Living in a county town, starting as a stock market maker...

Just then, her phone started vibrating wildly.

The caller ID showed it was her father's chief assistant, a usually very composed man.

But as soon as the call connected, the voice on the other end changed tone, sounding obviously panicked.

"Young Miss, something terrible has happened! There's been an accident!"

Shen Lian'an's heart jumped into her throat.

"Our group's main business in entertainment, Shengshi Huacai, has been attacked by its rivals because of the recent public opinion surrounding Tianqi Entertainment, and its stock price... has started to fluctuate abnormally."

Before she could finish speaking, Shen Lian rushed to Gu Ming's desk, snatched the laptop from Su Qingying who was reviewing data, and quickly typed out the code for "Prosperous Era".

On the screen, a green line dropped almost vertically.

"How could this happen?"

Shen Lian'an's voice was trembling.

The Splendor of a Prosperous Era was the culmination of her mother's hard work and the first project she personally oversaw after joining the Shen Group, making it of great significance to her.

Su Qingying frowned, quickly leaned over, and after only glancing at the trading volume and turnover rate, calmly pointed out the core problem.

"This isn't market panic; it's malicious short selling. Moreover, they're taking advantage of Wang Tianqi's current high point in public opinion to portray Shengshi Huacai as a representative of the old forces hindering technological progress. This is a combination of tactics: a propaganda war coupled with a capital war."

Su Qingying looked at Shen Lian, her tone cold.

"The current approach is to immediately issue an announcement declaring a temporary separation of your personal management relationship with Shengshi Huacai, thus cutting off risk and first preserving the stability of the group's main stock price. This is a stop-loss measure."

"Stop the loss?"

Shen Lian suddenly looked up, her eyes bloodshot, staring intently at Su Qingying.

"That's my company. My mother left it to me. You want me to give it up?"

"This is a strategic adjustment," Su Qingying said calmly. "Business is business, and emotions won't solve anything."

"you."

Shen Lian was so angry that she was trembling all over. She pointed at Su Qingying, but couldn't say a word.

She looked at Gu Ming for help, her eyes filled with grievance and helplessness.

The air in the office was almost frozen.

Gu Ming remained silent, simply watching quietly.

Only when the atmosphere between the two became extremely tense did he slowly get up and walk behind Shen Lian.

He didn't look at the candlestick chart showing the sharp drop.

Instead, he reached out and gently pressed down on Shen Lian'an's shoulder, which was trembling slightly with anger and fear.

The hand was steady and carried a strong force, instantly stopping Shen Lian'an's trembling shoulders.

"Who said this is a crisis?"

Gu Ming's voice was soft, yet it clearly reached everyone's ears.

"This is an opportunity for the Shen family to enter the digital life industry."

As soon as she finished speaking, Shen Lian'an's phone started vibrating wildly again.

The executive group of Shengshi Huacai (盛世华彩) exploded.

Dozens of unread messages popped up one after another.

"Mr. Shen, what exactly is this Xingchen Media that you brought in? Now we're being dragged into this mess."

"Several senior members of the board are asking if this is a case of you acting unilaterally and inviting trouble into the house?"

"It's over. It hit the daily limit down within ten minutes of opening."

On the screen, the stock price candlestick chart showed a straight horizontal line at the bottom, a dazzling green.

Shen Lian'an's face instantly turned pale.

Internal strife.

Something terrible happened.

She is facing the crisis of being kicked out of management by her own people.

A look of "I knew it" flashed in Su Qingying's eyes, and she was about to speak again to persuade him to cut ties.

Gu Ming laughed, but it was a cold laugh.

"Chen Mo."

He shouted into the air.

Chen Mo's figure appeared silently at the door.

"Boss."

"Launch the Shadow Traffic Program."

Gu Ming's voice was frighteningly calm, "Also, Lian, use your final authority to issue a statement to the entire internet in the official name of Shengshi Huacai."

"What statement?"

Shen Lian asked subconsciously.

Gu Ming spoke slowly and deliberately.

"We apologize and fully support Apocalypse Entertainment in leading the future of the industry."

This order stunned everyone present.

For the first time, surprise and doubt appeared in Su Qingying's eyes.

Shen Lian'an's eyes widened, almost thinking she had misheard.

Isn't this just kneeling down and begging for mercy, publicly admitting defeat?

"Gu Ming, are you crazy?"

"Do as I say."

Gu Ming offered no explanation, his tone leaving no room for argument.

Shen Lian bit her lip hard, staring into Gu Ming's deep eyes. Finally, with red eyes and trembling hands, she sent the statement on her phone.

The statement caused an uproar across the internet.

Wang Tianqi's fans and online trolls instantly flooded the comment section of Shengshi Huacai's official Weibo account, starting a frenzy.

"Hahaha, they've already given up? The Shen family is nothing special."

"Why didn't you think of this earlier? Now you realize how powerful Mr. Wang is?"

"This is the dregs of the old era, and it deserves to be swept into the garbage dump."

Ridicule and insults were everywhere.

The stock price of Shengshi Huacai remained locked at the daily limit down, completely unmoved.

At the headquarters of Tianqi Entertainment, Wang Tianqi looked at the statement with a smug expression and laughed out loud.

He even personally reposted it, adding the following text:

"Those who understand the times are wise."

However, he did not notice that just three minutes after the statement was issued.

Almost simultaneously, dozens of financial influencers secretly controlled by Gu Ming offered their interpretations of the event from an unexpected angle.

Beware. When giants like Shen's start to bow down, how far are we from technological monopoly?

The statement from Shengshi Huacai serves as a wake-up call for the industry, sounded by Wang Tianqi.

"Looking at the statement from Shengshi Huacai, we can see the hidden regulatory risks behind the 'Soul Engine' (a metaphor for a powerful, innovative approach)."

The logic is simple—if even a giant like the Shen family is no match for you and admits defeat, doesn't that mean your technology is so powerful that you can arbitrarily control the life and death of the industry?

Is this a de facto monopoly?

In an instant, public opinion changed.

The online trolls who were previously praising Wang Tianqi suddenly realized that the more they touted Wang Tianqi's power and mocked the Shen family's weakness, the more they solidified Wang Tianqi's image as a monopolist.

Wang Tianqi has inadvertently gained an additional layer of regulatory risk.

At the same time, Gu Ming took the second step.

He had Shen Lian use the official Weibo account of Shengshi Huacai to post a second update.

The content consists of only one image.

A collaborative poster that includes artists signed under Shengshi Huacai in the preliminary research list of the Digital Life Project.

This news directly shook the capital market.

Just a moment ago, Shengshi Huacai was seen as a symbol of being outdated.

The next moment, it became a core content provider in the new field of digital life.

On the limit-down board, the hundreds of millions of sell orders were instantly bought up by a mysterious, massive amount of capital.

Immediately afterwards, the stock price rebounded instantly, surging from a -10% limit down to a +10% limit up.

Floor plan.

It took less than five minutes for the stock to go from limit down to limit up.

All the capital that shorted the stock was wiped out at a loss.

Not finished yet.

Gu Ming personally directed the public relations team to immediately follow up and reinterpret the entire incident.

The tragic escort mission.

Shengshi Huacai is willing to tarnish its own image in order to protect the future of AI in China.

She is not a spendthrift heiress; she is a pioneer who endured hardship for the sake of science and technology.

One after another, the emotionally charged articles spread across the entire internet in an instant.

Shen Lian's statement was interpreted as a great sacrifice.

In the article, she is using her own methods to clear obstacles for the Digital Life Project.

Public opinion reversed.

Those who were previously mocking Shen Lian are now flooding her personal social media accounts with comments.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Shen. We misunderstood you."

"So you were a visionary. I salute you."

"I'm so sad, this is true vision. Willing to bear the infamy for the future."

Shen Lian'an's image transforms from a spendthrift heiress who invites trouble into her home to a tragic hero who endures hardship for the future of technology.

Wang Tianqi's reputation suffered for the first time due to his bullying and ruthless practices against his peers.

Ring ring—Shen Guodong's phone rang again.

This time, Shen Guodong's voice no longer carried the solemnity and probing of before, but only a deep sense of apprehension and a hint of admiration that even he himself did not realize.

"Gu Ming...you are very good."

After saying those four words, he hung up the phone.

For the first time, Su Qingying realized that the financial models and risk assessments she had been so proud of in front of Gu Ming were just techniques.

The man before me is playing the game of Tao.

It is the will of the people, it is the general trend.

Shen Lian looked at Gu Ming with eyes full of awe.

She was about to step forward and say something when Gu Ming, as if he had done something insignificant, turned around and pushed open the office door.

Outside the door, the three sisters, Wang Min, Liu Liu, and Zhang Hong, were already waiting.

"Boss."

Gu Ming looked at them with a cold expression.

"Delete your social media account content, cancel your phone numbers, and from now on, disappear from the face of the earth."

The order was crisp and decisive, devoid of any emotion.

Wang Min and the other two were stunned for a moment, but still stood at attention without hesitation.

"Yes."

After saying that, the three of them turned and left without any hesitation.

Only Gu Ming, Su Qingying, and Shen Lian remained in the office.

Shen Lian'an's initial enthusiasm was completely overwhelmed by Gu Ming's actions, leaving her somewhat at a loss.

She looked at Gu Ming with a puzzled expression.

Gu Ming ignored her and walked straight to the whiteboard.

He picked up the eraser and slowly wiped away the three characters "Wang Tianqi" at the highest point.

Then, he picked up a pen and forcefully wrote down two new characters.

Missing.

He turned his head and looked at Su Qingying and Shen Lian, who were equally astonished. His voice was calm, but it sent a chill down the spines of both women.

"From this moment on, I want everyone on the internet to believe that it was Wang Tianqi who killed those three innocent girls who were chasing their dreams."