Reborn in 2000, starting from the university website

Chapter 157 Breakthrough

Chen Yizhou put his phone in his pocket and walked south along Zhongguancun Street. Passing a newsstand, he stopped to buy a bottle of water.

"Boss, a bottle of Nongfu Spring water, please."

Two pieces.

As he took out his coins, he caught a glimpse of an internet cafe right next to the newsstand. The door was open, and the cool air from the air conditioner was mixed with the smell of smoke.

Through the glass window, rows of computer screens were lit up, and the room was filled with college students wearing T-shirts and shorts.

Chen Yizhou's hand stopped.

On the screen, most browsers are displaying the HaiNei.com page.

Some people are tinkering with clothing combinations for their virtual avatars, some are placing furniture in their virtual spaces, and some are sending emojis to their friends' homepage message boards.

Two boys huddled together and whispered to each other. One pointed at the screen and said, "Look at my newly bought sports car, isn't it cool?" The other rolled his eyes and said, "You're just showing off. I saved up my allowance for half a month to get a red or yellow diamond."

Not a single computer had access to the 5Q campus network.

Not a single one.

Chen Yizhou took the bottled water, unscrewed the cap, took a big gulp, and stood still next to the newsstand.

Near the entrance of the internet cafe, a boy wearing headphones was browsing posts on the homepage news feed of HaiNei.com. The title of a post caught Chen Yizhou's eye—"Sohu 5Q Poisonous Chicken Leg Follow-up: The Last Batch of Understanding Agreements Has Been Signed."

The boy glanced at the title, chuckled, and swiped the mouse over it to click on the next push notification: "Limited-time special offer for popular online diamonds: 20% off monthly subscription for only 8 yuan."

Chen Yizhou squeezed the mineral water bottle until it was wrinkled.

When he was studying for his MBA at Stanford, a professor once said, "The market doesn't sympathize with losers, but it will always remember the names of winners." At the time, he thought this statement was too absolute, but now, standing on the curb in Zhongguancun, he realizes that the professor's statement was even less harsh.

The market not only has no sympathy for losers, it won't even bother to give you a second glance.

A bus passed by, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Chen Yizhou squinted as he watched the dust settle, and the outline of the Hailong Building appeared at the end of his vision.

The windows on the sixteenth floor were lit up, and the young man, almost twenty years younger than him, was probably counting money inside.

No.

It's not about counting money, it's about building bridges.

Build a bridge that others couldn't finish building in ten years.

He recalled the first time Bai Yuhang's HaiNei.com appeared in his field of vision, when he told the people around him, "This thing is pretty rough, don't worry about it too much."

Later, when HaiNei.com's user base exceeded one million, he told Zhang Chaoyang, "The social networking market is big enough; we still have a chance."

Later, when the number of users exceeded ten million, he spent money to send out red envelopes, spend money to give away chicken legs, and organize beauty pageants, saying, "As long as we can increase the number of registered users, we can fight against him."

He initiated every move, but each move was neutralized by the opponent in the most effortless way.

Bai Yuhang didn't even glance at 5Q Campus Network; he was busy connecting with voice information services, negotiating with investors, and recruiting staff.

The threat 5Q poses to Qihang is roughly equivalent to the threat an ant poses to a bus.

Chen Yizhou tilted his head back, finished the last gulp of water, and threw the empty bottle into the trash can.

He carried the cardboard box and continued walking forward, but stopped after a few steps.

The newsstand owner called out from behind, "Buddy, the bottom of your cardboard box is about to fall off, it's leaking."

Chen Yizhou looked down and saw that the bottom of the cardboard box was softened by sweat, and the goji berry jar was sliding down through the crack.

He knelt on one knee on the scorching sidewalk, frantically turning the box over to support it.

The jar of goji berries still fell out and rolled to the curb.

He stared at the jar of goji berries on the ground and suddenly laughed.

He was laughing so hard he had no regard for his image, squatting on the sidewalk of Zhongguancun Street, hugging a broken cardboard box, his shoulders shaking with laughter.

Several passersby walked around him, probably thinking he was someone whose brain had been damaged by the sun.

After laughing, he picked up the goji berries, stuffed them into his pocket, stood up, and dusted off his knees.

A loss is a loss.

Bai Yuhang won cleanly, and Bai Yuhang's loss wasn't exactly embarrassing either.

At least he knew what he lost to—not to capital, not to luck, but to a mind that could see further and act faster than anyone else.

Chen Yizhou, carrying the broken cardboard box, walked further and further away in the crowds on Zhongguancun Street.

Meanwhile, on the sixteenth floor of Hailong Building, is the office area of ​​Qihang Technology.

The office and lounge areas were filled with the mixed smells of instant noodles, sausages, and leftover coffee. Several jackets lay scattered on the workstations in the technical department. Zhang Jian was snoring in his chair, while Wang Xiaochuan was hunched over his keyboard, his black-rimmed glasses perched on his nose, and the screen was still lit.

Jiang Shuo rushed out of the finance office and almost tripped over the door frame.

He had dark circles under his eyes that looked like they were about to fall onto his cheeks, and the blood vessels in his eyes were denser than spider webs, but his overall demeanor was completely different. He walked with a brisk pace, clutching an A4 sheet of paper that had just come out of the printer. The ink on the paper wasn't completely dry yet, and his fingerprints had already left sweat marks on the edges.

He didn't knock; he simply pushed open the door to the CEO's office.

Bai Yuhang was sitting in the boss's chair looking through a document when he looked up at him.

"President Bai!" Jiang Shuo handed Bai Yuhang an A4 sheet of paper, his voice almost cracking, "It's out! The complete data for the past 24 hours is out!"

Bai Yuhang picked up the report and glanced at it.

"The Mobile Dream Network SMS recharge channel generated 3.49 million in revenue on its first day." Jiang Shuo pointed to the numbers on the paper, his fingers trembling. "Adding the 1.66 million from the old voice information channel still running, the total across all channels..."

He swallowed hard, as if afraid that the number he was about to say would frighten him.

"Five million one hundred and fifty thousand. Single day. RMB."

There was a two-second silence in the office.

Bai Yuhang flipped the report over and looked at the time-segmented flow chart on the back.

The first two hours after going live in the early morning are the cold start period, with revenue slowly climbing: starting at 6 a.m., the curve suddenly rises, like a spring that has been suddenly straightened; from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., the curve almost becomes a vertical line.

"Is the market share of voice information services declining?" Bai Yuhang asked.

"A precipitous drop." Jiang Shuo pulled up a chair and sat down opposite him, his voice hoarse but his speech rapid. "Yesterday, the revenue share of the voice information service dropped from 100% to around 30%. Once users realize they can top up with just a text message, who would want to queue at a public phone booth and listen to a 40-minute busy signal? More importantly, the fees are right for us—the voice information service's toll is almost half, while the mobile internet channel fee is only 15%. Mr. Bai, you do the math, just from the fees alone, how much more money do we make every day?"

Bai Yuhang didn't calculate it, but Jiang Shuo had already done it for him.