blueteamnovel Chapter 144
Chapter 144
Chapter 144: The Pinnacle Day of Life…Su Xiaoxiao Dressed to ImpressMr. Ma sat in his office eating bread, staring at the online news, stunned into silence. Mr. Mo had been relentlessly active. Before the New Year, he had swiftly monopolized the casual gaming market. This year, he targeted the rising giant in the antivirus industry…370.
Despite the ongoing corporate warfare, Penguin grew stronger, which was truly terrifying. If his own Taobao hadn’t accepted Li Mo’s investment back then, it might have become Li Mo’s enemy today. Having such a formidable opponent was chilling to even imagine.
Day Three: Li Mo Visited the Internet Café
He noticed many users downloading Penguin Butler, most of them elementary school students. They were all discussing how to level up their accounts. Some even ran two machines to upgrade multiple Penguin accounts simultaneously.
“Admin, open two machines!”
“Download Penguin Butler on the computers tomorrow. Otherwise, I’ll have to download it every time I come.”
The café admin was puzzled. What was this Penguin Butler that had everyone so hooked? After some research, he began downloading Penguin himself.
“Hubby…” Su Qingyan, sitting beside Li Mo, was dressing up her Penguin avatar.
“Leveling up Penguins is really tempting. I heard kids come here daily just to run Penguin. Penguin Butler has become a leveling-up miracle.”
Li Mo patted her head affectionately.
“You’re right. Kids love flashy stuff like this.”
He recalled how his cousin kept calling him a computer hacker during the New Year. The admiration in his cousin’s tone was unmistakable. Though Li Mo didn’t care much, the allure of Penguin levels, red diamonds, and yellow diamonds was undeniably powerful for children.
“Hubby, didn’t you say you’d make a game?”
“When will you start? Let’s play together once it’s online.”
“I want something relaxing and visually appealing. Like Audition…it’s really popular now.”
Li Mo stroked her head again, doting.
“Don’t worry. I’ve already taken note of it.”
He realized it was time to begin work on Penguin Racer and Penguin Dance. But he didn’t want to license games. Licensing meant paying hefty annual fees. Once a game became popular, it would cost even more. If he developed the game himself, he could buy out the rights directly.
Over the Next Seven Days
Li Mo frequently took Su Qingyan to the internet café. He regretted not encountering the legendary café gamer. Perhaps that person had quit the online world for a serious job, or something else had happened. Li Mo believed there were thousands of such café legends across the country…just snapshots of a non-mainstream internet era.
That night, a bombshell rocked the internet.
Zhou Hongyi of 370 published a lengthy article claiming that once Penguin was installed, it accessed massive amounts of hard drive data…including videos, images, and online banking information. He promoted Penguin Bodyguard as a privacy protector.
The article spread rapidly, causing a major stir. Many users began downloading Penguin Bodyguard.
While dancing with Su Qingyan in Penguin Dance, Li Mo heard the news. Nearby netizens were discussing Penguin’s invasion of user privacy. The atmosphere was electric.
Li Mo downloaded Penguin Bodyguard. He quickly discovered that all monetizable features…Penguin avatar, Penguin space…were blocked. The software automatically shared the Bodyguard link with Ma Tengyun. 370 had even added a chat module, clearly aiming to rival Penguin’s instant messaging.
Ma Tengyun soon sent a question mark.
Li Mo then realized that Penguin Butler had been automatically replaced by 370 on his computer.
“No wonder he’s the founder of rogue software,” Li Mo muttered. Zhou Hongyi had dropped a bomb…an absolute game-changer. But Li Mo wasn’t panicked. He had anticipated this move.
At 370 Headquarters
Zhou Hongyi was riding high.
“In just a few hours, our chat user base has surged.”
“Thanks to Penguin’s auto-sharing, our user numbers are skyrocketing.”
“At this rate, we’ll hit over 200 million users in seven days.”
“Then we’ll completely take over Penguin’s instant messaging market!”
After Lianzhong collapsed, Bao Yueqiao was transferred to 370 as an executive. He frowned.
“It’s useless. Ma Tengyun is coming. Another internet company will be destroyed.”
Zhou Hongyi sighed. He disliked Bao but couldn’t remove him. During this morale boost, Bao kept repeating the same line…“Ma Tengyun is coming. Another company will fall.” He sat in a corner drinking, looking nothing like a tech executive.
Ignoring Bao, Zhou continued, “Honestly, I didn’t want to fight Penguin. But we’ve been cornered. He wants our security market…we’ll take his messaging!”
“370 Chat will rival Penguin!”
“Now we must hold the technical line. We can’t let Penguin break our blockade.”
The executives were fired up.
That Night
Qiu Bojun led Jinshan’s tech team in a frantic attempt to break Penguin Bodyguard’s blockade. After over ten hours, they made no progress. 370’s expertise in rogue software ran deep. Jinshan couldn’t compete.
Everyone watched as Penguin’s profits kept falling. The Five Tigers were panicking. The whole company buzzed with discussion. Qiu Bojun rushed to Deep City. Only Li Mo remained silent.