84: Chapter 84 What the heck is virtual reality?

The livestream chat was completely paralyzed.

"I'm tearing up, brothers! This is the pride of our nation!"

"From now on, whoever dares to badmouth Lu Li is making an enemy of me!"

"I'll sell everything I own to buy one! We can't let Guanghui Technology go under!"

"CEO Lu, you're too kind! Raise the price a bit; we don't mind the extra cost!"

Lu Li pressed his hand down, savoring this moment of adoration from the masses.

As the noise died down, the smile on his face suddenly vanished.

A more mysterious, more fanatical aura began to emanate from him.

"Doraemon is just an appetizer."

"Since everyone is talking about the future, let's play something even bigger."

Snap.

A finger snap.

The stage lights went out instantly.

In the darkness, only Lu Li's voice echoed in everyone's ears, like the whisper of a demon.

"Do you think the current world is exciting enough?"

"Nine-to-five jobs, car loans, mortgages, the monotony of day after day..."

"Do you want to... try living in a different world?"

On the screen, a single point of starlight appeared.

Immediately after, the starlight burst, transforming into countless streams of shimmering data that converged into a black silhouette filled with a sci-fi aesthetic.

That was no simple helmet.

That was the key to the kingdom of gods.

"2018, the Guanghui Technology 8 series launch event."

Lu Li's voice carried a hint of trembling excitement.

"Discard your keyboards, throw away your mice, and even... forget your physical bodies."

"We are not releasing a product."

"But rather a—"

"second world."

On the screen, four large characters descended like a heavenly tablet, slamming into everyone's retinas.

[Virtual Reality]

That night, the world did not sleep.

Ten minutes after the launch event ended.

The entire internet went completely insane.

Guanghui Technology swept the top ten trending searches on Weibo.

#DoraemonBecomesReal#

#34999YuanRobot#

#GuanghuiTechnologyVirtual Reality#

#TechnologyChangesLife#

#WhoIsLuLi#

The click counts for every entry were jumping frantically in the hundreds of millions.

ByteDance headquarters was brightly lit.

Zhang Xue'er stood before the massive data monitoring screen, arms crossed, tapping her fingertips rhythmically against her arm.

On the screen, the curve for Douyin's real-time active users was no longer just climbing.

It was taking off vertically.

"CEO Zhang, server load has reached 98%, and all backup lines are open!"

The technical director was drenched in sweat, his voice trembling, "This traffic is too terrifying; it's even fiercer than the Spring Festival Gala! Should we throttle the traffic?"

"Throttle the traffic?"

Zhang Xue'er stared at that soaring curve, a wild arc forming at the corner of her mouth.

"Why should we throttle it?"

"Burn it."

She spat out the word, each syllable striking the ground like iron.

"Even if you burn the servers out, you must hold the line for me."

"After tonight, Douyin will no longer be just a short video app."

"It will be a witness to a new era."

"With this kind of heaven-sent wealth, what does burning a few server racks matter?"

Jingzhou, Dami Technology headquarters.

There was a deathly silence in the conference room.

Lei Jun sat at the head of the table, toying with the newly disassembled pioneer s1, its parts scattered across the table.

There was no anger.

Only a deep, helpless exhaustion.

The projector was frozen on the image of Doraemon answering "Why do stars twinkle."

"Where is our AI team?"

Lei Jun spoke, his voice hoarse.

The executive in charge of Xiao Ai lowered his head, wishing he could bury it between his legs.

"CEO Lei... our algorithms are not the same generation of product as it."

"No."

Lei Jun shook his head, his gaze sharp as a knife.

"Not the same generation."

"It's a difference in species."

"Just like monkeys and humans."

"You are monkeys, and he, Lu Li, is human. Do you understand?"

He slammed the chip in his hand onto the table.

"Starting tomorrow, cut all non-core projects."

"I want you to spare no cost, go camp out at the entrance of Guanghui Technology, beg, kneel if you have to, but get that SDK interface back for me!"

Huawei headquarters.

CEO Yu sat in his office, holding a freshly printed technical analysis report.

After reading the last page, he slammed the report onto the table.

"Establish a special task force immediately."

"I don't care what methods you use, within three months, get me a sample of a silicon-carbon anode battery."

"Also, contact Guanghui Technology."

"Ask them when they can provide us with the SDK interface for the accessibility features."

The secretary nodded and turned to leave.

"Wait."

CEO Yu called him back.

"Help me schedule another meeting with Lu Li."

"Just say I want to invite him to dinner."

The secretary was stunned.

CEO Yu was notoriously arrogant and never proactively invited anyone to dinner.

But he quickly recovered.

"Very well, CEO Yu."

Apple Inc. China headquarters.

The general manager watched the recording of the launch event on his phone, his face livid.

"Send an email to headquarters immediately."

"Tell Cook that a terrifying competitor has appeared in the Chinese market."

"If we don't take this seriously, next year's iPhone sales in China will hit rock bottom."

The assistant hesitated.

"But headquarters has always felt that Chinese manufacturers only know how to copy..."

"Copy?"

The general manager sneered.

"Have you ever seen a copycat capable of making something like this?"

He pointed at the Doraemon on the screen.

"This is absolute dominance!"

"It's a dimensionality reduction attack!"

"It's a... technological revolution we've never seen before!"

Tianqiong Technology.

There was no tension of preparing for battle here, only a despair like the arrival of the apocalypse.

Fan Yu slumped in his boss chair.

On the computer screen in front of him was a dismal green stock market candlestick chart.

The stock price of Tianqiong Interactive Entertainment had dropped by a daily limit.

But that wasn't the most fatal part.

The most fatal thing was the news pop-ups constantly appearing in the bottom right corner of the screen.

"Su Group stock soars 40% in US pre-market trading!"

"Wall Street analysts raise Guanghui Technology's valuation to 100 billion USD!"

"One hundred billion... USD..."

Fan Yu muttered this number, then suddenly started laughing neurotically.

The laughter grew louder and louder, finally turning into a shrill roar.

"Lu Li!!"

He grabbed the ashtray on the table and smashed it hard against the expensive monitor.

Bang!

The screen shattered, sparks flying everywhere.

Just like his ridiculous self-esteem, shattered all over the floor.

Director Gu Yang sat on the sofa, his face grim. The two of them had teamed up, yet they hadn't even had a chance to make a move before slinking away from the launch event in disgrace.

The situation was lost.

This was a dimensionality reduction attack.

There was no need to target you, or even to look at you.

They were just passing by.

And you had already been crushed into dust.