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

The moment the Wang family patriarch pressed the button, over a hundred dazzling virtual fireworks exploded in the sky, broadcasting his name throughout the city. He laughed wildly, immersed in unparalleled vanity.

Those colorful fireballs, formed by advanced spectral particles stacking up in a few microseconds, painted the entire sky above the city that never sleeps a fiery red.

Huge fireworks burst open in the sky, condensing into eight large characters: "The Wang Clan of Taiyuan, renowned throughout the world."

The words were also accompanied by a dazzling golden glow.

They hung there like divine pronouncements for nearly a quarter of an hour in the cold wind, causing millions of ordinary people on the long street to look up and exclaim in unison, like a tsunami.

"As expected of the Wang family of Taiyuan, they've spent a million credits in one go. They're really rich!"

The roadside vendors were green with envy.

Hearing the overwhelming murmurs around him, Wang Benli stood ramrod straight in the military factory's control room.

He wiped the sweat from his face and listened to the city-wide announcement that resounded throughout the city, falling into a state of almost pathological excitement.

"What are the Cui family? What are the Lu family? The whole city is talking about me, Wang Benli. I am the king tonight!"

His laughter, excessively excited and tinged with a sharp, distorted quality, echoed through the secret room filled with intricate mecha parts, sounding utterly manic.

However, on this morning filled with the joy of dimensional reduction.

In the backstage world of the Tian Shu system, outlined by pure gold lines, the situation underwent a dramatic and drastic change within a microsecond.

The transfer of one million credit points occurred in the very first millisecond after leaving the Datang Military Factory's public account.

The "National Defense Special Purpose" stamp in its underlying logic code was forcibly changed to "Entertainment and Cultural Expenditure," resulting in a catastrophic collapse.

"bite--"

On the screen of Datang Central Audit Mainframe, a glaringly bright red alarm curve suddenly appeared.

"Warning! An abnormal red light is flashing in the accounts of the Third Military Industrial Branch; the whereabouts of millions of yuan in mecha repair funds are unknown!"

The mechanical, electronically synthesized voice is cold and ruthless.

It didn't even give Wang Benli a fraction of a second of buffer time, directly pinning his physical IP coordinates to the PLA assault team's tactical terminal.

In that instant, the anti-corruption alarm of the Tian Shu system transformed into an invisible noose, instantly striking him from below along the fiber optic network.

The terrifying dimensional reduction attack brought about by the rapid backlash crashed down on the real world in the tenth second in the most brutal and physical way.

The explosion-proof security gate of the military factory is made of three layers of heavy alloy.

Just as Wang Benli's hysterical laughter had not completely subsided, a violent, tearing metallic roar suddenly erupted, as if the metal was being torn apart by an unbearable strain.

"Bang—!"

The door was kicked open from the outside by a violent force.

The heavy metal door slammed against the concrete wall, kicking up large plumes of dark gray dust, and gravel flew around like bullets in the firelight.

Wang Benli's laughter sounded stuck in his throat.

His eyes, which had been filled with vanity, widened in shock in an instant.

He instinctively reached out to hide the specially made terminal device on his wrist that was still burning up.

However, before his fingertips could even touch his sleeve, two black, icy streaks of light rushed towards him with a piercing hydraulic jet of light.

The Great Snow Dragon Knight's law enforcement power armor exuded the distinctive smell of military-grade machine oil, and a huge black shadow instantly enveloped his entire body in the center.

A high-frequency vibrating gun whose entire body is filled with dangerous electric arcs.

After a minute's pause, it coldly and mercilessly pressed against Wang Benli's still-popping electronic screen dial, carrying a chilling aura.

"Wang Benli of the Wang family in Taiyuan is suspected of misappropriating the Datang Heavy-Duty Mech Special Fund. The evidence is conclusive, and he has been banned from the entire internet!"

The cold, mechanical sound emanating from under the tactical helmet made Wang Benli's eardrums ring, and he collapsed to the ground in extreme panic.

He stared at the rows of cold gun barrels, his hands and feet as cold as a corpse.

It’s over.

Before his title as number one on the leaderboard could even warm up in the sky, the iron hammer of the Tian Shu system had already smashed his head.

This method of rapidly eliminating targets by directly locking physical coordinates with computing power, without even requiring a trial, demonstrates the ruthless side of Datang Cyber's rule of law.

This is a thunderous countermeasure that doesn't even need to be carried out overnight.

Three minutes after the news broke, it once again turned into a major spectacle of making an example of someone, a stark warning to others, across the entire Tang Dynasty province.

The virtual courtesan, hundreds of feet high, was still dancing in the sky above the city that never sleeps.

However, the "Top 1 Ranking" that originally belonged to Wang Benli, radiating pure gold light, was now gone.

Within that millisecond, without warning, a ghastly white wanted poster, representing a capital offense, was forcibly and completely erased from the city's giant screen.

"Ding—Announcement from the Central Bank of China: User Wang Benli has had his Nine Clans Credit Points immediately reduced to zero and all assets under his name permanently confiscated for embezzling public funds for irregular entertainment consumption!"

Lu Zicheng squatted at the bottom of the steps of the West Market, looking at the cold decrees that appeared word by word in the sky, and his whole body trembled violently with fear.

A look of extreme shock and horror crept onto his face.

He glanced at the several anonymous bracelets of unknown origin in his own bracelet, and large beads of cold sweat poured down his forehead.

"Checking the water meter in a second...it really doesn't waste a single second."

Cui Hua's face was as white as a sheet of paper. His face, which was originally vain and fanatical from a noble family, was completely pierced to pieces by the cold dagger of technology in this second.

After a brief moment of shock, the ordinary people erupted in bursts of wild laughter, a hundred times louder than before.

"Haha, this young master Wang is a real swindler! He just spent some money and was completely wiped out by the Great Snow Dragon Riders overnight!"

"Serves them right! The Crown Prince's calculation ability is so weak that even a fly couldn't get past him, yet they dared to steal military funds to give as rewards. They must have a death wish!"

The long street was filled with mockery of privileged families, while ordinary people confidently flaunted their legal and compliant green bracelets.

The holographic surveillance footage of Wang Benlin, wearing electronic handcuffs and being dragged onto a special train, was played on a loop, shattering the centuries-old dignity and prestige of the Wang family.

Under this terrifying surveillance pressure, where even entertainment and the flow of every credit point are locked down by code.

Those powerful and influential families hiding in the shadows finally experienced what it meant to feel suffocated with nowhere to escape on this night before New Year's Eve.

They originally thought they were in this virtual cyber live streaming room.

They can use money to buy back the unparalleled status and prestige that belong to their aristocratic family.

But now, Wang Benli's bright green asset zeroing notification box ruthlessly tells them that in this digital empire, even their farts are recorded in the Crown Prince's Tian Shu system log.

The despair and hatred arising from the complete deprivation of freedom were pushed to the edge of extreme madness in that instant.

"We can't outsmart their algorithms on the surface... Even if we throw every penny of our family's money into it, it's still no match for that kid's Enter key."

Lu Zicheng stared intently at the ancient account book on the ground, which had been sprayed with blood by the head of the Cui family.

His knuckles creaked from excessive force, and the venomous glint in his eyes, born of the collapse of wealth, transformed into a murderous glare of suicidal intent.

The previously enthusiastic stewards of the powerful families around them all came to their senses.

Everyone's faces were ashen. Under the fake holographic cherry blossom rain falling from the sky on Suzaku Avenue, the cold wind blew, and they only felt cold.

"Master, we can't top up any more money. If we do, we'll have to go to Lingnan to reclaim wasteland."

Cui Hua tugged at Lu Zicheng's sleeve, his voice extremely low, his eyes scanning warily every floating holographic surveillance camera on the street corner.

"Money? I'm risking my life for money, what do I need money for?"

Lu Zicheng spat out a mouthful of dirty water that tasted of blood, his face contorted with madness born of despair.

He slammed the heat-generating hidden bracelet in his hand onto the bluestone slab, crushing it into a pile of useless electronic waste with the hard sole of his dragon boots.

"Let's go! Let's find somewhere else to play. Since there's no place for our clans on the ground in the Tang Dynasty, let's go underground and completely overturn this damned digital world!"

He led dozens of equally disheveled, fierce-looking remnants of aristocratic families, and quietly withdrew from the core of the City of Light and Shadow while the people were still cheering and jumping around for the virtual courtesan.

At the edge of the long street, a heavy cast iron manhole cover is hidden under snow and grime.

Under Lu Zicheng's murderous gaze, the assassin slowly pried open a deep crevice with the most primitive crowbar, without emitting a single electronic signal.

A chilling stench, rot, and lingering malice from the old era rushed out from the wellhead.

Lu Zicheng snorted coldly and looked down at the path leading to the unknown underground world: "Let's go. I want to see if the Crown Prince's Heavenly Pivot System can even manage this rat hole under Chang'an."