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

The three Wang sisters looked at each other, bewildered by the arrogant tone.

A knowing smile appeared on Su Qingying's face. "Li'an, what are you planning to do now?"

"Playing? Not really. I just got itchy fingers and signed a small contract."

"It's just a one-month 'strategic exclusive traffic package agreement'."

"That's all?" Wang Qiao couldn't help but mutter. Although she didn't understand finance, the words "guarantee" sounded like a lot of money.

Gu Ming asked the crucial question for everyone: "Exclusivity?"

"right."

"Exclusivity. This means that from now on, for the next month, 90% of the homepage recommendation slots, trending topics, topic lists, and even app splash screens across the entire internet will be gone..."

"They all share the surname Shen."

After listening, Gu Ming turned to Chen Mo and the three Wang sisters, who were still somewhat bewildered.

"What she means is that Wang Tianqi's 'Yao' has physically disappeared from the internet from this very second."

"Unless users actively search for it, there will be no channel through which that name will reappear."

"Not only is he penniless, but he has also been deprived of his right to speak out."

……

Meanwhile, in the top-floor office of Apocalypse Entertainment.

Wang Tianqi slammed the phone down.

"What did you say?!"

"All the featured spots on all platforms have been removed? We can't even buy our way into the trending topics? What the hell are you doing?!"

"Mr. Wang...it's not that we're not doing a good job, it's that the platform has gone mad! They said...they said they sold the recommendation slots to a big client for a whole month! A whole month!"

"A big client? Who? Who the hell dares to try and steal him from me!"

"We don't know. They signed the highest level of confidentiality agreement; we can't find out anything..."

"waste!"

Wang Tianqi didn't believe in this superstition.

Those platform executives who usually act like brothers are all shrewd people; how could they possibly let their money slip by?

He grabbed another private phone and dialed the number of the vice president of the Douyin platform.

"Sorry, the number you dialed is currently busy..."

"Hello, I'm in a meeting right now. I'll call you back later." The call was quickly disconnected.

The result was exactly the same.

He realized that this was no coincidence.

This is a coordinated crackdown targeting him across the entire industry.

"Fine, fine, fine!" Wang Tianqi laughed angrily. "You won't let me speak, but I'll speak anyway!"

He dialed the PR manager's internal line: "Immediately contact all the smear PR and marketing accounts we employ, and release all of Gu Ming's past misdeeds and the fake news about Xingchen Media's tax evasion! I'll ruin his reputation!"

"Yes, Mr. Wang!"

However, five minutes later, the PR manager called back nervously.

"Mr. Wang...something's gone wrong."

"explain!"

"Every single one of our prepared materials, whether text or video, is automatically blocked by the system as soon as we upload it and click 'publish'—without exception!"

The blocking message is: "Content contains prohibited keywords; posting is prohibited."

Wang Tianqi was stunned.

Violation of keywords?

How is that possible? They've been using this dirty trick for so many years, their methods of circumventing system censorship are already incredibly sophisticated.

This is no longer at the level of manual review by the platform; someone has... directly modified the platform's underlying protocol!

Who has such great power?

In the underground studio.

Su Qingying looked at the contract attachment sent by Shen Lian through the encrypted channel. The long string of numbers made her gasp.

"Lian, are you crazy? You've already poured half of Apocalypse Entertainment into this with just the advance payment?"

"Money is just a string of numbers."

"It's worth it to make Sister Qingying happy and watch a good show along the way."

This display of confidence made the technicians in the studio's eyelids twitch.

Is this the power of a top chaebol heiress?

A dimensional reduction attack, delivered without even a warning.

Wang Tianqi thought of one last option.

Although "Yao" cannot be promoted, the huge pre-sale data accumulated in the past is real.

This data is his last asset.

He picked up the phone and dialed a number hidden deep within his contacts.

"Mr. Wang, what brings you here?"

"Stop talking nonsense. I have some data worth 3 billion yuan. I need to use it as collateral for financing. I need 500 million yuan within three days. Is that alright?"

This is his last chance to breathe. As long as he can get this money, even if it's only temporary, he will hold on.

"Chen Mo."

Gu Ming made Chen Mo, who was staring at the screen, jump.

"exist!"

"Let's send out the 'gift' we've prepared."

Gu Ming pointed to a video file that had been prepared in advance.

Chen Mo anonymously uploaded a test video of "zero" that was only a dozen seconds long and not even fully rendered to a top-tier technical exchange forum in the industry.

The video is incomplete, and the background is a rough grid, but the core content of the video is enough to make any professional's scalp tingle.

Within ten minutes of the video being released, the entire forum erupted in discussion.

Holy crap! Who created this? This micro-expression algorithm is at least five years ahead of the industry!

[This isn't an algorithm; look at her evasive maneuvers. This is real-time physics calculation combined with an emotion engine! Compared to this, Tianqi's 'Yao' is just electronic junk!]

[Insider information! Rumor has it this is a new project from Star Media, codenamed 'Zero'!]

The news quickly spread from the tech community to the financial community.

Wang Tianqi, the underground bank owner who was on a call, suddenly had his phone vibrate wildly. He glanced at the tablet his assistant handed him; it displayed the viral video.

His expression changed repeatedly, and his tone turned cold as he spoke to Wang Tianqi on the phone.

"Mr. Wang, I'm sorry, we've done an internal assessment of that data, and the risk is too high. We can't accept it."

"Beep...beep...beep..."

The call was disconnected.

Wang Tianqi's last chance for financing was completely cut off by a short video.

"Mr. Gu, that's great, you've cut off his escape route."

Her laughter turned to an even more astonishing revelation.

"As a return gift, I just notified our cloud service provider that the server room where Tianqi Entertainment rents servers will be located will be undergoing 'line maintenance' at midnight tonight."

"At that time, we will implement a small... bandwidth throttling for them."

When the technicians heard the words "bandwidth throttling," they almost knelt down before this young lady.

That's too cruel!

This is equivalent to reducing their network speed to almost unusable levels during peak access times. At that point, not only will users be unable to access the site, but their own backend system will likely crash.

This is a physical way of dealing with him – by unplugging his network cable!

Ignoring the shock of the crowd, Gu Ming walked to the main control panel and pulled up the underlying architecture diagram of "Zero," which was an extremely complex structural network.

He pointed to the most core module and spoke to Su Qingying, as well as Shen Lian on the other end of the video.

What you've seen is only a small part.

"This system will redefine the value of virtual interaction and traffic, ushering in a new era."

The news spread rapidly throughout the entire internet.

Tianqi Entertainment's stock price plummeted in after-hours trading, almost wiping out to zero.

Inside the company, panic was palpable. Countless employees revised their resumes overnight, and long lines formed outside the HR department to submit their resignation letters.

Wang Tianqi sat alone in his empty office.

Gu Ming turned off communication with Shen Lian, and the studio returned to calm.

He looked at the data on the screen showing the collapse of Apocalypse Entertainment, but his expression remained calm.

"Wang Tianqi is not completely finished yet. When he is at his wit's end, he will seize any opportunity he can."

"He will definitely find new technology to save his life."

"Chen Mo, post that 'poisonous' interactive code package that I prepared to that tech forum he can see."

"Remember, make him feel that this is the last hope he has found himself."