137: Chapter 137 Mobilizing the Nation's Strength for a Devastating Strike

The moment the announcement was released.

Under the related posts on major tech forums and social media platforms across the country, the number of comments surged exponentially in just a few minutes.

Netizens who were originally fiercely discussing the deployment progress of the Fifth-generation Communication base stations all switched topics.

The center of all discussions was firmly locked onto the blockbuster news that the world's first batch of 5G mobile phones was about to hit the market.

"Wait, I'm a bit confused! Isn't our country's Fifth-generation Communication not even officially launched yet? How come the phones are already announced to be hitting the market?"

"Are you stupid, brother above? If you only have base stations but don't have the corresponding mobile device in your hand, how are you going to connect to the 5G signal? Are you going to surf the internet with your mind?"

"Haha, that's right. The Fifth-generation Communication network might be ready, but it's useless if you don't have a compatible terminal device in your hand."

"Hehe, the promotions all say that this Fifth-generation Communication crushes the Fourth-generation Communication currently being promoted abroad, and coupled with the underlying Hidden Dragon System, I wonder just how smooth it will be?"

The discussions online were heated, and the sense of national pride was practically overflowing from the screens.

But soon, some very practical questions concerning everyone's personal interests were thrown out, quickly tearing a hole in the frenzied atmosphere and sparking widespread resonance.

"5G phones, they sound awesome, but I don't know what the price will be set at?"

"Hard to say. An era-defining communication standard, an era-defining chip, an era-defining domestic operating system—with three 'era-defining' things stacked together, it's really hard to say what the price will be!"

"The most critical thing is, I just gritted my teeth and bought a flagship phone not long ago, spent nearly three thousand yuan, but now 5G phones are coming out... To switch or not to switch, my head hurts."

Besides the terminal price, another even more heart-wrenching worry was quickly pushed to the top of the trending topics.

"There's another thing I don't know if everyone has thought about: what will the 5G network tariffs be?"

"That's right. Right now, monthly internet plans cost dozens of yuan, and the data is so stingy, just a few dozen megabytes. They say 5G speed is over a hundred times faster, so how much will we have to spend on data fees?"

"Will it be that if I accidentally click on a video, my house goes to China Mobile and my car goes to China Unicom?"

"I hope they don't let the common people see it but not be able to afford it!"

Various speculations and worries about tariffs and terminal prices spread rapidly across major platforms.

Xia Academy of Sciences, inside an independent dormitory with the highest level of security.

Lin Yuan leaned back on the sofa, holding a pitch-black phone in his hand.

It had no flashy design, no brand logo, the edges were cut extremely cleanly, and it had a steady metallic texture in his hand.

This was the special domestic 5G terminal that the authorities had just issued to him two days ago.

Equipped with the Hidden Dragon System and built with a chip he specifically developed, it was currently the only one in the entire network.

The faint blue light emitted by the screen shone on his face.

His fingertips slid gently across the screen, and the summary of the entire network's public opinion, captured, analyzed, and organized in real-time by his exclusive Artificial Intelligence "Little Dragon," clearly came into view.

Speculations about phone pricing, panic about tariffs, wails about "not being able to afford it"...

After scanning through them one by one, the corners of Lin Yuan's lips curled into a calm smile.

These reactions from the public were completely within reason.

The common people of Xia were harvested by the technology hegemony led by the West for too many years.

Those foreign giants added layer upon layer of patent fees, and the final bill was all dumped on the heads of ordinary consumers.

This kind of empiricist fear, cultivated through repeated lessons, could not be eliminated by a single announcement.

One has to throw real money at it and put tangible benefits into their hands to make all the doubts vanish into thin air.

And the country had long been prepared.

Lin Yuan had carefully read the proposal that Zhou Ping sent over two days ago.

Subsidy intensity, pricing strategy, tariff adjustment range.

Every number revealed a ruthless drive to ignore costs and completely crush the Western communication market into collapse!

"Surprise" is a word Zhou Ping did not use incorrectly.

The country is the country.

When a massive state apparatus decides to use the strength of the entire nation to push for something, the energy it can unleash is simply not comparable to any commercial company.

Lin Yuan was very much looking forward to the day those numbers were announced, and even more looking forward to seeing what kind of desperate expressions the communication giants The Other Side of the Ocean would have when they saw those figures.

Withdrawing his thoughts, Lin Yuan exited the public opinion interface and spoke in a calm voice.

"Little Dragon."

"I am here, Sir."

The response from the phone speaker was clear and smooth, without any stiffness of electronic synthesis.

Little Dragon.

This was an exclusive Artificial Intelligence that Lin Yuan had personally created.

It was not the kind of bulky monster that occupied several floors and required constant-temperature server rooms and tens of thousands of GPUs to operate.

Its kernel had been written into the lowest-level hidden code of the Hidden Dragon System from the very beginning.

Any terminal connected to the network and equipped with the Hidden Dragon System could become one of its distributed computing nodes.

Mobile phones, tablets, industrial control computers, in-vehicle systems...

As long as it was running the Hidden Dragon System, it was a "muscle" for Little Dragon.

This was also one of the reasons why Lin Yuan wanted to promote the Hidden Dragon System.

Of course, this network was still extremely sparse at the moment.

There were only the testing terminals inside the Xia Academy of Sciences, plus the industrial control equipment first deployed in several heavy industry factories, totaling only a few hundred nodes.

Little Dragon's capabilities had not been unleashed by far.

But Lin Yuan was not in a rush.

Wait for the 5G network to be fully rolled out, wait for smartphones equipped with the Hidden Dragon System to spread into every household.

Hundreds of millions of terminals, hundreds of millions of computing nodes, covering every corner of Xia.

By then, Little Dragon would no longer be just a simple assistant.

It would become an intelligent neural network covering the whole country, a digital SkyNet that had never appeared in human history, truly ubiquitous in every sense.

And the highest authority of this network would be held solely by Lin Yuan.

As for the day when the Hidden Dragon System would go abroad and spread globally in the future...

Lin Yuan's eyes flickered, and he did not continue to think about it.

It wasn't that he dared not think about it, but that thinking too far ahead now had no meaning.

The game of chess must be played one step at a time.

"Send the theoretical materials I have organized to the first contact pinned at the top of my address book."

"Understood, Sir."

Little Dragon did not ask one extra word.

"File encryption and packaging in progress, expected to finish sending in three seconds."

Three seconds.

A set of theoretical materials enough to turn the global energy landscape upside down.

Just like that, it finished encryption and packaging within three seconds, and flew along the dedicated network line to the recipient's terminal.

Lin Yuan placed the phone screen face down on the table.

The materials were sent out, and the remaining matters would be left for the authorities to arrange.

The next step to wait for was the official distribution of 5G devices, the full popularization of the Hidden Dragon System, and...

The reaction of the authorities after they finished reading those theoretical materials.

Time passed, that evening.

Just as the anxiety across the internet regarding phone prices and tariffs reached its climax.

The official national website posted a joint announcement from multiple departments without any warning.

Immediately following that, the official accounts of the three major domestic operators updated simultaneously.

Then, the homepages of the official stores of several major terminal device manufacturers all took down their old posters and replaced them with brand-new pre-sale pages.

Three-pronged approach, at the same time.

Regarding the special subsidy policy for consumers nationwide, the specific plans for the new tariff packages, the terminal pricing of 5G phones...

A package of earth-shattering heavy blows, before anyone could react, came crashing down.

When the first batch of netizens, with trembling fingers, clicked on the announcement and clearly saw the price list stamped with the official red-headed document, the entire Xia internet fell into a deathly silence.