136: Chapter 136 Thought it was a regular screen? Actually, it's a two-dimensional foil.

Lu Li's reply, which didn't name anyone but was scathing in every word, completely ignited the internet's powder keg.

This was no longer a simple refusal.

It was tearing apart the facade that Nanshan's Invincible had painstakingly maintained for so long, right in front of 1.4 billion netizens.

For many years, the world has suffered under the Penguin for too long.

The resentment that players had suppressed for years finally burst forth, instantly smashing through the trending lists on all major social media platforms.

Under Guanghui Technology's official account, comments were refreshing madly at a rate of thousands per second.

"Holy crap! Holy crap! Am I reading this right? Is God Lu directly confronting the Penguin Empire?!"

"'Unable to agree to the demands of certain partners to fully access users' core data and brainwave sensing information'... Damn, isn't this just pointing at Nanshan's Invincible's nose and cursing them out?"

"My scalp is tingling! This is a real man! For the sake of user privacy, he actually dares to deny the Penguin face!"

"Support Guanghui Technology! I've long been sick of the Penguin's greedy behavior. If I search my QQ number on the dark web, my phone number and home address are all there. Who exactly leaked my privacy? Do they really think users are idiots?"

Guanghui Technology's fans, especially the gamers who had suffered under the Penguin's draconian terms, instantly found their organization.

Like sharks smelling blood, they flooded into Lu Li's comments section, upvoting his reply to the heavens.

The long-suppressed resentment finally found an outlet at this moment.

"Well said! My friend spent over eight thousand playing Speed Drifters, and just because he cursed someone in the game, his account was banned for ten years! Contacting customer service always results in a Robot reply, with no way to appeal!"

"And the lucky draws! The Penguin's lucky draws are a bottomless pit! I played their shooting game, and for a crappy Hero-tier weapon, others got it for ten bucks, but I spent two thousand and didn't see a single thing. I seriously suspect my account was targeted by their backend big data!"

"Privacy? The Penguin has zero privacy protection! My chat history can get turned into their ad recommendations. It's terrifying to think about!"

"Exactly, whatever we talk about in a group chat, when I open the Taobao app, it immediately pops up ads for that very thing."

For a time, the public was outraged.

Of course, as a massive empire with over a billion users, the Penguin's supporters also quickly entered the fray to counterattack.

"The Penguin asking for data is for the sake of our account security. There's so much important information in WeChat and QQ; what if they get hacked?"

"Exactly, Guanghui Technology is, after all, not as big as the Penguin. By what right do they challenge the Penguin? Don't let the Virtual Helmet have a backdoor, selling our privacy even more thoroughly!"

"Be rational. Without the Penguin, what would you use to chat? What games would you play? You ungrateful ingrates!"

Both sides were arguing fiercely online, the heat even overshadowing the ten-thousand-person public beta test starting tomorrow.

Just then, the Penguin officially entered the fray.

They didn't release a video, but instead published a rigorously worded, airtight official statement via their official Weibo.

[Statement Regarding Cooperation Negotiations with Guanghui Technology: ... To ensure the account and property security of our vast WeChat and QQ users, and to maintain a stable and healthy social ecosystem, our side proposed obtaining the necessary underlying device interface permissions for the Virtual Helmet during cooperation to establish effective security protection mechanisms. We express regret over Guanghui Technology's unilateral termination of cooperation and the release of misleading remarks.]

This statement perfectly showcased the profound skill of Nanshan's Invincible's legal department.

There wasn't a single accusation in the entire text, yet it exuded a sense of "I'm doing this for your own good," filled with grievance and arrogance.

It downplayed a struggle over data hegemony, painting it as a "necessary safeguard" for user security.

Many uninformed bystanders were immediately swayed, and the wind seemed to shift subtly.

...

Genesis Building, top-floor office.

The office was dimly lit, the ghostly blue fluorescence from the screen casting light onto Lu Li's sharp, angular profile.

He scrolled the mouse wheel casually. Looking at those familiar accusations in the comments section, he recalled his college days from a long time ago.

In his past life, he had also been a member of this vast field of leeks.

For a rare game item, he had scrimped and saved, pouring in two whole months of living expenses. The result was only the eternally repeating "Thank you for participating."

In the system's backend code, he was merely a tagged unit waiting to be harvested.

His classmate had been unable to appeal a ban notice, an experience he still remembered vividly to this day.

This high-and-mighty arrogance. This greedy behavior of using privacy theft and probability manipulation as the underlying business logic. It made him feel a visceral, physiological disgust from the bottom of his bones.

In this world, he was already the god standing at the very peak of Blue Star technology. Since he had decided to support Su Qingxue to reach the pinnacle of the world, he would never allow such disgusting, dirty code to be mixed into the foundation of Guanghui Technology's empire.

They can come to the table to share the cake, sure. But the virtual world he was building was a completely clean, brand-new ecosystem. Anyone who wanted to enter had to follow his rules.

As for the Penguin wanting to extend its old-era hegemony into the new era? That's a pipe dream.

Lu Li closed the webpage, casting his gaze toward the Shenzhen direction outside the window, his eyes filled with nothing but extreme calm.

The joy of a dimensional strike lies in the fact that the opponent has no idea what level of power they are facing.

...

Meanwhile. At the top floor of the Penguin headquarters building, a landmark in Shenzhen.

Inside a top-tier, non-public conference room, outside the panoramic floor-to-ceiling windows was the night view of China's most prosperous special technology zone.

At the long conference table, only three people were sitting. Pony Ma sat in the main seat, with Wang Xing of Tengtuan Takeout on his left, and Li Hong of Baidu on his right.

The iron triangle of the old internet era was holding a rare closed-door meeting tonight.

On the tablet in front of Pony Ma, an array image of the ten thousand Virtual Helmets released by Guanghui Technology was displayed.

His expression was extremely restrained, showing no annoyance at being publicly rejected and confronted.

For a helmsman sitting in his position, emotions had long been completely stripped away by vast commercial interests.

Wang Xing pushed up the rimless glasses on the bridge of his nose and looked toward the main seat. "What did the overseas hardware laboratory say?"

Pony Ma picked up the bone china teacup in front of him, skimmed off the foam, and took a sip. "Cook's team just sent over the assessment report this afternoon."

"Based on the current limits of material science on Blue Star and the physical bottlenecks of bio-electrical signal capture technology, it is absolutely impossible to achieve so-called direct neuron connection."

"Elon Musk's latest Brain-Computer Interface still requires craniotomy to implant chips, and it can only capture primary motor pulse signals."

Li Hong leaned back against the chair, his tone casual. "Well, that settles it."

"The so-called 100% immersion is just a false slogan used by Guanghui Technology to boost their valuation."

"The sanctions from the United States are closing in step by step, and that young man surnamed Lu is desperate to break the deadlock, so he has no choice but to take this risky move."

Pony Ma put down the teacup, interlacing his fingers and resting them on the table. "They solved the screen resolution, optimized the gyroscope algorithms, and reduced the device's weight."

"In essence, it is still just an advanced display worn on the head."

"This kind of VR device will cause severe 3D motion sickness after two or three hours of experience."

Wang Xing nodded knowingly. "He rejected our cooperation today, even publicly challenging us, just to build up the persona of a dragon-slaying hero."

"He's relying on this emotional value to harvest the first wave of the user base. Once the ten-thousand-person public beta test ends tomorrow and the true experience is revealed, the novelty will fade."

"Users accustomed to convenience will ultimately be unable to leave our social and lifestyle service suite."

Pony Ma unlocked his tablet. "Order the PR department to adopt a policy of total cold treatment from now on."

"Don't take the bait, don't respond, and suppress the trending searches."

"Traffic frenzies are always just a passing gust of wind. When the wind stops, we, who hold the social relationship chains of 1.4 billion people, will still be the ones making the rules in this country."

The atmosphere in the conference room returned to complete ease. These three kings, who had dominated China's digital lifeline for a decade, felt they had absolute control over the future direction.

Their analysis was seamless, even strictly adhering to the scientific outlook on development. It's just a pity.

Their vision and imagination were tightly locked into the three-dimensional world by the limitations of the era. They had no idea.

When the sun rises in the east tomorrow, the moment the doors to the ten-thousand-person public beta open, what Guanghui Technology is smashing into Blue Star is not some improved advanced display.

It is a Dimensional Foil capable of uprooting and completely crushing the social data empire they are so proud of.