Who would still start a business seriously after being reborn?

Chapter 598: The picture shows the dagger
Tang Yan's team operated dozens of female accounts simultaneously, chatting and praising each other in different game groups, online forums, and discussion boards, creating a false sense of prosperity where all the beautiful women on the internet were looking forward to World of Warcraft. This phenomenon also attracted many internet media outlets to report on it.

This year, many print media outlets have transformed into internet media, and their favorite things to do are trending topics and gimmicks.

This proactive reporting is completely different from the passive reporting mandated by Momo Group.

They reported with great pleasure.

Meanwhile, reports about World of Warcraft through official channels continued unabated.

Major portal websites, newspapers, and magazines all published promotional materials for the open beta of World of Warcraft.

The number of pre-registrations for the Chinese version of World of Warcraft quickly surpassed 30.

The whiteboard in the office of the special promotion team at Smartisan Technology was covered with various hastily written keywords:

Artificial intelligence, prophecy, lottery, hidden NPCs, offerings...

Tang Yan scratched his messy hair and said, "Brothers, we did a good job with the first shot. Now let's try something a little more mysterious."

Tang Yan tapped the whiteboard and said, "That's creating gods."

The team members' faces lit up with excitement as they thought about what they were going to do next.

Soon, they began a heated discussion, each coming up with their own brilliant ideas.

One of the group members, who used to be a fantasy novel enthusiast, suggested, "Boss, how about Medivh? This character is mysterious in the Warcraft lore; he's a guardian who can foresee the future, which would be a perfect fit."

"Okay, he's the one." Tang Yan immediately made the decision, and then asked, "What about the background setting?"

"It is said that he was a wisp of the consciousness of the ancient guardians, which was accidentally activated in the data stream of Azeroth and gained some ability to peek into the river of fate."

How is it triggered?

"I think the trigger conditions should be more complicated. For example, you have to be at a specific time in the early morning, carrying a rare item, such as the Strange Feather of Hinterlands or the Glowing Mushroom of Swamp of Sorrows, and kneeling or praying at a specific coordinate on a map, such as under the third dead tree in Deadwind Pass..."

Another group member added, "Yes, we should also say that he doesn't appear at fixed times. He disappears after each appearance and then reappears in another random location, which increases the difficulty of finding him and adds to the mystery."

"What about the reward? Just predicting the future is too vague; we need to give them some tangible incentives."

"You could say that if he's in a good mood, he might reward you with a rare pet called Eye of Prophecy, or a title like Fate Watcher, but the chances can't be too high, otherwise it won't be cool."

"Then add our rumors, no, gossip, that, according to a very few lucky ones, they seem to receive clearer oracles when communicating with Medivh."

Through overnight communication among members of the special promotion team, a detailed and seemingly highly credible "Prophecy of Medivh" was produced and distributed to every member of Cao Zhengze's online army as a bible for spreading rumors.

Cao Zhengze's online army was mobilized again. This time, they disguised themselves as various types of players and used different rhetoric on different platforms.

[High-IQ Platform]:
"A Brief Discussion on Potentially Hidden AI Easter Eggs in World of Warcraft from a Data Mining Perspective—Taking Prophet Medivh as an Example."

The post quoted extensively from various sources, discussing Blizzard's technological reserves and the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge, blurring the concept of AI, and analyzing the possible hidden interfaces in the game code. It was written in a very convincing manner and even fooled a lot of tech enthusiasts.

[Core Gamer Platform]:
[A prophetic NPC has appeared on the EU/NA servers! Pictures and screenshots included!]

[Sharing a serendipitous encounter: I think I met the legendary Medivh, and he told me...]

The post was rich in detail, vividly described, and even included meticulously photoshopped game screenshots. A large number of paid trolls chimed in, saying, "I've heard of that too!"

"Someone in our guild has encountered this!"

"My dad encountered this on the European server..."

"My second uncle also..."

[Platform for Losers]:
[Breaking news! There's an NPC in World of Warcraft who can predict lottery numbers! It's true! A friend of a friend tried it!]

[I'm not kidding! I heard someone's already made a fortune from this! Share this with your friends!]

I've heard that this NPC is more likely to be encountered when using the Moc-os system.

The core of this hype lies in the process of searching and the sense of mystery, rather than whether the prophecy itself is accurate.

The emphasis is on the claim that someone succeeded.

Once players take it seriously and seek verification on a large scale, immediately guide them to explore Easter eggs and participate in community activities, downplaying the prophetic aspect and emphasizing its fun and interactivity.

This combination of tactics was surprisingly more effective than using beauty.

The unknown and mysterious have a natural attraction for men who are still young at heart, and their desire to conquer is instantly ignited.

The search for Medivh became one of the most popular player-initiated activities before the open beta.

Countless players, armed with guides, even logged into the early beta European server, wandering the various maps all night, trying all sorts of strange and unusual methods, all in an effort to witness the legendary oracle.

Forums, online communities, and QQ groups are filled with eyewitness reports, decryption analyses, and mystical strategies, and the level of interest is at an all-time high.

Although many intelligent people feel that this may be fake, they still participate in it with great enthusiasm because they want to prove that it is fake.

World of Warcraft generated immense buzz even before its release, shrouded in mystery and captivating allure.

With World of Warcraft's top-tier quality as a foundation, coupled with this simple and direct combination of attractive visuals and controversial marketing, its popularity on the internet has skyrocketed at a visible speed.

At this moment, inside Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond, USA.

The long-standing dark clouds seem to have dissipated somewhat.

Just yesterday, they finally brought an end to the media storm surrounding the Pandora project by paying a staggering $1.8 million fine to the European Union and reaching a series of settlement commitments with the U.S. Department of Justice.

Although the huge sum of money caused the board of directors considerable financial pain and damaged the brand image, at least they were temporarily extricated from the quagmire of endless investigations and lawsuits.

No sooner had he pulled one foot out than the newly appointed Asia Pacific President, James Waters, rushed to Beijing.

Their top management has unanimously approved the relocation of Microsoft's Asia-Pacific headquarters to the Zhongguancun Science and Technology Industrial Park in Yanjing City.

They changed their name to Microsoft Asia Group. The rapidly growing Chinese market was too important for them to afford the slightest carelessness.

The news that Microsoft's Asia-Pacific headquarters was to be moved to Beijing immediately caused a strong shock in China's internet industry.

This signifies that Microsoft has officially entered the Chinese market.

Zhongguancun was also very excited about Microsoft's arrival.

Since the rise of Momo Technology Industrial Park, Zhongguancun, a technology park known as the "Silicon Valley of China," has become somewhat awkward, with the rapidly rising Shenxia Technology Park in the south and Momo Technology Park in the central region.

These two industrial parks have attracted many of their key enterprises.

Although Zhongguancun boasts over 10000 technology companies, their total revenue is only equal to the combined revenue of Momo Technology Industrial Park and Shenxia Technology Industrial Park.

It's only over 4300 billion.

Momo Technology Industrial Park and Shenxia Technology Industrial Park have valuations of over 1800 billion and over 2400 billion respectively.

Many powerful internet companies have now moved to Momo Technology Industrial Park, leading to the saying in the IT industry: "Zhongguancun in the north, Shenxia in the south, and Momo in the middle."

Zhongguancun Science Park is mainly composed of companies such as Lianxiang Group, BOE Group, and Founder Group.

The Momo Technology Park is mainly comprised of Momo Group, NetEase Group, Xinlang Group, and Soohu Group.

The Shenxia Science and Technology Park is mainly comprised of Huawei Group, ZTE Group, and Tencent Group.

These three industrial parks have now begun to compete with each other, and various preferential policies for attracting investment are emerging one after another.

As soon as Microsoft Asia Group announced its move to Zhongguancun, the village offered it very favorable investment policies.

Waters is known as the "firefighter" at Microsoft, a person who acts with extreme decisiveness. He also serves as the president of Microsoft's global affairs division and is one of Microsoft's board members, making him the highest-ranking division president in the company's history.

The only difference between Waters and other executives is that he really dislikes following the rules.

In the department he was in charge of, employees could do whatever they wanted, and he had no objection even if they came to work barefoot in beach shorts.

His premise was simple: everyone must complete the task with high quality and quantity.

He had just signed an agreement to move into Zhongguancun and immediately sent his team over.

Zhongguancun provided him with a very good office space, but he didn't have many requirements for the office space.

As long as it's not drafty or leaky, that's enough.

After completing the move-in, Waters immediately flew to Europe.

Upon arriving in Europe, he was greeted by Microsoft's legal and business teams, who had been waiting for him for some time. Soon, Waters, in his capacity as President of Microsoft's Global Affairs, contacted Blizzard Entertainment headquarters.

They quickly took a car and rushed to Blizzard Entertainment headquarters.

As one of Microsoft's executives, Waters was immediately given a warm welcome by Blizzard Entertainment.

Blizzard president Mike Morhaime personally opened the car door for Waters and welcomed him into the company.

Waters kept a straight face throughout and didn't give Mike Mohan a friendly look. He entered the VIP room, and Mike Mohan immediately arranged for someone to bring over the wine that had already been decanted.

Waters didn't accept the drink, but slowly said, "I'm here to congratulate World of Warcraft on its upcoming global open beta, which will definitely be a momentous event in gaming history."

Mike Morhaime immediately smiled apologetically and said, "Thank you for your blessing, Mr. Waters."

Waters raised his hand slightly and said, "However, we have also noticed that your operating partner in China, Thresh Technology, and its parent company, Momo Group, are carrying out some very unethical promotional activities. This may violate your consistent advocacy of fair, just, and healthy gaming principles, and may even be skirting the edge of the law."

Tang Yan's promotion efforts could not escape Microsoft's backend monitoring.

However, this kind of thing doesn't really have any impact on Momo Group, and even if Waters knew the reason, he was too lazy to make a fuss about it.

Mike Morhaime sat down next to Waters and smiled gently. "We gave them the agency rights. How they promote it is not really our business."

Waters glanced at Mike Mohan and said, "As a long-term, close partner and the provider of the Windows system platform, I think it's necessary to remind you of this matter and take the necessary measures to regulate the behavior of your distributors. What do you think?"

Waters's implication was already quite clear.

Mike Mohan's smile froze slightly, but he quickly recovered. He gently put down his glass and explained, "Mr. Waters, we have heard about what you've said. However, the Chinese market does have its unique ecosystem and promotional methods. Their internet market is still in its incubation period, and the internet speed is relatively slow. Our video promotion in Europe and America is still lacking. In fact, we have been closely monitoring this matter and maintaining communication with our partners to ensure that all promotional activities are within the framework of the contract and do not cross the legal line."

Waters leaned back into the sofa and said in a deep voice, "Alright, this is your own business. I'm just giving you a suggestion. Now let's get down to business."

From the earlier probing, Waters had realized that Mike Mohan would never reclaim the agency rights for Momo Group.

He paused, observing the subtle changes in Mike Mohan's expression, and said, "As the creators and maintainers of the Windows system, we must be responsible for all programs running on this platform. To be honest, according to our investigation, Momo Group has been using some unconventional, even potentially detrimental, low-level calling methods in pursuit of so-called compatibility and performance."

Waters took a thin technical summary from his assistant, placed it gently on the table, and pushed it toward Mike, saying, "Since you insist on cooperating with Momo Group, we won't try to persuade you any further. We now highly suspect that Momo Group's aggressive optimization methods may cause unpredictable conflicts with future security updates and core components of the Windows system."

"To prevent potential issues and protect billions of Windows users worldwide, our technical team may introduce stricter underlying security checks in upcoming system updates. This could cause performance fluctuations or compatibility issues when games run in certain non-standard environments. We hope Blizzard understands and supports our efforts to maintain platform security and stability."

Waters' words revealed his true intentions.

This is no longer an implication, but a blatant threat.

Under the guise of security and stability, they intend to exploit the low-level privileges of the Windows system to artificially create obstacles for World of Warcraft, which has announced compatibility with Moc-OS.

This is a common tactic used by internet companies: offering an either/or choice.

Mike Mohan's expression turned completely serious.

He certainly understood Waters's implied meaning.

Microsoft is essentially putting the reins on World of Warcraft itself. If Blizzard doesn't cooperate, they'll have to bear the risk of the game malfunctioning.

Many software programs and games have faded from the market due to frequent system error pop-ups.

(End of this chapter)