214: Chapter 214 The Second World Project

The voice of the person in charge of the Xishan Mining Area came through the speakerphone, echoing in the quiet meeting room.

"President Chen, the superconducting rare earths and silicon-based raw ores from Mine No. 3 have already filled underground warehouses No. 1 through No. 5." Old Zhang's voice was extremely loud. "Based on a rough estimate of current reserves, it's enough for us to produce at full capacity for over five years! These raw ores are of such high purity that we can even skip the secondary refining process."

"Seal the mine. No outsiders are allowed within half a step," Chen Fan ordered.

"Understood," Old Zhang replied curtly.

Chen Fan pressed the end call button.

He rested his crossed hands on the table and looked up at Zhou Ming and Chen Haoyu.

"Did you hear that clearly?" Chen Fan asked.

Zhou Ming’s mouth hung open, and he didn’t close it for a long time. He had no clue when the Xishan Mining Area had secretly excavated these priceless materials.

"Wall Street thinks they have us by the throat. They don't even know where we're breathing." Chen Fan tossed his phone onto the table.

Chen Haoyu clenched his fists, breaking out in a heavy sweat.

"Boss, what about the three hundred thousand chips seized by European Customs?" Chen Haoyu asked.

"Forget them. Let them keep them to buy their own coffins." Chen Fan stood up. "Pass on my word: fully activate Production Line No. 6 at the Jiangnan City underground arsenal renovation. Replace everything with our self-developed lithography machines and refining equipment."

Zhou Ming swallowed hard.

"Within three days, I want one hundred thousand second world closed beta helmets off the production line," Chen Fan said in a steady tone.

"Understood! I'll personally oversee the production line!" Zhou Ming turned and ran out, his pace so fast it kicked up a breeze.

Across the ocean. A top-tier meeting room on Wall Street.

A white-haired man was cutting into a medium-rare steak on his plate. All ships carrying high-tech materials bound for China had been stopped at the ports.

"Chen Fan won't last three days. Without our rare metals, he won't even be able to turn on his servers." The white-haired man chewed his beef and raised his wine glass.

A tycoon beside him raised a glass in celebration. "Tell the people below to jack up the spot price of rare metals by another three times. When Chen Fan comes crawling back to beg us, we'll swallow up his shares in the Huihuang Group as well."

These people couldn't have guessed in their wildest dreams that Huihuang Group's self-developed production lines were already running at full speed.

At night. The top-floor office of the Huihuang Group headquarters was brightly lit.

Chen Fan sat in front of his computer, reviewing real-time data from the production line. Every indicator met the standards, and the yield rate was one hundred percent.

Su Wanqing pushed the door open and walked in. She held a cashmere coat in her hand and gently draped it over Chen Fan's shoulders.

"Still looking at the data?" Su Wanqing asked.

"It's almost finished." Chen Fan took her hand. The two of them walked to the massive glass curtain wall, looking out at the heavy traffic in the Imperial Capital.

"Can we really create a new world?" Su Wanqing looked at Chen Fan's profile.

"We can. We set the rules. Those old money capitalists won't even be able to squeeze through a crack in the door," Chen Fan said.

Three days later.

One hundred thousand "second world" closed beta helmets were released globally. Each one was priced at one hundred thousand RMB.

Just as the official website's sales channel opened, the stock numbers on the screen flickered once.

They dropped straight to zero. Sold out in one second.

Only a large "Sold Out" icon remained on the webpage.

Those who bought them bragged frantically on forums, while those who didn't were offering higher prices everywhere.

Scalper groups on the black market were spamming messages.

"Buying one closed beta helmet, two million in cash, face-to-face transaction!"

"Three million! PM me if you have one!"

Prices soared, and the entire internet fell into a frenzy.

Longwan No. 1 Villa.

Chen Muyang and Chen Nianyao sat on the leather sofa in the hall. Each of them held a silver-white holographic helmet.

"Is this thing really as amazing as the ads say?" Chen Muyang touched the streamlined metal shell of the helmet.

"We'll find out once we try it. When has Dad's stuff ever let us down?" Chen Nianyao put on the helmet and pressed the start button on the side.

Chen Muyang followed suit and put on his helmet.

A brilliant white light flashed before his eyes.

When his vision returned to normal, Chen Muyang found himself standing in a quaint street of a Novice Village. The bluestone pavement beneath his feet felt hard against his soles; the sensation was incredibly realistic. A breeze blew past, carrying the aroma of meat buns from a nearby shop.

He walked to the bun shop and picked up a steaming hot meat bun. He took a bite. The juices exploded in his mouth, tasting exactly like they did in reality.

He reached out and pinched his arm; there was a sensation of pain.

The realism reached one hundred percent.

"Brother! Look over there!" Chen Nianyao's voice came from beside him. She was wearing a set of coarse cloth beginner's clothes and pointing ahead.

Chaos broke out in the Novice Village square.

A player shrouded in a black robe, holding a rusty iron sword, was frantically slaughtering other newly logged-in beginners.

The killed players vanished into white light, dropping beginner copper coins all over the ground.

The name above the black-robed player's head was a string of garbled symbols.

He laughed wildly while typing in the public channel: "Huihuang Group's firewall is a joke! I'm going to slaughter everyone on your server today! I'll smash your entire economic system to pieces!"

A large number of beginner players fled in terror.

Chen Muyang’s temper flared. He pulled a beginner's wooden sword from his system inventory and charged forward.

"Running wild on our turf? You're asking for death!" Chen Muyang gripped the sword with both hands and swung it down at the black-robed man's back.

The black-robed man didn't even turn his head. He casually swung the iron sword behind him.

A terrifying sword qi, ten meters long, swept outward.

There were no such world-destroying skills in the Novice Village.

The sword qi struck Chen Muyang's chest. His health bar instantly dropped to zero. The screen turned into a grey-and-white death interface.

The black-robed man stepped on the spot where Chen Muyang had vanished and continued mocking in the chat: "With just this little bit of skill, you dare to try and be a savior?"

Inside the villa hall, Chen Muyang yanked off his helmet and slammed it onto the sofa cushion.

His face was pale with anger, and his chest heaved violently.

"Dad!" Chen Muyang shouted toward the second floor.

Chen Fan came down the stairs from the second floor, holding a teacup. "What happened?"

"There's a cheater in the game! Someone is carrying out a massacre in the Novice Village, and the stats are completely unbalanced. He doesn't even have skill cooldowns!" Chen Muyang gritted his teeth.

Chen Nianyao also took off her helmet, her eyes red. "That person is too arrogant. He said he was going to destroy our hard work."

Chen Fan placed his teacup on the coffee table.

He took out an encrypted phone and dialed Chen Haoyu's number.

"Trace that garbled-name account that was just on a killing spree in the Novice Village. Use system-level permissions to track it. Find his physical address." Chen Fan issued the command into the phone.

Three minutes later.

The sound of Chen Haoyu tapping on a keyboard came from the other end of the line.

"Found him, Boss. The IP address isn't overseas. It's in a rental room right on the edge of the Third Ring Road in the Imperial Capital," Chen Haoyu reported.

Chen Fan stood up.

"Dad, are you going to tell the tech department to ban his account?" Chen Muyang asked.

Chen Fan grabbed his car keys from the entryway table and tossed them in his hand.

"Ban his account?" Chen Fan pulled open the villa door. "Come on. Follow me to pull his internet cable and break his hands while we're at it."

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