing — my little brother watches it all the time."

"Isn't that a Japanese work?"

"Seems like it — they got their toilet blown up by a character from their own work?!"

"Pissing myself laughing, family."

"Same here, let's go change our pants together hahahaha."

"Deidara figurines are being scalped for astronomical prices..."

"Holy crap, I've got three at home!"

Some noticed that Deidara-related figurines and merchandise on major e-commerce platforms had seen massive price surges. In fact, the moment some people realized the TV station's signal had been hijacked, plenty of sharp-nosed individuals had already started hoarding stock or delisting items and adjusting prices.

This world has never lacked speculators with keen noses.

"Over in kimchi-land, people have started freely donating kimchi cans printed with the great artwork to Japan online."

"First time I've ever thought Koreans had such big hearts (regarding this matter)."

"+1"

"+1"

In less than ten minutes, the residual flames after the explosion gradually died out on the scorched earth. Within the ninety-thousand-square-meter area, no buildings or plants could be seen anymore — only a sunken crater remained, with rolling lava flowing across the blackened, charred-brown ground.

The surrounding sky was already filled with helicopters, with fighter jets circling the area. Not far away, on Tokyo's main arterial roads, pedestrians and vehicles had been cleared out, and tanks and armored vehicles were steadily rolling down Tokyo's streets toward this location.

The U. S. stationed forces, upon receiving orders, were also heading this way.

"Ha." Su Lin's true body, seeing this scene from the cracks in history, let out a snort of laughter: "I'm impressed with myself for holding back and not going on a modern-warfare rampage."

A prepared cultivator and an unprepared cultivator were two entirely different kinds of combat power.

Through arrays set up in advance, tonight's fireworks display lasted several minutes.

During this time, every person in Tokyo could see with their own eyes a hundred-meter-tall red "Patrick Star"-shaped giant waving hello to them.

In fact, Su Lin wasn't doing this on purpose — he was simply recreating Deidara's final art from the original work. The scene formed after that ninjutsu explosion looked exactly like this.

So later, for a period of time, the phrase "art is Patrick Star" began circulating online.

Deidara in front of the camera surveyed his masterpiece with satisfaction.

He delivered closing remarks to the camera.

"That's it — appreciate my art properly! Mm."

On the helicopters, snipers at the ready had aimed at Su Lin's head from every direction.

"A1 ready."

"A3 ready."

"C2 ready..."

Through the camera equipment on the scouts' helmets, people far away at the command center saw several cameras flying through the air unmanned, filming?

"They're really flying in the air..."

"No good — none of our technicians can find any trace of the other party; we can't regain control."

"Don't tip them off yet!"

Su Lin wouldn't give them time to go through the motions; sure enough, what came next was a loudspeaker urging surrender.

He watched his system points, from less than the remaining 700, undergo an explosive surge, the points breaking straight through into four digits.

Though happy in his heart, the harvest differed from what he'd expected; he'd thought this wave would earn him a lot.

'So viewership really isn't the key after all….' Su Lin thought to himself. He'd been studying the mechanism for acquiring system points ever since returning to Earth from the pirate world.

On occasion, when he performed in the central square of a city with several thousand, nearly ten thousand people passing through, the points he earned still couldn't compare to a single act of righteous bravery.

Subtracting the original points, this harvest was only just over a thousand.

'Where exactly is the difference?'

'It's not the commotion or the number of people… and it's not karma either….'

Su Lin felt as though he'd grasped something, but always sensed a thin veil of fog in between.

'Could it be some setting that requires influencing the course of history? Doesn't this count? And why does it specifically demand showing off in front of people?'

Enough. Su Lin decided to stop thinking about it for now and figure it out later; it was about time to pull out.

He wasn't some insanely greedy person; rounding up, a capital of 1 W had returned to him.

This was only the first day in the dragon race world, and the future was long. Su Lin's adrenaline surged, his heart leaping with joy; he seemed to see the script of a power-fantasy male lead waving at him.

Before the camera, Deidara's expression was excited; without caring whether the persona he was cosplaying had been ruined, he laughed like a roar, venting his inner emotions.

"Saikou n high tei yatsu da! Hahahaha!" (I'm so high I can't take it!)

Before the viewers in front of their TVs could figure out what had happened, Deidara turned into a streak of rainbow light and, under the camera's pursuit, flew straight into the sky.

Boom—

The rainbow light scattered.

A massive firework bloomed above Tokyo.

Then, the fireworks and firecrackers that had long been pre-planted in every corner of Tokyo were ignited, forming a line of text in the sky using Chinese characters.

"A salute to the birth of art!"

In every corner of Tokyo, the climax of an unfamiliar piece of music could be heard.

Patto hikatte saita

Light burst forth in a flash

Hanabi wo miteita

Fireworks came into view

Kitto mada owarinai natsu ga

Surely the summer hasn't ended yet

In a certain apartment in Tokyo, a musician whose hair was so long it nearly covered his eyes paid no attention to the footage playing on the TV.

Someone had just rung the doorbell; when he went out, there was only a thick envelope. Sitting on the living room sofa, he stared at the cash inside the envelope, lost in confusion.

Music suddenly reached his ears, interrupting his thoughts. The whole of Tokyo seemed to be throwing a party—fireworks, music.

"This song's not bad."

He opened his computer and began jotting down the lyrics.