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

Hegang.

The temperature dropped to minus twenty degrees Celsius late at night, and the heating at the Star Media base was turned up very high.

Gu Ming stood in front of the custom-made high-performance server.

The zero on the screen is version 2.0.

Zero is no longer just a sophisticated model that can only dance and sing.

Chen Mo extracted Wang Min's stubbornness, Liu Liu's introversion, and Zhang Hong's wild, grass-like vitality, and Gu Ming personally recombined these traits into a set of codes.

"Chen Mo, are you ready?" Gu Ming didn't turn around.

Wearing a heavy motion capture suit, sweat trickled down his forehead and into his eyes. Chen Mo didn't even blink, only giving a muffled reply.

"Let's begin." Gu Ming pressed the Enter key.

at the same time.

The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Grand Ballroom, Beijing.

A press conference is being held here.

Wang Tianqi stood in the center of the spotlight, wearing an expensive custom-made suit.

The hotel was surrounded by reporters, and news of the kidnapping was circulating online, but Wang Tianqi remained calm.

Wang Tianqi possessed the core code that Li Xiang had brought back.

That was the technology that Wang Tianqi got from Gu Ming.

"Regarding the rumors circulating online, I only have one thing to say." Wang Tianqi spoke calmly to numerous cameras, "Tianqi Entertainment is only responsible for realizing dreams."

Wang Tianqi snapped his fingers.

The big screen lit up.

A virtual idol named Yao appears on screen.

Wang Tianqi spent a lot of money, and Yao's modeling accuracy was very high; the trembling of every strand of hair was calculated.

Yao spoke up at the scene.

"Thank you, Mr. Wang, for rescuing me from that cold and oppressive place."

Yao's voice was slightly choked, and her eyes showed relief.

"There I was just a piece of waste material to be exploited, but in Apocalypse I found the meaning of life."

The scene erupted in uproar.

These words directly targeted Gu Ming from Hegang.

The comments in the live stream instantly changed direction.

Some people are criticizing Gu Ming as a heartless boss, while others are praising Yao's realistic interaction.

Looking at the reaction from the audience, Wang Tianqi felt completely at ease.

Wang Tianqi felt that Gu Ming was nothing in the face of capital.

Wang Tianqi stepped to the front of the stage, spread his hands, and announced: "This is the profound mystery of digital life that we have mastered. We are creating the world."

Several tech industry leaders in the audience were whispering among themselves.

Everyone felt that Yao's fluidity was indeed a step up from the previous Zero.

Wang Tianqi smiled brightly and glanced at the empty seat in the first row reserved for Gu Ming.

That spot has been empty all this time, which seems ironic.

Just as Wang Tianqi was preparing to announce a new round of financing plans, an unexpected change occurred.

Almost simultaneously, all the guests' phones vibrated.

This was immediately followed by a large-scale exclamation.

Many people's apps won't open; the startup screen is completely black.

Shen Lian sat in a suite on the top floor of the hotel, holding a glass of red wine in her hand.

"Gu Ming, I've burned through all the money," Shen Lian whispered into her Bluetooth headset. "I've bought out the entire one-minute splash screen for all the top ten apps on the internet."

The next second, the huge LED screen in the banquet hall flickered.

The usually lively Yao suddenly froze in place.

The screen turned into an extremely bright white light, covering the entire area.

All live broadcast signals were forcibly taken over.

The logo of Star Media came into everyone's view.

The scene shows an abandoned factory in the background, and the girl is Zero.

Zero was wearing a very ordinary black hoodie, with the hood covering half of her face.

When Zero slowly raised his head, the entire banquet hall fell into a deathly silence.

Zero's eyes were bloodshot and tired, yet they held a wildness within them.

The skin on Ling's face showed tiny pores, and the corners of her mouth were bluish from the cold.

This sense of realism makes the exquisitely crafted Yao seem cheap.

"Mr. Wang."

Ling spoke, his voice hoarse, carrying the toughness of a Northeastern accent.

"Are you comfortable using the stolen items?"

Wang Tianqi's face turned deathly pale instantly.

Wang Tianqi suddenly turned around and looked at the technical desk, frantically gesturing to turn off the screen.

However, the technical lead discovered that backend permissions had been lost.

"This is impossible!" Li Xiang shouted backstage, "That's core code, the logic I modified myself!"

Zero let out a cold laugh on the screen.

Zero stretched out his hand and gently swiped it through the air.

The large screen instantly splits into two: the running Yao is on the left, and the densely packed underlying code is on the right.

"You think that's a core patch?"

Zero's voice echoed in the banquet hall.

"That was a gift left by our Starry Sky Media for the traitor."

As the code began to jump wildly, Yao's body started to contort.

Yao's arms became slender, her eyes bulged out, and her sweet voice turned into shrill electronic noise.

"Save... Mr. Wang... He's dying..."

This is what happens after the code crashes.

Zero watched this scene calmly, his eyes filled with indifference.

"True digital life is pain and struggle, a kind of human existence that you'll never understand."

Zero took a step forward, as if he were about to step out of the screen.

"Mr. Wang, your miracle has collapsed."

The scene was in complete chaos.

The investors who were praising Wang Tianqi before now looked at him as if he were a plague god.

Some people began to question whether Wang Tianqi had illegally stolen the technology.

Wang Tianqi slumped in his chair, his suit soaked with sweat.

Tianqi Entertainment's stock price triggered a circuit breaker just ten minutes into the live stream.

That was a precipitous drop.

Su Qingying sat in the investment bank's office and calmly closed her laptop.

"Short-selling order completed." Su Qingying murmured to herself, "Wang Tianqi, your era has ended."

The number of viewers in the live stream has exceeded 50 million.

The entire internet is discussing the zero that came back to life.

Gu Ming never appeared; only a silhouette remained on the big screen at the end.

A man sits in a swivel chair with his back to the camera, rhythmically tapping his fingertips on the table.

Wang Tianqi rushed backstage like a madman.

Wang Tianqi grabbed Li Xiang by the collar and told him to maximize his computing power so that Yao could be repaired.

"Mr. Wang, the system is overloaded..."

Wang Tianqi roared and personally pushed up the power lever of the server.

Wang Tianqi has staked all his assets on this high-stakes gamble; he must bring Yao back to life.

Hegang Base.

Gu Ming looked at the red alert that popped up on the monitor.

"He made his move," Chen Mo said in a low voice.

Gu Ming took off his glasses and looked at the crazed man on the screen with a very cold expression.

"Chen Mo, start the countdown."

Gu Ming stood up and walked to the window.

Heavy snow blocked the mountain outside the window.

"three."

"two."

"one."

Goodbye, Mr. Wang.

As Gu Ming finished speaking.

Backstage at the banquet hall in the capital, dozens of high-spec servers simultaneously emitted a shrill sound.

Thick smoke billowed up immediately, and flames rose in the server room.

On the big screen, Yao let out a final scream before turning into digital fragments.

The lights went out, and only Wang Tianqi's desperate howls echoed in the darkness.

Gu Ming stood by the window and lit a cigarette.

The smoke dissipated in the cold air.

Gu Ming knew this was just the beginning; that old fox Shen Guodong was probably getting restless.

Gu Ming's phone received an encrypted message from Shen Guodong.

The message consisted of only four words: "They went too far."

A photo was attached below the message.

That was a blurry image of Gu Yuanshan being surrounded by several men in black at the factory gate.

The cigarette in Gu Ming's hand was extinguished instantly.