163: Chapter 163 The future is a reality that people can touch.

After Su Qingxue finished speaking, the office fell silent for two seconds.

Lu Li did not immediately respond.

He simply raised his eyes, his gaze landing on the screen on the office desk, which displayed the city skyline cut into jagged peaks by high-rise buildings.

Beining City.

smart city.

That was the thing he truly wanted to build.

And it was also a truly troublesome thing.

No matter how exaggerated the Virtual Helmet was, at the end of the day, it was still a product, a clear technological curve, something that a user could put on and perceive as "awesome" within minutes.

But the smart city was not.

It was not a mobile phone, not a helmet, nor was it a system patch.

It was a reconstruction of the operational logic of an entire city.

Traffic, commerce, public security, life services, public facilities, data nodes, virtual portals, real-world feedback...

To put it plainly.

This was using a new system to replace the old nerve endings of a city.

Just thinking about it gave him a headache.

And what was even more troublesome was—

The outside world might not necessarily buy into this matter.

After the press conference ended, the Virtual Helmet achieved legendary status almost overnight.

It sold like crazy both online and offline, dominated trending topics, and the global tech circle was watching Guanghui Technology's next move.

But by comparison, the "smart city" and "Fourth Industrial Revolution" parts that Lu Li threw out at the end of the conference did not receive the unanimous fanaticism he had imagined.

It could even be said that there was a lot of skepticism.

Secretary Wang Qiuge had just compiled a public opinion brief the day before yesterday and placed it on Su Qingxue's desk.

Lu Li had glanced at it, and it left a deep impression.

Because the style of the comment sections was simply too realistic.

"I believe in the Virtual Helmet, but I'll reserve my opinion on the smart city."

"Just because a helmet is awesome doesn't mean you can really reconstruct a city, right?"

"The Fourth Industrial Revolution? Bro, clean up the shared bikes parked illegally downstairs first."

"Internet companies are best at selling pipe dreams. Today it's the Metaverse, tomorrow it's a smart city, will it be Mars the day after?"

"Don't end up just installing a few more surveillance cameras everywhere and giving it a high-sounding name like 'smart city'."

"To put it plainly, the helmet is a tangible product; the smart city still sounds like a PowerPoint project."

"It's not that I don't believe in Lu Li, but this undertaking is too massive. City-level renovation, how much money would that burn? Which city would dare to play along with him like this?"

"The label 'Fourth Industrial Revolution' is too grand; is Guanghui Technology getting a bit carried away this time?"

Ordinary netizens were skeptical.

The capital circle was even more realistic.

The Virtual Helmet meant explosive profits, market monopoly, short-term realization, and an extremely strong addictive growth model.

And the smart city?

Heavy assets, long cycles, strong coordination, low fault tolerance.

Huge initial investment, slow results, involvement of many departments, complex benefit chains; once you step into it, you might not even break even after several years.

Many people admitted that this direction might be correct.

But no one was willing to be the first to bet on it.

This was also normal.

After all, buying a helmet was consumption.

Betting on the future of a city was a high-stakes gamble.

In the office, Lu Li thought of these comments and couldn't help but gently rub his eyebrows.

It wasn't that he cared about other people's skepticism.

He simply felt it was troublesome.

Because this meant that if he really wanted to push for Beining City later, he would not only have to solve technical problems but also a more realistic issue—

He had to first make everyone believe that this was not a fantasy.

Su Qingxue looked at his expression and immediately guessed what he was thinking.

She turned slightly, her voice softening a bit.

"I've seen those things online."

"There are many people saying you've taken too big a step this time."

Lu Li tugged at the corner of his mouth.

"They aren't wrong, actually."

"This smart city thing is indeed much more troublesome than the helmet."

"The helmet drags one person into the future."

"The smart city drags an entire city into the future."

"The difference between the two is not just one order of magnitude."

Su Qingxue looked at him and suddenly smiled.

"Even you have times when you find things difficult?"

"When do I not?"

Lu Li leaned back into the sofa, his tone as righteous as ever, "I was never a diligent type of person to begin with."

"If I can do less work, why should I do more?"

Su Qingxue wanted to laugh hearing this, but also felt a bit of heartache.

When others said this, it sounded like giving up.

But when Lu Li said it, it sounded more like an accurate assessment of his own workload.

Because she knew too well.

The more this guy complained about things being troublesome, the bigger the task, the more brainpower it required, and the less likely it was that an ordinary team could handle it.

She remained silent for a moment, but still asked that crucial question:

"So?"

Lu Li sighed.

"I knew it, the concept of 'lying flat' is at odds with me."

The smile in Su Qingxue's eyes deepened, but she didn't interrupt him.

"So, I have to pick a place that's best suited to start."

Lu Li reached out, pulled over a pre-prepared distribution map of Beining City's urban districts, and spread it out on the coffee table.

"I've looked at it, the most suitable one is Chengbei District."

Su Qingxue looked down at the map, her gaze narrowing slightly.

"Why not the south of the city?"

"The south is too mature."

Lu Li casually pointed to a few areas.

"The commercial scale is large, existing interests are complex, and the old systems are deeply intertwined; if we really try to move, the trouble will be more than the renovation itself."

"Chengbei District is different."

"It has enough space, the industrial structure isn't rigid, and old communities, traffic nodes awaiting updates, vacant plots, and newly planned industrial zones are all squeezed together."

"To put it plainly—"

He paused, his tone indifferent.

"It's just the right amount of 'rotten'."

Su Qingxue: "..."

This assessment was truly very Lu Li.

However, after thinking about it seriously, she had to admit that this conclusion was actually very precise.

If a place is too poor, it's hard to get started.

If it's too mature, it's impossible to move.

But a place that is "just the right amount of rotten" is actually the most suitable to use as an experimental field.

"Which part do you want to start with?"

She asked.

Lu Li reached out and drew a circle connecting several points in Chengbei District.

"Life services."

"Not high-end tech first, and not starting off by building some city-wide smart brain."

"But rather, first build out that layer of experience that people can perceive most easily."

When he said this, a bit of genuine interest finally appeared in his eyes.

"Simply put—"

"Let them see what the future looks like first."