Chapter 149

(Early April 2026, New York, Global Department Store Global Headquarters, Special Board Inquiry Meeting Room) The sky over New York was as azure and boundless as ever, but inside the solemn Special Board Inquiry Meeting Room at Global Department Store's global headquarters, an undercurrent of fierce confrontation surged with drawn swords and bended bows. At one end of the long oval conference table sat Karl von Schmidt, Global Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Global Department Store. His characteristically stern Germanic face wore a trace of subtle triumph and arrogance. Beside him sat two senior partners from McKinsey. The thick, self-proclaimed "objective and neutral" report in their hands—*Independent Evaluation Report on Global Department Store's Asia Digital Transformation Pilot Project*—was the heavy weapon Schmidt intended to use to launch his offensive today.