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

Deep within the damp, cold, and foul-smelling underground sewers, a faint glow stick illuminated several faces twisted with hatred.

There was no sound of cheers from the ground, only the dripping of sewage onto the bluestone slabs, a hollow sound that was unsettling.

Dark green moss spread wildly along the cracks in the mottled brick wall.

On the surface of the dirty water, which was covered with white foam and floating with industrial waste, a faint fluorescent light refracted into a dark, eerie green arc.

The reflection made Lu Zicheng's face, covered in grime and sweat, look like a demon crawling out of hell.

His eyes, which were originally noble and proud.

He was staring intently at the murky water, his eyes gleaming with an almost morbid light.

"Cough cough..."

Lu Zicheng coughed violently a few times, a hoarse, bellowing sound coming from his throat.

He spat a mouthful of bloody saliva into the ditch at his feet, his chest heaving violently, his heavy breathing echoing through the narrow pipes.

Miles of sewage pipes completely isolated the bizarre cyber world overhead.

There are holographic neon lights that stay on all night, dazzling virtual idols, and the jubilation of ordinary people after they receive credits.

But the more this happens, the more their resentment at being stripped of everything by technology grows wildly in this dark quagmire.

This enormous disparity turned these once high-ranking nobles into nothing more than shadowy rats in the gutter.

"Master, all the old subordinates we brought with us are here, forty-seven in total."

Cui Hua tightened his tattered robe, which was already soaked through.

Because of the biting cold, he curled up into a ball, his teeth chattering incessantly, his voice trembling uncontrollably.

"The city is now filled with mobile sentries from the Tian Shu system, and their holographic scanning eyes can even verify the identity of a stray dog."

Everyone's electronic IDs are locked, and we can't withdraw a single credit point. If we can't find a way out, we'll starve to death in this tunnel in just two or three days.

He closed his eyes in despair as he finished speaking.

The direct descendants of a once extravagant family, who used to spend money like water and have a large retinue of servants, are now facing the absurd fate of starving to death.

This heavy psychological blow caused all forty-seven assassins in the waterway to exude an aura of deathly despair.

Lu Zicheng did not reply immediately.

He just stared intently at the wooden table in front of him, which was covered with a rough waterproof cloth, and the cloth was covered with black and red mold spots.

There was no holographic dashboard on the table, no fluctuating data links, and no flashing data terminals.

All that remained was a stack of rough Xuan paper picked up from a pile of waste paper, and a few bamboo and wooden brushes that were already cracked and had sparse bristles.

In such places, they dare not even carry the most basic electronic wire with them.

Even the slightest electromagnetic fluctuation will instantly trigger the iron fist of the Tian Shu system.

"That rebellious son Li Chengqian used code to turn Chang'an into a net of heaven and earth. The quantum surveillance system that covers the entire city of Tang Dynasty is as sensitive as a mad dog to any slight electromagnetic fluctuation."

Lu Zicheng gave a self-deprecating laugh, a laugh that appeared particularly desolate and chilling under the glow stick.

His dry, claw-like fingertips scribbled forcefully across the rough white paper.

The rough fibers tore through his originally delicate skin.

He was completely unaware of the dark gray mud marks left under his fingernails, and the madness in his eyes grew stronger.

"Since we can't outmaneuver the prince's 'Enter key' on the surface, we'll have to resort to underhanded tactics."

Lu Zicheng suddenly straightened up, and because the movement was too fast, his joints made a dry, cracking sound.

"No matter how powerful the Tian Shu System is, it's still just a dead thing built up line by line of code by that rebellious son Li Chengqian."

Anything man-made will inevitably have logical flaws; anything inanimate will inevitably have dark corners that cannot be illuminated!

His eyes gleamed with an almost self-hypnotic fervor, and his voice rose in pitch as he gasped for breath.

"The powerful clans were born to rule this land; why should they be stripped of everything by a few glowing symbols?"

He suddenly reached out and grabbed the cracked brush, the veins on his wrist bulging.

"From this day forward, we will no longer be called a noble family, we will be called 'Old Tang'!"

Lu Zicheng suddenly snapped the brush in half, the crisp crack echoing through the waterway.

His finger was pierced by a broken bamboo strip, and bright red blood mixed with ink splattered on the paper, spreading out patches of glaring black stains.

"I intend to build an underground network here, completely independent of the monitoring of Tian Shu."

They use credits to fleece us, so we'll secretly use the most primitive methods to erode their foundations.

"As long as this so-called digital empire can be destroyed, I wouldn't mind turning Chang'an into a rusty wasteland."

This kind of fanatical and extreme ideology, in that instant, spread like a highly toxic plague in the eyes of every remaining member of the surrounding aristocratic families.

The death squad members, whose faces had been ashen, had their empty eyes light up with a fierce light when they heard the words "Old Tang".

Everyone gritted their teeth, staring at the broken brush, their breathing becoming extremely heavy.

During the tumultuous era of the Tang Dynasty, they had already fallen to the lowest rungs of society.

Now, the only spiritual support for them to live is to destroy the new world that has stripped them of their noble status.

This is a frenzied counterattack stemming from the complete collapse of the privileged class, exuding an aura of annihilation.

"Patriarch, the idea is good, but we can't even understand the underlying logic of Tian Shu. How can we fight those cybersecurity teams?"

Cui Hua wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, spread his hands in despair, and his face was full of bitterness.

"Wang Benli is an expert in military industry. He manages such a large branch office and is very familiar with the new equipment."

But faced with the Crown Prince's audit code, he couldn't even last ten seconds before being captured on the spot by the Great Snow Dragon Riders. He's probably already halfway to Lingnan.

He pointed to the pile of rough Xuan paper and the broken brush on the table.

"Do you think we can kill the quantum mainframe of the Tian Shu system with just these few pens and paper?"

Without the technology to compete with them, we can't even get out of these sewage pipes, so how can we talk about revenge?

His tone carried an undisguised sense of defeat; the cruelty of reality, like a cold mirror, shattered their arrogance.

"Wang Benli is a fool. He thought he could get away with using public funds from the Tang Dynasty to recharge his account. He's just walking into a trap."

Lu Zicheng sneered and slowly leaned back against the damp brick wall. Sticky moss stained his back, but he remained unmoved.

"He is too superstitious about the current rules of the Tang Dynasty, but he has forgotten that the rules were set by that rebellious son."

We may not understand technology, but the Tang Dynasty certainly has people who do.

There are so many intelligent people in the world, but not every one of them is willing to be a nameless, numerical slave to that prince for the rest of their lives.

As he said this, a strange, confident smile appeared on his lips.

Those cloudy old eyes were filled with the sinister glint of someone who had succeeded in their scheme.

"The Crown Prince established the Royal Academy of Sciences and recruited the most outstanding Mohist disciples and Lu Ban descendants from all over the world."

But what did he give to those geniuses?

It's just a monthly credit card and a cold, impersonal work uniform.

How could a true genius capable of propelling an era forward willingly allow himself to be ridden by a mere young girl and a lowly prince?

Lu Zicheng straightened up, clapped his hands, and made three crisp, muffled sounds.

"Come out and greet our comrades from 'Old Tang'."

His voice carried far into the darkness, filled with an indescribable excitement.

As he applauded, a rhythmic sound of footsteps suddenly came from a dark, silent corner deep in the underground sewers.

That wasn't the typical slapping sound of cloth shoes stepping into muddy water.

Instead, it is a very slight scratch produced when a certain extremely high-grade nano-antistatic material rubs against a dry bluestone slab.

"Who?!"

Cui Hua's expression changed drastically, and he suddenly shuddered.

The surrounding assassins immediately became alert, and the previously deathly silence instantly became extremely tense.

Without drawing their longswords, they placed their hands on the rusty hilts of the daggers at their waists, leaning slightly forward in a defensive stance like hungry wolves pouncing on their prey.

Everyone's eyes widened, staring intently at the dark shadow that the fluorescent light couldn't reach.

A single second was stretched to an extreme degree that made one's limbs stiffen.

The sound of sewage dripping in the tunnel seemed to slow down in that millisecond.

Cui Hua subconsciously held his breath, cold sweat trickling down his forehead and into his chapped lips, emitting a bitter, salty taste.

He could even clearly hear his own heartbeat, thump, thump, thump, echoing dully in the empty pipes.

The fear of the unknown forces made the air in the entire room drop to freezing point, so oppressive that it made one want to go crazy.

Step, step, step.

The unhurried footsteps finally stopped at the edge of the fluorescent light.

A thin figure in a worn-out lab coat slowly emerged from the shadows. He slowly raised his head, and the thick lenses reflected a cold, reflective white light under the dim light of the glow stick, completely obscuring his eyes.

He looked at the disheveled remnants of aristocratic families filling the room, a haughty and contemptuous smile curving his lips.

He pushed up his thick glasses and said coldly, "No one understands the underlying logic of Tian Shu better than me."