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

"ah--"

Director Li's piercing screams echoed back and forth in the wide marble corridor.

The broken rib pierced through the soft flesh, and bright red blood seeped out from under the hem of the suit.

A nauseating smell of rust and blood, blown by the cold air from the central air conditioning, instantly filled the nostrils of a dozen or so people at the other end of the corridor.

The former president of Handong University shuddered violently.

Two rows of old teeth couldn't help but collide, making a teeth-grinding "clucking" sound.

Several university officials who are usually aloof and high-ranking now look like a flock of quails that have been plucked.

They were huddled in the corner, their knees completely out of control.

He was shaking violently, his trouser legs trembling in waves, the friction against his body hair causing him unbearable discomfort.

Yan Qingfeng sat in the CEO's chair, his slender fingers casually swiping across the holographic control panel.

A huge screen popped open in front of the old principals, its blinding blue light illuminating their pale, paper-white faces.

"Aren't you still waiting for government funding?"

Yan Qingfeng's voice was devoid of any warmth, like a block of iron just pulled from a freezer.

"Look at your once-proud ivory tower, what a mess it is now."

On the holographic screen, live surveillance footage of the male dormitory building at Handong University was being played.

The corridor floor was covered with foul-smelling puddles and black garbage bags.

Two boys in white shirts were rolling around in the mud like stray dogs.

These two were Gao Yuliang's most prized law graduate students, always spouting legal principles and rules.

But now, legal principles mean absolutely nothing.

The two were desperately protecting a mutated corn cob that had been rotting in a trash can for three days and was emitting a foul odor.

One of his eyes was bloodshot, as if it was about to bleed.

He formed his fingers into claws and dug his nails into the other person's cheek.

Three deep bloody marks were drawn, and beads of blood mixed with black mud oozed out.

Another was so hungry that his stomach acid refluxed; he rolled his eyes, dry heaved, and opened his cracked, bleeding mouth.

Like a wild boar guarding its food, it bit its classmate's ear hard.

It roared incoherently, its Adam's apple bobbing violently, its breath coming in the gasps of a primal beast.

What academic dignity? What prestigious university halo?

Before the shrunken, cramping stomach, it all crumbled into rubble that even a dog wouldn't bother with.

Lin Yubing walked up to the old principal in her high heels.

The heel of the shoe crushed into the marble, creating a crisp countdown to death.

She casually slammed a thick stack of agreements onto the table.

The edge of the paper scraped against the air, making a dry, harsh, soft sound.

"The provincial accounts have long been filled with worthless paper."

Lin Yubing pushed up her frameless glasses, her red lips curving into an emotionless arc.

"The RMB is completely worthless in Handong. Without our consortium's points, your cafeteria can't even buy an ounce of premium rice."

The old principal swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down.

His stomach, which had been starving for three days, was cramping violently, and the pain caused him to break out in a cold sweat.

That yellowed, old shirt was soaked with cold sweat and clung stickily to my back.

"You...you're trying to eradicate education from Handong at its very core!"

A university president wearing thick-rimmed glasses growled in a hoarse voice.

His chest heaved violently with anger, and his finger pointed at the screen, his knuckles turning pale from the force.

"Education?" Yan Qingfeng snorted coldly.

He stood up, his leather shoes clattering on the Persian carpet, creating a dull, oppressive sound.

"I don't have time to listen to your sentimentality. I'm giving you two options."

Yan Qingfeng braced his hands on the edge of the table, his aggressive gaze fixed on the group of principals.

"First, hand over all research patents, laboratories, and land, along with all the people and bones, and incorporate them all into my Lingxiao University."

Yan Qingfeng paused, his tone chillingly cold.

"Second, take this pile of waste paper and get back home today. Tomorrow morning, Yunxiao AI will physically cancel the identities of all of you teachers and students."

"Let those starving students skin you alive."

Silence, dead silence.

The air felt oppressive, like a sponge soaked with water, blocking everyone's airways.

The old principal's legs went completely limp, and he knelt down on the leather chair with a thud.

His tailbone was throbbing painfully, but he didn't even have the strength to groan.

This isn't about negotiating conditions; it's about using the right to survival to carry out a form of annihilation.

He stretched out his hand, which looked like withered tree bark, and dipped his fingertips into the box of cheap chemical red inkpad.

The pungent smell of industrial dyes, mixed with the astringent smell of ink, hits you right in the head.

"Smack."

The bright red handprint pressed onto the pale paper looked like a drop of glaring blood from a dead person.

The tide has turned, and the backbone is completely broken.

One by one.

More than a dozen university leaders who once held sway in Handong are now standing in a long queue.

Like puppets on an assembly line, they bowed their heads and mechanically left humiliating marks on the merger agreement.

They didn't even dare to look at Yan Qingfeng twice.

With the final agreement now in the database.

"drop--"

The cold, mechanical voice of Yunxiao AI, devoid of any inflection, blared simultaneously across the province's loudspeakers.

The vibrations made the windowpanes rattle.

"The integration rate of grassroots resources in Handong universities has reached 100%."

"The intellectual monopoly loop has been locked, and data synchronization is complete."

Yan Qingfeng sat back down in the large leather chair.

Looking at the grid representing the intellectual resources of Handong Province on the holographic projection, it all turned into a dark gold color belonging to the Lingxiao Consortium.

His technological dominance has finally pieced together the most important piece of the map.

Su Jianxin, who had been silent the whole time, pushed up his reflective gold-rimmed glasses.

A sinister sneer hung on the face of the seemingly refined scoundrel.

He handed Yan Qingfeng a top-secret international document that he had just intercepted.

"Master Yan, we've completely replaced the brains on our side."

Su Jianxin lowered his voice, his tone revealing a ruthless edge.

"But those old money families in Europe that have been around for hundreds of years have just made their move on the international futures market."

"They invoked international treaties to completely block the supply of rare earth and special metals to Handong."

Su Jianxin pointed to the rapidly declining raw material curve on the screen.

"These old vampires are trying to physically strangle the Lingxiao-1 solid-state battery."

Yan Qingfeng picked up the glass of whiskey with ice, tilted his head back, and drank it all in one gulp.

The pungent liquor burned his esophagus, and he exhaled a breath of cold air with the aroma of malt.

The glass was slammed heavily onto the table with a dull thud.

He turned his head, his cold eyes fixed on Su Jianxin.

The muscles at the corners of his mouth twitched slightly, revealing a bloodthirsty frenzy.

"President Su, if they dare to cut off my raw materials, I dare to dig up their ancestral graves."

Yan Qingfeng tapped his fingertips twice on the table, the sound like the urgent sound of a water clock.

"Go to the top-secret laboratory 300 meters underground and bring out that madman Qin Wushuang."

"I'd like to see what kind of garbage those measly mineral deposits in the hands of European old money are compared to controlled nuclear fusion."