Three days after the evaluation, a new internal memo quietly circulated across the Jingzhou Provincial Administration.
> Personnel Adjustment: Effective immediately, Lu Zhen is promoted to Deputy Director of the City Development Research Office, seconded to the Provincial Planning Advisory Board.
Most mid-level cadres ignored it.
Just another reshuffle. Low-level. Temporary.
But the few who paid close attention saw the signals clearly.
City Development Research Office — nominally an academic unit.
Planning Advisory Board — a think tank that reported directly to provincial leadership.
Lu Zhen had just been placed two steps closer to core provincial strategy discussions.
Without even going through party committee vetting.
---
He sat across from Tang Wei in her office, quietly reviewing a binder marked "New Industry Zoning Report – Confidential Draft".
Tang Wei sipped her tea.
"You know what this position means, right?"
Lu Zhen didn't look up. "A testing ground."
She smiled. "Yes. You're officially in the advisory ecosystem. No real power yet. But now you're on the radar."
He closed the binder and looked up. "They'll want to test my judgment."
"They'll want to know if you have vision," she corrected. "Execution can be hired. Vision is rare."
---
That afternoon, Lu Zhen's first real task arrived.
It wasn't a memo. It wasn't even from within the Planning Board.
It was a quiet knock on his temporary office door.
A young woman entered. Slender, in a charcoal blazer. Cold, clear eyes.
"Mr. Lu. Deputy Secretary Fang requested your opinion on a special project."
Lu Zhen raised an eyebrow. "What kind of project?"
She handed him a flash drive. "It's called Project Riverlight."
---
That night, Lu Zhen opened the files on an encrypted laptop.
Inside: blueprints, water quality surveys, satellite imagery, and several confidential assessments.
Project Riverlight was a proposal to redevelop the Liang River Industrial Belt — once a manufacturing hub, now a poisoned wasteland.
Over 1,000 factories had closed. Cancer rates in nearby villages were double the national average.
Now, there was a plan to convert the belt into a "Green Innovation Zone", backed by high-tech firms, low-carbon infrastructure, and private sector giants waiting for government land reform.
Fang Qinglan's signature was on several policy drafts.
But there was fierce internal opposition.
Local politicians were tied to the old industries. Real estate players had been speculating on land they thought would remain toxic for decades.
To push this through, someone would need to offer a clear, airtight proposal — one that benefited both the people and the power players.
And Fang Qinglan had handed the core draft task…
To a 20-year-old rookie.
---
Lu Zhen didn't sleep that night.
Instead, he opened the System.
---
[Task Activated: Strategic Policy Draft – Project Riverlight]
Mission: Submit a comprehensive proposal that passes both political and technical scrutiny
Bonus Objective: Secure external investor alignment
Reward (if successful): +1 Rank Visibility | New Skill: Strategic Mapping (Lv.1)
---
He activated Strategic Mapping.
Immediately, his screen lit up with overlays:
Stakeholder maps.
Interlinked influence trees.
Economic cost-benefit matrices.
Risk tolerances per political bloc.
Lu Zhen spent six hours rewriting the entire proposal from scratch.
He used language that anticipated resistance:
> "Legacy industry players will be compensated via phased equity-sharing schemes in new green tech firms…"
> "Resettlement zones will be built first to minimize social disruption…"
> "Revenue will be partially diverted to local counties for education and medical infrastructure…"
He didn't hide the costs. But he aligned every stakeholder with some clear future benefit.
By sunrise, he had a complete 39-page proposal, policy-ready.
---
He sent it directly to Fang Qinglan's private encrypted inbox.
Then he collapsed into bed.
---
Three days passed.
No reply.
No acknowledgment.
Tang Wei said nothing.
But something else changed.
---
The mayor of Jingzhou announced, out of the blue, a public consultation hearing on the future of the Liang River Belt.
Within hours, the province's official news platform published an editorial titled:
> "Time to Heal the River: Innovation Must Flow."
The language mirrored Lu Zhen's proposal almost word for word.
And below it:
> Policy Review Committee Commentary by Special Advisor Lu Zhen.
His name—public for the first time.
---
At the Planning Board offices, several older researchers exchanged glances when Lu Zhen passed by.
One muttered under his breath, "Who the hell is this kid?"
Another whispered, "He bypassed five departments. Fang must be grooming him."
Another snapped, "It's just politics. He'll burn fast."
Lu Zhen heard them. He didn't react.
Instead, he reviewed land-use projections and quietly made a call.
To Anhui Province.
To one of the shell companies the System had seeded.
> "Prepare to bid on early-stage infrastructure modeling contracts in Liang River. Quietly. And use a secondary name."
---
That night, in his apartment, Lu Zhen stared at the ceiling.
For the first time, he felt the scale of what he was involved in.
One project.
One city.
But already, political careers were shifting.
And in the background, his own investments were beginning to turn public policy into private opportunity.
Not for greed.
But because he knew—
He couldn't change the system if he didn't master it.
---
System Notification
---
[Policy Draft Accepted – Influence +150]
[Political Alignment with Fang Qinglan Strengthened – Favorability +20]
[Skill Acquired: Strategic Mapping (Lv.1)]
[Rank Visibility Increased – Now recognized at the provincial level]
[Public Credibility Score: 21% (Rising)]
---
Three days later, Tang Wei sent him a text at midnight.
> "Good work. From now on, they'll listen before they dismiss you. Rest while you can. Winter Conference is next."
---
End of Chapter 5