Handong: Sha Li wants political achievements? I'll shut down the entire province.

A cool night breeze caused the hem of Yan Qingfeng's black trench coat to flutter.

He strode out of the ornately carved gate of the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, leaving behind his anger and scheming.

Zhou Yuan quickly stepped forward and opened the car door.

Yan Qingfeng bent down and sat in the back seat of the Hongqi L5. Once the door was closed, the damp cold outside was shut out.

He took out his phone from his pocket and dialed the secure hotline of the Lingxiao Group's headquarters in Handong.

"Master Yan, this is information just intercepted by the intelligence department."

On the other end of the phone, Chief Financial Officer Su Jianxin's voice was tinged with coldness.

"Those established car companies in Beijing have joined forces and are preparing to mobilize tens of billions of yuan to smash the assets of several of our affiliated companies first thing tomorrow morning."

Yan Qingfeng leaned back on the leather headrest and let out a very soft, cold laugh.

"Hundreds of billions? Let them spend it, consider it a big firework display for Ling Xiao."

He turned to look at the street scene rushing past the window, his eyes sharp as knives.

"Notify the lab that the Lingxiao-1 solid-state battery will be launched globally at 10:00 AM tomorrow."

There was a clear pause on the other end of the phone, followed by heavy breathing.

"Master Yan, are you really going to reveal your trump card?"

"Trump card?" Yan Qingfeng tapped his fingers on the armrest, his tone languid.

"What's scrap for us is a death sentence for them."

The next day, in Handong Province, at the Lingxiao Building.

At 9:30 a.m., the circular studio on the first floor, which can accommodate 3,000 people, was already packed like sardines.

Reporters from hundreds of top media outlets around the world flew to Handong overnight with their cameras and microphones.

For no other reason than that Master Yan announced that the Lingxiao Consortium is launching a revolutionary product today.

"Hey bro, what do you think we're going to release today? A next-generation holographic VR? Or something about the metaverse?"

A top-tier independent media personality from the tech zone below the stage was whispering to his foreign counterpart.

"Who knows? Ling Xiao's secrecy level is too high."

His colleague wiped the sweat from his brow. "But they're really good at software. I guess it's another example of how the internet can deliver a devastating blow."

At exactly 10 o'clock, the lights suddenly dimmed.

There was no deafening countdown music, nor any fancy dance performances to warm up the crowd.

A white spotlight slammed into the center of the stage.

Lao Wei, the chief technology officer of Lingxiao Group, was wearing a faded plaid shirt.

He slowly walked onto the stage, carrying a tablet computer between his legs.

They skipped the small talk and went straight to the giant holographic projection screen behind them, which was over a hundred square meters in size.

"No stories, no empty promises, no PowerPoint presentations today."

Old Wei pushed up his black-rimmed glasses, and his rough voice carried throughout the venue through the loudspeaker.

"Today, the Lingxiao Consortium is only releasing one thing: Lingxiao No. 1, an all-solid-state battery."

As soon as he finished speaking, the entire room fell into an eerie silence.

A full three seconds passed before a deafening roar erupted in the studio, a roar that could have blown the roof off.

"Batteries? Isn't Ling Xiao an internet developer? How come he's getting into hardware?"

"All-solid-state batteries? Are you kidding me!"

"That's a tough nut to crack, and it'll take at least another ten years to master!"

Ignoring the questions from the audience, Lao Wei lightly swiped on the tablet.

The platform in the center of the stage slowly rose, revealing a silver-gray alloy briefcase to the audience.

The box popped open automatically, revealing a rectangular module inside that looked like black crystal.

"This is the actual product."

Old Wei spoke in a flat tone, as if he were introducing a brick.

"There are only three key data points. First, a standard passenger vehicle equipped with this battery has a real-world range of 1,000 kilometers, without any exaggeration."

A collective gasp rippled through the audience.

"Secondly, with our ultra-high voltage charging stations, it only takes five minutes to go from zero to full charge."

A technical representative from a traditional car company in the front row suddenly stood up, his face flushed.

"Impossible! This defies the laws of physics! A battery would have thermally run away and exploded long ago if it were fully charged in five minutes!"

"Good question." Old Wei grinned, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth.

"So this is the third point: zero spontaneous combustion."

He calmly clicked on the live stream on the big screen.

The scene then cuts to the heavy-duty explosion-proof laboratory underground at Lingxiao's headquarters.

Two engineers wearing heavy protective suits are tightly locking a Lingxiao No. 1 battery of the same model onto the test bench.

"Talk is cheap, let's do something real." Old Wei snapped his fingers.

In the live stream footage, an industrial-grade alloy electric drill was seen protruding.

Aiming directly at the center of the battery, it plunged in without any fancy moves!

"Sizzle sizzle—"

The piercing metallic scraping sound emanated from the speaker, making one's teeth ache.

The sharp drill bit pierced through the entire battery pack in an instant!

Many people in the audience covered their ears in fright and instinctively backed away.

I was afraid that a towering flame would suddenly erupt on the screen at any moment.

Existing lithium batteries are so fragile that even slight compression or deformation can cause them to catch fire or explode, let alone be punctured.

One second, two seconds, ten seconds passed.

Apart from a few bits of debris that emerged, the battery in the picture remained as stable as a mountain.

Not even a wisp of smoke rose.

On the voltage tester next to it, the green numbers jumped steadily, and the output did not fluctuate at all.

"This isn't over yet." Old Wei laughed like a villain.

In the laboratory, several high-pressure blowtorches were aimed at the pierced battery.

The blue flames, reaching temperatures of over a thousand degrees, instantly engulfed it.

It burned for a full three minutes!

When the flame went out, the battery casing was already blackened.

But the numbers on the voltage tester remained firm!

"This is insane...this must be alien technology!"

The top-rated self-media personality held his head in his hands, staring intently at the screen, his lips trembling.

The car company representative who had just stood up to question the situation slumped back into his chair with a thud.

His face was ashen.

He knew that the world had changed.

This press conference, which lasted less than twenty minutes, was like a nuclear bomb, precisely hitting the global capital market.

The moment the news broke.

Just as the domestic A-share market opened, Chairman Sun, who was still swaggering around Diaoyutai last night, saw his Longteng New Energy company suffer a bloodbath.

Millions of large sell orders pinned the stock price firmly to its daily limit down.

In pre-market trading on Nasdaq overseas, the stock prices of several international electric vehicle giants plummeted like a building falling from a high-rise.

Traditional trams, in front of this black crystal, have become unwanted scrap metal overnight.

At the same time, in the provincial party committee compound of Handong Province.

Li Dakang, the Party Secretary of Jingzhou City, stood in front of the television in his office.

He froze like a statue.

On television, the extreme test that shocked the world was being replayed.

The cigarette he was holding had long since burned down to the filter.

His fingers were burning painfully hot, but he was completely unaware.

"Oh God..."

Li Dakang abruptly threw away the cigarette butt and stomped it out.

His eyes were bloodshot, his chest heaved violently, and his breathing was rapid, like a leaky bellows.

This isn't a battery!

This is clearly a glittering trillion-dollar gold mine!

If traditional automakers are crippled, how big would a solid-state battery factory have to be? How many upstream and downstream supply chains would it have to drive?

Li Dakang paced anxiously in his spacious office.

The leather shoes clicked on the wooden floor.

He grabbed the landline on the table and, with trembling fingers, dialed the secretary's internal number.

"Xiao Wang! Prepare the car immediately! We're going to Lingxiao Building!"

The secretary on the other end of the phone was startled by Li Dakang's hysterical voice.

"Secretary, there's an important provincial standing committee meeting this afternoon regarding investment promotion, chaired personally by Secretary Sha. You...?"

"Screw this Standing Committee meeting! What kind of foreign investment could be this big?!"

Li Dakang loosened his tie, the veins on his neck bulging, and roared into the microphone.

"This technology, this scale! If this mega-factory could be built in our Jingzhou, imagine how much GDP it would generate!"

He stared intently at the dark gold logo of Yan Qingfeng's Lingxiao Consortium on the television screen, and gritted his teeth as he gave the order.

"Even if I have to line up like a grandson outside the Lingxiao Building today, I'll still bring Master Yan, this god of wealth, to Jingzhou!"