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

As soon as Li Chengqian finished speaking, his fingers bypassed the complex defense-breaking areas on the virtual keyboard and instead pressed the bright red physical switch marked with a danger symbol in the corner.

It was a physical button protruding from the edge of a dark gold holographic screen, its surface covered with a cold, hard mesh to prevent accidental touches.

As he pressed down hard with his fingertips, the mesh snapped open, revealing a deep red color inside that resembled congealed blood.

He ignored the complicated Trojan horse entanglement and had no interest in engaging in any network counterattacks with the hackers on the dark web.

This kind of brutal and unethical attack left Wu Meiniang, who was standing to the side, completely stunned.

"Your Highness, what are you doing...?"

Wu Zetian's red lips parted slightly, her phoenix eyes filled with astonishment, and her fingers, which were typing on the keyboard, were frozen in mid-air.

As the helmsman of a digital empire, she has always been accustomed to fighting her enemies within the rules of algorithms.

But Li Chengqian's move completely shattered the rules themselves.

The fastest way to solve the digital crisis is to completely eliminate the digital environment.

Li Chengqian understood this principle well.

He was too lazy to untangle the intricate knots woven by the corrupt families and the mole within the Academy of Sciences.

He is the sole creator of the Tian Shu system, and he holds the scepter of the supreme creator.

At this moment, he directly used his ancestor-level authority, bypassing all the administrative gateways and defense nodes of the Tang Dynasty, and issued the most ruthless "forced hot power-off restart" command to the underlying energy center of the entire empire.

The warning red indicator on the main stock chart is still flashing wildly.

[Progress of divestiture of controlling stake: 92%]

The mech activation process has entered its final stage.

The hackers of the "Old Tang" organization, who were hiding in the dark and damp underground sewers deep in Chang'an, were now looking at the few simple terminals they had stolen next to the Xuan paper and bursting out with almost manic shouts.

"It's done! The North American energy gateway will soon be ours!"

Cui Hua clenched his fists tightly, his face twitching violently with excitement, and his bloodshot eyes filled with bloodthirsty fervor.

Lu Zicheng slammed his hand on the waterproof wooden table in front of him, causing the calligraphy brushes on it to roll around in all directions.

In their sight, the enormous blood-red skull had completely taken over the Daming Palace, and imperial power had become a lamb to the slaughter in that instant.

They thought their insidious plan to use ordinary people as human shields was foolproof.

They believed they were about to reclaim the pinnacle of power in the world.

However, in the unseen higher-dimensional network world, a cold, pale white countdown has quietly risen above their Trojan horse.

[Countdown to global energy gateway shutdown: 3 minute.]

This second felt incredibly slow under the Hawaiian parasols.

The sea breeze, carrying waves of heat, swept over, and the red button under Li Chengqian's fingertip emitted a deep, mechanical clicking sound.

[Countdown to global energy gateway shutdown: 2 minute.]

Inside the Taiji Hall, Li Shimin was still frantically roaring into the malfunctioning pure gold microphone, sweat dripping down his neck and into his bright red robe, sticky and heavy.

The court officials were pulling at each other in the darkness, their cries and the sounds of collisions creating a chaotic mess.

No one could have imagined that the rebellious son, thousands of miles away, had no intention of saving the screen in front of them.

[Countdown to global energy gateway shutdown: 1 minute.]

"A bunch of bumpkins living in the past, do they really think my lines are so easy to cross?"

Li Chengqian sneered, his eyes, which always carried a hint of laziness, now held only indifference.

His palm pressed down heavily without any hesitation within that millisecond.

"Click".

A crisp, subtle sound of physical disconnection rang out first from deep within the Hawaiian control panel.

Immediately following, this power-off command, signifying the end of technology, was forcefully and brutally injected into the power grid hubs of all Tang Dynasty territories within a millisecond of the Tang Dynasty's global quantum satellite network.

In the North American province's armory, where tens of thousands of crimson mechanical eyes had just lit up, a massive nuclear transformer emitted a low, mournful groan.

Then, the red light in the eyes of those steel behemoths that were about to pull out their particle blades instantly went out, and their huge mechanical arms slammed helplessly onto the floor, kicking up clouds of dust.

The virtual courtesan, towering a hundred feet above the city that never sleeps, vanished into a wisp of smoke in a mere microsecond.

The recharge ranking list, which was originally circulating wildly and reaping the wealth of aristocratic families, vanished into nothingness in an instant.

Darkness, with an unstoppable and domineering force, swallowed up all the prosperity of the entire Tang Empire in a fraction of a second, following the transoceanic fiber optic cable.

Whether it's digital treasures held by ordinary people.

It was a hidden bracelet that a powerful family had smuggled out of the black market.

At that moment, they all turned into pieces of lifeless, unresponsive scrap metal.

In the underground sewer, the faint glow in Lu Zicheng's eyes vanished instantly.

Those simple terminals that thought they had seized control of the world went completely black without even displaying an error message.

"What happened? Where's the light? Where's the data?!"

Cui Hua frantically groped in the darkness, banging his head against the hard brick wall, drawing blood, but could only touch a cold void.

The dramatic contrast of falling from heaven to hell in an instant.

It transformed into a bone-chilling, terrifying coldness, gripping the necks of all the old powerful families tightly.

Inside the Taiji Hall, the blood-red skull that was still roaring triumphantly suddenly vanished.

All the red lights on the control panel, all the system prompts, and even the originally dim emergency lights on the walls of the main hall.

In that instant, everything went out.

The entire magnificent hall was plunged into the most thorough, deepest, and most absolute darkness since the founding of the nation, devoid of any light.

Li Shimin's words caught in his parched throat. He gripped the pure gold microphone, the surroundings so silent that only the pounding of his own heart, born of extreme fear, could be heard.

"Your Majesty... the sky... the sky has fallen..."

Wang De murmured unconsciously in the darkness, his hands grasping at nothing in the void.

This is a terrifying tactic that can strip away all the world's brilliance, assets, and technology with a single click.

At this moment, the emperor and his ministers of the Tang Dynasty finally understood.

The prosperous era they were so proud of was nothing more than a kerosene lamp that could be turned off at any time in the eyes of that unfilial son.

On the beach, Li Chengqian slowly withdrew his hand, and the holographic control panel had completely disappeared.

The surroundings returned to the natural nighttime atmosphere of Hawaii, with its slightly salty sea breeze.

He glanced at the bits of butter left on his hands with disgust.

Then, he grabbed a clean, damp silk towel from the side and meticulously wiped between his fingers, one by one.

"Your Highness, restarting the global power grid will take at least an hour. During this time, the losses in various provinces of the Tang Dynasty will be significant..."

Wu Meiniang stood in the dark shadows, her phoenix eyes still lingering with the shock of shattering the rules with that punch, her voice trembling.

"The old man should bear the loss; who told him to go and collect some kind of breathing tax when he had nothing better to do?"

Li Chengqian tossed the towel aside and lay back down on the comfortable beach chair.

He tilted his head slightly, looking up at the pure starry sky above, which was exceptionally bright and free from the pollution of holographic neon lights.

His lips twitched slightly downwards, revealing a lazy yet chilling smile that sent shivers down the spines of the entire Tang Dynasty.

Li Chengqian pressed the red button heavily: "You like the night, right? I'll show you what true darkness is."