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

Yan Qingfeng threw the dirty tissue into the trash can and casually said, "Unplug the internet cable and turn off the power," which directly sentenced the last piece of industrial flesh in Handong to death.

Lingxiao Technology Headquarters, Central Control Hall.

Qin Wushuang, wearing a wrinkled white lab coat, stared at the dense data stream on the screen, a lollipop dangling from her lips.

The assistant next to him cautiously leaned over and swallowed hard.

"President Qin, are you really cutting them all off? There are hundreds of factories in the high-tech park that rely on our cloud system to power their machine tools."

Qin Wushuang crunched the candy with a "crunch" and spat the plastic stick onto the ground.

"Even if the Heavenly King himself came, he would have to obey Lord Yan's orders."

He stared at the screen, a hint of the arrogance typical of a crazy tech geek flashing in his eyes.

"Li Dakang wants to exploit us, I'll make sure he can't even dig up the roots!"

Qin Wushuang's fingers flew across the keyboard, leaving a trail of afterimages.

Finally, he slammed his fist down on the conspicuous red Enter key.

"Reclaim cloud service authorization, physically lock down the underlying data interfaces. Let them do CNC machining with abacuses."

On the other side, in the central control room of Lingxiao Energy.

Lei Zhen sat shirtless and swaggering in a chair, toying with a heavy, pure copper lighter in his hand.

The dispatcher ran over, sweating profusely, holding a route map in his hand.

"Mr. Lei, are we really going to shut down the dedicated line to the Science and Technology Park? The Municipal Construction Commission has people keeping a close eye on it."

Lei Zhen's eyes widened, and he snatched the circuit diagram, crumpled it into a ball, and slammed it to the ground.

His loud voice made the explosion-proof glass in the control room vibrate.

"Screw you! Our transformer is severely aged and faces the risk of explosion. Immediate repairs are perfectly reasonable!"

Lei Zhen strode to the control panel and gripped the main power switch of the main line with his thick fingers.

He grinned, revealing two rows of gleaming white teeth, and pulled down sharply.

"I'm conducting a legitimate inspection today! Tell everyone below to delay the schedule by a full three days, not a second less!"

With a dull, loud "click," the power grid was instantly cut off.

Phytium Precision Manufacturing Plant, Jingzhou High-tech Industrial Park.

Factory director Wang Dafu was holding a thermos cup, standing next to the workshop director, staring at the roaring dust-free production line and grinning foolishly.

If this batch of Apple accessory orders for export is delivered smoothly tomorrow, he can make at least 20 million yuan in net profit.

Suddenly, a piercing system alarm ripped open the workshop's eardrums.

"Buzz—Beep beep beep!"

The German-imported robotic arm on the assembly line twitched violently twice, as if it had been pulled out of its muscle, and then instantly crashed.

Hundreds of computer screens flickered twice and then went completely black.

"What's going on! Call the internet cafe manager right now! Are you guys just freeloaders?!"

Wang Dafu shouted in his hoarse voice, and with a tremor of his hand, the scalding hot goji berry water in his thermos spilled all over his big belly.

He was burning up and grimaced, jumping up and down in pain.

The workshop foreman scrambled over, his yellow safety helmet half-fallen off.

"Director Wang! It's no use! Our CNC machine tools all rely on the underlying protocol of Lingxiao Cloud Service."

The director was so anxious he was jumping up and down, pointing to the row of imported equipment next to him that had been completely turned into scrap metal.

"The network interface has been forcibly shut down, and I can't even enter my login password!"

Wang Dafu's vision went black, and he felt as if a huge iron hammer had hit him hard on the head.

Before he could even utter a curse, hundreds of high-wattage incandescent light bulbs overhead suddenly went out with a "pop."

The workshop fell into a deathly silence; even the sound of the ventilation fan bearings stopped.

In the darkness, the workers looked at each other, still holding incomplete, precision parts in their hands.

"Who the hell cut off the power?!" Wang Dafu angrily kicked over a parts basket.

A cacophony of shouts and curses erupted from outside, plunging the entire science park into complete chaos.

Wang Dafu stumbled out of the factory, and the scene before him almost made him faint.

The park square, usually bustling with traffic, was now packed with people.

The owners of hundreds of contract factories, who usually call each other brothers at the dinner table, are now as anxious as ants on a hot pan.

"What the power company is doing! I still have millions of pieces of silicone on my production line that haven't been molded yet, and now they're all ruined by the power outage!"

A bald boss was so anxious he was jumping up and down, frantically dialing numbers on his phone, almost poking the screen through.

Mr. Li, who was making circuit boards next to him, looked ashen-faced. His phone fell to the ground, and the screen shattered.

"Stop hitting it. I just asked someone, and it wasn't the power company that cut off the power."

Boss Li's voice trembled, and his eyes were so red they looked like they were about to bleed.

"It's Lingxiao Energy's private power grid! They said the equipment was old, it was a legitimate maintenance check, and they're cutting off the power for three days!"

The square fell silent for a second after those words were spoken, then erupted into even louder wails.

Wang Dafu's legs went weak, and he knelt down on the rough cement floor with a thud.

"Three days? This batch of export orders needs to be delivered to the port by noon tomorrow!"

He pounded his thighs with both hands, tears and snot streaming down his face, completely unlike the image of a boss.

"The penalty for breach of contract is ten times the order amount! I couldn't afford to pay that even if I sold my factory!"

"Why are we being used as scapegoats for the crimes committed by the municipal party committee?! Master Yan is trying to kill us!"

Some of the business owners around were squatting on the ground scratching their heads, some were pointing to the sky and cursing, and most of them had faces full of despair.

Within half an hour, news of the science park's shutdown spread like wildfire throughout the entire Jingzhou business community.

Without the technological support of the Lingxiao Consortium, Handong's underlying industrial ecosystem collapsed like dominoes.

There was no network interface, no electrical processing, and they couldn't even produce the most basic packing strap.

Handong, which Li Dakang once regarded as a cash cow, has completely lost its ability to resist and has become a dead piece of meat.

The presidential suite on the top floor of the Jingzhou International Hotel is so luxurious it's dazzling.

George Williams, a representative of a multinational investment bank on Wall Street, holds a glass of dark red Romanée-Conti.

He stood in front of the huge floor-to-ceiling window, looking down at the silent technology park in the distance.

On his blond, blue-eyed face hung a greedy smile, like that of a scavenger.

The stench of the collapse of the Handong industrial chain had already drifted to his nose on the Pacific monsoon.

On the leather sofa behind him sat a portly Chinese comprador, wiping away greasy sweat with a handkerchief.

"Mr. George, the Lingxiao Consortium's move was too ruthless; they've completely exposed Handong's weaknesses."

The comprador, his face full of obsequiousness, leaned closer and lowered his voice to report.

"Li Dakang went to Jiangnan Province last night to seek help, but was kicked out by Ma Tengyun. No domestic capital dares to step in and take over now."

George swirled his wine glass, leaving a beautiful ring of red wine on the rim.

He tilted his chin slightly back, his eyes gleaming with the sharp glint of a hunter eyeing his prey.

"Foolish local officials always think they can control capital. They simply don't understand how terrifying a high-end ecosystem can be once it forms a closed loop."

George turned around, downed the glass of red wine in one gulp, and casually tossed the empty glass onto the soft carpet.

He straightened his bespoke suit and tie, a wide grin spreading across his face.

"Go and get my car ready."

The comprador was stunned for a moment, then quickly stood up and bowed.

"Mr. George, where are you going? It's chaotic outside, there are workers everywhere demanding their unpaid wages."

George strode toward the door, his ambition barely concealed in his eyes.

"Let's go and meet that desperate municipal party secretary."

George opened the solid wood door of the suite and left without turning around, uttering a single sentence.

"Tell him that the dollars on Wall Street can be his savior at any time."