My son is a reincarnated soul; I overheard his inner thoughts and became the richest man.

Time passed day by day.

With the continued efforts of the ground promotion team, players who had previously left due to the inability to purchase game cards began to return.

A week later.

The peak concurrent player count of "Legend of Mir" not only recovered to the height of its open beta, but also broke through the 500,000 mark!

That afternoon, CFO Lao Wu walked into Chen Feng's office with a thick report in his hand, which was trembling slightly.

"Mr. Chen, the settlement data for the first week is out."

Old Wu placed the report on the table, his voice tinged with disbelief, "The payments from distributors across the country have been arriving one after another. As of noon today, our total sales of prepaid cards are... 11.9 million!"

"After deducting channel commissions, the actual revenue was 10.06 million!"

Ten million!

Just one week!

The sales data is also quite interesting: the best-selling item is the 120-hour card priced at 35 yuan, followed by the monthly card priced at 50 yuan.

As for the 10 yuan trial card, sales were mediocre.

This indicates that players have a very high willingness to pay and high engagement.

Chen Feng looked at the long string of zeros, leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath.

Although server rental fees, staff salaries, and upcoming taxes still need to be deducted, this cash flow of tens of millions is enough for him to be able to do whatever he wants in this era.

The son's prediction has come true once again.

"Old Wu, I need you to do something for me."

Chen Feng opened his eyes, his gaze sharp. "Go to the bank immediately and exchange this money for seven hundred thousand US dollars."

"Settle the remaining payment we owe Actoz in one lump sum!"

"Yes, Mr. Chen!"

Without saying a word, Lao Wu turned around and got to work.

In order to acquire Wemade, Chen Feng signed a performance-based agreement that stipulated that the final payment would be made in three months.

Now, with more than half a month left until the deadline, he can already calmly throw this money in the face of the South Koreans.

From that moment on, Wemade and The Legend of Mir 2 belonged entirely to him.

There are absolutely no worries!

......

With money, Chen Feng's business empire began to expand rapidly.

Although competition in the internet cafe industry is becoming increasingly fierce and the hourly internet access fee has dropped to 3.5 yuan, for "Storm," it is still a golden goose.

With over twenty branches, each branch consistently contributes two to three million yuan in net profit every month.

Compared to the cash cow that is "Legend of Mir," this amount of money is indeed just pocket change.

But Chen Feng knew very well that he couldn't put all his eggs in one basket.

Internet cafes, as offline traffic gateways, hold an unshakeable strategic position.

So, Lin Wan, with her new expansion plan, once again headed towards the surrounding cities.

This time, her goal is to plant the "Storm" flag throughout the entire Yangtze River Delta.

At the same time, Su Qing's ground promotion team did not stop.

Like tireless ants, they transported the legendary game cards to every remote town.

To make it easier for young people in small towns to top up their accounts, Chen Feng generously allocated funds to subsidize the channels.

It's mid-December.

After half a month of paid operation, the number of online players for "Legend of Mir" has increased instead of decreased, once again exceeding 600,000!

But with great success comes great scrutiny, and various cheats began to appear in the game.

There are all sorts of features, such as "automatic monster slaying," "passing through people and walls," and "wax-free."

Chen Feng's attitude towards this can be summed up in one word: Kill!

He has the complete source code and development team in his hands, making his ability to block cheats a complete game-changer.

Accounts will be immediately banned without hesitation if any abnormal data is detected.

This ruthless approach, while offending many opportunistic players, also maintained the fairness of the game and won the praise of more ordinary players.

......

The clock struck midnight on New Year's Eve 2001.

Just after New Year's Day, the December financial statements were delivered to Chen Feng's desk.

Looking at the heart-pounding number in the last line, Chen Feng lit a cigarette and took a deep drag.

Twenty-two million!

In just one month, the net profit exceeded 20 million!

This means that the peak number of concurrent users of "Legend of Mir" has exceeded 800,000, and the number of registered users is approaching 20 million.

"It seems that the promise of buying a house that I made to Xiaotian back then will soon come true."

Chen Feng looked out the window at the Bund, a slight smile appearing on his lips.

Although the current housing prices in Shanghai have risen to over 5,000 yuan per square meter, for him now, buying a building would only amount to a few months' profit.

With the money problem solved, Chen Feng's mind started to wander again.

"It's time to go see that Little Ma."

Although Tencent has recovered some of its losses thanks to the pop-up GG issue, it still hasn't found a core profit model, and its fundraising path remains bumpy.

Bringing over ten million in cash to "provide timely assistance" at this time would definitely allow you to acquire a significant number of shares.

The next day, Chen Feng called Ma Huateng.

When he heard that Chen Feng was coming to Shenzhen, Brother Ma was extremely excited on the phone.

"Mr. Chen! You absolutely must come! I must thank you properly in person!"

Since the launch of the pop-up GG feature, Tencent hasn't made a fortune, but at least it has some income and no longer has to worry about server electricity bills.

He was genuinely grateful to Chen Feng, his "benefactor."

......

Luxury homes on the Bund on the weekend.

Chen Feng, who rarely gets a break, was watching TV with his son in the living room.

Su Qing has arrived.

She had just returned from a business trip to Northeast China, where she dealt with a dispute where a ground sales team was being harassed by local bullies.

Although the matter was resolved, it still took a lot of effort on her.

Hearing that her boss was going to Shenzhen on Monday, she rushed over to report on her work.

After the doorbell rang, Chen Feng opened the door.

Su Qing was wearing a beige cashmere coat over a black turtleneck sweater, paired with slim-fit jeans and knee-high boots.

Even though she was covered up, her curvaceous figure was still very eye-catching.

"President Chen." Su Qing carried an exquisite bag in her hand, her face showing a hint of travel fatigue, but her smile remained bright.

"Come in." Chen Feng stepped aside to let her into the house.

Hearing the noise, Chen Xiaotian poked his head out from the sofa.

"Dad, is this Sister Su? She's so beautiful!"

That kid's sweet talk is like honey.

Su Qing was overjoyed by the praise and walked to the sofa, looking at the clever little boy in front of her.

"Mr. Chen, your son looks just like you, and he looks very smart."

As she spoke, she handed the bag in her hand to Chen Xiaotian, "Xiaotian, this is my first time here, and I didn't prepare anything fancy. This is for you as a small gift."

"What is it?" Chen Feng asked curiously.

Chen Xiaotian took the bag and took out a palm-sized, silver-gray electronic device.

"This is the latest MP3 player."

Su Qing explained with a smile, "I saw it in a shopping mall in Northeast China. They said it's very popular abroad now. You don't need cassette tapes; you can just download songs from your computer and listen to them. It's super convenient."

Chen Feng glanced at it but didn't pay much attention.

In his eyes, this thing was just a slightly more advanced portable music player.

But when Chen Xiaotian saw this thing, his eyes widened instantly.

He examined the small box called "Rio PMP300" over and over again, a look of sudden realization spreading across his face.

[Wow! Isn't this the world's first mass-produced MP3 player? Diamond Rio!]

This thing is a revolutionary product! Although it only has 32MB of memory and can't store many songs, it ushered in the era of digital music.

I remember Apple was brought back to life by this thing! That amazing device called the iPod, wasn't it released at the end of this year?

[Steve Jobs, that old fox, pulled Apple back from the brink of bankruptcy with the closed ecosystem of iPod and iTunes, and also conveniently wiped out Sony's Walkman empire.]

It's only January, and Apple hasn't even made a move yet! There isn't even a decent MP3 brand in China; it's all these expensive and difficult-to-use imported products.

If Dad were to enter this market now and make a stylish, high-capacity domestic MP3 player... even just making the design look good and adding convenient download software would be a game-changer!

Meizu started by making MP3 players and later became a pioneer in domestic smartphones. Although it declined later, it was an absolute king in that era.

[With "Legend of Mir" as a money-printing machine, funding is never a problem for Dad. He can easily build a team, start by making MP3 players, and then, like the major manufacturers Oppo and Vivo, enter the fiercely competitive smartphone market.]

That's a behemoth with a market capitalization of hundreds of billions!

Listening to his son's frantic outpouring of thoughts, Chen Feng's eyelids twitched.

Smartphones? Market value of hundreds of billions?

Oppo and Vivo? Xiaomi?

These unfamiliar words exploded in his mind like thunderclaps.

Although he was still unclear about the concept of "smartphones," he keenly grasped the key point: this small MP3 player is the ticket to the next trillion-dollar market.

Chen Feng glanced discreetly at the media player in his son's hand, then turned to Su Qing and asked casually:

"Su Qing, is this really popular overseas?"

Su Qing was drinking tea when she heard this and put down her cup: "It must be quite popular. I don't know much about the technology, but I just think it's really convenient. You don't need to buy cassette tapes, and you don't have to worry about cassettes getting stuck. You can just download whatever song you want to listen to from the internet."

"It's just a bit expensive. This one costs nearly two thousand dollars, which is only affordable with my current income. Ordinary wage earners probably wouldn't be able to afford it."

Chen Feng nodded thoughtfully: "It is indeed convenient, but the price... If I could find someone to produce it domestically and bring the price down, do you think there would be a market for it?"

Su Qing's eyes lit up: "Of course there are! Young people these days are so fashionable. If there were an alternative that cost a thousand or even a few hundred yuan, it would definitely sell like hotcakes."

Hearing this, Chen Xiaotian glanced at his father in surprise.

Wow, Dad's got a great business sense! He thought of localization and price wars at a glance?

If he succeeds, what chance will Patriot and Meizu have? He'll snatch it away!