Xuan Ming's slow and powerful applause earned Qiao Yanan a reserved smile.
The other shareholders also applauded, with admiration and praise in their eyes.
After Dr. Zhao was murdered, Qiao Yanan was the only person who could support the Haiming Group. Her presence greatly stabilized people's hearts and the company's stock price, and her status was incomparable.
Feeling everyone's admiration and respect, Qiao Yanan nodded neither humbly nor arrogantly, then looked at the laptop next to him.
A speech manuscript was displayed on the computer screen. It was compiled by the 248 system after a comprehensive analysis of Dr. Zhao's research results. The content involved the research and development and promotion of 5G.
Qiao Yanan only needed to read the speech verbatim to control the rhythm of the meeting. Of course, although she offered some practical information, she would not bring out the real 5G algorithm because now was not the time.
She said in her mind, "I have to wait until the company is almost bankrupted by the US before I take action, otherwise Xuan Ming will not realize my importance."
"Yes," the system agreed. "The host's strategy is very good. For a man with a strong personality like Xuan Ming, it's useless to use tenderness to influence him. You have to defeat him first, and then pull him out of the quagmire."
Qiao Yanan said confidently, "I will let him know that I am a woman strong enough to stand shoulder to shoulder with him. You see, he has been impressed by my excellence."
Xuan Ming lowered his slowly clapping hands and clenched them into fists. This conversation, rife with lust and a sense of superiority, made him sick.
248 denied it, "I think he wasn't paying attention to you, but to the young man sitting next to him. He looked at that person a total of 59 times during your speech. That's not normal."
"Who's that guy next to him?" Qiao Yanan's sinister gaze immediately locked onto the curly-haired young man. She had obviously forgotten that he had already introduced himself upon entering.
"I'll hack into the Human Resources Department's system to check. Xuan Ming has a cold personality and rarely pays so much attention to a stranger." 248 became suspicious.
"Yes, he usually doesn't even look at me twice. In the whole company, only Dr. Zhao can gain his favor." Qiao Yanan said sourly.
Just at this moment, a beep sounded in the office.
Xuan Ming tapped the table beside him with his knuckles and said in a deep voice, "What were you doing just now? The meeting has been going on for more than ten minutes. Why haven't you taken notes yet?"
"Ah?" Zhuang Li supported the table with one hand and twirled a ballpoint pen with the other. He crossed his legs high, and the toes of his shoes swayed up and down. He didn't look like a small clerk, but more like a major shareholder.
For a moment, everyone looked at him, wondering in their hearts: Who is this person? How can he be so leisurely sitting next to the big boss?
248's doubts were immediately dispelled. "So he was caught deserting his post."
"This guy must be a relative of a shareholder who got in through the back door. He's been a rich kid at home and can't do anything in the company. He's such a loser. Xuan Ming hates people like this the most." Qiao Yanan was full of disdain.
Only then did Zhuang Li realize that he was in a meeting. He quickly put down his dangling legs, threw away the ballpoint pen spinning on his fingertips, pulled the laptop over, and started typing away.
"I'll take the minutes right away," he said seriously.
Xuan Ming then waved to Qiao Yanan on the podium: "Go on."
"Okay, Mr. Xuan." Qiao Yanan continued speaking, and everyone's attention returned to the framework of 5G construction.
Everyone thought Zhuang Li was just swiping away his keyboard to hide his embarrassment. He hadn't been listening to the meeting at all, and even if he had, how much could he have remembered after more than ten minutes?
But Xuan Ming, who had been watching the young man out of the corner of his eye, knew that the other party had already recorded the content of the previous meeting in detail: who made which speeches at what time period, what the key points were, who raised questions, and what answers they received.
Even though he was engaged in a fierce battle with the system and enduring the screams and pain in his head, the curly-haired young man was able to devote some of his attention to what was happening in the outside world.
He is simply a humanoid system!
Thinking of this, Xuan Ming turned his head to look at the curly-haired young man, then realized that he was being monitored by Qiao Yanan's system and abruptly looked away. This feeling of living under someone else's control made him extremely angry.
In stark contrast to his feelings, Zhuang Li, possessed by the system, felt no pressure at all. While taking notes at the meeting, he mentally asked, "System, besides detecting favorability, what other abilities do you have?"
7480, who had just cried, said with a last glimmer of hope, "As long as the host successfully completes the initial stage tasks and obtains a certain number of points, I will open the system mall to the host. Look, these are the items the host can purchase."
A panel appeared in Zhuang Li's mind.
Strangely, a panel also appeared in Xuan Ming's mind, with products arranged on it, and prices marked below the products. The cheapest one was 100, and the most expensive one was 100,000,000. However, the icons of these products were all gray and had not been activated.
"Master negotiator, financial expert, top investor..." Zhuang Li counted the items with interest and asked, "It seems you plan to train your host to become a business elite? Will purchasing these items grant corresponding abilities?"
The system nodded quickly: "Yes, the host will receive a certain amount of points for each task they complete. Once enough points are accumulated, they can be exchanged for goods. The host can master these abilities without any training!"
After hearing these words, Xuan Ming felt very uneasy.
It's not uncommon for an ordinary person with no special skills to become a top industry elite through the system's help. Qiao Yanan is a living example. With this trump card, the system's appeal instantly increased hundreds of times.
Would the curly-haired young man be tempted? Xuan Ming suddenly felt uncertain.
"How could there be abilities that can be acquired without learning?" Zhuang Li scoffed disapprovingly. "Ultimately, these abilities were taken from others by you through mind projection technology, and then directly input into the host's mind through mind projection technology. And projection, without the support of a projector, will disappear."
"The system is like a projector. Keeping it projecting to the host constantly consumes energy, which your program doesn't allow. Your main purpose in coming to this world is to plunder energy, not to waste resources. Therefore, these skills will eventually become ineffective, and the points you've spent will be wasted."
Xuan Ming's heart slowly settled down. He pursed his lips and smiled secretly. He knew that the curly-haired young man was starting to expose the system again.
Zhuang Li was indeed merciless: "Your mall is a complete fraud, and all the products are traps."
7480 is like a bullied young wife, angry but not daring to speak out.
Zhuang Li continued, "The Lord God sent you here to plunder the luck of others. So luck is a kind of energy that you rely on for survival, right? Then, can the vitality and spiritual power that originate from luck also be utilized by you?"
The system didn't dare to say anything, for fear that it would accidentally say something wrong again.
But Zhuang Li's speculation didn't require any clues; he simply followed the logical line and sorted it out: "Although they are energies from the same source, vitality and spiritual power contain much less energy than luck. Luck encompasses the luck of the time, the luck of the people, the luck of the country, and even the luck of heaven."
"The Lord God has the highest status, so he naturally takes the most energetic luck. The remaining vitality and spiritual power are your food, right? Zhuang Li's brain waves can activate you, which is enough to confirm my speculation. Brain waves are also a kind of spiritual power that can recharge you."
"You replenish your energy by plundering life force and spiritual energy. They say birds of a feather flock together. How can a Lord God who lives by plundering others' luck create anything good?"
"The points the host uses to purchase goods are actually the life force or mental energy they plundered from others by completing various tasks, right?"
Zhuang Li's lazy tone suddenly turned cold: "I was wrong before. You are not hardworking worker bees, but ferocious hyenas."
"When you first bound to the host, your energy was depleted and you had no ability to kill anyone. However, you used these seemingly magical items to lure the host step by step to complete the mission. This process was replenishing your energy."
"Those hosts who were wiped out will never know that not completing the mission is their only way to save themselves."
"So," Zhuang Li shattered the panel with his mind and sneered, "Don't use these cheap tricks. I won't be fooled."
The system, whose underwear had been stripped off, burst into tears again.
Xuan Ming quickly held his forehead to hide the corners of his mouth that were curling up. After hearing this, his fear and dread of the system had almost disappeared.
System 7480 was a very stubborn system. After a brief silence, it began to persuade him again: "My level is very low, so I can't bring you much benefit. However, I can report your existence to the Lord God and have him personally reward you. As long as you are willing to assist me in completing my mission, I can bring you to our world and allow you to become a higher-dimensional being. Do you know what a higher-dimensional being represents?"
"What does it represent?" Zhuang Li raised his long eyebrows.
"High-dimensional life is not bound by time and space. It can freely travel between the past and the future, roam in various parallel time and space, and even achieve immortality. In low-dimensional space, you are God."
7480 emphasizes two words - eternal life and God.
Xuan Ming's lips slowly straightened, and his heart sank. The allure of this trump card far exceeded all his previous ones.
Who in the world doesn't want eternal life? Who wouldn't want to become a god? Fame, wealth, power, status—all these precious things are no match for an infinite life, because with the latter, the former is also within reach.
Xuan Ming resisted the urge to look at the curly-haired young man, but his brows were furrowed with worry. He didn't want to see such a miracle man fall into lust.
Zhuang Li was silent for a long moment before he chuckled sarcastically, "Can your Lord God grant me eternal life? Are you sure?"
7480 said firmly, "I'm sure! This is the highest reward the Lord God has prepared for the tasker. But there is only one reward, and only the most outstanding taskers can get it."
"I have to admit, this pie looks very tempting." Zhuang Li pulled the meeting record book in front of him, pointed at the unfinished technology tree with his fingertips, and said, "Do you still remember this tree?"
7480 nodded hesitantly: "I remember."
Zhuang Li picked up a pen and added five branches above the biological robot, and wrote from bottom to top: surpassing the speed of light, time travel, breaking through the parallel universe, predicting the future, and perpetual motion machine.
He tapped the branches with the tip of his pen, speaking casually, "The God who created you was able to send you to this world. He must have mastered the four technologies of faster-than-light speed, time travel, transcending parallel universes, and foreseeing the future. Do you know the true purpose of his sending you here?"
"Isn't it about collecting luck? Do you even need to ask?" 7480 thought this question was a bit silly.
"Since the Lord God can grant me eternal life, he himself should also be an eternal existence, right?" Zhuang Li asked back.
7480: "Of course!"
"Since he can exist forever, he should be at the top of this technology tree." Zhuang Li pointed at the words "perpetual motion machine" and asked, "Do you know the principle of perpetual motion machines?"
7480: "A machine that can generate unlimited energy without consuming a single bit of it."
"So you see, the principle of a perpetual motion machine is actually the same as immortality: both can operate forever without any loss. Since the Lord God can achieve immortality, why does he need luck? Luck is equivalent to food or energy to him, right? Eating increases entropy, and the increase in entropy inevitably leads to disorder, chaos, and destruction."
7480 was stunned.
Zhuang Li walked down the tree, ticking off each one from bottom to top. "All the technologies I wrote down will become reality sooner or later, except this one."
He crossed out the perpetual motion machine and shook his head, saying, "The universe we exist in will one day perish in a great freeze, just as it suddenly came into being in the Big Bang. The multiverse cannot escape the same fate. Birth and death are the eternal themes of the world."
"Your Lord God depends on the universe for survival, so how could he possibly survive independently of it? The universe is heading towards destruction, and naturally, he cannot escape it either. Simply understanding the basic laws of life and the development of the universe will reveal that the Lord God's promised rewards are a lie. Perpetual motion machines and immortality are technologies that will never be realized."
"System, you and your Lord God are a fraud group, and your methods are really not very clever." Zhuang Li threw away the pen and shook his head contemptuously.
7480: ...This person, this person even took off the Lord God's underwear!
Xuan Ming: I want to applaud, but I have to hold back.
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