Deposed? I couldn't be happier! I wouldn't even be a dog to the crown prince.

The global conference unilaterally severed the connection in absolute submission. The eerie blue holographic light gradually faded, leaving only the "Tian Shu" control console, which held global data, still emitting a soft hum in the hall. Li Shimin slowly rose from the dragon throne and walked step by step towards the control console.

He walked slowly, his heavy, gold-embroidered soft-soled leather boots treading on the cold white marble floor tiles.

It emitted a hollow and dull echo, as if each step was treading on the ruins of a collapsed old era.

The light inside the hall dimmed, and everything around us was plunged into darkness.

Only the three-dimensional Earth model suspended in mid-air at the very center of the main hall still radiated a cold and profound aura.

The cold, bluish light cast a play of light and shadow on Li Shimin's weathered face.

His eyes were fixed on the slightly rotating digital Earth.

Countless interwoven golden data streams were reflected deep within his pupils, as if his soul had been completely sucked in by some kind of abyssal magic.

He stopped just half a foot away from the control panel, his breathing gradually becoming heavy.

"Wang De".

Li Shimin's voice suddenly rang out in the empty hall, revealing a hint of undisguised hoarseness.

"This old servant is here." Wang De quickly emerged from the shadow of a dragon-carved pillar, hunching over and bowing his head cautiously.

"Did you see that just now?" Li Shimin raised his right hand and pointed directly at the dark blue orb of light.

"Just now, with a single glance and a single word, the most formidable aristocratic families in the world all knelt down like dogs."

Li Shimin's chest began to heave violently, as if a raging fire was burning in his heart.

Wang De swallowed hard, gripping the whisk tightly, his palms covered in cold sweat.

"This old servant is foolish. This old servant only sees His Highness the Crown Prince's unparalleled divine might, which has made those arrogant fools bow their heads. This is a blessing for our Great Tang Dynasty."

"No, you idiot, you don't understand at all!"

Li Shimin suddenly turned his head, his eyes flashing with a terrifying light.

"That's not the Crown Prince's divine power, that's the machine's divine power! This is an ironclad law that transcends human power, it's the will of Heaven!"

Li Shimin turned his gaze back to "Tian Shu" and his hands began to tremble uncontrollably.

It is the awe that comes when facing an absolutely unknown power, and the madness that comes when supreme power is within easy reach.

He slowly extended his right hand, his fingertips gradually approaching the virtual control panel that gleamed with a cold light.

A single second was stretched to its limit in this moment.

He could clearly feel the slight resistance as his fingertips pushed through the air, and he could hear the faint sound of electricity flowing through the control panel.

The pale blue light shone on the fingerprints on his fingertips, reflecting intricate patterns.

Finally, his fingertips touched the virtual light screen.

A faint, electric tremor, as if alive, burrowed into his bloodstream from his fingertips and rushed straight to his brain.

On the control panel, the densely packed sliders and data boxes bloomed like lotus flowers the moment he touched them.

Li Shimin took a deep breath, his gaze fixed like that of a hawk on the data block representing the "Jiangnan Dao Family".

During the meeting, the representatives from Jiangnan Province were the most vocal, even daring to threaten the imperial authority with local finances.

A cruel smile curled at the corners of Li Shimin's mouth.

The scale gradually slid down from 100%.

Ninety, eighty, fifty, thirty.

Each tick decrease triggers a series of bright red warning codes to pop up at the edge of the screen.

Finally, he pressed the pusher firmly to the bottom of the 10% mark.

"drop--"

A crisp, cold electronic notification sound rang out from deep within the control panel.

Then, a chilling scene unfolded.

On that slowly rotating digital Earth, the map of Jiangnan Province suddenly flashed with a blinding blood-red light.

Countless green rays of light, representing the transport of supplies and the movement of caravans, snapped in unison in that single second.

A real-time monitoring feed quickly popped up on the side of the screen.

In the footage, alarms are blaring in major ports and railway freight stations in the Jiangnan region, thousands of miles away.

The heavy alloy gate crashed down, kicking up clouds of dust.

All ocean-going freighters belonging to the Jiangnan Shijia were instantly locked in their berths, their navigation systems and power systems completely shut down.

The mountains of top-quality silk, exquisite porcelain, and new tea instantly turned into lifeless objects that could not even take a single step out of the prefecture.

In another surveillance video...

The Jiangnan representative, who had just been so arrogant in the imperial court, was now kneeling in his own luxurious courtyard.

He held the holographic terminal, now a piece of scrap metal and covered in static, in both hands.

Zheng Yangtian let out a desperate and mournful wail, not even bothering to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth.

Li Shimin was completely stunned.

He remained in the position of pressing the lever, his whole body like a frozen bronze statue.

He did not mobilize a single soldier, nor did he deploy his proud Snow Dragon Riders.

He did not issue any imperial edicts bearing the Imperial Seal of the State, nor did he allow even a single drop of blood to flow on the land of Jiangnan.

He merely moved a single finger on that cold platform.

A vast family business empire, built up over a century, was completely paralyzed in just a few seconds.

This sense of supreme dominance, capable of controlling the lives and deaths of millions without shedding a single drop of blood, is like the most potent poison.

It instantly shattered all of Li Shimin's psychological defenses, causing his entire soul to tremble violently.

"Hahaha...hahahaha!"

Li Shimin let out a low, muffled laugh, which grew louder and louder until it turned into a hysterical, maniacal laugh.

"Wang De! Get over here and take a look! Open your dog eyes and let me see clearly!"

Li Shimin suddenly turned around, grabbed Wang De by the collar, and forcibly dragged the old eunuch in front of the screen.

Wang De trembled with fear, his old eyes filled with terror, and he kowtowed repeatedly.

"Your Majesty... this old servant saw it, this old servant saw everything..."

"I was so blind before! It's utterly absurd!" Li Shimin pushed Wang De aside and held the edge of the control panel with both hands.

"What's the point of me spending so much money to support hundreds of thousands of Snow Dragon Riders? What's the point of me staying up all night every day to review tens of thousands of memorials?"

He pointed to the map of Jiangnan Road that was flashing red light, his eyes blazing with unprecedented obsession and fervor.

"Here! In this glowing platform!"

Looking at the emperor who was still slumped over the control panel, muttering to himself like a madman, Wang De felt a pang of sadness and tightness in his heart.

He served Li Shimin for half his life, and even during the most dangerous time of the Xuanwu Gate Incident, he had never seen His Majesty show such a near-mad appearance.

That kind of obsessive madness, completely consumed by data and algorithms, evokes a chilling fear from the bottom of one's heart.

"His Majesty……"

Wang De cautiously approached, his voice extremely low, as if afraid of disturbing some slumbering primordial monster.

Li Shimin made no response.

At this moment, Li Shimin was staring intently at the complex economic data charts of the Europa province.

He was frantically working out a completely new exploitation algorithm in his mind, one that would be enough to drain the marrow from his bones.

An attempt was made to fine-tune the exchange rate of virtual currency and the unified pricing of basic survival resources.

They also completely looted the last few gold coins that the old nobles of Europe had hidden in their cellars.

The numbers on the screen jumped wildly like a waterfall, and the green light reflected on his face, which looked somewhat ferocious due to extreme greed.

"Your Majesty, it is late at night. You should rest and take care of your health..."

Wang De boldly pushed the tray forward a little further.

The rich, medicinal steam from the ginseng soup wafted to Li Shimin's side, blocking his view of the data in the lower right corner of the screen.

"This old servant humbly begs you to have some hot soup and rest for a while. You haven't closed your eyes for a full twelve hours."

Wang De's tone was almost pleading and tearful.

This slight obstruction of vision, at this critical moment, completely triggered Li Shimin's nerves, which were already stretched to the limit.

The most crucial step in deducing the exploitation algorithm was forcibly interrupted by a lackey.

The immense sense of loss—that godlike sense of dominance being forcibly dragged back to earth by the mundane soup—instantly enraged him to the extreme.

"Get out of here!"

Li Shimin didn't even lift his eyelids, and suddenly waved his wide sleeves.

His arm, carrying the power of fury, slammed heavily onto the edge of the golden nanmu tray, like a heavy iron rod.

Time slowed down again at this moment.

A dull, loud bang exploded in the air.

The tray slipped from his grasp, and the priceless gilded white porcelain bowl tumbled violently in mid-air, tracing a deadly parabola.

The scalding brown broth splashed out in mid-air, like a string of broken amber beads.

Then, the porcelain bowl was smashed hard onto the hard white marble floor tiles.

"Splash!"

The piercing cracking sound shattered the silence.

That unparalleled sense of absolute conquest, that feeling of being above all living beings, made him feel like he was floating on clouds.

He abandoned the emotions that belong to mortals and the so-called benevolence of emperors.

He completely transformed into the most ruthless and efficient execution node in this cold algorithm.

He suddenly looked up at the dark, deep sky above him, which was carved with star patterns.

With arms outstretched, it seemed as if it wanted to embrace the entire world enveloped in data.

"Hahahaha! So this is true power over the world! Anyone who dares to rebel, I will cut off their entire family's net!" Li Shimin's maniacal laughter pierced through the thick walls of Taiji Palace and drifted into the distant night sky.