Who would still start a business seriously after being reborn?

Chapter 580 The Business World Never Believes in Tears
After careful consideration, Lin Qingyin proposed an extremely bold idea: "In the new version, we can no longer just simulate operations and deceive detection; we need to implant a special pheromone."

"Pheromone?" Everyone looked puzzled.

“Yes.” Lin Qingyin quickly replied, “This is a technique that an uncle at the Gods Network Research Institute taught me. They call this algorithm the pheromone mechanism in ant colony optimization, which is an optimization algorithm that simulates the foraging behavior of ants. It was proposed by Marco Dorigo in 1992, and later evolved into an improved version of polymorphic ant colony optimization.”

Lin Qingyin quickly drew a diagram on the whiteboard and said, "We can start with this algorithm. As you can see, we will first develop an extremely stealthy and harmless data packet, and send it to the server along with the operation data generated by the cheat. The only purpose of this data packet is to mark."

"Mark what?" The programmers gradually understood.

“Mark other clients that also carry pheromones.” Lin Qingyin said seriously, “When the server-side anti-cheat system detects abnormal behavior of an account and prepares to conduct in-depth analysis or risk marking, this pheromone will make it notice. Other accounts that play in the same room as this account or even just in the same region will also emit the same pheromone.”

The team members gasped.

"Is this...is this going to create viral-like contamination?" a technician asked.

Lin Qingyin nodded and said, "Pretty much. In that case, once they ban one, based on the data association, they might have to ban hundreds or even thousands."

Another technician muttered, "Isn't this a bit too... too outrageous? There must be a lot of normal players mixed in with these accounts, right? If the pheromone algorithm is used, it can only be achieved through in-game data interaction, such as dancing in the same room, viewing information, or even just chatting on the same screen, which can be passively spread."

“That’s right.” Lin Qingyin affirmed, “President Cheng has told me several times in detail that we must muddy the waters.”

A technician immediately said, "I think Director Lin's method is excellent. It can put Microsoft and T3's anti-cheat systems in a dilemma. If they ban cheaters, it will inevitably cause a large number of false bans, triggering player riots and a public opinion tsunami. If they don't ban cheaters, the cheaters will continue to get away with it, and the game environment will continue to deteriorate. No matter what they choose, they will lose."

“Yes,” Lin Qingyin added, “This kind of pheromone, which spreads passively, is extremely difficult to trace back to the original source of infection. It spreads naturally among players like a real virus. If Microsoft’s technical team wants to eliminate it, they must drastically modify the game’s underlying data interaction protocol. This is like replacing the engine of a car. Not only is the project huge, but the risk is also very high.”

Lin Qingyin's plan was perfect.

It avoided direct technological confrontation and instead attacked the opponent's decision-making system and public opinion defense.

Once the plan was finalized, the team immediately threw themselves into a frantic work.

A week later, Audition Elf version 2.0 was quietly released through the original secret channels.

There was no announcement, no explanation, only word of mouth among players: "The new version has added an anti-ban function, which is more stable, faster, and more powerful."

Seoul, T3 Corporation headquarters anti-cheating center.

The atmosphere has now shifted from somber to despair.

“Minister Park!” A technician pointed at the computer screen with a trembling voice and said, “The cluster detection algorithm we just finished has just triggered an alarm. A high-risk test account that we previously locked has been directly and indirectly linked to more than three thousand accounts with the same risk, and this number is snowballing.”

Minister Park rushed to the screen, staring at the wildly spreading, neural network-like connections, and said with a pale face, "What... what the hell is this? How can there be such a strong connection? Didn't you test it perfectly a few days ago?"

If it's just a few people being linked, that's normal. But linking thousands of accounts at once is absolutely abnormal, not only abnormal, but also outrageous.

“I don’t know. There are no anomalies at the data packet level. This correlation seems like… like some kind of epidemiological model that we can’t understand.” The Microsoft technician frowned. “According to the algorithm, if we ban the initial high-risk account according to the established strategy, according to the correlation rules, we must put all three thousand-plus accounts on the watch list, and at least one-tenth of them need to be banned at the same time, otherwise we cannot stop the spread.”

If one account is banned, will three hundred others be banned as well? How many of these are accidental bans?

Minister Park felt a sudden darkness engulf his vision.

He could almost imagine that if banning one high-risk account would lead to the creation of three hundred medium-risk accounts, the resulting complaints and media storm would likely overturn T3 Company.

"Hold on, all ban orders are suspended." Minister Park said in a deep voice, "It must be related to their update! Damn it, they updated before us, do they have a god's-eye view?"

At the same time, in an effort to salvage its brand reputation, Samsung's Asia division launched a large-scale clarification campaign across Asia.

In the Chinese market, they invested heavily in publishing clarification statements in major newspapers, emphasizing that Samsung Electronics has never produced or authorized any low-priced gaming keyboards, and reminding consumers to purchase products through official channels.

To expand their influence, they even hired a popular South Korean girl group to film a ridiculously catchy commercial called "SAM SUNG," which they then bombarded various television stations during prime time.
"SAM, SAM, we are SAM!"

"Reliable quality, choose genuine products!"

"SAM, SAM, we are SAM!"

"Innovative technology, trustworthy!"

The melody is simple and catchy, and the dance is outrageous and memorable, but the advertising effect is unexpectedly good, and it has even sparked a wave of imitations.

Just as Samsung's marketing department breathed a sigh of relief, thinking the situation was under control, an unexpected incident occurred.

Almost overnight, a counterfeit advertisement, suspected to be a parody, quietly appeared on well-known video websites both domestically and internationally.

Chen Zhi found a group of Vietnamese-American girl groups, dressed them in similar styles to the girl groups in Samsung's advertisements, danced the same outrageous dances, and sang lyrics with almost identical pronunciations:

"SAN, SAN, we are SAN!"

"Affordable and easy to use, that's SAN!"

"SAN, SAN, we are SAN!"

"Good quality at a low price, still SAN!"

The production of this counterfeit advertisement is crude, but the level of imitation is so high that it is indistinguishable from the real thing. For ordinary viewers, it is almost impossible to tell the difference between the two.

This counterfeit advertisement first spread in Southeast Asia, and then to major online media in China. This greatly reduced the effectiveness of Samsung's huge investment in brand clarification, and even caused greater confusion and ridicule.

Consumers in Southeast Asia, in particular, are even more confused.

Because the SAN ad appeared first, followed by the SAM ad.

So what exactly is the relationship between SAM and SAN? They are completely confused.

Inside the office, Cheng Yi couldn't help but chuckle as he watched the two advertisements playing side-by-side on the screen.

Inside the meeting room, Li Weiwei and the others also wore smiles.

“This ‘SAN’ song is even more catchy than the original,” Cao Zhengze joked. “I heard that in some villages and towns in Southeast Asia, SAN brand keyboards are almost like hard currency.”

Cheng Yi smiled, turned to look at Li Weiwei, and asked, "What's Samsung's reaction?"

Li Weiwei immediately said, "Samsung's clarification costs have reportedly increased to 80 million yuan, but the effect is not ideal. Many distributors and consumers in non-core cities still can't distinguish between 'SAM' and 'SAN'. Chen Zhi reported that because our SAN advertisement was released before Samsung's, our Samsung-feel keyboard sales have seen another small peak." Cheng Yi laughed, "Samsung still doesn't understand. Actually, consumers don't care whether it's 'SAM' or 'SAN'. They only care about the price. In today's world where keyboards have become daily consumables, whoever has the lowest price will buy it."

Li Weiwei immediately said, "Now they are in a dilemma."

"Yes," Cheng Yi chuckled. "On one hand, they have to deal with the cheat software 'Audition Elf,' and on the other hand, they have to clean up the mess of brand confusion. Their costs must have increased dramatically. As for the profits... Audition's reputation and online player count have already started to decline, haven't they?"

"Yes, many home users have already cancelled their subscriptions, and some illegal internet cafes can also remove Audition Online from their platforms. The number of online Audition Online users in Asia has dropped from 347 million to 271 million," Li Weiwei said.

"That's good. We can't let them drop too much online, otherwise we won't be able to play anymore." Cheng Yi laughed. "We have to make them bleed a lot. If we don't make them suffer for a while this time, they'll jump out and annoy us again when we fight Microsoft."

While Microsoft, Samsung, and T3 were struggling with Audition Online and SAN keyboards, the first to feel the pain were the internet cafe owners who had betrayed the Momo alliance.

Jingzhou City, Feilong Internet Cafe.

Feilong Internet Cafe, which used to be a bustling place because it secretly installed Windows and ran Audition Online, is now unusually deserted.

The boss, Zhao Fugui, looked at the hall, which had only a handful of people, and his face turned pale.

At this moment, Zhao Fugui's heart was bleeding.

The cheapest keyboard costs 99 yuan, and in one month, he replaced more than 400 keyboards.

That's over 40,000 yuan!

He was scared and regretted it.

The once bustling Audition Online section is now just rows of machines with black screens due to broken keyboards.

He truly regretted it, regretting why he had been so blinded by greed and secretly switched systems for the sake of "Audition Online".

He no longer dares to release Audition Online.

If he continues operating like this, he won't even be able to recoup his costs.

Clinging to his last shred of hope, he dialed the regional manager of Momo Internet Cafe Management Company, pleadingly saying, "Manager Wang... you see, I was wrong before, I was blinded by greed... I'll uninstall the entire Windows system right now and switch back to our Moc-OS system. From now on, I'll be completely devoted to the Momo Group! Please give me another chance?"

On the other end of the phone, Manager Wang said very politely, "Mr. Zhao, I'm sorry, but according to the supplementary terms of the alliance agreement you signed earlier, voluntarily installing and using a non-Moc-os system to operate your internet cafe business is considered as automatically withdrawing from the Momo Alliance and permanently losing your alliance qualification. Your terminal authorization has been revoked, and you can no longer access the Moc-os system and the Momo Games platform."

Zhao Fugui said in a trembling voice, "Manager Wang, can't you make an exception? I can pay the fine, double the amount!"

"I'm sorry, this is a regulation from the group headquarters, and I don't have the authority to change it. Actually, the fact that our group hasn't sued you for breach of contract is already a favor to you. I wish you continued success in your business." After saying this, Manager Wang hung up the phone.

Hearing the busy tone on the phone, Zhao Fugui was utterly desperate.

They lost the Momo Alliance brand and the revenue sharing from Momo Games platform.

His internet cafe will have no advantage in today's highly competitive market.

At that time, there were quite a few internet cafe owners like Zhao Fugui.

They chose to betray the game for short-term gains, and now they have to swallow the bitter fruit of their own making.

Continuing to operate offers no hope whatsoever.

Switching to something else is out of the question.

Ultimately, they were left with only one option—to sell at a low price and exit the market in a sorry state.

Momo Group's attitude towards these traitors is zero tolerance.

With a major battle imminent, they must show their resolve.

If traitors are not severely punished, when they finally challenge Microsoft, even more opportunists will flock to their cause.

After all, if Microsoft were to take action against them, it would definitely strike at their weakest point first.

Their Achilles' heel is the internet cafe market in China.

It would be very simple for Microsoft to crack down on the internet cafe market. If they wanted to, they could even use foreign investment to support some state-owned enterprises to compete with their Momo Group.

The battles to come will surely be fierce.

In the business world, there is really no distinction of nationality.

Once war breaks out, it will be a state of frenzied fighting among multiple parties.

Since China joined the WTO, overseas capital has become the highest quality capital in the country. Many domestic companies have overseas investment institutions involved, so it has become difficult to distinguish between domestic and foreign capital.

The purest domestic capital you see, such as the recently emerging Low-Ling Capital, may actually be wholly backed by overseas capital.

The most foreign-invested companies you see, such as Momo Group, may actually be backed by domestic capital.

In this context, the only thing the government can do is wait and see.

The claims that domestic brands have been acquired, shelved, or divided up are just media self-pity.

If you've been acquired, it means you're not suited to the market process.

If you've been sidelined, it means you lack market competitiveness.

Whether it's foreign capital or state-owned capital, the market economy has the final say.

Similarly, under these circumstances, Momo Group must take swift and decisive measures to prevent trouble from arising within its own ranks.

As the saying goes, a kind heart cannot lead an army, and a benevolent person cannot manage finances.

Cheng Yi firmly believes that the business world does not believe in tears. The only way to avoid being made to cry by others is to make them cry first.

(End of this chapter)