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

Shenzhen, Nanshan District.

Tencent Building.

This colossal glass tower, which countless internet entrepreneurs look up to, reflects a cold light in the afternoon sun.

The strategic conference room of the cloud business unit on the 39th floor.

There's none of the dampness and musty smell found in Guizhou's karst caves here, only a centrally heated air conditioner maintaining a constant temperature of 24 degrees Celsius.

"This is the core intelligence that Liu Zhiping sent back from Guizhou."

An executive in an Armani suit tossed a report onto the oval conference table.

The cover of the report prominently features a photo of Wang Jian "smashing his computer to demand unpaid wages" in a cave.

Although the photo is blurry, the despair and embarrassment it conveys are palpable.

"'Weiguang Cloud' is just a front."

The executive unbuttoned his suit jacket, sat back in the ergonomic chair, and wore a sneer on his lips.

"Lin Che diverted the entire budget for those 10,000+ server racks to pay subsidies. The current Weiguang Base is just an unfinished project used to scam government subsidies."

A light, low chuckle filled the conference room.

This laughter carried the arrogance unique to large companies.

In their eyes, Lin Che, a "nouveau riche" from humble beginnings, ultimately doesn't understand the respect for technology.

"Now that the threat is gone..."

The operations director adjusted his glasses and opened another PowerPoint presentation.

"I suggest adjustments to the bandwidth deployment plan for the S6 World Championship."

A set of data popped up on the screen.

The original plan was: [Redundancy 200%].

This means that if ten million viewers are expected, Tencent Cloud will be prepared to provide bandwidth resources to support twenty million people.

This is to prevent sudden surges in traffic from breaching the server's safety baseline.

"Since Weiguang poses no threat, and Douyu is our exclusive partner..."

The director picked up a laser pointer and circled the red "200%".

"To improve the profit margin in the Q3 financial report, I recommend reducing the redundancy to 120%."

"This can save nearly 40 million yuan in bandwidth procurement costs."

Forty million.

For a giant like Tencent, it might just be a drop in the ocean.

But under the banner of "cost reduction and efficiency improvement," this is an eye-catching KPI, a multiple of the year-end bonus, and a topic of conversation among executives at board meetings.

"120%...isn't that too risky?"

In the corner, a young technical backbone timidly raised his hand.

"S6 is generating a lot of buzz this year, what if..."

"There's no 'what if'."

The executive interrupted him.

He picked up the Starbucks coffee from the table and coldly glanced at the young man.

"Data models show that the peak traffic of S6 has never exceeded 15% of the estimated value in previous years."

"Young people, those who work in technology need to understand business."

"The extra bandwidth is burning money every second. We need to be responsible to our shareholders, not to those poor students who are just trying to get freebies in the competition."

The young man opened his mouth, but ultimately lowered his head.

"It's settled then."

The executive made the final decision and signed his name on the document.

The pen tip glides across the paper, making a soft, scratching sound.

That was the sound of greed.

They thought they had signed a cost-effective deal.

But don't know.

This is a death sentence for a glimmer of light.

However, the death row inmate's name is Tencent Cloud.

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

Wuhan, Optics Valley.

Douyu Live Headquarters.

The air here is filled with the spicy aroma of duck necks and an overactive hormonal mix.

Since securing Series C funding from Tencent, the entire company has been in a frenzy of anticipation of an upcoming IPO.

CEO's office.

Chen Shaojie stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, looking down at the bustling Software Park below.

He was holding a glass of red wine.

Although it was during working hours, he felt that he should not only drink, but also celebrate with champagne.

"Mr. Chen, the pre-sale events for S6 were a huge success!"

The head of the marketing department pushed open the door and came in with a happy expression.

"The number of pre-registered viewers has surpassed five million! That's double the number from last year!"

"good!"

Chen Shaojie turned around abruptly, the wine swirling in the glass, just like his mood at that moment.

"This S6 is a crucial battle for us to completely overtake Inke and Huya and solidify our position as the 'Number One Streamer'!"

"Backed by Tencent Cloud, with the top commentary team on the entire internet, and... that damn funding."

When the topic of financing came up, a ruthless glint appeared on Chen Shaojie's face.

The frustration of being suppressed by Wei Guang before has now transformed into the pleasure of revenge.

He took out his phone.

Open WeChat Moments.

Fingers flew across the screen.

He had been holding these words in his heart for a long time.

[Some people hide in caves with a few old graphics cards mining cryptocurrency, thinking they understand cloud computing? Specialization is key. For real tech, you need big companies. I advise some of my peers who "don't even have a full rack of servers" to go back to delivering food. You're not cut out for live streaming.]

The accompanying image is a photo of Douyu's headquarters brightly lit, along with Tencent Cloud's huge blue logo.

Click send.

Within five minutes, the number of likes and comments exploded.

The comments below are filled with big names and investors from the internet industry:

"President Chen is so impressive!"

"Haha, is this a nomination for Lin Che?"

"I heard that Weiguang's funding chain has broken down? Is it true?"

As Chen Shaojie read these comments, his smile grew wider.

He felt he had won.

We've won decisively.

He could even imagine Lin Che's furious yet helpless expression when he saw this post on his WeChat Moments.

"Mining..."

Chen Shaojie snorted and downed the glass of red wine in one gulp.

"Why don't you take a piss and look at yourself in the mirror?"

"Trying to fight me?"

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

Beijing, Xishan Villa.

Lin Che's study.

The sky outside the window was somewhat gloomy, as if it were about to snow.

The lights were off inside.

Only the faint blue light from the computer screen illuminated Lin Che's expressionless face.

There was no red wine on his table.

There was only a glass of water that had gone completely cold.

"drop."

A WeChat notification sound plays.

Lin Che picked up his phone and saw Chen Shaojie's post on WeChat Moments.

He wasn't angry.

Even a hint of pity flickered in his eyes.

That kind of pity for a sparrow that thinks it has flown to the top of a tree, chirping at an eagle.

"Going back to deliver takeout?"

Lin Che chuckled softly.

Your fingertip slides lightly across the screen.

He didn't block or blacklist him.

Instead, I liked that post on WeChat Moments.

He even replied with an emoji:

[Go for it.jpg]

After doing all this, Lin Che put down his phone.

He turned his head and looked at the three huge curved screens in front of him.

On the screen, there are neither stocks nor games.

Instead, it is the "All-Network Public Opinion Heat Monitoring System" developed by Wang Jian.

A red curve is climbing upwards at a heart-stopping speed.

That's the search index, discussion volume, and the explosion of related topics related to the S6 World Championship Finals.

Something's not right.

Lin Che narrowed his eyes.

The data in this lifetime is even more outrageous than he remembers.

In the previous life, although S6 was very popular, it only caused a stir within the e-sports circle.

But in this life...

Perhaps it's due to the spread of short videos on Weiguang Video, or perhaps it's because this generation of young people has been suppressing their desire for catharsis for too long.

This wave of enthusiasm has already spread beyond the esports circle and is now reaching the whole society.

"Wang Jian."

Lin Che pressed the call button on the table.

"Boss."

Wang Jian's tired but excited voice came through the headphones, with the background noise being the unique roar of the fans in the cave.

What is the current overall online popularity index?

"It exploded."

Wang Jian's voice trembled.

"The current index is 8500 million. And it's increasing at a rate of 15% per hour."

"What about Tencent's data model?"

"Based on the public API data we scraped from within Tencent Cloud..." Wang Jian paused, his tone becoming strange, "the peak they predicted was only 4000 million."

A difference of two times.

This is utterly devastating.

"4000 million..."

Lin Che picked up the glass of cold water and took a sip.

The cool liquid slid down his throat, making him even more alert.

"How much redundancy did they reduce?"

120%.

"In other words, Tencent Cloud's backbone network will start to congest once the traffic exceeds 4800 million. If it exceeds 6000 million..."

Wang Jian took a deep breath.

That was an avalanche.

"A physical circuit breaker. Even if Ma Huateng (Pony Ma) personally went to the server room to plug in the network cable, it wouldn't save the situation."

Lin Che stared at the red curve on the screen that was still rising wildly.

That's not a curve.

Those were the crests of a tsunami.

Meanwhile, Tencent and Douyu are sailing a shoddy, poorly constructed boat, celebrating with champagne amidst the waves.

"Three more days."

Lin Che said softly.

He glanced at the calendar.

10 month 29 day.

There are 72 hours left until that day that is destined to be recorded in history.

"Mr. Lin, should we... give them a heads-up?"

Wang Jian, being a technical professional, found it hard to bear the thought of standing idly by knowing a disaster was about to happen.

"remind?"

Lin Che turned his head and looked at the gloomy sky outside the window.

The first snowflake fell.

winter is here.

Why do hunters warn their prey?

Lin Che's voice was soft, yet colder than the snow outside the window.

Greed is the best bait.

"They cut the lifeline themselves in order to save that 40 million."

"All we did was lay a net underneath."

"One..."

Lin Che's gaze returned to the screen, looking at the red "Error" warning icon.

"A network that charges 50 million per hour."

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

Three days.

For an ordinary person, it's just eating nine meals and sleeping three times.

But for the internet industry, this is the final countdown before the storm builds its energy.

In the cafeterias of major universities, all the TV screens have been switched to e-sports channels.

The internet cafe was already packed, with even the aisles crowded with students who brought their own stools.

Six out of the top ten trending topics on Weibo are about S6.

#Faker's Three-Peat#

#Last Hope for an All-Chinese Team#

#ResistingSouthKorea#

Behind every keyword is a surge of hundreds of millions of views.

however.

At Tencent Cloud's command center.

Those executives were still staring at that "perfect" financial report forecast, dreaming of doubling their year-end bonuses.

In Douyu's studio.

Chen Shaojie was trying on an expensive custom-made suit, preparing to appear as a guest on the night of the finals.

They were all laughing.

He was laughing very happily.

until……

The red countdown timer in Lin Che's study reached zero.

Until the first wave of over 5000 million concurrent users crashed heavily onto Tencent Cloud's fragile breakwater.

"boom--"

Although I can't hear anything.

But in the digital world, that loud noise shattered the entire old order.

Lin Che leaned back in his chair.

He was holding a coin in his hand.

"Let's begin."

He tossed the coin high into the air.

The silver coin tumbled in the air, gleaming with a cold light.

That was the signal that war had begun.