Chapter 231: The Cold Wind of the New Era

Fanghuan Investment's conference room.
"So, your company means... this app was co-developed with Digital ByteDance?"
Su Hao asked, flipping through the documents in his hand.
"Yes. It should have been launched long ago, but due to the global server crisis, the project was shelved, and Digital ByteDance withdrew its investment.
So... it effectively became an abandoned project."
The head of Musical.ly, an American named Broer, explained with a regretful expression.
This app, called "TokTok," was originally a secret weapon prepared by Digital ByteDance after acquiring Musical.ly to conquer the global market.
Due to regulatory restrictions, they couldn't directly launch Douyin (TikTok) overseas, so they partnered with Musical.ly to build this brand-new app from scratch.
Everything was ready, just waiting for launch.
However, a global chip shortage and server expansion crisis killed the entire plan in its infancy, and Digital ByteDance ultimately made the difficult decision to abandon it.
"We've developed an industry-first intelligent recommendation system that accurately analyzes user preferences, making it impossible to stop watching!
We've also drastically optimized the UI's usability, ensuring that once users open our app, they're glued to it for hours on end!"
The app's killer feature is its intelligent recommendation system.
Short-form content, also known as short videos, is common in other social media apps.
But this app allows users to be completely controlled by its algorithm without even realizing it, making their phones seem like an extension of their hands, scrolling for hours on end.
It's like a time black hole; once you're trapped, there's no easy way out.
"What do you all think?" Su Hao asked his team.
A long silence filled the conference room. Finally, Lin Fan, vice chairman of Fanghuan Investment, cautiously spoke:
"To be honest… I don't quite understand. Just a few dozen seconds of video, and someone really gets hooked?
Besides… the content isn't very rich, it's just the same old stuff over and over. Of course, the intelligent recommendation system sounds impressive."
Most people's expressions clearly said, "I'm not optimistic."
"Chairman Su, what's your opinion?"
"I…" Su Hao drawled.
Actually, from the moment Broer began his presentation, his intuition had been pounding in his head like a commotion.
He already had the answer in his heart.
But he was, after all, the chairman, and he had to maintain a respectable demeanor.
"Well, we'll have to hear the price first."
Lin Fan understood.
Now, it was his turn to perform as the "bargain hunter."
"As far as I know, Digital ByteDance prepared one billion US dollars to acquire Musical.ly, right?"
Lin Fan asked slowly.
"Yes, that's right."
For Musical.ly, which was on the rise at the time and had a very capable technical team, that price was reasonable.
"So, what's your target price now?"
Brøller immediately replied, "Eight hundred million US dollars."
Su Hao remained expressionless and silent, not even bothering to lift his eyelids.
His fingertips tapped rhythmically on the table, producing a soft "tap, tap, tap" sound.
The air in the entire conference room seemed to freeze with this monotonous sound, a heavy pressure weighing on the shoulders of the people opposite him.
Su Hao's intuition remained completely unmoved.
This meant the other party had overpaid.
"Eight hundred million US dollars?" Lin Fan raised his voice.
"Mr. Broll, isn't this price far too insincere?
Everyone in the industry knows that if Fang Huan doesn't take over, Musical.ly is only one step away from bankruptcy.
At a time like this, you still want to walk away with eight hundred million US dollars?"
"Then, the seven hundred million...?" Broll's forehead began to sweat.
Su Hao continued to play the role of a silent statue.
"Six hundred million?"
The clicking sound of metal on the table continued.
Brøll gritted his teeth: "Three...three hundred million! Three hundred million US dollars! This is our limit!
Three hundred million can barely cover our R&D costs!"
The moment the word "three hundred million" left his lips, Su Hao's dormant intuition finally clicked, like a puzzle piece finding its final piece, perfectly placed.
He slowly opened his eyes, a glint of light flashing in them.
"Three hundred million US dollars it is. Deal."
As soon as the words fell, everyone on Musical.ly visibly breathed a sigh of relief.
If Fang Huan Investment had rejected them again, they would have truly been left with nothing but empty stomachs.
“It’s a pleasure working with you,” Su Hao stood up and shook hands with Broer.
“Although the company’s ownership has changed, I hope all the key technical personnel will stay.
Our top priority is to resolve the server issues as soon as possible and launch this app globally simultaneously.”
With this, all equity, technology, and the aborted app of Musical.ly officially came under the control of Fang Huan Investment.
“By the way,” Broer reminded him, “you might need to change the app’s name.”
“A name…” Su Hao thought for a moment.
“We’ve prepared some alternatives; would you like to take a look?”
The other party handed him a long list of candidate names.
It’s often said that naming a business is the hardest thing in the world, even harder than naming a game character.
But this time, Su Hao didn’t seem to need to worry about it.
“This is the first page, and there’s more on the next page…”
“This one.”
His finger swept over countless unremarkable names, finally stopping precisely on one.
In his eyes, only this name seemed to possess a halo of divine light, shimmering with an irresistible glow that screamed "Pick me! Pick me!"
【PicPic】
"Oh! PicPic, that's a great name!" Lin Fan beside him nodded repeatedly.
"It can be understood as 'glance,' so get scrolling! In an English context, it can also mean 'Pick Pick,' a very good meaning!"
The team members all nodded in agreement.
However, even with the name settled, deep down, Su Hao, like everyone else, still harbored a huge question mark:
According to the other party, will an era truly arrive where all of humanity does nothing but stay in place, mindlessly scrolling through short videos?
***
In the chairman's office of Jiangjin Group, Qin Han listened to his secretary's report, his brow furrowed.
"What's Qin Lan thinking? Su Hao is such a top-tier figure, and she's still being so hesitant and unwilling?"
"Chairman, President Qin is always strong-willed. She probably won't accept this forced blind date approach anytime soon."
"Sigh, that's the problem. I wanted to arrange a dinner for them to meet, but neither side is willing.
That Su Hao is the same; he's completely unyielding, acting like he's more steadfast than Tang Sanzang."
"Maybe they're both the type... who prefer a natural encounter?"
"Exactly! I've almost exhausted all my brain cells trying to create an opportunity for them to 'naturally encounter,' but I'm still at a loss."
Qin Han's "plan to cultivate Su Hao into the Qin family's son-in-law" has stalled at the very first step, proving incredibly difficult.
This Su Hao is simply impervious to persuasion.
Not only is his private life unusually clean, but he always makes excuses when you try to introduce him to someone.
This put Qin Han in a dilemma, afraid that if he went too far, he would offend others.
"Forget it, I'll think of another way," Qin Han waved his hand. "Let's get down to business. What are Fanghuan Investment's needs this time?"
"Ah, yes. Fanghuan Investment recently acquired a technology company and is preparing to launch a global social app."
"Hmm? A social app? Why the sudden crossover?"
"Apparently, they snagged a bargain, taking over a global project that 'Digital Jump' had previously abandoned.
Now everything is ready, except for the servers.
So Su Hao wants us to prioritize and provide them with a sufficient supply of top-of-the-line servers."
"No problem at all." Qin Han waved his hand.
"Tell your subordinates to cooperate fully, provide as much as they need, and as quickly as possible!
Make sure this is handled flawlessly, and that Su Hao feels our sincerity!"
Recent international tensions, due to President Emily's use of tariffs everywhere, have made the global market very tense.
If it weren't for Su Hao's early intervention, connecting him with the Xia Lian Group, his Jiang Jin Group would likely have been battered and bruised by the new president's "sanctions package."
This favor was immense.
"By the way," Qin Han suddenly remembered something, "how's the situation with the other major social media apps regarding the server shortage?"
"Currently, most of their production capacity is being used by various countries for their most urgent security projects.
So commercial orders are piling up. Although the problem will eventually be resolved, their server upgrades have been affected in the short term.
While their existing servers can barely maintain operations, if they delay any longer and don't replace them with new servers, their app operations will soon run into problems."
"Hmm... I see?"
A brilliant, even somewhat "unethical," idea popped into Qin Han's mind.
He understood the principle of repaying a small kindness tenfold.
Since Su Hao had given him such a generous gift, he felt he had to return the favor.
“Go check when Fang Huan’s new app is scheduled to launch.”
The secretary immediately understood and tentatively asked,
“You mean… to hold back the server orders originally intended for our competitors?”
Qin Han’s lips curled into a meaningful, sly smile.
“You’re quick-witted, kid. You get it right away.
Expedite Fang Huan’s orders! Cut them in line!
Hold back all the other SNS companies’ server orders until after Fang Huan’s app launches…
Let them wait in line and feel the chill of the new era.”