The world is in trouble

Chapter 270 Breaking Records! Ushering in a New Era!

A lot has happened in the past six months.

First, "The Squid Game" was released throughout East Asia and achieved unprecedented success.

It achieved phenomenal ratings in Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.

Lee Jung-jae, who starred in the film, instantly became the most popular male actor in all of Asia.

This drama was not originally intended to be introduced to China, but it went very smoothly and was successfully broadcast on Zhejiang TV, Shanghai TV, and Jiangnan TV.

It's difficult to predict the ratings for this drama.

Because it's a completely different kind of TV series.

Currently, a trend has emerged in domestic TV dramas: they are becoming longer and slower-paced.

"The Squid Game" only has ten episodes (one more than in history), and the total investment reached nearly ten million US dollars.

The Lightning Group, including the three major TV stations, are actually quite worried that domestic audiences cannot handle the pace of TV dramas.

The Yangtze River Delta region (Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai) is already the most developed area, so it was premiered on these three satellite TV channels.

After the playback...

The word-of-mouth just exploded!
For countless viewers, it was as if a door to a new world had been opened.

Who opened the door to a new world for young Chinese viewers? American TV series like *Prison Break* and *Lost*.

This fast-paced, suspenseful, and tightly plotted style of American dramas immediately captivated countless viewers. So much so that many even felt a sense of superiority watching American dramas and looked down on those who watched domestic Chinese dramas.

To be honest, the pacing of American TV series like "Prison Break" and "Lost" is truly amazing and unique.

but?
At that time, "Prison Break" had not yet entered the Chinese market, nor had it flooded the internet world; it had only just been released in the United States last year.

"Squid Game" opened the door to this new world.

That really sparked a heated discussion.

Moreover, this TV series was first broadcast in Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan before its reputation spread domestically.

In all four markets, it undisputedly achieved the highest annual viewership ratings.

Then, they returned to China.

There is still a cultural gap when it comes to "Prison Break," since it is entirely dubbed in English.

The story of "Squid Game" is set in a completely fictional economy with highly developed capitalism, but the location is not specified.

In South Korea, it's dubbed in Korean.

In Japan, it's dubbed in Japanese.

In Hong Kong, Taiwan, and mainland China, it's dubbed in Mandarin.

As a result, the show still achieved the highest ratings for the year among satellite TV channels in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai.

It's a pity that it couldn't break the viewership records of "Lurking" and "Bright Sword", but the level of discussion it generated online far exceeded those records.

....................................

Another thing is that the number of online players for "Zhu Xian" has repeatedly broken new records.

The peak number of concurrent online users this year exceeded 60!
This number may not seem very high, but it is actually phenomenal because it is a subscription-based game, not a free-to-play game.

Even this year, most players' computer configurations still make it difficult to play this game smoothly.

However, in May, World of Warcraft began its closed beta test.

This was about a year later than in history; under Lin Xiao's guidance, the game was torn apart for a full 16 months.

On June 23, World of Warcraft completed its closed beta test.

Just seven days later, on June 30, World of Warcraft began its open beta test.

Then, the peak number of online users exceeded 500,000 in a short period of time!

Then began the long years of struggle between World of Warcraft and Jade Dynasty players.

World of Warcraft players started looking down on players of Jade Dynasty, and of course, they looked down on players of almost every other game.

However, Jade Dynasty is currently the best representative of online games in China.

"Look at the CG of World of Warcraft, that's what you call stunning and awesome. Compared to that, the CG of Jade Dynasty pales in comparison."

"World of Warcraft's game mechanics are ten years ahead of Jade Dynasty."

"The world view of World of Warcraft is grand and magnificent, ten years ahead of Jade Dynasty."

"Admittedly, Jade Dynasty may be better in some aspects of graphics, but World of Warcraft presents a more imaginative and visually impactful fantasy world."

Players of "Zhu Xian" began to feel indignant and tried their best to fight back.

"Is Blizzard your father or your grandfather? Why are you praising the Americans so much?"

"No matter how awesome World of Warcraft is, it's still an American game. But Jade Dynasty is a domestic game, a national game."

"In my opinion, 'Zhu Xian' is already very good. It's just a bunch of people who worship foreign things."

Meanwhile, World of Warcraft fans sneered.

Is it so hard to acknowledge that others are excellent? Only by facing the gap can we strive to catch up.

"When Jade Dynasty stops using the term 'domestic game' and 'national game' to justify its existence, that's when domestic games will truly rise to prominence."

"Lightning Games doesn't know anything else but playing the patriotism card and waving the national flag. Save it, your idol, Master Er Gou, has already fled to the United States and is in debt for a billion dollars. You filial sons and grandsons of Master Er Gou, hurry up and play more 'Zhu Xian' and recharge your game cards, otherwise your idol will have to sell his ass in the United States to pay off his debts."

The people involved in this online battle are no longer just World of Warcraft players, but also include a large number of public intellectuals.

Lin Xiao didn't have the energy to pay attention to this war of words because he was too busy to keep up.

But he was quite helpless about this result.

First of all, he himself is a fan of World of Warcraft, having played it for several years in his previous life.

He's not only a fan of World of Warcraft, but also a fan of Blizzard Entertainment.

He himself saw it most clearly: although "Zhu Xian" was excellent, especially in terms of picture quality, it was slightly better.

However, both the game mechanics and the world view are indeed different from World of Warcraft.

This is determined by the original worldview framework, after all, it cannot deviate too much from the original novel "Zhu Xian".

Moreover, World of Warcraft is a global game with a much larger world view, extending to the universe and various voids.

While "Zhu Xian" has made great efforts to expand its world-building, it still has limitations, being rooted in national characteristics.

However, there was one thing that frustrated Lin Xiao.

That is national inferiority complex and cultural inferiority complex.

After World of Warcraft's open beta launch, it sparked huge discussions and achieved great success. When comparing the two, players of Jade Dynasty instinctively felt inferior.

Moreover, when the two sides engage in verbal battles, they can only talk about national games and domestically produced games, and they can only play the patriotism card.

On the contrary, World of Warcraft fans strolled around more leisurely, filled with a sense of superiority.

Of course, the most crucial reason for this is what a public intellectual said.

World of Warcraft is a global phenomenon, while Jade Dynasty is a game that Chinese players enjoy themselves.

In one sentence, he left the players of "Zhu Xian" speechless.

Therefore, even though Lin Xiao tried every means to delay World of Warcraft for more than a year, once it was released for public testing, Jade Dynasty was still greatly suppressed in terms of momentum.

With the open beta launch of World of Warcraft, the peak concurrent player count of Jade Dynasty declined.

The number of online users dropped from a peak of 60 to 50, and then to 40.

NetEase is not like The9; it's much more powerful. Moreover, at this time, NetEase was also quite powerful in terms of public opinion, with a certain faction dominating its public opinion direction for a long time.

Therefore, many players of "Zhu Xian" were filled with curiosity when they saw the momentum of "World of Warcraft" and went to play "World of Warcraft".

Some people stayed in World of Warcraft, while others returned to Jade Dynasty.

After a decline in online players for more than a month, the number of online players for "Zhu Xian" has started to rise again, once again reaching 500,000.

In fact, the number of online players is exactly the same as that of World of Warcraft, but in terms of popularity, it has always been suppressed by the other party.

Around the same time, another game from Lightning Games began its closed beta test.

Dungeon Fighter Online.

Countless players rushed into the game with great expectations, only to find it was a side-scrolling game, and immediately started cursing.

Hey!
This is 2006, not 1996.

What the hell kind of game is this? Is it the graphics of a NES game?

Do you still want the "Lightning Game" brand?

When you were making "Zhu Xian", you were full of passion and did your best to build up the graphics and world-building. But after you couldn't beat "World of Warcraft", you served up a pile of crap.

When I opened the game, the graphics were so bad I thought I was playing an arcade game.

In an instant, the entire internet was filled with insults and profanities.

Everyone was secretly delighted. Had Lightning Corporation finally fallen? Lightning Games was about to suffer a major setback.

After "Zhu Xian", we all thought you would definitely come up with an even more amazing work, but this is what you got?
He really pooped a big one.

On the Lightning Games side, they remained silent, letting countless people hurl insults at them.

After the first closed beta test, the internal beta test began immediately.

In terms of maturity, this game is exceptionally mature. Its technical difficulty is not high to begin with; it relies entirely on its game mechanics.

Moreover, he started developing it several months earlier than "Zhu Xian".

We've tested it countless times within the company; it's as perfect as it gets. We could have launched it a long time ago, but we're only officially launching it now, purely for the company's strategic purposes and to maximize profits.

As a result, amidst a chorus of curses and insults...

The entire company watched as the peak concurrent player count for Dungeon Fighter Online skyrocketed.

Three hundred thousand, five hundred thousand!
Six hundred thousand is the highest record in Jade Dynasty, and it took more than a year to reach that number.

result……

Dungeon Fighter Online broke 60 views with its eyes closed.

Then, it kept soaring.

700,000, 800,000, 900,000...

At the end of August, it surpassed one million peak concurrent users.

Lightning Games and Lightning Corporation were completely stunned.

Holy crap... what's going on?

World of Warcraft is so awesome, it currently boasts a peak concurrent player count of 55.

How did Dungeon Fighter Online, a game that is so widely criticized, manage to easily surpass one million concurrent online players?

The entire internet cafe was filled with people playing Dungeon Fighter Online.

Moreover, many of these people are high school students or factory workers.

They don't talk, they don't argue, they just play quietly and spend money quietly.

Xia Xi couldn't help but call Lin Xiao: "Dungeon Fighter Online's peak concurrent player count has surpassed one million, breaking the record!"

Lin Xiao only said two words: "Holy shit."

No one was prepared; the highest online player record in Chinese online games was broken.

It happened so suddenly.

Then, an article appeared online: Chinese games are finished, Chinese players are only suited to playing trash!
This article cites a lot of data.

Over the past five years, the highest number of concurrent online players for an online game was set by "Legend of Mir," reaching 63 in 2003.

This record stood for a full three years.

Although "Miracle" was a huge hit, it was still a long way from this record.

The rapid rise of "Perfect World" at the time gave people hope of breaking this record, but it came to an abrupt end when the peak number of concurrent users exceeded 38. What happened after that is known to everyone.

The peak concurrent online users of "Zhu Xian" exceeded 60, which is undoubtedly exciting, but it did not break this record.

However, two games broke this record this year.

68 players in "Zhengtu"!

This result is already disheartening, because this is a terrible game.

Then came an even worse game, Dungeon Fighter Online, which peaked at over one million concurrent players, setting a new record.

These are truly disheartening numbers.

World of Warcraft, an epic masterpiece, only had a peak concurrent player count of 55, even though it broke numerous records worldwide.

In China, however, the games that consistently set records are always trashy games.

Wild boars can't eat fine chaff, so are Chinese gamers only fit to play trash games?

This is a barren desert where towering trees cannot grow; only thorns and shrubs can grow here.

Lightning Group has fallen, and so has Cult Leader Er Gou!

..........................................

This article has generated a huge response.

This has also prompted reflection among countless elites.

Immediately afterwards, another wave of public opinion was stirred up.

Lightning Group is rapidly becoming mediocre.

On the Collapse of the Two Dogs Cult Leader's Banner.

It must be said that in just one year, the public intellectuals have been making continuous strides in online public opinion.

Their momentum is growing increasingly fierce!
Instead, Lightning Group entered a phase of quietly making a fortune.

It's strange, though, that Facebook was at its most powerful in China.

Currently, Facebook has over 70 million registered users in China, with approximately 20 million daily active users.

In the social networking field, it is the absolute leader.

Renren's daily active users are less than a quarter of Facebook's.

However, due to Microsoft's prestigious brand, MSN's high-end image, and the emergence of one pretentious internet celebrity after another, it was not a problem.

Renren.com has now become a synonym for high-class.

A large number of famous models and writers from Hong Kong and Taiwan flocked to Renren.com and MSN.

Gradually, the landscape shifted to one where Renren was a high-end social networking site, while Facebook was a low-end mass-market social networking site.

However, the name Renren.com really drags down the website's so-called high-class image.

It has to be said, foreign capital really knows how to show off.

Why don't you change your name to Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book)?

Faced with a continuously declining prestige and reputation, there is some panic within the Lightning Group.

However, the Google, Microsoft, Blizzard, and public intellectual factions relentlessly attacked Lightning Group. Despite Lightning Group's impressive achievements to date.

But... we can't compete with others in terms of public opinion power when it comes to showing off. These high-end foreign giants are infiltrating the domestic public opinion system more and more fiercely.

As a result, countless posts appeared on the Facebook community once again.

Come back, Master Er Gou!

Only you can stop the Lightning Corporation from becoming mediocre, only you can stop the Lightning Corporation from falling into decline.

Under this kind of public opinion guidance, even Facebook fans and fans of Er Gou Jiaozhu were led by the other side's public opinion to believe that the Lightning system was becoming mediocre and decadent.

One day, Ning Hao called me.

"Master, would you like to attend the premiere of 'Let the Bullets Fly'?"

His meaning was clear: this movie would be quite high-class. Er Gou's attendance at the premiere wasn't exactly a comeback, but since he wrote the script, it could salvage some of his reputation.

Lin Xiao: "I'm not going."

Ning Hao: "Understood."

Then, he hesitated for a moment, but ultimately didn't say anything.

But even though he didn't say it, Lin Xiao knew.

The issue is the control of the film "Let the Bullets Fly," even though Ning Hao is the director and Jiang Wen is the lead actor.

But in the end, Jiang Wen still took the lead; he was more like the director.

Needless to say, Lu Chuan's "Looking for a Gun" is another story. Even Zhang Guoshi's "Keep Cool" is a film with such a big name as director, yet Jiang Wen still managed to take a lot of control.

................................................

8 Month 30 Day!
Huayi Brothers' big-budget production, Feng Xiaogang's "The Banquet," has been released.

On September 2, "Let the Bullets Fly" held a grand premiere.

rave reviews.

Many reporters believe that Er Gou will appear at the premiere, as this is arguably the most important film for Flash Entertainment.

Moreover, this is also the script written by Er Gou, the cult leader.

However, Lin Xiao did not appear at the premiere.

On September 10, "Let the Bullets Fly" was officially released.

Ultimately, the film's box office totaled around 3.9 million.

Although it did not break the box office record for domestic films, it was undoubtedly a great success.

The key is not only its box office success, but also its explosive word-of-mouth.

Feng Xiaogang's "The Banquet" ultimately grossed around 1.6 million yuan and received extremely poor reviews.

During the interview, the reporter couldn't help but mention Er Gou, and brought up a comparison between the two movies.

Feng Xiaogang angrily retorted: "What does 'Let the Bullets Fly' have to do with Er Gou? It's entirely Jiang Lao's work."

"Look at the actors in there: Jiang Wen, Zhou Runfa, Ge You!"

"Look at the square footage, China Film Group, isn't it great? Lightning Entertainment."

"Er Gou's fans, stop patting yourselves on the back and taking Jiang Wen's achievements as your own."

"You all know Er Gou's works, right? 'Crazy Stone' and 'The End of the World' are just popcorn movies. What kind of style do they have?"

"What's shameful about me losing to Teacher Jiang?"

Wang Shuo also emphasized this point during the interview.

"Let the Bullets Fly has Jiang Wen's flavor from beginning to end. Go ask Ning Hao, go ask Er Gou, do they have the nerve to say that this movie is theirs?"

Afterwards, the reporter actually interviewed director Ning Hao.

Director Ning Hao: "Yes, this film has little to do with us; it's mostly the work of Professor Jiang Wen."

"I don't think it matters. As long as the audience is satisfied and we can leave a good work in film history, that's the most important thing."

"Our biggest focus at Lightning Entertainment is Kung Fu Panda. After nearly two years of production, if everything goes smoothly, it may be released by the end of the year."

"Master Er Gou poured a lot of effort into Kung Fu Panda, building the team and constructing the world view almost from scratch."

"We have high hopes for this film. We hope it will break through the ceiling of the Chinese film market and bring a huge breakthrough to the Chinese film industry."

..........................................

During these six months, Lin Xiao continued to travel all over the world.

After getting on track with chip design, we began to focus on another key area: LCD screens.

The negotiations between Sony and Sharp were extremely difficult.

Because it requires too high specifications.

Both parties stated that, at the normal pace, the mobile phone screens requested by Lin Xiao could be supplied on a large scale within three years.

However, Lin Xiao requested a year and a half later, but both parties said it was completely impossible.

The screen of the first-generation iPhone was provided by Sharp and LG, and it was only 320P.

In Sharp's view, this is already very impressive. As a Chinese mobile phone manufacturer, you haven't even started making mobile phones yet, and you want a 480P screen? Isn't that wishful thinking?

Lin Xiao went to see LG again.

After repeated discussions, they managed to get help from Masayoshi Son, Lee Mi-kyung, and others.

Ultimately, after countless rounds of negotiations...

The result was a custom-made solution!
Sharp commissioned Lin Xiao to customize a batch of 720*480 resolution high-definition screens, totaling more than 500 million.

Manufactured before 2008.

For this, Lin Xiao would need to pay a much, much greater cost.

Moreover, prepayment is required.

As a result, Lin Xiao's wallet was emptied even more.

It took several months to overcome the challenge of high-definition screens.

Next, they were stumped by another problem.

3G baseband chip.

The first-generation iPhone was 2G, but Lin Xiao would never release a 2G phone, otherwise what kind of smartphone would that be?

But now there's a problem: who can we get this baseband chip from?

Qualcomm?! Broadcom?
They're not happy about it because you didn't approach anyone else in the first place with SOC.

MediaTek?
It's not impossible, but its technology has never been particularly advanced, and other companies prefer to sell the SOC and baseband chip together.

Lin Xiao then flew to Germany and contacted Infineon.

And what happened? Infineon's current baseband chips are only 2G, and if they want 3G baseband chips, they'll have to wait more than a year.

Most importantly, Infineon directly rejected Lin Xiao because it had signed an exclusive agreement with Apple.

Of course, he can still buy Qualcomm or MediaTek.

But... it would be best if Texas Instruments could handle it themselves.

Texas Instruments is extremely strong in the field of 2G baseband chips, ranking among the top two in the world.

However, it began to decline across the board in the 3G field.

This time, the negotiations between Lin Xiao and Texas Instruments were much more conciliatory.

“We are also working on 3G baseband chips, but the progress may not be satisfactory to you because there are many patents that cannot be bypassed. As long as we do it, we will have to pay a lot of patent fees to companies such as Qualcomm.”

"There are two options now. The first is for you to directly purchase 3G baseband chips from other mature companies. The second is for us to accelerate the research and development of 3G baseband chips, and you will continue to share the relevant results, but you will have to pay more."

Lin Xiao then flew to Taiwan to talk with MediaTek.

The other party's attitude was rather lukewarm. Firstly, Lin Xiao hadn't chosen MediaTek for the SOC. Secondly, MediaTek's baseband chips were currently in extremely high demand; countless manufacturers were struggling to keep up with shipments, let alone with Lin Xiao's high expectations and numerous requests.

So Lin Xiao flew back to China.

I visited Huawei, but it still didn't work.

Although the other party has already started this work, it will take a long time before the finished product is available.

Historically, a solution wasn't available until 09, and even then, it was only for low-end GSM devices.

Then, Lin Xiao went to the capital and visited Zhan Xun.

Spreadtrum started its research on baseband chips relatively early and is quite advanced, but its research progress on 3G baseband chips cannot keep up with Lin Xiao's needs.

After going around in circles, it all comes down to a few giants like Siemens (Infineon), MediaTek, and Qualcomm.

This is fucking difficult!
..............................

Ultimately, meeting after meeting was held!

Both plans will be implemented simultaneously.

First, provide more funding so that Texas Instruments can continue to invest heavily in baseband chip R&D and share in the success. Moreover, having the SOC and baseband chip from the same company yields the best results. There's a reason why Apple has consistently been criticized for poor signal strength.

Moreover, Texas Instruments was the global leader in the 2G era, and its technological accumulation is still very strong.

Secondly, if we really can't keep up with the schedule, we can just spend money to buy from giants like Qualcomm. In that case, we might have to be quite humble.

So, they added more money!

We are collaborating with Texas Instruments once again.

Lin Xiao had managed to borrow $8 million, but a large portion of it was spent.

The key issue is that the progress is unknown.

Exhausted once again, I returned to China and arrived in Ningbo in mid-October.

Lian Zheng led Lin Xiao to a group of buildings.

Everything is new.

Eight months ago, when Lin Xiao came, it was still an empty plot of land.

There are already more than a dozen buildings, and construction is still in full swing.

In just eight months, a large complex of buildings had sprung up.

The highway is newly built, and the infrastructure is already in place.

Electricity supply, tap water supply, internet supply, gas supply, and so on.

All the infrastructure is top-notch.

The land directly allocated to Lin Xiao amounted to several hundred acres, of which several dozen acres had already been developed.

That's incredibly fast.

In the year since Lien Cheng took office, he has only done this one thing. Putting aside the land cost, the infrastructure, building construction, and other supporting facilities alone have cost hundreds of millions.

And now, the brand name has finally been decided.

Countless meetings were held for this mobile phone brand.

The brand name of a mobile phone is really important.

Apple, Blackberry, Xiaomi, etc., can be considered a series.

Nubia, NOVA, OPPO, and vivo can also be considered part of the same group.

Lenovo, Huawei, and Honor can be considered as one group.

OnePlus, Smartisan, and Meizu seem to belong to the same group.

The first naming option was immediately rejected; Lin Xiao didn't want to follow Apple's lead.

The second option was also directly rejected.

The naming convention of VIVO and OPPO is quite successful, especially in third- and fourth-tier cities, where they were initially perceived as Korean brands.

Nubia, on the other hand, was unsuccessful, falling into a neither-here-nor-there situation. NOVA, however, was a success, with a catchy and memorable name, but it's only suitable as a sub-brand, as it has a very strong feminine feel.

Ultimately, the entire X Research Institute voted.

Names such as Galaxy, Lightning, Boundary Inquiry, Quantum, and Phantom have entered the shortlist.

In the end, quantum mechanics won!

Quantum phone!

Quantum technology!

........................

10 Month 15 Day!
Inside the empty office building.

Lin Xiao led his core team of thirteen people in his third entrepreneurial venture.

In addition, there is a mayor.

Lin Xiao was busy in the kitchen, making his specialty: preserved mustard greens with pork.

Fifteen bowls of rice were served.

Then, each bowl of white rice is topped with a layer of steamed pork with preserved mustard greens.

After a slight hesitation, I added a little more bird's eye chili. It looked a bit odd, but it looked nice.

Then he went to make coffee.

"I'll do it, I'll do it..."

“These beans are very expensive, don’t waste them.” Wu Di couldn’t help himself and wheeled over to grind the beans one by one and then make hand-drip coffee.

Ten minutes later!
Each person received a rice bowl with preserved mustard greens and pork.

A Blue Mountain No. 1 hand-drip coffee.

"Rice bowl in the left hand, coffee in the right!"

"A fusion of East and West!"

"Brothers, our quantum technology is officially established!"

"Our quantum phone brand has been officially established!"

"cooked rice!"

"Coffee!"

"Embark on a new journey, a new era!"

Lin Xiao raised his glass high, and everyone else did the same.

"Long live the Cult Leader!"

Long live quantum phones!