My capital is quite large.

"bite--"

February 28, 2008, 10:00 AM.

When the bank text message with a long string of zeros arrived on Li Feng's Nokia phone, he was standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window of a Grade A office building in Nanshan Science and Technology Park.

Twenty-five million, after-tax cash, lay in his account in full.

What does it feel like for a poor person to suddenly become rich?

In his past life, Li Feng might have immediately gone to buy a sports car, look at luxury homes, or even charter a yacht to throw a wild party.

Having died once and experienced Zhang Zhidong's vivid lesson in the power struggles of a large factory, Li Feng now looks at this huge sum of money with only rational planning in mind.

This is just the down payment he's using to leverage his future multi-billion dollar mobile internet empire.

In just three days, Haofeng Networks underwent a complete transformation.

That 30-square-meter doghouse, which didn't even have air conditioning, was completely abandoned.

Instead, a full floor of modern, fully-furnished office space of 500 square meters was built in the core area of ​​the science park.

With money, everything becomes simple and brutal.

Li Feng no longer worked alone like a beast of burden as before. He deeply realized that a person's liver is finite, while the power of capital is infinite.

He spent a lot of money to poach an experienced administrative and human resources director through a headhunting firm, and the entire company quickly grew like an inflating balloon.

Lead programmer, C++ developer, Java developer, numerical planner, 2D concept artist, UI designer...

In just two weeks, a research and development team of more than 30 people was formed.

Furthermore, Li Feng hired a senior lawyer from a foreign law firm at a high salary to serve as the general counsel, specifically responsible for the registration of overseas copyrights and the protection of intellectual property rights in the future.

Small but complete.

Haofeng Networks now finally has the aura of a well-organized, disciplined army.

In the spacious and bright conference room, more than 30 newly hired employees sat upright.

Among them are veterans who have just left traditional PC game giants, as well as top-notch artists with dreams.

They initially had some doubts about this excessively young CEO, but when Li Feng offered salaries that were generally 30% higher than the market rate, all their doubts were transformed into absolute execution ability.

"Welcome to Haofeng Network, everyone."

Li Feng stood in front of the projection screen, and without saying a word, connected his laptop.

Click the mouse.

On the screen, a rough but brightly colored game screen appeared.

An angry red bird, fully drawn by a slingshot, traced an arc through the air and crashed into a wooden pigsty.

It's simple, quirky, yet it has an indescribable sense of stress relief.

"This is our company's first product, Angry Birds," Li Feng said calmly.

There was a two-second silence in the conference room. Then, the newly appointed technical director, Lao Chen, adjusted his glasses, hesitated, and raised his hand: "Mr. Li... the core physics engine of this game is indeed well done, and the collision feedback is amazing. However, the control logic is clearly not designed for a mouse and keyboard. Is this... a mobile game?"

Old Chen's tone carried an undisguised disappointment.

In the Chinese gaming industry in 2008, making PC games was considered the pinnacle of the social hierarchy, making web games was barely considered making quick money, and making mobile games...?

Current mobile games are still stuck in the Stone Age, like Tetris, Snake, or the extremely painful experience of controlling pixelated characters with a 3x3 grid!

Li Feng turned off the projector pen and coldly swept his gaze over the more than thirty employees on both sides of the long table.

"Old Chen."

"Haofeng Network offered you a monthly salary of 30,000 to poach you, to buy your technology to realize my design." Li Feng looked at him, his tone completely flat.

"In this conference room, I'll be in charge of providing direction; you just need to figure out how to get the product made."

The air in the conference room froze instantly, and the few people who had been whispering to each other immediately shut up.

Old Chen's heart skipped a beat, and he instantly realized that he had overstepped his bounds. He quickly lowered his head and said, "I'm sorry, Mr. Li, I understand."

"You don't need to understand who this game is for; I've already finished writing the underlying C++ code."

"The only task the tech department has left is to port this technology to a newer version for me. Within two weeks, I need a Java version based on the J2ME architecture that runs perfectly on Nokia N-series feature phones. Can you do that?"

"Yes! I guarantee I'll deliver within half a month!" Old Chen gritted his teeth and made a solemn pledge.

"Very good. Art Department and Digital Design Department, please look at the next image."

Li Feng didn't give them any time to breathe and immediately switched to the next slide.

Against a backdrop of azure deep sea, various colorful fish swim, while at the bottom of the screen stands a turret gleaming with metallic luster.

A giant fishing net is being launched towards the school of fish, with glittering gold coins bursting out from the side.

"Fishing Master"

Li Feng casually tossed a stack of pre-printed core numerical setting sheets onto the table. "I've written down the numerical curves for cannon upgrades and the probability anchor points for gold coin drops. The art team requires the visuals to be stunning, and the sound effects of gold coins exploding should have that satisfying metallic clang."

The moment they saw the diagram and the numerical settings, several veterans from traditional large companies in the conference room gasped in shock.

As seasoned professionals, they saw right through this thing – isn't this just that fishing slot machine from offline arcades, the one that's most lucrative, addictive, and even has a bit of a gambling element?!

Take this thing, put it in the guise of a game, bring it online, and add a pay-to-win element where you buy gold coins to upgrade the cannon...

This boss's methods are too outrageous! This is clearly modeled after a money-printing machine!

"The company has plenty of money; overtime pay will be three times the legal rate."

Li Feng braced himself on the conference table, his gaze piercing: "I only want efficiency and execution. Don't make me ask about progress; report back to me with the results you've produced. Meeting adjourned!"

"Yes, Mr. Li!"

More than thirty people, like warhorses whipped with a lash, rushed out of the conference room with a strong desire for high overtime pay.

In less than a minute, the sound of keyboards clicking in the open office area outside became as continuous as a downpour.