Chapter 54: Countdown to the Launch Event – ​​A Global Digital Frenzy

Charlie and the bearded man found seats in the front row and sat down.

The air conditioning in the venue was blasting, but the two of them felt a bit stifled.

"They don't even have headsets for simultaneous interpretation. Do these Chinese people know anything about the rules for hosting an international exhibition?"

Charlie fiddled with the voice recorder in his hand and rolled his eyes dramatically.

"Chinese people are just like that; they only know how to glue cheap parts together."

The bearded man leaned back in his chair, snorted with laughter, his eyes filled with arrogance.

"They actually dared to put up a countdown in Times Square. Let's see how that clown surnamed Lu handles the aftermath later."

"Industrial design? In their dictionary, I'm afraid 'thickened plastic shell' is the only option."

Several familiar foreign media peers huddled together, mocking them unscrupulously in English.

Meanwhile, the internet was in an uproar.

Domestic live streams were already packed so tightly with comments that you couldn't see the screen.

"Go Xinghai! Show the foreigners what we've got, don't let them look down on us!"

"I heard there's a simultaneous broadcast on YouTube this time. President Lu, don't back down!"

On the newly emerging overseas video platform, one or two million curious netizens had also flooded in.

They were all provoked by that arrogant countdown sign in New York's Times Square.

The screen was filled with English comments spamming "trash" and "copycat."

In the backstage control room.

Shen Qingqiu gripped her walkie-talkie tightly, her palms covered in cold sweat.

"Chu Xuan, the mood of the foreign media on-site is a bit off. They came here with prejudice."

She bit her lower lip.

"Lu Jingming didn't even bring a simultaneous interpreter. How does he plan to handle those tricky questions later?"

Chu Xuan stared at the monitoring screen, looking completely unconcerned.

"President Shen, you can rest assured."

He grinned broadly. "Since President Lu dared to come here alone, he must have a big move up his sleeve."

The lights suddenly went out completely.

The noisy venue instantly fell silent.

Only the red lights on dozens of cameras flickered eerily in the darkness.

A beam of cold white spotlight cut through the darkness from above.

Lu Jingming walked out from the side of the stage.

He wasn't wearing a custom suit or a tie.

He was still wearing a slightly faded solid black T-shirt, paired with straight-leg jeans.

On his feet, he wore a pair of casual white canvas shoes.

Charlie couldn't help it and let out a snicker.

"Good God, does he think he's at a backyard barbecue?"

He turned his head and winked at the bearded man.

"I bet his first sentence will be that ridiculous 'Are you OK'."

The bearded man raised his telephoto camera and aimed it at the person on stage.

"Turn it on, get ready to record the biggest tech joke of the century."

Lu Jingming walked to the center of the stage.

He wasn't holding any cue cards, just a black microphone.

The spotlight hit his sharp-featured face, his eyes revealing an innate sense of arrogance.

He raised the microphone.

He didn't wait for an interpreter to come on stage like before, nor did he start in Chinese.

Lu Jingming tapped the metal mesh of the microphone lightly, his lips slightly parted.

A long string of fluent, clearly enunciated English blasted through the top-tier sound system to the entire audience.

"Welcome to the Xinghai Pro global launch event."

A pure American accent.

It carried the unique laziness of a Silicon Valley tech tycoon, along with an absolute sense of oppression.

There wasn't a single stutter; even the connected speech and weak forms were handled seamlessly.

The venue went dead silent instantly.

The mockery on Charlie's face froze stiffly, as if he were wearing a comical mask.

The voice recorder he was spinning in his hand dropped to the floor with a "clatter."

It rolled to the heels of the peer in the front row, but he forgot to pick it up.

"This pronunciation... how is it possible?"

The bearded man forgot to even press the shutter on his camera, his eyeballs nearly popping out of their sockets.

"This is even more authentic than the gubernatorial election speeches I've heard in Washington!"

The overseas live stream also experienced a brief vacuum of comments.

Those foreign netizens who were ready to spam memes to mock him were collectively dumbfounded.

"Hell, this Chinese guy must have swapped out the simultaneous interpretation dubbing!"

"Doesn't he only know how to say 'Are you OK'? This accent sounds more like a local than mine!"

Lu Jingming didn't give them any time to catch their breath.

"A few months ago, I used a few broken greetings to make the whole internet remember the name Xinghai."

With one hand in his pocket, he strolled leisurely on stage, his English as fluent as if he were speaking his native tongue.

"That was a marketing strategy. Don't be too naive, friends."

Lu Jingming's gaze swept across the reporter section in the front row, a mocking smile curling at the corner of his mouth.

"Today, I am using a language everyone understands to ensure one thing."

He stopped, his eyes as sharp as knives.

"Every word that follows, you will be able to hear clearly, without waiting for that damn translation."

The foreign media reporters off-stage looked at each other, their faces turning pale and then green.

They had originally prepared a bellyful of acerbic questions, but now, suppressed by this aura, they couldn't squeeze out a single word.

Shen Qingqiu let out a long sigh of relief in the control room.

She adjusted her gold-rimmed glasses, her lips curling up uncontrollably.

"This guy, when did he secretly practice such an authentic Silicon Valley accent?"

On stage, Lu Jingming's gaze passed over the media section.

And landed precisely on a few seats in the corner of the fifth row.

There sat four white men wearing baseball caps and gray casual clothes.

They weren't holding cameras, only clutching notebooks tightly, their expressions tense.

"Of course, not only media friends came from far away today."

Lu Jingming raised his hand and pointed casually with his index finger.

"There are also a few 'special guests' who rushed over overnight from Silicon Valley across the ocean."

The four white men stiffened as if struck by lightning.

The blond man sitting on the far edge subconsciously lowered the brim of his cap.

Cold sweat instantly soaked the shirt on his back, sticking uncomfortably to his spine.

"Damn it, how did he find us?"

The blond man cursed in a low voice, his hands trembling.

They were underlying hardware engineers from Apple, handpicked by Cook himself.

They had specifically disguised themselves as self-media to sneak in, just to get a close look at Xinghai's trump cards.

"Running all the way from Mr. Cook's office to Donghai City."

Lu Jingming chuckled, his laughter filled with undisguised contempt.

"Plane tickets are quite expensive, right? If you're going to steal techniques, just steal them; why wear baseball caps? It's not raining in the venue."

The entire venue's gaze shifted over in a "whoosh."

Hundreds of camera lenses turned, locking onto the four uneasy undercover agents.

The bright white flashes made it impossible for them to open their eyes, and they could only cover their faces in embarrassment.

The domestic live stream descended into total carnival-like celebration.

"Hahahaha! Apple's engineers came here to steal our techniques!"

"President Lu's eyes must be radars! He catches moles with pinpoint accuracy!"

"Is this the scale of a Silicon Valley giant? Hurry up and find a hole to crawl into!"

Lu Jingming didn't pay any more attention to those engineers who wished they could crawl under their chairs.

He turned around to face the massive black circular screen behind him.

"A few days ago, I saw a quite interesting poster online."

Lu Jingming tilted his head slightly, scanning the foreign media reporters off-stage with his peripheral vision.

"It said that today, Apple will redefine the mobile phone."

He paused for two seconds.

He raised his right hand and snapped his fingers casually in mid-air.

"Snap."

The crisp sound, amplified by the microphone, seemed extremely abrupt in the quiet venue.

"I heard that someone across the ocean wants to redefine the mobile phone?"

Lu Jingming looked at those pale foreign faces in the audience and smiled slightly.

"Unfortunately, you're late."