103: Chapter 103 Establishing Technological Advantages and Adjusting Market Order

Two days later, the official website of Star Technology.

A brand-new tab appeared on the navigation bar.

“Zhoutian OS”.

There were no introductions or promotional images on the page.

The design language was minimalist.

Right in the center was a single headline.

[New Life for All Things]

Below it was a list of logos from mainstream smartphone manufacturers.

Huawei, Xiaomi, OV Group, OnePlus, Meizu.

Clicking any logo expanded a list of supported models.

Huawei MatePro, Xiaomi MIX, OV Find X...

It encompassed all mid-to-high-end models released by the android camp in the past two years.

Behind each model, there was only one blue button.

[One-Click Transformation]

...

Jifeng Forum, the largest forum for digital enthusiasts in the country.

A new thread was marked in red and pinned by the administrator.

[Death-Defying Test: I Flashed my 6,000-Yuan MatePro to Zhoutian OS]

The poster, “Hardcore Old Wang,” was a senior technical expert on the forum.

The first post contained only a single screenshot from the Star Technology official website.

“Brothers, I'm charging ahead. If I'm not back in an hour, it means I've bricked it.”

Below the post, replies refreshed instantly.

“Brother Wang is a warrior!”

“Watching from the front row, waiting for the poster's phone to turn into a brick.”

“Is Xingchen crazy? Are they openly trying to steal users from all the manufacturers?”

“It's just a public beta ROM, what's all the fuss about?”

Ten minutes later, the poster updated the thread.

“Download complete. The flashing tool is fully automatic and currently installing... Progress bar at fifty percent.”

Another five minutes passed.

“Rebooting... The screen went black... Oh no, did something really go wrong?”

The atmosphere of the forum shifted slightly.

A minute later, the poster made a third update.

“It's on! No boot animation, straight to the desktop! This smoothness...”

A short video was attached below.

In the video, fingers slid rapidly across the screen; the desktop icons responded without a hint of lag, perfectly following the trajectory of the fingertips.

“With twenty apps running in the background, the UI interaction is incredibly smooth. The Kirin 970 has never been this fluid!”

“Checking battery life... The estimated available time shown by the system is five hours more than the factory system!”

“Battery life has doubled!”

The forum completely exploded.

“Fake, right? Flashing a system can improve battery life?”

“I'm going to download it right now! My Xiaomi 10 is saved!”

“Finished flashing! I've witnessed a miracle! My old phone has been resurrected!”

“This is like getting a new phone! Star Technology, the eternal god!”

Panic began to spread.

But not among the users; it was at the headquarters of the major smartphone manufacturers.

Shenzhen, Huawei headquarters building.

The head of the Software Engineering Department looked at the homepage of their own official forum.

The popular sections were completely occupied by posts like “Zhoutian OS Flashing Tutorial” and “Post-Flashing Experience.”

Users were celebrating.

They were actively abandoning the EMUI system that Huawei had spent a fortune developing.

He grabbed the internal line and called the security department.

“Push an emergency security patch immediately! Block all known flashing vulnerabilities!”

An hour later.

The head of the security department called back, his voice filled with unconcealable frustration.

“It's no use... As soon as our patch was pushed, their flashing tool updated automatically and bypassed it directly.”

“We can't find where the vulnerability is. Their tool's permissions are unnaturally high.”

The sound of a report being flipped came from the other end of the phone.

“This is a total replacement of the underlying system. We can't stop it.”

At almost the same time.

The MIUI team at Xiaomi Group and the ColorOS team at OV Group all encountered the same situation.

It was a one-sided technical slaughter.

The software ecosystems and user loyalty they took pride in began to disintegrate overnight.

Executives of all android manufacturers received a sternly worded emergency report.

The contents of the reports were largely the same.

[Zhoutian OS is plundering our existing user base through open flashing.]

[We are unable to effectively stop this through technical means.]

[Recommendation: Initiate the highest-level response plan.]

...

An emergency meeting jointly initiated by several major Chinese smartphone giants was held in secret.

“Star Technology is trying to kill us!”

“It has completely leveled the playing field for hardware! In the future, users will just buy the cheapest phone and then come back to flash their system!”

“All our R&D investment and all our brand premiums have become a joke!”

“We can't wait any longer; we must stop them.”

The Huawei representative looked at everyone.

“This matter has exceeded the scope of commercial competition.”

“We must solve the problem from another level.”

...

Washington, the United States Department of Commerce building.

An office of the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS).

An analysis report on “Star Technology” was placed on the Deputy Director's desk.

The author of the report was a legal lobbyist for the Apple Group.

On the conclusion page of the report, several lines were bolded and marked in red.

[Target Company: Star Technology (Star Technology)]

[Technical Assessment: Possesses disruptive battery technology and an independent mobile operating system (Zhoutian OS).]

[Risk Characterization: Its operating system, through an open flashing model, has the capability to rapidly disintegrate existing android and iOS ecosystems, forming a technical monopoly. The underlying logic of the system is unclear, presenting a risk of information backdoors that threaten national security.]

[Recommendation: Immediately initiate an investigation and consider placing it on the “Entity List,” comprehensively restricting its access to any semiconductor chips and software services that use United States technology.]

After reading the report, the Deputy Director picked up a pen and signed his name at the end of the document.

“Proceed accordingly.”

...

Three days later.

A news flash appeared on the headlines of all international financial media.

Reuters: [The United States Department of Commerce announced it will conduct a national security investigation into China's “Star Technology” and its affiliates.]

Bloomberg: [Sources say Star Technology is highly likely to be included in the United States export control “Entity List.”]

The news reached the domestic market.

Social networks exploded instantly.

The topic #US Sanctions Star Technology# reached the top of the trending list within half an hour.

Anger, incomprehension, worry.

Various emotions intertwined online.

“On what grounds? What did Star Technology do wrong?”

“Just as they get some truly leading technology, are they going to be killed off like this?”

“It's over. With the chip supply cut off, Xingchen phones will have to stop production.”

Xingchen Technology Park, temporary office.

Guan Yi walked quickly into Chen Xu's office.

“Boss!”

She held a tablet in front of Chen Xu.

The screen was filled with English news headlines.

“News from Reuters: the United States Department of Commerce is going to investigate us and is preparing to put us on the Entity List!”

“Our chip suppliers, Qualcomm and MediaTek, along with all software services, might cut off our supply!”

He looked at Guan Yi.

“Don't worry.”

“The good show has only just begun.”

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