374: The student surpasses the teacher.

In the spacious and bright office, the atmosphere was frozen to the extreme.

"Acquisition?"

Li Wei looked like he had heard some fairy tale and couldn't help but sneer.

He put down the coffee cup in his hand and pointed to the suffocatingly massive sky city outside the window.

"Mr. Lu, I know you are very strong."

"You are indeed a genius, being able to crawl out of that low-level code world."

"But do you have some misunderstanding about 'scale'?"

Li Wei stood up, walked to the holographic projection, and swiped his finger lightly in the air.

A grand business map instantly unfolded.

"Metaverse Company controls 90% of this world's energy lifeblood."

"Our market value is a hundred million times the total GDP of your little universe!"

"Acquire us?"

Li Wei shook his head, his eyes full of pity.

"This is like an ant waving a leaf."

"Saying to an elephant: 'Hey, big guy, your territory is mine now'."

"It's simply... ridiculous."

Facing Li Wei's ridicule, Lu Chen was not angry.

He didn't even change his sitting posture, still crossing his legs, his fingers tapping the table rhythmically.

"Ant?"

"Leaf?"

Lu Chen smiled.

He turned to look at Su Qingying beside him.

"Wife, show him our 'leaf'."

Su Qingying pushed up her glasses, a proud curve hooking the corner of her mouth.

She didn't speak, but just called up a set of real-time data just received from 'home' from her portable data terminal.

"Beep—"

The holographic projection switched instantly.

The original complex business map disappeared.

In its place was a... **silver sea of stars so brilliant it was blinding**.

That wasn't ordinary starlight.

That was the high-dimensional energy with 100% purity erupting from hundreds of billions of 'Psionic Stars' simultaneously!

"This... what is this?!"

Li Wei's pupils instantly shrank to pinpricks.

As a top architect, he knew all too well what this image meant.

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

Li Wei lunged at the projection, staring deathly at those silver spots of light, his fingers trembling as he touched the data.

"This is... Negative Entropy Energy?!"

"And it's self-circulating, inexhaustible negative entropy?!"

"You... you reversed the Heat Death?!"

"Correcting you."

Lu Chen's lazy voice sounded.

"It's not 'us'."

"It's 'my son'."

Lu Chen stood up, walked behind Li Wei, and whispered in his ear like a demon.

"You just said you control 90% of the energy?"

"That's in the past tense."

Lu Chen pointed to that silver sea of stars.

"Now, this thing is called 'Clean Energy'."

"And your broken technology that's still burning fossil fuels and pumping geothermal heat..."

"Is called **trash**."

"I'd like to ask Architect Li."

"If I introduce this energy into your world and dump it at a price of one cent per kilowatt-hour..."

Lu Chen patted Li Wei's stiff shoulder.

"How many days can your company last?"

"Three days? Or... three hours?"

Li Wei slumped to the ground.

Cold sweat instantly soaked his plaid shirt.

He lost.

Completely lost.

In this world where energy is king, whoever controls infinite energy is God.

"This... was this really done by your son?"

Li Wei looked up, his eyes full of unbelievable terror.

"How... how old is he?"

"Three years old."

Wang Peng (Fatty) added a blow from the side, his face looking incredibly smug.

"Just recently weaned, hasn't even taken off his diapers yet."

"Three... three years old?!"

Li Wei felt his worldview collapse.

A three-year-old child hand-crafting black holes? Reversing Heat Death?

What kind of monster family is this?!

"This is what 'the pupil surpassing the master' means."

Lu Chen looked at the small, overbearing figure sitting on the throne in the projection.

The smile in his eyes couldn't be hidden.

"I originally thought the mess I left him would be enough to give him a headache for hundreds of years."

"I didn't expect..."

Lu Chen shook his head, his tone carrying a hint of 'humble-bragging' helplessness.

"This kid is more ruthless than me."

"And more... like a god than me."

"Alright."

Lu Chen put away his smile and turned back into that decisive leader.

He looked down at Li Wei.

"Now, can we talk about the acquisition?"

"Yes! Yes! Absolutely!"

Before Li Wei could speak, the office door was suddenly burst open.

A group of old men in suits and ties, with bulging bellies, rushed in.

They were members of the Metaverse Company's board of directors.

At this moment, these big shots who were usually high and mighty were all panting for breath, their faces covered in fawning smiles.

"Mr. Lu! I am the Chairman!"

"I am the CEO!"

"I am the CFO!"

A fat old man in the lead rushed straight to Lu Chen, grabbed his hand, and was moved to tears.

"Acquire! It must be acquired!"

"As long as you are willing to introduce that 'silver energy' into our company, let alone an acquisition..."

"You can even make us call you Daddy!"

Lu Chen withdrew his hand in disgust and wiped it on Wang Peng's clothes.

"Forget calling me Daddy."

"I have a son, and..."

Lu Chen pointed to Lu Xinghe on the screen, who was commanding a fleet of billions.

"My son has a bit of a bad temper."

"He doesn't like me having too many 'godsons'."

The directors laughed awkwardly, but no one dared to refute a word.

"Since everyone agrees."

Lu Chen walked to the Chairman's seat, which represented the highest power in the company, and sat down unceremoniously.

He crossed his legs and scanned everyone present.

"Then let's sign the contract."

"However, let me say this first."

Lu Chen held up a finger.

"The company name changes."

"From now on, it's no longer called 'metaverse'."

"Then... what is it called?" the Chairman asked cautiously.

Lu Chen turned his head and looked out the window at the cyber city that was prosperous but full of oppression and coldness.

Then he looked at the silver universe in the projection, full of vitality and hope.

His eyes became incredibly deep.

"It's called..."

"**[Xinghe Group]**."

"I want to use this name to tell this lifeless world."

"Even in the deepest darkness."

"There will be starlight..."

"Burning through the sky!"

"Fatty!"

"Here, Chairman Lu!"

Wang Peng instantly entered his role, pulling out a stack of pre-prepared predatory terms... oh no, acquisition contracts from his pocket.

"Get to work!"

"You got it!"

Watching the group of directors fighting each other to sign first.

Su Qingying walked to Lu Chen's side and gently massaged his shoulders.

"What? Jealous?"

She asked with a smile, seeing Lu Chen staring at his son on the screen.

"Feeling like your son stole your thunder?"

"Jealous?"

Lu Chen sneered and held Su Qingying's hand.

"I'm happy."

"Like father, like son."

"This shows..."

Lu Chen pointed to his own head.

"Our family's genes are truly strong!"

"But..."

Lu Chen's tone suddenly shifted, his eyes becoming somewhat playful.

"This kid made such a big commotion, he must have also attracted the attention of 'that place'."

"Which place?" Su Qingying asked.

Lu Chen looked up, his gaze seemingly penetrating the roof of this world, looking towards the even more unreachable heights above.

"The Fifth Layer."

"That is..."

"Where the true 'Creator'..."

"**Sleeps**."

Lu Chen stood up and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window.

The thermos in his hand was squeezed until it creaked.

"Xinghe is lighting the fire below."

"I'm pouring oil on top."

"I don't believe..."

"This fire won't wake that bastard pretending to be asleep!"

"Pass down my order!"

Lu Chen's voice, at this moment, became the highest command of this world.

"Xinghe Group, prepare for battle!"

"Target: ..."

"**Blast through the ceiling!**"