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In less than half a day, most of the country knew about the new "deep-submergence" project.
A good number of people had used the published information to deduce that the project's total budget had to be at least in the billions.
"There are more than two hundred participating organizations. The personnel costs alone have to be substantial. The mech itself is enormous, so the materials cost is a huge number on its own, never mind the money for building a base and all the engineering facilities. You can't exactly leave a thing that big standing out in the rain."
"So the whole project is going to run into the billions, no question."
Compared to another deep-submergence project, a research submersible called the Pioneer, the budget was higher by an unknowable multiple.
When the Pioneer had originally been approved, its development budget had been only a hundred and eighty million dollars. Even adjusting for inflation, Crimson Typhoon's budget was many times larger. The gap between the two projects was enormous.
And that was without the public knowing the real budget figure. If they had, they'd only have been more shocked.
"Pouring this much money onto a fifteen-year-old and putting him in control of it, is that really wise?"
"And it's just a deep-submergence project. Is there any need to spend this much?"
The whole project looked so surreal that it was hard to blame the public for its lack of confidence.
When they'd first seen Scrapper, they'd already thought a mech that size was enormous, and that building something bigger would be extremely difficult. Then they'd suddenly been told Scrapper was only a small mech, and now the plan was for one several times larger, a true heavy mech.
And this heavy mech was supposed to be capable of operating in deep water at seven thousand meters.
Seven thousand meters underwater. What kind of concept was that?
The Pioneer had been in development for years, and it had only managed to put a submersible less than ten meters long down to depth. Now the plan was to put down a two-hundred-and-fifty-foot mech of a completely irregular shape?
And the project was being led by a fifteen-year-old. Even a prodigy.
Those factors combined made confidence difficult.
The public hadn't seen Crimson Typhoon's complete technical documentation. And even if they had, most of them wouldn't have understood any of it. The only thing most of them understood was the twenty-five letters of the keyboard that weren't the one in "boo."
The waves online grew stronger and stronger, and the news quickly drifted across the ocean to the rest of the world.
To be honest, the first reaction of foreign media was the same as the domestic public's: was this fake news?
Some newspapers were still trying to verify the story with sources in the country when the tabloids had already rushed to publish it.
"Prodigy Granted Massive Support, Heads Billion-Dollar Research Project!"
"Insane: Within the Next Decade, a Mech Like This Will Exist!"
"Is the Future of Mechs in the Deep Sea?"
"Fifteen Years Old, and He's Done What Others Couldn't Do in a Lifetime!"
Every kind of report filled people's screens in an instant. Within a few hours, the matter had become a global hot topic.
The world's authoritative media outlets, after verification, reached the truthful conclusion and published the story themselves.
With those outlets' endorsement, the public essentially confirmed it.
This was real.
"Look at how that country values talent. Not even fifteen and already chief designer of a billion-dollar project. Now look at our country."
"This kid had achievements at fifteen, and meanwhile the teenagers in our country are at fifteen still figuring out how to cheat on exams. It's time for some reflection."
"The teenagers you're describing only include boys. That's discrimination."
"Our education system is destroying our next generation."
"Our country will never produce a prodigy like this. Those people only look at your skin color and your family background."
At the home of Michael Reeve, the Helios CEO.
As usual, he intended to scroll through some tech news before bed. Instead, he saw the story about Ryan Mercer.
He looked at the news and lapsed into silence.
"At least a billion in budget? What kind of monster have I been fighting this whole time?"
A billion in budget wasn't actually that much. His company invested far more than that in research every year. But it depended entirely on who was putting up the money. Official state funding and private funding like his were not the same thing at all.
The matter had drawn enormous attention. Many nations had begun monitoring the situation closely.
Ryan Mercer and the Crimson Typhoon project were, in effect, the center of the world.
Countless people wanted to lift the project's veil of mystery and see what the mech hidden behind it actually looked like.
Even Chloe, who had never cared about online chatter, was startled. She placed a call specifically about it.
"Is that project everyone's talking about real? I'm seeing so many people discussing it."
"Of course it's real."
"A mech over seventy meters tall, that's, how tall is that?"
Chloe counted on her fingers. Figuring three meters per floor, she quickly arrived at her answer. The mech would be as tall as a twenty-five-story building.
"How much is that going to cost?" she marveled.
"Enough to keep you in chicken drumsticks for the rest of your life," Ryan teased.
"So this project's going to take a long time, right? Will you still be able to come home for the new year?"
"If you want to see me, just come over in the summer."
"Will I still be allowed inside?"
"Should be fine. The base's living area and work area will be separated by then."
Ryan chatted with Chloe for a while. Right after he hung up, he got a call from his parents.
Their questions were the same as Chloe's, all of them stunned by the Crimson Typhoon project.
Ryan had never disclosed a single detail of this project to them. Suddenly hearing that their son was going to be in charge of a billion-dollar-class project made them feel like they were dreaming.
"There are so many people wanting to interview us. We got more than a dozen calls in one morning alone. We turned them all down."
"A project this big getting approved means you're very much trusted. So don't take the outside world's opinions of you too seriously. Nothing they say can affect you. Just focus on your research."
His parents' concern warmed him.
"Don't worry. I don't pay much attention to what's online, and there's no way they could affect me."
It was true. Unless he was bored out of his mind, he didn't really read the online comments.
The neural network algorithm he was researching was far more interesting than anything those people had to say. And staring at the system panel, watching the gratifying speed of the development progress, was a lot more enjoyable than reading internet goofballs.
The system panel currently showed the development progress had advanced to twenty-five percent. It was like riding a rocket.
The people online, when you got down to it, were just being harvested without realizing it.