Who would still start a business seriously after being reborn?

Chapter 572 A Huge Breakthrough in Independent Research and Development

Just as the world esports competition was in full swing, in a dark internet cafe deep in a street in Jingzhou City, the sound of keyboards clattering and clicking the space bar echoed throughout the cafe.

"Boss, renew! Three more hours!" At the front desk, a boy with messy hair and an open school uniform pulled out a few crumpled bills.

The middle-aged boss, with a cigarette dangling from his lips, didn't even look up. He scribbled a couple of lines on his notebook and said, "Machine number 27, extend until 4 PM."

On the screen, the images of Audition Online flashed, and characters dressed in gorgeous virtual costumes danced wildly on a dazzling stage.

The chat window was filled with messages from various families recruiting, attacking, and seeking husbands or wives.

[The Royal Family is crushing Shining Stars! If you disagree, come to Channel 2, Room 001. The mode is up to you.]

Looking for a loving husband who can buy me pretty clothes.

[A husband may be hired for one night.]

At this moment, the young man with the chicken-shaped hairstyle who had almost offended Sun Baxin was now leading his Royal Family underlings, occupying several machines, and slamming the keyboards loudly.

Ever since they accidentally provoked Sun Baxin in the urban village, they have dared not go to the urban village again.

They lived in constant fear, and whenever a van stopped nearby, they would scatter like rabbits in a frenzy.

Now they've hidden themselves in this secluded internet cafe, regaining their confidence in games. The young man with the pompadour has been dating several girls in the past few days, and he's starting to let loose.

However, in a bustling street not far from this internet cafe, the atmosphere was completely different in another internet cafe with a Momo Alliance sign.

The boss sat behind the cashier with a worried look on his face.

The huge internet cafe was only about 60% full.

Many of the well-equipped computer screens were black, and the air was filled with the smell of disinfectant.

"Boss, there are even fewer people today." The internet cafe manager glanced at the boss, sighed, and said, "The Moc-OS system is great in every way, except it can't play Audition Online. Many of our customers have been taken to KFC or illegal internet cafes by girls. Windows can play Honghuang Zhanji, but Moc-OS can't play Audition Online. I really don't know what Momo Group is thinking."

The boss scratched his head in frustration and said, "Damn it, I really want to reinstall Windows, but Momo Group is cracking down too hard, and the contract is so restrictive. If I don't reinstall it, all the customers will leave! KFC offers free internet access for playing Audition Online, and internet cafes are cheap and you can play as much as you want. What are we, the legitimate businesses, supposed to do in the middle?"

The internet cafe manager lowered his voice and said, "I heard that Feilong Internet Cafe secretly modified the operating systems of a few machines, installed Windows, and set them up in a corner specifically for people who play Audition Online. Business is booming, but we're always on edge..."

"Really?" The boss was also somewhat tempted.

Although he made a lot of money from Momo Group, one must know how to be flexible.

Looking at the internet cafe, which was only 60-70% full, and recalling how packed it was a few months ago, his mind began to stir.

Currently, the main force of Momo Group is focused on that glamorous world competition in Singapore, and no one can take care of their domestic foundation anymore.

We need to find a new approach.

Since Momo Group can tolerate the rampant illegal internet cafes, can it also accept their use of Microsoft systems?

KFC Membership Centers are expanding like crazy. Since the start of the World Esports Championship, T3 and KFC Membership Centers have acquired many illegal internet cafes in second- and third-tier cities.

Moreover, the asking price is extremely high.

They only care about speed and don't care about the price at all.

It is said that they invested nearly 1 billion yuan to purchase nearly 2000 illegal internet cafes.

They bought up almost all the large-scale illegal internet cafes in the country.

These illegal internet cafes have very complete basic facilities. They can be bought, rebranded, given a chain license, and have signs for T3 and KFC hung up. After some simple renovations, they can start operating immediately.

To further expand, KFC and T3 have introduced more favorable policies, including free internet access for inviting new customers in addition to purchasing combo meals, as well as a points trading policy. Users can buy points vouchers from other KFC customers who do not like to use the internet and then use them to redeem time.

And these points, when converted, amount to less than one yuan per hour.

In Cheng Yi's office, Li Weiwei gently placed a report on his desk and said, "The data compiled by Momo Internet Cafe is not good. There have been a lot of complaints from the legitimate internet cafe alliance recently, and the occupancy rate has generally dropped by more than 30%. Some cafes in remote locations have even seen their occupancy rate halved. The number of illegal internet cafes has at least doubled this month and is still increasing rapidly. They are almost all running pirated Windows XP and only running Audition Online. I personally think that someone is deliberately opening illegal internet cafes in batches."

Li Weiwei paused for a moment, then continued, "Moreover, KFC's service centers are expanding too fast. They have Lianjiang's license, and the local authorities can't stop them at all. Now, Audition Online has become their only source of customers. Before, some internet cafe owners from our alliance called to ask if we could be more flexible and open a port on their Moc-OS to install Audition Online. But now, many internet cafes are secretly switching back to Windows, and it's not an isolated case."

"If this continues, they'll hollow out the foundation of the internet cafe ecosystem we've worked so hard to build..."

Looking at Cheng Yi's calm face, Li Weiwei was so anxious she almost stomped her feet.

The shocking data in that report and the desperate complaint calls from internet cafe owners were, in her eyes, signs that the Momo Group was about to collapse.

But Cheng Yi? He merely glanced at the report cover and casually tossed it onto the mountain of documents piled up on the corner of the table, as if it were just an insignificant flyer.

"President Cheng!" Li Weiwei couldn't help but raise her voice, a hint of anxiety she herself didn't realize, as she said, "You need to take this seriously."

"What's so important?" Cheng Yi finally raised his eyes, looking at Li Weiwei with indifferent eyes, and said, "Do you think a single game can shake the size of our Momo Group?"

Li Weiwei said, "But they are indeed affecting us now."

Cheng Yi said, "If you don't squeeze the boil, the pus won't come out."

He picked up the teacup on the table, slowly blew away the foam, and said, "Let them keep messing around. As for our internet cafes, if they want to change the system, then let them. There's no need to go through legal channels for now."

Li Weiwei was completely stunned.

She found Cheng Yi in front of her to be terrifyingly unfamiliar.

Has the success of Singapore and Universal Vision really made him arrogant?
Has it drifted to the point of neglecting even the internet cafe ecosystem that supports the entire Momo Group's cash flow?

A sense of powerlessness suddenly welled up in her heart.

She opened her mouth, but ultimately said nothing and silently left the office.

This is a common problem among many entrepreneurs in China.

That is, once they achieve some success, they become blindly arrogant.

They often say things like, "I've already achieved so much success," and so on.

After Li Weiwei left, Cheng Yi picked up the report that Li Weiwei regarded as a death warrant and looked at the column for the number of newly acquired illegal internet cafes.

In just one month, KFC and T3 acquired 1242 illegal internet cafes.

Upon seeing this number, Cheng Yi immediately smiled happily.

He picked up his phone and dialed Shi Lei's number.

"Brother Yi," Shi Lei called out immediately, his tone very respectful.

"How many internet cafes have you sold during this period?" Cheng Yi asked.

Shi Lei said, "There are 971 stores, but there are still some that haven't been sold yet, and we are in talks with KFC."

From the start of the open beta of Audition Online, Shi Lei began opening illegal internet cafes as instructed by Cheng Yi. Cheng Yi hadn't anticipated Microsoft's move to bring KFC into the market; in his view, Microsoft or Samsung would never give up on the internet cafe market. To reclaim that market, their only option was to take alternative routes, such as opening Samsung computer experience stores or so-called Microsoft system experience stores that offered internet access.

Using the name of experience stores to fill the gaps in the internet cafe market.

Therefore, Cheng Yi wanted to help them out. There's a Chinese saying, "A big tail is hard to control." Only by making them big enough can many plans be executed smoothly.

Shi Lei also perfectly fulfilled Cheng Yi's instructions.

Although Momo's virtual item trading website keeps a low profile in China, it has become an important cash flow source for the Momo Group.

The company earns nearly 20 billion yuan annually.

Most importantly, Momo's virtual item trading network covers all districts and counties, which is an advantage that other companies absolutely do not have.

Although Alipay is now available, the virtual item trading centers of Momo in various regions still play an extremely important role.

In addition to virtual item escrow transactions, they also acquired Junwang Yikatong to start a third-party payment business online, and have also cooperated deeply with Momo's self-operated store, which is managed by Lin Shengdong, and Huanyu Satellite Pot to carry out offline promotion business.

The current virtual item trading website has the largest number of employees in the group.

Each district and county has more than a dozen employees.

As soon as Cheng Yi gave the order, Shi Lei simultaneously arranged for people to land in illegal internet cafes in various districts and counties.

One per district/county.

It took him less than ten days to set up these illegal internet cafes.

Each illegal internet cafe had 100 computers, costing a total of over 400,000 yuan, but was sold to KFC for 800,000 yuan per cafe.

100% profit.

"Alright, sell off all the illegal internet cafes you own within seven days," Cheng Yi ordered.

"Yes," Shi Lei replied quickly.

Cheng Yi hung up the phone and then called Li Xiang again.

Li Xiang's computer R&D center in Yantai City is now thriving.

Under Bai Biao's management, these computers were successively shipped to docks and warehouses in various Asian countries.

Since their computers had been directly supplied to the Shilla Hotel, and these batches of computers were not released to the public, even if some computer manufacturing giants occasionally learned of the situation, they did not pay much attention to it.

In the past six months, in addition to the 157 million in-room computers at the Shilla Hotel, they have also shipped more than 120 million computers to port warehouses in various countries.

Their production has been slightly slower this month.

Because they separated a portion of the management team and started producing keyboards.

When it comes to computer accessories, Honor Computer has had a tough journey.

They invest nearly one billion yuan in research and development every year, and at the end of last year, they made breakthroughs in laptop assembly technology and desktop hardware compatibility technology.

The so-called assembly technology involves buying parts and then assembling them according to the 'instructions'. The biggest challenges are how to solve the heat dissipation problem and where to place the logo for the best look.

In addition, Enze Capital helped to privately purchase some keyboard-related patent technologies, enabling Honor Computer Company to successfully go from 0 to 1 and truly realize the first independently developed component in computer accessories.

keyboard!

Despite its poor quality, if domestic media knew about this news, it would definitely become a trending topic in the domestic IT industry.

Because it filled the gap in China's independent research and development of computers.

Before them, most so-called independent research and development was simply buying parts, assembling them, and then labeling them with the slogan of independent research and development.

However, the chocolate keyboard developed by Honor Computer Company actually has its own patents and its own production line.

From circuitry and structure to firmware and molds, everything was developed in-house by Honor Computer.

Although the chiclet keyboard is the lowest-end keyboard on the market and doesn't have a programming chip, it is still a first step.

Most importantly, this keyboard is produced very quickly.

Their main selling point is that cheap goods are of poor quality.

Li Xiang dared not release this nearly inferior keyboard under the name of Honor computers.

After all, this would severely damage the brand's value.

To boost keyboard sales, Li Xiang labeled it with a Samsung logo.

Anyway, there are many electronic products on the market with the Samsung logo, so it doesn't matter if they're the only ones.

Even if it were to be exposed, no one would believe that Momo Group has the capability to independently develop keyboards.

China is, after all, just a dumping ground for electronic products.

"Focus on keyboards for a while," Cheng Yi instructed. "You'll put Shi Lei in charge of sales; there will be a huge market soon."

“Okay.” Li Xiang had always trusted Cheng Yi’s prediction.

After hanging up the phone, Cheng Yi rushed to the Computer Operating System Research and Development Center of Handong University.

The atmosphere here is completely different from that of the current Momo Group. It has a highly focused tranquility. In the research and development area, only the sound of dense keyboard typing can be heard.

Lin Qingyin sat in front of the control panel. The screen no longer displayed complex code, but instead showed the flashy game interface of Audition Online.

Her eyes were focused, and her fingers tapped lightly on the keyboard.

Several core researchers nearby held their breath, watching every detail of her operation.

On the screen, a virtual character dressed in glamorous fashion is dancing wildly to the music.

However, upon closer inspection, an anomaly can be observed: Perfect judgments, which require extremely high hand speed and precise rhythm to execute, are now appearing on the screen very naturally one after another.

The character's button presses are incredibly fast, yet perfectly synchronized with every note.

"President Lin, the deep embedding test of the simulation layer is complete, completely bypassing T3's local behavior detection engine."

"The disguise was successful. The server determined it to be normal player activity, with no abnormal data packet characteristics," several researchers monitoring the data confirmed.

Lin Qingyin let out a soft breath, and her tense shoulders finally relaxed.

(End of this chapter)