By the time Nick arrived at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, Tyler was already there waiting in the wings. Seeing him enter, Tyler sized him up from head to toe and immediately began to tease him.
"Heh, this outfit... those who know would say you're here to anchor a global tech keynote, but those who don't would think some wealthy family's son-in-law has arrived for a black-tie wedding."
Nick shot him a look and then sized him up in return. It seemed his partner also understood exactly how high the stakes were for this broadcast, because Tyler had dressed himself up quite sharply. He was wearing an structured, formal tuxedo jacket that actually gave him a bit of executive presence, looking very much like a high-profile, strolling emperor penguin. A very large emperor penguin.
"The VIP guests have all arrived, right?"
Tyler nodded and said, "Basically everyone is here; the production team has them settled in the green room right now."
"Let's go, we should head over and greet them personally," Nick said, gesturing for Tyler to lead the way.
Tyler nodded and kept pace beside him, adding casually, "By the way, Mayor Mamdani from the NYC Municipal Government actually showed up in person this time."
Nick stopped dead in his tracks, turning with genuine surprise. "Why is the mayor of New York City sitting in our green room?"
Tyler shook his head with a wry, amused smile. "Honestly, I'm not entirely sure either. Originally, the PR team just sent a formal invitation to City Hall as a standard courtesy. Usually, politicians of that level wouldn't attend a tech launch, or even if they did, they'd just dispatch some mid-level deputy to go through the motions. "
"Heh, it seems we completely underestimated our own market leverage." Nick thought about it for a quick second, a confident smile spreading across his face, and then walked quickly toward the executive lounge.
"Mr. Mayor, what a pleasant surprise," Nick said as he entered the room, extending both hands and walking quickly toward the middle-aged man sitting in the central leather armchair. The mayor was in his thirties, wearing a sharp, tailored suit, looking incredibly energetic and charismatic.
"Haha, Nick, I've finally met the mastermind himself," Zoran said, standing up immediately to shake his hand with a warm smile.
"You can just call me Nicholas," Nick corrected politely.
"Heh, sit down, please, let's sit and chat for a moment."
The mayor gestured toward the adjacent sofa, then examined Nick's appearance with an approving smile. "Then Nicholas it is. Well, you look even younger and more formidable in person than you do in your Wall Street Journal profiles."
"You flatter me, sir," Nick replied with carefully measured modesty.
The mayor looked him over for a moment longer, then turned his attention to the other corporate executives present in the lounge. "The main reason I prioritized coming out tonight was to personally meet this legendary young talent. It's truly remarkable—a young man who just walked off a college campus a few years ago can achieve these kinds of global market results through sheer grit and innovation. This is exactly the kind of entrepreneurial role model that the youth of our new generation should be studying."
Turning his focus back to Nick, the mayor continued, "It is a tremendous honor for our administration that you chose New York City as the anchor venue for such a critical global product launch. As an international financial and cultural metropolis, we offer unparalleled strategic advantages.
The tech sector has always been a foundational pillar for our economic development and city funding; we have been aggressively executing industrial and digital restructuring programs for several years now.
Led by our municipal offices, we actively guide and coordinate partnerships between venture capital, infrastructure, and tech startups to enhance our capacity for digital transformation, ensuring our local economy remains highly adaptable to shifting global market demands."
At this point, the mayor paused slightly to let the economic policy point sink in, then continued addressing the room, "Over these past few years, we have fought to implement various tax incentives, municipal grants, and preferential zoning measures to encourage high-growth tech companies to establish their headquarters right here in the five boroughs.
Nicholas, and everyone else at this table, I think your executive board could benefit greatly from reviewing what our business development office has to offer. The people of New York are incredibly welcoming to global innovation."
Hehe... Everyone in the room laughed softly upon hearing the pitch.
The mayor's rhetoric—or rather, his explicit purpose for attending the keynote—was transparent: he was actively pitching to these tech corporations. Of course, the other vendor brands in the room were just secondary targets; his primary focus was undeniably on Nick and his core enterprise. It was a well-known fact in the industry that Militech didn't own a permanent corporate office tower yet and their domestic corporate footprint was still relatively lean, but their projected valuation and development trajectory were astronomically high.
So, his personal visit tonight was partly a high-level networking opportunity, and partly an aggressive move to test the waters and demonstrate the city's sincerity for a future headquarters relocation.
Nick understood the subtext perfectly, but a corporate relocation of that magnitude was of massive strategic significance, and he couldn't possibly hand out an immediate verbal commitment. Moving an entire corporate infrastructure wasn't something an executive did on a whim; it involved complex state regulations, tax liabilities, and board approvals. Furthermore, for a company like theirs that received heavy localized tax credits and development support back home, untangling the operations was no easy task.
Of course, as long as the municipal incentives were lucrative enough, it wasn't completely off the table; the key would be seeing exactly how much financial sincerity the city put on paper later.
After a few more minutes of casual networking, a production floor manager stepped into the room to hurry them along. Because the broadcast was hard-coded into a live satellite link with their worldwide sub-venues, the countdown timer for the keynote was fixed to the second and could not be delayed.
Seeing the cue, the mayor stood up and offered a warm smile. "Nicholas, you go ahead and conquer the stage. I'll head back to the main seating section now. Make sure you stay in the city for a few extra days after the event to experience everything New York has to offer."
"Absolutely, Mr. Mayor. Once the launch chaos settles down, I will definitely schedule a formal visit to your office," Nick said with a polite smile.
Hearing that commitment, the mayor finally showed a highly satisfied expression. "Excellent, then I'll be waiting for your team at City Hall. You mustn't break our appointment."
"Definitely," Nick nodded, shaking his hand one last time. "Let me walk you to the door."
"Stay right here, go attend to your production cues," the mayor turned and smiled, waving him off.
Nick nodded, stopping at the threshold, then turned to Tyler who was standing right beside him. "See the mayor out to his VIP box for me."
Tyler nodded instantly and followed the mayoral security detail out into the corridor. Seeing the door close, Nick finally let out a long breath, releasing the corporate tension. He then went around the room, shaking hands with the various brand partners and hardware representatives waiting in the lounge, before heading straight to the backstage wings accompanied by a flock of production staff.
The vendor representatives were simultaneously guided by event ushers down to their designated front-row seats in the VIP guest section to await the opening countdown.
The moment Nick entered the immediate backstage area, he was quickly surrounded by the hair and wardrobe team. After helping him quickly touch up his powder under the hot lights and straightening the lapels of his jacket, the stage manager guided him directly to the stage wings to await his cue.
By now, the ambient arena lights in the convention hall had completely dimmed to black, and the massive, ultra-high-definition LED screen stretching across the back of the stage began playing the custom promotional video designed for the keynote.
Though categorized as a promotional teaser, it was structurally an intimate documentary tracking the rapid evolution of Militech from its inception to the global stage. The footage covered everything from the original three-person engineering team grinding inside a cramped, outdated college lab space, to their nervous first appearance at international tech trade shows, the formal incorporation of the brand, and the exhausting journey of pulling consecutive all-nighters to finalize their proprietary algorithms.
Then, the visual arc shifted to the official release of their first intelligent voice assistant software, its explosive viral adoption across global application markets, and real-world montages of how the AI was actively assisting accessibility users and professionals in need, accompanied by emotional user audio messages.
Next, the editing style transitioned sharply into the massive media expectations and speculative tech reports surrounding their next-generation hardware. The screen flashed screenshots of cryptic social media teasers dropped by Nick and Tyler, overlaid with forum threads, YouTube prediction videos, and viral speculations from mainstream tech communities.
Finally, the fast-paced montage slowed down, focusing into a single, bold line of text across the massive screen: It is worth your wait.
Instantly, the stadium lighting flared into brilliant cinematic strobes, and the booming voice of the professional announcer reverberated through the massive line-array speakers flanking the stage.
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Militech Technology 2028 Spring Global Product Launch. Please welcome the Chairman and CEO of Militech Technology, Nicholas."
The entire convention center erupted into a wall of thunderous applause and cheers. Facing the dazzling spotlights and the sea of smartphone cameras, Nick took one deep, grounding breath, stepped out from the wings, and walked briskly onto the center of the stage.