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

The air raid siren ripped through the workshop's eardrums.

The blinding red light, like blood, made George's flashy white suit appear completely red.

On the huge screen of the control panel, the red "License Expired" message looked like a death knell.

George's smug expression froze instantly.

His right hand, which had just pressed the start button, was still hanging in mid-air, looking as awkward as a clown.

"Shit! What on earth is going on?"

George turned around abruptly and grabbed the bearded director by the collar.

"I pay you millions of dollars a year, not for you to listen to air raid sirens! Turn that damn sound off right now!"

The bearded director had already panicked.

He led a dozen or so blond, blue-eyed high-level hackers and pounced on the control panel.

Standing to the side, Li Dakang felt his head buzzing and his legs going weak.

He grabbed George's arm, jumping up and down in a panic.

"Mr. George, didn't you say that Wall Street's technology is unmatched?"

Li Dakang lowered his voice, his forehead covered in cold sweat.

"The media outside are all pointing their cameras at us, get the equipment running!"

George shoved Li Dakang aside and roared back angrily.

"Shut up! Our American engineers can crack this piece of junk in no time!"

The sound of keyboard typing was as dense as a torrential downpour hitting banana leaves.

A dozen top foreign hackers were sweating profusely, their fingers leaving afterimages as they typed on the keyboard.

A string of dark blue code popped up on the screen.

They attempted to bypass Lingxiao Technology's underlying firewall and forcibly wake up the lithography machine.

But ten minutes passed, and the alarm not only didn't stop, it became increasingly piercing.

The backs of those foreign engineers were soaked with cold sweat, their anti-static suits clinging tightly to their bodies.

"No! Damn it, we can't get in!"

A Silicon Valley hacker wearing wire-rimmed glasses slammed his fist on the keyboard, his face filled with despair.

The bearded director pushed him aside and took charge himself.

But as soon as he entered a line of cracking commands, a mocking pixelated cartoon dog suddenly popped up on the big screen.

The cartoon dog wagged its tail at the screen and swallowed the line of code whole, treating it like a bone.

"My God, what the hell is this thing?!"

The bearded director clutched his head in his hands and slumped to the ground.

George rushed over and kicked the control panel.

"Useless! A bunch of good-for-nothings! They can't even handle a system left behind by a local Chinese company?"

The bearded director looked up, his eyes filled with deep fear.

"Boss, it's not that the system is difficult to work with, it's that the technology is outdated!"

He pointed to the exorbitantly priced lithography machine inside the glass case, his voice trembling.

"I just checked the underlying architecture, all the equipment in the workshop, from the motherboard control logic to the coolant circulation program..."

"100% protected by Lingxiao Technology's exclusive encryption patents!"

Upon hearing this, Li Dakang felt a wave of dizziness and almost collapsed to the ground.

100% exclusive patent?

What's the difference between this whole workshop of equipment and a pile of scrap metal?

Just then, the pixelated cartoon dog disappeared from the screen.

Instead, there was an unread email in pure English.

The sender's name was clearly written as: Qin Wushuang.

The email opened automatically, and lines of cold, arrogant English appeared in the center of the screen.

The bearded director translated in a trembling voice.

"Dear foreign trash, welcome to Handong."

"We can give you the steel and cement of the factory for free, but the soul of the machine belongs to Yan."

George gritted his teeth, trembling with rage.

The text on the screen continued to scroll down, each sentence like a slap in the face to foreign investors.

"Without our authorization, you can forget about operating even a single conveyor belt."

"Friendly reminder: This system has been registered internationally in Geneva."

"If you dare to forcibly format the hard drive, it will immediately trigger the international infringement claim clause."

"I hope you have fun guarding this pile of expensive scrap metal."

After the email was read aloud, the room fell into a deathly silence.

Only the sirens remained, wailing and blaring gleefully.

Too bad!

This is absolutely devastating!

Yan Qingfeng not only didn't move the equipment, but also generously left it where it was.

But he put an electronic lock on these machines that no one in the world could open!

The media reporters outside went crazy.

This is absolutely shocking news!

"Mr. George! When you announced taking over Handong Silicon Valley, did you mean standing here listening to the air raid siren?"

A sharp-eyed female reporter shoved her recording pen right into George's nostril, nearly shoving it in.

"Mayor Li! The municipal party committee claims that foreign investment can revitalize the science park, but now even the machines can't be turned on. What do you have to say about this?"

The flashes of light were like machine gun fire, relentlessly spraying bullets at the two of them.

Li Dakang covered his face with his hands, wishing he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

He has never lost face like this in his entire life!

The reinforcements he had risked his reputation to bring in were stripped bare before Yan Qingfeng could even last one move, leaving him with nothing but his underwear.

"Stop filming! Stop filming! Security! Throw these reporters out!"

George roared in exasperation, swinging his arms to smash the lenses.

Several foreign security guards rushed over and shoved the media towards the gate.

Once all the reporters had been cleared out of the workshop, the door slammed shut with a bang.

George ripped off his silk tie, threw it hard on the ground, and stomped on it twice in frustration.

"Lingxiao Consortium! Yan Qingfeng! You dare to play me!"

His eyes were bloodshot, like those of a wolf whose teeth had been pulled out.

"Mr. George, what do we do now? The system is locked, and all those OEM orders we signed are due tomorrow!"

Domestic compradors crowded around, sweating profusely with anxiety.

"Without Lingxiao's software, our machines would be nothing more than thousands of tons of scrap metal."

George turned his head sharply, a desperate madness flashing in his sea-blue eyes.

"If the software won't open, I'll change the hardware! Does Yan Qingfeng really think the world can't turn without him?"

He grabbed the bearded director by the collar and spat in his face.

"Contact the US headquarters immediately! Airfreight the top-of-the-line control cabinets and central control unit from Silicon Valley!"

The bearded director was stunned and shook his head repeatedly.

"Boss, airfreight the entire hardware from the US? That'll burn through millions of dollars a day in shipping and installation costs!"

"I told you to go, so go! The conglomerate just got funding; I have plenty of money to go head-to-head with them!"

George gritted his teeth, shoved the director aside, and roared at the locked lithography machine.

"Even if I have to tear this factory down and rebuild it, I'm getting these broken machines running! Order a private plane right now and bring the equipment over!"