Back to 1997, I became the originator of online literature

Science fiction elements in Chapter 515, "Cultivation Chat Group"
This evening.

After finishing typing, Cao Sheng saw that it was not yet 11:30, so he logged onto QQ to see if anyone had sent him any messages in the past few days.
He estimated there would be quite a few.

And this is indeed the case.

He had just successfully logged into QQ when the notification sound started ringing incessantly.

As he kept clicking the flashing QQ avatar with his mouse, chat boxes and notification boxes kept popping up and overlapping on his computer screen.

Several notifications kept popping up before his QQ avatar finally stopped flashing, and the beeping sounds finally stopped too.

Looking at the chat boxes and notification boxes stacked on the screen, he couldn't help but chuckle.

He replied to each private message calmly and unhurriedly.

To his surprise, some notifications were from new readers adding him as a friend, while others were from group owners inviting him to join certain chat groups.

There are "Qidian Author Chat Group", "Popular Author Chat Group", "Featured Author Chat Group", "Peak Author Chat Group", and so on.

He was in a good mood at the time, so he accepted all invitations. No matter what group invited him to join, he would choose to agree. However, after joining the group, he would set the group messages to only show the number and not send notifications.

Someone in the group tagged him and tried to talk to him, but he didn't reply.

I just glanced at the chat history in these groups to see what everyone was talking about.

After he finished dealing with the private messages and group invitations on QQ, it was already past midnight. Only then did he turn off his computer, go downstairs to wash up, and rest.

……

The next morning.

Second floor restaurant.

While Cao Sheng and Wang Jing were having breakfast together, Cao Sheng remembered the group invitations he had received on QQ the night before. On a whim, he said to Wang Jing, "Sister Jing, since you're mainly focused on the Oriental Sunrise Hotel right now, could you hire me a new assistant? Until then, could you take some time to create a few fan groups for me and manage them for me when you have some free time?"

Wang Jing looked at Cao Sheng, and after he finished speaking, she smiled and nodded, "Okay! No problem, since you're paying their salaries, you can have as many assistants as you want. But what is this chat group you mentioned?"

Cao Sheng: "It's a new feature that QQ recently launched. I joined a few QQ groups last night. When you have time, take a look at how to create a new group, and you'll know how to do it. It's very simple, not difficult at all!"

Wang Jing responded with an "oh".

QQ has just launched chat groups, so there probably aren't many book fan groups in the industry yet.

Cao Sheng wanted to get the book fan group up and running as soon as possible.

It provides a place for readers to interact with each other.

He just doesn't have much time to manage his fan group, so he needs an assistant to help him.

……

finish breakfast.

Wang Jing drove to the general manager's office of Dongfang Xuri.

She is now the general manager of this hotel.

They have their own secretary.

As Wang Jing entered the office, she saw her secretary, Wu Yue, bending over and wiping her desk. She smiled and said, "Good morning, Yue!"

Wu Yue turned around in surprise, then quickly smiled and said, "Good morning! President Wang!"

Wang Jing put down her purse, unbuttoned her suit jacket, and sat down behind her desk. Thinking of the QQ chat group Cao Sheng had mentioned at breakfast, she asked, "Hey! By the way, Xiaoyue, did you know that QQ has a new chat group feature?"

Wu Yue was surprised, "Huh? QQ just launched this feature, and you already know about it, Mr. Wang? You're quite well-informed!"

Wang Jing blinked. "So, you know about this chat group?"

Wu Yue smiled, "Yes, that's right! I've been added to two classmate groups these past two days, one is a high school classmate group, and the other is a college classmate group. I must say, these chat groups are really great. They've allowed me to reconnect with many classmates I'd lost touch with long ago."

Wang Jing looked at her, thought for a moment, and then smiled and said, "Then log into your QQ on my computer and let me see what this chat group is all about."

Wu Yue responded with a smile, walked around the desk to Wang Jing's side, logged into her own QQ on Wang Jing's office computer, and quietly introduced the QQ chat groups to Wang Jing.

Wang Jing listened attentively, her expression thoughtful.

She finally understood what the book fan group Cao Sheng had asked her to create was all about.

……

This morning.

Knowing that Cao Sheng wouldn't have time to spend with her during the day, Qian Zhenyu went downstairs for a walk after breakfast.

As we walked, we ended up outside the hotel grounds.

She walked along the sidewalk for several blocks, and as the sun rose higher and the temperature increased, she turned back.

After walking for a short while, I suddenly spotted a newly renovated internet cafe by the roadside with a rather unique name – Xitong Internet Cafe.

She didn't know that the internet cafe was also owned by Cao Sheng.

She just happened to see this internet cafe and suddenly wanted to go in and kill some time in the morning.

After all, she has nothing to do now that she's back at the hotel.

After a slight hesitation, she went into the internet cafe and turned on a computer.

Sitting in front of the computer, she first found a music player, located Faye Wong's "Red Bean," and played it on repeat.

This is a song that Faye Wong released a few years ago.

very popular.

Qian Zhenyu really likes this song.

Listening to the music in her headphones, she suddenly remembered that Cao Sheng had recently mentioned starting a new novel. He hadn't had time to spend with her during the day these past two days because he was currently serializing two works simultaneously and needed to spend a lot of time writing every day.

that……

What is the name of his recently published book? What kind of story is it about?
Once her curiosity was piqued, she really wanted to find the book and see what it contained.

As a top student who graduated from Fudan University, although she did not study computer science, her internet skills were better than most young people.

Sure enough, she quickly found Qidian.com and the book "Cultivation Chat Group".

The book's title puzzled her.

I don't know what a cultivation chat group is.
This has nothing to do with her educational background, but rather with the fact that she hasn't been online in the two days since the QQ chat group was launched.

but……

After reading the synopsis and the first chapter, she understood what a cultivation chat group was.

After reading the first chapter, she didn't rush to read the second chapter.

Instead, he stared blankly at the smartphone in the protagonist's hand in the first chapter.

In the first chapter, the male protagonist uses a touchscreen smartphone to go online and check QQ messages. This seemingly casual sentence surprised Qian Zhenyu.

She had never heard of smartphones, nor the concept of touchscreen phones.

Therefore, she felt that this was a futuristic mobile phone that Cao Sheng had imagined, something like a lightsaber from a science fiction movie.

Furthermore, the idea of ​​using a mobile phone to log in to QQ and access the internet seemed far-fetched to her. How could a mobile phone possibly access the internet directly?

This clearly shows that Cao Sheng is completely ignorant about mobile communication technology! He thinks a phone can be controlled entirely by tapping and swiping on a glass screen without buttons, and that he can even access the internet through it?

Computer screens don't even have this touchscreen function, so how could a mobile phone possibly have it?
Besides, how could a mobile phone glass screen possibly have touchscreen functionality? What kind of glass is so magical?
Also, internet access is a function that only computers have.

How many components can a tiny mobile phone possibly contain? How could it possibly have internet access?
It seems that... his failure to get into a four-year university and instead attending a junior college has indeed left him severely lacking in scientific and technological knowledge.

That's quite an imagination!
It's incredible that such an amazing smartphone could be conceived.

Unfortunately, his imagination was too vivid!
This smartphone not only has functions comparable to a computer, but its touchscreen functionality even surpasses that of a computer.

She smiled.

Open Chapter Two.

This chapter also surprised her in some ways.

The male protagonist actually used that smartphone to log into the school's official website and check the day's class schedule.

"You can view anything using your phone's internet connection, right? You really have a wild idea..."

Qian Zhenyu chuckled to herself.

She then began to treat the book as a science fiction story imagined by Cao Sheng.

Tell yourself: When looking at these technological concepts, don't use your brain. Just assume that these technologies can actually be realized in the future!
Then... in the third chapter, she saw a novel setting: the male protagonist was too lazy to go out, but wanted to eat claypot rice, so he took out his smartphone and opened a food delivery app called "Ugly Group". In the app, he found a claypot rice restaurant and ordered a claypot rice.

Less than half an hour after ordering, a delivery guy delivered the food to the male protagonist's dormitory and handed him the packaged claypot rice.

See here.

Qian Zhenyu chuckled to herself.

I really admire Cao Sheng's imagination.

This time, she was too lazy to even complain about the smartphone's overly powerful features.

She felt that Cao Sheng was probably laughing when he wrote this part of the story, otherwise he wouldn't have named the food ordering app "Ugly Group"—such an absurd name.

She thought: Even if such a food ordering app really appears in the future society, the software owner would never allow the app to be named "Ugly Group".

This software isn't a child born in the countryside, given a humble name so it's easier to raise.
Chapter Four...

Before leaving home, the male protagonist uses his smartphone to open an app called "Little Brother Taxi" and pre-books a taxi for himself.

"Younger brother taking a taxi? Can't a younger sister take this kind of taxi?"

Qian Zhenyu was amused again by the name of the software.

This time, she didn't even bother to complain about the smartphone.

She felt that such a powerful phone would not appear in human society even a thousand years from now.

So unscientific!
……

In fact, many readers had similar feelings to Qian Zhenyu when reading this book.

Everyone feels that Cao Sheng's new book, although it seems to be a modern cultivation novel set in an urban world, is actually a science fiction story set in the future.

It's a combination of science fiction and cultivation.

No one believes that the smartphones, food ordering apps, ride-hailing apps, etc., mentioned in the book are things that will appear in the real world in about ten years.

There are also voices on this issue in the book review section of "Cultivation Chat Group".

For example: "This isn't urban fantasy + cultivation, it's science fiction + cultivation!"

"Does anyone know if the smartphone in the book could actually be developed in reality? Touchscreen controlled phone, that's too far-fetched, isn't it?"

"Even a lazy person like me would want a 'Ugly Groupon' food ordering app, but unfortunately, reason tells me that such an app is impossible to achieve, because smartphones like those in the book don't exist in reality."

……

If the main selling point of this book is science fiction.

If Cao Sheng writes like this, he's likely to suffer a crushing defeat... He's doomed to fail.

Fortunately, the main selling point of this book is not science fiction, but cultivation and everyday humor.

Most readers will focus on the humor and slapstick comedy that comes from the combination of comedy and cultivation when reading this book.

Therefore, this book is currently very popular and well-received.

People generally consider the smartphones in the book to be technological products from a future world envisioned by the author.

Few readers will delve into whether such a phone is reasonable or scientific.

……

Huizhou.

As Qian Zhenyu walked out of the internet cafe and headed back to the Oriental Sunrise Hotel, she was still thinking about the smartphone in Cao Shengxin's new book.

I felt a pang of emotion: perhaps it was precisely because Cao Sheng didn't understand mobile phone technology that he was able to imagine a smartphone like the one in the book. If he had understood mobile phone technology, he probably wouldn't have been able to write such a hilarious novel.

She even had a thought: perhaps... it is people like Cao Sheng who do not understand technology who are suitable for writing novels. If his level of education were higher, he might not be suitable for writing novels.

This made her realize once again that she was not suited to writing novels.

……

On the morning of the same day.

Pengcheng.

Tencent Headquarters.

Ma Huateng was in the office asking the head of the technical department a question.

"Tell me! Is it technically possible to create the touchscreen smartphone that appears in the book 'Cultivation Chat Group'?"

Before leaving get off work yesterday, the head of the technical department was notified by Ma Huateng by phone that he should read the first four chapters of "Cultivation Chat Group" after get off work.

Because this book was commissioned by Tencent Group, many people within Tencent, out of curiosity, read the beginning of it as soon as it was published.

However, the head of the technical department is usually very busy with work and only has technical issues on his mind, so he did not read the main text of "Cultivation Chat Group" before leaving get off work yesterday.

However, since Ma Huateng called and asked him to read it, he took some time after get off work last night to read the first four chapters of the book.

Hearing Ma Huateng's question, he scratched his head, chuckled, and nodded, "Mr. Ma! Touchscreen smartphones have actually existed in reality for a long time, but they haven't become widespread, so most people haven't heard of them."

Ma Huateng was surprised.

"Really? Which company developed such an amazing phone? How come such an amazing phone hasn't become widespread?"

The head of the technology department smiled and explained, "I checked last night. In 1992, IBM launched a Simon phone, which was supposedly a touchscreen phone. However, in terms of functionality, it couldn't compare to the smartphone in 'Cultivation Chat Group' at all."

He paused for a moment, then continued, "As for why this phone didn't become widespread, I guess it was due to cost. In 1992, keypad phones weren't even common yet, and they cost thousands or even tens of thousands of yuan. Although the price of keypad phones has been decreasing year by year in the last two years, they haven't become widespread in China. So, do you think it's possible for touchscreen phones, which have even higher production costs, to become widespread?"

(End of this chapter)