Chapter 217
Shencheng, Penguin Headquarters.
Inside a conference room overlooking the entire technology park, the atmosphere was so oppressive that it made it hard to breathe.
Tony stood in front of the projector screen, a fine layer of sweat seeping from his forehead.
On the presentation behind him was the strikingly minimalist green icon of MicroChat.
And an exaggeratedly steep user growth curve.
"...According to our latest data, MicroChat's penetration rate at Qinglin University has exceeded eighty percent. Moreover, through the campus network, it has already begun to spread to several neighboring universities."
Tony's voice was somewhat dry.
"The most critical point is that they just launched version 1.1 yesterday, adding a feature called Moments. Our product managers evaluated it and concluded that the design concept of this feature is at least a year ahead of ours."
At the head of the conference table, Pony listened expressionlessly.
His slender fingers tapped rhythmically against the mahogany tabletop.
"What is the progress over at the Guangyan Institute?"
He asked faintly.
"Well..."
Tony's face turned even uglier.
"Allen's team reported that MicroChat's underlying architecture is extremely complex and uses many optimization algorithms they have never seen before. Achieving a pixel-perfect replica within a month is highly difficult. They... they need more time."
"Time?"
Pony chuckled softly, but the smile did not reach his eyes.
"Will the market give us time?"
He stood up and looked at the endless stream of traffic below.
"Tell Allen that I do not care what methods he uses, whether it is pulling all-nighters or working overtime. Half a month. I will only give him half a month."
"In half a month, if I do not see the closed beta version of WeChat, he can take his entire team to the general office and collect their termination notices."
The temperature in the conference room instantly dropped to the freezing point.
Everyone knew that Pony was truly enraged.
"Also."
Pony turned around, his gaze falling on Tony.
"Go contact that young man named Gu Ran again."
"This time, do not talk about an acquisition."
Pony adjusted his cuffs.
"Tell him directly that Penguin will make a strategic investment. We will provide the money, the traffic, and the technology to support him. The condition is that he must accept our controlling stake and integrate MicroChat into Penguin's ecosystem."
"Is... isn't this a disguised acquisition?"
An executive muttered softly.
"No."
Pony shook his head.
"This is called bringing him into the fold."
"Give him an offer he cannot refuse. If he still does not know what is good for him..."
A cold glint flashed in Pony's eyes.
"Then tell him that the word 'lose' does not exist in Penguin's dictionary."
...
Three days later, Qinglin University.
A black Alphard commercial van with a Guangdong B license plate parked downstairs at the School of Economics and Management's teaching building.
The car door opened, and two men dressed in crisp suits with their hair slicked back stepped out.
Leading the way was the Penguin representative, Manager Liu.
He glanced at the time on his phone: 10:25 AM.
"Hmph, putting on quite the airs."
Manager Liu curled his lips in disdain.
"We agreed on ten-thirty, and he is still not here. He has quite the ego for a student."
The assistant beside him echoed.
"Exactly, Liu. If you ask me, we should have taught him a lesson last time. Mr. Pony personally gave the order, and he still dares to put on airs?"
"Just wait."
Manager Liu adjusted his tie, wearing the arrogance unique to the elites of major tech companies.
The two waited downstairs for a full ten minutes.
Only then did Gu Ran and Ye Zhenzhen slowly stroll out of the teaching building.
"Gu Ran!"
Seeing him, Manager Liu immediately approached with a dark expression.
Looking at the man walking toward him, the young man asked in confusion.
"Are you Manager Liu? I apologize, the teacher kept us late, making you wait."
The teacher kept them late?
Manager Liu glanced at the book in Gu Ran's hand, the cover of which read An Actor Prepares. The corner of his eye twitched violently.
Since when did the Economics and Management Department offer this kind of specialized course?
"Student Gu, time is precious."
Manager Liu could not be bothered to waste words with him and cut straight to the chase.
"Mr. Pony is very interested in your project and specifically sent me to discuss an in-depth collaboration with you."
"An in-depth collaboration?"
Gu Ran raised an eyebrow.
"That is right."
Manager Liu tilted his chin up slightly and spoke in a patronizing tone.
"Penguin has decided to make a strategic investment in your MicroChat. We will provide you with five million in cash, as well as cross-platform traffic support from QQ. In addition, the technical team at the Guangyan Institute will fully assist you with product iteration."
He paused and looked at Gu Ran, as if this were a monumental blessing.
"In return, Penguin requires a fifty-one percent controlling stake in MicroChat."
He thought Gu Ran would be shocked, would be ecstatic.
And would even grasp his hands in tearful gratitude.
However, Gu Ran merely looked at him with a smile.
"Are you finished?"
"I am finished."
"The terms are not bad."
Gu Ran nodded.
A smug smile appeared on Manager Liu's face.
"But..."
Gu Ran suddenly changed the subject.
"I refuse."
Manager Liu's smile froze on his face.
"What... what did you say?"
He suspected he had misheard.
"I said, I refuse."
Gu Ran's tone remained indifferent.
"Manager Liu, please go back and tell your boss. I look down on his money. I do not need his traffic either. As for his technology... heh."
He let out a disdainful laugh.
"As for the controlling stake, that is nothing but a pipe dream."
"You!"
Manager Liu's face instantly turned the color of pig liver.
"Gu Ran! Do not be ungrateful! Do you know what you are rejecting? This is Penguin! An internet empire worth hundreds of billions! We can crush your little student project to pieces with a flick of our little finger!"
"Is that so?"
The young man's smile widened.
"Then I will be waiting."
He took Ye Zhenzhen's hand and turned to leave.
"Young man, do not be too arrogant."
Manager Liu roared behind him in exasperation.
"Without us, you are nothing! Within a month, our WeChat will be online, and when that time comes, your MicroChat will be nothing but cannon fodder!"
Gu Ran stopped in his tracks and turned around.
He looked at the flustered middle-aged man with a trace of pity in his eyes.
"Manager Liu, there is a saying: you cannot discuss ice with a summer insect."
"A month?"
The young man smiled meaningfully.
"In a month, you will thank me for not selling it to you today."
After saying that, he ignored Manager Liu, who was on the verge of exploding with anger.
Holding Ye Zhenzhen's hand, he walked straight toward the parking lot.
The young girl followed obediently by his side.
"You... you just offended them like that, is it really going to be okay?"
She asked softly.
"Offended?"
He started the car, looking at the shrinking figure in the rearview mirror, and said faintly.
"From the moment I decided to create MicroChat, the war with Penguin had already begun."
"There is no need to show mercy to our enemies."
He tightened his grip on the steering wheel, his unwavering gaze seeming to pierce through time itself.
"What we must do is put a bullet straight through their hearts before they even have a chance to react."
......
ng to die together with you." Lin Xuan is dead, his body thrown into the river by his scumbag lover and her accomplice. She, the president of the Su Group, is decisive, ruthless, and ice-cold. For three days and three nights, she had his body fished out of the river, and without hesitation, she kissed the bloated corpse of Lin Xuan. She laid down beside him in a cold coffin, their fingers intertwined, a smile lingering on her lips as she closed her eyes. The noble and cold-hearted woman, only bending for one man—Lin Xuan. Lin Xuan, with his golden finger, is reborn and returns to the day of his wedding to the treacherous woman. Su Qiang comes to steal the bride. Lin Xuan's eyes light up, eager to pledge his loyalty on the spot, but instead, her kiss transfers a glass of drugged wine into his mouth, causing him to pass out... 【Male Protagonist with Single Female Lead】【Yandere Tycoon】【Action-Packed】【True vs. Fake Heir】
agon king storylines. At the start, I obtained the "Ultimate Lackey System" - the more I act as a lackey, the stronger I become. What else could I do? I chose to become the personal henchman of the ultimate villain, Su Muwan. I provoke all sorts of chosen ones, snatch away their opportunities, and commit every evil deed imaginable. You ask who's behind me? Hmph! You're not worthy of knowing my lady's name! ...... ....... I am Su Muwan, the eldest daughter of the Su family. Since childhood, I've possessed extraordinary talent in martial arts, which led to my arrogant and domineering personality in my past life. I was even foolish enough to repeatedly challenge those favored by heaven, ultimately resulting in a tragic death. In this life, I must behave and absolutely cannot walk the same path again!! However... SLAP!! "So you're the Dragon King, huh?!" When I saw my little lackey swagger over and viciously slap the Dragon King who was hiding his identity, I felt my heart sink. Su Muwan's suspended heart finally died as she watched Qin Luo, her utterly loyal lackey, standing before her. She fainted on the spot from shock. Heaven is determined to destroy me!! (Pure love 1v1, light-hearted, no angst, single female lead, villain, reincarnation, lackey)
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
transmigrates into the world as the sect master of the Heavenly Yan Sect, which is on the verge of being wiped out. He binds a system that grants him cultivation power based on the number of disciples he has: for each disciple, he automatically gains a year's worth of cultivation every single day! Take one disciple: every day he gains 1 year of cultivation power. While others struggle through a year of bitter training, he gets the same just by sleeping through a single night. Take ten disciples: every day he gains 10 years of cultivation power. Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul—he breezes through all bottlenecks without lifting a finger. Take one hundred disciples: every day he gains 100 years of cultivation power. Even a Soul Transformation Venerable before him can’t survive a single blow. Take ten thousand disciples: every day he gains 10,000 years of cultivation power! With a wave of his hand, he topples empires. With a single step, he crushes the sacred grounds of the universe. ... While others fight tooth and nail for secret techniques, Lin Yan casually hands out Nascent Soul-level cultivation manuals as beginner textbooks. While others strain to find talented recruits, Lin Yan opens his doors to anyone—so long as they’re human. In just three short years, the Heavenly Yan Sect went from a backwater sect made up of three crumbling huts to a sacred land that every cultivator under heaven would kill to enter. ... One day, otherworldly demon gods invade, with a million demon soldiers pressing down upon the realm. Lin Yan, yawning, rises from his lounge chair and glances at the system panel: [Current Disciples: 1.28 million] [Daily Cultivation Increase: 1.28 million years] He waves his hand casually, and the countless demon soldiers are reduced to ashes in an instant. “So noisy… interrupting my fishing.”
