Living in a county town, starting as a stock market maker...

Gu Ming stood in front of the circular screen, on which Li Ang's face at the victory celebration banquet was playing on a loop.

He calmly looked at the data on the screen, showing no reaction to what was happening behind him.

They panicked.

It seems those three scripts were quite useful.

But that's alright.

It's too tiring to talk to them through the internet; I prefer to be more direct.

"Specific details."

Gu Ming spoke, his voice cold.

Wang Tianqi was panting heavily, his fists clenched so tightly they cracked.

"Starting yesterday, all the offline customer acquisition devices, power banks, and promotional materials we set up in 120 counties and cities across the three provinces of Ji, Yu, and Wan were smashed overnight!"

"The ground sales team of over twenty people sent to negotiate with local businesses were all beaten with steel pipes and baseball bats! Two were seriously injured and are still in the hospital receiving treatment!"

"They're ruthless; they're not after money, they just want to cause trouble! They've said they'll beat us up every time our people show up!"

As he finished speaking, Wang Tianqi's voice began to tremble.

Wang Tianqi had spent half his life in the gray areas before reaching his current position, and he had never suffered such humiliation.

They won online, but these people are blocking their way offline.

It was quiet inside the data center.

Everyone understood.

A large portion of Xingchen Holdings' online traffic comes from offline referrals in these cities.

This road is now blocked.

"Did you call the police?" Su Qingying's voice was a little tense, and she had already picked up her phone.

"I've reported it!" Wang Tianqi roared. "It's useless! The local police station says it's a 'commercial dispute' and tells us to mediate it ourselves! Mediate my ass! This is the mafia!"

"Then hire a lawyer and sue them!"

"President Su!" Wang Tianqi suddenly looked at Su Qingying, "It's no use! By the time the legal process is over, it will be too late! These people only care about one thing!"

He raised his hand, making a gun gesture, his eyes fierce.

"Recognize this!"

Su Qingying's face turned pale instantly.

She knew Wang Tianqi was telling the truth, but she couldn't accept his methods.

She looked at Gu Ming, hoping he could stop her.

However, Gu Ming turned around.

His face was calm.

He simply looked calmly at Wang Tianqi, at the still-bleeding wound on his forehead, and asked softly:

"How did you handle these kinds of things before?"

Wang Tianqi was suddenly stunned.

Before?

The boss was asking about something from a much earlier time.

Before I became the CEO of Apocalypse Entertainment.

Back when I was still that kind of person, willing to take a knife and hack my way from one end of the street to the other in order to seize territory.

Some long-suppressed memories flooded his mind.

His breathing began to become heavy.

His pupils began to dilate.

He licked his chapped lips and answered in a hoarse voice:

"An eye for an eye."

"An eye for an eye."

"Very good." Gu Ming nodded.

He walked past Su Qingying, stood in front of Wang Tianqi, and reached out to pat his mud-covered shoulder.

"Chen Mo," he ordered without turning his head, "prepare the car and head to the airport. Destination: Shimen City, Jizhou Province."

Then, he turned back and looked directly into Wang Tianqi's eyes.

"Wang Tianqi".

"From this moment on, I will remove all the restraints from you."

"People, money, resources—I'll give you unlimited firing rights."

"I don't want you to talk about the law, I don't want you to talk about rules, and I certainly don't want you to talk about business ethics."

He paused, his voice very low.

"I want you to use all the underhanded methods you have, in the way you're best at, to take back our territory."

"I want those who harm us to regret being born."

"Did you understand?"

Wang Tianqi's body trembled violently.

It's excitement.

The beast, suppressed for too long, finally caught a whiff of blood.

He felt as if all the blood in his body was on fire.

how many years?

He hadn't felt this way in a long time since he started wearing a suit.

This boss isn't afraid of his past self; he even wants to change him back to his past self.

The person he wants to use is not CEO Wang Tianqi.

It was that desperate fugitive, Wang Tianqi.

"Got it!"

Wang Tianqi suddenly straightened his back and roared with all his might.

The way he looked at Gu Ming changed.

All that remains is submission.

"Gu Ming, you can't..." Su Qingying stepped forward quickly, trying to stop him.

"Qingying," Gu Ming interrupted her, "I'll listen to you online, but I'll listen to me offline. Some people don't understand human language, so we have to use other methods to make them understand."

After saying that, he walked straight outside.

Wang Tianqi followed closely behind.

……

Two hours later.

A Gulfstream G650 private jet landed at Shimen International Airport.

A convoy of black Mercedes-Benz vehicles was already waiting on the tarmac.

As soon as he got in the car, Wang Tianqi dialed a number he hadn't called in a long time.

"It's me." His voice changed, becoming cold and sinister.

"Call out all the capable brothers from Ji Province, Yu Province, and Wan Province."

"The boss has spoken."

"Tonight, we're having a feast."

Gu Ming sat in the back seat, closing his eyes to rest, and did not respond to Wang Tianqi's instructions.

He took out his phone and sent a message to Su Qingying.

[Contact the top three commercial districts in all prefecture-level and county-level cities across the three provinces of Ji, Yu, and Wan. Tell them I want to contract all their outdoor LED screens, building LED screens, and elevator LED screens for twelve hours, from 7 PM tonight to 7 AM tomorrow. Let them name their prices.]

Su Qingying replied instantly.

What do you want to do?

Gu Ming smiled.

What are you doing?

You guys like physical combat, so I'll play a big one with you.

I want you to know that the way capital works is different from yours.

Meanwhile, in the suburbs of Shimen City, Jizhou Province, there is an abandoned car repair shop.

A bald, tattooed man with a thick gold chain around his neck was playing mahjong with two women in his arms.

He was one of the people who led the vandalism at Xingchen Holdings' premises; his nickname was "Mad Dog Qiang."

"Damn it, those bastards from Starry Sky Holdings are such cowards, they haven't dared to show their faces all day!" Mad Dog Qiang said, drawing a card and cursing.

"Brother Qiang, the higher-ups have given orders: every time we see them, we beat them up. This job is easy!" a henchman chuckled.

"Easy my ass!" Mad Dog spat a mouthful of phlegm onto the ground. "Mr. Shen said this matter isn't over yet! That kid surnamed Gu is incredibly cunning; we mustn't let our guard down!"

Before he could finish speaking...

A loud crash followed.

The metal roller shutter door of the repair shop was smashed by a car from the outside.

The beam of the powerful flashlight and the smoke rushed in together.

Mad Dog Qiang and his dozens of henchmen were startled by this turn of events. They jumped up from their seats and grabbed the mahjong tiles, stools, and beer bottles next to them.

The smoke and dust cleared.

Hundreds of burly men, armed with steel pipes and machetes, stood at the entrance, a dark mass of them.

The leader was a man wearing a black trench coat with a fresh scar on his face.

Wang Tianqi.

He slowly took off his leather gloves, threw them on the ground, and then pulled a baton from his pocket.

"Mad Dog Qiang, right?" He tilted his head, cracked his neck, and made a "crackling" sound.

"My boss wants to talk to you."

……

It's 7 p.m.

Shimen City, Beiguo Shopping Mall, the most bustling crossroads.

The crowds of people leaving get off work and the congested vehicles are typical of the night scene in a third-tier city.

The roadside barbecue stalls emitted the aroma of cumin and chili.

Sudden.

All the outdoor screens and GG signs that were lit up in the entire business district instantly went black.

The entire neighborhood went dark.

A commotion and gasps arose from the crowd.

Three seconds later—

boom!

All the screens simultaneously lit up with a blinding white light.

Immediately afterwards, enormous faces appeared in every corner of the city.

It's Wang Min!

It's Liu Liu!

It's Zhang Hong!

She is an internet celebrity from Xingchen Academy.

Their faces were magnified to a height of tens of meters, filling everyone's field of vision.

They were dancing in gorgeous costumes, with upbeat electronic music playing in the background.

There are no GG keywords, and no QR codes.

Only a series of young faces form a huge visual matrix.

The entire city turned into an open-air party venue.

The old streets and buildings intertwine with these dazzling modern images, creating a unique spectacle.

Everyone was stunned by the sight.

They stopped and looked up.

Then, everyone instinctively took out their phones and took pictures of these screens.

"Holy crap! What's going on? Have aliens arrived?"

"Wow! The entire screens in Shimen City have been booked! How much money did that cost?!"

"That's a social media influencer from Star Media! Wow, he's so handsome!"

Countless short videos labeled with "Shimen City", "Visual Spectacle" and "Citywide Star Creation" were simultaneously uploaded to various platforms.

These videos, filmed spontaneously by citizens, spread online instantly.

AME's rate limiting algorithm has failed.

They can restrict official accounts, but they can't restrict the spontaneous uploads from hundreds of thousands of users across the city.

This surge of offline traffic is unstoppable.

Beijing, Star Data Center.

Su Qingying stared at the rapidly rising traffic curve, speechless.

She understood Gu Ming's actions.

He used a money-spending approach to forcefully create a traffic channel that disregarded online rules.

In that underground warehouse in the suburbs of Shimen City.

Mad Dog Qiang was hanging upside down from the roof beam, his face covered in blood.

His dozens of henchmen lay on the ground groaning.

The air was filled with the mixed smell of blood, sweat, and urine.

Wang Tianqi sat in the only chair, slowly wiping the bloodstains on the baton with a white silk handkerchief.

He listened to his subordinates' report on the situation in the city center and smiled.

He once again experienced the feeling of having control over the lives and deaths of others.

He stood up, walked up to Mad Dog Qiang, and patted him on the face with his baton.

"I'm asking you one last time."

"Who told you to do it?"

"It's...it's Mr. Shen's man..." Mad Dog Qiang was already delirious, stammering out a few words.

Mr. Shen?

Shen Guodong?

Wang Tianqi's expression turned serious.

Is the person who has already been sent to prison still able to remotely control these people from the outside?

No, that's not right.

Shen Guodong has already fallen; he couldn't possibly still have that kind of energy.

These are... the remnants of the Shen family!

It's that old man's will, Shen Wanshan's will!

He realized that the war was more complex than he had imagined.

He immediately took out his encrypted phone, ready to report to Gu Ming.

However, before he could dial the number, his own phone rang.

The caller ID showed it was Su Qingying.

It is the highest level of encrypted line.

Wang Tianqi's heart sank.

He knew something terrible had happened.

He answered the phone immediately.

On the other end of the phone, Su Qingying's voice trembled.

"Wang Tianqi! Tell Gu Ming to answer the phone immediately!"

"The boss..."

"Stop talking nonsense! Let him answer the phone!" Su Qingying's voice trembled with tears. "Get back to Beijing quickly! Something terrible has happened!"

"Just five minutes ago, Tencent and Ali, together with all channel partners, issued an 'exclusive ban' to the entire industry!"

"They want Starry Sky Holdings to hand over all the core data for Algorithm 2.0 and sign an exclusive cooperation agreement!"

"Otherwise, we'll be completely banned online and our existence will be erased!"