Reborn in 1950: Shorting the Federal Reserve at the Start

Geneva, Switzerland.

The atmosphere at the International Telecommunications Standards Conference was tense.

U.S. Representative Smith stood on the podium, waving a thick white paper in his hand. His arrogant face was filled with a domineering confidence, as if he could already see the dawn of America regaining its technological hegemony.

"Distinguished delegates! This is the latest generation of 4G communication standard, developed under the leadership of the United States!"

Smith's voice echoed through the spacious hall via microphone, carrying an undeniable sense of pressure.

"Its transmission speed is ten times that of 3G! It will completely change the way humans communicate!"

He turned his head sharply, his gaze piercingly provocatively toward the Chinese delegation sitting in the front row.

"I propose that this 4G standard be made the only universally applicable standard globally! Any country that refuses to adopt this standard will be considered an obstacle to the technological development of the free world and must be subject to severe sanctions!"

These words immediately sparked a buzz of discussion in the meeting room.

Representatives from Europe and Japan exchanged bewildered glances. Though frustrated, they had no choice but to yield to the technological might wielded by the Americans. After all, they simply lacked the capability to compete with the United States in the construction of basic communication base stations.

Smith looked at his bowed allies and a smug smirk curled at the corner of his mouth.

He knew that once this standard was adopted, the advantage that China had built up in the software ecosystem would be completely undermined. Without the support of hardware base stations, those globally popular Chinese software programs would become a pile of electronic waste that could not connect to the internet.

"Chinese representatives, do you have any further objections?" Smith asked condescendingly.

Shen Min'an, dressed in a smart black business suit, sat quietly in the Chinese delegation's seat.

She pushed up her black-rimmed glasses, her cool eyes showing no sign of panic, but rather a hint of amusement, as if watching a monkey show.

"Objections? Of course there are."

Shen Min'an stood up and gracefully straightened her collar. She didn't bring any speech notes; instead, she took out a small, futuristic-looking silver metal box from her briefcase.

"Mr. Smith, your 4G standard is indeed quite good. If it were five years ago, it might have impressed us."

Shen Min'an, holding the metal box, slowly walked onto the podium. Her cold voice, like ice water, ruthlessly extinguished the fervor in Smith's heart.

"However, in the race of technology, falling behind by even one day means falling behind by an entire era."

She gently placed the silver box on the podium and then pressed a button on it.

"Buzz—"

A deep blue holographic projection instantly unfolded in mid-air, clearly displaying a complex millimeter-wave base station architecture diagram.

"Distinguished delegates, this is the core module of our latest 5G commercial base station developed by the China National Geomatics Center."

Shen Min'an's voice wasn't loud, but it resounded like thunder in the meeting room.

"Its transmission speed is over a hundred times faster than the US 4G standard! Network latency is virtually zero!"

"boom!"

The entire venue erupted in chaos.

All the representatives jumped up like cats whose tails had been stepped on, their faces full of disbelief.

"5G?! How is that possible?!"

Smith's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. He pointed at the silver box and roared hysterically:

"You're lying! This is absolutely academic fraud! Even our top labs are still figuring out the underlying logic of 4G, how could you possibly jump straight to 5G?!"

"Fake?"

Shen Min'an sneered, his eyes revealing an absolute contempt that seemed to be a form of dimensional inferiority.

"Mr. Smith, just because you can't do it doesn't mean we can't. While you're still basking in the glory of your megabits of internet speed, China has already fully embraced the era of the Internet of Everything."

She lightly swiped her finger across the holographic projection.

The scene switched instantly.

That's real-time surveillance footage from the streets of Beijing.

On the wide road, driverless smart cars are driving smoothly at extremely high speeds, exchanging data with each other in milliseconds via the 5G network, without any congestion or collisions.

The scene then changes.

In a top-tier hospital in Shanghai, the surgeon, wearing VR glasses and using a 5G network, is controlling a robotic arm in a county hospital in Xinjiang, thousands of miles away, to perform a complex coronary artery bypass surgery.

Finally, the scene freezes on a mega-factory in Shenzhen.

The huge workshop was empty except for countless intelligent robots that, under the precise scheduling of the 5G network, were carrying out high-precision chip packaging and assembly day and night.

"This...this..."

Smith slumped into his chair, as if all his strength had been drained away in an instant.

As he watched the realistic scenes on the screen, which resembled those in a science fiction movie, he felt his worldview crumbling little by little.

Self-driving cars! Telemedicine! Fully automated, unmanned factories!

These concepts that Americans are still just pie in the sky on PowerPoint presentations have already been turned into reality by the Chinese and are being rolled out across the board?!

"Mr. Smith, do you still believe that your 4G standard is qualified to be a globally accepted standard?"

Shen Min'an looked down at him, his tone full of undisguised mockery.

"Compared to our 5G, your 4G doesn't even qualify as a backup network."

This international telecommunications standards conference ultimately ended in a crushing defeat for the US delegation.

China's 5G standard has become the only universally accepted standard in the world with an unparalleled and overwhelming advantage. European countries that were originally observing have switched sides and are now waving their checkbooks, begging Chinese companies to help them build 5G base stations.

When the news reached China, the whole country rejoiced.

Beijing, Office of the Director of the China National Space Administration.

Shen Jinghong leaned back in the large leather chair, watching the news report on TV about the establishment of 5G standards, and took a leisurely sip of tea.

"Chief, Min'an really takes after you; she's a master negotiator, killing without shedding blood!"

Chen Weiguo was so happy that his big teeth were showing as he poured tea for Shen Jinghong and kept chuckling.

"I heard that the American representative, Smith, was rushed to the hospital as soon as he left the meeting. This time, the US has been completely humiliated by us!"

"This is nothing."

Shen Jinghong put down his teacup, his eyes revealing an unfathomable arrogance.

He stood up, walked to the huge floor-to-ceiling window, and looked out at the vibrant Shenzhou compound.

"The US is definitely trying its best to catch up with our 5G technology. They think that as long as they throw money at it, they can make up for the technological gap of the past few years."

Shen Jinghong turned her head and looked at Lin Qinghan, who had just walked into the office, a dangerously cold smile curling at the corner of her lips.

"Qinghan, notify the laboratories below."

"Since the US wants to catch up, let's leave them with a silhouette they can never catch up with."

Lin Qinghan pushed up his black-rimmed glasses, his cool eyes gleaming with the excitement of a tech fanatic.

"Jinghong, you mean...?"

"That's right."

Shen Jinghong placed both hands on the desk and slammed down a thunderous blow, each word deliberate and powerful:

"It will be officially announced at tomorrow's internal high-level meeting."

"Our 6G terahertz communication technology and absolutely secure quantum encryption network have entered the full-scale field testing phase!"

"I want to show Americans that in the race for technology, they'll spend their entire lives following in our footsteps and eating our dust!"

Chen Weiguo gasped, a chill running down his spine.

6G?! Quantum encryption?!

Is this even something a human could create? What's wrong with the director's brain? This is practically leaving no way out for Western countries!

Night falls.

The lights were still on in the Shenzhou Bureau's office.

Shen Jinghong stood alone in front of the huge world map.

The map is densely covered with small red flags representing China's technological and economic hegemony. From Asia to Europe, from Africa to the Americas, this blue planet has been completely conquered by this Eastern dragon.

He has already maxed out the technology tree on Earth.

No country or force can stop the rise of China.

"Being invincible is truly lonely."

Shen Jinghong sighed softly, her tone revealing a sense of loneliness and vicissitude at the top.

He turned around and his gaze fell on the dusty lunar topographic map in the corner of the office.

Shen Jinghong walked over and gently brushed the dust off the drawings.

In those deep eyes, a fervent light suddenly erupted, powerful enough to overturn the entire universe.

"The Earth is too small."

Shen Jinghong looked at the lunar map, a smug smile creeping onto his lips.

"Now that we've cleared this beginner village..."

He turned his head and looked at Lin Qinghan who had pushed the door open and entered, his voice carrying an overwhelming, domineering aura:

"Honey, shouldn't we look up and take a look?"