Amidst the fierce competition between Yuanlong, Qin Corporation, Stellar, Mo Group, and nearly half of the tech industry, the annual Xia Nation Technology Summit commenced.
The venue was set in Jingzhou’s "Future City."
This was no longer just a blueprint from seven years ago.
From the initial investment of 100 billion, the total funding had now surpassed the trillion mark.
And "Future City" lived up to its name.
Within its boundaries, low-noise maglev tracks weaved between mirror-like skyscrapers.
Driverless vehicles glided silently along dedicated lanes.
The exteriors of buildings themselves served as massive flexible displays, streaming real-time weather updates, news, and artistic data visualizations.
Seven years ago, Lu Chenyuan had drawn this grand vision.
Seven years later, Xia Nation’s top tech giants and national resources had turned it into reality.
The summit’s main venue, resembling a colossal silver seashell, stood at the heart of Future City.
At the entrance, crowds surged.
Tech moguls, investors, and journalists from across the globe gathered here.
The atmosphere was tense and charged.
All eyes, intentionally or not, were drawn to two directions:
Yuanlong Tech’s exhibition booth.
Qin Corporation’s exhibition booth.
One to the east, the other to the west.
Separated by the central plaza, they faced each other like two titans poised for battle.
The air was thick with the scent of gunpowder.
Everyone wondered how these two giants, after months of brutal infighting, would clash today.
Inside Yuanlong’s lounge, Ren Qian stood by the floor-to-ceiling window, holding a cup of coffee.
Her gaze fixed on Qin Corporation’s glaring logo in the plaza below, her brow slightly furrowed.
"Qin Ya has thrown half the company’s budget into this," she murmured.
"Looks like it’s a fight to the death."
Beside her, Lin Yuan was handling urgent matters for Lianshan on his tablet.
He didn’t look up, merely responding with a quiet "Hmm."
Since marrying Ren Qian, he had grown even more composed.
As if, with her by his side, even the sky collapsing wouldn’t faze him.
"Will Lu Chenyuan show up today?" Ren Qian still felt uneasy.
"He said he would," Lin Yuan set the tablet aside and met her eyes.
"But not in the way we expect."
Ren Qian sighed.
She seemed to have guessed Lu Chenyuan’s intentions.
Yet the more he acted this way, the heavier the pressure in her heart grew.
The summit’s opening ceremony proceeded as usual.
Speeches from officials, industry reports, white paper releases.
Everything seemed uneventful—until the keynote address.
The host stepped onto the stage, wearing a mysteriously excited smile.
"Ladies and gentlemen, our next speaker is… extraordinary."
"He has been absent from the public eye for a long time."
"Yet everything he has built has profoundly shaped our era."
"Let’s give a warm welcome to…"
The host paused, deliberately building suspense.
Spotlights instantly converged on the center of the stage.
"The founder of Yuanlong Tech—Mr. Lu Chenyuan!"
For a moment, the room fell into dead silence.
Then, thunderous applause and gasps erupted.
Everyone rose in shock, staring at the stage entrance.
Lu Chenyuan?
The man who had announced his "retirement," who had been living a reclusive life with his family?
Under the collective gaze, Lu Chenyuan walked calmly onto the stage.
He wore simple casual attire—a white shirt and dark trousers.
No tie, no designer labels, not even an assistant in sight.
Alone, he reached the center.
Behind him, the massive screen displayed no slides, no script.
Just a single line of text:
"Widen the Road."
Lu Chenyuan picked up the microphone and scanned the audience.
His gaze was calm yet carried a power that instantly silenced the thousands present.
"Hello, everyone. I’m Lu Chenyuan."
His voice, crisp through the speakers, reached every corner.
"Long time no see."
He smiled, as if greeting old friends.
"The past year has been… eventful for our industry."
"Price wars, PR battles, talent wars."
"Everyone has worked hard. Sacrificed much."
"But I have a question."
He paused, his eyes sweeping over familiar faces in the front row—
Ren Qian, Lin Yuan, Qin Ya, and Baker, Stellar’s China CEO.
"Are we racing on a narrow mountain path?"
"Chasing, overtaking, refusing to yield—until we’re battered and bruised?"
"All for the sake of being the sole champion who reaches the summit?"
"And yet, we’ve forgotten."
"On either side of this path… are bottomless cliffs."
"Below those cliffs stand our real opponents—armed with rifles."
The room was deathly still.
His metaphor was too vivid. Too brutal.
It sent a chill down the spines of everyone listening.
"Is this truly the only road we can take?"
Lu Chenyuan’s voice rang out again.
"Can we stop racing?"
"Can we work together?"
"To widen this narrow path into an eight-lane highway?"
"Where every vehicle can speed ahead without obstruction?"
......
Lu Chenyuan’s entire speech lasted barely ten minutes.
Then, he set the microphone down, bowed deeply, and walked offstage.
Yet after he left, the room remained silent.
Until, from the front row, a woman in a red dress slowly stood and began to clap.
It was Qin Ya.
Like sparks igniting a prairie fire, applause erupted across the venue.
Amid the ovation, Baker wore a professional smile as he joined in.
But his eyes held no warmth—only icy vigilance.
Leaning toward his assistant, he whispered, barely audible:
"Alert headquarters immediately."
"Lu Chenyuan just flipped the table."
The assistant nodded and slipped out unnoticed.
Baker straightened, watching Lu Chenyuan’s retreating figure with a deepening gaze.
He knew Stellar’s golden days in Xia Nation’s tech circle were over.
During the summit’s break, behind the closed doors of an exclusive VIP lounge, a private meeting took place.
Lu Chenyuan, Mo Qingli, Qin Ya, Ren Qian, Lin Yuan, and founders of other leading tech firms were all present.
No outsider knew what transpired during those four hours.
Only that it must have been a fierce battle of wits—of bargaining, compromise, and high-stakes gambles for the future.
When the doors reopened, each attendee wore a different expression.
Some relieved, some solemn—but no losers.
That afternoon, a joint statement sent shockwaves through the tech world:
The Xia Nation Technology Industry Healthy Development Alliance had been formed!
On the list of initiators for this joint statement, the names of companies such as Abyss Dragon Technologies, Mo Group, and Qin Group stood out prominently.
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
lanned to earn money steadily and take life at a slower pace. But he never expected... his father's remarriage, and the stepmother bringing along a dependent, would completely disrupt his life's plans...
rowess are unmatched, commanding a million-strong army! Yet, the Emperor wants to depose him for the sake of a false prince? Hold on, are you throwing me into some female-oriented romance plot? How can I tolerate this? With a grand wave of his hand—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! Slander the Emperor? Very well, all of you shall die! ... The False Prince: "Although I am not the biological son, Father and Mother love me more. The throne should be mine!" The Female Lead: "Qin Xiao, you are the Emperor, and I am a commoner. If you wish to marry me, you must abdicate. Otherwise, you will never have me!" The Empress: "After we divorce, you must give me half the empire!" The Transmigrator Consort: "You worthless Emperor, why should I kneel to you? All men are equal—I advise you to be kind!" The Great General: "The enemy general is my childhood sweetheart. For her sake, I willingly abandon the frontier defenses!" The Retired Emperor: "Although Yu'er was adopted, I prefer him. Qin Xiao, you should abdicate and let him become Emperor!" ... Very well! So this is how you want to play? Facing this twisted world of female-oriented tropes, Qin Xiao grins and raises his hand to unleash—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! I am the Emperor. Why would I bother reasoning with you? Seal the gates! Leave none alive!
transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”
