127: Chapter 127 Jiang Chen: Goods are non-refundable and non-exchangeable once shipped.

In the holographic conference room, the atmosphere was as cold as if it had fallen into an ice cave.

Dozens of holographic projection screens surrounded the room, and on each screen sat a livid high-ranking Eagle official. There were lawyers in suits, military bigwigs with stars on their shoulders, and Secretary of Commerce Johnson, who had just been rescued from the ICU and was currently hooked up to an oxygen tube.

They stared fixedly at Jiang Chen, who was sitting in the main seat.

If looks could kill, Jiang Chen would have already been sliced into sashimi.

"Jiang Chen! You are challenging our bottom line!"

Chief Counsel James slammed the table so hard it thundered, his spittle practically spraying onto the camera. "Our technical team has confirmed that the logic lock inside the chip was set manually! That damned 'NMSL' code is a backdoor you left behind! You must unlock it immediately and refund the entire payment!"

Facing this overwhelming denunciation, Jiang Chen just lazily picked at his ear.

He picked up the insulated cup beside him, blew away the tea leaves on top, took a sip, and only then lazily raised his eyelids:

"What are you making such a racket for? Does having a loud voice make you right?"

"I must ask, you elite professionals, do you not read the terms before signing a contract? Or are your Eagle lawyer licenses just freebies you get for topping up your phone plans?"

"Terms?"

James sneered and pulled the three-hundred-page contract from his briefcase. "We reviewed it clause by clause! There is no mention of a 'logic lock' whatsoever! You are withholding critical information!"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. A bit careless, aren't you?"

Jiang Chen shook his head with an expression that said, "This batch of students is truly difficult to teach."

He snapped his fingers, and Ikaros immediately pulled up a holographic document behind him, quickly flipping to page 108.

"Come here, zoom in on that."

Jiang Chen pointed to the very bottom of the page, the narrow gap between the footer and the main text, usually used for printing page numbers.

There, in a line of text so small that even an ant would need reading glasses to see it.

If one didn't look closely, they would definitely think it was just an ink spot accidentally smudged by the printer.

"Ikaros, read it for them."

"Yes, Master."

Ikaros read expressionlessly:

"[Special Supplementary Clause Article 73: This technical solution (Photonic Crystal Architecture) must be activated in conjunction with the 'Quantum Cloud Key' exclusively provided by Chenxing Technology. If there is no key authorization, the chip will automatically enter 'Thermal Melt Self-Destruct Mode' to protect intellectual property rights.]"

"[Note: The Cloud Key is a value-added service and must be purchased separately. Service fee standard: 10 billion USD/year (tax excluded).]"

Dead silence.

The entire online conference room instantly fell into a death-like silence.

James's mouth hung wide open, a gaping hole large enough to fit a fist, and he maintained this expression for a full half-minute. He tremblingly grabbed his original copy of the contract, pulled out a magnifying glass he carried with him, and hunched over page 108, staring intensely.

It was really there.

Although the font size was probably only six-point, although it was printed in the gap of the footer, and although its color was slightly lighter than the main text.

But it was indeed written there in black and white!

"This... this..."

James felt dizzy, his blood pressure spiking to his head. "This is illegal! This is a standard clause trap! This is fraud!"

"You call this fraud?"

Jiang Chen spread his hands, his face full of innocence:

"What's wrong with me writing in a smaller font? It's for environmental protection, to save paper. You have such a large legal team, hundreds of people reviewing the contract, and you didn't even see this? That is a dereliction of your duty."

"Besides."

Jiang Chen's expression suddenly became serious, and he tapped the table righteously:

"Isn't all software like this nowadays? You buy a mobile phone, and you still have to top up your credit to make calls; you buy a game console, and you still have to buy game discs to play."

"What I sold you is hardware technology, the 'mobile phone.' If you want to use it to run data, don't you have to pay some 'phone credit'?"

"Want to freeload off my cloud service? What kind of wishful thinking is that?"

This robber logic simply made the Eagle bigwigs laugh out of anger.

Secretary Johnson, lying on his hospital bed, pointed his trembling hand at the screen, a "hollow" rattling sound coming from his throat, looking as if he were about to pass out again.

"Shameless... simply shameless..."

An Eagle general couldn't take it anymore. He stood up abruptly, his medals clattering:

"Jiang Chen! Don't be too arrogant!"

"We have already paid one hundred billion! You are now demanding an annual 'protection fee' of ten billion? You are extorting a superpower!"

"I'm telling you, if you don't unlock the chip immediately and refund that one hundred billion you swindled from us..."

"Refund?"

Jiang Chen interrupted him, the smile on his face instantly vanishing, replaced by the coldness characteristic of a capitalist:

"General, you may have some misunderstandings about business rules."

"Once goods are sold, they are neither returnable nor exchangeable."

"You tried to save money by not buying the accompanying key service, which caused the chip to burn out from forced operation. This is improper operation by the user and falls 'outside the scope of warranty.'"

"I'm already giving you face by not making you compensate me for the damage to my technical reputation."

"You—!"

The general was so angry he slammed his hat onto the table. "Fine! So you prefer the hard way over the easy way, huh!"

"Since business methods can't solve this, don't blame us for using force!"

The dagger was revealed.

The atmosphere in the conference room instantly shifted from a business negotiation to a war mobilization.

The general stared fixedly at Jiang Chen, his eyes filled with naked threats and killing intent:

"Jiang Chen, do you think we can't touch you just because you're hiding in the Dragon Kingdom?"

"Even though one of our aircraft carriers is broken, we still have ten more!"

"Our sixth-generation fighter jets are already armed and ready! Our space-based kinetic weapons have locked onto your pathetic base!"

"I'll give you one last chance."

"Unlock the technology immediately and issue a public apology! Otherwise..."

"You might not live to see tomorrow's sun!"

A threat.

This was an undisguised death threat from the strongest military group on the Blue Planet.

If it were any ordinary businessman, or even a head of state, facing this kind of nuclear deterrence shoved in their face, they would likely have to weigh their options carefully.

But Jiang Chen just laughed.

He laughed until his shoulders shook, as if he had just heard the funniest joke in the world.

"Using force?"

"Oh my, General, the way you say that, I'm so scared."

Jiang Chen patted his chest; although he said he was scared, where was there any fear in his expression? It was clearly the excitement of "finally waiting for you to say that."

He slowly stood up and walked to the camera.

His young, handsome face instantly occupied all the screens of the Eagle high-ranking officials.

"Since you don't want to talk reason and want to talk with fists."

"That works out perfectly."

"I also think that doing business with you thugs is just too tiring and a waste of breath."

Jiang Chen straightened his collar, a flash of madness gleaming in his eyes:

"Don't you want to see my trump card? Don't you think aircraft carriers and fighter jets are invincible?"

"What a coincidence."

"I just happened to tinker with a new 'big toy' recently, and I was just worrying about not finding anyone to test it on."

He glanced at the time.

7:55 PM.

Five minutes until his scheduled global live stream.

"General, I suggest you don't hang up the phone now, and don't be in a hurry to order fire."

"Go and adjust all your satellites to point at the Western Suburbs of Tianhai City."

A mysterious, yet heart-stopping, arc curled at the corner of Jiang Chen's mouth:

"In five minutes."

"I will show you... a real big treasure."

"I hope that by then, your aircraft carriers will still have the courage to sail out of port."

After saying that.

Jiang Chen didn't give the other side a chance to respond at all, directly reaching out and unplugging the network cable.

All the screens instantly went black.

Leaving behind only the group of Eagle bigwigs in the conference room, looking at each other, both angry and inexplicably feeling a trace of fear.

"Big treasure?"

The general frowned, a strong sense of unease suddenly welling up in his heart.

"That madman... what on earth does he want to do?"

...

West Suburb Base, deep underground.

Jiang Chen threw away the network cable in his hand and took a deep breath.

He turned around and looked at the huge gate behind him that led to the underground hangar.

There, a slender, menacing interstellar warship, radiating a cold silver light, had completed all charging preparations.

Its engines were humming, like an ancient behemoth about to awaken, yearning to break through the crust and embrace the long-lost starry sky.

"Old Chen, Old Zhao."

Jiang Chen issued the final order into the communicator:

"Are you ready?"

"Tonight, we aren't selling goods anymore."

"Tonight..."

"We're taking this bunch of bumpkins who have never seen the world... to the sky!"