When I went home for Chinese New Year, I spent a million times more money on my foreign wife.

The large, lead-gray metal box was pushed horizontally in front of the main table.

The bottom of the box made a sharp sound as it rubbed against the marble floor tiles.

The gate was not properly closed.

The late autumn monsoon blew into the banquet hall through the cracks in the door, swirling up a few fallen leaves along the edge of the red carpet.

The silver-haired old man leading the group unbuttoned his coat, revealing a dark gray haute couture suit.

Chen Yue carried a porcelain white soup bowl from the right aisle to the main table.

She placed the soup bowl steadily in front of Katyusha.

Chen Yang took a towel and wiped the water droplets off his fingers.

As the large metal box landed, Chen Yang quickly formulated a complex model of interests and a contingency plan for mitigation.

A piece of edge physics data was exchanged for a rare iridium ore deposit with extremely large global reserves.

Securing the mining rights for this special zone in South Africa will likely advance the country's construction of the high-temperature resistant outer shell of the Pangu reactor by about six months.

But these North American conglomerates are not concerned with basic data.

They are trying to create a gap of mutual distrust between me and the Chinese security services.

If I authorize the transfer of any basic indicator here today, the external monitoring system will determine that the core technological barriers controlled by the Chen family can be undermined by commodity value.

The subsequent cross-border physical probing against my parents and Katyusha will be endless.

Chen Yang completed the determination of the nature of these seven people in one second.

This is not a business deal, but a test of the limits on surrender fees.

Trying to use exorbitantly priced mining rights to bind me to the water? Then I'll unconditionally peel off this piece of fat and devour it all.

Chen Yang casually tossed the towel into the recycling tray next to the table.

"Take the food."

He issued commands into the microphone on his collar.

The sliding thick windows on both sides of the main hall receded to the left and right. Hundreds of chefs pushed food carts in one after another.

The first main course was freshly air-freighted highland white truffles.

Thick slices of truffle were laid bare on top of the dark caviar.

The old man pressed his toes against the outer edge of the bottom of the large box and kicked straight forward.

"Mr. Chen, the box contains a map showing the distribution of iridium deposits in the neutral zone of South Africa's Seventh District, as well as a complete set of ownership transfer certificates."

The CEOs of more than a dozen multinational conglomerates in the front row of the audience successively stopped cutting their steaks. Silver cutlery tapped on the plates.

The old man moved his wrists slightly.

"The transfer document is a congratulatory gift. As a countermeasure, we need to take away one side of the edge computing model of the Pangu Project infrastructure."

Chen Yang held a large-hole strainer and scooped the white meatballs from the broth into Katyusha's plate.

He turned his head to look in Lei Zi's direction. Lei Zi stepped out of the red carpet's security area.

The rubber soles of the combat boots crushed the rose petals on the ground.

Lei Zi walked straight to the metal box and put his fingers under the pull ring on the outside of the lock.

The old man used all his strength to sink his right arm downwards.

Lei Zi's forearm muscles were noticeably taut and flat.

He clenched his fists, didn't take a single step back to adjust his center of gravity, and pulled himself up toward the sky using the traction force generated by his waist muscles.

The industrial buckle emitted the sound of an internal bearing breaking. The lid, bearing an explosion-proof test mark, snapped in half and slammed onto the ground.

The completely sealed parchment documents were left exposed to the air.

Li Bu straightened up from the large mahogany chair on the left.

He carried a special communication terminal marked with top-secret symbols and came to the front of the main stage.

"Just twenty minutes ago, the Foreign Affairs Management System and the South African District 7 Administration finalized the ultimate energy integration agreement."

Li raised the machine in his hand, and a red seal image appeared in the center of the bright screen.

"This entire land unit, including the mountain range where the iridium mine is located, has now been officially included in our country's list of priority areas for overseas joint development. The takeover by large heavy industry teams has been fully scheduled."

Li lowered his arm and put the communication device away.

"The transfer certificate for this procedure was submitted in a timely manner. The authority to control the mining of special materials in this area is now directly incorporated into the national macro-network for the unified allocation of special resources."

Seven elderly men, carrying the weight of Western capital and power, stood silently at the foot of the steps.

The old man had a deep, irreparable crease dug into the hem of his suit fabric with one hand.

The outline of the blood vessels on one side of the neck widens significantly outward.

They used the exorbitantly priced strategic iridium mine as a stepping stone, intending to use the public attention on their wedding day to force Chen Yang to reveal his bottom line.

The public announcement of the national-level security agreement effectively eliminates the threat posed by this batch of transfer agreements.

Once the document bypasses the individual and enters the national management system, the coercive transaction immediately degenerates into a passive tribute.

The old man stared at Chen Yang above.

"Mr. Chen, we have relinquished all ownership rights. According to the exchange..."

Chen Yang switched to a specially made long-handled spoon and fed Katyusha the cooled broth into the inside of her lips.

He tore open a spare velvet cloth and slowly wiped away a tiny trace of water stain below his wife's mouth.

He remained silent.

Chen Yue turned to the side and pulled out an oversized waterproof bag.

She bent down and picked up the complete set of parchment certificates scattered on the dust. The plastic zipper seal made a hissing sound as it snapped shut.

An entire global strategic asset, specially supplied to the national treasury, was collected into the public archives with zero-cost operating procedures.

Chen's mother sat casually in the center of the family table, broke off a whole crab leg from a steamed autumn crab, and put it into Chen's father's bowl.

"Old man, try this piece of meat." Chen Ma tossed the crab shell aside.

"These Western guests have no manners when they eat. They bring a few scraps of paper with them and wander around making a ruckus."

Chen Ma pointed to the empty half of the large plate.

"Chen Yue, inform the kitchen to prepare new stir-fries. This crab is too cold to eat."

Chen Yue took a step back and responded.

Two mercenaries responsible for maintaining order in the Black Kite defense zone squeezed through the gaps in the long table into the middle aisle, carrying custom-made rifles at the same level.

His right hand, extended fully outside the inner ward coat, pointed towards the escape indicator light at the side door.

"The wedding proceedings inside the main hall must not be disturbed. Those not seated should exit and turn left."

The cool, fingerprint-resistant outer layer of the mechanical gun barrel pressed against the spine of the old man at the front.

They retreated out of the gate with extremely awkward backward steps.

The heavy, solid metal explosion-proof doors of the banquet hall produced a huge echo, cutting off any possibility of the cold autumn winds entering the room.

The row of holographic projection devices at the top of the banquet hall re-emerged with high-contrast alarm red light boxes.

The announcement echoed throughout the entire connected building.

"Official directive. The 80-kilometer-wide airspace outside the Snow Palace main territory has been designated as an absolutely independent control zone. Once an unauthorized air-to-ground physical carrier is identified in an unauthorized frequency band, the air defense terminal will directly connect to the unlimited destruction authorization procedure."

The text shrank and disappeared from mid-air.

The director-general, who was in charge of managing the capital pool on behalf of the treasury across the ocean, picked up the cloth from his suit breast pocket and wiped the cold sweat that had seeped into his eyes.

The ability to negotiate terms has been largely eliminated. Chen Yang now wields the real power to overturn all the tables.

All routes for military infiltration were locked down, and the resource gifts intended to extract technological leverage were forcibly absorbed without any scruples.

The emperor stopped leaning back and got up from the wide, specially made leather chair.

Black haute couture leather shoes stepped on the gaps in the floorboards.

The Emperor stopped half a meter away from Chen Yang's row of tables.

He held the wine glass with his right hand, raising it to eye level.

The cup is positioned at an angle that conveys both a sense of aggression and awe, as if it is about to sink and tip over.

The colorless surface of the liquor remained extremely stable.