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

In Hawaii, tens of thousands of miles away from Chang'an, Li Chengqian picked up the Coca-Cola on the table in the dark, tilted his head back, and drank the last mouthful of ice water in one gulp.

The cold liquid slid down his throat.

It somewhat quelled the anger he felt from his dinner falling into the sand.

All around was complete silence and pitch blackness.

Without the eerie blue glow of the holographic display, the entire beach reverted to its most primitive, nighttime state.

Moonlight falls on the sea, creating tiny, silvery waves that make a rhythmic splashing sound.

"ha……"

Li Chengqian breathed a sigh of relief.

He casually crumpled the deflated aluminum can into a ball and tossed it precisely into the dark trash can, making a crisp metallic clang.

As the instigator of this global data storm.

His performance at this moment was so calm and composed that he showed not the slightest bit of panic.

To Wu Zetian, who was standing to the side, this man seemed to be strolling leisurely in his own backyard.

Time was ticking away, second by second.

Li Chengqian slightly raised his left hand. In the darkness, the hands of the hardcore military-grade mechanical watch produced by the system emitted a faint glow.

Tick, tick, tick.

The crisp sound of the teeth biting together was exceptionally clear in the silent night sky.

He didn't rush to reconnect to the network, but waited quietly for the clock hands to complete a full 180 seconds.

This is the physical cooling-off period at the system's core, a necessary process to completely starve all remaining electromagnetic toxins.

"Your Highness, three minutes are up."

Wu Zetian whispered a reminder.

Her voice, in the darkness, lacked its usual shrewdness and instead carried a deep respect for the composed controller.

The wrist that just pulled the network cable.

This has completely overturned her ancient understanding of the word "war".

"Yes, the timing is perfect. Those filthy things hidden in the sewers should be completely gone by now, not even a last bit of numerical debris."

Li Chengqian responded with a faint "yes".

With a long stride, he steadily walked towards the East Palace main control cabin, which was completely offline.

There is no interference from external fiber optic cables.

This place has now become the only absolutely safe and sterile core in the entire Tang Dynasty.

He stretched out his long, slender hands and blindly operated the edge of the pitch-black control panel, typing out a thirty-six-digit ancestral-level physical code.

"Click".

The spare mechanical card slot embedded in the main control panel made a crisp sound, and a soft, pure white light slowly lit up, illuminating only the small area in front of the control panel.

In this completely offline, closed state.

Li Chengqian's large hands left a blurry afterimage on the keyboard.

The crisp tapping sound, like dense raindrops, broke the tranquility of the island.

He calmly applied the ultimate antivirus patch that he had already prepared.

Along with a more robust security lock employing a new quantum topology encryption, it was forcibly implanted into the core base of the Tian Shu system via the physical bus.

This is his creation.

In his eyes, the ingenious schemes of the Gongshu family from two thousand years ago are as fragile as a sandcastle in the face of modern high-order algebraic cryptography.

"Meiniang, watch closely, this is the rhythm of my era."

A lazy yet cold smile tugged at the corners of Li Chengqian's mouth.

His right hand slowly climbed up the heavy physical main switch, which was the ultimate master control push rod made of titanium alloy.

As the muscles in his arms tightened inch by inch.

He pulled the lever that represented the lifeline of the entire industrial empire with a resolute and unwavering force.

"Global warm start, initiating execution!"

"boom--!"

A tremendous humming sound seemed to come from the depths of the ocean's crust.

In that single millisecond, it forcefully tore apart all the silence and darkness of the world.

Inside the main control cabin of Tian Shu, the originally deathly gray multidimensional screen burst open from the center at an almost insane speed, revealing large swaths of clear, ethereal green light.

The green data waterfall, representing the restart of hope, was frantically scrolling down to the bottom of the screen.

At that moment, all twenty-four core energy units of Datang were simultaneously injected with the ancestral protocol, and the superconducting magnetic energy rotors resumed high-frequency rotation.

Like a sleeping dragon that suddenly opened its noble eyes.

The ancient city of Chang'an, thousands of miles away.

The 10,000-watt special searchlight atop the Xuanwu Gate of the Daming Palace was the first to pierce the thick darkness of New Year's Eve.

Immediately afterwards, that pale light was like a spark of fire falling on a haystack.

Following the long chain of underground optical cables that are densely distributed across the Guanzhong Plain.

At a terrifying speed of tens of thousands of kilometers per millisecond, it spread like wildfire along the city walls, along the streets, and along the windows of every household, reigniting the Tang Dynasty.

The city that never sleeps has been transformed back into a dazzling cyber wonderland.

Those ordinary people who had just panicked because of the power outage.

He stared blankly at the bracelet on his wrist, which had regained its warm green light.

"Digital Treasure is back! My money is still here! It's still here!"

"The red envelope from His Majesty has been successfully loaded!"

Countless cheers erupted again in that minute, creating a deafening tsunami that completely swept away the previously oppressive despair.

Inside the Taiji Hall.

That massive curtain wall that spans half of the main hall.

The blood-dripping digital skull had vanished without a trace, replaced by the clear, pristine dark green main interface of the Tian Shu system.

[Safety Protection Level: Top Grade]

External Trojan residue: zero.

System privileges have been fully transferred to the Crown Prince.

Li Shimin, exhausted, leaned on the sandalwood dragon table.

Looking at the glowing box in front of him, which had regained its dominant position.

In his bloodshot eyes, the original tyranny was instantly replaced by a deep sense of powerlessness.

His fingers, gripping the pure gold microphone, turned white from excessive force.

"That rebellious son... has finally turned the world upside down."

The old man sighed dejectedly, his back looking aged in the bright, cold light.

Fang Xuanling and Changsun Wuji got up from the carpet.

Everyone patted off the imperial wine and grime from their clothes, looked at each other, and their micro-expressions, apart from the shock of surviving a disaster, were filled with lingering fear of the Crown Prince's devastating methods.

They don't even need a single soldier.

Simply by sitting on a beach chair tens of thousands of miles away, one can dismiss all the conspiracies in the world as if they were trash.

Meanwhile, at the very top of the Quantum Tower, the heart of the City That Never Sleeps.

The loudspeaker with the highest volume, which was taken over by the Cyberspace Administration of China.

After a slight physical electrical noise occurred due to the network line being restored.

Li Chengqian's familiar, cynical, and even languid voice, tinged with a yawn or two, abruptly pierced through the heavy gates of the Taiji Hall and into the ears of the entire city's inhabitants.

His unhurried tone revealed...

With a cold glint of ruthlessness, as if they had seized absolute power in the new world, they directly locked onto the tactical terminal of the PLA's First Mech Mixed Brigade stationed in Chang'an.

Li Chengqian said into the restored microphone, "Old Xu, catch the mouse."