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

New Year's Day.

It snowed in Beijing.

Ruixue is a prosperous year.

But this vast expanse of white earth cannot conceal the restlessness and clamor within the entire internet community.

All the newsstands were selling the same magazine.

Caijing.

The cover features a visually striking composition.

On a pure black background, the icons of three apps float.

On the left is the green WeChat icon.

On the right is the blue Alipay.

At the very top is a bright red logo that flickers like a flame – Glimmer.

They are arranged in an equilateral triangle, resembling a stable yet dynamic pyramid.

The title was in bold white font and almost filled half the cover:

The Payment Landscape: A Dramatic Change Overnight

The subtitle is even more shocking:

"Lin Che used 500 million to leverage a 500 billion yuan payment market. The era of the BAT duopoly became history with the tolling of the New Year's Eve bells."

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

Top floor office of the Weiguang Building.

Lin Che sat on the sofa.

He had just taken a shower and changed into dry clothes, but the dark circles under his eyes were still clearly visible.

On the coffee table lay that copy of Caijing magazine.

"That's how the media always is."

Lin Che picked up a cup of hot tea and blew away the foam.

"They like to create gods."

"Also likes to destroy gods."

He did not show any ecstasy.

Even now, the entire internet is praising him as the "new king of the internet" and the "dragon-slaying youth who broke the monopoly."

Because he knew that such praise was cheap.

In this circle, the person who praises you to the skies today will not hesitate to trample you into the mud tomorrow.

As long as you run out of money.

"Boss, look at this."

Shen Nan sat opposite him, holding a thick stack of reports in his hand.

His hands were shaking.

It wasn't trembling with excitement, it was trembling with fear.

"This is last night's battle report."

"That's also... our autopsy report."

Shen Nan gave a wry smile and pushed the report in front of Lin Che.

That smile was uglier than a grimace.

"I've saved face."

"But this time, we've really lost everything."

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

Hangzhou, Ant Financial headquarters.

Although it was the first day of the Lunar New Year, the air pressure inside the entire building was so low it was suffocating.

Emergency debriefing meeting.

The conference room was filled with executives, and everyone's face was paler than the snow outside.

Zhao Hong sat at the end of the table, head down, not daring to look at President Ma, who was sitting in the main seat.

"Snapped!"

A data report was slammed heavily onto the table.

"Can anyone tell me?"

That familiar voice, now sharp with anger, was now shrill.

"Why do we have money, people, and ten years of technological accumulation?"

"In the end, they lost to a food delivery guy?"

The entire room fell silent.

No one dared to speak.

Who would have thought?

They blocked Weiguang's online traffic, blocked Weiguang's propagation links, and even used DDoS attacks to test the other party's server limits.

But they can't stop the 10,000 delivery riders braving the wind and snow.

It's impossible to stop those elderly people with basic mobile phones who pull out their bankbooks from under their mattresses.

"It's ground promotion."

Zhao Hong finally mustered his courage and said in a hoarse voice.

"Lin Che used a 'physical cheat'."

"He turned the internet into a labor-intensive industry."

"Our advantage lies in the cloud, while his foundation... lies in the soil."

Mr. Ma remained silent.

He walked to the window and looked at the remaining snow on West Lake outside.

After a long while, he finally let out a long sigh.

"The world is divided into three parts."

"This Lin Che is a wolf in sheep's clothing."

"Pass on my orders."

Mr. Ma turned around, his eyes sharpening again.

"Establish the 'Anti-Darkness Alliance'."

"From today onwards, Weiguang is our number one enemy. Notify Tencent; I think Pony Ma is probably eager to have a cup of tea with me now."

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

The office is dimly lit.

Lin Che opened the "autopsy report".

The numbers above are all red, so red they're glaring and terrifying.

Server expansion cost: 1.5 million.

Cash red envelope expenditure: 2.1 million.

Ground promotion commissions and Google Ads: 1.8 million.

Total expenditure: 5.4 million.

Before this battle, Weiguang's cash reserves were only one billion.

Add to the money previously spent on logistics construction and subsidy wars.

"Boss."

Shen Nan swallowed hard, his voice hoarse.

"We only have less than two hundred million left in our accounts."

"At the current rate of cash burn, it only has three months to live."

This is the price of victory.

Weiguang used a suicidal charge to forcefully breach the defenses of BAT (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent).

Now, the position has been captured.

But the ammunition depot was empty.

If it fails to raise funds within three months, this newly crowned unicorn will collapse due to a broken funding chain.

It has become yet another tragic case in business textbooks, one that "rises suddenly and falls just as quickly."

"Two hundred million...!"

Lin Che closed the report, his fingers tapping lightly on the cover.

a bit.

Two times.

There was no panic on his face; in fact, there was a hint of amusement in his expression.

That's enough.

Shen Nan was stunned.

"Enough? How could that be enough?"

"Boss, the server maintenance alone costs tens of millions a month! And then there are the salaries of those ten thousand+ riders! And..."

"Shen Nan."

Lin Che interrupted him.

He stood up and walked to the huge floor-to-ceiling window.

Snow stopped.

Sunlight shines on the snow-covered city, reflecting a dazzling light.

"What do you think we are right now?"

"Is it... the last gasp of its power?" Shen Nan asked tentatively.

"No."

Lin Che shook his head.

"In the past, when we needed to raise funds, we had to take a PowerPoint presentation to investors and beg for their approval. We had to be mindful of their attitude and beg like beggars."

He turned around, opened his arms, as if to embrace the world.

"But now."

"We have 200 million users who have linked their bank cards."

"We have the second-highest daily active users after WeChat."

"We possess top-tier computing power that has withstood the test of three million concurrent users on New Year's Eve."

Lin Che's eyes turned sharp as knives.

"We are no longer beggars."

"We are warlords."

"Warlords don't need to kneel to get money."

"If a warlord wants money, he just needs to slam his gun on the table."

Shen Nan looked at the man in front of him.

In that instant, he felt a terrifyingly domineering aura.

That confidence was forged in the crucible of countless battles.

indeed.

The glimmer of light has now grown so large that it is no longer vulnerable.

No capitalist dares to ignore the existence of a glimmer of light.

If Weiguang collapses, it will not only be the bankruptcy of one company, but also the upheaval of the assets of 200 million users and an earthquake in the entire Chinese Internet landscape.

"So, don't worry about money."

Lin Che walked back to his desk and opened the drawer.

He took out another document from it.

That was a research report that had been prepared long ago.

The cover reads: "In-depth Research on China's Mobile Live Streaming Industry in 2016".

"If you run out of money, just ask for more."

"But before we ask for the money, we need to find our next hunting ground."

Lin Che threw the report on the coffee table.

"Take a look at this."

Shen Nan picked up the report with a puzzled look and turned to the first page.

A densely packed list.

Inke.

花椒。

Douyu (a Chinese fish-themed online fish).

Tiger teeth.

Panda TV.

……

There were hundreds of names.

2016 was known as the first year of the "thousand-streaming war".

Countless funds have poured into the live streaming industry, like sharks smelling blood.

Every app wants to do live streaming, and every internet celebrity wants to become a live streamer.

This is indeed a hot trend.

But it's also a meat grinder.

"Boss...you want to do a live stream?"

Shen Nan frowned and shook his head repeatedly.

"No way! Absolutely not!"

"Live streaming is a bottomless pit of money! Bandwidth costs are even higher than video websites! And the fees for signing streamers are astronomical!"

"Our little bit of money wouldn't even make a drop in the ocean!"

He panicked.

Having just finished the payment war and barely had time to catch his breath, the boss is now jumping into another fire pit?

Is this a case of wanting to die even faster?

"Do live streaming?"

Lin Che smiled.

He sat back down on the sofa, crossed his legs, and his eyes revealed a cunning look that seemed to see through everything.

"Who said I was going to do live streaming?"

"That's too low-level."

He pointed to the densely packed platform names on the report.

"Shen Nan, do you remember the story of the gold rush?"

"Most of the people who went to dig for gold starved to death on the way."

"But there are some people who always make a profit and never lose."

Shen Nan was taken aback.

"Selling water?"

"right."

Lin Che snapped his fingers.

"Selling water, selling shovels, selling jeans."

"These hundreds of live streaming platforms are currently fighting tooth and nail for users. What do they need?"

Lin Che held up one finger.

"They need bandwidth."

Extend your second finger.

"They need servers."

Extend your third finger.

"They need streaming technologies that can withstand high concurrency and low latency."

Shen Nan's eyes suddenly lit up.

He seemed to understand what Lin Che meant.

"You mean...?"

"last night."

Lin Che pointed to the top of his head.

"We used that 'micro-light algorithm' and those idle logistics servers distributed across the country to withstand three million concurrent requests."

"This is the best guy."

"These are our nuclear weapons."

Lin Che stood up and walked to the whiteboard covered with strategic plans.

He picked up a black marker.

In the center of the whiteboard, four large characters were written heavily.

Faint cloud.

"Shen Nan, go tell the owners of those live streaming platforms."

"Tell Feng Yousheng of Inke, tell Chen Shaojie of Douyu, and tell that arrogant Wang Sicong."

Lin Che's voice was deep, yet it carried an undeniable, subversive power.

"Want to do live streaming?"

"Can."

"But if I don't want it to lag, I don't want delays, and I don't want to be cursed out by users."

"Then buy my cloud service."

"Weiguang's computing power is the cheapest, most stable, and most intelligent in all of China."

Shen Nan's breathing became rapid as he looked at the three words on the whiteboard.

This move.

It's too cruel.

This is a dimensional reduction attack.

When everyone is fighting tooth and nail in a red ocean to grab a streamer or a user.

Lin Che quietly retreated behind the scenes.

He wants to choke everyone.

He wants to collect "tolls".

"Pack up all our logistics nodes and idle computing power."

Lin Che turned around, his eyes flashing with a greedy yet rational light.

"These hundreds of platforms are our next dinner."

"They're burning through investors' money to buy our services."

"And us."

Lin Che pointed to himself, a sinister smile curling at the corner of his mouth.

"We used their money to nurture this behemoth called Glimmer."

"That's what you call—"

"The wool comes from the sheep, but the pig pays the bill."

Shen Nan took a deep breath.

He felt his blood boiling again.

The fear, anxiety, and worry I felt just now vanished in an instant.

This is Lin Che.

This is the madman who always manages to find a way out of a dead end.

"Understood."

Shen Nan closed the financial report that had made his heart pound, and a confident smile returned to his face.

"I'll make the arrangements right now."

"I will let them know that even though we're broke now, we still have a glimmer of hope."

"But it's more valuable than when it was rich."

Lin Che nodded.

He watched Shen Nan walk out of the office.

Then he turned around and looked out the window again.

The sun was warm on the first day of the Lunar New Year.

But Lin Che knew.

A new storm is brewing.

"The Battle of a Thousand Livestreams..."

Lin Che muttered to himself.

His gaze seemed to pierce through time, illuminating a future battlefield strewn with corpses.

And he.

We will stand high in the clouds, looking down on all of this.

He was holding a shovel.

Waiting to collect the body.