The Imperial Capital was a sprawling metropolis of gold leaf and crimson silk, but to Su Chen's "Network Sight," it looked like a flickering mess of unoptimized signals. Thousands of mortals were unknowingly carrying "Malware-Talismans," their mental energy being siphoned off into the dark web like a massive, leaky battery.
Su Chen stood in the Heart of the Dragon Palace, facing Emperor Qin. The Emperor wasn't a cultivator, but he possessed a "Dragon Aura" that acted like a natural hardware firewall.
"Immortal Su," the Emperor said, his voice echoing in the vast chamber. "My people are obsessed. They ignore their harvests to watch 'Pill-Making' videos. They spend their copper coins on 'Digital Lotuses' for sect beauties. You have brought a plague of distraction to my shores."
"Your Majesty," Su Chen bowed slightly, "I have brought you Progress. But your enemies have brought you a virus."
Su Chen waved his hand, projecting a holographic map of the city into the air. Bright green dots represented his "Sect-Net" users, while pulsing, oily purple stains showed the "Under-Net" infection spreading through the slums.
"The Blood Shadow Sect is using your subjects' minds to fuel a dark engine," Su Chen explained. "If it continues, their souls will be 'burned out' to provide processing power for demonic rituals. You don't need to ban the internet; you need to Govern it."
The Emperor's eyes sharpened. "Govern? How can one govern a thought?"
"With the Imperial Social Credit System," Su Chen replied, his inner-tech-CEO grinning. "We install the 'Great Firewall' across the empire. To access the network, every citizen must link their soul-signature to an Imperial ID. Good behavior—paying taxes, filial piety, reporting demonic activity—earns them 'High Bandwidth' and 'Premium Content.' Bad behavior? We throttle their connection to 2G. Or 'Blacklist' their soul entirely."
The Emperor leaned back, a slow, terrifying smile spreading across his face. The idea of total, digital surveillance was a language every autocrat spoke fluently.
"And the funding for this... Firewall?"
"A small 'Platform Tax' on every digital transaction," Su Chen said. "And in exchange, I will give you the 'Heavenly Eye' Dashboard. You will see every trending topic, every whispered sedition, and every transaction in real-time."
[System Notification: 'Imperial Partnership' Protocol Initiated.] [New Feature Unlocking: Big Brother Mode.]