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

Three Boeing 747 cargo planes, laden with the smell of US dollars, roared and tore through the early morning sky of Jingzhou.

This is a top-tier item that George Williams spent a fortune to have airlifted overnight from Silicon Valley.

The brand-new core control cabinet, which filled three large freight cars, was hauled into the high-tech park by a large convoy of heavy trucks.

Standing in the cold wind, Li Dakang stared at the huge metal boxes covered with waterproof tarpaulins, his eyelids twitching.

The deafening air raid siren from yesterday is still ringing in his head.

He pulled his black jacket tighter around himself and moved closer to George.

"Mr. George, are these new guys really up to the task?"

Li Dakang swallowed hard, his voice betraying an undisguised guilty conscience.

"That kid Yan Qingfeng has a lot of wicked tricks up his sleeve. We'd better not fall into his trap again."

George, with a thick Cuban cigar in his mouth, nonchalantly exhaled a smoke ring.

"Li, there's an old Chinese saying: 'One force can overcome ten techniques.'"

He patted the brand-new computer next to him, which smelled of paint, his eyes full of arrogance.

"What's the point of locking up Yan Qingfeng's software? I'll just replace his entire brain!"

George grinned, looking like a gambler who had won big.

"Faced with three hundred million US dollars worth of absolute hardware, his so-called technological barriers are a laughable joke that can't be broken!"

The cleanroom was brightly lit.

More than two hundred blond-haired, blue-eyed foreign engineers worked around the clock, disassembling and reconnecting wires, as if they were on steroids.

The clanging of wrenches and screwdrivers echoed throughout the empty factory all night.

Until 10 a.m. the next day.

The bearded director, sporting dark circles under his eyes, wiped the engine oil off his face and excitedly gave George an OK sign.

"Boss! The entire underlying circuitry has been replaced, and the hardware compatibility test has passed!"

George loosened his red tie and strode over to the main power switch control cabinet.

He glanced back at Li Dakang, who was so nervous he was picking at his fingers, and raised his chin dismissively.

"Gentlemen, open your eyes wide and watch carefully."

George took a deep breath and placed his palm on the large red air switch.

"Let these country bumpkins from China who only know how to play dirty tricks see what a true industrial miracle is!"

He roared and with a sudden burst of strength, pushed the switch to its maximum position.

"Click!"

The dull thud of the switch being turned on was exceptionally clear in the quiet workshop.

Everyone held their breath, staring intently at the rows of top-of-the-line control motherboards, waiting for the machines to roar to life.

One second. Two seconds.

There was no sound of a motor turning, nor the familiar system startup sound.

"Sizzle—"

A piercing sound of an electrical short circuit suddenly erupted from the deepest part of the main control cabinet!

It wasn't a software lock-up alarm, but a real physical electrical spark!

There was a muffled "bang".

Behind the bulletproof glass panel of the control cabinet, a dazzling blue light burst forth.

Immediately afterwards, thick black smoke billowed out of the computer case's ventilation holes like crazy.

A pungent smell of burning rubber instantly filled the entire cleanroom.

"Fire! Shit! Grab a fire extinguisher!"

The bearded director was terrified and scrambled over, grabbing a fire extinguisher from the corner and spraying it.

The dry powder sprayed out like a blizzard, covering the foreigners in white dust.

The flames were extinguished, but the main control cabinet, which cost tens of millions of US dollars, was completely burned into a lump of charcoal.

The entire room fell silent.

The foreign engineers stared wide-eyed as the wrenches in their hands clattered to the ground.

Li Dakang's legs went weak, and he collapsed onto the plastic parts basket next to him, his face ashen.

"Who did this?! Who the hell connected the wires backwards?!"

George went mad, like a wild boar whose tail had been stepped on, and rushed forward to grab the bearded director by the collar.

"A $300 million piece of equipment! I just pressed a switch, and you roasted me alive?"

The director was so choked that his eyes rolled back, and he shakily tore open the computer case.

He took a multimeter and tested the charred cable twice, his eyes instantly filled with terror.

"Boss, it's not a wiring problem..."

The director swallowed hard, his voice trembling like a broken gong in the cold wind.

"It's the power grid! There's something fishy about the electricity here!"

"What the hell is the power grid! Aren't they all 220 volts and 380 volts?!" George roared, spitting as he spoke.

"It's different!" The director pointed to the wildly fluctuating data on the multimeter, almost in tears.

"The power grid of this industrial park—voltage peaks, AC frequencies, even the most basic power handshake protocol—has all been encrypted and frequency-modulated!"

He collapsed to the ground in despair, clutching his greasy hair.

"This power grid only recognizes the Lingxiao Consortium's own patented standards, completely rejecting all Western-standard equipment on the market!"

"Pluging our machine in is like someone drinking concentrated sulfuric acid—it instantly burns through the motherboard!"

Upon hearing this, George's head buzzed, and his vision went black.

At the same time, north of Jingzhou City.

Lingxiao Energy Central Dispatch Room.

Lei Zhen, shirtless, leaned back on the sofa with an air of nonchalance.

He held a purple clay teapot bigger than his face, looking at the string of red data indicating a power outage on the monitoring screen.

"Mr. Lei, the dedicated line in the high-tech park just experienced a voltage spike, which burned out the foreign-owned equipment."

The technician on duty, suppressing a laugh, quickly ran over to report.

Lei Zhen spat out a mouthful of tea leaves and grinned.

"These foreign devils, do they really think they can just plug into the electrical outlets in Handong like that?"

He stood up, walked to the control panel, and tapped the glass screen heavily with his fingers.

"Master Yan has already instructed us that the private power grid we built in Lingxiao is running electricity with a coded message."

Lei Zhen snorted coldly, his eyes revealing a ruthless intent to take advantage of the situation.

"Without our authorization, even if he brings over a nuclear reactor, he'll have to hold it in!"

Let's switch our focus back to the High-Tech Park.

George stared at the pile of smoking scrap metal, his hands and feet turning cold, as if someone had smashed his spine with a stick.

He finally understood Yan Qingfeng's scheme.

They gave him the factory for free, and he didn't even take the top-of-the-line equipment inside.

Because Lingxiao's ecosystem was gone, what he bought wasn't a high-tech industry at all.

Instead, they are just a few empty shells of reinforced concrete that you can only look at but not touch!

"Mr. George, what should we do now?"

The domestic comprador approached, sweating profusely, holding a calculator in his hand, his hands trembling so much that he pressed several wrong keys.

"The machine won't start running today, so the penalty for breach of contract will double again."

The comprador scrolled through the expense details on the tablet, his voice growing softer and softer.

"These engineers from Silicon Valley earn $500,000 a day just from their salary and travel allowance."

"Add in factory maintenance and air freight depreciation costs, and every time you open your eyes, a million US dollars just evaporates."

"Stop reading! Shut up!"

George suddenly swung his hand, knocking the calculator out of the comprador's hand, which smashed against the wall and shattered into pieces.

He was breathing heavily, his eyes fixed on the pile of charred motherboards, his eyes filled with terrifying bloodshot veins.

They burn through a million dollars every day, yet they can't even manufacture a single screw.

If the parent company on Wall Street knew about this, they would skin him alive.

Li Dakang stood up, leaning against the wall, and shakily moved to George's side.

"Mr. George, we really can't afford to mess with this power grid. How about I go and apologize to Yan Qingfeng and ask for an authorization code?"

"Give in? Don't even think about it!"

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

He ripped off his work badge from his chest and stomped on it hard.

"Does Yan Qingfeng really think that no one in this world can control him?"

George gritted his teeth and forced the words out from between them.

"He dares to change power grid standards and impose technological blockades; this is blatant malicious monopoly! It's unfair competition!"

He shoved Li Dakang aside, turned around, took out a satellite phone from his pocket, and dialed the number of the US headquarters.

"Hey! Notify the legal department to draft the most severe complaint I can get right now!"

George screamed hysterically into the phone, his voice echoing through the empty workshop.

"I'm going to take the Lingxiao Consortium to the International Commercial Arbitration Court! I'm going to use international law to completely destroy Yan Qingfeng's legacy!"