Reborn in 2000, starting from the university website

The night the investment agreement was faxed out, the two computers in the dormitory were clattering with keyboards, and the campus network was still being updated.

In order to implement the review red lines that Su Muqing repeatedly warned about over the phone, the lights in dormitory 206 stayed on all night again.

Bai Yuhang didn't make everyone work hard and recklessly. Instead, he directed Wan Lianghao and Zhang Jian to rewrite the backend code logic and add a sensitive word blocking function.

While it's not yet possible to achieve future AI-powered intelligent recognition, even adding a simple keyword matching and blocking function to the backend would be a qualitative leap in the content moderation work of Renren.com, moving from a "handmade workshop" to "quasi-industrialization."

"Sixth Brother, will this thing work?" Zhang Jian asked, half a sausage dangling from his mouth, his finger hovering over the Enter key. "I'll give it a try."

"try."

With a wicked grin, Zhang Jian created a new post in his local test environment, typed out a string of profanities containing extremely high levels of profanity, and then pressed enter to submit.

After the new post was successfully submitted, the website page on the screen automatically refreshed and flashed. The string of dirty words instantly turned into a neat row of "***".

"Holy crap, it worked!" Wan Lianghao pushed up his glasses, pointing at the screen with glee. "Now the world is peaceful. From now on, anyone who acts up here will be turned into a star."

"The images still need to be checked by human eyes. I'll go to the internet cafe tomorrow and submit the new website code. That'll be the first step in the screening." Bai Yuhang rubbed his sore neck, feeling much more at ease.

At the same time, unsurprisingly, the "Blue Speed ​​Cup" section on the homepage of Renren.com also experienced a surge in traffic.

The offline selection competition for 36 franchised internet cafes in Harbin was fiercely contested, with the rosters and results of over a dozen champion teams being entered into the system in real time by Jiao Liwei and Liu Jing. Zhang Jian's "online lottery system," which he developed overnight and was originally intended as an auxiliary tool, unexpectedly became a major talking point.

Tens of thousands of college students sat in front of their computers, watching the live text broadcast of the lottery process on the webpage, constantly refreshing the event page on the school's intranet. Every time a team name was displayed, Zhang Jian would take a screenshot and post it on the homepage of the competition section, and the comment section below would be filled with cheers or groans.

This O2O model, which combines the smoky atmosphere of offline internet cafes with the real-time interaction of the online internet, is simply a game-changer in this era.

With over 200,000 users online simultaneously, and seeing the server load curve remaining as stable as a mountain despite its high levels, Bai Yuhang knew that the fire had truly been ignited.

On the morning of the third day, the sun was shining brightly.

Jiang Shuo was sitting in the corner of the canteen, eating rice porridge, pickled vegetables, boiled eggs, and munching on a steamed bun. Before he could even swallow, Jiao Liwei and Bai Yuhang lifted him up from either side.

"What are you doing? I haven't finished my steamed bun yet!" Jiang Shuo said, protecting his lunchbox with a wary look on his face.

"Stop eating, I have some important business to attend to." Without waiting for a reply, Jiao Liwei dragged him toward the China Construction Bank in the Bachelor's Building.

Upon reaching the counter, Bai Yuhang handed over a card and his ID card, gesturing for Jiang Shuo to come closer to take a look.

The female clerk at the counter took the card, typed a few times on the keyboard, and then suddenly stopped.

She looked up, her eyes a little glazed over, took off her glasses and wiped them, looked at the screen again, and made a clear swallowing sound.

"Sir, would you like to... check your balance?" The female employee's voice was trembling, which drew a few more glances from the tellers next to her.

"Yes, please tell me the number. My brother here has hearing problems." Bai Yuhang grinned mischievously and pointed to Jiang Shuo, who was pressed against the glass.

"Account balance...8,366,000 yuan."

The air froze for three seconds.

"How much...?"

Jiang Shuo's face was pressed against the bulletproof glass, distorted by the pressure, and steam rose and fell with each breath. He slowly turned his head, looking at Bai Yuhang, clearly stunned and speechless.

"Eight million three hundred and sixty-six thousand." Jiao Liwei repeated in his ear, then slapped him hard on the back. "Eighth Brother, don't faint. This money is yours to manage from now on. Who will keep the books if you faint?"

Jiang Shuo didn't faint; he was just frozen in place, staring intently at the bank card in the female teller's hand. His hands trembled as he reached into his pocket to retrieve the ledger he treasured, but after searching for a long time without success, he plopped down on the chair in front of the bank counter, grinning foolishly. As he laughed, tears began to stream down his face.

"We're rich now..."

Back in the dormitory, Jiang Shuo placed the deposit receipt he had retrieved from the bank in the center of the table, with two sausages placed next to it as offerings.

The entire group of 206 sat in a circle, no one spoke, except for Jiang Shuo who occasionally broke the silence with a "hehe" sound.

"The money's here, but this place is too small." Bai Yuhang lit a cigarette, breaking the silence. "Harbin is a good place, but the pool here is too shallow to nurture future internet unicorns. The winters here are too long, the internet is too slow, and it's too far removed from capital and talent."

He glanced at the crowd: "I've spoken with Zhang Lei; we're moving the headquarters to Beijing. Zhongguancun—only there will be the future battleground for the internet."

"Go to Beijing?" Yang Bo hesitated for a moment. "But what about the school..."

"I'm taking a leave of absence." Bai Yuhang uttered four words, as light as smoke yet as heavy as thunder. "I've already thought it through, and I'll complete the formalities in the next few days. We'll finish the competition finals and wrap things up properly. We'll take this eight million yuan and go to Beijing to make a big splash. If we succeed, we'll be legends in the Chinese internet world; if we lose, we can always come back and continue our studies. We're only freshmen; we can afford to lose."

The room was so quiet that the only sound was the water flowing through the heating pipes. Harbin Institute of Technology—a university that countless people would kill to get into; taking a break from studies to start a business sounds like madness in this day and age.

With a loud "bang".

Zhang Jian slammed a thick, brick-like book on data structures onto the floor, sending pages flying everywhere.

"Learn my ass!" Zhang Jian stood up, his eyes bloodshot. "The amount of code I learned and the projects I did in this year at school isn't even as much as what I wrote in this month with Lao Liu! I've been fed up with this crappy book for ages! I'm going to Beijing! I'm going to Zhongguancun to see if our technical skills are better, or if those overseas returnees' PPTs are better!"

"Count me in," Wan Lianghao said slowly and solemnly. "The Northeast is too cold. My family lives in Hainan, and I'm all alone in Harbin. My parents told me a few years ago that the coming-of-age ceremony for a Northeast child is getting a train ticket south. I was prepared for that. Going to school is just to find a job, and also, I want to see Tiananmen Square."

"I'm going too." Liu Jing chuckled. "My girlfriend throws tantrums at me every few days, saying I'm not doing anything productive and ignoring her. I can't stand being with her. I've heard the girls in Beijing are even prettier, and there are plenty of Shandong girls in Beijing too."

"I agree." Yang Bo sat up straight. "But if the company needs me to take the bar exam in the future, I can finish my undergraduate degree in college and then go to Beijing. If I can just do what I like in legal management, I can leave anytime."

"I'll go too. I have nothing to say. I'll do whatever you tell me to do. I trust us." Zhang Qingheng's personality is straightforward; he stated his position directly.

Jiao Liwei looked at his group of brothers, took a deep breath, and slammed his hand on the table: "Alright! Since Lao Liu dares to take the lead, we dare to follow! We can read this book anytime, but if we miss this entrepreneurial opportunity, we'll regret it for the rest of our lives! Let's decide, let's go to Beijing!"

Jiang Shuo finally realized what was happening. He grabbed the receipt on the table and looked at everyone warily: "Anywhere is fine, but I have to keep an eye on this money. I'll watch it very closely!"

Bai Yuhang looked at his brothers, whose eyes were burning with passion, and a smile appeared on his lips.

On this day of this year, eight young people in dormitory 206 made a crazy decision that was enough to change the landscape of the Chinese internet.