201: Chapter 201 Smart City Exposed: Is This a Waste of Public Resources?

Next came Beining City's Chengbei District.

"Has someone been hyping up that smart city project in Beining City lately?"

"What exactly is a smart city? Just putting a bunch of Robots out for the leaders to look at?"

"This kind of thing is the easiest way to burn money; it won't end up as a vanity project, will it?"

"To put it bluntly, isn't it just a tech showroom?"

"The key is that the funding comes from special state funds; it's our tax money."

"Does this city have anything to do with my monthly salary of 1,800?"

Once these topics were posted, they unexpectedly piqued the curiosity of quite a few people.

Because, truth be told, many people had actually heard some rumors about this project in Chengbei District, Beining City.

It's just that they had always been vague.

Some said they had set up a large-scale Robot demonstration block there.

Some said they were testing "city-level intelligent dispatching" there.

Others said that the entire Chengbei District was actually a smart city experimental field personally overseen by Lu Li.

But the problem was—

These rumors had never really blown up before.

Soon, someone posted a thread on a forum to dig into this matter.

[What is really going on in Chengbei District, Beining City? Why do I keep hearing that there's something there, but there's no complete video?]

As soon as the post was made, people quickly replied below.

"I scrolled past one, but the next day I couldn't search for it anymore."

"Me too. Some locals filmed videos of Robots patrolling the streets, but the popularity just wouldn't take off."

"My friend is in Beining City and says they've been keeping it very strict over there."

"It's not that there's no content; it's that the content can't be posted."

"Really?"

"Really. I heard that before the trial run, any high-quality videos posted from local IPs would be throttled or even directly blocked by the platform."

"Damn, is it that exaggerated?"

"It's not an exaggeration; it's confidentiality. They didn't intend to disclose it ahead of time at all."

"So Chengbei in Beining City has never had any buzz—not because there's nothing there, but because they simply won't let you see it?"

With this, the discussion became even more heated.

The more secretive it was, the more curious people became.

The less they could see, the more they felt there was something real inside.

But precisely because of this, those posts trying to stir up trouble were more easily steered toward the narrative of "is this just a money-burning vanity project."

By evening, Chen Shuyu was sitting in the living room of her villa in Mingzhu City, scrolling through her phone until her head was almost on fire from frustration.

"No, do these people have any basic brains at all?"

"They haven't even seen the thing, yet they start criticizing it for wasting money?"

"And these accounts, acting like they're real people—I check their homepages and they're all Guangdong IPs. Since when did Guangdong netizens become so concerned with Beining City's urban construction overnight?"

The more she spoke, the angrier she got, and she slammed her phone onto the coffee table.

It was obvious that this was a coordinated campaign from abroad, and when using domestic VPNs, they often appear as Guangdong IPs.

Su Qingxue was sitting nearby, holding a tablet and also watching.

She was reading more carefully than Chen Shuyu.

The more she read, the more her brow furrowed.

The problem with these posts wasn't that they were abusive.

It was that they were too "structured."

It wasn't a simple, crude smear campaign.

Instead, it started by cutting in from "excessive personality cult," then slowly steered the focus toward "capital packaging," "technological myth," and "urban vanity project," finally landing on the point most likely to trigger emotional fluctuations in ordinary people—

Wasting money.

Ostentatious.

Out of touch with reality.

This angle was actually the most damaging.

Because while most people might not understand technology, they understand whether their own lives are hard or not.

As long as they are made to feel that this thing cost a lot of money but has nothing to do with them, the voices of doubt will grow on their own.

Just as Su Qingxue was thinking this, on the other end of the sofa, Lu Li slowly flipped a page on his phone and suddenly spoke.

"They know exactly where to bite."

Chen Shuyu was taken aback and turned to look at him.

"What do you mean?"

Lu Li tossed his phone aside and leaned back.

"Because for something like a smart city, the easiest thing to attack has never been the technical authenticity."

"Then what is it?"

"It's the most instinctive anxiety of ordinary people."

The living room fell silent for a moment.

Su Qingxue looked up at him.

Lu Li's tone remained calm, as if he were talking about the most ordinary thing.

"When you talk to them about the future, their first reaction isn't that it's cool."

"It's 'will I be replaced?'"

"When you talk to them about Robots, intelligent dispatching, or automated services, their first reaction isn't that it's advanced."

"It's 'if these things come, what happens to the people who used to rely on this to make a living?'"

Chen Shuyu opened her mouth, originally wanting to continue swearing, but the words stuck in her throat, and she suddenly paused.

Because Lu Li was absolutely right.

These issues are inherently very easy to strike a chord with people.

Especially when something hasn't really been seen by the majority of people yet.

Whoever defines it first has the advantage.

Su Qingxue was silent for a few seconds before saying in a low voice:

"So they aren't attacking Chengbei District."

"They are using Chengbei District to amplify everyone's most instinctive anxiety about the future in advance."

Lu Li hummed in agreement.

"Just about."

The living room went quiet.

Chen Shuyu looked down at the snide, sarcastic comments on her phone screen, and the more she looked, the more annoyed she became.

Suddenly, she looked up sharply.

"Then let's show them."

Su Qingxue looked up.

"What?"

"Show them the scene." Chen Shuyu sat up straight. "Not by issuing statements, not by posting announcements, and not by throwing out a few promotional videos. We'll go straight to Chengbei, Beining City, and start a live stream."

Lu Li: "..."

He didn't even need to look up to know that this woman was up to something again.

The more Chen Shuyu thought about it, the more feasible it seemed.

"Didn't they call it a vanity project?"

"Then let them see for themselves whether it really is a vanity project."

"Didn't they say it was burning money?"

"Then let them see exactly where that money was burned."

As she said this, her eyes lit up.

"The most important thing is that Chengbei District has been kept secret, and no one has seen the full scene. Once we start a live stream this time, the effect will be absolutely explosive."

Lu Li raised a hand to rub his brow.

"You guys go."

"Don't drag me into work."

Chapter 201: Don't Expect Too Much

"In your dreams."

Chen Shuyu didn't even think about it and flatly refused.

"If the three of us are going, how could you not go?"

"Why is it impossible?"

"Because you are the biggest draw." Chen Shuyu said righteously. "No, not a draw, that's the core attraction."

Lu Li looked at her expressionlessly.

"That doesn't sound like a compliment."

"It wasn't meant to be a compliment." Chen Shuyu snorted. "I'm stating a fact. If you're not there, the live stream's effectiveness will be cut in half."

"If it's cut in half, so be it."

"It can't be cut." Chen Shuyu leaned forward, her tone slightly gritted. "Lu Li, don't play dumb with me. The underlying logic of the entire Chengbei District smart city, the service system of the demonstration commercial street, the city-level dispatching framework—which one of these wasn't set by you? Now the whole internet is making an issue out of this project, and you still want to stay home and be a couch potato?"

Lu Li leaned back in the sofa, his expression unchanged.

"I only provided a few small suggestions."

"Shut up." Chen Shuyu almost laughed in anger. "Your 'few small suggestions' have practically turned an entire urban district into the future."

Su Qingxue had been silent the whole time.

At this moment, she put down her tablet and turned her head to look at Lu Li.

"Go for a trip."

Lu Li looked up.

Su Qingxue looked at him, her voice light but steady.

"I'm not asking you to go to a meeting."

"And I'm not asking you to make an appearance."

"Just consider it accompanying me for a walk."

The words "Yeah, yeah, yeah" that were about to escape Chen Shuyu's lips were suddenly swallowed back, and she swept her gaze subtly between the two.

Lu Li was silent for two seconds.

"CEO Su."

"Hmm?"

"Have you learned to use a honey trap just to get me to go out now?"