184: Chapter 184 Hostile Takeover, Platform Changes Hands

When the communication signal from the Epoch Administration Bureau arrived, the entire platform's database began to tremble.

It wasn't a communication request.

It was the descent of existence itself.

In front of Lin Chen's black throne, a rift was torn open in the void. There was no light, no sound—only a pure sense of "presence" surging out like a tide, as if the weight of the entire universe had suddenly pressed down into this small dimensional gap.

A humanoid figure stepped out of the rift.

Or rather, something mimicking a human form. It wore a simple gray uniform, its face so ordinary that one would forget it after looking for just a second, but deep within its eyes swirled projections of the birth and death of galaxies.

"Lin Chen." Its voice was toneless. "Stop."

The crowdfunding progress bar froze at: 382 trillion / 385 trillion.

Only 3 trillion short.

"A representative from the Epoch Administration Bureau?" Lin Chen sat on his throne, not rising.

"You may call me 'Inspector 117'." The gray-clad figure looked at the progress bar. "Your actions have violated Article 13 of the 'Inter-Epoch Civilization Management Act': Prohibiting the use of low-dimensional resources to reverse-erode high-dimensional management rights."

"But according to Article 7 of the 'Administrator Candidate Rights Protection Clauses'," Lin Chen pulled up the document, "candidates have the right to call upon all available resources to prove they possess 'innovative management capabilities that break through rule limitations'."

The gray-clad figure was silent for three seconds.

"You have studied the regulations."

"In my team, there are over eight hundred experts specializing in 'rule loophole exploitation'." Lin Chen pointed to the data stream behind him. "In forty-seven minutes, they combed through the Administration Bureau's seventy thousand regulations and found nineteen exploitable loopholes."

"Loopholes will be patched."

"Then we'll talk after they're patched." Lin Chen clicked the [Force Settlement] button on the crowdfunding backend.

The progress bar jumped: 385 trillion / 385 trillion.

[Crowdfunding Goal Achieved]

[Capital Pool Locked]

[Initiating acquisition procedure for 'Epoch Administration Bureau Nominee Equity'...]

"I suggest you do not." The gray-clad figure raised its hand.

The flow of time in the entire dimensional void suddenly slowed by a hundred thousand times. The crowdfunding settlement process became like an insect trapped in amber, struggling to jump frame by frame.

"Time authority." Su Qingyu gritted her teeth. "The Administration Bureau can directly manipulate time!"

"Not just time," the gray-clad figure said calmly. "I can modify every physical constant in this dimensional gap, causing your thoughts to stagnate, data to be annihilated, and this crowdfunding to have never happened."

It was stating a fact, not making a threat.

Just like a human telling an ant: I can step on you and kill you.

But Lin Chen smiled.

"Then modify it."

The gray-clad figure looked at him.

"You don't dare." Lin Chen stood up and walked to the data stream where time had nearly stopped. "Because the moment you use the Administration Bureau's authority to intervene directly, you violate the 'Administrator Selection Neutrality Principle'—it would mean you admit that this selection was unfair from the very beginning."

"The meaning of rules existing," the gray-clad figure said, "is to be interpreted by their makers."

"The right of interpretation belongs to you, right?" Lin Chen nodded. "So I prepared a Plan B."

He snapped his fingers.

Even though the flow of time had been slowed by a hundred thousand times, the snap was still crisp—because the action of the snap had been pre-recorded.

Long before the gray-clad figure appeared, Lin Chen had preset thirty-six contingency plans.

The snap triggered the first set.

The data stream of the crowdfunding backend suddenly split into two.

The first stream continued its slow settlement.

The second stream bypassed the platform system and connected directly to the core databases of three hundred Level 9 civilizations.

"I added hidden clauses during the crowdfunding," Lin Chen told the gray-clad figure. "If the acquisition is interfered with by the Administration Bureau, all investments will automatically convert into a class-action lawsuit fund against the 'Administration Bureau's illegal operations'."

He pulled up the clauses page.

It clearly stated: If the Administration Bureau obstructs the acquisition through non-rule-based means, it shall be deemed a violation of the 'Inter-Dimensional Fair Competition Convention', and investors shall have the right to jointly file for arbitration.

"Guess what," Lin Chen pointed at the names of those Level 9 civilizations, "when three hundred high-level civilizations jointly sue the Epoch Administration Bureau, who will the arbitration court rule in favor of?"

For the first time, a flicker of expression appeared on the gray-clad figure—a slight furrowing of the brow.

"You are coercing us."

"No." Lin Chen shook his head. "It was you who set up this game first."

"The Administration Bureau established the platform to observe billions of worlds and select administrators—but you never told the participants the truth. You let high-level civilizations wallow in emotional dependence and let low-dimensional worlds struggle in ignorance. Everyone is just a lab rat in your selection experiment."

"Now, the lab rat has bitten through the cage."

"You have only two choices:"

"First, admit defeat, hand over the equity, and acknowledge that the selection is over."

"Second, tear off the mask and use violence to suppress us—and then be viewed as 'rule breakers' by the entire High-Dimensional Civilization Alliance, losing all legitimacy."

The gray-clad figure was silent.

The flow of time returned to normal.

The crowdfunding settlement process continued at full speed.

[Acquisition Progress: 30%]

[Breaking through Administration Bureau firewall...]

"Even if you get the equity," the gray-clad figure finally said, "you won't be able to truly control the platform. Of the 51% equity held by the Administration Bureau, 47% is dispersed and pledged in the 'Epoch Stability Fund' and cannot be traded."

"I know." Lin Chen pulled up the equity structure diagram. "So I didn't plan to buy that 47%."

He circled another 4% of the equity.

That was the part directly held by the Administration Bureau that could be traded.

"By buying this 4%, plus my existing 8.17%, my total shareholding will reach 12.17%."

"And your Administration Bureau's shareholding will drop to 47%."

"And then?" the gray-clad figure asked. "You still won't be the largest shareholder."

"But the Platform Basic Law stipulates," Lin Chen smiled, "that when a single shareholder holds more than 12%, and no other shareholder holds more than 40%, that shareholder has the right to initiate a 'Compulsory Equity Restructuring Vote'."

The gray-clad figure's pupils contracted.

It knew this rule—it was a check-and-balance clause set to prevent any single shareholder from becoming too dominant. But now, this rule had become Lin Chen's weapon.

"A restructuring vote requires the consent of two-thirds of the shareholders," the gray-clad figure said.

"So I'm going to initiate the vote." Lin Chen opened the shareholder list. "There are currently 9,743 shareholders on the platform. Among them, 8,200 are minority shareholders holding less than 0.01%—they have never participated in any vote because their shares are so small that their voting rights are almost zero."

"But if I take the remaining crowdfunding funds, split them into eight thousand portions, and lend them to these eight thousand minority shareholders, allowing each of them to increase their holdings to 0.05%..."

"They will gain voting rights," Su Qingyu chimed in. "And they will be grateful to Lin Chen and support him in the restructuring vote!"

The gray-clad figure finally realized Lin Chen's entire calculation.

The purpose of the crowdfunding was never to buy 51% of the equity—that was just a smokescreen.

The real goal was to use massive funds to buy off all the minority shareholders and dilute the Administration Bureau's shareholding ratio through an equity restructuring vote!

[Acquisition Progress: 70%]

The Administration Bureau's firewall was retreating steadily.

"Stop." The gray-clad figure spoke again, but this time there was a hint of urgency in its voice. "We can negotiate."

"Negotiate?" Lin Chen raised an eyebrow.

"We'll give you administrator status. True status, not candidate status," the gray-clad figure said. "You can enter the Epoch Administration Bureau, access true universe-level authority, and participate in the rule design for the next epoch."

The temptation was immense.

But Lin Chen shook his head.

"What I want isn't a seat."

"What I want is..."

"The right to change the rules of the game."

He clicked confirm.

[Acquisition Complete]

[You have obtained 4% of the platform equity held by the Epoch Administration Bureau]

[Current Total Shareholding: 12.17%]

[Initiating 'Compulsory Equity Restructuring Vote'...]

The voting request was sent to all shareholders.

Simultaneously, Lin Chen's team began contacting those eight thousand minority shareholders. Crowdfunding funds were showered down like raindrops, and each minority shareholder received an "interest-free loan"—on the condition that they support Lin Chen in the restructuring vote.

In just ten short minutes.

The proportion of votes in favor broke through 50%.

Looking at the data, the gray-clad figure finally let out a sigh.

"The Administration Bureau accepts the result."

"But there is one condition."

Lin Chen: "Speak."

"You must assume all debts and responsibilities of the platform." The gray-clad figure pulled up hidden data. "The platform currently owes the 'Epoch Stability Fund' approximately two quadrillion dimension points in long-term debt. This debt now belongs to you."

Two quadrillion.

An astronomical figure.

But Lin Chen smiled.

"I'll take the debt."

"But the method of repayment—that has to follow my rules."

He opened the platform backend and found the debt clauses.

Then he changed the repayment condition from "repayment in dimension points" to "repayment in emotional doses".

"According to platform data," Lin Chen calculated, "the market price for one unit of standard emotional dose is 100,000 dimension points. A debt of two quadrillion is equivalent to twenty billion units of emotional doses."

"My world's annual emotional output is currently five million units. But if I integrate the production capacity of other worlds..."

He pulled up the authority granted by his newly acquired 12.17% equity—partial management rights of the platform.

Clicking [Resource Integration].

The emotional output data of all livestreamed worlds was instantly connected to Lin Chen's backend.

Total annual output: Eighty million units.

"See," Lin Chen said to the gray-clad figure, "I can pay off the debt in two and a half years."

"And I'll be paying it back using the 'hard currency' that the Administration Bureau needs most."

The gray-clad figure was silent for an entire minute.

Then it turned and walked toward the dimensional rift.

Before disappearing, it glanced back at Lin Chen:

"You won this round."

"But the Administration Bureau's selection... is not over yet."

The rift closed.

The sense of presence receded like a tide.

Almost simultaneously, the shareholder voting results were finalized:

In Favor of Restructuring: 71.3%

Opposed: 28.7%

[Vote Passed]

[Equity Restructuring Procedure Initiated]

[Epoch Administration Bureau's shareholding ratio diluted from 47% to 31%]

[Lin Chen's shareholding ratio increased from 12.17% to...]

The numbers jumped frantically.

The restructuring algorithm began to reallocate equity.

Thirty seconds later.

The result was fixed:

[Lin Chen: Shareholding ratio 33.6%]

[Epoch Administration Bureau: 31%]

[Other shareholders: 35.4%]

Lin Chen became the platform's largest shareholder.

Although not an absolute controlling interest of 51%, 33.6% was enough to take control—because the other shareholders were too dispersed for anyone to challenge his position.

[Congratulations on becoming the new Chairman of the Myriad Dimensions Sandbox]

[Board of Directors automatically dissolved]

[Supreme Council functions transferred to your hands]

[All permissions unlocked]

Countless data streams flooded into Lin Chen's consciousness.

He saw everything on the platform:

The real-time status of seven million livestreamed worlds.

The physiological parameters of three hundred billion viewers.

All the monitoring backdoors planted by the Epoch Administration Bureau.

And... the secret at the deepest part of the platform—

The "Director's Chair".

It was an ordinary chair floating in the data core, with a small line of text engraved on the armrest:

"This project is sponsored by the 'Epoch Administration Bureau'. Sincerely hiring outstanding World Administrators."

Lin Chen closed the interface.

He turned to look at his team.

Su Qingyu was smiling, though tears were streaming down. Zhang Hao was frantically calculating what could be done with the new permissions. Mo Shan and the other eight hundred experts were cheering.

"Alright," Lin Chen said. "Now, it's time to clean up the battlefield."

He opened the platform-wide broadcast.

Facing all worlds, all viewers, and all beings that once controlled his fate, he announced:

"From this day forth."

"The rules will be written by me."

"The price will be set by me."

"And your fate will be chosen by yourselves."

"Welcome to..."

"My era."

Outside the window, in the dimensional void, the wails of the old Board of Directors were fading away.

And the first light of the new order—

Had already shone into the countless worlds that were once shrouded in shadows.