Chapter 240: Chapter 240

Jared Sullivan had registered on V-blog before, but he barely had any followers.

But ever since his relationship with Paige Sterling as her father was made public, he became known as the ’national father-in-law’, and his follower count suddenly jumped by hundreds of thousands. Occasionally, he would post updates about Paige, and now he has over five million followers, becoming a social media celebrity in the business world.

Despite being a big boss mingling among ordinary people for a while, no one recognized him.

If it wasn’t for Paige calling out to him, no one would know he was Paige’s dad.

This grand reception at the airport maintained its buzz for quite a long time.

Just when the attention finally started to die down, Paige was once again thrust into the hot search topics.

Walter Woodward tried to persuade Paige at an international conference abroad to contribute her research data for the nation, but Paige was indifferent.

Walter firmly believed his actions were for the good of the nation and the people, and he wouldn’t give up until he succeeded. Follow current novᴇls on 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵✶𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖✶𝓷𝓮𝓽

Shortly after returning to the country, he even tried to add Paige on V-chat, but she never accepted.

He sent her a private message on V-blog, urging her to consider the bigger picture,

But still, Paige didn’t reply.

Walter realized that what he said wasn’t well-received, and Paige was purposely ignoring him.

Despite bearing the admiration and love of so many, she wasn’t willing to make even this small contribution—how could she justify that to everyone?

Since he had given Paige face and she didn’t want it, then she couldn’t blame him for not being polite.

So, Walter took it to the internet.

In order to move the vast number of netizens, to let them know he had no personal gain in all this and was solely dedicated to the country’s and society’s development, he stubbornly wrote a few-thousand-word long blog post, citing references, and lavishly praising scientists who have selflessly contributed to society, including himself.

He devoted a large portion to describing his contributions to the nation over the years, noting that he hadn’t earned a penny for it, living a life as impoverished as possible, stating that as a scientist, he should be just ; this is a scientist’s duty.

Then, Walter shifted the topic to Paige, acknowledging her abilities while also criticizing her for being profit-driven, lacking a sense of the bigger picture, and hoarding a national asset without sharing it. How could such selfish behavior justify the country’s support? How could it justify everyone’s admiration?

Many people online are actually fence-sitters, never caring whether what others say is true or not; as long as it sounds reasonable, they agree and then consider themselves as champions of justice, attacking others with their supposedly well-reasoned rants.

Now, many online people also find Walter’s points reasonable.

Since Paige is so capable, she should contribute more to the nation’s cause, pushing the advancement of social technology, instead of profiting from her talents. Otherwise, why did the country cultivate her?

"Feel that Professor Woodward made a valid point; technology should not be used for profit but should promote national progress. Especially considering that Paige holds advanced technology surpassing foreign levels, she should unconditionally offer it for national construction, serving the people..."

"If only our country had a few more people like Professor Woodward, we would have developed long ago. I hope Paige doesn’t disappoint us and stands at the national level to benefit the people and future generations, not just focus on making money..."

Paige found it quite amusing when the robot reported these comments to her.

Accusing her as if they’re not products of national cultivation—if they’re all produced by the country, why do they demand salaries for serving the country? Why keep complaining about the low pay of civil servants, teachers, and doctors?

If everyone selflessly contributed without needing to make money, purely focusing on national construction, that would be great.

But when accusing her, they never consider themselves.

So many people are just hypocrites, comfortably criticizing from their high ground.

They never even think that Penson’s products are already relatively low-priced compared to similar products, accessible for ordinary people.

She’s popularizing technology and paying taxes—how is she not contributing to the nation?

Research funding is known as a bottomless pit. If she doesn’t make money, how will she fund research?

Yet Paige couldn’t be bothered to respond to these trolls.

Because no matter how you explain, someone will always find loopholes in your words and continue to attack you.

Although Paige didn’t respond to Walter’s online statements, several relevant national departments and institutions, as well as some relevant personnel, spoke out online.

They stated that Paige’s mecha hadn’t even begun research before already seeking approval from the authorities, and the research data had already been unconditionally shared with the nation, with no profit motive involved.

They also praised Paige’s achievements and contributions profusely.

The nation’s highest technology award even directly mentioned Paige, naming her on the annual tech award list.

Without any surprises, the award is hers to win.

As for Walter, relevant departments even called him out for a talk.

Why don’t you find something worthwhile to research with government funding, instead of attacking someone using their funding for research? Where do you get the nerve?

Walter was left embarrassed, admitting he didn’t know and that’s why he urged Paige that way, insisting it was for the nation’s good.

Implicitly, he still blamed Paige for purposely keeping things under wraps.

However, authorities pointed out that he didn’t know instantly because he wasn’t qualified to know. Didn’t he understand this basic principle? Yet he ran online to represent the whole nation, attacking someone—where did he get such audacity?

Because of this issue, several of Walter’s research fundings were canceled later on.

Aren’t you supposed to contribute to the nation? Aren’t you doing this for the people?

Then why don’t you arrange your funding by yourself, easing the nation’s stress? Stop criticizing others while failing to introspect.

Walter realized that his actions had really upset the higher-ups, and he immediately deleted all his online remarks and issued an apology statement mentioning Paige.

He thought, as a senior scientist, having shown his attitude, Paige should give him a way out, right?

But his apology statement disappeared into silence, with no response from Paige, as if he didn’t exist.

Walter suddenly remembered that Paige’s attitude towards him had always been as if she didn’t regard him at all.

He considered Paige too arrogant, thinking she’d stumble one day!

He’s just waiting for that day!

Paige is now so famous that she rarely goes out alone casually.

Even if she covered herself so thoroughly that she couldn’t recognize herself, she would still be recognized walking down the street.

She felt quite exhausted.

That night, Paige returned from Islet Labs. Since it was rush hour and traffic was severe, she didn’t drive.

This time, she thought she disguised herself well enough.

Indeed, no one recognized her along the way.