Reborn in 08, Public Enemy of Competitors

As night deepens, the commercial street in Gaosha remains bustling with people.

After some haggling, Shen Mo and Qin Feng decided not to let Lu Wenbin treat them. As usual, the four of them split the bill.

Lu Wenbin left the Indian barbecue restaurant with a toothpick in his mouth.

"You still haven't told me how to help people open online stores?"

"Of course, others pan for gold, I sell shovels."

Shen Mo winked his right eye playfully.

Just like Nvidia made a fortune in the AI ​​wave, no matter what the trend is, those who sell shovels to gold miners are the easiest to get rich.

"You're not thinking of using fake diamonds, are you?"

Lu Wenbin's tone carried a hint of doubt.

"Boosting diamonds requires little skill; it's more like manipulating online reputation."

"Moreover, this is just one of our services. In the future, I will provide comprehensive, concierge-level services to a wide range of Taobao merchants."

Shen Mo smiled. In later generations, online reputation management platforms were not limited to e-commerce.

Meituan, Xiaohongshu, Weibo, short video platforms, WeChat official accounts—basically any platform involving "user reviews, traffic data, and credit endorsement" is almost always a major target for fraudulent reputation platforms.

Qin Feng pondered carefully and said, "You know what, it seems like it might actually work."

"Yes, this kind isn't complicated."

"I just need to write a program that can automatically generate fake IP addresses, fake usernames, and fake comments."

"However, this kind of order-brushing is not suitable for physical transactions, but virtual goods such as QQ coins are the most suitable."

Yuan Hua clapped his hands. "Let's start with virtual goods for the online store. Once we've built up a high credit rating, we can officially open for business."

"Do you think I wouldn't think of something you can think of?"

Lu Wenbin rolled his eyes. "The people at Taobao aren't useless. They saw through your tricks a long time ago!"

Qin Feng was astonished. "You saw through it?!"

"Yes, I hired someone who specializes in boosting online store ratings to four stars."

"As soon as I reached Diamond Level 3, my store was warned and demoted, and all my previous efforts were almost wasted."

Lu Wenbin sighed: "Taobao is cracking down hard now, it's not so easy to find loopholes."

Shen Mo remained unfazed. "Software-based order boosting is definitely out of the question. I remember there are those mutual order boosting groups, right?"

"Holy crap, you even knew that!"

Lu Wenbin was shocked, while Qin Feng and Yuan Hua, both laymen, looked at each other, completely bewildered.

What is a mutual boosting group?

"It's a group specifically created for manipulating credit scores."

Shen Mo said, "It's mostly Taobao merchants aiming for diamond or crown ratings, and there are also some people who specialize in taking orders and boosting sales."

"That's right. If anyone in the group wants to engage in fraudulent order placement, they can post a task directly."

"Those who participate in the 'brushing' process in the group, or merchants with the same needs, will take on the task."

"If A spends 10 yuan to buy something from B, and B also spends 10 yuan to buy something from A, and then they give each other good reviews..."

Lu Wenbin described it in detail.

Yuan Hua frowned and said, "That doesn't make sense. Even if it's mutual boosting, it can be detected by comparing IP addresses and usernames, right?"

"It's easy to be detected if two people are mutually boosting each other's accounts, so it's usually done by multiple people."

Lu Wenbin said, "A helps B to buy, B helps C to buy, C helps D to buy, and D then helps A to buy. This way, the risk of being detected by Taobao can be reduced."

Qin Feng exclaimed, "Holy crap, I'm truly impressed! How could they even come up with something like this!"

"The wisdom of the people is boundless."

Lu Wenbin grinned: "However, there's a threshold for these mutual boosting groups; you have to pay 30 yuan to join."

Yuan Hua gasped. "One person, 30... that's a high-level group! The group owner could collect five or six thousand!"

"These mutual boosting groups are actually not safe either."

Shen Mo glanced at the dormitory building not far away, "Because of the lack of a middleman to guarantee it, it's easy for customers to back out of their orders."

Qin Feng was puzzled: "Did you cancel the order?"

"It means someone helped you place an order, but you broke your promise and didn't reciprocate by sending them the items."

Lu Wenbin said, "Some people do take advantage of this loophole, especially when multiple people are mutually inflating each other's numbers, which makes the problem of order cancellations even more serious."

"Look, where there's a pain point, there's a need; where there's a need, there's our opportunity!"

If Shen Mo hadn't intended to teach, he wouldn't have explained it so meticulously.

"What are you planning to do?"

Yuan Hua, Qin Feng, and the others were tempted, their eyes filled with a desire for money.

………………

As soon as he returned to his dormitory, Lu Wenbin, who had been unable to contain himself, asked the question.

"Shen Mo, Brother Mo, since we're sharing the same spot, please tell us what to do?"

"Such a simple answer, and none of you figured it out?"

Shen Mo sat down in his seat and casually crossed his legs.

"Are you planning to act as the middleman for this guarantee, creating a website that connects brushers and merchants?"

After thinking it over along the way, Yuan Hua vaguely guessed his purpose.

Shen Mo nodded. "The platform can take a certain percentage of the transaction fee from each fraudulent transaction."

"Isn't this...isn't this just the middleman making a profit?"

Qin Feng scratched his head.

"Wrong! We call this platform-based empowerment!"

"Didn't Jack Ma create Taobao to allow buyers and sellers to trade on the platform?"

"What we do is essentially the same thing as what Jack Ma does."

Shen Mo corrected, "It's all about reconstructing the transaction chain, establishing a centralized platform, deeply integrating the needs of buyers and sellers, accurately addressing customer pain points, providing differentiated value for merchants and brushers, avoiding transaction friction, and ultimately achieving a perfect closed loop in the entire fake account chain, completing the efficient conversion and monetization of traffic..."

"Why is it that I understand each word individually, but not when they're put together?"

Qin Feng's eyebrows were twisted into a knot.

Yuan Hua shook his head: "I feel like a brain is growing back in my head."

"Alright, stop growing, or you'll go bald."

Shen Mo laughed and said, "You don't need to understand, just know that we can make money now."

Yuan Hua, Qin Feng, and the others said in unison, "If we become rich and powerful, let's not forget each other, Brother Mo!"

Shen Mo said, "Don't rush, Wenbin, can I borrow your account for a bit? I need to join the mutual boosting group to do some research."

Lu Wenbin looked completely bewildered. "Investigation...research?"

"Yes, before building the platform, I need to observe and analyze the operating models and underlying logic of our competitors."

"How does the group owner organize mutual boosting, assign tasks, and avoid being tracked by Taobao...?"

Shen Mo said, "More importantly, these people in the group are all our potential customers, and we must understand their needs thoroughly."

"That's like a heifer flying in an airplane, so awesome, Brother Mo!"

Everyone was stunned, feeling both confused and impressed.

Shen Mo's image in their minds instantly rose to a higher level.

Shen Mo repeatedly emphasized: "When building a platform, you must always understand the real needs of your users. When a user wants a horse, you need to understand why they want a horse. If it's for traveling, we can provide them with a vehicle, or even an airplane!"

"Why do you sound so different now that you've changed your hairstyle?"

Lu Wenbin was puzzled. "I'll get the same haircut as you someday."

"Don't get your hair done yet, hurry up and get on the registration form!"

Shen Mo chuckled and cursed, then turned on his computer.

QQ popped up immediately, and unlike before, the interface was now a solemn black and white.

Immediately afterwards, a pop-up window appeared in the lower right corner: "From May 19th to 21st, all online games under Tencent will shut down their servers and suspend operations for three days..."

Shen Mo sighed softly, his mind filled with countless thoughts, until the "beep beep beep" notification sound brought him back to his senses.

After leaving Liu Xin waiting for a long time, she finally shed her reserved and slow-to-warm-up facade, even becoming somewhat hysterical.

This was exactly the effect Shen Mo wanted—to deliver the final blow when she was at her wit's end.

[Silence is golden: No need, I don't have feelings for you anymore.]

While Liu Xin was still figuring out how to make Shen Mo apologize for his mistake, the words on the screen felt like a slap in the face.

No feeling?

These are clearly her lyrics!

It was in a Japanese restaurant, after enjoying sushi, that I said in a slightly apologetic tone, "Shen Mo, I feel like there's still something missing between us. I'm sorry."

She could only say such things to Shen Mo; how could Shen Mo dare to say them to her?

Liu Xin, having lost her composure, became enraged and her thumbs flew across the keyboard.

What did you say?

Are you serious?

[Shen Mo, do you know what you're saying?]

To everyone's surprise, Shen Mo immediately blocked and blacklisted him.

Liu Xin froze, her face showing a look of "I don't understand".

The silent man who always said good morning and good night and was always there for her, the boy she had manipulated, had actually blocked her.

Damn it! Even if it's about blocking, she should be the one to block Shen Mo first! How could it be the other way around?

"Liu Xin, are you alright?"

Du Manqing put down the book she was reading, "Becoming a Winner by Opening a Store on Taobao."

"I'm fine."

Liu Xin gritted her teeth. "I've blocked Shen Mo!"

"Blocked?" Du Manqing asked in surprise. "Why? You two were getting along perfectly well before..."

"Hmph, because he successfully angered me, I've decided to never speak to him again!"

Liu Xin tried her best to appear nonchalant. "You blocked me, huh? I'll block you too!"

Seeing this, Du Manqing sighed, took out her phone, opened Shen Mo's QQ, and after thinking for a long time, slowly typed.

[Half-Summer Breeze: Shen Mo, are you there?]

…………

PS: "沈" is an alternate form of "沉". "沈默是金" is the same as "沉默是金". In 2008, it was popular to use homophones of traditional Chinese characters as QQ nicknames.