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

Data reports bearing a top-secret red seal.

The images spread silently across the main screen of the underground safe house in Hawaii.

The red data resembles glaring bloodstains.

Li Chengqian was lying on an ergonomic chair.

He wasn't wearing his signature floral shirt today.

He was shirtless, wearing only a pair of baggy floral shorts on his lower body.

The sea breeze rushed in through the ventilation ducts, making the edges of my shorts flutter.

He was biting a plastic straw, slowly sipping the last bit of cola from the bottom of his cup.

The ice cubes hit the side of the glass, making a crisp sound.

On the screen was the list of recipients of the "Longevity Fund" compiled by Wu Zetian.

Li Chengqian pushed up the black sunglasses perched on his nose.

Take it off and throw it on the control panel next to it.

There was no anger in his eyes.

There was no frenzy from having your home stolen.

There was only a kind of extreme indifference, like watching a monkey show.

"Changsun Wuji, Wang Bancheng, Li Daozong..."

Li Chengqian read out the names on the list, a mocking smile playing on his lips.

"These old fogies have lived their whole lives."

"When you get old, you throw your own body away like trash."

"Going to that crappy little room without even a firewall to become a god?"

The communication request in the bottom right corner of the main screen keeps flashing.

Li Chengqian kicked the space bar on the keyboard with his toe.

connected.

A holographic projection of Wu Zetian appeared in the basement.

She looked even more haggard than she had a few days ago.

My eye makeup is a bit smudged, and even the foundation can't cover the dark circles under my eyes.

It was obvious that he hadn't slept for several days and nights.

"Your Highness."

Wu Meiniang's voice trembled slightly, not from fear, but from anger.

"They embezzled a third of the national treasury's gold to melt down semiconductors."

"These people have completely lost their lives and their faith in the Tang Dynasty."

"One-third of the blast furnaces in the West Market have already been shut down. If this continues, the heat dissipation coating for the Tian Shu system will be cut off."

She took a deep breath, as if she had made up her mind.

"Your Highness, please give me the military tally for the Great Snow Dragon Riders."

"I know the locations of those underground server rooms."

"I'll take some men and smash all those stark white server racks!"

"Physically remove their brain-computer interfaces!"

Li Chengqian remained silent.

He swiveled his chair to face the huge screen.

On the screen, the Tian Shu system is monitoring the virtual space known as the "ownerless block" in real time.

It's bustling with activity there now.

One after another, glamorous middle-aged code avatars are building a city that never sleeps with virtual code.

They don't need to eat or sleep.

They revel endlessly in a virtual world of wine, women, and carnal pleasures.

"Smashed?"

Li Chengqian chuckled.

"Wu Zetian, have you gone mad from staying in Chang'an?"

"Those old bastards destroyed their physical bodies, leaving only a bunch of consciousness in the server."

"You smashed the server rack, so they don't even have a last chance to roll back."

"This is tantamount to killing most of the court's veteran officials."

Li Chengqian threw the empty Coca-Cola cup in his hand into the trash can.

It made a muffled "thump" sound.

Wu Zetian panicked, "What can we do? Just watch them hollow out the Tang Dynasty?"

"The retired emperor is currently hiding in the Taiji Hall, claiming illness and not coming out."

"He's clearly condoning their actions, and... he's even considering it himself!"

"The old man is so afraid of dying that he's gone mad."

Li Chengqian leaned back in his chair, placing his hands behind his head.

"He always felt that cyber technology could give him immortality."

He looked at the frenzied code manifestations on the screen.

His gaze grew increasingly cold.

"These feudal bumpkins."

"They thought that by putting a code shell on their physical body, they could transcend the boundaries of life and death."

"They simply don't understand."

"In the world of code, there is no hierarchy, no privileges."

Li Chengqian sat up straight and placed his hands on the keyboard.

"There are only useful programs and useless junk."

"Since they're tired of living, they want to become a few lines of broken characters."

"Tonight, I will grant their wish."

Wu Zetian was stunned.

"Your Highness... what are you going to do?"

"You're not thinking of formatting that block directly, are you?"

"This...this involves hundreds of lives! The imperial court will be thrown into turmoil!"

"Kill them? That would dirty my hands."

Li Chengqian's ten fingers flew across the keyboard.

He pulled up the complex underlying protocols line by line.

"Tian Shu" (天枢).

Li Chengqian's voice turned cold.

"Remove the 'simulation shield' from unclaimed blocks 17 to 49".

"Drag them out of that dream sandbox and back to the underlying logic of the real server."

The cold lights in the Hawaiian basement began to flicker rhythmically.

A massive torrent of computing power flowed silently into Chang'an via the transoceanic optical cable.

"Since they think being a coder is good."

Li Chengqian stared at the screen.

"Then let them experience what pure computing power exploitation is like."

"What does it feel like to be treated like a CPU consumable?"

He pressed the Enter key heavily.

Chang'an City.

The night was dark.

The shadow of construction halting in the West Market hangs over this cyber megacity.

Outside the city, at the foot of Mount Li.

A gravity-powered carriage, bearing no family crest, sped through the night.

The carriage was completely covered by a thick black cloth.

The cart wasn't pulled by a real horse.

Instead, they were two mechanical bionic horses spewing out ghostly blue tail flames.

The horses' hooves trod on the bluestone pavement, producing only a slight rubbery friction sound.

This is the most advanced silent shock absorption system.

What's inside is absolutely something that can't be exposed to the light.

The carriage did not take the official road.

Instead, they followed a hidden path overgrown with weeds and quietly drove into the depths of the Lishan Imperial Mausoleum.