147: Chapter 147 US Tech Giants Collapse into Defenses, President Issues Sales Ban

On the other side of the ocean, in Washington, the lights in the Oval Office were still on.

The hologram of that Space Elevator, which pierced straight into geosynchronous orbit, was still burning in the President's retinas for a full ten seconds after the live feed cut to black.

He ruffled his signature blond hair.

His heavy palm slammed onto the oak desk, shaking the entire office.

"Someone tell me, what on earth is going on?"

"Didn't the intelligence agencies swear that China's chip industry was completely locked at 28 nanometers!"

"That guy named Lu Li, that 5-nanometer chip, did it just appear out of thin air?!"

Across the desk, Intel CEO Kissinger's face couldn't be described as merely pale.

Fine beads of sweat shimmered on his forehead; he sat with his hands on his knees, motionless.

He had watched the entire Guanghui Technology press conference.

As a man who had held the top seat in the global semiconductor industry for decades, he could read the true weight behind every technical parameter in that conference faster and more accurately than anyone else.

The feeling of powerlessness radiating from his marrow drained the last bit of confidence from his body.

Intel's core battlefield was personal computers and servers.

Once the Virtual Helmet became popular, the personal computer category would become a museum exhibit within eighteen months.

Their pride and joy, the x86 architecture, didn't even qualify to be mocked in the face of neural interface technology.

"Mr. President, our previous direction was completely wrong." He spoke, his voice hoarse.

"We thought they were just tinkering with traditional VR."

"But this is neural interface."

"Bypassing all physical display devices to simulate signals directly in the cerebral cortex."

He paused.

"This isn't technological competition."

"This is a dimensionality-reducing strike that spans eras."

Microsoft CEO Nadella slumped on the sofa, his whole body like a deflated cloth.

"Our Windows, our cloud services..." He shook his head bitterly, "In front of that virtual world, they are products of the Stone Age."

"If this kind of helmet enters our market, within half a year, eighty percent of tech companies in the US will bleed out."

He didn't continue.

The answer to the fill-in-the-blank question was clear to everyone present.

The President stood up abruptly, a madness born of desperation burning in his eyes.

"Then ban it!"

"Draft an executive order immediately to place Guanghui Technology on the highest-level national security threat list!"

"Prohibit any citizen from purchasing or using any products from Guanghui Technology! Violators will be prosecuted for treason!"

Nadella opened his mouth, wanting to warn him about the tsunami of public opinion such an anti-human ban would trigger nationwide.

But he glanced at that twisted face and swallowed his words.

Some things, if said, would only lead to resentment.

Meanwhile, on the streets of Washington.

Late at night, the silent streets were lit as bright as day by the blue and white light of mobile phone screens.

Thousands of young people spontaneously poured onto the roads.

They held up the logo of Guanghui Technology, some holding giant posters of Lu Li, and the same slogan rose and fell in the crowd—

"We want the Virtual Helmet! We want to enter the perfect life!"

"Over ten thousand dollars! I only need over ten thousand dollars to possess a real world, by what right do they deprive us of the right to pursue a second life!"

The wave of protests erupted simultaneously in dozens of major cities across the US.

The entrances to top gaming companies were packed tightly by angry players.

The Blizzard CEO stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, looking at the dense crowd below, his legs went weak, and he slowly slid down the glass to the carpet.

He knew better than anyone what that meant.

The order of the old era had completely collapsed.

And Lu Li, who was at the absolute center of this storm, was leaning against the back of the bulletproof car seat, boredly scrolling through funny comments on his phone.

The car was driving steadily on the night expressway to Jingzhou.

An elite soldier in military uniform was driving; the soundproof partition was raised, and the back seat was as quiet as another world.

Su Qingxue kicked off her high heels.

Her slender, fair legs, wrapped in silk stockings, were curled casually on the leather seat. A lock of hair fell beside her cheek, and she didn't bother to fix it.

She leaned against the car door, quietly observing the man beside her.

He was wearing an ordinary casual jacket, his hair wasn't styled, and he hadn't changed into a formal suit even for such a historic occasion. He looked as lazy as if he had just slipped out of the house to buy a pack of cigarettes.

Yet it was this man.

Just a moment ago, in front of the cameras broadcasting to hundreds of millions of people worldwide, he had trampled those giants into the mud.

Without even blinking an eye.

Su Qingxue's gaze landed on his side profile as he scrolled through his phone, lingering for a long time.

She knew the pricing of the helmet.

The number sixty thousand was something she had personally signed off on last night.

She had done the math.

Counting the R&D amortization of the Qingzhou-900 chip, the material costs of the high-density Haihu battery, the processing fees for the full set of neural interface sensors... sixty thousand, there was only a meager profit.

He had packaged all of Guanghui Technology's technological accumulation from the past few years into an admission ticket and issued it to all of humanity at almost cost price.

When she finished reading that report at the time, her hands were shaking a little.

Not because of the money.

She felt heartache for this man.

He had calculated every cost clearly, leaving no gaps, yet at the very last step, he pushed away the tens of billions that could have gone into his pocket.

He didn't lack understanding of business logic.

He simply didn't care.

Su Qingxue stared at his side profile, and she didn't know what word to use to describe that kind of pride.

Those people outside didn't know.

They thought Guanghui Technology was her company, Su Qingxue's company, and that this press conference was her victory.

Yet they didn't know that this man, who tied an apron in the kitchen every morning and looked up to ask her "Should we add a fried egg today?", was the one who truly held all of this in the palm of his hand.

He was quiet until he wasn't.

Once he made a sound, he had already planned out the next hundred years for all of humanity.

As her thoughts surged, Lu Li put down his phone at some point, turned his head, and caught her daydreaming.

"What are you daydreaming about?"

His voice was lazy, but his tone carried a gentleness she was most familiar with.

Su Qingxue snapped out of it, pursed her lips, and raised an eyebrow: "Looking at you."

"What's so good to look at?"

"I don't know," she said, her voice carrying a softness she hadn't even realized herself, "I just want to look."

Lu Li raised his eyebrows, showing a hint of helplessness at being caught.

He didn't speak again, just turned sideways and subtly spread his arm a little.

With just that slight movement, Su Qingxue leaned over.

Leaning her face on his shoulder, she said in a low voice: "I looked through the blueprints for the smart city, that Space Elevator..."

"When you explained the plan to me, why didn't you mention this?"

"The images hadn't been generated yet," Lu Li said nonchalantly.

Su Qingxue rolled her eyes but didn't lift her head.

"Don't expect me to coordinate the next few dozen super projects by myself."

Her voice softened, carrying a bit of coquettishness she hadn't realized herself.

"Lu Li, do you know how much pressure it puts on the shoulders of Guanghui Technology for you to paint this big picture?"

Lu Li put his arm around her waist and leaned into a more comfortable position.

"Wife, you are the CEO of the company."

His tone was so righteous it could be called shameless.

"I'm just the one who offers suggestions. I'm not good at the brain-draining work of overall planning."

Su Qingxue gave him a light nudge with her shoulder, annoyed.

"Cut the crap, how exactly do you plan to arrange it—"

"Let's meet Elder Wu first," Lu Li interrupted her, his tone calm, "Don't rush, what's the rush?"

"The new era is already here, it won't run away."