275: Chapter 275 Stars Emerge from the Sea

May 8th, morning, VIP passage at Shenzhen Baoan Airport.

The morning light pierced through the clouds, casting golden ribbons of light onto the runway.

Private jets were lined up neatly—Gulfstream G650s, Bombardier Global 8000s, Dassault Falcon 7Xs... Over the past seven days, this place had been packed with the private jets of CEOs from the Fortune Global 500. Today, they were leaving.

Siemens CEO Klaus Richter stood by the boarding stairs, not boarding immediately.

He turned back to take one last look at the Shenzhen skyline.

The morning sun was gilding the edges of the skyscraper known as the "Ping An Finance Centre." Further away, the dense complex of buildings in the Nanshan Science and Technology Park looked like a forest of steel and concrete.

"Three years from now, this place will become the heart of global industry," he said to the assistant beside him, his voice very low. "We must leave ourselves a way out."

The assistant handed over a tablet: "The cooperation framework sent by Xingchen's legal department last night. They are willing to license the digital twin interface protocol, on the condition that Siemens Healthineers purchases 100 sets of Zhulong AI."

"100 sets?" Richter took the tablet and quickly scanned the terms. "10 million USD per set, that's 1 billion USD..."

He paused for three seconds.

"Sign it."

The assistant hesitated: "What about the United States..."

"The US will be dissatisfied," Richter interrupted. "But the US cannot save Siemens. We have an annual revenue of 8 billion euros in the Chinese market; if we lose this market, headquarters won't last two years."

He paused, a hint of bitterness in his tone: "Our primary task is to survive, not political correctness."

The pen touched the paper, and the agreement took effect.

A hundred meters away, by the boarding stairs of another Bombardier, Safran Group CEO Philippe Dumont was on the phone.

"Mr. Su, we can accelerate the European airworthiness certification for the WS-500 turbofan engine—on the condition that Safran obtains priority agency rights for the Asian market."

On the other end of the line, Su Chen's voice was calm: "Agency rights can be discussed. But core technology will not be licensed; this is the bottom line."

"Understood." Dumont hung up and said to his entourage, "Change the flight route to Singapore. Fly to Jakarta first—we need to secure the drone order in Indonesia before Pratt & Whitney does."

Before boarding, he took one last look at Shenzhen.

"This city..." he murmured, "in seven days, the power map of global manufacturing has been redrawn."

At the same time, 8:30 AM, Champs-Élysées, Paris, France.

The morning in Paris was a bit chilly, but a long line had already formed in front of 156 Champs-Élysées.

This was the location of the former Apple flagship store. Three months ago, Apple moved out due to a rent dispute, and this four-story glass building had been vacant ever since. Today, it had a new sign—on the black glass curtain wall, a silver logo shone brightly.

Spark Europe Store No. 1

Displayed in the window were:

HX2 Mobile Phone: 14nm Flint chip, AnTuTu benchmark score of 400,000, priced at 799 euros

Spark No. 5 Drone: 120-minute battery life, 4K high-definition image transmission, priced at 1299 euros

Osmo 4 Action Camera: 8K recording, five-axis stabilization, priced at 599 euros

Starlight 3 Smartwatch: ECG, blood pressure monitoring, blood oxygen detection, priced at 399 euros

At the front of the line, a French man around thirty years old was livestreaming with his phone.

"Hello everyone, I'm Antoine, a tech blogger," he said to the camera. "I've been queuing for 3 hours. Why am I working so hard? Because the HX2's power consumption is 30% lower than the iPhoneX, and it's 200 euros cheaper—why wouldn't I buy it?"

Comments streamed by:

"Europeans are fighting over domestic phones too?"

"799 euros is still expensive, it's only 4999 domestically"

"The person above doesn't understand, the iPhoneX sells for 1159 euros in Europe"

Inside the store, French Minister of Economy and Finance Jean-Leclerc was cutting the ribbon.

The moment the red ribbon was cut, confetti exploded, and applause erupted.

"France welcomes Spark," Leclerc said to the gathered reporters. "This is another understanding of 'digital sovereignty'—not relying on the United States does not mean relying on China? This is a diverse choice."

A reporter from Le Figaro raised a hand and followed up: "But won't Spark's technology threaten European security? They come from China, and that country has a cybersecurity law..."

Leclerc smiled and interrupted: "Their security commitments are more transparent than American companies. At least, Spark is willing to open its source code for the European Network and Information Security Agency to review. Apple and Google never do."

This statement was recorded by over twenty media outlets.

That evening, the news headline on French BFM TV was:

"When American phones raise prices, Huaxing Mobile Phone arrives—Europe's third way?"

Almost at the same time, at 188 Kurfürstendamm, Berlin, Germany, the Spark Germany Store No. 1 opened.

It wasn't as high-profile as in France, but there were even more people queuing—Germans express their enthusiasm through order.

In the line, a white-haired old man was particularly eye-catching.

"I am a retired professor from the Department of Materials Science at the Technical University of Berlin," he said to the interviewing reporter. "I watched Xingchen's materials launch conference. 2200 MPa steel, 0.001 mm machining precision... This is not 'Made in China,' this is 'Made for the World.'"

"What will you buy?"

"A Chixiao robot," the old man laughed. "I'm going to buy one as a toy for my grandson. Let him know from a young age what the robots of the future look like."

If the opening in Europe was understated luxury, then the opening in Dubai was an undisguised royal spectacle.

The Dubai Mall, the world's largest luxury shopping mall. Flagship stores of LV, Hermes, Cartier, and Rolex surrounded the atrium, each occupying a prime location.

But today, the most central location in the atrium belonged to a new store.

Covering 2000 square meters, two stories high, with a black glass curtain wall, the silver logo shimmered with a metallic luster under the spotlights.

Spark Middle East Flagship Store

A red carpet was laid at the entrance, with Arab guards in white robes standing on both sides.

Saudi Prince Fahd bin Salman personally cut the ribbon.

"From today on, the Arab world's technology consumption does not need to go through New York or Tokyo," he said to over a hundred media outlets, with the flags of the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, and Bahrain behind him. "Xingchen is right among us."

What was displayed inside the store was not just consumer electronics.

On an entire wall hung a 1:5 scale model of the Peregrine Falcon S-15 air defense system, the quadruple missile launcher gleaming coldly under the lights.

Next to it was the virtual cockpit of the Lynx V-25 infantry fighting vehicle—visitors could sit inside, operate the simulator, and experience the feeling of speeding across the desert.

The most attractive area was the Chixiao robot exhibition zone.

Three Chixiao robots stood in the center of the exhibition platform, shaking hands with visitors, taking photos, and even saying "Welcome" in Arabic.

The UAE Ministry of National Defense procurement director, Khalid Al Nahyan, stood in front of Chixiao, silent for a long time.

"Your Highness," he whispered to Fahd, "this exhibition hall... will make The Pentagon lose sleep."

Fahd laughed, his snow-white teeth shining under the lights: "It's good to make them lose sleep. They sold us the F-35 at a 50% markup and delayed delivery by 8 years. Xingchen's sabertooth hx-30 takes 6 months to deliver, and the price is only half that of the M1A2."

He paused: "More importantly, they don't interfere with how we use it."

This statement was profound.

When the US sells weapons, they come with a bunch of restrictive clauses: they cannot be used for offense, technology cannot be transferred, and they cannot even be operated independently without US military advisors.

Xingchen's weapons, once bought, are yours.