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

Eight o'clock in the morning.

Microlight Technology Building.

Lin Che was eating breakfast.

Soy milk, fried dough sticks, and a dish of pickled vegetables.

He ate very slowly and politely.

Shen Nan hurriedly pushed the door open and came in, his expression somewhat solemn.

"Boss, they've started making their move over there."

Shen Nan placed the tablet computer on the dining table.

"Our sources say that Zhang Yiming held an emergency mobilization meeting last night. The company is in an uproar. It is said that three incubation projects have been suspended and all employees have been reassigned to short video production."

The project is called "Douyin".

"They need to release a demo within a week and launch it within two weeks."

"Moreover, Zhang Yiming has prepared 10 billion yuan for promotion."

Shen Nan's voice was somewhat strained.

"That's ByteDance... You know how efficient they are. If they really replicate us one-to-one and then pour money into it, we..."

Lin Che picked up a fried dough stick and soaked it in the soy milk.

Watching the fried dough sticks slowly soften in the white liquid.

"Finally awake?"

Lin Che didn't look up; instead, a smile appeared on his lips.

"It's three days later than I expected."

"Boss, why aren't you worried at all?" Shen Nan paced anxiously, "That's Zhang Yiming! That's the most terrifying opponent on the Chinese internet!"

"I know."

Lin Che took a bite of the fried dough stick that was soaked in soy milk.

"It's precisely because it's him that I feel at ease."

"Don't worry?" Shen Nan was stunned.

Lin Che put down his chopsticks and wiped his mouth.

"Zhang Yiming is a rational monster. When he sees something good, he will definitely copy it, and he will copy it even better."

"He has algorithms, money, and people."

"If this were a bayonet charge, we would indeed both suffer heavy losses."

Lin Che stood up and walked to the map in the office.

That was a map showing the distribution of influence on the Chinese internet.

"But, Shen Nan."

"Warfare is not just about bayonet fighting."

"There is another type, called the supply route cut off."

Lin Che pointed to the huge red circle for "Toutiao" on the map.

"Do they think the core of short videos is 'algorithms'?"

"No."

"The core of short videos is 'emotion'."

"And the vehicle for emotions is 'music'."

Lin Che turned his head, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.

"Project Iron Curtain can now be launched."

Shen Nan was startled.

He recalled the seemingly meaningless things Lin Che had asked him to do six months ago.

At that time, the company had only a few people, but Lin Che forced him to visit record companies of all sizes all over China.

Even a small studio with only a few songs, or a copyright agency on the verge of bankruptcy.

Lin Che had only one request: exclusive online distribution rights.

At the time, Shen Nan didn't understand why they would spend so much money to buy a bunch of lousy songs.

Now he understands.

"Boss, you mean..." Shen Nan's eyes widened.

"No matter how well Zhang Yiming makes his guns, without bullets, they're just sticks for burning."

Lin Che walked to the window and looked in the direction of Zhichun Road in the distance.

There, ByteDance's building gleams in the morning light.

"They'll find that the apps they create have everything."

"There's just no sound."

"Go."

Lin Che waved his hand.

"Send an email to the legal department."

"As long as TikTok dares to go live, as long as our background music appears in it for even a second."

"Just sue me."

"Sue them until they take it off the shelves, sue them until they go bankrupt."

.......

.......

Two weeks later.

ByteDance, the closed development room for the Douyin project.

The air was filled with the nauseating smell of instant noodles and the stench of overworked body odor.

Dozens of engineers have been working for 14 consecutive days, sleeping only 4 hours a day.

"nailed it!"

The technical lead's loud shout woke everyone up.

"Demo is running successfully! Algorithm API integration complete! Beauty filter loaded!"

He handed the testing machine to Zhang Yiming, who had been waiting for a long time, with trembling hands.

Zhang Yiming took the phone.

The icon is a musical note, which is very well-designed.

Click to open.

The interface is smooth, the interaction is silky smooth, and even the damping of the upward swipe is tuned better than that of Weiguang.

"good."

A slight smile finally appeared on Zhang Yiming's face, which had been tense for half a month.

"What about the content? Has the operations team filled it in?"

"It's filled!"

The operations director excitedly said, "We bought a batch of top influencers from Weiguang and had them upload their videos. Now we have 50,000 high-quality videos in our library."

"it is good."

Zhang Yiming clicked on the first video.

It's a beautiful woman dancing.

The visuals are stunning, and the action is incredibly hot.

but.......

No sound.

Zhang Yiming frowned and pressed the volume button.

There was still no sound.

"What's going on? A bug?" Zhang Yiming looked at the technical lead.

The technical lead's face turned pale instantly. He snatched the phone and checked it over.

"That's not right... The code is fine, the audio stream is normal..."

Just then, the director of the legal department stumbled into the development room.

He was holding a document, and his face was ashen.

They didn't even knock on the door.

"Mr. Zhang! You can't log on!"

The general counsel's voice was trembling with tears.

"What's wrong?" Zhang Yiming's heart skipped a beat.

"Just now... just now when we were preparing to upload the music library, we received hundreds of warning letters from lawyers..."

The general counsel spread the documents out on the table.

That was a densely packed list of copyrights.

"The 500 most popular hit songs on the market... like 'Seaweed Dance,' 'Learn to Meow,' and 'Decent'..."

"The copyright is entirely in the hands of Weiguang."

"And it's... an exclusive, sole license."

The general counsel looked at Zhang Yiming with despair.

"In other words, if we use these songs, even if it's only for 15 seconds."

"That's a serious infringement."

"Weiguang has already stated that they will claim compensation on a per-use basis. If we go online, we'll have to pay hundreds of millions a day."

Zhang Yiming was stunned.

He looked at the perfect app in his hand.

That nuclear weapon cost 10 billion yuan and involved hundreds of elites working day and night to make.

At this moment, it is like a mute person whose vocal cords have been cut.

It gesticulates wildly on the screen, yet makes no sound.

What is a short video without background music (BGM)?

It's a silent film.

It's garbage.

It's an electronic corpse that no one will look at.

"Smack."

The testing machine in Zhang Yiming's hand fell to the ground.

The screen is cracked.

He finally understood why Lin Che had remained silent.

That young man had dug a huge hole in front of the finish line six months ago.

Then I stood at the edge of the pit, smiling as I watched him sprint at full speed and finally crash into it.

"Lin Che..."

Zhang Yiming gritted his teeth, and the two words seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth.

"That move... was too well-prepared."