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

Hong Kong.

Central.

Four Seasons Hotel.

There's always a peculiar smell in the air here.

That was the sweet, fishy smell of money fermenting.

As the heart of Asian finance, this place has witnessed the rise of countless multi-billion dollar empires and the fall of countless business giants.

Nowadays.

The presidential suite on the top floor of the Four Seasons Hotel was booked out.

The corridor was filled with bodyguards in black suits, and the whispers coming through their earpieces made the atmosphere even more somber than the Federal Reserve's vault.

The world's top venture capital firms are like a group of sharks that have smelled blood, swimming in the waves of Victoria Harbour.

Sequoia Capital.

Hillhouse Capital.

IDG.

Tiger Fund.

They waved their checkbooks, just to catch a glimpse of that young Chinese man.

Lin Che.

That madman who, on New Year's Eve, used 500 million yuan to shatter the landscape of China's payment system.

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

Inside the presidential suite.

Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows lies the dazzling Victoria Harbour.

Ships shuttle back and forth on the sea like countless flowing gold coins.

Lin Che sat on the leather sofa, a Cohiba cigar imported from Cuba between his fingers.

He didn't smoke.

I just quietly watched the pale blue smoke rise and swirl in the air conditioning breeze.

Sitting opposite him was a short Japanese man.

Masayoshi Son.

He is the head of the SoftBank empire and the godfather of Asian venture capital.

Back then, he only took six minutes to decide to invest in Jack Ma, thus creating the Alibaba legend.

Nowadays.

He wanted to replicate that myth.

Or rather, he wanted to control the variable that might overturn the myth.

"Lin Sang."

Masayoshi Son spoke up.

His Chinese was somewhat halting, but the arrogance of someone in a superior position was innate.

"The performance of Weiguang on New Year's Eve was impressive."

"but."

He abruptly changed the subject, his gaze sharpening like a scalpel attempting to dissect its prey.

"The speed at which you burn through money is equally astonishing."

"Five hundred million yuan has brought in two hundred million users. But this is just the beginning. Next, you will face a full-scale encirclement by BAT (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent)."

"Without enough ammunition, the Glimmer of Hope won't survive this spring."

This is a typical negotiation tactic.

First praise them to death, then suppress them.

By leveraging information asymmetry and psychological warfare, the opponent's valuation can be driven to rock bottom.

Masayoshi Son held up five fingers.

"Five billion US dollars."

"This is the valuation given by SoftBank."

"I want to invest one billion US dollars and take a 20% stake."

Shen Nan sat next to Lin Che.

His face was pale, and a fine layer of cold sweat even seeped from his forehead.

This is not acting.

He was genuinely panicked.

A valuation of five billion US dollars is already very high, but it is still too low for Microlight at its current level.

More importantly, it's a 20% stake.

If SoftBank takes away so much, along with the shares from other investors, Lin Che's control over the company will be seriously threatened.

Moreover, Masayoshi Son is a major shareholder of Alibaba.

This money is a hot potato.

If they acquire it, Weiguang could become a vassal of Alibaba, or even be forcibly merged in the future.

"Mr. Sun."

Shen Nan swallowed hard, attempting a final showdown.

"Is this price... too low?"

"Our daily active users have surpassed Taobao's, and our payment scenarios are being rolled out comprehensively..."

"Shen Sang".

Masayoshi Son interrupted him, a contemptuous smile playing on his lips.

"Daily active users are just data."

"Monetization is the essence of business."

"Weak Light is a huge money-devouring beast right now. Apart from SoftBank, no one dares to give you such a large sum of money at this time."

"and."

He leaned forward, his aggressive aura pressing down on him as if it were a tangible force.

"If I don't invest, I'll invest that money in your competitors."

"For example... a relaunched Koubei.com?"

Threat.

A naked threat.

This is the true face of capitalists.

Beneath the dapper suit, there always lies a bloodstained dagger.

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

Lin Che finally moved.

He picked up the scissors on the table and, with a snip, cut off the head of the cigar.

That sound was crisp.

In the quiet suite, it sounded like a gunshot.

"Mr. Sun."

Lin Che fiddled with the cigar, not in a hurry to light it.

He raised his head, and in his dark eyes, there was no fear of being threatened, but rather a hint of mockery.

"It seems your sincerity is still stuck in the past."

Masayoshi Son frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"Five billion US dollars?"

Lin Che gave a cold laugh.

He stood up, walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, and pointed to the bustling Victoria Harbour outside.

"This amount of money can't even buy the seawater here."

"What do you think a glimmer of light is?"

"One's delivering food? The other's handling payments?"

Lin Che suddenly turned around and threw the expensive cigar into the crystal ashtray.

"No."

"Mr. Sun, your judgment has deteriorated."

"Weiguang is the next era's infrastructure powerhouse."

He snapped his fingers.

Shen Nan immediately understood, took out the prepared "Micro-Light Cloud Strategy White Paper" from his briefcase, and pushed it in front of Masayoshi Son.

"Take a look at this."

Masayoshi Son picked up the document with a puzzled look.

Turn to the first page.

His pupils contracted instantly.

"The battle of a thousand live streams... cloud services... water sellers..."

As he read on, Masayoshi Son's fingers began to tap unconsciously on the table.

The faster they tapped, the faster they tapped.

As a top strategist, he instantly understood Lin Che's plan.

This is not doing internet.

This is clearly a monopoly on the traffic channels for the next decade.

While hundreds of live streaming platforms were fiercely competing for users, Weiguang quietly collected tolls behind the scenes.

and.

Microlight has already proven their technological prowess on New Year's Eve.

That distributed system that can withstand three million concurrent users is the best example of a good system.

"this……"

Son Masayoshi raised his head, and the look in his eyes as he looked at Lin Che had completely changed.

It's no longer about watching a lamb being slaughtered.

It was more like watching a giant dragon awakening.

"Lin Sang, your ambition... is very great."

"so."

Lin Che sat back down on the sofa, crossed his legs, and adopted an extremely arrogant posture.

"The glimmer of light is increasing dramatically every second."

"Fifty billion?"

"That was yesterday's price."

Lin Che stretched out a finger and waved it in the air.

"Ten billion."

US dollars.

"Not even a fraction less, no discussion."

"impossible!"

Masayoshi Son suddenly stood up and shouted in a terrified voice.

"Ten billion?! This is practically extortion!"

"Before last night, your valuation was only three billion! It tripled overnight?!"

"Lin Sang, greed comes at a price!"

Lin Che smiled.

He was laughing very happily.

"Mr. Sun, you are wrong."

"In this market, greed is a virtue."

He glanced at the Patek Philippe on his wrist.

You have five minutes to consider.

"Outside the door."

Lin Che pointed to the tightly closed carved door.

"Neil Shen of Sequoia Capital, Lei Zhang of Hillhouse Capital, and Julian of Tiger Global Management are all in the queue."

"Shen Nanpeng just sent me a text message saying that as long as I agree, he is willing to offer a valuation of 12 billion yuan and will not interfere with any management rights."

That's a lie.

Shen Nanpeng is indeed outside, but he didn't offer that price.

But it is not important.

Importantly, Lin Che created a sense of panic about "scarcity".

A sense of fear that "if I don't get on board now, I'll miss out on the next Alibaba."

This fear was enough to break through Masayoshi Son's psychological defenses.

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

The room was deathly silent.

Only the clock on the wall made a clicking sound.

Every second was crushing Son Masayoshi's nerves.

He is not short of money.

SoftBank Vision Fund has tens of billions of dollars in ammunition.

What he lacks is opportunity.

It's an opportunity to shock the world again, just like when we invested in Alibaba.

A faint light.

Payment, logistics, and cloud services.

These three segments, when put together, form a perfect business loop.

If you missed it...

Masayoshi Son glanced at the large door.

He could almost see Shen Nanpeng's shrewd smiling face through the door.

"call……"

Masayoshi Son breathed a sigh of relief.

He slumped back onto the sofa, looking as if he had aged ten years in an instant.

He lost.

They lost to a young man in his twenties.

They lost to that kind of arrogance that seemed to want to tear a hole in the sky.

"make a deal."

Masayoshi Son's voice was a little hoarse.

"A valuation of 10 billion US dollars."

SoftBank led a $1 billion investment.

"but."

He stared intently at Lin Che, his eyes filled with complex emotions.

"Lin-san, I hope you can really make that 'cloud' come to fruition. Otherwise, today will be the biggest disgrace in SoftBank's history."

Lin Che stood up.

This time, he took the initiative to extend his hand.

"rest assured."

"Mr. Sun."

"This will be your greatest investment since Alibaba."

"You'll thank me for my extortion."

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

Half an hour later.

The contract has been signed.

The champagne is opened.

The flash went off.

The photo of Lin Che and Masayoshi Son shaking hands will make headlines in major financial media outlets around the world tomorrow.

The Birth of a Billion-Dollar Unicorn.

Lin Che: The Man Who Made SoftBank Bow Down

After the last investor left, the presidential suite finally quieted down.

Shen Nan slumped onto the sofa, feeling completely drained.

"He's gone mad..."

"Boss, you're a madman."

"Ten billion US dollars...we really did it..."

Looking at the long string of zeros about to arrive in his account, Shen Nan felt like he was dreaming.

With this money...

Not only can a glimmer of light survive, it can thrive.

It could even launch a new money-burning war to completely burn out those competitors.

"Shen Nan."

Lin Che stood by the window, looking at the night view of Victoria Harbour.

His voice didn't convey much joy; instead, it had an unfathomable depth.

"After the money arrives in the account..."

"Immediately allocate 300 million US dollars."

"Where to?" Shen Nan was taken aback. "To fill the logistics deficit? Or to buy servers?"

"No."

Lin Che turned around.

"Through our offshore funds in the Cayman Islands."

"Buy all the stock in one American company."

Which one?

"NVIDIA".

Lin Che uttered a single word.

Nvidia.

Shen Nan was dumbfounded.

"The one that makes graphics cards?"

"Boss, that company's stock price has been stagnant, and the PC market is shrinking... Why buy it?"

In his mind, Nvidia was just a company that sold gaming graphics cards.

It's not even as valuable as Intel.

Lin Che smiled.

That kind of laughter carried the loneliness of a prophet who had transcended time and space.

Nvidia's stock price is currently hovering around $30.

no one knows.

A few years later.

With the explosion of the AI ​​wave and the frenzy of Bitcoin mining.

This company will become the world's largest company by market capitalization.

That's not a stock.

That's a ticket to the future.

"Just do as instructed."

Lin Che did not explain.

He looked out the window at the pitch-black night sky.

On that distant shore, a storm called "artificial intelligence" is brewing.

And he.

I had already bought the front row seats in advance.

"Micro-light cloud requires computing power."

"And this company."

A glint of light flashed in Lin Che's eyes.

"It is the arsenal of the computing power era."

"Buy its stock and lock it up."

"Ten years from now, this $300 million will become $30 billion."

Shen Nan looked at Lin Che.

He didn't understand.

But he chose to obey.

Because the man in front of me just proved that he is a god in the business world with a perfect reverse harvest.

"Yes."

Shen Nan stood up and went to the study to arrange the transfer of funds.

Lin Che remained alone in the living room.

He picked up the cigar he had thrown away again and lit it.

I took a deep breath.

Amidst the swirling smoke, a cold smile curled at the corner of his lips.

Masayoshi Son thought he had invested in a Chinese internet company.

I don't know.

He voted for a "digital Leviathan" that would soon rule a carbon-based civilization.

Good show.

It's only just begun.