I don't make money, just want to make friends with everyone.

Applause surged through the hall like a tide, enduring and unceasing.

Chen Zhi leaned on the podium with one hand, waiting for the noise to die down a bit before leaning closer to the microphone again.

"I know everyone is doing the math in their heads right now."

The image on the big screen switched again, showing a white Deep Space Meizu smartphone slowly rotating.

"A brand-new interactive experience, the Moss on-device large model, Qualcomm's latest flagship chip, and a custom Samsung 2K screen." Chen Zhi rattled off a long list of specs. "According to market rules, it wouldn't be too much to sell a flagship phone of this caliber, slapped with the gimmick of 'era-defining AI,' for six or seven thousand, right?"

The media in the audience nodded one after another.

Apple and Samsung's flagship phones had long been selling at this price point. The level of intelligence of this Deep Space Technology phone was a complete paradigm shift; even at seven thousand, people would definitely scramble to buy it.

Chen Zhi smiled.

He clicked his laser pointer.

On the big screen, a massive number dropped down.

3,999 yuan.

"I'm not making money today; I just want to make friends with everyone."

Hall A went silent for a second before erupting in gasps of astonishment.

"Holy shit! Three thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine?!"

"Is he crazy?! The hardware cost alone for these specs must be over three thousand!"

"Is this price meant to ruin the market? How are other manufacturers supposed to survive?"

The reporters in the front row snapped photos like crazy. The tech bloggers who originally came to watch a joke were now all busy drafting posts for Weibo and WeChat Moments.

Combined with Moss's capabilities, this price was an absolute massacre.

Meanwhile, separated by just a single wall in Hall B.

Li Mingyuan, Vice President of Qiandu, was standing on stage, enthusiastically presenting Qiandu's latest AI strategy PPT.

"Our Wenxin large model will deeply empower all industries over the next three years..."

A few hundred people sat sparsely in the audience.

Li Mingyuan frowned. He noticed that several key tech media reporters in the front row weren't listening to him at all; they all had their heads down, scrolling on their phones.

Suddenly, an editor-in-chief of a tech portal sitting in the first row abruptly stood up.

Without even a word of greeting, he grabbed his camera bag by his feet, turned around, and bolted out.

This seemed to act as a signal.

Immediately after, reporters in the second and third rows stood up, shouldering their heavy camera gear, and swarmed toward the exit.

"Hurry to the next hall! Deep Space Technology is blowing up!"

"A price of 3,999! Hurry up and grab the first hands-on experience units!"

In less than two minutes, Hall B, which wasn't full to begin with, emptied out by more than half, leaving only a few shills hired by Qiandu staring blankly at each other.

Li Mingyuan froze on stage, his hand holding the laser pointer suspended in mid-air.

"What's going on?" he turned to look at the audience.

An assistant, sweating profusely, ran up from backstage and leaned in close to his ear.

"Mr. Li, next door Deep Space Technology... released their first AI phone, and it's priced at only 3,999. The trending searches are exploding right now, and all the reporters have run over to Hall A."

Li Mingyuan's face instantly turned ashen. The developer conference Qiandu had spent half a month preparing for had completely become the laughingstock of the industry.

Beijing, Yinfu Tiaodong Headquarters.

Zhang Yiming stood in front of the big screen in the tech department, watching the constantly jumping backend data.

"Mr. Zhang, the peak concurrent viewers in Deep Space Technology's press conference livestream just broke five million!" the operations director said in shock. "And the user retention rate is terrifyingly high; they're all there for that phone!"

Zhang Yiming burst into laughter.

"That kid Chen Zhi is a true madman, but also a genius."

Deep Space Technology not only completely turned things around with this press conference but also incidentally brought massive traffic conversion to Yinfu Tiaodong.

Hall A of the National Convention Center, backstage lounge.

The door opened, and Dai Damai walked in pushing a wheelchair.

As soon as Chen Zhi entered, the straight posture he had been forcing instantly collapsed.

With a thud, he slumped back into the wheelchair, and the metal cane in his hand fell to the floor.

"Mr. Chen!" Dai Damai was startled.

Chen Zhi's face was deathly pale as he gasped heavily for air.

Standing on stage for nearly an hour just now, his fractured ribs and cast-bound left leg had long since been protesting in pain.

"Water..." Chen Zhi's voice was weak.

A figure rushed over faster than Dai Damai.

Li Zhiyi, with red eyes and holding an open bottle of mineral water, hurriedly brought it to Chen Zhi's mouth.

Chen Zhi took a couple of sips from her hand and finally caught his breath.

Li Zhiyi took out a tissue and very gently wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, her tears falling in large drops.

"Do you have a death wish or something?" Li Zhiyi said with a sob. "The doctor said you couldn't stand for long, but you just had to go up there and show off."

Chen Zhi managed to squeeze out a smile and gently pinched her cheek.

"Don't cry. Was your husband handsome on stage just now?"

Li Zhiyi smiled through her tears and lightly slapped the back of his hand.

"Madman."

She scolded him, but the movements of her hands grew even gentler.

The atmosphere in the lounge became warm and cozy.

Dai Damai tactfully backed out and closed the door behind him.

Top-floor duplex at Wanliu Shuyuan.

Pei Ningxue sat cross-legged on the carpet, looking at the black screen of the ended livestream on her iPad.

"Consider yourself lucky."

Pei Ningxue snorted coldly and set her coffee mug on the coffee table.

She grabbed the laptop beside her and logged into Deep Space Technology's internal financial system.

Even though she had left, she could still access the company's system.

As soon as the system interface opened, the traffic monitoring curve for pre-sale orders showed a direct vertical ninety-degree spike.

Pei Ningxue stared at the curve, and the corners of her mouth couldn't help but curl up into a tiny smile.

This bastard really had some skills when it came to business.

Jiangcheng, lounge of a large recording studio.

Lin Wanwan had just finished recording an episode and was so exhausted that she collapsed on the sofa, resting with her eyes closed.

The door was violently pushed open, and her manager, Su Man, rushed in.

"Wanwan! Something huge happened!"

Su Man shoved her phone right in front of Lin Wanwan's face.

"What is it, Sister Su Man? I'm so sleepy..." Lin Wanwan rubbed her eyes and took the phone.

On the screen was the Weibo trending list, and the top search term prominently displayed a dark red "Explosive" tag.

[19-Year-Old Genius CEO on Crutches Launches Era-Defining Phone, Deep Space Technology Delivers a Paradigm Shift!]

Lin Wanwan clicked on the hashtag.

A video popped up.

Chen Zhi, dressed in a suit and leaning on a black metal cane, limped onto the stage.

"He... he lied to me."

Lin Wanwan's eyes instantly turned red, and tears fell onto the phone screen without warning.

For the past half month, Chen Zhi had been chatting and laughing with her on video calls every day, saying he was recovering well and would soon be able to run around.

But in the video, he had to rely on a cane just to force himself to stand!

Beijing, National Convention Center backstage.

Chen Zhi was enjoying Li Zhiyi peeling an orange for him when the phone on the table suddenly started vibrating.

The screen lit up, showing the caller ID: Wanwan.

The orange Chen Zhi had just swallowed almost got stuck in his throat.

Cold sweat instantly broke out again.

He glanced at Li Zhiyi beside him, who was carefully picking the white pith off the orange, and his mind raced.

"Zhiyi." Chen Zhi cleared his throat. "I'm suddenly a little hungry."

"What do you want to eat?" Li Zhiyi immediately put down the orange. "I'll go buy it for you."

"Well... when we passed by Hall B just now, I saw a hot dog stand over there. Could you go buy two for me?" Chen Zhi casually made up an excuse.

"Okay, wait for me a moment."

Li Zhiyi picked up her bag and walked out of the lounge quickly.

As soon as the door closed, Chen Zhi immediately sat up straight.

He pulled the jacket draped over the back of the wheelchair, threw it on haphazardly, and completely covered the bandages faintly visible under his suit.

He adjusted his breathing and pressed the answer button.

The screen flashed, and Lin Wanwan's tear-stained face appeared on the camera.

"Wanwan, why are you crying?" Chen Zhi feigned a surprised look. "Who bullied you? Tell me, I'll go beat him up."

Lin Wanwan stared intently at Chen Zhi on the screen, completely ignoring his banter.

"Chen Zhi, do you think I'm incredibly easy to fool?"

Lin Wanwan spoke with a sob, her voice trembling.

"What are you talking about?" Chen Zhi was still trying to keep up the act.

"I saw the trending searches." Lin Wanwan wiped away a tear. "CEO of Deep Space Tech. Chen Zhi, you're really something, keeping me in the dark so well. And your leg—didn't you say you'd be able to get out of bed and run soon? When you stood on that stage leaning on crutches, did you feel especially majestic?"

"Wanwan, listen to me explain."

"Actually, I faked all of that."

"Faked?" Lin Wanwan froze for a moment.

"Yeah." Chen Zhi didn't change his expression. "Think about it, our company has been smeared so badly lately. As a college freshman holding a press conference, how could I win sympathy? By playing the victim, of course!"

He patted his left leg.

"This cast is a prop, and the bandages are just for show. I'm actually almost completely healed. If you don't believe me, I'll stand up and take a few steps for you."

Saying that, Chen Zhi pretended to push himself up from the wheelchair.

But as soon as he exerted force, a sharp pain shot through his ribs. He couldn't help but hiss, his expression instantly twisting in pain.

Lin Wanwan saw this clearly through the screen.

"You're still lying to me!"

Lin Wanwan completely broke down. "You're in so much pain and you still say you're fine! I'm going to have Su Man book a flight right now, I'm heading back to Beijing immediately!"

Hearing this, Chen Zhi panicked.

"No, no, no!" Chen Zhi quickly stopped her. "Wanwan, you're recording a show right now, the penalty for breach of contract is huge!"

Just then, Su Man's face appeared on the screen.

She leaned into the camera and gave Chen Zhi a complicated look.

"Mr. Chen, you did quite a good job keeping secrets." Su Man's tone carried a hint of teasing, then she turned to Lin Wanwan. "Wanwan, calm down. The show is recording the finals tomorrow. If you leave now, the whole production crew will have to shut down. Plus, there are paparazzi waiting for you outside; if you go to the airport now, you'll be photographed immediately."

Chen Zhi quickly played along.

"Yes, yes, yes, Su Man is right. Wanwan, your career is on the rise, you can't be reckless. I'm really fine. After the press conference, I'll go right back to the hospital and rest."

Under Su Man's strenuous dissuasion and Chen Zhi's coaxing, Lin Wanwan's emotions finally stabilized a bit.

"Then promise me, you have to video call me every day. I want to watch you change your dressings!" Lin Wanwan sniffled and stated her condition.

"No problem! I will absolutely obey the organization's arrangements!" Chen Zhi immediately saluted.

8:00 PM.

The first AI smartphone jointly launched by Deep Space Tech and Meizu officially began its presale on all major e-commerce platforms right on time.

Deep Space Tech Headquarters, Data Monitoring Center.

Dai Damai led dozens of programmers, staring intently at the giant display screen on the wall.

"Ten, nine, eight... three, two, one! Sale starts!"

As the countdown ended, the data curve on the screen shot straight up.

"10,000 units!"

"50,000 units!"

"100,000 units! Out of stock!"

A programmer suddenly stood up: "Mr. Dai! 100,000 presale units, completely sold out in one second!"

Dai Damai stood frozen in place, stunned for a full five seconds before suddenly jumping up and hugging the programmer next to him.

"Awesome!!"

The entire office area erupted in a burst of cheers.

Dai Damai took out his phone and dialed Chen Zhi's number.

"Brother Zhi! Sold out in seconds! 100,000 units, gone in one second!"

On the other end of the phone, Chen Zhi was lying on the sofa at Wanliu House, eating grapes fed to him by Li Zhiyi.

"Expected. Tell J. Wong to use every ounce of his strength to max out the production capacity."

At this moment, J. Wong looked at the words "Sold Out" on his computer screen, incredibly excited.

"I'm alive again!"

He roared at the secretary outside the door.

"Notify all workshop directors, we are having an overnight meeting! Starting today, all production lines will run in three shifts, triple overtime pay, the people rest but the machines don't! If anyone dares to drop the ball at this critical moment, I'll skin them alive!"

Meizu, this smartphone manufacturer that had once hovered on the brink of life and death, had completely come back to life relying on this collaboration.