Free Web NovelChapter 507: Chapter 500: Discrimination
Just as this news was causing a massive stir in Donghua.
Meanwhile, in the Starry Sky Country, the video was also spreading like wildfire, causing a massive uproar.
"Where did this yellow-skinned monkey come from? When did it become a scrawny monkey’s turn to provoke us, the greatest nation under the stars? Who does he think he is? One man challenging all the individual power of our Starry Sky Country? It’s a complete joke!!"
"So arrogant! Just looking at his smug face in that video makes me want to smash my screen!"
"This video is the funniest joke I’ve seen all century. But hey, it’s not all bad. I can’t wait to see him get knocked to the ground by our Super Warriors, crying and begging for mercy!"
"What are the higher-ups thinking? They need to send someone to answer the challenge! Otherwise, how can we people of the Starry Sky Country show our faces?!"
"..."
On the Starry Sky Country’s internet, a storm of vicious abuse erupted from netizens who had seen the video.
The arrogant, presumptuous, and disdainful attitude Zhou Yuanjue displayed in the video seemed to have deeply wounded their pride.
After all, they were once the only ones in the world who could take such a stance toward the people of other nations.
In a flash, this short video seemed to ignite the fury of the people throughout the Starry Sky Country and its member states.
Marches, protests, and demonstrations instantly flooded the streets. People designed all sorts of insulting caricatures of Zhou Yuanjue and printed them out to use as props.
Graffiti, ripping, burning...
Under the manipulation of corporate conglomerates, major business associations and corporations began to harness the public’s anger to curry favor, putting up signs opposing Zhou Yuanjue across their various businesses.
The "Anti-Zhou Yuanjue" movement quickly gained momentum, triggering a cascade of consequences.
In the Starry Sky Country, racial and ethnic prejudice had always been an indelible issue. Recently, due to the conflict between the Far East Group and the Starry Sky Group, public outcry against "yellow skin" and people of Far Eastern descent had grown increasingly fierce. This led to a series of vicious attacks targeting the Far Eastern community.
It went beyond mere discrimination to include beatings, ambushes, and slander... They even attacked defenseless elderly people. This string of absurd and barbaric incidents was actually happening in a nation that prided itself on being the most civilized in the world.
Life for people of Far Eastern descent in the Starry Sky Country was becoming increasingly difficult.
And now, Zhou Yuanjue’s video had pushed the discrimination against people of Far Eastern descent in the Starry Sky Country to an all-time high.
Twelve-year-old Fan Siyue walked cautiously on his way home from school.
There were visible bruises on his face. His arms, clothes, and backpack had been covered in ugly, colorful graffiti with markers. His pants had been slashed with several holes, and one of the straps on his favorite backpack had been cut. He could only clutch the bag in front of him to hide the unsightly holes in his pants.
He bit his lip lightly, tears welling in his eyes.
When he got to school early this morning, all of his classmates had taunted and mocked him, beaten him, and played cruel pranks on him. But the most terrifying part was that the teachers didn’t do a thing about it. They just watched coldly, some even seeming to take pleasure in his misfortune.
’At this moment, he even resented his parents. Why did they have to give him yellow skin? It was the root of all his humiliation.’
He scanned his surroundings, pulling the brim of his hat down to hide his eyes. He warily watched everything around him, carefully avoiding the frenzied adult protestors as he hurried toward home.
As he walked, his gaze fell on the images that were plastered all over the street—demonized, cartoonish figures covered in malicious graffiti and text.
’It was because of this man that I got bullied today. Why is he so detestable?’
Fan Siyue gritted his teeth, a new emotion stirring in his young heart: anger.
’Why? What does that man’s actions have to do with me? Why did I have to be born with yellow skin?!’
Finally, ever so cautiously, he made it home—to the convenience store his parents ran on the corner.
But the scene before him made him freeze in his tracks.
The store’s glass window was shattered, fragments littering the ground. Inside, the once-neat shelves were toppled over. Many products were scattered across the floor, but even more were simply gone.
The place looked like the aftermath of a wild, vicious party.
It was then that he noticed the difference between his family’s store and the others.
His parents hadn’t posted that ugly caricature on the front of their store.
He walked into the store in a daze. His parents were miserably cleaning up the mess. When they saw him, they forced a pained smile.
GUSH!!
He could no longer hold back the tears. They poured down like a flood as he began to wail, running to his parents and throwing himself into their embrace.
"Dad, Mom, why does everyone bully me? Why do they call me a yellow-skinned monkey? Why can’t my skin be white like theirs? What right do they have to smash our store? Aren’t we citizens of this country too?"
"And why didn’t you hang the picture of that horrible man on the door? It must be because you didn’t! That’s why those bad people smashed our store!"
Fan Siyue asked, his voice full of childish confusion.
"They’re always talking about freedom and equality, and we have the same ID cards and citizenship they do, but they’ve never seen us as part of this country. They’ve never considered us one of their own."
"Son, there’s nothing wrong with your skin color, and there’s nothing wrong with your heritage. They are the ones who are wrong. It is their prejudice and arrogance that have blinded them. It is their ignorance that drives them to commit these atrocities. They call themselves civilized, but they have never risen above savagery."
The boy’s father gently stroked his son’s head and said slowly.
"As for why we didn’t put up that man’s picture... it’s because I truly hope he wins."
"Because only then will people like us, people with yellow skin, finally be taken seriously. Only then might we finally earn true respect. They will fear him, like a lamb fears a tiger."
"He isn’t a villain. Perhaps... he’ll be our hero."
"Son, remember this: no matter where you are, your roots are in the continent of the Far East. No matter where we may wander, we can only live with dignity when that land becomes strong."
His father gazed out the window and continued.
"Then why do we still live here?"
Fan Siyue asked in confusion.
"One day, we will go back."
His father said, his expression grave.
"Home."
His gaze passed through the store’s shattered window, falling on the various cartoonish, defaced images of Zhou Yuanjue plastered on the storefronts across the street.
’You have to win... ’
’Not just for Donghua, but to fight for the pride of yellow-skinned people everywhere.’
