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."
......
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
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!
【Prologue: The Beginning of It All – Use holy water to heal the saintess tainted by demonic energy, then converse with her.】 Shen Nian stared at his older sister sipping yogurt, lost in thought. So you’re telling me my sister is the saintess, and yogurt is the holy water? 【Main Quest 1: Brave Youth, Become an Adventurer! Reward: Rookie Adventurer Title.】 【Side Quest 1: Find the Adorable Kitty! Reward: 1000 Gold Coins.】 Shen Nian: "Wait, I’m a high school senior here—did some guy who got isekai’d accidentally bind his system to me?" Hold on, completing quests gives gold rewards? Titles even boost stats? Is this for real? (A lighthearted, absurd campus comedy—not a revenge power fantasy.)
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.
