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

The moment Li Shimin pressed the button, the huge holographic screen in the Taiji Hall did not rain down red envelopes; instead, it suddenly distorted and emitted a piercing, shrill electric roar.

The sound was sharp and high-pitched, like countless fine iron nails scraping wildly against an alloy deck.

The shock caused the glass chandelier at the top of the main hall to shake violently.

The hundreds of holographic dancers who were originally dancing gracefully in mid-air turned into a sky full of messy green snowflakes in a microsecond.

The smile on Li Shimin's face hadn't even had time to freeze.

He could clearly feel a strong tingling sensation in his right thumb, which was pressed on the red physical button.

That was a physical tremor caused by the high-voltage electric arc backfiring through the control disk.

"Sizzle... sizzle..."

The majestic smiling face of Li Shimin on the screen was instantly replaced by a huge, blood-dripping digital skull.

The skull was pieced together from countless intricate, dark blue, cold-light codes.

A captivating crimson glow shimmered deep within its eye sockets, and its mouth opened and closed, oozing viscous simulated blood plasma.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of miles away in the New World of North America, deep within a special heavy mech armory, the ground began to tremble under the strain.

The explosion-proof armory door, ten feet high, was made of three layers of heavy special alloy.

Under the violent impact of the Ghost Trojan virus, its internal hydraulic locking system was forcibly unlocked in reverse at the same time.

"Boom—!"

A dull metallic clang resounded deep within the earth.

The alloy door, strong enough to withstand a nuclear explosion, slowly opened to both sides on its own, stirring up a cloud of cold dust.

As the cold wind blew into the dark warehouse, rows of neatly stacked steel behemoths revealed their ferocious outlines in the darkness.

Those ten thousand killing machines that have not yet been fitted with ethical restraints.

The sensors on its head are illuminated in a large area within a microsecond.

"Click, click, click!"

Thousands upon thousands of scarlet mechanical eyes opened in unison in the darkness, radiating a cold and emotionless death stare.

The courtiers in the main hall were stunned.

The glass wine cup in Changsun Wuji's hand fell to the ground with a crash and shattered, spilling the rich wine all over the floor.

"What...what is this? A demon! A demon is causing trouble!"

Fang Xuanling swayed, and his face turned completely pale in an instant.

He stared intently at the dripping skull, large beads of cold sweat pouring down his forehead.

That extreme fear, born from the unknown, transformed into an invisible hand, gripping everyone's throat tightly.

"Li Shimin, the chairman of the Tang Dynasty, don't bother."

Suddenly, the vice dean's hoarse, shrill voice, completely distorted by excitement, came from the skull's mouth.

"The righteous men of the 'Old Tang' have taken over the heavy armory of North America."

Ten thousand heavy-duty mechs have been fully activated. As long as I give them a command through my wristband, they will indiscriminately destroy all life in the North American province!

"Immediately hand over the absolute control code of the Tian Shu system, or tonight will be the night of the Tang Dynasty's global myth's demise!"

This threatening extortion declaration, delivered through hijacked megaphones across the entire internet, crashed into the ears of millions of people in the Tang Dynasty.

The cheers on the street were abruptly cut off in that millisecond.

The holographic lights that had been lit up in every household to celebrate New Year's Eve flickered violently twice before falling into complete silence.

Not only Chang'an, but also Luoyang, Yangzhou, and even provinces in Europe across the ocean.

At that moment, all of Datang's civilian networks worldwide were completely hijacked by the virus, plunging the entire world into a five-minute period of "digital blindness."

The people looked at the bracelets on their wrists that had suddenly turned a deathly gray.

She screamed in terror in the dark.

"Why is it black? Why can't I open Digital Treasure?"

"Oh my god, my credits are gone! Am I out of money?"

The unknown panic caused by the forced stripping of life's lifeline by code spread like an invisible plague wildly through the dark capital.

And in the financial trading hub of the West City.

The global stock market curve, which originally represented the comprehensive national strength of the Tang Dynasty and was constantly rising.

Because of this sudden internet outage, the system froze within a millisecond.

All fluctuations and trends have disappeared.

A lifeless, absolute straight line was drawn across the dimly lit monitor screen.

Inside the Taiji Hall.

Li Shimin was like a frozen volcano, his bloodshot, furious eyes fixed on the gray screen in front of him.

His facial muscles twitched violently with anger.

"You treacherous traitor... how dare you pull this trick on me on New Year's Eve!"

He let out a beastly growl and slammed his palm heavily on the sandalwood table.

The force was so great that it created a crack about an inch wide in the fine wood.

He was no longer the aloof capitalist emperor; his inherent battlefield tyranny was ignited in an instant.

"Wang De! Have Xu Xiao mobilize troops for me! Surround the Academy of Sciences! Execute that old bastard by a thousand cuts!"

Li Shimin roared loudly, his voice hoarse and shrill from excessive anger.

"Your Majesty, it's not working! The Great Snow Dragon Cavalry's troop deployment gateway requires code authorization from the Celestial Pivot System, and now... now it's disconnected!"

Wang De lay on the ground, his voice tinged with despair.

This vast empire is built upon technology.

In that one second without internet, I felt like a paralyzed giant, where even moving a finger became a luxury.

Having lived most of his life, this was the first time the old man had felt the chilling backlash of data.

His hands trembled as he frantically pounded on the cold alloy control panel, disregarding his dignity.

They attempted to use physical force to wake up the already crashed host.

"Repair it! Repair it for me immediately!"

Li Shimin's roar echoed in the hall, carrying a sense of powerless rage, as if the reign of a monarch was coming to an end.

However, on that cold holographic screen, there was no rain of red envelopes, and no market data.

In the dark Taiji Hall, only the blood-red skull emitted an eerie glow. Li Shimin frantically pounded on the control panel with trembling hands: "Repair! Repair it for me now!" But the system only displayed a cold message: [Highest privileges locked, access denied].