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

At the very same moment that Gu Ming issued the order to set off, looking at the zero on the screen.

The capital city is more than a thousand kilometers away from Hegang.

On the top floor of China World Trade Center Phase 3, in a luxuriously decorated CEO's office.

A man in his forties, slightly overweight but with sharp eyes, was leaning back in the large boss's chair.

He was wearing a well-tailored, handmade suit, a Patek Philippe watch on his wrist, and a jade thumb ring on his left thumb.

Wang Tianqi.

The founder of "Tianqi Entertainment", the dominant player in China's MCN industry.

A man who built his business empire over the past decade through imitation, plagiarism, and capital acquisitions.

At this moment, his eyes were fixed on the 100-inch Sony OLED giant screen in front of him.

A video is playing on a loop on the screen.

The main character in the video is a virtual girl with silver hair and blue eyes.

She dances in ancient-style pavilions, travels through cyberpunk cities, and sings on stage.

The movements and micro-expressions were very smooth and natural.

This is Zero's debut CG, and a compilation of her virtual concert on Bilibili.

At Wang Tianqi's feet, an assistant wearing gold-rimmed glasses was respectfully reporting a set of data in a tone tinged with fear.

"Mr. Wang... According to the latest report from our public opinion monitoring department, this virtual idol named Zero, within 24 hours of its release..."

The assistant swallowed hard.

"The CG teaser trailer, which premiered on Bilibili, has already surpassed 30 million views, over one million bullet comments, and two million coins, setting a record for the fastest newcomer to achieve this level of achievement since Bilibili's inception."

"Related topics on Douyin have garnered over 500 million views."

"On Weibo's trending topics list, four out of the top ten are related to her. The main topic, #TheFirstTrueVirtualIdol#, even suddenly appeared at the top of the trending topics list and stayed there for a full twelve hours, and it still hasn't come down!"

"The most...most outrageous thing was her virtual concert...According to Bilibili's backend data, the peak number of concurrent viewers exceeded...three million!"

"Three million?"

Wang Tianqi finally reacted, rubbing the jade thumb ring on his thumb and letting out a cold snort.

"It's just inflated data. Bilibili wants to boost its stock price, so it's just using this gimmick to hype things up. I've been using this tactic for over ten years."

"No...no, Mr. Wang."

The assistant's voice trembled slightly.

"We analyzed the activity and composition of the bullet comments, and randomly selected tens of thousands of accounts that participated in the interaction for in-depth analysis... The conclusion is that the data authenticity is over 90%."

"In other words, last night, nearly three million real users actually watched a virtual paper doll concert online."

The office fell silent immediately.

All that remained was the sound of Zero singing and dancing on the stage, echoing in the empty room.

Wang Tianqi's expression changed.

He became alert.

The reason why Tianqi Entertainment has become the industry leader is due to two ironclad rules.

First, a keen sense of smell. In any emerging field, quietly wait for the first blockbuster product to emerge.

Second, substantial capital. Once a hit product emerges, they immediately use ten times the resources and a hundred times the traffic to replicate and imitate it, and then use capital to stifle it.

Now, this virtual idol named Zero is the first hit in the new field of "virtual humans".

"Has the operator investigated thoroughly?" Wang Tianqi's voice turned somewhat cold.

"We've...we've found out." The assistant quickly replied, "It's a small company that was established less than two months ago, called 'Starry Media'."

"Boss...you might not believe it, but this company is registered in...in Hegang."

"Hegang?"

Wang Tianqi smiled.

Hegang? That resource-depleted small city that's become a joke online because of its cheap housing prices?

What kind of international joke is this?

Could such a high level of technology be developed in such a place?

"However," the assistant's voice was somewhat tense, "our technical department worked overnight to reverse engineer Zero's rendering engine and motion capture system... and concluded that this company's technical capabilities are very strong. In fact... they may even be comparable to foreign special effects studios."

"Oh?"

The smile on Wang Tianqi's face slowly disappeared.

A small company registered in a remote town, yet possessing strong technical capabilities.

This is contradictory.

There must be another reason behind this.

"What about the investors?" Wang Tianqi asked directly.

"I checked!" The assistant immediately handed over the tablet. "According to Tianyancha, Xingchen Media only has one angel investor behind it."

"It's an investment firm called Skyhawk Capital."

Wang Tianqi's gaze lingered on the four characters "Tianying Capital" for more than ten seconds.

His brows furrowed, little by little.

He had spent half his life in Beijing and was very familiar with the capitalist factions within the industry.

Skyhawk Capital...

This name is unfamiliar.

But he had a vague feeling that he had heard it somewhere before.

"We...we conducted a more in-depth investigation into Skyhawk Capital through some internal channels..." the assistant said in a low voice.

"We discovered that this capital-backed Ponzi scheme has connections with the Shen family in Beijing's financial circle."

"Shen Guodong?"

When those three words came out of Wang Tianqi's mouth, his eyes changed.

Wang Tianqi is an emerging internet entertainment tycoon, while Shen Guodong is a traditional capital giant.

Although their fields of expertise did not overlap, Wang Tianqi was well aware of Shen Guodong's influence and influence.

Shen Guodong... Tianying Capital... Hegang... Xingchen Media... Virtual Human...

These words quickly connected in Wang Tianqi's mind.

Then, he pieced together a "truth".

Shen Guodong's move was a feint, a covert maneuver.

On the surface, he's still involved in traditional real estate and finance, but behind the scenes, he's already extended his reach into my core industries.

He wouldn't dare do it in places like Beijing or Shanghai, for fear of arousing my suspicion.

So he deliberately chose Hegang, a small city that no one looked down on, registered a shell company, and supported a young man he found from who-knows-where as a front man, pushing him to the forefront!

He secretly developed the technology and created the product in that kid's name.

Then, with one move, he caught me completely off guard!

This kid named Gu Ming is someone Shen Guodong used to deal with me.

Having figured all this out, Wang Tianqi felt a cold sweat break out on his back.

What he was worried about was the impact of capital like Shen Guodong's.

Wang Tianqi suddenly stood up from the boss's chair and paced back and forth on the carpet.

The jade thumb ring on his finger was unconsciously rubbed repeatedly, making a soft sound.

The atmosphere in the office was tense.

The assistant stood still, not daring to even breathe.

After an unknown amount of time, Wang Tianqi stopped.

He turned around, his back to the night view outside the window, and his whole body was in shadow.

He looked at his assistant and gave the order in a cold voice.

"Investigate!"

"Get to the bottom of this kid named Gu Ming's background, every single detail, down to his ancestors for eighteen generations!"

"I need to know everything: when he went to Hegang, who he met, and what he did!"

"If it's one of Shen Guodong's men, then we need to make plans in advance and play along with him for a while."

He paused at this point.

In the shadows, a slight smile curved his lips.

"if……"

"He's not one of Shen Guodong's men..."

Wang Tianqi's voice grew increasingly cold.

"Then let's find a way to make him one of us."

"or……"

"Make him and his company disappear from this world completely."

The assistant's heart skipped a beat.

He knew that the boss was serious.