The world is in trouble

Chapter 296 Wu Lingxi's Sacrifice! Seize the Day!
This was probably the most ferocious Lin Xiao had ever been, or rather, the most ferocious one Lin Xiao had ever been.

It was truly like a battle between two lions, with both sides giving it their all.

Both of them were full of aggression, using every part of their bodies as weapons, as if they wanted to kill each other, or as if they wanted to crush each other and devour each other alive.

He also learned for the first time what it meant to overspend recklessly, as if his soul was about to become empty.

I don’t know how much time has passed.

Lin Xiao lay sprawled on the carpet, motionless, like a dead dog.

His body was covered in countless scars, some from scratches, others from teeth.

Both of them felt pain all over their bodies.

It was as if it had been suppressed for several years and then completely exploded.

There's a feeling that there's no tomorrow.

Wu Lingxi struggled to raise her hand, and after several attempts, she finally picked up the bottled water next to her. She gargled in her mouth first, and then swallowed it in one gulp.

Then, he drank the entire bottle of water in one gulp.

She then tried to get up to go to the bathroom, but after a couple of attempts, she remained lying still.

After a while, I mustered up my strength, pulled out a few sheets of paper, and wiped myself haphazardly.

"Scumbag..."

"hypocritical……"

"damn thing……"

She couldn't help but curse a few times.

Lin Xiao understood her meaning instantly once again.

Wu Lingxi's curses came from the bottom of her heart.

Lin Xiao, you scoundrel! Weren't you playing the lovey-dovey card with Xiao Momo and Lian Yi? And now you're sleeping with me?
So utterly despicable.

But what happened? You had the chance to sleep with me at least three or four years ago, but you didn't. And when I took the initiative to sleep with you, you didn't refuse; instead, you were even wilder than me.

How hypocritical!
Hypocritical scoundrel.

No man is any good, and you are no exception.

Or rather, you're especially dog-like.

Then, looking at Lin Xiao, who was sprawled on the carpet like a dead dog, even curled up in a ball.

Wu Lingxi gave a cold laugh and couldn't help but kick him, then stomped on him hard.

"It hurts..."

"Can't you step on somewhere else? It's broken..."

Wu Lingxi sneered: "Your figure is really bad..."

In fact, Lin Xiao has a very good figure, with a slender build, slightly thin, and thin skin.

This was probably what Wu Lingxi liked the most, and even what she desired most.

"Not robust at all..."

"Well, the dog-waist shape is alright, I guess..."

"But when I looked in the mirror just now, you looked just like a dog."

Lin Xiao raised his eyes and looked at Wu Lingxi's body.

Her looks are top-notch, and her figure is probably top-notch too.

Practicing yoga, or even fitness, brings a sense of strength, but more importantly, it brings a graceful and charming physique.

And to make matters worse, she was tall and fair-skinned.

It was truly as white as snow.

Many years ago, she had a slightly wheatish complexion, somewhat similar to the skin tone of girls in the United States, but now she has a pure, cool white complexion.

A woman should look good to those who please her.

"It's only because it's so white that it caters to your twisted aesthetic."

Lin Xiao suddenly tasted blood in his mouth. He reached out and wiped his teeth, and sure enough, there was a trace of blood.

Oh shit!

The woman's teeth chipped his lip, and he even bit it raw.

After gathering her strength for a while, Wu Lingxi stood up and walked towards the bathroom.

I took a nice, hot bath and soaked in it for a while.

Then, she went straight to Lin Xiao, squatted down with her beautiful body, and said with a mocking tone, "You dead dog, are you sleeping on the floor tonight? Want me to give you a blanket?"

Lin Xiao waved his hand.

Wu Lingxi put on a silk nightgown in front of the mirror and kicked Lin Xiao with her foot: "I'm going back to my room."

"Our fate has come to an end for now."

"Don't bother me, and don't even think about doing this a second time."

"I have exhausted everything I have for you, including my emotions."

Then, Wu Lingxi left gracefully and returned to her room.

It took her a tremendous amount of willpower to leave.

After the madness, what an irresistible temptation it is to fall asleep in a tender embrace.

but……

In order to avoid having his will corrupted, or rather, to keep the relationship aggressive, full of intense novelty and attraction.

She was incredibly aggressive when she attacked.

They were also very decisive when they withdrew.

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

In early August, Lin Xiao left the United States and returned to China to attend the world-renowned opening ceremony of the Olympic Games.

This opening ceremony, just like in history, completely amazed the world.

Throughout the broadcast, Lin Xiao and Xia Xi appeared briefly, for about a second.

Then, this image was captured and appeared on many websites.

Of course, it's not a scandal or any other news.

This image was accompanied by a title.

"Will he never appear again?"

For some reason, this single title has evoked sadness in countless people.

Yes, the symbol of "Master Er Gou" will remain, and may even become more and more prominent.

But is this person, this face, really going to disappear completely?

They will not appear in public anymore.

They certainly wouldn't directly express their opinions or emotions to countless people anymore.

It started on the itch website and continued until the summer of 2005.

Er Gou, the cult leader, has always been there, and continues to create miracles.

Suddenly one day, due to a relationship accident, he disappeared from everyone's sight.

But almost everyone felt that this was a temporary departure and that he would definitely come back.

But to my surprise, he really didn't come back.

Moreover, he probably won't come back in the future.

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

"Am I really going to be overtaken by that woman?" Xia Xi was filled with resentment.

Because right now there's a huge global buzz about Facebook's plans to list on Nasdaq, and it's even said that the president of Nasdaq personally requested the listing.

Global media outlets are speculating about the market capitalization of Facebook when it goes public overseas.

The current general estimate is around $300 billion.

This far surpasses the Lightning Group.

However, Lightning Group has been around for six years, and those six years have been marked by rapid growth. In contrast, Facebook overseas has only been around for four years, with Wu Lingxi leading the company for only three of those years.

As a result, its market value exceeded the total value of the entire Lightning Group. Is the outside world really that good and that awesome?

It's important to know that Lightning Corporation owns some of the best assets, including Lightning Entertainment, Frostfall Productions, Lightning Games, and Facebook.

Without WeChat, Lightning Group would probably never have become a top-tier behemoth, and would always have lagged behind Alibaba, Tencent, and even JD.com.

Lin Xiao: "Soon, soon..."

"Once WeChat succeeds, you'll be able to keep up with that damned woman Wu Lingxi again."

"In the future, you will also lead the most powerful behemoth."

Xia Xi turned her head and asked, "Are you asleep?"

Damn, do you have to be so sensitive?

However, Xia Xi quickly changed the subject, not wanting to talk about it any further.

"By the way, Perfect World has been revived," Xia Xi said. "President Chi bought it back and remade it."

Lin Xiao: "How were your grades?"

Xia Xi: "Not bad, the peak number of concurrent online users has exceeded 50."

Lin Xiao: "What about Zhu Xian?"

Xia Xi: "The highest number of concurrent viewers reached 150 million."

Lin Xiao: "Where are the Dungeon Warriors?"

Xia Xi: "350 million!"

I am!

This result is absolutely incredible.

Of course, it's still a bit short of its historical peak, which once exceeded 500 million concurrent online users.

But... it's still growing, and at this rate, reaching 500 million is only a matter of time.

Even with 350 million views, it's still the best-performing game in China right now, bar none, completely far ahead of the competition.

Xia Xi: "By the way, Dungeon & Fighter is very popular in South Korea, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia."

"The results of Jade Dynasty in these countries are also quite good."

This is truly an unexpected delight.

Xia Xi: "Because Facebook is so dominant in East Asia, it completely overwhelms the entire social media platform, so promoting these two games is very easy."

This is completely different from history.

Therefore, things really can't be rushed. Three years ago, Lin Xiao was eager to take "Zhu Xian" overseas and had tried, but the results were so-so.

Unexpectedly, things have turned out much more smoothly than they thought.

Xia Xi: "We have to thank World of Warcraft for this. It first educated gamers throughout East Asia, letting them know about this type of game and some of them became addicted. Then they tried our Jade Dynasty and found it more familiar and had better graphics."

The core of the game of blitz remains radical.

Over the past few years, it has remained ambitious and has already undergone two upgrades.

The graphics are much better than they were four years ago, and they're fixated on World of Warcraft. No matter what, their graphics have to be better than yours, even if it means losing a lot of players.

Moreover, in terms of CG, it has caught up with the level of World of Warcraft.

Because Oriental Fantasy is its own company, it already has a first-class level in animated films.

"When will League of Legends be released for public testing?" Lin Xiao asked.

Xia Xi: "Probably around October, but we plan to launch a global open beta, focusing on the European and American markets this time."

Lin Xiao: "Okay."

Seeing how CD Projekt Red (CDPR) is dominating the global market, Lightning Games is not content with just being a force to be reckoned with in the domestic game market and also wants to directly challenge the global market.

"In addition, the mobile version of League of Legends has also started production, but in order to avoid a war between the PC and mobile versions, it will probably be delayed for one or two years before it is released on the mobile platform." Xia Xi: "By the way, there is another matter recently. TOM Group wants to sell Yangwang and is looking for buyers everywhere."

Since Lucas left, Yangwang and Yangyang Live began their decline. The new leadership adopted a short-sighted approach, accelerating their demise. Furthermore, starting two years ago, the mobile SP (Service Provider) business began a rapid decline, and today it's practically dead.

It's not just the Itchy website and Itchy Live Room that are declining; the entire Tom Group is going downhill. Although this year's revenue looks okay, it has suffered a net loss of over a billion Hong Kong dollars.

Over the past three years, Sina, Tencent, and NetEase have all actively completed their transformations and found new cash flow, but TOM has not found a new industrial direction.

If TOM has enough patience to nurture the Itchy Live Room for four or five years, it will regain its vitality and become a medium-sized unicorn company once again.

However, what it lacks most is probably patience.

“Let’s buy it back,” Xia Xi said.

"Okay, you decide." Lin Xiao said.

"Get lost, don't give me that act." Xia Xi: "Wu Lingxi is right about something. The more you can control our emotions and feelings, the more you pretend to be weak. Who are you trying to fool with your innocent act?"

Xia Xi couldn't help but rub Lin Xiao's face, making it into all sorts of strange shapes.

These three years have been a mix of pain and joy for Xia Xi.

But more than anything, it brings satisfaction and happiness.

Because when Lin Xiao said he was leaving, he really meant it. He handed over all the power to her, and she had complete control over the entire Lightning Group.

They received a lot of criticism, with everyone saying that Lightning Group had become a mediocre company again.

But Lightning Group is already brewing new strength. It will continue to take the initiative and, in the mobile internet era, it will transform itself into a true behemoth and continue to expand overseas with a strong attitude.

Xia Xi always had an absolute goal in mind: the future market value of Lightning Group must never be lower than that of Wu Lingxi's Facebook.

"I plan to spend ten million US dollars to buy back the Yangyang live streaming room." Xia Xi: "Do you think Li Zekai will agree?"

Lin Xiao: "Probably."

Six years ago, TOM bought Itchy.net and Itchy Live Room for ten million US dollars, and now he has bought them back for another ten million US dollars.

This is really...

But now, Yangyang's live stream on TOM is completely losing money, and its popularity has plummeted.

It's fair to say that if Lightning Group hadn't bought it back, it might have been shut down directly.

Moreover, Lightning Group bought it back purely out of nostalgia.

Its next development direction is Douyu, and YY Voice can accomplish this.

Moreover, if we want to cultivate it into a powerful game live streaming platform, we need to nurture it for at least 5 years. We can't expect it to generate any revenue; we just need to nurture it and wait for the next big opportunity to bring it back to life.

“A while ago, our dad, our mom, and our grandparents came to Shanghai,” Xia Xi said. “Our grandparents came specifically for tourism; the two of them had never been to Shanghai before.”

"Li Shuang and I spent about a week with them, it was so much fun."

"There were many restaurants I had never eaten at before, but I ate at them all this time."

"It was my first time going up the Oriental Pearl Tower with them. I remember how happy Grandpa was that day. He kept smiling, even though he didn't have many teeth left."

I don’t know when it started, but Xia Xi stopped calling Lin Xiao’s parents “uncle” and “aunt” and started calling them “Mom” and “Dad” directly.

They are siblings from different fathers and mothers, and they really are siblings.

Lin Xiao: "Your physical father was originally going to be in trouble, but he was saved by Wu Lingxi."

Xia Xi: "I know, he's out of his mind, actually representing the capital over there to talk about things that shouldn't be discussed here."

It wasn't that Wu Lingxi deliberately wanted to save them; up until now, she had been preventing her family's capital from entering the Facebook group, leaving no room for negotiation.

However... leveraging existing trends is almost unavoidable.

Suddenly, the force that Wu Lingxi represented had become the strongest in her family.

Then, the two of them didn't speak again. Xia Xi gently leaned on Lin Xiao's shoulder, looked at the scenery outside the window, and even rubbed her cheek against him a few times.

In fact, Lin Xiao and Xia Xi haven't seen each other much in recent years.

But it seems that even without meeting, their feelings for each other are automatically growing stronger and deeper.

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

Lin Xiao unexpectedly encountered a person from Renren.com: Chen Zhouyi.

I never expected that Renren.com would survive and thrive by focusing on its niche and high-end positioning.

"Mr. Lin, I'm here to pay my respects."

Lin Xiao: "You want to go to mobile platforms?"

Chen Yizhou: "No one is more brilliant than President Lin."

“A few years ago, we were fighting to the death, but now we are in completely different worlds.”

You guys haven't been quiet at all these years; you've been one of the main bases for smearing and attacking Er Gou, the leader of the cult.

Currently, a large number of elites are still active on Renren.com.

However... it seems that one day, even the Black Dog Cult Leader was no longer politically correct among the elites.

It's weird!
Linda at McKinsey is like an epitome of countless high-level elites.

There are still many elites and public intellectuals who are still attacking Er Gou, but... they are mostly men.

On the contrary, many female elites suddenly went quiet and then... inexplicably became fans of Er Gou.

This transformation was quite bizarre.

It's worth noting that when Er Gou was at his peak, most of his fans were male.

Moreover, his reputation was ruined because he was two-timing, but now he's gradually gaining more female fans.

Renren.com began to shift its focus about two or three years ago, becoming not only more niche but also more feminine.

Because women prefer to share their refined lifestyle.

One of the main reasons Chen Yizhou took the initiative to find Lin Xiao was that a large portion of the senior elites on Renren.com had bought quantum phones, and the most expensive ones at that.

Especially after Hollywood stars publicly showcased quantum phones in large numbers, the domestic entertainment industry followed suit, followed by high-income female white-collar elites.

After all, in this era, everyone's brand value is just starting out.

The build quality, appearance, and design of mobile phones can still quickly stand out.

And crucially, quantum phones are expensive enough and aesthetically pleasing enough.

Chen Yizhou could clearly see from the backstage that a very high percentage of the most active female users on Renren.com owned quantum phones, which made him realize that he had to quickly develop a mobile platform.

If it gets too late, even this niche market might be lost.

Lin Xiao: "President Chen, you need to know that our X operating system is exclusive. Once it's on our platform, it can't be on the Android platform."

It's allowed on iOS, but Android has decided against it.

Chen Zhouyi: "I know."

Lin Xiao: "And an agreement needs to be signed."

Chen Zhouyi: "I know."

Lin Xiao: "Okay, then welcome to the X platform."

Defeating Android will definitely be a protracted war.

In fact, creating an operating system is not difficult from a purely technical standpoint; the challenge lies in building an ecosystem.

Coincidentally, everyone's ecosystem is starting from scratch. Moreover, because Lin Xiao's side was well-prepared and had the strong presence of Facebook and YouTube, their ecosystem is actually the strongest.

But... now is far from the time to win.

Because, in terms of both the aesthetics and logic of UI design, Android will catch up very quickly; the only thing that will determine the outcome is the ecosystem.

Only a sufficiently strong and abundant ecosystem can serve as a systematic moat.

Therefore, even though Renren.com was considered an enemy, Lin Xiao was very happy to have it on the X mobile operating system.

He has a gap of about a year and a half to continue building his competitive advantage and solidify his leading edge.

Because it will probably be two years from now for the next generation of Android flagships to reach a very advanced level, this is a typical objective law.

Because advanced CMOS doesn't appear out of thin air, nor does advanced SOC, and certainly not advanced screen.

During this year and a half, they had two trump cards.

One is Facebook, and the other is WeChat.

These two apps are so addictive that they are almost irreplaceable. Without them, the entire mobile ecosystem would be absolutely incomplete.

Facebook is already strong enough, but it still needs to cultivate the user habit of switching from computers to mobile devices and build user stickiness.

WeChat is even more important, not only to Lightning Group, but also to the X operating system.

Therefore, the next step is to launch WeChat globally with a very aggressive and forceful approach.

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

Mid-August!
Another piece of good news has arrived: Lianzheng has made progress and has become the second-best in Ning City.

This is fantastic news!

Because this is a sub-provincial level position.

It took him five whole years to finally take that step.

The future that was delayed because of Lin Xiao has finally been completely made up for.

"Lin Xiao, come over for dinner tonight."

Lin Xiao: "What about Aunt Shu Wan?"

Lian Zheng: "She told me to shout it."

This isn't because Shu Wan is snobbish or anything like that. In fact, at this level, what's the point of being snobbish or not?
Even if Lin Xiao achieves great success, Shu Wan will not look up to him, let alone try to curry favor with him.

But now, at this stage of her life, she has truly come to understand the bond between Lin Xiao and Lian Zheng—a bond that is half confidant and half father-son.

In the past few years, Lian Zheng has done his best to support Lin Xiao's career.

In the following years, Lin Xiao did his best to support Lian Zheng's career, or rather, they supported each other.

Her husband, the person she loves most, has finally achieved his ambitions and can now realize his aspirations.

Moreover, this endeavor is only just beginning, with an even brighter future ahead.

This is not about power, but about a truly great undertaking.

So tonight, she specially prepared a meal. After eating for about ten minutes, she went back to her room to watch TV, leaving Lin Xiao and Lian Zheng to chat.

"Inventec and Foxconn are not reliable. The real high-end production lines still need to be in our own hands, and we still need to build our own production lines."

"You don't need to worry about any of these things. You just need to focus on the war with Google, focus on the ecosystem of the X operating system, and focus on getting other mobile phone manufacturers to switch to the X platform."

"This production line will be handled by me, Liu Zuohu, Bai Yongxiang and others from Quantum Technology."

"Within one or two years at most, we guarantee that a powerful cluster of factories will spring up from the ground."

This investment is huge; it might not be something that can be done in a few billion.

"Also, I heard you've been thinking about acquiring Sharp, is that right?" Lian Zheng asked.

This is the most crucial secret; only a very few people know about quantum technology.

Since Samsung will most likely still align with Android, at least for the next few years, and Sharp may not be willing to take the plunge and switch to AMOLED, the best scenario would be for Quantum Technology to acquire or take control of Sharp.

This gives us a high starting point in the screen market, allowing us to save several years of development time and even potentially thwart Samsung's screen competition ahead of time.

Moreover, this is a long business process. Even acquiring just Sharp's screen production division would require astronomical sums of money and lengthy negotiations.

“You don’t need to worry about the money, not even US dollars,” Lian Zheng said firmly. “As long as the other side can reach an agreement, even if it’s several billion US dollars, we can get it for you. You won’t need to take out loans from those foreign banks anymore.”

This father-in-law has really gone to great lengths.

He intends to directly create an industrial cluster, and he will help set up advanced factories.

He was even responsible for securing the funding for the major acquisition of Sharp.

It's worth noting that Sharp's market capitalization now exceeds that of Quantum Technology.

Lian Zheng picked up a glass of wine and drank it all in one gulp.

"Seven years ago, you talked about ByteDance and the vast universe. Now we can finally see a glimmer of hope and a nascent form!"

"A very high-level meeting will be held in a few days."

"The government will fully promote the development of this industry, and will encourage major telecommunications companies and mobile phone manufacturers to transform and upgrade, and will make them support your X operating platform."

"Ten thousand years is too long, seize the day!"

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

Note: I'm finally a little earlier today, will continue tomorrow! If you have any monthly tickets, please remember to give them to me, okay? Thank you!

(End of this chapter)