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."
......
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
d intelligence to keep the plot moving, and sometimes even the protagonists are forced into absurdly dumb decisions. Why does the A-list celebrity heroine in urban romance novels ditch the top-tier movie star and become a lovestruck fool for a pockmarked male lead? Why do the leads in historical tragedy novels keep dancing between love and death, only for the blind healer to end up suffering the most? And Gu Wei never expected that after finally landing a villain role to stir up trouble, she’d pick the wrong gender! No choice now—she’ll just have to crush the protagonists as a girl!
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
