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.
Cheng's father told him he was getting remarried—to a wealthy woman. Cao Cheng realized his time had finally come: he was about to become a second-generation rich kid. Sure, it might be a watered-down version, but hey, at least he'd have status now, right? The wealthy woman also had four daughters!! Which meant, starting today, Cao Cheng gained four stunning older sisters?? But that wasn't even the whole story... "My name is Cao Cheng—'Cheng' as in 'honest, smooth-talking gentleman'!"
e, Immortal Body, Transmigration, System, Progression Fantasy, Academy Setting, Third-Person Perspective. Alternate Title: Transmigrating into a High Martial World and Reading Live Comments. Bad news: I transmigrated. This is a terrifying high-martial world, and my original, pathetically weak body fell into a coma and never woke up. Good news: I got a Popularity Points system upon arrival. I can see live comments and even create an unkillable alternate identity. Starting out, the alternate identity has all stats at 1. The system tells me that to grow stronger, I must participate in the plot, gain popularity points to allocate stats and grow stronger, and ultimately awaken my original body. And so, carrying my original body on my back, I officially entered Huaqing Academy, where the story's protagonist resides. From that moment on, Chen Guan kicked the original plot to pieces. Live Comments: [Doesn't anyone find this mysterious coffin guy creepy? He can summon indescribable grey misty hands.] [Is this guy a hero or a villain? What kind of onion became a spirit?] [By the way, does anyone know who's in the coffin? Shouldn't the debt for saving his life be repaid by now?] [According to unofficial histories, the person in the coffin was Chen Guan's first love. Their love was once passionate and earth-shattering, but they were separated by life and death due to worldly circumstances. What a star-crossed pair.] ... Years later, the world knew of a demon god born from a coffin, shrouded in grey mist, impossible to gaze upon directly. His foremost divine emissary often wielded a scythe, reaping lives like the god of death. As war approached, facing former friends and a boundless sea of enemies, Chen Guan merely raised his scythe. "Would you like to dance as well?"
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.”
