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Before getting into the novel, I'd like to have you opinions on some things:
1. What do you think of the novel? Pacing, grammer, skill progression and the like. And are you okay with it's current progression or would you like a quick fast forward to college life?
2. I noticed that some times multiple chapters can pass without any update from the Skill Breakthrough System, so it could be tough for readers to actually keep track on Li Feng's skills (I myself had to look through previous chapters to find his skill levels till I started keeping track of it after every update in my workbook). So, I'm thinking of just putting his current skill stats under "Author's Thoughts". What do you think?
Let me know in the comment section. Thank you.
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Car Ride Home — Late Afternoon
The Lexura RX300 merged onto the main road, its engine quiet, the interior calm with the fading warmth of the day. Buildings drifted past the windows in soft gold, evening traffic humming in steady waves.
Xue shifted slightly in her seat, turning toward Feng.
"Ge ge," she asked softly, curiosity bright in her eyes, "how did things go in the IT department? You finished really fast. I thought it would take much longer."
Guohua's attention flicked to the rearview mirror, interested as well.
Feng met her gaze, his tone calm and warm.
"Everything was prepared beforehand. I only needed to implement it — so it didn't take long."
Xue nodded, her expression lighting up.
"So cool…"
Feng couldn't help himself. Seeing that look on her face, he reached over and lightly pinched her nose.
Xue pouted instantly, swatting at his hand.
"Ge ge!"
He chuckled quietly.
From the driver's seat, Guohua kept his focus on the road, though a small smile tugged at his lips.
"You both did well today," he said. "It was good to see. You made me proud."
Xue hummed, thoughtful but pleased.
Feng offered a small nod in response.
The car settled into a quiet rhythm.
After a moment, Feng reached for his phone — naturally, quietly.
Guohua noticed in the mirror but thought nothing of it.
Feng unlocked his device with his fingerprint, opened an encrypted folder, and tapped a matte-black icon.
[Blackhawk Nexus — Mobile]
A biometric prompt slid into place.
[Authentication Verified — Access Level 3+]
The dashboard appeared, compact but precise.
He tapped the filter: [Last 24 Hours]
The infographic refreshed:
[MISSION ACTIVITY — LAST 24 HOURS]
• Grade F: 4
• Grade E: 12
• Grade D: 9
• Grade C: 6
• Grade B: 2
• Grade A: 1
Blackhawk's growth was accelerating.
Volume rising.
Difficulty rising.
Everything trending upward exactly as expected.
Feng applied another filter: [Minimum: Grade B]
The mission list expanded.
---
[Completed Case — Grade B]
[Case Type: Corporate Property Sweep]
[Client: Meridian Capital]
[Time Completed: 15:02]
[Lead: Field Squad Bravo]
Status: Unauthorized surveillance devices removed
Tools: PhantomGrid + Blackbox Ops
---
[Completed Case — Grade B]
[Case Type: Digital Intrusion Traceback]
[Client: Hartwell Financial]
[Time Completed: 11:26]
[Lead: Cyber Desk Lead]
Status: Origin point mapped; breach isolated
Tools: Ironwall Suite
---
[Completed Case — Grade A]
[Case Type: High-Value Prototype Sabotage Investigation]
[Client: Vesperon Dynamics — Robotics Division]
[Time Completed: 04:19]
[Lead Assigned: George Hart]
Status: Internal saboteur identified; evidence package delivered
Tools: HawkSeer + RavenTrace + Blackbox Ops
Deployment: Full field squad + cyber desk + senior analyst support
---
Feng read each entry once, expression steady.
Everything was clean.
No escalations.
No flagged anomalies.
He locked the screen and returned the phone to his pocket.
Outside, the city lights began to glow as the Lexura continued down the road.
The atmosphere inside the car remained quiet, warm, familiar — the kind of silence that didn't need to be filled.
---
Two days later
The two days following their visit to Blue Horizon passed without noise.
Whenever Feng wasn't spending time with his family, he was at his desk—three monitors casting a steady glow across his room, repositories of the four chosen products arranged in clean side-by-side windows.
He worked with familiar precision.
Not revealing everything he was capable of.
Not pushing the boundaries of what would raise suspicion.
Just enough to strengthen Blue Horizon exactly where it mattered as going beyond that would bring more attention than Blue Horizon can deal with.
---
1. Horizon VisionCam Lite — Firmware Upgrade (v2.0)
A compact smart security camera for everyday home use.
It was designed to be affordable but dependable — motion detection, live alerts, basic edge-processing, smooth SmartHome integration.
The previous firmware, CamOS v1.8.2, was functional but limited.
Its flaw was inefficiency—not in capability, but in structure.
Feng refined:
— the motion-detection pipeline,
— merged redundant scanning logic,
— added unified edge + brightness filtering,
— introduced a light predictive behavior model.
Patch notes were brief:
[Executive-Authorized Update — VisionCam Lite v2.0]
"Improved detection stability. Optimized processing load."
Routine.
Unremarkable on the surface.
But the engineers would feel the difference.
---
VisionCam R&D Team
"…Accuracy went up so much?," one engineer murmured.
"And CPU load dropped too? That's… unusual."
"Whoever the execs tapped for this update… they've got serious skills," another add. "This leap is way too steep."
---
2. Horizon WorkPad M10 — HorizonOS Update (v3.2.0)
A mid-range productivity tablet aimed at students and professionals. Lightweight. Practical. Good hardware, but nothing spectacular.
The WorkPad was solid, but its OS carried old structures slowing down responsiveness.
Feng refined:
— UI rendering
— memory scheduling
— app routing logic
— cache prediction
Patch note:
[Executive-Authorized Update — HorizonOS v3.2.0]
"System stability improvements. Pre-launch optimization."
---
WorkPad Team
A QA analyst frowned.
"…Boot time improved by so much?"
Her partner reran the test.
"Still much faster."
"And UI thread overhead is down too."
Her colleague nodded.
"Whoever the execs brought in for pre-launch cleanup… they know their craft. This is top-tier refinement."
"Agreed. If this person keeps working with us, our release targets will look a lot better."
Their tone carried professionalism—and a hint of awe.
---
3. HorizonHub Core (Gen 2) — HubOS Sync Revision (v2.1.0)
Blue Horizon's smart-home hub — the command center of their entire ecosystem.
It coordinated:
— device linking
— automation routines
— environment triggers
— system-wide preferences
The hub's current firmware, HubOS v1.9.0, was stable but simplistic — experiencing micro-delays during simultaneous device actions.
Thus, Feng reworked:
— node priority logic
— conflict resolution
— propagation timing
Patch note:
[Executive-Authorized Update — HubOS v2.1.0]
"Synchronization layer refinement."
---
Hub Team
"…Zero jitter under heavy load," a senior engineer muttered.
"That's… not something we would have been able to achieve anytime soon."
Another checked the metadata.
"Exec-authorized patch. Damn, when did we got such specialists."
The senior nodded slowly while reviewing the update, clearly impressed.
---
4. HorizonBand S2 — BandOS Sensor Improvement (v2.4.0)
A budget-friendly smart-band for fitness and quick smart-home controls.
Simple hardware.
Straightforward firmware.
Nothing ambitious — which was exactly why Blue Horizon expected it to sell well.
Feng upgraded: BandOS v2.3.1 to v2.4.0
He introduced:
— adaptive micro-window sampling
— dynamic frequency scaling
— smoother transition logic
— gesture recognition for SmartHome controls
Patch note:
[Executive-Authorized Update — BandOS v2.4.0]
"Refined sensor behavior. Improved efficiency."
---
Wearables Team
"These sensor transitions are smoother than anything we've iterated internally."
Her supervisor exhaled softly.
"Executive patch. Looks like the execs pulled in someone with incredible expertise."
"Yeah… this level of refinement doesn't come from our normal consultants. This is someone who understands system behavior beyond the norms."
---
As the patches settled in, the quiet momentum spread:
— integration tests passed earlier than scheduled
— build pipelines flagged fewer issues
— departments hit weekly targets ahead of time
— prototypes performed above projection
Everything felt… smoother.
Across departments, one shared thought lingered: The execs brought in consultants with deep insights that have now strengthened the product line.
Not loudly.
Not drastically.
But enough to push the company forward with a new level of confidence.
And no one—not a single person reviewing those elegant patches—suspected that the one behind them was a highschool boy who had visited the building only once.
---
Morning — Blue Horizon HQ
Conference Floor
Two days of unusually smooth progress had given Blue Horizon a comfortable rhythm—engineers working steadily, department reports flowing in early, and the building carrying a quiet buzz of efficiency.
Which was why the appearance of an unexpected visitor broke the cadence the moment he stepped into the lobby.
A man in his early fifties, dressed in a tailored charcoal suit, carrying a briefcase and a calm, practiced smile.
His business card read:
[Li Group — External Relations Division
Representative: Zhao Minghui]
He wasn't high-ranking.
He didn't need to be.
Someone like him only showed up when the message he carried was already decided.
---
Conference Room 2
Liang Chen entered with a polite smile, though there was a tightness around his eyes.
"Mr. Zhao. Welcome to Blue Horizon."
Zhao Minghui rose, shaking his hand with cordial warmth.
"Director Liang. It's a pleasure."
They exchanged formal pleasantries before taking their seats.
Zhao's posture was calm, but Liang could feel the weight behind the visit—the same faint chill anyone felt when dealing with a company like the Li Group, even on ordinary terms.
Except nothing about this was ordinary.
Zhao began with small talk: the industry, new device trends, mid-year projections.
Smooth. Empty. Non-threatening.
Then his tone shifted.
"Director Liang," he said mildly, "I assume you've also seen the… conversations happening online recently."
Liang's smile didn't move.
"We keep an eye on the market atmosphere."
"Of course you do." Zhao nodded, pleased. "And naturally, Blue Horizon would want to distance itself from anything that might jeopardize its stability."
There it was.
Polite phrasing.
Clear intent.
Liang kept his voice neutral.
"Blue Horizon stands by the quality of its technology."
"Mhm." Zhao folded his hands. "But quality is not the issue. Optics are. Perception. Associations."
Liang's fingers tightened slightly around his pen.
Zhao continued casually, as if discussing the weather:
"Certain… ties, if misunderstood, could affect public trust. Investors. Partnerships. Supply agreements."
He glanced up, meeting Liang's eyes with a pleasant, empty smile.
"And I'm sure Blue Horizon wouldn't want to be caught in the middle of a… family conflict."
Liang's heartbeat paused for a fraction of a second.
He didn't react outwardly.
Zhao didn't need him to.
The representative closed his briefcase gently.
"Just a friendly reminder," he said. "aligning too closely with certain parties can cause unnecessary complications—especially if those parties are currently… out of favor."
A very thin warning.
Delivered with perfect politeness.
He rose smoothly.
"Blue Horizon is a promising company. We hope you continue on a stable path."
Liang stood as well.
"We appreciate your concern."
Zhao smiled.
"We always have the industry's best interests at heart."
He left without another word.
---
Liang Chen remained in the conference room for a while, staring at the closed door.
No threats.
No accusations.
No explicit message.
And yet the meaning was sharp as a blade:
Cut ties with the Second Branch.
Or suffer later.
Liang exhaled slowly, steadying his thoughts.
Then he reached for his phone.
Director Li needed to hear this.
Immediately.
---
Hello, Author here,
Thanks for reading — Leave a comment to tell me what you think about this chapter, and drop a Power Stone if you're enjoying Li Feng's story so far! Let's grow this story together.