The richest man started taking advantage of loopholes after joining Alibaba.

The Weiguang Building, the command center.

The air was filled with the smell of burning.

The red curve on the screen, after three consecutive days of frenzied upward movement, finally showed signs of fatigue.

It began to flatten.

It's like a mountaineer who has exhausted his last bit of oxygen and collapsed on the snow line at an altitude of 8,000 meters.

Growth bottleneck.

Arrived.

"Brother, I can't pull it anymore."

Fatty Wang slammed a user profile analysis report on the table, his face covered in oil and sweat.

"The young people have already been fleeced to the point of exhaustion."

"The remaining hundreds of millions of users are all middle-aged and elderly people over forty or fifty years old."

He pointed to the long string of gray data on the screen, his tone revealing a deep sense of powerlessness.

"They have the Fuka cards in their hands, and they also want the 200 million in cash."

"But they're stuck."

"I'm stuck at the 'link bank card' step."

It's not their fault.

For an elderly person who is not even proficient in using a smartphone, entering a 19-digit bank card number, filling in their ID card information, receiving a verification code, and then setting a payment password is a daunting task.

This is harder than climbing to heaven.

More importantly—trust.

Link your bank card to your phone?

In the minds of the older generation, this is no different from leaving your house keys on the street.

................

Hangzhou, Ant Financial.

Zhao Hong looked at the stagnant growth curve of Weiguang and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He picked up the wine glass and gently swirled the scarlet liquid.

"Did you see that?"

He pointed at the screen and smiled at his subordinates beside him.

"This is the forbidden zone of the Internet."

"The silver market is something you can see but can't touch."

"Lin Che wants to swallow this tough nut in one gulp? He'll need to have some teeth."

In his mind, this insurmountable barrier was insurmountable.

Unless Weiguang Group can open a bank branch at the entrance of every community in China, even if that's the case, it will take ten years to build trust.

There are only two days left until Lunar New Year's Eve.

Lin Che is doomed to lose.

................

Weiguang Building.

Lin Che stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, looking down at the huge city below.

He didn't look at the data.

He was looking at the cars on the road.

Those electric bikes weaving through the streets and alleys, dressed in red, yellow, and blue uniforms.

"Fatty."

Lin Che suddenly spoke, his voice strangely calm.

"Who do you think is the most trustworthy person for an elderly person living alone in an old neighborhood?"

Fatty Wang was stunned for a moment.

"A neighborhood committee auntie? Her children?"

"No."

Lin Che shook his head.

"My children don't come home even once a year."

"The neighborhood committee only knocks on the door when they need to collect sanitation fees."

He turned around, his gaze piercing, as if piercing through the barriers of space to see the smallest blood vessels in this land.

"It's that young man who brings her a bag of rice upstairs every week."

"It was the delivery rider who brought her cold medicine on that snowy day."

"It's that stranger I see every day, who calls me 'Auntie,' and who helps me take the trash downstairs."

Lin Che walked to the map and tapped his fingers heavily on the densely packed logistics nodes.

Trust is not transmitted via network cables.

"Trust is physical."

"It has warmth."

He suddenly raised his head, his eyes flashing with a crazed light.

"Pass on my orders."

"Activate 'Physical Add-on'".

"Notify all Weiguang Logistics stations nationwide, and unite all franchisees of SF Express and Tongda Express."

"Starting immediately, the entire staff will undergo a transformation."

"They are no longer deliverymen."

"They are 'mobile tellers'."

................

Hegang, Heilongjiang.

3 PM.

It was getting dark.

The heavy snow, like a tattered quilt, was frantically blanketing this decaying industrial city.

The temperature is minus twenty-five degrees Celsius.

Xiao Li parked his electric bike downstairs in an old residential building with exposed red bricks.

He is a deliveryman for Weiguang Logistics. He is twenty years old and his face is red from the cold. His eyebrows are covered with white frost.

He exhaled a puff of white breath, rubbed his frozen hands, picked up a bag of rice, and climbed to the fifth floor.

"Knock knock knock".

"Aunt Zhang, the rice delivery person is here!"

The door opened.

A warm breeze carrying the aroma of stewed sauerkraut wafted over.

The person who opened the door was an elderly woman in her seventies, with a full head of silver hair and somewhat cloudy eyes.

Upon seeing Xiao Li, the old lady's wrinkled face broke into a wide smile.

"Hey, Li, it's snowing so hard, come in and warm up."

Xiao Li didn't stand on ceremony and went inside to put the rice down.

He didn't rush to leave.

He glanced at the old-fashioned mobile phone with a worn-out screen on the coffee table.

"Auntie, have you collected all the lucky cards yet?"

Upon hearing this, Aunt Zhang sighed, her face full of worry.

"Don't even mention it."

"Old Wang next door has collected them all, and he says he can get several hundred yuan."

"I also have five cards here, but the phone keeps telling me to link some bank card."

The old lady waved her hand, looking wary.

"I've heard there are a lot of telecom fraud cases these days. If you enter your card number, will someone just transfer your money away?"

This is the wall.

That wall of sighs in the eyes of BAT (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent).

Xiao Li smiled.

He took off his gloves, revealing a pair of hands that were cracked and rough from years of handling goods.

"Auntie, if you don't trust the phone, don't you trust me?"

"I've been sending you rice for two years now."

"I'm an employee of Weiguang. Our boss said that this money was issued by the government so that everyone can have a good New Year."

He took out his employee ID and waved it in front of Aunt Zhang.

"If anything happens, come find me."

"I may be able to run away, but I can't hide. I still have to deliver rice to you every day."

This statement is more effective than any bank's credit endorsement.

Aunt Zhang stared at Xiao Li's honest, red face for several seconds.

That was a connection built up over two years, rain or shine.

That was the trust that had been built up from countless acts of "lend a hand".

"OK."

The old lady finally relented.

She walked shakily to the bedside and lifted the thick mattress.

He pulled out a handkerchief pouch from below.

layer.

Two layers.

Three floors.

The handkerchief was opened, revealing a red passbook with worn edges and a savings card that hadn't been used much.

That was her life savings for her coffin.

This moment.

This seemingly unbreakable psychological defense was broken down by a rice deliveryman in the most primitive way.

"Come on, ma'am, let me teach you."

Xiao Li took the card.

His fingers were thick, making him appear somewhat clumsy on those small keys.

But he was very careful.

"This is the card number...6...2...2..."

He read it aloud as he typed it in.

"Ma'am, look carefully, are the numbers here the same as those on the screen?"

"Same... same."

The old lady, wearing reading glasses, pressed her face almost against the screen as she checked the numbers one by one.

"Okay, now wait for the verification code."

"drop."

The news is here.

"Auntie, read these numbers to me."

five minutes.

A full five minutes.

For young people accustomed to instant payments, those five minutes felt like an eternity.

But for the two people in this dimly lit little house, it was a sacred ritual.

"alright!"

Xiao Li pressed the final confirmation button.

A red firework exploded on the screen.

Congratulations! Your bank card has been successfully linked!

[Received a New Year's red envelope: 8.88 yuan]

"Wow! They're so rich!"

Looking at the bright red number on the screen, Aunt Zhang's hands trembled with excitement.

Eight dollars and eighty cents.

In the eyes of city dwellers, it's not enough to buy a cup of milk tea.

But in her eyes, this was a windfall, a New Year's gift from the big boss called "Weiguang".

"Thank you! Thank you so much, Xiao Li!"

The old lady grabbed Xiao Li's hand and insisted on stuffing a handful of White Rabbit milk candies into his pocket.

Xiao Li chuckled and declined the candy.

He glanced at the background processes of his phone.

[New user successfully linked bank card]

[Reward: 20 yuan]

His heart started racing.

Twenty yuan.

This rice delivery only earned me three yuan.

But he earned twenty yuan from that five-minute lesson.

He looked at Aunt Zhang with not only tenderness in his eyes, but also a kind of fanaticism as if he had seen a gold mine.

"Auntie, does your neighbor, Old Wang, not know how to link his bank card either?"

"Yeah! He was so anxious he was cursing!"

"Come on! Take me there!"

Xiao Li put on his gloves, looking very confident.

"I'll go and get it done for him too!"

................

The same scene.

This is unfolding wildly in 3,000 counties, 40,000 towns, and countless old residential communities across China.

This is a massive human wave tactic.

Executives from BAT (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent) sat in bright office buildings, drinking coffee and discussing various sophisticated growth models.

Meanwhile, Weiguang Group's one million delivery riders are braving the wind and snow to venture into those corners forgotten by the internet.

They measured the cost of trust in this country with the soles of their feet.

With their rough hands, they pulled out the passbooks, one by one, from under mattresses, in tin boxes, and in handkerchief pouches, connecting them to the shimmering financial network.

This is a form of dimensional reduction attack.

A cold tactic that uses the lingering warmth of "familiar society" to melt the "digital divide".

................

Weiguang Building, data center.

Fatty Wang was looking at the big screen.

His mouth was agape in an "O" shape, and he couldn't close it for a long time.

on the screen.

The growth curve, which had been flat, suddenly rose up like a dragon awakened from its slumber.

That was a nearly 90-degree vertical lift.

This is even more intense than the wave of young people linking their bank cards a few days ago.

"He's gone mad..."

"Dude, this data is insane!"

Wang Pangzi stammered.

"These are all... all those dormant accounts!"

"These elderly folks have practically brought their life savings into this!"

Data Display.

The average balance of these newly linked bank cards is as high as 50,000 yuan.

Far exceeding the accounts of young people.

This demonstrates the savings capacity of elderly people in China.

They remain unassuming in normal times, but once they are exposed, they become a terrifying torrent capable of engulfing any financial institution.

................

Beijing, the headquarters of a competitor.

"Bang!"

An expensive crystal glass was smashed against the wall and shattered into pieces.

The vice president in charge of payment business looked at the monitoring report and his face was shaking with anger.

"How dare they?!"

"Let the deliveryman help the elderly link their bank cards?!"

"This...this isn't in compliance with regulations, is it?!"

"What if the deliveryman transfers the money? What if their privacy is compromised? Aren't you worried about things going wrong?!"

He couldn't understand it.

In his elitist mindset, this kind of risky, unorthodox approach is an absolute no-go zone.

But Lin Che dared to do it.

Because Lin Che knew that these one million riders were the strongest firewall for Weiguang.

They dared not act recklessly.

Because their livelihoods, their deposits, and their jobs are all tied to the big ship that is "Glimmer".

................

The office is dimly lit.

Lin Che looked at the still-rising curve with a calm expression.

He picked up the teacup on the table and gently blew away the foam.

"Compliance?"

He gave a cold laugh.

"Anything not prohibited by law is permissible."

"In this winner-takes-all battlefield, there is not much gentleness, kindness, respect, frugality, and humility."

He turned his head and looked out the window.

Night falls.

The city lights stretched out in a continuous expanse.

And in the dimly lit depths, countless glimmer riders like Xiao Li are like industrious worker ants, carrying the final foundation stones for the Glimmer Empire.

"Twenty-four hours left."

Lin Che glanced at the countdown on the wall.

Lunar New Year's eve.

It's coming soon.

"Are you ready?"

He asked softly.

"Prepare for...the birth of a new world."