Shake

Chapter 194

Boys' dormitory, Room 404.

Gu Ran was in a great mood. Humming a little tune, he walked back to the dorm with a brisk step.

Although it was a bit of a pity that he couldn't take things a step further and have some real action in the car just now.

But that was still enough to make him feel physically and mentally refreshed on this hot, sultry night.

Inside the dorm, Zhang Qi and Li Ming were huddled together like thieves, watching some obscure adult movie.

Deepest in the room, Qin Zhaoyang was facing the mirror, squeezing his pimples.

The dorm door was pushed open.

Two gazes swept over, carrying completely different meanings.

One was a guilty, evasive glance.

The other was filled with sinister jealousy and disdain.

He flipped open his screen, turned on his laptop, and his fingertips glided lightly across the trackpad.

"Ding."

An unread email sat in his inbox, its subject line concise and clear.

[MicroChat v1.0 Closed Beta Package (iOS Version) - Packaged].

Gu Ran raised an eyebrow.

This was the first shot fired by GR Technology in the mobile internet war.

He dug out a data cable from his drawer and connected his black iPhone 4 to the computer.

In this era where the App Store review mechanism was still imperfect and enterprise signature distribution had not yet become popular.

The only way to install an unpublished app was through this most primitive method of sideloading.

Then, he sent a message to Ye Zhenzhen.

[Silly Bear: Are you asleep? Take out your phone, connect it to your computer, and receive the file I'm sending you.]

Girls' dormitory, Room 302.

The young girl was hiding under her covers. The heat trapped inside the blanket flushed her face a rosy pink.

Seeing the text message, she bit her lower lip, her mind filled with the shameful scenes from the car just now.

The girl replied with a touch of tsundere pride.

[Dr. Ye: What do you want? I... I'm going to sleep.]

[Silly Bear: Be good and listen to me. I'll take you to play something fun, a private game that only the two of us can play.]

Ye Zhenzhen: "???"

What kind of scandalous words were these?!

She... she was a good girl, how could she not withstand such temptation?!!!

The girl's pretty face heated up disappointingly once again.

A few minutes later, a certain someone named Ye finally got out of bed carefully, her body acting honestly despite her words of refusal, and turned on her computer.

As the progress bar finished, a green icon simultaneously appeared on both of their phone home screens.

It was an extremely minimalist speech bubble design.

In this year of 2011, which was flooded with skeuomorphic designs where developers wanted to carve flowers into their icons.

The flat green bubble seemed a bit out of place.

Yet it exuded an indescribable sense of premium quality.

Below the icon, there were only two words: MicroChat.

Gu Ran looked at this icon, a trace of emotion flashing in his eyes as if a lifetime had passed.

In his previous life, this green penguin-killer wouldn't arrive belatedly until several months later.

But in this life, it was born ahead of schedule in a boys' dorm room at Qinghua University.

"Yo, what is our great Consultant Gu busy with?"

A sarcastic voice broke Gu Ran's train of thought.

Qin Zhaoyang had come over at some point, holding a tea mug in his hand.

His eyes swept back and forth across the computer screen, a mocking smile on his lips.

"Not sleeping in the middle of the night, messing around with this sketchy software on your computer. I say, Gu Ran..."

He deliberately dragged out his tone, the mockery on his face growing even stronger.

"You didn't download some virus-ridden porn app, did you? Don't end up turning your phone that costs thousands into a brick, that would be hilarious."

Qin Zhaoyang raised his voice loudly, afraid that the others wouldn't hear.

In his eyes, Gu Ran's act of pretending to be profound was just showing off, and he did it every single day!

But Gu Ran didn't even look up. His fingers tapped rapidly on the keyboard, entering a string of closed beta invitation codes.

"If you're that bored, you can go count the acne pits on your face."

"You!"

Qin Zhaoyang choked, his face stiffening.

Just as he was about to lash out, he saw Zhang Qi and Li Ming gathering around curiously.

"Brother Gu, what... high-tech stuff are you researching here?"

Zhang Qi craned his neck.

Gu Ran tapped his thumb lightly on the screen.

"Something newly developed by the company."

This breezy attitude made the two of them feel a sense of awe without fully understanding why.

Before they could react.

Accompanied by a crisp and pleasant startup sound effect, that green bubble rapidly expanded, occupying the entire screen.

Immediately after, an extremely minimalist login interface emerged.

There were no cluttered ads, no flashy QQ Shows, and none of those messy news pop-ups.

The entire interface was outrageously clean, with only four function tabs at the bottom.

MicroChat, Contacts, Discover, Me.

"Holy shit..."

Li Ming pushed up the glasses on the bridge of his nose, unable to hold back his exclamation.

"Brother Gu, this interface... looks so comfortable! It's much cleaner than mobile QQ, it feels especially... trendy!"

"Yeah, it just looks different."

Zhang Qi echoed.

"This UI design is incredible, it's an absolute perfect match for the iPhone's style!"

Hearing his roommates' excessive flattery, Qin Zhaoyang grew even more sour.

He glanced at the interface and said sourly.

"Tch, what are you bragging about? What's the use of a good-looking interface? Isn't it just a chatting tool?"

Though his mouth said so, his body honestly leaned over quietly.

"Can it do any tricks? Who doesn't use QQ nowadays? Will anyone even use this thing of yours?"

Gu Ran ignored the buzzing in his ears. Seeing Qin Zhaoyang's actions, he only found it amusing.

He picked up his phone and quickly sent a text message to Ye Zhenzhen.

[Tap on 'Discover' at the bottom, and select the third function, 'Shake'. Remember to turn up your phone's volume.]

In the girls' dorm.

Ye Zhenzhen looked at that strange function icon on the screen.

The silhouette of a hand holding a phone.

Shake?

What did this mean?

Although her heart was full of doubts, out of her trust in Gu Ran.

She still pressed the volume button to the maximum, and then took a deep breath.

Boys' dorm 404.

Gu Ran stood up, holding his phone, the corners of his mouth curving up slightly.

Qin Zhaoyang seeing Gu Ran not speaking, thought he had hit a sore spot and became even more smug.

"Hit the nail on the head, didn't I? This kind of knockoff software is only good for fooling idiots. You really think making an App makes you Steve Jobs? The way I see it..."

Before he could finish his sentence.

Gu Ran's wrist gave a sharp flick.

The movement was clean and crisp, carrying an inexplicable sense of ritual.

"Click-clack—"

An extremely realistic, crisp sound effect, similar to a rifle bolt being cocked, abruptly exploded in the quiet dorm room.

The sound was highly penetrating, full of a mechanical feel, carrying a satisfying crispness that made adrenaline surge.

Zhang Qi, who was drinking water, was startled. His hand shook, and water spilled all over his crotch.

Even Qin Zhaoyang, who was just preparing to continue his mockery, was stunned for a moment by this magical sound.

The words that had reached his lips got abruptly stuck in his throat.

What was that sound?

Before anyone could react.

Two seconds later.

"Bzzzt—"

The phone in Gu Ran's hand vibrated violently.

The originally split screen image quickly merged back together, and a fresh and refined profile picture popped up.

It was the profile picture Ye Zhenzhen had just changed to, a photo of her back that he had taken for her when they were in Wuzhen.

Right below the avatar, a line of small text was clearly displayed:

[Ye Zhenzhen]

[1,800 meters away]

...