Chapter 143 The Higher You Climb, the Colder It Gets: President Lu Yawns at the Press Conference

"Ahhh—"

This yawn was incredibly loud.

It was drawn out, echoing back and forth in the top-floor office where the air conditioning was blasting.

Two tears of physiological saline squeezed out from the corners of Lu Jingming's eyes.

He casually wiped them away with the back of his hand and leaned back against the leather executive chair.

His washed-out black T-shirt rode up slightly, revealing a line of toned waist and abdomen.

Shen Qingqiu stood beside the glass coffee table.

The collar of her white shirt was buttoned meticulously.

She pushed up the gold-rimmed glasses on the bridge of her nose, her high heels shifting half an inch on the carpet.

Her gaze swept over the metal trash can nearby.

That copy of Time magazine, just printed and smelling of fresh global-launch ink,

Was lying sprawled out amidst a pile of waste paper balls.

The bold black characters "Eastern Tech Emperor" on the cover were stained with a bit of cigarette ash.

Shen Qingqiu's eye twitched twice.

"Wall Street treats this magazine like a bible right now."

Her voice was cold, permeated with the rigor of an actuary.

"Yet you, on the other hand, use it as scrap paper to wipe the table."

"If not as scrap paper, what should I use it for? Worship it and burn incense?"

Lu Jingming reached his right hand into the pocket of his worn-out jeans.

He pulled out that one-yuan green plastic lighter.

His thumb pressed against the metal grinding wheel, but he didn't light it.

"Staring at me every single day."

He toyed with the plastic casing, a faint clicking sound coming from between his fingers.

"These foreigners are just like tourists at a zoo watching monkeys; what else can they do besides scream?"

Lu Jingming's eyelids drooped, revealing a thick sense of weariness.

"It's not challenging at all. I'm almost bored to the point of sickness."

Three days later.

At the Donghai City Sports Center, the Xinghai Autumn Ecosystem Launch Event was held as scheduled.

A two-kilometer-long yellow police cordon was set up outside the venue.

The uniforms on the backs of hundreds of security guards were completely soaked through with sweat.

Scalpers squatted on the curb, driving the price of front-row VIP media passes up to 100,000 each.

Across the ocean.

California, Apple Headquarters.

It was still dark outside the window.

Cook sat in the CEO office, his eye whites covered in fine red bloodshot lines.

He stared fixedly at the screen on the desk.

There was no bone china cup at hand, replaced by an unbreakable plastic water cup.

He was afraid that if he got too excited, he would shatter the glass again and pierce his palm.

"Xinghai's foundry recently received a large batch of special glass. They are definitely going to release new hardware."

Cook swallowed dryly, his Adam's Apple scraping painfully against his throat.

"What kind of bomb is that madman Lu Jingming going to use to flip the table this time?"

Seattle, Microsoft Headquarters.

Ballmer's hundreds of pounds of fat were sprawled in the sofa.

His shiny bald head was covered in greasy sweat.

His left hand clutched a bottle of rapid-acting heart pills, his thumb digging into the cap.

Ready to pour the pills into his mouth at any moment.

At the last PC launch event, Lu Jingming had slapped his face from across the distance.

This time, he even held his breath.

At the Donghai City venue.

The cold white light beams from the dome interlaced on the empty main stage.

Over two hundred top global tech media outlets were packed below the stage.

The SLR lenses, both long and short, were all pushed to their maximum focal length.

No one spoke.

The air was filled with the deathly silence before an execution.

The Greater China Region presidents of several foreign companies sitting in the front row were involuntarily shivering.

Their suit pant legs trembled along with them.

Their hands were clasped over their knees, their palms covered in sticky cold sweat.

In the backstage lounge, Chu Xuan tugged at the collar of his purple-based leopard-print short-sleeved shirt.

He was clutching that crumpled, ruined tissue tightly in his hand.

"P-President Lu."

Chu Xuan gasped for air, wiping the waterfall of sweat from his forehead.

"The holographic projection machine is already prepped under the lift platform."

His voice wavered, "The confidentiality work is airtight; it'll definitely scare the living daylights out of those foreigners outside!"

Lu Jingming walked with one hand in his pocket.

His old sneakers made two soft sounds on the floor.

He glanced through the gap in the backstage door at the sea of people in the audience.

Everyone had their necks stretched out.

Like a flock of ducks waiting to be slaughtered, their eyes full of fear and precaution.

Lu Jingming tugged at the corner of his mouth.

One side of his sharp, white canine teeth was exposed.

"Let's go."

He tucked the plastic lighter back into his pocket.

He didn't take the remote clicker, and couldn't even be bothered to clip on a lavalier microphone.

He stepped directly into the blinding spotlight.

"Click-clack—"

A roar of mechanical shutters erupted instantly from below the stage.

The white flashes connected into a seamless sea of light.

It was so piercing that one couldn't open their eyes.

Lu Jingming walked to the wooden table in the center of the stage.

There was no opening remark.

He didn't even snap his fingers to wake up the 30-meter-wide giant screen behind him.

He stood in place, one hand in his jeans pocket.

His gaze swept lazily across the front row.

Watching the Microsoft regional manager frantically swallowing dryly.

Watching the bearded reporter gripping his voice recorder so hard his knuckles turned white.

Lu Jingming suddenly felt a sense of boredom.

Just like a player wielding a max-level Dragon-Slaying Saber, facing a group of shivering slimes in the novice village.

He couldn't even muster the interest to swing the blade.

The whole venue was deathly silent.

Hundreds of thousands of eyes were staring fixedly at him through cameras and live web streams.

Waiting for him to pronounce the death sentence of the old era.

One second.

Two seconds.

Lu Jingming slowly raised his right hand.

Under the gaze of the whole world, he placed the back of his hand over his mouth.

Then.

"Ahhh—"

He let out a blatant, five-second-long yawn into the standing microphone.

The sound was amplified to every corner through the venue's multi-kilowatt sound system.

It even carried a hint of groggy nasal tone.

A bit of physiological tears squeezed out of the corners of his eyes.

The reporters below the stage all froze.

The chewing gum the bearded reporter was chewing fell with a "plop" onto his thigh, sticking to his dress pants.

He hung his mouth open, his dentures almost flying out.

In front of the live broadcast screen, the plastic water cup in Cook's hand was crushed out of shape.

Water spilled out and flowed all over the table.

He kept his mouth wide open, his lungs feeling as if they were stuffed with cotton, holding his breath until his eyeballs were about to pop out.

"I didn't bring any products today."

Lu Jingming lowered his hand and casually scratched the back of his head.

His bird's nest-like hair was ruffled even more.

He leaned into the microphone, his voice as lazy as if he were buying a Jianbing on the street.

"Just holding a meeting to make an announcement."

Lu Jingming tapped his knuckles on the tabletop twice, making a "knock-knock" sound.

"Xinghai OS pushed a small patch last night. The four corners of the system icons have been rounded by two pixels."

He paused, his chin slightly raised.

His eyes revealed an arrogance that treated the whole world like monkeys.

"Looks more pleasing to the eye. That's it."

Lu Jingming turned around, leaving the camera with the image of his washed-out T-shirt back.

"Meeting adjourned."

After speaking, he strode away with his long legs.

He walked directly down along the shadows at the edge of the stage and disappeared into the backstage doorway.

The entire sports center was deathly silent for a full three minutes.

One couldn't even hear the sound of breathing.

The controller at the broadcast booth was trembling so much that they even forgot to play the closing music.

Eight thousand people were stunned by this icon-rounding patch.

That's it?

Hundreds of global media outlets chartered planes to come here, just to hear a yawn?

On Twitter and YouTube live streams, there was a half-minute vacuum gap in the comments.

Then, a frenzy of question marks erupted, nearly crashing the servers.

In the backstage lounge, the solid wood door was slammed open by Chu Xuan.

His legs were shaking, and he stumbled in.

"P-President Lu!"

Chu Xuan tore the crumpled, ruined tissue in his hand into shreds.

Wet paper scraps fell all over the floor.

"Why did you come down!"

Chu Xuan's voice cracked completely, like a rooster being strangled by the neck.

"The holographic projection lift platform just got powered up! You didn't even open your PPT!"

He was so anxious he stomped his feet on the spot, "The two hundred media outlets outside are still waiting to see the nuke!"

Lu Jingming leaned back on the sofa.

His left index finger hooked onto the pull-tab of a can of ice-cold cola.

With a crisp "crack" sound.

White carbonated bubbles gushed out.

He tilted his neck back and took a big gulp.

The ice-cold liquid slammed down his throat into his stomach, raising a layer of goosebumps.

"What nuke are they waiting to see?"

Lu Jingming pulled the plastic lighter out of his pocket with his right hand.

His thumb pressed against the grinding wheel.

"Click."

A ghostly blue flame shot up, reflecting against the side of his sharp, white canine teeth.

He casually set the can on the glass coffee table.

The bottom of the can made a dull thud.

"The opponents are too weak. My nerves are about to snap."

Lu Jingming stared at the flickering flame and let out a cold laugh.

His tone was full of the contempt of someone who finds it lonely at the top.

"Give those old bones in California and Seattle two days to catch their breath."

He extinguished the flame, the plastic casing making a crisp sound.

"Lest they all get scared to death, and there's no one left on this planet to play with me."