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

Shenzhen.

10:00 AM.

As soon as he stepped out of the airport, a layer of white fog appeared on Lin Che's glasses.

The air was like a sponge soaked with water, thick and heavy, mixed with the sweet smell of fermented tropical plants and the dusty smell of construction sites.

Unlike the slow-paced, garden-style environment of Hangzhou's Binjiang Park, everyone here walks as if they're sprinting.

Even with the green light turning red in three seconds, the man in the suit will still speed across the zebra crossing.

On Shennan Avenue, taxi drivers honked their horns deafeningly and cursed as they fought for a parking space.

This is a city that never sleeps.

Lin Che stood downstairs at the Tencent Building.

The sunlight was extremely bright, shining on the huge glass curtain wall, and the reflection made it impossible to open one's eyes.

The palm leaves by the roadside were motionless, their green leaves shining brightly, like fake trees made of plastic.

He straightened his sweat-soaked collar and pushed open the door.

The revolving door rotates very fast, cutting the outside heat waves into segments.

The air conditioning in the lobby was extremely cold, at least fifteen degrees Celsius lower than outside.

It gave me goosebumps.

Lin Che walked to the front desk.

Visitor registration.

The receptionist handed me a form without looking up: "Name, company, interviewee."

Lin Che picked up his pen.

Name: Lin Che.

Unit: User.

Interviewee: Investment Department.

He pushed the form back.

The receptionist glanced at it, her eyes lingering on the two English words for a second, before mechanically handing him a temporary access card.

"24th floor, turn left."

24th floor, Investment and Mergers & Acquisitions Department.

The interior design here is in cool blue and white tones.

All the glass walls were frosted, so you couldn't see the faces inside; you could only see blurry figures moving quickly, like soldiers in a shadow puppet show.

There were only two bottles of water in the meeting room.

One bottle is Evian, placed on the main seat.

A free bottle of mineral water with the Tencent penguin logo was placed on the guest seat.

Lin Che sat down in the guest seat.

Three minutes later, the door opened.

The man who entered was a young man, probably around twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, wearing frameless glasses and a fitted Zegna shirt.

He held a thick document in his hand, and without looking at Lin Che, he pulled out a chair and sat down.

"I am Manager Zhang."

He slid the document across the conference table.

The paper glided across the smooth tabletop and came to a precise stop beside Lin Che.

The cover features a line of bold text: "Competitive Analysis and Defense Strategies for Group Buying Model".

"Mr. Lin, you don't have much time, and neither do we."

Manager Zhang glanced down at the IWC Pilot's Watch on his wrist. "I'll be frank."

He unscrewed the bottle of Evian and took a sip.

"We've looked at the data, and it's indeed very good: a K-factor of 3.5 and a retention rate of 40%. Within the WeChat ecosystem, this is considered a top-tier viral model."

He paused, his tone completely flat.

"But Tencent's technical team can replicate this model in just two weeks."

Lin Che did not speak.

He looked at the unopened bottle of Tencent mineral water on the table.

A fine layer of water droplets had condensed on the bottle and was slowly sliding down, forming a small puddle on the table.

"Moreover, we have access to WeChat's underlying API."

Manager Zhang pushed up his glasses, the glare from the lenses obscuring his eyes. "Once we launch a competing product, your external links will be flagged as 'inducing sharing' by WeChat's security center. At that point, your daily active users will drop to zero."

This is the true intention revealed at the end of the story.

The standard bullying process for large companies when dealing with small companies: plagiarism, blocking, and low-price acquisition.

500.

Manager Zhang held up five fingers. "We'll acquire you, including your code. You can take the money and leave, or you can stay and become a P6-level product manager."

He leaned back in his chair, waiting for Lin Che to express his gratitude.

After all, 500 million is a huge sum of money for a grassroots entrepreneur with no background.

The air felt somewhat stagnant.

The only sound that could be heard was a slight whooshing sound from the central air conditioning vents.

Lin Che finally moved.

He didn't even open the thick "Competitive Analysis Report," nor did he glance at the "500 million" price quote.

He put his hand into his jacket pocket.

He took something out.

He casually tossed it on the table.

"Smack."

A crisp sound.

That was a work badge.

The orange lanyard stood out starkly against the cool blue of the Tencent Meeting room.

The front of the employee badge features the famous Alibaba smiley face logo, with a line of smaller text below:

Lin Che, Ali Group - Wireless Business Unit P7

Manager Zhang stopped twirling his pen.

The pen remained frozen in mid-air.

His gaze was fixed on the orange hanging rope, and his Adam's apple bobbed.

"A ban?"

Lin Che leaned back in his chair, his fingers tapping lightly on the cover of the report, as if he were tapping a broken drum.

"Give it a try."

The voice wasn't loud, but every word pierced the air like a nail.

"Group buying is not some grassroots project."

Lin Che pointed to the employee badge, "This is the 'WeChat Ecosystem Stress Test' project authorized by Alibaba Wireless Business Unit. The server is hosted on Alibaba Cloud's high-pressure cluster, and the promotion budget is specifically for Double Eleven."

He is lying.

This is a perfect, unfalsifiable lie.

Because Lin Che did indeed use Alibaba's servers, did indeed use Alibaba's budget, and even did receive a salary from Alibaba.

But in Manager Zhang's eyes, this was the will of Alibaba Group.

"Two weeks to replicate?"

Lin Che smiled.

He pointed out the window, as if that was in the direction of Hangzhou.

"You can copy your code, but you think you can copy my five million precisely targeted e-commerce users who are exported from Taobao and linked to Alipay for real-name authentication?"

Sunlight streamed in through the blinds.

It divides the table in half perfectly.

Half of it is blue Tencent water, and the other half is orange Alibaba employee badge.

Manager Zhang's expression changed.

If this is just a shoddy project, then it's fine to shut it down.

But if it's Alibaba's official test...

It is March now.

Alibaba is preparing for its IPO in the US.

If news broke at this time that "Tencent's WeChat has blocked Alibaba's innovative projects," how would Wall Street view it? How would the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission view it?

This is not just business competition; it's a legal bombshell involving suspected monopoly and unfair competition.

He was just a junior investment manager.

Even if he were smashed into mincemeat, he couldn't carry this pot.

"Mr. Lin... Mr. Lin."

Manager Zhang's voice sounded a little dry.

He stood up instinctively, but his movement was so sudden that his knee hit the table leg hard.

"Thump."

A dull thud.

He didn't even have time to rub it; the arrogance on his face vanished instantly, replaced by a panicked expression in the face of uncontrollable risks.

"Please wait a moment."

He hurriedly put away the document on the table that read "500 million acquisition," as if he were putting away evidence of a crime.

"This matter involves the strategic level of both companies, and I need to... I need to report to the VP."

He grabbed his phone and strode out of the meeting room.

They even forgot to close the door properly.

Through the crack in the door, his anxious, hushed voice came through the phone: "Yes, not a grassroots employee... he's an Alibaba P7... he said it's an official test... yes, he's wearing his employee badge..."

Lin Che sat in the empty conference room.

He reached out and unscrewed the free bottle of Tencent mineral water.

"Click".

Unscrew the bottle cap.

He took a sip.

The water was cold and had a plastic smell.

The water stain on the table had dried, leaving a faint white mark.

Lin Che looked out the window.

The sky in Shenzhen was a dazzling blue, without a single cloud.

First hurdle passed.

But he knew that what he was about to face were the real hunters.

Those big shots sitting on the top floor won't be intimidated by a work badge.

They only believe in self-interest.

Lin Che took out a crumpled A4 sheet of paper from his bag.

That's not a business plan.

That was a "gift" he had prepared for the penguins.

A manual on how to turn WeChat traffic into real money using the "group buying" model.

It is also a noose.