Reborn in 2000, starting from the university website

At 2 a.m., the CEO's office on the 16th floor of Hailong Building was still lit.

Bai Yuhang sat in front of his computer, using the Qihang email system, which was still in beta testing, typed an email in English, and clicked send. The recipients were Sheryl Sandberg and Shi Hongchao, who were far away across the ocean.

The email was brief, but every word hit the nail on the head. He finalized the equity structure for Facebook's registration in Delaware, USA.

Delaware, often referred to as the "first state" of the United States, was the first state to join the Union and is widely recognized as a safe haven for businesses. The state government's business registration information only requires the disclosure of company names, incorporation dates, registered addresses, and lists of executives such as CEOs and CFOs. Shareholder names and shareholding percentages are never disclosed; shareholder qualifications are based on internal company contracts and do not need to be disclosed before a company goes public. Furthermore, Delaware offers corporate income tax breaks.

The company was just starting out in the US, which was exactly what Bai Yuhang needed.

The actual equity distribution was clearly stated in the email attachment: Bai Yuhang held 94 percent of the shares, Shi Hongchao held 1 percent (non-dilutable), and Shirley held 5 percent (non-dilutable but with a five-year exercise period).

Bai Yuhang leaned back in his swivel chair and lit a cigarette.

Shirley was a fierce lioness, perfectly suited to be thrust into the limelight to deal with Wall Street capital and Washington politicians. But the reins had to be firmly in his own hands. Delaware's secrecy mechanism was the first shackle he placed around Shirley's neck, the second being the five-year vesting period, which could also incentivize her to continue contributing to the company.

In addition to the equity agreement, the email also included a 100-day on-the-ground promotion plan for Ivy League universities in North America. This was Bai Yuhang's operational blueprint for the on-the-ground promotion model that originated in Harbin, China, after localization and modification, which he then directly handed over to Shirley.

Ten minutes later, a new email notification popped up in the lower right corner of the computer screen from the Qihang email system.

From: Sheryl Sandberg.

The main text consists of only a few concise and impactful English letters: "Deal made, get it done immediately."

Bai Yuhang exhaled a smoke ring and stubbed out his cigarette. The game on the other side of the ocean had been completely turned around.

At 2 a.m. the next morning, the vast majority of netizens across the country were still asleep.

The sound of keyboards suddenly stopped in the office area of ​​Qihang Technology's technical department.

Zhang Jian, sporting two enormous dark circles under his eyes, hovered his finger over the Enter key and turned to look at Bai Yuhang standing to the side.

"Mr. Bai, shall we go?"

"Knock." Bai Yuhang was sparing with his words.

Zhang Jian pressed Enter heavily.

Instantly, all users across the country who attempted to access xiaonei.com were smoothly redirected to a brand new double-pinyin domain name—hainei.com—without their knowledge.

A visually striking banner announcement was displayed in the most prominent position on the website's homepage.

"Xiaonei.com has been officially renamed HaiNei.com - 'A bosom friend afar brings a distant land near.'"

Standing behind Zhang Jian, Liu Zhi stared at the fluctuating data on the screen, his eyes brimming with barely suppressed excitement. How long had it been since he and his team arrived from Shenzhen? He had witnessed firsthand the rise of a social empire with tens of millions of users, officially breaking through the walls of the campus and opening its jaws to the vast ocean of nationwide social networking. This speed was unimaginable in Shenzhen before, and even further back in Silicon Valley's tech giants.

"Mr. Zhang, haven't we broken through the ceiling of domestic social networking?" Liu Zhi's voice trembled, revealing a sense of triumphant pride.

Zhang Jian took a swig of Red Bull, grinned, and said, "Old Liu, you're being narrow-minded. So what if we expose this? We're building a new edifice for the domestic internet."

At 7 a.m., early risers began logging onto the Shanghai intranet, QQ, and the Qihang Navigation Station and Music Station.

Soon, someone noticed the change.

The page has been updated with several dynamic graphics cards, seamlessly integrated into the news feed banners and sidebar in an extremely refined manner.

No pop-ups flying all over the screen, no annoying patches that can't be closed.

This seemingly ordinary GG presentation is actually the result of the extreme tension between three forces within Qihang.

Zhang Xiaolong's pixel-perfect, obsessive-compulsive aesthetic sense, Zhang Jian's programming skills, and Su Muqing's iron-fisted business logic—these three parties, through their interplay, ultimately achieved a perfect balance that is both eye-catching and does not compromise the user's smooth browsing experience.

Just a few days ago, the atmosphere in the conference room was not so harmonious.

Su Muqing slammed several USB drives containing GG materials onto the conference table, opposite the marketing directors of several clients, including Lenovo and Wahaha.

"Too outdated! Too screen-consuming! For domestic online betting, it's GG. We have to redo it according to our UI standards." Su Muqing placed her hands on the table, her tone leaving no room for argument.

Lenovo's marketing director immediately objected: "Mr. Su, we've spent real money. Usually when we advertise Google Ads on Sina and Sohu, we just say where to put it, how big to put it, we provide the image and the link, and they just quote a price."

"They are them, and we are us." Su Muqing chuckled, her gaze sweeping over the group opposite her. "Can they give you precise exposure to ten million young people? When you list on Qihang and Google Play, you have to follow our rules. If you modify your UI according to Director Zhang Xiaolong's specifications, I guarantee the conversion rate will make your boss laugh in his sleep. If you're unwilling to modify..."

She gestured for him to leave: "Turn right after you leave, and the finance department will immediately return the money to the original payment method."

Several client directors exchanged bewildered glances. They had assumed that money made them bosses, but this female college student had completely humiliated them. Faced with the lure of millions of views and their boss's demands, they could only grit their teeth and call their graphic designers that very night, yelling at them to redo the designs.

Now, looking at the high-end GG position on the page, Zhang Jian gave a thumbs up towards Su Muqing's office: "I'm truly impressed by how Ms. Su made money while standing up."

Besides the name change and GG, attentive users quickly discovered an inconspicuous new icon button in the navigation bar of HaiNei.com.

It says two words: Game.

Without any fanfare, it was quietly launched.

Curious users clicked on it and discovered that there was no need to download a massive client file of tens of megabytes. It was a Flash-based web game that loaded instantly in the browser.

In the main conference room of the office area, Wan Lianghao and his secret development team of nearly forty people from the game department were staring intently at the concurrent data in the backend.

"Fourth brother, is this thing you secretly put together going to work?" Jiang Shuo strolled over and said, "It's cost the company a lot of money and bandwidth."

Wan Lianghao rubbed his red eyes, pointed at the number of online users on the screen that was multiplying, and chuckled in his thick Northeastern accent.

"Little Eight, don't worry. This thing will definitely be our most powerful money-printing machine in the future."

On this seemingly ordinary morning, Qihang Technology quietly ushered in a new era for domestic web games.