As the summit concluded, night gradually enveloped Jingzhou.
The black "Wuju" glided smoothly along the road, the cabin so quiet that only the faint hum of the electric motor could be heard.
Behind the vehicle, the lights of "Future City" merged into a dazzling sea of radiance.
Soon, the car returned to the apartment garage and came to a stop.
At this moment, Lu Chenyuan seemed somewhat exhausted.
Today, he had stood on that stage, facing the entire tech industry of Xia Nation.
He had overturned the table—and drawn an even grander blueprint.
It had drained him more than any business battle he'd ever fought.
Mo Qingli, seated in the passenger seat, sensed his weariness.
Without a word, she reached out and gently took his hand.
Her touch was warm and soft.
In the quiet companionship, the tension in Lu Chenyuan's nerves slowly eased.
He turned to look at her.
The shifting light from outside the window cast a hazy glow over her delicate profile.
She met his gaze.
Her eyes held complete understanding—and a faint trace of heartache.
"Let's go home," she said.
"Yeah, home," Lu Chenyuan replied, tightening his grip on her hand.
Cloud Peak One, the penthouse.
As they stepped inside, the motion-sensor lights in the foyer automatically brightened with a soft glow.
With Lu Shi'an growing older day by day, his grandmother and maternal grandmother had gradually returned to their own lives.
Mo Qingli had finally decided to hire a nanny.
Fortunately, the Mo family's deep roots made it easy to find a trustworthy candidate from their own circle.
By the time they returned home tonight, Lu Shi'an and the nanny were already asleep.
The sprawling penthouse was quiet and cozy.
This was their home.
Lu Chenyuan took off his coat and casually draped it over the rack.
He walked to the floor-to-ceiling window in the living room, gazing at the city below—a city he had profoundly transformed.
Mo Qingli emerged from the kitchen and handed him a glass of warm water.
"On that stage today," she began, her voice soft,
"You weren't the CEO of Yuanlong, nor were you Shi'an's father."
Lu Chenyuan accepted the glass and looked at her.
"Then who was I?"
Mo Qingli smiled.
That smile washed away all the tension and sharpness from the summit, leaving only the tenderness and admiration of this moment.
"You were... a thinker," she said gently.
"A thinker trying to forge a new order for this chaotic era."
Lu Chenyuan paused. This was the second time he'd heard Mo Qingli describe him this way.
The first time, he'd assumed it was mostly playful teasing between spouses.
But now, he saw in her eyes that she truly believed it.
Lu Chenyuan studied her briefly before lowering his gaze to the rippling water in his glass. After a moment of silence, he spoke softly.
"I didn’t think that far ahead."
He pulled her into an embrace, resting his chin against her shoulder.
"I just wanted to leave our son a better world."
"A world where he wouldn’t have to live as exhaustingly as we do."
"A world where he could look ahead instead of constantly watching for traps underfoot."
His voice was quiet but resolute.
Mo Qingli turned and buried her face in his chest.
In this moment, she no longer felt the presence of the calculating business titan.
Instead, she sensed the simplest yet grandest wish of a father.
They didn’t speak further, simply holding each other in silence.
Around the corner, the door to the nursery was slightly ajar, a dim nightlight glowing inside.
Lu Shi'an slept peacefully in his crib.
His tiny chest rose and fell with even breaths, and a faint, contented smile lingered on his face—as if he were lost in a sweet dream.
Lu Chenyuan's gaze softened immeasurably.
Today, he had stirred up a storm outside.
But here, all his armor melted away into tenderness.
This small, tranquil haven—
was both the starting point and the destination of all his efforts.
Three days after the Xia Nation Tech Summit, the alliance held its first preparatory meeting.
The closed-door session became another battleground of negotiation and compromise.
In the end, Lu Chenyuan was successfully appointed as the inaugural council chairman.
Xia Nation's tech industry, once a "Warring States era" of unchecked growth, began its true transition into a "federal era" of structured order.
News of the alliance's official launch and operation swept through the industry like a storm.
Some cheered; others were skeptical.
But for Lu Chenyuan's three younger brothers, the changes were immediate and tangible.
In Lu Chenxiao's biotech lab,
he received a call from Jingzhou University's School of Medicine.
They hoped to deepen their collaboration on a brain-computer interface project.
"Professor Lu, we used to worry that Yuanlong's 'Kaitian' model wouldn’t be compatible with our data interfaces," the voice on the line explained.
"But now, with the alliance's unified standards, all our medical imaging data can seamlessly integrate with your system."
"This is a huge leap for our research!"
After hanging up, Lu Chenxiao stared at the priceless equipment in his lab.
He knew his eldest brother had just opened a door to a new world for him.
Lu Chenjin's automotive tech lab also welcomed fresh opportunities.
A top domestic battery manufacturer approached him, offering to provide samples of their latest solid-state batteries at cost price.
"Mr. Lu, we hesitated before," their representative admitted candidly.
"Our technology has ties with both 'Wuju' and Sitela."
"We were afraid of accidentally crossing 'trade secret' lines."
"But now, with the supply chain health pact enabling non-core patent sharing, our concerns are much smaller."
"Let’s push the performance of domestic vehicles even higher together!"
Lu Chenjin held the letter of intent, his fingers trembling slightly.
The battery life bottleneck that had plagued him for half a year finally seemed surmountable.
The alliance's operations quickly stabilized.
Lu Chenyuan, meanwhile, fully embraced his role as a hands-off figurehead.
He attended no further meetings.
Media coverage of him dwindled just as rapidly.
He reverted to being the "retired" man who spent his days with his wife and child.
As if the radiant "thinker" from the tech summit had been nothing more than the world's illusion.
Meanwhile, far overseas, Lu Qianqian—who hadn’t returned home in a long time—also felt the ripple effects of Lu Chenyuan’s strategy.
Her "Horizon Foundation" had hit a roadblock in a poverty-alleviation project in Country J due to rising local protectionism.
But as the "Lighthouse" Foundation gained prominence and Xia Nation’s collective corporate influence grew,
the J government’s stance softened, even offering proactive support.
Ji Wushuang couldn’t help but marvel.
"Your brother is truly extraordinary."
"He’s playing a chess game from home,"
"yet we, outside the board, are all benefiting."
Watching the children’s smiling faces as they ran freely,
Lu Qianqian smiled too.
Explosive Plot Song Gua crossed over into another world, bringing along a whole crew of his doppelgangers—all of them mischief-makers. This was a world where everyone could choose a class. Song Gua became a "Bondweaver," capable of borrowing power, while his doppelgangers took on a wide variety of classes, covering just about everything. The number of doppelgangers grew day by day, each one a talented individual with a charming way of speaking. Under Song Gua's brilliant leadership, they would "greet" each other daily and engage in friendly "sparring," pulling off one major scheme after another on Earth. Sometimes they were bandits—stealing bosses, plundering mines, snatching resources. Sometimes they were saviors—descending like divine warriors to face world bosses threatening to massacre cities. Sometimes they even went undercover, infiltrating various major factions to stir up trouble from within, keeping their enemies constantly on edge. To prevent their doppelganger abilities from being exposed, Song Gua made them wear masks with mahjong tile patterns and don Taoist robes in various colors. "Remember, in front of outsiders, call me 'The Dice.'" "Got it! Boss!" "Not 'Boss'—it's 'The Dice.' Think about the vibe, pay attention to the vibe." "Yes! Boss!" "For crying out loud..." From then on, whenever they appeared, they would have their own theme song playing: ~Hey~ paying respects at the mountain stronghold at night~ whose arm is draped over whose shoulder~ gather your courage and follow along...
. As long as he maintains the villain image and follows the plot to the grand finale, he can obtain generous rewards and return to the real world. So Gu Chen'an entered the role and began to act as a scumbag villain, but who would have expected that the female leads could hear his inner thoughts. Miss Su from the Su family was shocked: "I originally thought Gu Chen'an was a scumbag, but I didn't expect he turned out to be a gentleman! What? You said I have to call off the engagement? I definitely won't, I'll piss you off!" Bai Yuan Tian was dumbfounded: "Young Master Gu is usually unreasonable and a complete brat, but he actually calls me little sweetie in his heart? What, Young Master Gu even said he likes me?" As the female leads' images collapsed more and more, the plot also collapsed with it. Gu Chen'an looked at all this chaos. "Ladies, don't aggro me, if you keep this up the male lead really will stab me, I still need to survive to the grand finale!"
orn and Humiliation】【Forced Love】 In his past life, Lin Ran was betrayed and murdered by his girlfriend and family, while the yandere female aristocrat, who had treated him as a mere plaything, avenged him by doing in his enemies. Upon seeing the yandere female aristocrat lying in the same coffin, ready to die with him, Lin Ran realized how profoundly mistaken he had been. Reborn, he abandoned the fickle campus beauty and wholeheartedly embraced the yandere female aristocrat's arms. "Ran! If I dig out your eyes and turn them into a specimen, you'll only be able to look at me!" Lin Ran: "Darling, kiss me!" "Ran! If I break your legs, you won't run away anymore, right?" Lin Ran: "Love, hold me tight!" "Ran! If..." Lin Ran: "Hush now! Love me more!" Luo Yao: ... Seeing his scumbag dad: "Take him out!" Seeing his stepmother: "Get rid of her!" Seeing his brother: "Eliminate him!" Seeing his white moonlight: "Send that to Southeast Asia!"
o a martial world and obtained a system that allowed him to draw one entry per year. Unfortunately, all he drew were useless white-tier entries. The probability for high-quality entries was extremely low, with the highest-tier mythic entry having a mere 0.001% chance! To increase the probability, he had to improve his martial realm, but he lacked the innate talent for cultivation. At the age of eighteen, Chen Yi fell into the hands of a gang and was forced into hard labor. Just as his life seemed destined for a bleak end, on his 18th entry draw, he actually pulled a mythic entry—Simulator! In the simulation, he could also draw one entry every year that passed, and upon ending the simulation, he would inherit all entries and his martial realm! In his first simulation, Chen Yi struggled desperately just to survive, knowing that living one more year meant one more entry draw! Finally, with hair turned white, he drew the entry he had longed for—Low-Grade Innate Talent! "Hahaha! Don't bully the old and poor! Time to cultivate and inherit my cultivation base!" ... From then on, Chen Yi continuously simulated and drew entries, his martial realm soaring higher and higher! Epic, legendary, and even mythic entries were gathered into his collection one after another! "What demon race or devil race? What dark turmoil? I don't know anything about that. They just charged at me screaming 'How can you possibly ascend to immortality?!' and got stuck to my fists, unable to be shaken off. Blind spots, speed bumps... go talk to my simulator. We're all struggling to survive out here. I'm trying so hard, so how are they still alive?"
