As a mage, I just want to pursue the truth

Chapter 258: Social Death (asking for monthly votes!)

In 2025, the technological gap between developed countries and developing countries is widening.

The gap is even wider than during the turbulent times of decades ago.

The main reason is that the first-mover advantage in the semiconductor field is too obvious. Not all countries have the same resources and mobilization capabilities as China, and are able to invest hundreds of billions of national resources in industries with unclear returns.

It can be said that only China can do it.

Other countries, even if they have the economic strength, lack policy consistency due to the successive political parties coming to power.

It is impossible for a government ruled by a different political party to invest in projects such as catching up with semiconductors and consume its own resources to cultivate industries and economies for the next term.

In addition, China caught up with the great shift in the world supply chain at the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century.

The latter opportunity is rare.

Originally, countries such as Southeast Asia, South America, and Eastern Europe had the opportunity to catch up with this round of global supply chain restructuring.

However, technological development is too rapid, and breakthroughs in artificial intelligence and industrial automation may bring this round of global supply chain adjustments to an abrupt halt.

This round is at most an adjustment, unlike the reallocation of the supply chain after China joined the WTO. That time it was a reorganization - a reorganization of the global supply chain.

Zheng Li thought of something, and asked, "How is the olfactory sensor developed by Tencent?

I think it was called Black Shark, right? They sent me some samples, I remember.

“Black Shark is the name of the company, a hardware-focused subsidiary of Tencent.

Previously, we specialized in making gaming phones and some gaming-related hardware devices.

Later, after Tencent acquired a stake in Science and Technology Innovation, it was equivalent to already having the hardware, and brain-computer connection VR was almost a monopoly business, and the Black Shark mobile phone was half-dead at the time.

Therefore, Tencent later allowed Black Shark to transform and specialize in brain-computer connection VR-related hardware, which can be regarded as an alternative peripheral.

Their product is not called Black Shark.

Their first flagship product was an olfactory device called Sniff.

At that time, before they went public, they sent a sample to each of the executives of Kechuang Bio and Kechuang Future.

The user experience is pretty good. After it was launched on the market, Xiu Xiu was especially popular among female users.

As a female user, to be honest, the scope of use is a bit narrow.

In other words, users of brain-computer-connected VR have relatively strong purchasing power.

Users with limited purchasing power are rarely willing to spend more than 1,000 yuan to buy a piece of olfactory hardware specifically for smelling odors.”

This is just like when Apple's official phone case sells for 398 yuan and some people buy it, but Huawei's official phone case sells for 258 yuan and some users think it is too expensive.

If Xiaomi dares to price its official mobile phone case at more than two hundred yuan, Xiaomi will be criticized to death by Mi fans.

This is related to the brand’s initial positioning and consensus building.

Apple has been so successful in creating a sense of technology and high-end image that a polishing cloth can be sold for more than a hundred yuan, and there are people who actually buy it.

The deep connection between rice and cost-effectiveness has resulted in the company being unable to get rid of this label. From rice mobile phones to rice cars, this label has always followed rice.

The futureverse brand under Kechuang Future has been built quite successfully, and its sense of technology and high-end brand image have been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

Consumers are willing to pay a certain premium for this product.

After the second generation of Futureverse came out, users in China and around the world were willing to spend several hundred to a thousand yuan higher than the original price to get the product as quickly as possible.

Influenced by the successful creation of the futureverse brand image, Black Shark has made it possible for the Sniff to also get a piece of the pie.

Li Miaomiao continued: "Geely is so good at business operations.

Their product sense is truly the best in the industry.”

Many years ago, there were rumors about Tencent's products, Ali's operations, and Qiandu's technology.

Basically, Tencent focuses on products, Ali focuses on operations, and Qiandu focuses on technology.

After truly understanding Tencent's understanding and application of the product, Li Miaomiao agreed with the first paragraph of this sentence.

Tencent not only has a strong ability to learn from others, but its own product innovation capabilities are indeed among the best in China.

Li Miaomiao continued: "Not long ago, a few months before Xiuxiu went public, Tencent acquired Black Shark in full.

Previously, Tencent only owned 46.44% of Black Shark's shares, which they bought from Rice in 2022.

But it is only a relative controlling stake. Not long ago, Tencent negotiated with other small shareholders and purchased the remaining shares at a premium.

Now Black Shark is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tencent and has been fully integrated into Tencent's Internet Business Group, which is the business group managed by Ren Yu.

When they acquired Black Shark, they asked us if we wanted to acquire it together with them. Tencent expressed its willingness to transfer part of Black Shark's shares to us.

But I think we already have enough branches, and we don’t have enough internally trained middle-level managers and senior management. What we need is sedimentation rather than expansion.

Now a large number of senior executives of Sinovation Biotechnology and Sinovation Future rely on other Internet companies. I hope to gradually train the management trainees I recruited from campus. "

Li Miaomiao's business philosophy is to build a competitive and sufficiently cohesive team. She wants to change the current situation where all senior executives are recruited from outside.

“Back to the topic just now, after Tencent launched the olfactory device, they also launched two VR system environments, the Wonderland Garden and the Cloud Sea Waterfall.

Among them, the Fairyland Garden and the Sea of ​​Clouds Waterfall can both smell the corresponding scents with the help of olfactory peripherals.

The Fairyland Garden is dominated by the scent of flowers and forests, while the Sea of ​​Clouds Waterfall is dominated by the scent of mountain water.

The olfactory effect is average, but Tencent has done a very sophisticated job in the system environment.

Tencent also claimed that it will launch more attractive VR environments in the future based on the comprehensive consideration of smell and vision.

The price of Xiuxiu is over one thousand yuan, and there are two VR environments, each of which costs 198 yuan.

But if you buy the Sniff, you will get one of these two VR environments for free, and you can choose whichever you want.

Therefore, Xiu Xiu became extremely popular after it was launched on the market, and almost all female consumers were willing to buy it.”

In China, women's spending power is much greater than men's. A woman with a monthly salary of 5,000 yuan may have stronger spending power than a man with a monthly salary of 15,000 yuan.

(The above is just my personal observation and is very subjective.)
“In terms of pure products, the olfactory peripherals they made, I can tell the difference between the sensor and the real smell.

But this is normal, after all, this is a new product.”

The olfactory peripheral launched by Tencent is a bit similar in size to a Bluetooth speaker. It needs to be connected to the VR device via Bluetooth and placed next to you.

The strength of a scent is inversely proportional to its distance from the user.

Zheng Li nodded and said, "This commercial benefit is not what Tencent values ​​most.

What Tencent values ​​most is the technology and data accumulation of olfactory sensors.

We are going to create the metaverse in the future, and the sense of smell, one of the five senses, is a must.

By then, Tencent, which will have massive amounts of olfactory analysis data and user usage data in its hands, can take the opportunity to negotiate prices with us.

This is the real purpose of Tencent. "Zheng Li has been in Bluestar for such a long time. Although he does not directly participate in the operation and management of the enterprise, he needs to participate in the weekly reports and related meetings of the enterprise and make the final decision.

Therefore, Zheng Li has developed his own set of methodologies in business.

Li Miaomiao suddenly realized: "I vaguely felt that something was wrong, it turns out that Tencent had this in mind.

I always feel that Tencent attaches too much importance to Black Shark.

You should know that in 2022, Tencent almost failed to acquire Black Shark’s shares from Xiaomi.

Now according to the information I know, not only is Ren Yu directly in charge of Black Shark and serves as the chairman of Black Shark, but Pony Ma also listens to Black Shark's work report and progress every week.

So that was the plan.

In this case, I regret not agreeing to Ren Yu's share transfer at that time."

Zheng Li comforted him, “It’s okay, even if we want to get to the stage of smell, it will still take time.

Besides, this alone doesn’t mean you can do anything, as Tencent holds shares in Kechuang Future.

Tencent has no choice but to cooperate with us, but it will need to make certain concessions at that time, but that’s not important.

We are now also starting research on the sensory aspect. The people in Singapore have indicated that they will start with the feeling of vertigo.

In my opinion, the development of dizziness should be very fast.

This means we will soon be able to launch official sensory-related hardware peripherals.”

Previously in the Mage Alliance, what was really expensive was knowledge, and the more cutting-edge the knowledge, the more expensive it was. Material things, on the contrary, were not expensive, and mages could basically be said to have achieved complete material freedom.

Not to mention the Dharma God.

After coming to Blue Star, Zheng Li discovered that knowledge was not expensive here. Even China's CNKI only cost a few dozen yuan per paper, and foreign journals were also very cheap.

Of course, the cheapness here is cheap for Zheng Li, compared with the knowledge charging standards of the Mage Alliance.

Therefore, after Zheng Li came to Blue Star, he never minded sharing benefits with others.

As long as the other party can demonstrate corresponding value.

Companies like Tencent can spend a lot of money to hire cutting-edge R&D teams related to smell and sensors, and then invest in commercialization.

Tencent’s performance made Zheng Li willing to give up some of his interests appropriately when discussing future matters.

"You have become a celebrity in the school this time. During the time you were unconscious, everyone was looking for me frantically, wanting to get first-hand information about you."

“The cheerleader, the leader of the dance club, the prettiest girl in our class, etc., they all asked me for your contact information.

Their subtext is that they are willing to date you and have a romantic date together.

Now you're going to be happy back in Manchester.

Why wasn’t I on the stage at that time? I was just one number away from being picked.” Herman’s tone was both teasing and envious.

The fat on his face trembled with excitement.

Lawrence lay on the hospital bed and pointed at his head which was wrapped like a dumpling. "I don't think I can go on a date in this state."

"Besides, don't you know why they want to date me?"

"No one would be interested in a weirdo like me."

Herman and Lawrence are both unpopular in school, and they are marginalized people who gather together for warmth.

Even Herman is better than Lawrence. A humorous fat man is more popular in Western universities than a geek who buries himself in books.

It's not quite right to say that Herman and Lawrence are huddled together for warmth, because they have known each other since childhood and grew up together.

Herman laughed strangely and said, "Of course I know."

“They want to date you just to be famous on Tik Tok.

You have to know that you are now showing your face all over the world. The scene where you took off your helmet stupidly on the stage at the Futureverse launch conference and then were knocked down by the water element has been seen by at least more than one billion people.

Do you know what nickname you were given on the school forum? "

Before he finished speaking, Herman began to laugh, and Lawrence read a hint of ill intent on his face.

Lawrence had slept all night since he fainted and had just woken up.

After waking up, Lawrence was able to see his old friend by his side, and he felt very relieved about their friendship.

But now Herman's gloating look made Lawrence want to punch him twice: "What?
Unlucky boy?"

Lawrence shook his head and said, “No.

You are now known as the Helmet Man in the school forum hahaha."

Seeing that Lawrence looked a little strange, Herman restrained himself a little, the smile on his face gradually disappeared, and then he added:
"And this nickname is gradually spreading. Now the Manchester Evening News has also started calling you the Helmet Man."

Lawrence screamed, "So my parents saw me in such an ugly state?"

"Oh no! I'm going to be laughed at by my parents and my damn sister when I get home."

Lawrence had a bitter look on his face, and before he could recover from his helplessness, Herman handed him a cell phone and stabbed him again.

"Here, look."

Lawrence only saw on the screen that he took off his helmet and stared blankly at the water element, then put on his glasses in a panic.

In the end, he fell to the ground after being hit by a missile from the water element. The photographer was so "malicious" that he took a photo of him fainting on the ground from directly above him.

Lawrence buried his head in the white blanket that was unique to hospital wards: "Destroy it!"

Herman prompted, “Look at the number of views.”

Lawrence poked his head out from under the quilt, took a look, and then shrank back in: "I don't want to live anymore."

Over 20 million views on YouTube.

Herman continued: "This video of yours, especially the scene at the end where you fainted on the ground with your glasses shattered, has become a popular topic on Tik Tok.

That means there are far more than 20 million people who saw your last look."

Lawrence was completely speechless and paralyzed in bed: "Maybe this is fate.

No wonder they want to date me, it would be strange if they didn't make use of such good 'material' as me."

Herman nodded and said, "It's great that you think so."

"I was originally worried about how to persuade you to take advantage of this wave of popularity and start your own media together."

"My Tik Tok followers have been stuck at four digits and can't go any higher. With your popularity, I am sure I can become a blogger with millions of followers on Tik Tok."

"We'll split the account earnings 50-50!" Herman's little eyes sparkled with a money-grubbing gleam.

My monthly votes have always been stable at 800, but today I saw that it is almost 1,000.
I hope that those of you who have monthly tickets can vote for me twice!
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(End of this chapter)