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

The rain hadn't completely stopped, and leaden-gray clouds pressed down heavily over Jingzhou City, making it so stuffy that even breathing felt difficult.

Half an hour ago, Li Dakang's unlicensed Hongqi car fled the Lingxiao Building like a drowned dog.

He handed over the entire blood and flesh of the Bright District to Yan Qingfeng.

The remote children's palace on the outskirts of Guangming District seems to be a corner completely forgotten by the world.

Three of the streetlights in the courtyard were broken, and the remaining one emitted a pale, flickering light.

This place is so dilapidated that even mice wouldn't bother to dig a hole.

Muddy water dripped down from the leaking asbestos roof tiles.

The air was filled with a pungent smell of moldy paint mixed with the stench of urine and alkali that had been left uncleaned for years.

Sun Liancheng squatted by a muddy puddle, the cuffs of his cheap trousers rolled up high.

He was holding a tattered towel whose original color was no longer discernible, and he was slowly wiping the rusty old astronomical telescope in front of him.

The red paint on the lens barrel had long since peeled off, revealing the rough, rusty iron underneath.

Sun Liancheng's sallow old face was lifeless.

His eye sockets were sunken deep, and his two cloudy eyes were filled with a dull gray, like a pool of dead water.

Ever since being publicly humiliated by Li Dakang, he was banished to this desolate place where even birds don't defecate.

The last bit of human spirit in him had long been burned away.

"They can't even get funding for a convex lens... just two hundred yuan short!"

His Adam's apple bobbed dryly, as if a wad of bloody cotton was stuck in his throat, making his voice hoarse and distorted.

The city not only suspended all funding for his district's astronomical bureau.

Just yesterday, even the monthly rust removal and maintenance fee of several hundred dollars for this dilapidated youth palace was cut off by the Finance Bureau.

He spent half his life working humbly and incompetently within the system.

I am neither greedy nor greedy, I do not take sides or form cliques, I just want to quietly look at the stars.

But now, even his last pitiful hope has been crushed by those high and mighty people.

"Boom—Boom—Boom!"

A deafening roar of violent air currents suddenly tore through the deathly silence above the Children's Palace.

Sun Liancheng's scalp tingled.

A heavily armed helicopter, completely black and without any paint, cleaved through the low-hanging clouds like a steel behemoth and descended straight down.

The gale-force winds whipped up by the propellers directly blew several rusted metal trash cans out of the yard and into the air.

Rotten vegetable leaves, spoiled leftovers, and dirty water were thrown all over the floor.

The pungent smell of aviation kerosene, mixed with the sour stench of fermenting garbage, instantly filled the entire yard.

The choking caused Sun Liancheng to cough violently.

Stomach acid surged up his esophagus, burning his chest with a fiery pain.

The helicopter was still three meters off the ground when the cabin door was violently pulled open with a "whoosh".

Zhou Yuan, wearing a black vest that accentuated his muscular physique and with a cheap cigarette smoldering in his mouth, jumped down.

"Clatter."

The heavy military boots slammed heavily into the muddy pit.

Black mud splattered all over Sun Liancheng's face, emitting a foul stench.

Zhou Yuan didn't even glance at the broken telescope before striding up to Sun Liancheng.

His rough, large hand reached into his tactical belt.

He threw a hardcover document and a palm-sized black holographic projector into Sun Liancheng's arms like trash.

"Sun Liancheng, right?" Zhou Yuan exhaled a thick cloud of cheap smoke, spraying it directly into the other person's face.

"Our Master Yan heard that you like to look at the stars, and he thinks this piece of junk is not good enough for you, so he asked me to send you a little trinket."

Sun Liancheng's eyes rolled back as he was choked by the inferior tobacco.

He hurriedly caught the black box, before he could even utter a trembling question.

"Buzz—"

The projector emitted a high-frequency electronic beep.

A beam of dark blue holographic light shot into the air, instantly creating a huge three-dimensional image two meters square.

Sun Liancheng's pupils suddenly contracted, and his retina was burned by the blinding blue light.

It was a detailed engineering construction plan.

On the highest mountain in Guangming District, Daqingshan.

A total of 120 giant radio telescopes with a diameter of over 50 meters.

Like an array of sunflowers cast in steel, they stand densely packed on the mountaintop, pointing straight to the sky!

The holographic image shifts.

Yan Qingfeng's cold, indifferent face, devoid of any human warmth, hovered in mid-air.

He wore a well-tailored black suit, and his condescending gaze was like an ice blade scraping bone.

"Don't bother cleaning this piece of junk."

Yan Qingfeng's cold voice came through the miniature speaker at the bottom of the projector, carrying a metallic, hard quality.

"The government of Handong can't provide you with funding, but my Lingxiao Consortium will. From today onwards, this largest radio telescope array in Asia is yours to manage."

Sun Liancheng froze completely.

It felt as if a high-voltage electric current had instantly pierced through my tailbone, leaving me completely numb on the spot.

Yan Qingfeng paused for a moment, his tone leaving no room for negotiation.

"I want you to sit in the highest-level control room and use the computing power of CloudAI to keep a close eye on every foreign satellite overhead."

"If anyone dares to peek at Handong from the sky, you can strip them of their coordinates."

"I'll give you the best equipment in all of Asia, and an unlimited budget. Dare to take the job?"

Sun Liancheng's gaze slowly moved downwards.

He stared intently at the open, hard-covered employment contract in his arms.

In the lower right corner, there is the dark gold official seal of Lingxiao Consortium and Yan Qingfeng's personal seal in a flamboyant style.

The budget amount column does not contain specific figures.

It only has one glaring symbol printed on it: ∞ (infinity).

"Thump! Thump! Thump!"

Sun Liancheng's heart was like a mad beast, pounding wildly against his fragile ribs.

He gasped for breath, his lungs aching as if being ripped apart by the cold wind.

A surge of fervor and ambition, suppressed for half a lifetime, rushed through his veins and straight to the top of his head.

His rough hands, covered in oil and mud, began to spasm and tremble uncontrollably.

I could barely hold onto that thin piece of special paper.

The edge of the paper rubbed against the pad of his thumb, making a dry, crackling sound.

He suffered humiliation within the system his entire life, being treated like a chamber pot by those who played power games.

Now, the most powerful living Yama in the world has presented the entire starry sky to him!

Sun Liancheng's Adam's apple bobbed violently as he swallowed a mouthful of dry, bitter saliva.

He gripped the unlimited budget approval document tightly in his left hand, his nails almost digging into his flesh.

His right hand, as if possessed, pulled out the resignation letter he had written long ago but never had the courage to submit from the pocket of his faded trousers.

That was a final farewell to the municipal party committee and to the system.

Sun Liancheng's eyes were bloodshot, as red as a man-eating demon.

In front of Zhou Yuan, he crumpled the resignation letter, which was covered in writing, into a ball.

Suddenly, he raised his hand and shoved it directly into his mouth!

"Crunch, crunch."

He was like a starving madman, his upper and lower teeth chattering wildly as he desperately chewed the dry, hard pulp.

The rough edge of the paper pierced his oral mucosa.

A faint, metallic, and bloody taste instantly filled my mouth.

With bloody saliva still dripping down his throat, he stiffened his neck and swallowed the letter whole.

He choked so hard his eyes rolled back, and the veins on his neck bulged out.

Zhou Yuan raised an eyebrow as he watched this usually honest and unassuming middle-aged man suddenly go berserk.

He flicked the half-smoked cigarette butt away with his finger and chuckled.

"You're a fucking madman who gets things done quietly."

Sun Liancheng stuck out his tongue and licked the blood from the corner of his mouth.

His bloodshot eyes were fixed on Zhou Yuan, and a twisted, maniacal laugh appeared on his previously expressionless face.

"Minister Zhou, please go back and tell President Yan."

Sun Liancheng's voice was hoarse, like sandpaper scraping against rust, revealing a ruthless intent to crush everything.

"As long as I can get my hands on that control panel on Daqingshan Mountain."

"Don't even mention foreign military satellites, I could even tell the male from the female of a greenbottle fly hovering in the sky, belonging to a European old-money family!"