Chapter 219: Raising Money

When the "New Era" aircraft landed on the exclusive heliport of Suicheng International Airport, this southern megacity, hailed as "Yao Du," was shrouded in a peculiar atmosphere. On the surface, the usual bustle of traffic and flicker of neon remained, and the convening of the international forum lent the place a certain solemn air of academia and technology. But beneath the surface, because of Qin Feng's arrival, countless undercurrents were accelerating.

The forum's organizing committee had arranged the highest-level reception, and the road leading to the hotel in the city had long been placed under the necessary security controls. The motorcade rolled down the broad avenue, and outside the windows rose a dense cluster of skyscrapers, proclaiming the city's prosperity and vitality.

Qin Feng sat inside the car, his gaze sweeping calmly past the window, showing little interest in the city's surface appearance. Part of his attention rested on the upcoming speech; the greater part, through encrypted devices, was remotely handling the routine affairs within "New Era."

Su Wenqian sat beside him, quietly reporting the latest fine-tuning of the itinerary after arrival. Lei Dong sat in the front seat, his sharp eyes scanning every possible sniper's perch or anomaly along the route.

Everything seemed to be under tight control.

However, just as the motorcade was about to reach the "Universal Summit Hotel" arranged by the forum's organizing committee, Lei Dong's encrypted earpiece crackled with an urgent report from the advance security team.

"Boss, there's an abnormal gathering at the hotel's main entrance! Roughly fifty to a hundred people, holding banners and signs! It's not the official welcome ceremony!"

Lei Dong's brows knit instantly: "Content?"

"…The banners read… 'Oppose Technological Monopoly,' 'Interstellar Development Belongs to All Humanity,' 'New Era Must Open Its Core Technology'…and more extreme ones, 'Qin Feng Get Out of Suicheng'…It looks like an organized protest, but the makeup is complicated—some look like students, some like civilians. Emotions are running high. Local police are trying to keep order, but the situation is a bit chaotic!"

A protest? Technological monopoly?

A cold glint flashed in Lei Dong's eyes. At the very first moment of Qin Feng's arrival, outside such a high-level international forum venue, such a sharply targeted so-called "protest" appeared—if one said no one had carefully planned it behind the scenes, not even a ghost would believe it.

"Copy. Change the planned route, enter through the hotel's west-side VIP passage, clear the area immediately and reinforce security on the west side!" Lei Dong swiftly issued orders, while simultaneously giving Qin Feng a concise report through the car's comms. "Sir, there's a small disorderly gathering at the main entrance. We're switching to the alternate plan and entering from the west side."

Qin Feng didn't even lift an eyelid, merely giving a flat "Mm," as if he had heard "Nice weather today."

Su Wenqian's brows, however, knit slightly. She immediately realized this was very likely the first "welcome gift" from Lilith or her affiliated forces. Not clever, but plenty disgusting—aimed at giving Qin Feng a show of force, damaging his public image, and possibly hiding a deeper intent to create chaos for other ends.

The motorcade swiftly and silently changed direction, swinging around to the hotel's west side. As expected, it was much quieter there, with only a few notified hotel executives and forum staff waiting.

Qin Feng's party checked in smoothly to the top-floor President Suite. Lei Dong immediately went to arrange security inside and around the suite, and to coordinate with local police and the advance team to handle the chaos at the main entrance.

In the suite's living room, only Qin Feng and Su Wenqian remained.

Su Wenqian was about to contact the forum's organizing committee to lodge a stern protest over the main-entrance incident, when she saw Qin Feng walk to the enormous floor-to-ceiling window and look down over the city below.

"Sir, do we need an in-depth investigation into the backgrounds of those people at the main entrance?" Su Wenqian asked.

Qin Feng did not answer directly. Instead, he looked toward the distant direction below where the gathered crowd could still be faintly seen, and the corner of his mouth suddenly curved into an extremely indifferent arc.

"Raising money," he softly uttered two words.

Su Wenqian was taken aback: "Raising money?"

"Mm." Qin Feng turned around, his gaze calm and unruffled. "Hiring people to hold signs—doesn't that cost money? Judging from those people's clothing, the way they hold the signs, and the expressions on their faces, it doesn't look like something driven by genuine inner conviction. More like…they took payment to complete a job."

His insight was terrifyingly precise; from Lei Dong's brief description and the blurry impression of his distant observation, he had nearly reconstructed the truth.

"Organizing a protest of this middling scale, with precise timing, and even mixing in some students to add 'authenticity'—the backer behind it would have to pay no small sum. Site scouting, recruiting personnel, unified props, on-site coordination, possible legal-risk coverage…each item is a cost."

Qin Feng analyzed in a flat tone, as if dissecting a simple mathematical model.

"Being able to organize such a 'performance' this quickly in Suicheng shows that the other side has fairly deep connections and resource networks here. But mobilizing those networks also costs—favors or money."

He walked to the sofa and sat down, picking up the water Su Wenqian had just poured for him.

"So, what they're doing is 'raising money.'" Qin Feng took a sip of water and concluded, "Spending a not-inconsiderable sum to manufacture a bit of negligible noise, trying to make me feel displeased, or to distract me."

He set down the water glass, looked at Su Wenqian, a barely perceptible mockery in his eyes.

"Tell me—was that money well spent?"

Su Wenqian instantly understood Qin Feng's meaning. Before the sir's absolute strength and lofty stature, such petty tricks were not only ineffective, but actually exposed the opponent's impatience, shallowness, and…poverty.

Not poverty of money, but poverty of method and vision.

They could only think of using this "raising money" to hire people to express discontent or provoke, yet they could not touch the true core of "New Era" at all—not even qualify to stir a single ripple in Qin Feng's emotions.

"I understand, sir." The trace of worry in Su Wenqian's heart vanished completely, replaced by a faint disdain. "Then what about the protest with the organizing committee?"

"Handle it by the standard procedure." Qin Feng waved a hand, no longer caring about this bit of "noise." "The focus is tomorrow's speech. Finish debugging the holographic projection equipment we brought. I don't want any technical blemish."

"Yes."

Su Wenqian bowed and withdrew to arrange the relevant matters.

The suite returned to quiet.

Qin Feng turned his gaze once more to the myriad lights of "Yao Du" outside the window.

The show put on by money raised from the poor, he had watched.

Next, it was his turn to take the stage, and let those people see what truly demands that they…even if they go bankrupt, cannot comprehend—power and vision.