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

Inside the underground computer room of the Chang'an Academy of Sciences, the vice president stared at the constantly flashing data stream on the screen, his eyes filled with resentment and madness.

The cold, bluish light shone on his wrinkled academic robe, outlining his thin silhouette, contorted with excitement.

The servers in the server room emitted a dull hum, like silicon-based behemoths imprisoned in iron cages.

The exhaust fan whirred out a pungent, hot air with the smell of burning engine oil.

The wind blew the few stray gray hairs on the vice dean's forehead into a mess.

His small eyes, hidden behind thick glasses, were now covered with spider-like red blood vessels due to excessive bloodshotness.

He stared intently at the data chain that flowed into the dark web via the physical network cable, his withered fingertips tapping loudly on the control panel.

"It's done...it's finally done!"

The vice dean let out two low, strange laughs, his voice hoarse as if he were rubbing something hard on coarse sandpaper.

In the past, he was the most intelligent person in the Tang Dynasty and the contemporary leader of the Gongshu family, who was unparalleled among all the schools of thought.

But ever since that rebellious son Li Chengqian unleashed those heaven-sent black technology systems.

Everything has changed.

Those ahead-of-the-time blueprints and those ingenious algorithms that drove people to despair were like an insurmountable mountain, mercilessly crushing his pride.

In the Academy of Sciences, he was no longer the revered patriarch.

He became an unknown laborer who could only follow the instructions and assemble parts according to the system manual.

"Why should I? You, Li Chengqian, were just born into a good family!"

The vice dean slapped the edge of the alloy control panel, his withered knuckles turning a deathly pale white from the force.

His chest heaved violently, and the fire of jealousy in his eyes almost consumed his reason.

"The industrialization of this Great Tang Dynasty was built by me and thousands of craftsmen, hammering it out one hammer blow at a time!"

But in the end, all the credit went to the miracle of your glowing box!

"I refuse to accept this! The logic written by the human brain will never lose to your soulless code!"

This kind of distorted psychology arises from the generational divide and the complete trampling of the dignity of geniuses.

It transformed into the ultimate madness beneath his fingertips.

He used his top-secret seal as the vice president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

They silently cut off the physical power supply to the third and fifth monitoring nodes of the city that never sleeps.

These subtle voltage fluctuations were hidden within the massive crowd data of New Year's Eve.

It's like secretly cutting open an unseen blind spot in the intricate web of the Tian Shu system.

That deadly Trojan horse containing the key to the original obsolescence protocol.

Following this opening, the water flowed unimpeded into the deepest underground waterway of Chang'an City.

It was delivered directly to the remnants of powerful families who were barely clinging to life in the mud.

"Lu Zicheng, the Trojan horse has been successfully installed. The 100,000 taels of pure gold you promised me should be credited to your account by now."

The vice dean pressed the offline intercom, his voice cold and devoid of any of the decorum expected of a Tang Dynasty official.

"Rest assured, Vice President, 'Old Tang' never mistreats its allies."

Lu Zicheng's hoarse and smug laughter came through the microphone.

"I've already prepared the gold underground in the West Market. As long as the market in Tian Shu is in chaos, you can bring your trucks and haul it away."

"I don't want the gold, I want that rebellious son to kneel on the ground and admit he was wrong!"

The vice dean abruptly ripped off the microphone cable, his face filled with a morbid obsession with mutual destruction.

He didn't care about the fate of the old powerful families like the Cui and Lu clans.

He also knew that those corrupt and powerful families were just trying to use him as a tool to reclaim the privileges they had once enjoyed.

But he doesn't care.

He only wanted to prove to the whole world that the ghost virus he created could defeat that high and mighty crown prince.

He wanted to shatter the invincible myth created by Li Chengqian.

Even if the price is turning the entire city of Chang'an into a sea of ​​fire, he will never turn back.

"Beep—The Ghost Trojan has infiltrated the outer perimeter of the second sandbox and is attempting to gain supreme modification rights over the North American Armory."

The red system notification that popped up on the screen caused the temperature inside the server room to drop to freezing point within that single milligram of snow.

The vice dean's fingertips trembled as he stared at the progress bar, which was on the verge of success.

His whole body began to convulse violently due to excitement, and the muscles at the corners of his mouth were uncontrollably pulled upwards, revealing a row of waxy yellow teeth.

However, his right hand was hovering over the confirm button.

This is the millisecond that prepares to launch the first full-scale cyber civil war in the new era of the Tang Dynasty.

In the narrow, enclosed space of the underground server room, a single second was stretched to its extreme by an unexpected, invisible pressure.

The regular humming of the system in the air suddenly and strangely stopped mid-air.

The vice dean could clearly hear his own rapid heartbeat caused by fear.

That was his pride instinctively issuing a warning of defeat when facing a true abyss.

"Tap, tap, tap."

The soft yet synchronized sound of combat boots hitting the ground.

It suddenly exploded in the silent corridor made of alloy outside the computer room.

The heavy alloy combat boots clattered on the metal floor, producing a series of chilling clanging sounds, as if each step was pressing on the vice dean's taut nerves.

The Academy's suicide squad members who were on guard duty around the perimeter didn't even have time to scream.

Under the precise fire of the holographic pulse gun, his body slumped against the wall, leaving warm, dark red streaks of blood.

The vice president froze.

His calloused hands were now only half a micrometer away from the physical Enter key, which possessed destructive properties.

But that distance, in that instant, became a dead end that he could never cross.

"Buzz—"

A piercing sound of fluctuating data streams suddenly rang out in the center of the server room.

The gate is a three-layered, heavy-duty protective alloy gate built to the highest standards of the Royal Academy of Sciences, capable of withstanding heavy artillery fire.

Within that millisecond, no physical damage occurred.

It is actually an electronic combination lock on its surface.

Under the onslaught of a higher-dimensional, utterly irrational torrent of violent computing power, it was instantly and forcibly rewritten into a ghastly white, signifying complete defeat.

The pale blue holographic particles were frantically rearranging themselves in the center of the hall.

A seven-foot-tall holographic figure, radiating a chilling blue light, exuded a ruthless aura that seemed to dominate the entire cyber world of the Tang Dynasty. It pierced through the physical barrier of the metal door and descended into the dark, secret room.

The light was so intense that it cast a deathly pale, bloodless glow on the vice-dean's aged face, which was covered in dirt and cold sweat.

Wu Meiniang's fully armed holographic projection pierced through the metal door, coldly looking at him: "Vice Dean, still working overtime in the middle of the night?"