Chapter 124 The Global Supply Chain Battle: Starsea or Apple

Chu Xuan's roar scattered the air conditioning in the office.

The defaulted contracts returned to him in his hands rustled as the pages shook.

Chu Xuan's legs went weak, and he slumped directly against the edge of the glass coffee table.

"Boss Lu, without these two things, we won't even be able to assemble the casing for next month's new model!"

He clutched that sodden wad of tissue, desperately wiping the greasy sweat from his forehead.

The news grew legs.

In less than half an hour, it had spread throughout the entire Huaxia digital industry.

Yanjing, Dami Phone headquarters.

Boss Lei looked at the internal supply chain briefing on his phone and gasped.

The cold air caught in his throat, making him cough repeatedly.

"Cook is going for the kill."

Boss Lei set down his white porcelain teacup, the bottom of the bowl hitting the tabletop with a dull thud.

"A poison pill agreement with a choice of one or the other. This is meant to force the global supply chain to cut ties with Xinghai."

The executive beside him wiped his sweat, his legs trembling uncontrollably.

"Boss, I'm afraid Xinghai is really going to have to stop production this time."

The executive swallowed dryly, "Without Sony's sensors and without Corning's glass, what are they going to use to build phones?"

In Xinghai's top-floor office, there was a deathly silence.

Shen Qingqiu pushed up the gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of her nose.

Her high heels clicked crisply as she stepped on the wool carpet.

"Cook's move to pull the firewood from under the cauldron is ruthless."

A cold light flashed in Shen Qingqiu's eyes.

"We do have a trillion-dollar valuation on the books and endless dollars to spend. But if we can't buy core components, the money is just scrap paper."

In the corner, Xia Weiliang was barefoot.

She was crouching on an esports chair, her toes unconsciously digging into the leather cushion.

She was chewing on half a sausage, the kind that comes with instant noodles.

"Sony's lousy sensors have been releasing stagnant upgrades for five years. If they cut us off, so be it."

Xia Weiliang rolled her eyes and spat the sausage casing into the trash can.

The plastic casing made a soft sound.

Lu Jingming leaned back in his leather executive chair.

He crossed his hands over his stomach without even lifting his eyelids.

"What are you panicking about?"

Lu Jingming's eyes were closed, his voice as casual as if he were discussing what to order for lunch.

"If the foreigners don't want to sell, it's because we haven't prepared their coffins yet."

His consciousness sank instantly.

He dove headfirst into that deep blue Intermediate Defense-Breaking Exchange Mall.

A holographic panel slowly unfurled before his retinas.

Lu Jingming ignored all that flashy futuristic technology.

His gaze locked directly onto the basic materials and optical modules section.

Soon, two icons emitting a dark golden light popped up.

[Quantum Dot Image Sensor Production Blueprints].

Below it was a line of small text: Completely abandons traditional photosensitive components, dynamic range crushes the current generation by a hundredfold.

[Ultra-Hard Microcrystalline Ceramic Glass Formula and Process Flow].

Note: Hardness approaches that of sapphire, drop-damage rate infinitely approaches zero.

"Isn't this better than those two pieces of lousy glass from Sony and Corning?"

Lu Jingming sneered in his mind.

Deducting 20 million Defense-Breaking Points, he clicked to redeem.

"Hum—"

A dull roar erupted in his brain.

Massive amounts of molecular arrangement equations and photosensitive array code poured into his mind like a flood.

His temples throbbed, and his brows furrowed deeply.

Lu Jingming opened his eyes abruptly.

A fine layer of sweat seeped from his forehead.

He leaned forward and grabbed the mouse on the desk.

"Weiliang."

Lu Jingming tapped on the keyboard, the crisp clicking sound breaking the deathly silence of the office.

"I'll give you half an hour. Get that new optical interface protocol I just sent to your computer done."

Xia Weiliang was stunned for a moment.

She jumped off the chair barefoot and leaned into her screen to take a look.

Her pupils dilated instantly, and bloodshot veins spread across the whites of her eyes at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Holy shit... Quantum dot matrix?"

Xia Weiliang cursed, her voice cracking.

"Boss Lu, did you dismantle an alien's camera?"

She reached up and frantically clawed at her messy bird's nest of hair.

She couldn't even be bothered to finish the remaining half of the sausage.

Her ten fingers slammed directly onto the mechanical keyboard, creating a clattering sound.

"Half an hour? Who are you looking down on?"

Xia Weiliang muttered a curse indistinctly.

"I'll finish writing the underlying scheduling in ten minutes!"

Lu Jingming pulled out a black-and-gold USB drive.

He copied the entire formula and process flow for the microcrystalline glass from his mind onto it.

Then he unplugged the USB drive and weighed it in his hand a couple of times.

He turned his head, his gaze landing on Shen Qingqiu.

Lu Jingming pulled out that one-dollar green plastic lighter.

He pressed his thumb onto the flint wheel.

"Click."

A deep blue flame flared up, reflecting against his sharp canine tooth.

"How much cash do we have available on the books right now?"

Lu Jingming casually extinguished the flame, the plastic casing making a crisp sound.

Shen Qingqiu didn't hesitate.

"15 billion US dollars."

She braced her hands on the desk, the white shirt strained over a breathtaking curve.

Shen Qingqiu's gaze was cold and sharp, exuding the murderous aura of a god of wealth.

"It can be transferred into any corporate account at any time. I've even cleared the channels for foreign exchange controls."

"That's enough."

Lu Jingming curled his lips, his eyes revealing a ferocity that could tear through the sky.

"Isn't Cook playing the 'choose one of two' game? He wants to starve us to death."

Lu Jingming stood up, his washed-out jeans exuding a casual, rogue-like air.

"Then I'll hollow out his entire lousy Apple supply chain until it's just an empty shell."

Chu Xuan swallowed dryly.

He tugged at the collar of his blue shirt with yellow flowers, his legs still trembling.

"Boss Lu, even with money, we can't buy off-the-shelf high-end components."

Chu Xuan wiped his sweat with a tissue, "The factories in the country, their technology simply can't reach Sony's standards."

"Apple squeezes them every day; their profit margins are so thin they don't even have money to replace their equipment."

"They can't reach the standards because the foreigners have been keeping them down as cheap labor."

Lu Jingming walked around the desk and stood in front of Chu Xuan.

His old sneakers made no sound on the carpet.

He flipped his wrist.

The black-and-gold USB drive traced a parabolic arc through the air.

With a dull "thud".

It hit Chu Xuan precisely in the chest, knocking against his ribs.

Chu Xuan scrambled to catch the cold piece of metal.

He felt as if he had just caught a scalding hot iron.

"Wh-what is this?"

"Take the blueprints and Shen Qingqiu's dollars. Go tell BOE and the domestic module factories."

Lu Jingming stared at Chu Xuan, his sharp canine tooth glinting with a chilling light.

He rapped his knuckles against the USB drive in Chu Xuan's hand.

Making a "knock-knock" dull sound.

"Swap in my technology."

Lu Jingming snorted coldly, his voice full of uncompromising dominance.

"From this life on, they won't ever have to beg for scraps while looking at the foreigners' faces again."