936: Chapter 931 The Missing Person Notice from Ten Years Ago?

Shen Yan smiled, but there was no warmth in that smile.

"As long as you are willing to accept our standards."

"Willing to become a member of the 'Shen Yan System'."

The press conference hadn't even ended, but the stock price of Shenyan Group had already shot up into a perfectly straight red line, immediately hitting the daily upper limit.

And across the ocean...

The stock prices of Cisco, Qualcomm, and AT&T began to plummet.

Traders on Wall Street frantically sold off the obsolete assets in their hands, roaring as they tried to buy shares of Shenyan Group.

But no one was selling.

Because everyone knew that a ticket to the future was priceless.

...

Backstage after the press conference.

Chen Guangke slumped onto the chair, feeling like he had sweated out a lifetime's worth of cold sweat today.

"Brother Yan, you are too ruthless."

"Lifetime free access... You are trying to force every carrier in the world to go bankrupt."

Shen Yan was undoing his tie, as if the glorious moments just now had nothing to do with him.

"Force them to go bankrupt?"

"No, I am giving them dignity."

"When they go bankrupt, Shen Yan will acquire their infrastructure at a suitable price."

"Those optical cables? They'll make good jump ropes."

Just then, Wu Ya pushed the door open and walked in.

She was wearing a professional suit today, sharp yet subtly alluring.

But her expression was somewhat grave.

"CEO Shen, we just received news."

"The U.S. Department of Commerce just added Shenyan Group to the Entity List."

"The reason cited is... threatening national security."

"Also, several overseas suppliers we had secured deals with have all unilaterally torn up their contracts just now."

Chen Guangke exploded when he heard this.

"Damn it! Can't handle losing, can they? Pulling this old trick again!"

Shen Yan just smiled.

He walked to the window and looked out at the dazzling night view of Jinghai.

The system interface in his mind flickered again.

[Mission Complete: Quantum Communication Fully Promoted.]

[Mission Rating: S-Class.]

[Reward Issuing...]

[Acquired High-Level Intel: In three days, an old server in the Physics Department of Jinghai University will be disposed of as scrap. Deep within its hard drive is the prototype source code for a powerful Artificial Intelligence (AGI) that was left unfinished twenty years ago.]

[New Mission Triggered: Mechanical Awakening.]

Shen Yan turned around, looking at the indignant Chen Guangke and the worried Wu Ya.

"Don't panic."

"Sanctioning us?"

"That's because they are afraid."

"Since they want to play hardball, we will play with them until the end."

Shen Yan picked up his coat and draped it over his arm.

"Guang Ke, prepare the car."

"Where to?" Chen Guangke asked subconsciously.

"Jinghai University."

"To pick up some scrap."

Chen Guangke's vision went dark.

Right.

He had only been the world's richest man for less than two hours, and his boss's old habit had flared up again.

But this time, Chen Guangke had no complaints; a flicker of fanaticism even crossed his eyes.

Because he knew that any piece of junk Shen Yan picked up, even a brick, would turn into a gold brick by tomorrow.

"Yes, Brother Yan! I'll go start the car right now!"

The tree-lined avenue of Jinghai University was covered in fallen leaves. The golden ginkgo leaves were swept up by the autumn wind, pattering against the windshield of the rolls-royce.

Chen Guangke exerted Herculean effort to direct two movers to stuff the iron hulk, which looked like it had been dug out of a garbage heap, into the trunk.

This server was ancient.

So old that its casing was yellowed, its cooling vents were clogged with dust, and its fan probably roared like a tractor when spinning.

If Xie Wenyuan saw this thing, he would probably suffer a cerebral hemorrhage on the spot.

"Brother Yan, did that old man guarding the machine room fool us?"

Chen Guangke dusted off his hands, looking heartbrokenly at his custom-made suit which had gotten dirty.

"This piece of junk would cost money to sell by the pound. You spent five hundred thousand on it?"

Shen Yan sat in the back seat, holding the mechanical hard drive he had just removed.

The hard drive was heavy, feeling like a cold brick in his hand.

Who would have thought that deep within this disk, riddled with bad sectors, slept a ghost named "Nuwa"?

It was the prototype code left by a disheartened genius from twenty years ago, the cornerstone of future powerful Artificial Intelligence.

"It's not worth five hundred thousand."

Shen Yan took out a wet wipe from his pocket and carefully polished the oxidation layer on the hard drive interface.

"It's worth five billion."

"US dollars."

Chen Guangke instantly shut up.

He understood Shen Yan too well.

Since Shen Yan said this brick was worth five billion, it better actually be worth that much, or else the world itself had a problem.

Shen Yan wasn't in a hurry to send this thing to the lab.

The current "Deep Space" was already enough to give those Westerners a headache. One must eat one bite at a time; taking too big a step can lead to injury.

He placed the hard drive into his briefcase. The system interface in his mind suddenly flashed.

A golden light.

This was a special effect that only appeared for High-Level Intel.

[Today's Wealth Intel has been refreshed.]

[Intel Level: High.]

[Content: A missing person advertisement published ten years ago in the classified section of France's 'Le Figaro' newspaper.]

Shen Yan's eyebrows twitched slightly.

A missing person ad?

What kind of wealth intel was that?

He clicked on the details.

It was a blurry black and white photo of a little girl, about seven or eight years old, holding a teddy bear and smiling sweetly.

Below it was just a short line in French: Seeking Alice. Generous reward for any clues. Contact: M.

It looked ordinary.

But the system's annotation instantly caused the value of this intel to skyrocket.

[Target Individual: Alice Rothschild.]

[Identity: The only direct granddaughter of Pierre, the current patriarch of the old European noble Rothschild Family, and the sole legal heir to the family's 'Gaul Rare Earth Mining'.]

[Current Status: Suffering from amnesia, living in the 13th arrondissement of Paris, France, under the alias 'Ah Ning'.]

[Potential Gain: By controlling this individual, one can directly cut off the raw material supply for the core chips of the U.S. 6G Alliance and obtain absolute controlling shares of 'Gaul Rare Earth'.]

Shen Yan tapped his fingers lightly on his knee.

Interesting.

The Americans had just put him on the Entity List, cutting off his chip supply.

And the system immediately delivered a dagger aimed at the opponent's main artery.

Gaul Rare Earth Mining controlled 3% of the world's heavy rare earth production capacity, especially Dysprosium and Terbium, which were essential for manufacturing high-end chips.

If he secured this company, not only would it solve the raw material problem for mass-producing 'Deep Space' hardware, but he could also choke the necks of U.S. military enterprises in return.

This was the logic of the tycoon system.

Simple, brutal, and unreasonable.

"Guang Ke."

Shen Yan tossed the wet wipe into the car's trash can.

"We're not going to the company."

Chen Guangke, who had just fastened his seatbelt, paused upon hearing this.

"Then where are we going? Home? Sister-in-law said she was making braised ribs tonight."

"To the airport."

Shen Yan glanced at the street view flashing by the window.

"Apply for a flight path. We are going to France."

"Now?"

Chen Guangke's eyes widened.

"Right now? The outside is full of assassins and agents trying to destroy us, and you still want to go abroad? And to France, that place as messy as a pot of porridge?"

"Precisely because it's messy, it's easier to fish in troubled waters."

Shen Yan took out his phone and sent a message to Liu Hui, telling her he wouldn't be home for dinner and would be on a business trip abroad for a few days.

She instantly replied with a 'Be safe' emoji, along with a photo of their son, Shen An, playing with building blocks.

Shen Yan looked at the photo; the originally cold and hard lines softened for a moment, then immediately returned to calm.

For the sake of this family, for the sake of never being stepped on again.

He had to nip every threat in the bud.

"Bring the security team, and call Wu Ya along too."

"This time, we are going to bring a 'princess' home."