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

"Click."

The silver pruning shears twirled in mid-air, and a withered, yellow branch of a Podocarpus macrophyllus fell to the ground.

Yan Qingfeng tossed the scissors into the sandalwood tray and patted the dust off his hands.

"Wushuang, open the door."

He picked up the hot tea beside him, blew away the foam, and spoke casually.

"Let those foreign dogs in to chew on the bones."

Qin Wushuang crunched the lollipop in her mouth, her eyes gleaming.

"Alright, Master Yan, I'm looking forward to seeing them get angry."

He turned around, grabbed the keyboard, and typed a line of Enter on the tablet.

The next morning, at Jingzhou High-tech Industrial Park.

Sunlight pierced through the gloom of the past few days, shining on several huge factory buildings.

Several Coaster buses belonging to the municipal party committee were parked steadily at the entrance of the park.

Following behind were more than a dozen news reporting vehicles from major television stations in the city, making quite a spectacle.

Li Dakang was the first to get out of the car, his back ramrod straight.

He applied a lot of hair wax to his scalp, managing to cover up the graying temples that had appeared from worry these past few days.

He was severely criticized by netizens a few days ago, and he has to get his revenge today.

"All units, get your cameras set up! Give Mr. George plenty of close-ups!" the propaganda officer shouted, giving orders.

Not far away, eight luxury buses drove into the square one after another, and the doors opened with a "whoosh".

George William walked down the street wearing a flashy white suit, sunglasses, and crocodile leather shoes.

Behind him, more than two hundred blond, blue-eyed foreigners followed.

These are all senior engineers and technical experts hired by Wall Street at high salaries.

They were all arrogant and haughty, their nostrils practically pointing to the sky.

"Mr. George, welcome to Silicon Valley in Handong!" Li Dakang greeted him with a big smile and took the initiative to shake hands.

The flashbulbs went off everywhere.

George took off his sunglasses and waved to the camera with obvious satisfaction, like a triumphant general.

"Thank you for Mayor Li's generosity. Our William Foundation will definitely give this abandoned science park a new lease on life."

Li Dakang spoke loudly into the camera, as if afraid that people throughout the province wouldn't hear him.

"With the arrival of a top international team, Jingzhou's high-end manufacturing will definitely reach new heights!"

He was making a statement to his superiors: even without Yan Qingfeng, the world will keep turning.

After exchanging pleasantries, the large group of people changed into anti-static clothing.

Surrounded by security personnel, Li Dakang personally swiped the swipe card to open the door to the first core workshop.

As soon as the door opened, the group of foreign engineers all gasped in surprise.

In the workshop, which covers several thousand square meters, hundreds of silver-white high-precision CNC machine tools are neatly arranged.

Inside the cleanroom glass enclosure at the very center, two world-class, top-of-the-line lithography machines were quietly lying there!

"Shit! Have these Chinese people gone mad? They didn't even take this top-of-the-line equipment?"

A foreign technical director with a full beard was leaning against the glass dome, his eyes wide like saucers.

He whistled excitedly and turned around to shout at George.

"Boss, we've struck gold! The precision of these devices is a generation ahead of what we have in our Silicon Valley labs!"

The foreigners instantly went wild, touching and exploring the machine, slapping their thighs in excitement.

In their eyes, the officials of Handong were simply the biggest suckers in the world.

They're giving away the exorbitantly priced equipment along with it for free? Is this what they call a ten-year tax exemption?

This is clearly a money-giving boy!

George was overjoyed as he listened to his subordinate's report.

But he still had to put on a serious expression and turned to pat Li Dakang on the shoulder.

"Li, your predecessor really didn't know what they were doing. Leaving such good machines here to gather dust is a complete waste."

Li Dakang chuckled twice, cursing under his breath, but outwardly he had to go along with it.

"That's right, that's right. Now that it's in your hands, this machine has found a good owner."

He forced a smile, willing to swallow his anger as long as he could make up for lost political achievements.

The city's media outlets immediately swarmed him with their cameras and microphones, practically shoving them right in front of George's mouth.

"Mr. George, when do you plan to officially resume work?" a female reporter asked loudly.

George straightened his tie and deliberately raised his voice.

"Right now. I want to show the entire Handong region what top-tier Western industrial efficiency is."

After saying that, he strode forward and walked directly to the huge control panel at the front of the workshop.

Li Dakang clenched his fists tightly, his palms sweating with nervousness.

As soon as this machine starts, gold and silver will flow in.

He's saved his position as the municipal party secretary, and he can finally get a good night's sleep.

"Cameras, move up! Capture this historic moment!" The publicity officer jumped up and down with excitement.

George stood in front of the control panel and casually rubbed his hands together.

He raised an eyebrow at the camera, extended his right index finger, and pointed it at the green master start button.

"Gentlemen, witness a miracle."

He gave a dramatic shout and pressed his fingertips down hard.

"Click".

The crisp sound of buttons echoed through the workshop.

Everyone held their breath, waiting for the deafening roar of the machines to begin.

One second, two seconds, three seconds.

The entire cleanroom was deathly silent; not even a single exhaust fan blade turned half a circle.

George froze, frowned, and pressed the button three more times.

"What's going on? Is the power off?" He turned and yelled at the bearded director.

The director quickly went over and typed a few keys, then his expression suddenly changed drastically.

"Buzz—whoosh!"

A piercing air raid siren suddenly blared over the workshop without warning.

The sound made everyone's eardrums ache, and the reporters were so frightened that they covered their ears and backed away.

Immediately afterwards, the hundreds of incandescent bulbs overhead went out instantly.

Instead, blood-red warning lights flashed wildly in all directions!

The entire cleanroom was bathed in a bright red light, like a nuclear reactor about to explode.

The huge LCD screen in the center, which occupied half of the wall, lit up with a "whoosh".

There was no familiar boot screen, nor any system menu.

In the very center of the screen, a huge red warning box popped up all by itself.

A few lines of scarlet English letters stung George's eyes, making them feel dizzy.

"License Expired."

Below is a line of smaller Chinese characters as supplementary explanation.

"The system's underlying authorization has expired. Unauthorized intrusion detection has been initiated, and the device has been physically locked."

The scene was deathly silent, with only the piercing sound of alarms blaring.

Li Dakang's face turned completely green, his legs went weak, and he had to grip the edge of the control panel tightly with both hands to keep from falling.

"What...what does this mean? Why isn't the machine working?!" Li Dakang shouted at the top of his lungs.

The bearded director gripped his hair tightly with both hands, his eyes almost bulging out of their sockets.

"Damn it, boss! They not only locked the control motherboard, but they even encrypted the underlying code of the heatsink chip!" He turned to look at George, whose face was ashen, his voice trembling. "If we dare to force a jailbreak, these two billion-dollar lithography machines will burn out. Right now... we can't even turn on the exhaust fan!"