Chapter 220
Half a month later.
Shenzhen, Penguin Headquarters.
The atmosphere was so stifling that it was hard to breathe.
Liang Dong stood in the center of the conference room, his eyes sunken, his usually refined face written all over with exhaustion.
He had not had a good night's sleep in a week.
On the large screen, the interfaces of two apps stood side by side.
On the left was the WeChat V1.0 that their team had spent countless hours painstakingly recreating pixel by pixel.
On the right was the latest V1.2 version of WeChat.
Just three days ago, WeChat had undergone a major version update.
Besides a complete optimization of the UI, they had also launched two brand-new features.
People Nearby and Message in a Bottle.
These two features ruthlessly hit the restless hormones of young users.
...According to our data, WeChat's registered users have surpassed five million in the past half month. Daily active users are stable at over three million.
Liang Dong's voice was as hoarse as sandpaper rubbing together.
They used the most simple and brutal cash-burning method to almost monopolize the social market of all key universities nationwide in an extremely short period.
Although our WeChat is almost identical in function to their V1.0 version, we... we have missed the best time to enter the market.
At the conference table, the executives were dead silent.
Looking at the comparison chart, a sense of powerlessness washed over them.
They had finally finished copying the homework.
Only to find out that the other guy had already finished the next set of exam papers.
This feeling was too frustrating.
In the main seat, Pony Ma's face was grim.
He stared dead at the two new features of WeChat on the screen without saying a word.
People Nearby... Message in a Bottle...
What lay behind these two seemingly simple features was a profound insight into human nature and social needs.
Just what was the background of that young man named Gu Ran?
Pony Ma...
Tony Zhang spoke cautiously.
What... what do we do now? Should WeChat still go online as planned?
Launch it!
Pony Ma slammed his hand on the table, his voice carrying an uncontrollable fury.
Not only launch it, but push it with every means possible!
QQ pop-ups, bundled installations, forced upgrades! I do not care what methods you use, within a week, I want WeChat's installation numbers to surpass WeChat's!
I refuse to believe that with eight hundred million users, I cannot beat a team of students!
Pony Ma's eyes were bloodshot.
It had been a long time since he lost his composure like this.
Since founding Penguin, he had always been the industry leader, the rule-maker.
He was used to looking down on everyone, used to using his own sheer size to crush all opponents.
But this time, he actually felt fear from a nameless young man.
...
WeChat officially launched.
Overwhelming promotion, accompanied by QQ's almost thuggish forced traffic diversion, swept across the entire internet.
Countless users, upon logging into QQ, would be greeted with an unignorable pop-up.
Congratulations on obtaining the WeChat closed beta qualification.
Whether they clicked it or not, the green icon would appear in the bottom right corner of their computer, forcibly taking up residence.
This overbearing and unreasonable promotion method.
Allowed WeChat's installations to break ten million in just three short days.
When the data was reported to Penguin Headquarters, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
I told you so, in the face of absolute traffic, all tricks are just flashy gimmicks.
That WeChat is probably crying in the bathroom right now, right?
Heh, he is still too green to fight us.
However, just when everyone thought the war was over.
A new data report extinguished everyone's passion.
[One week after WeChat's launch, the active user retention rate is less than five percent.]
[Over ninety percent of users, after experiencing WeChat, chose to uninstall it or never opened it again.]
In the conference room.
Pony Ma looked at the report, his hands trembling slightly.
Why?
He looked up, his gaze sweeping over everyone present.
Who can tell me, why on earth is this?!
Liang Dong stood up, his face paler than last time.
Pony Ma, I did some user research.
Most users' feedback is—my friends, classmates, and teachers are all using WeChat. Why should I use a WeChat that has the exact same functions but where I do not know a single person?
The core of a social app is not its functions, but... the relationship chain.
They lost.
Lost completely and utterly.
The so-called traffic advantage.
Was vulnerable and weak in front of the solid social barrier that WeChat had already built.
They could force users to install WeChat.
But they could not force the users' friends to migrate with them.
That young man named Gu Ran, he used half a month.
To dig an insurmountable moat that the Penguin Empire could not cross.
Good... well played, Gu Ran...
Pony Ma slumped back in his chair, his eyes losing focus.
...
Qinglin, GR Games Company.
The boss is awesome! We won!
Hahaha, I knew it! If we follow the boss, we will feast!
Penguin is nothing! In front of our boss, they are just little kids!
A group of tech nerds held up their sodas, cheering and jumping for joy.
Gu Ran stood by the window, quietly looking at his phone.
On the screen was a Moments post that Ye Zhenzhen had just updated.
[Dr. Ye: The weather is great today, the sunshine is great, and you... are also great. [Picture]]
The picture was a selfie of the young girl.
She was wearing a sky-blue shirt and white jeans.
Standing in the sunlight, smiling with her eyes curving into crescents.
Gu Ran looked at that smiling face, his eyes unconsciously softening.
He tapped on the comments and replied.
[Silly Bear: How great?]
Ding dong.
The phone quickly received a reply.
[Dr. Ye: So great that... I want you to stay by my side forever.]
Gu Ran's heart skipped a beat.
He put away his phone, turned around, and said to the crowd still celebrating.
Everyone.
Everyone quieted down and looked at him.
Defeating WeChat is only the first step of our Long March.
Our journey is the sea of stars.
He raised the soda in his hand and spoke loudly.
To our opponents.
And to... this great era.
Outside the window, a bright moon hung high in the night sky.
A new legend had only just begun.
......
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!
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?!
transmigrates into the role of a villainous rich second-generation kid in an urban fantasy novel, and gets bound to a god-tier choice system. Right at the start, he catches the female lead stealing exam papers! This triggers the villain's choice options! [Choice 1: Pretend you didn't see anything] [Choice 2: Loudly call her out, drawing everyone's attention] [Choice 3: ...] And thus, a twisted villain is born. To avoid getting killed by the protagonist, he has no choice but to take down all the protagonists first. Jiang Che: Nobody understands being twisted better than me!
tions: attribute allocation, analysis, proficiency, and simulation. Specializing in mechanical alchemy, from crafting sorcerous battle armor to handcrafting mechanical maidens, his mechanical legion conquers endless realms... Relying on his wits, he begins with a student-teacher romance, wins over a female director, enslaves a female assassin and a underworld queen, becoming the husband of a Grand Duchess... He enslaves the Goddess of Magic from the divine realm, developing his power simultaneously in both the Wizard World and the Realm of Gods...
