197: Chapter 196 Reactions from All Parties

Beijing, Haiding District.

Baidu Headquarters Building.

At 5:30 AM, before dawn had broken, the lights in the Baidu Headquarters Building were already on.

CEO Li stood before the large floor-to-ceiling window of his office, looking down at the Baidu company campus he had built with his own hands, and the slight restlessness in his heart gradually calmed down.

He returned to his desk, looked at several reports on the screen, and was just about to make revisions when a knock sounded at the door.

CEO Li had to set them aside for a moment and said, "Come in."

The person who entered was a Middle-aged man, holding a folder with a grave expression.

"Ah, it's Old Zhang. Sit down."

CEO Li smiled and gestured for the Middle-aged man to take a seat.

"Why are you here so early?"

"Aren't you the same, CEO Li?"

Seemingly because he saw CEO Li, the Middle-aged man's expression softened slightly, and he forced a smile: "I just saw the lights on in your office, so I came to find you."

"You've worked hard." CEO Li looked at the dark circles under the Middle-aged man's eyes and sighed slightly: "The company just underwent structural optimization and reorganization, and morale is fluctuating. It has been taxing for you all."

"You are too polite, CEO Li." The Middle-aged man forced another smile and said: "The company's employees all support your decision, CEO Li, and have no complaints."

These were just words to comfort him.

CEO Li shook his head, noncommittal.

But he was not prepared to dwell on this issue any longer. Since the path had already been chosen, he would walk it resolutely. Whether it was right or wrong would be left to time to test.

"I see you look hurried. Is something the matter?"

Speaking of this, the Middle-aged man's expression turned grave again, and he placed the document in his hand on the desk.

"CEO Li, please take a look at this."

In such a rush, just for this document?

CEO Li was a bit curious and picked up the document to open it.

The more he read, the more serious CEO Li's expression became. By the time he finally closed the document, his brows were furrowed together in a knot.

"Where did this news come from?"

"It is news from Old Wang in the Search Business Group." The Middle-aged man said gravely: "I have been monitoring the development of the situation since I received the news last night. According to the data, as of 4:00 AM today, the search volume for these keywords has exceeded ten percent of the total search volume, and it is still rising."

Accounting for ten percent of Baidu's entire search volume!

What kind of concept is this?

CEO Li was very clear about the weight of this.

Given Baidu's data volume, even just ten percent was a terrifying figure.

"Such a big matter, why didn't Wang Chaoyuan report directly to me!"

CEO Li was a bit angry.

"CEO Li, you cannot blame General Manager Wang for this." The Middle-aged man smiled bitterly: "After the institutional adjustment, he no longer has the right to report directly to you."

CEO Li paused instantly.

This order was one he had given not long ago; this was a bit of a slap in the face.

CEO Li could only say in a muffled voice: "Then how did you analyze and assess it? What is the credibility of this news?"

"This..." The Middle-aged man smiled bitterly and took out his phone: "CEO Li, you had better watch these videos first. They have already gone viral."

CEO Li had to take the phone and watch the videos. The more he watched, the more silent he became.

"This..." CEO Li's voice was a bit hoarse: "How much of it is authentic?"

The Middle-aged man understood what CEO Li meant and smiled bitterly again: "I have checked all the videos circulating online one by one, and I have had the technical department conduct a preliminary analysis using technical means. Although they have been edited, making it impossible to judge, judging from the identical content and environment within the different videos, these videos..."

"Are very likely to be real."

They are all real!

This sentence shattered the last glimmer of hope in CEO Li's heart.

CEO Li stood up.

For a moment, the Middle-aged man saw that the man who had single-handedly built the Baidu empire actually swayed slightly.

He said with some concern: "CEO Li..."

"I'm fine." CEO Li waved his hand slightly and looked at the Middle-aged man: "Can you confirm that the content in the videos is true?"

"No."

The Middle-aged man answered truthfully: "According to the technicians' analysis, the content regarding zero egg's feedback in the videos cannot be achieved under existing technical conditions, such as real-time interaction, simulated stress response, simulated emotional feedback, voiceprint recognition, and so on."

"In other words..." CEO Li had some hope: "These videos might also be fake? Could similar results be achieved through massive data training?"

"That would require us to obtain the physical product for specific analysis. So, I also wanted to ask for your instructions, CEO Li: should we purchase a zero egg for analysis?"

"One?"

CEO Li shook his head slightly: "Have the technicians in your group place an order. The company will reimburse it. Order as many as you can!"

"I have only one requirement: after obtaining the zero egg, you must use all means necessary to analyze it and advance the project progress at the fastest speed. I want to launch an Artificial Intelligence belonging to Baidu Company in the shortest possible time."

"A true... Artificial Intelligence!"

The Middle-aged man went out.

CEO Li returned to the large floor-to-ceiling window, looking at the sky outside that was gradually brightening, his expression shifting uncertainly.

Artificial Intelligence.

In this field, looking at the whole world, there are not many companies that can claim they will definitely win the crown.

But Baidu Company can.

This confidence comes from Baidu Company's unparalleled advantages in the new track, from the traffic and data accumulated by Baidu Company over the past decade or so operating the largest search engine in all of China, and from the cloud computing array he painstakingly built for Baidu Company.

He has confidence that he can attempt to sprint for a world-class position on the new track.

But now, with the Middle-aged man's report, his vision for the future has been shattered to pieces.

Thinking of the performance of that zero egg in the video, CEO Li couldn't help but feel some worry, and a trace of gloom rose in his heart.

...

Lin'an City, Linjiang District. Alibaba Group's Lin'an headquarters is located here.

In the office, Chen Yun was sitting at his desk. In front of him, a man was displayed on the computer screen.

"I have finished reading the internal email you gave me, but I want to ask, what is your view on this?"

Chen Yun said respectfully: "General Manager Ma, I think this matter has a great impact on us. To a certain extent, it will determine the future direction of the group, and we cannot afford not to take it seriously."

"Mm." The Middle-aged man in the video nodded: "If it is really as shown in the video, it will indeed affect the group's subsequent planning."

"So I think we need to determine the authenticity of this matter as soon as possible and adjust the group's direction in a timely manner."

"Okay." The Middle-aged man said: "I will give you authorization for the company system; you implement it as soon as possible."

"Okay." Chen Yun nodded.

"Also." The Middle-aged man added: "From now on, you will also be specifically responsible for the Alibaba cloud computing sector. I will issue the relevant appointment as soon as possible. You must work hard."

"Okay, General Manager Ma." Chen Yun nodded steadily.

When the video call ended, Chen Yun finally couldn't help his excitement and fiercely waved his fist.

He had been at the group's Lin'an headquarters for several years, and he had finally waited for these words from General Manager Ma.

This meant... his assessment period had officially ended? He could also truly apply what he had learned and no longer had to be anyone's assistant secretary?

This feeling is really great.

But now, he still had to implement General Manager Ma's instructions.

He opened his computer and directly issued an internal document, asking the heads of each department to claim it and purchase zero egg using the employees' own ID cards.

He then sighed slightly; this unknown Frontier Technology Co., Ltd. is really daring. They require real-name registration to sell things, conduct full-payment pre-sales, and set the price extraordinarily high.

He had seen willful companies, but he had truly never seen one willful to this extent.

Is it not afraid that no one will accept it?

The current era is the era of the consumer. The consumer is God.

Chen Yun, who had been involved in Alibaba's platform business, deeply understood this. Pleasing the consumer is the fundamental path of company operation. All other means are merely serving this purpose.

While sighing, he saw a private message at the bottom of the computer screen and clicked it. The sender was a department head.

"Assistant Chen, where do I buy this thing you mentioned, and how many should I buy?"

Through the screen, Chen Yun could feel the confused look on this department head's face.

However... how many to buy? Chen Yun thought for a moment and typed: "Go to the official website of Frontier Technology Co., Ltd., and buy them for your entire department!"

...

Pengcheng, Longgang District. Huaneng Technology Headquarters Building. "The world's number one Artificial Intelligence?"

Inside the top-floor conference room, a Middle-aged man looked at the document before him, then turned to young man sitting opposite him with a wry smile, teasing, "Little He, what were you thinking when you submitted this report to General Manager Ren?"

"I wasn't really thinking anything."

young man named Little He rubbed his messy hair and said, "I just felt that if the things in the video are real, their technical strength must be very strong, and it should be helpful to our R&D, so I thought it should be reported to General Manager Ren."

"Helpful to our R&D?" Another man heard this and laughed, "Little He, do you know what you are saying?"

young man didn't speak.

"The foundation of our Huaneng Company is stability; we do not make big claims, we do not boast, our words have substance, and our techniques have merit. This is what General Manager Ren has always emphasized."

"The same applies to R&D. If we can't develop something, we invest funds to continue R&D. As long as the path is correct, there will always be a day when we can achieve it."

Everyone nodded slightly. This was the tone set by General Manager Ren a long time ago. Under this influence, the entire Huaneng Company had a persistent pursuit of technology.

This pursuit was reflected in every aspect.

And the disdain for opportunistic companies was included in that.

"Little He, your current task is to seize the time to advance the research at hand and strive to further optimize the Chip structure. Even if you can optimize it by one percent on the current basis, that is still progress. Our consumer business team is waiting for your good news. Whether we can use the Chips we designed ourselves depends entirely on you all."

"As for this Frontier Technology Co., Ltd., there is absolutely no need to sacrifice your precious time to pay attention to them. Our research currently has no support from competitors or manufacturers in the country; we can only rely on ourselves."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

"World's number one Artificial Intelligence"—that slogan sounded ridiculous. Even their Huaneng Company didn't dare to boast about being the world's number one telecommunications equipment supplier.

Their consumer business was also doing very well, yet they didn't boast about being the world's number one mobile phone manufacturer.

So, what is the point of understanding or contacting a company that doesn't care about technology at all? Isn't that a waste of precious time?

young man looked at General Manager Ren, who was sitting at the head of the table. He was still resting with his eyes closed, and it was unknown what he was thinking.

He finally said, "I understand, General Manager Xu."

Seeing that young man finally understood his meaning, the Middle-aged man showed a gratified smile.

"However, I have a request."

young man pointed to the document.

"I want this zero egg, the kind paid for by public funds."

This request was easy to satisfy; they already paid a salary of one million, so this was nothing.

The Middle-aged man nodded, "That's no problem."

With the issue resolved, young man sighed and turned to leave. His design drawings had indeed reached the most critical moment.

After young man closed the door, the Middle-aged man smiled faintly and shook his head, "Young people."

"Alright, let's continue the Board of Directors meeting. Next, I invite General Manager Yu, the head of the consumer business team, to give us the summary analysis for the first three quarters of 2018..."

...

"It's exploding, it's exploding, the orders are exploding!"

At Frontier Technology Co., Ltd., Han Xiaoxin looked at the backend data and shouted excitedly.

Just a moment ago, the pre-order data for the zero egg officially reached 10,000 units, which was the maximum quantity that Wang Shuo could put into the market in the initial phase.

And this was less than twenty hours after the press conference.

You have to know, the retail price of the zero egg was as high as 13,888 yuan.

This was not a very low price; one could even say it was quite expensive.

But... there are still many rich people.

Han Xiaoxin couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

If you can pay 13,888 yuan in full to pre-order a zero egg, what else would you be if not a rich person?

Even though he could now receive a salary of 8,000 yuan from Wang Shuo every month, if he were asked to spend 13,888 to buy a tech product with unknown specific uses, he would still be a bit reluctant.

Behind Han Xiaoxin were Liu Yemei, Xu Kexin, and others; of course, there was also the big boss, Wang Shuo.

Looking at the data, Wang Shuo nodded slightly; his judgment was indeed correct.

Although the price of the zero egg was high, its quality was enough to compensate for some of the flaws brought by the price. Moreover, a large portion of these sold zero eggs were likely purchased by high-tech companies and Artificial Intelligence companies on the market for research purposes.

For these people, as long as they complied with the usage rules of the zero egg, Wang Shuo was not prepared to ban them.

Now he was considering other issues.

The successful pre-order of 10,000 zero eggs meant that his company's revenue to date had reached 133,880,000 yuan.

If the amount still remaining in the account was added, this sum was nearing 300 million.

What a huge sum of money this was.

If this were before, Wang Shuo would have fainted from excitement.

But now, he only glanced indifferently at Xu Kexin, whose eyes were already glowing, and calmly told her to work carefully, without saying anything more.

Three small targets were no longer enough to make him overly excited.

In his mind, he still held hundreds of millions of small targets; this wasn't even a drop in the ocean, so what was there to be excited about?

The most urgent thing right now was to establish a complete zero egg production line as soon as possible and normalize the sales of the zero egg.

Other issues were not very significant; the only urgent matter was the SOC Chip to be used for the zero egg motherboard.

Although Wang Shuo looked down on the performance of this Chip, he had to admit that this was the most cost-effective solution at the moment.

"Sister Liu."

Wang Shuo, who had returned to his senses, instructed, "Contact Wanji Semiconductor Company immediately and urge them to deliver the second phase of the Chips. This time, we are requesting a quantity of 50,000 units."

"In addition, if possible, I want to continue to add to the order, with the order amount still being 100 million."

Han Xiaoxin clicked his tongue in secret as he listened.

Rich people talk differently, indeed. He still remembered when he first came, Wang Shuo would feel distressed for a long time if he spent an extra hundred yuan on a meal. How long had it been, and now the order amount was easily reaching hundreds of millions?

Money is really easy to make, and being a boss is really easy.

Why should he still be a hacker?

Wouldn't it be better to just create some software to make money and be his own boss?

It's just... what kind of software should he create?

Han Xiaoxin fell into deep thought.

"Alright, President Wang."

Just as Liu Yemei wanted to take out her notebook to write it down, the zero egg beside her flew to her side and reported loudly, "Master, I have already recorded it for you."

Liu Yemei frowned, but still took out her notebook and wrote down everything Wang Shuo said one by one.

Wang Shuo found it funny. This beautiful sister who had been very professional from the beginning actually had such a persistent side?

Or was she worried about Artificial Intelligence taking her position?

"Second." Wang Shuo rubbed his chin and said, "I have already mentioned the zero egg production line in advance. What is its current status?"

"According to your instructions, we have already procured the relevant equipment and it is in the process of installation. For related upstream industries, such as mechanical processing and parts procurement, we have also signed relevant agreements. We have screened out some partner manufacturers that did not meet the technical standards, and signed technical compensation and equity participation agreements with those manufacturers with better reputation and background, providing them with some technical guidance so that they can meet our procurement standards."

"Mm. The technical standards must be strict. We can choose not to produce, but the quality of the parts used for production must be strictly controlled."

"I will pay attention to it."

Liu Yemei nodded. When talking about business, she was very serious, with extremely high professional quality.

"The third thing." Wang Shuo continued, "How are the things I asked you and Lin Junfeng to handle doing?"

"The relevant materials are all ready. Lin Junfeng can split the relevant industrial qualifications at any time, and we can register here at any time."

"Then get it done as soon as possible."

Liu Yemei nodded and was about to leave, but heard Wang Shuo call her back.

"There is one more thing."

Wang Shuo seemed to have suddenly remembered something; he leaned close to Liu Yemei's ear and lowered his voice.

The hot air puffed out from Wang Shuo's mouth and nose, making Liu Yemei subconsciously want to move away.

But her professional quality made her force herself to stay in place.

"Allocate 60 million from the account; I have a use for it."

Wang Shuo did not see a trace of a blush crawl onto Liu Yemei's earlobes, which flashed and disappeared.