A live stream of someone hand-making a giant white robot attracted the attention of the government,

Faced with Su Wanqing's words, "Are you crazy?", Bai Che didn't even bother to lift his eyelids.

He pushed the laptop back in front of Su Wanqing and lightly tapped the two fatal words on the screen with his fingertip.

"Are you crazy? I don't think so."

His tone was as flat as if he were discussing a takeout menu.

"This is the most efficient solution. It saves you the time of drafting a lengthy article, the energy of dealing with their legal team, and the trouble of being harassed countless times in the future."

Bai Che extended a finger and tapped it on the table.

"Once and for all. I hate trouble."

A permanent solution?

Su Wanqing's temples throbbed violently, as if war drums were beating inside them. This was called a permanent solution? It was clearly like carrying a nuclear bomb into a powder keg, and then complaining that the fuse was burning too slowly!

She braced herself on the table with both hands, her body leaning slightly forward with excitement, trying to make the man with the peculiar thought process in front of her understand the seriousness of the matter.

"This isn't a problem of trouble! It's a problem of survival! You've completely sealed off cooperation, even poured concrete on top of it! They'll use every force they have, from patents to the supply chain, from public opinion to the market, to strangle us! We won't last a month!"

Wang Tao, standing to the side, dared not speak. He looked at Su Wanqing, who was on the verge of exploding with rage, and then at Bai Che, who remained calm and composed. He felt as if he had stumbled into a battle between gods, and even the aftershocks could shatter him.

Bai Che finally sat up straighter in his chair.

He looked at Su Wanqing.

He sighed, dropped his lazy demeanor, leaned forward, and met her gaze.

"President Su, you've made a mistake."

"They dared to throw out a hundred billion, thinking they could swallow us whole, not because they were polite, but because they thought that we, and the dragon nation behind us, couldn't make a second battery of the same standard."

His voice wasn't loud, but it clearly pierced through Su Wanqing's chaotic thoughts.

"They think we were just lucky and found some treasure. So they want to buy it out and control it. You can't reason with robbers or write them the most beautiful letters; it won't change the fact that they want to rob you."

Bai Che leaned back in his chair, reverting to his usual smug look.

"Therefore, the most effective way to deal with robbers is not to negotiate whether you can steal less, but to break their legs directly. Let them know that you not only have treasures here, but also hunting rifles."

After saying that, he stood up, completely ignoring Su Wanqing and Wang Tao, who were already petrified.

"Alright, the meeting's over. I'm hungry, Wang Tao, go buy a braised pork knuckle rice bowl, and add two pork knuckles."

He strolled out of the conference room with his hands in his pockets, yawning, leaving behind a deathly silence and a female CEO whose worldview had been completely turned upside down.

~

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, in Cupertino, the Eagle Nation.

Inside the circular spaceship-shaped building at Apple's headquarters, the top-floor conference room was filled with a relaxed and comfortable atmosphere.

Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows shone the California sun; around the conference table sat a group of the world's most powerful tech giants. Leading them was none other than Apple CEO Tim Cook.

He held a cup of Blue Mountain coffee elegantly, a knowing smile on his face.

"A hundred billion US dollars—this is the largest cash acquisition offer in Apple's history. I believe our friends in the East are currently worrying about how to throw a grand celebration party."

His words elicited a light, good-natured laugh.

A vice president in charge of market strategy leaned back in his chair, casually twirling a pen in his hand.

"Tim, I even think this offer is too high. A company that's only been around for a few months, a technology that hasn't even officially released a product. We're offering a price they wouldn't even dare to dream of."

“No, James,” Cook shook his finger, “we’re not buying that little company, we’re buying the future. We’re buying the brain of that young man named Bai Che, the insurance that will ensure the crown of technology still rests on our heads for the next twenty years.”

Confidence, absolute confidence, permeated the air.

In their view, there was no possibility of the acquisition failing. It was simply a matter of whether the other party would accept it with ecstatic joy or feign modesty and ask for a small additional fee.

Just then, the conference room door was gently pushed open.

Cook's chief secretary, a blonde woman in a smart business suit, walked in quickly in high heels.

She wore a professional smile and held an A4 sheet of paper that had just come out of the printer and was still warm.

"Sir, we have received a reply from Zero Boundary Technology."

All eyes were drawn to the piece of paper.

Cook smiled, put down his coffee cup, and took the paper with elegant and composed movements, as if he were unwrapping a pre-ordered Christmas gift.

"Let's see how our new colleague expresses his gratitude."

He looked down at the paper.

The smile on his face froze instantly the next second.

As if a pause button had been pressed, he froze in place. The relaxed conversation and laughter in the conference room abruptly stopped, and everyone noticed the strange change.

Cook thought he was getting old and his eyesight was failing.

He brought the paper closer and looked at it again.

In the center of the paper were only two simple black words, yet they seemed to carry endless mockery and contempt.

Get lost.

Those two words, like two red-hot steel needles, pierced his eyeballs, causing his blood pressure, which had remained stable for years, to spike instantly.

"What's wrong, Tim?" James, the vice president next to him, leaned over curiously. "Do they want more? Their appetite is too big."

His gaze fell on the piece of paper.

Then, without any warning, the mouthful of coffee he had just taken a sip of sprayed out with a "pfft," splattering all over the expensive conference table documents in front of him.

The entire conference room fell into a deathly silence that lasted for ten seconds.

All the executives saw those two words.

The confidence, elegance, and strategic acumen on their faces were shattered in that instant, replaced by absurdity, astonishment, and incomprehensible blankness.

Ten seconds later, the deathly silence was ripped apart by a roar that had been suppressed to the extreme.

"SHIT!"

An executive slammed his hand on the table and stood up abruptly. His usually kind and smiling face was now contorted with anger.

"What is this? A joke? Who are they insulting!"

"Madmen! A bunch of complete madmen! Do they even know who they're talking to?!"

"Incomprehensible! This is the most arrogant and stupid response I've ever seen in my life!"

An uproar erupted instantly. These elites, standing at the pinnacle of the world, felt their dignity being trampled on repeatedly in the most brutal way.

This is no longer a business rejection.

This is a declaration of war.

A declaration of war from the East, brimming with primal wildness and making no attempt to conceal its true nature.

Tim Cook slowly put down the paper. His soaring blood pressure had subsided, replaced by an extremely cold calm.

He raised his head, looked around at his agitated subordinates, and slowly spoke in a voice devoid of any emotion.

"Anderson".

He called out the name of the public relations manager.

"This reply was 'accidentally' leaked to our closest media friends."

The PR manager paused for a moment, then understood the CEO's intention, and a sinister smile appeared on his face.

"I understand, sir. I've already thought of a title."

Cook closed his eyes, leaned back in his chair, and when he spoke again, his voice carried the chilling intent of a drawn sword.

"I want this company and that young man named Bai Che to pay a price they can't afford for their arrogance. I want them to know that if they reject Apple's goodwill, they should be prepared to face Apple's full wrath."

Less than half an hour.

A global media storm erupted, centered in the United States.

Bloomberg's front-page headline, in bold, blood-red font, read: "Arrogance or Madness? China's Tech Upstart Responds to Apple's Billion-Dollar Acquisition with 'Get Out!'"

Fox News' homepage even featured a photo of Bai Che at the press conference, accompanied by a highly sensational headline: "A Slap in the Face to the Eagle Nation: Unprecedented Arrogance from China's Tech Star!"

The incident, which started as a commercial acquisition, quickly escalated into a "diplomatic incident" concerning the nation's technological dignity and face, at a speed beyond anyone's imagination.

Dragon Kingdom, Qiming No. 1 Laboratory.

Wang Tao was holding his phone, his body trembling violently. He frantically refreshed the webpage, and each new news item that popped up made his face turn paler.

He struggled to lift his head, looking at the person who had started the pork trotter rice takeout menu, who was sitting leisurely at his workstation, his voice trembling with tears.

"Che...Brother Che..."

"We...we're on the global front page."