69novels Chapter 155, "Temple Escape," begins; Zhu Xiaohu gathers intelligence.
Chapter 155, "Temple Escape," begins; Zhu Xiaohu gathers intelligence.
Chapter 155 "Temple Escape" Begins, Zhu Xiaohu Scouts Military Intelligence (6k)
Upon hearing that Geng Zhi was talking about starting a ToC (business-to-consumer) business, Lü Sifeng immediately shook his head: "Our boss's company mainly focuses on ToG (government-to-government) services. Asking him to do ToC map business is basically hopeless. This isn't his area of expertise, and he wouldn't be interested."
He paused, then added, "Moreover, given the boss's status, it's unlikely he'd directly get involved in purely commercial products."
Geng Zhi wanted to say a few more words.
Google just withdrew from the Chinese market, and with the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping's new policy, Google Maps service is about to be shut down.
Baidu Maps has not yet entered the mobile market, while Gaode Maps focuses solely on pre-installed car services and ToG (government-to-government) business. NavInfo, clinging to its traditional business, has completely failed to grasp the wave of mobile internet.
This is the optimal window of opportunity to enter the game.
But after thinking about it, he realized that perhaps now was not the best time to talk about this, and he swallowed back the words that were about to come out.
Geng Zhi finally said calmly, "Brother Lü's analysis makes a lot of sense."
Lu Sifeng noticed the special meaning in Geng Zhi's expression—that hesitant, ambiguous look—he was all too familiar with it.
He stopped and looked at Geng Zhi seriously: "Junior brother, was there something else you wanted to say?"
Geng Zhi hesitated deliberately for a moment before smiling slightly: "Senior Brother Lü, I just suddenly remembered that I saw two map apps that were pretty good a while ago. One is Nokia's Ovi Maps, which just announced it would be free two months ago. The other is a brand called Waze, which also has great potential. If you're interested, Senior Brother, you can try them out."
Nokia's 0vi was very famous, and Lü Sifeng certainly knew that, but at that time, the latter was not very famous, so he was unaware of it.
In fact, in its previous life, Waze quickly grew from a niche map to a hot commodity in the industry, with Apple, Facebook, and Google vying to acquire it. Ultimately, Google spent around $10 billion to acquire it first, making a significant contribution to Google Mobile Maps.
Lu Sifeng asked curiously, "What's the name of that map with cesium?"
"It's called Waze, W-a-z-e," Geng Zhi spelled out. "It's a social map service, using a crowdsourcing model, and its differentiation is very obvious."
"Oh, okay." Lu Sifeng nodded thoughtfully and took out his phone to write down the name in the notes app.
As they were talking, the two had already reached the school gate.
An empty taxi drove by right at the entrance, its "[Available]" sign on the roof lit up.
Geng Zhi waved, got into the taxi, rolled down the window, and waved to Lü Sifeng.
Lü Sifeng strode into the school gate, opening his phone as he walked to search for information on a map app called Waze.
The entrance to the office of Mingfan Technology in Jiaotong University Science and Technology Park.
Zhu Xiaohu and Kong Min had finished their meal early and had already climbed the stairs.
Jinshajiang Venture Capital recently partnered with Arctic Capital to invest in Weju, but there has been no official announcement yet.
Zhu Xiaohu wanted to take advantage of this opportunity, under the guise of investing in Momo's Series B round, to explore Geng Zhi's vision for Momo's future.
Especially after Momo officially announced its free model, he still hasn't figured out what the next step in Momo's business model will be.
To be precise, he still couldn't determine whether his guess was accurate or not.
Zhu Xiaohu believes that Weiju and Momo are bound to clash in the future. If they can gather more valuable information today, it could be very helpful to Weiju.
Before he and Kong Min came to Mingfan Technology, Zhu Xiaohu did not inform Geng Zhi, intending to launch a surprise attack.
Unexpectedly, the two of them came up empty-handed.
Company Secretary Lü Siyu led Zhu Xiaohu and Kong Min to the reception room and brewed them some fine Longjing tea.
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"Mr. Zhu, Assistant Kong," Lü Siyu said apologetically, "Our boss just said he had an urgent matter and went out for a while. I just sent him a message, but he hasn't replied yet. Would you like to wait here for a bit, or...?"
Zhu Xiaohu glanced at his watch, pondered for a moment, and then smiled, saying, "It's alright, let's wait here for President Geng for a while. Assistant Lü, you can go ahead and get back to work."
"Okay, Mr. Zhu, Assistant Kong." Lü Siyu nodded with a smile. "Then I'll go ahead and get busy. Please wait a moment. Feel free to call me anytime if you need anything. I'll be outside."
As Lü Siyu spoke, she left the meeting room, closing the door behind her with a soft click.
Zhu Xiaohu stood up, walked to the glass wall, and looked out at the office area.
"Xiao Kong, when you came to do your research last time, were the offices this full of employees?" Zhu Xiaohu asked, his gaze sweeping across the office area through the blinds.
Kong Min walked over, stood next to him, and observed him carefully for a while.
"No," she said confidently. "It feels like there are suddenly more than twenty people here. Last time I came, that area was empty, but now it's completely full."
Kong Min pointed to a section in the middle: "But I don't know what positions the extra people are mainly in, especially the middle section, it feels much fuller than last time."
"That middle area? That's where the programmers are."
"How did you know, Mr. Zhu?" Kong Min asked curiously.
"Look at their clothes, their hair volume, their dual computer screens, and their gender ratio," Zhu Xiaohu said with a laugh.
"Ah, I see!" Kong Min suddenly realized and returned to her workstation. Lü Siyu immediately sent a message to Geng Zhi, her fingers flying across the screen.
[Lü Siyu]: "Boss, General Manager Zhu said they're waiting for you here. What should we do next?"
[Straightforward]: "Then just let them wait, but you have to be extra careful. If he asks about Momo's business data, you have to be extra careful about what you should and shouldn't say, and keep the same story as everyone else."
[Lü Siyu]: "Understood!"
Meanwhile, Geng Zhi had arrived at a budget hotel next to Hongqiao Airport.
"Uncle, have my parents made all the preparations for their trip to Hong Kong during the Qingming Festival?"
Wang Kai nodded with a smile, a hint of pride on his face: "Don't worry, nephew, my sister and brother-in-law made all the preparations two weeks ago. Passes, plane tickets, hotels, everything is arranged."
He paused, then added, "But neither of them has ever flown before, and they're clearly a bit nervous. They've been calling me a lot these past few days asking about things to be careful about when flying."
"Okay, thank you for your help, Uncle."
"We're all family, no need to be so polite!" Wang Kai waved his hand, then smiled and revealed some news, "My sister topped up her UnionPay card with tens of thousands of yuan this time, and also asked me to help her exchange a lot of Hong Kong dollars in cash!"
"Huh?" Geng Zhi looked utterly puzzled. "Did my mom suddenly decide to go on a shopping spree? Or is she buying things for her colleague?"
In his memory, his mother had always been frugal. She would hesitate for a long time before buying a piece of clothing and haggle for a long time before buying vegetables. How could she suddenly be so generous?
"No," Wang Kai shook his head with a smile, a mischievous glint in his eyes. "My sister said she wanted to buy Wan Ning something; she genuinely likes Wan Ning!"
upright:"----"
Wan Ning is waiting for them in Hong Kong. Who knows who will buy for whom then? — Geng Zhi muttered to himself.
The two chatted about preparations for flying to Hong Kong, and then steered the conversation back to the work at Red Palm Studio.
When Wang Kai first took over Red Palm Studio, he was actually working part-time. Later, as the studio developed well and Geng Zhi provided more and more benefits, he became a full-time employee.
For this reason, game enthusiast Wang Kai studies almost every day, constantly learning:
Browsing various game forums, playing countless games, participating in game industry forums, brushing up on English, and even attending game development training to familiarize myself with game engines —
To put it bluntly, Wang Kai dreams of becoming a game producer.
Especially recently, his straightforwardness led him to recommend "Eight Below," "Sonic the Hedgehog," "Mirror's Edge," and "Rooftop Adventure."
I've played all these parkour games, playing and experiencing them repeatedly.
"Nephew, just as you said, when I demanded a high penalty for breach of contract in the contract, Pengxiang and Xiaoguang resolutely agreed to sign it, but Youqing refused. You had an excellent eye for people!"
"Actually, it's not that I'm better," Geng Zhi shook his head. "It's that Pengxiang chose the Red Palm Studio over his roommates."
"Hmm?" Wang Kai frowned. "You mean, Pengxiang told you that Xu Youqing won't be staying at Red Palm Studio in the future?"
""
"Yes, Pengxiang told me that Xu Youqing doesn't plan to stay in the future. He was grateful for the kindness Hongzhang Studio had shown him and asked if I should tell you. I told him not to tell you." Gengzhi nodded.
"Why?" Wang Kai asked curiously.
"Because Pengxiang is a very good person, it's already difficult for him to choose between friendship and professional ethics. I don't want him to feel guilty towards Youqing."
Wang Kai nodded: "Well done, nephew!"
He paused, then asked, "So, regarding the stock options and profit sharing for Pengxiang and Xiaoguang, should I proceed as originally planned? Or do we need to adjust it further?"
"Yes, let's stick to the original plan."
"And another thing, nephew," Wang Kai asked seriously, "So—for the upcoming game development, is it really true—Youqing won't be involved anymore?"
"Yes." His tone was straightforward and resolute. "The new game is extremely important. If it's not one of our own, then it could be our future rival. We shouldn't create trouble for ourselves."
"Ke Youqing's art skills are also quite good." Wang Kai said with some concern, "Isn't it a lot of pressure for Pengxiang to play the new game alone? After all, there are so many art resources."
"It's alright," Geng Zhi explained. "Game development itself isn't difficult; the challenge lies in the meticulous polishing. It'll probably take several months in total, so let Pengxiang take his time drawing. If we really run out of art resources, it's not difficult to find outsourcing."
Wang Kai understood, and finally asked, "So, should I have a friendly talk with Youqing next?"
"Okay." Geng Zhi nodded. "Let's part ways amicably."
Ring ring ring—!
Just then, Geng Zhi's phone rang.
He glanced at it and saw it was a call from Zhu Xiaohu, so he immediately muted it.
Wang Kai and Geng Zhi chatted about the development of Red Palm Studio before refocusing the conversation on the new game.
"Nephew, can you tell me what game we're going to make next?" Wang Kai asked curiously, his eyes full of anticipation. "It'll definitely be a parkour game, right?"
"Uncle Kai is clever!" Geng Zhi laughed. "But we need to be quite innovative in how we play; it's not just ordinary parkour."
He paused, then continued, "First of all, unlike ordinary 2D side-scrolling parkour games, this is a—"
"Huh? Wait a minute, wait a minute!" Wang Kai quickly waved his hand, then turned on the recording. "Let me record this first and study it a few times."
He smiled frankly, and waited for him to turn on the recording before continuing his explanation: "This is a 3D game, but there are no joysticks or buttons on the game interface—"
"What?!" Wang Kai's eyes widened, and his voice rose. "How do you control the direction without a joystick? Nephew, you mean a virtual joystick? Or at least a jump button?"
"No need," Geng Zhi shook his head. "No joysticks or buttons whatsoever."
Wang Kai was completely dumbfounded, his brows furrowing in disbelief.
"No, even if we don't need to control left or right, there should at least be a jumping motion, right?" he pressed. "We can't just keep running, can we? What happens when we encounter obstacles?"
"It allows players to change their characters by swiping, which is somewhat similar to the swiping logic in our 'Fruit Ninja' game," Geng Zhi explained.
Wang Kai still didn't understand, he didn't understand at all.
He had played countless games, from the NES to the PSP, from PC to mobile, but he had never seen this kind of operation before.
No buttons? All you do is swipe? How do you even play this?
Geng Zhi took his computer out of his backpack and opened the Unity software.
The screen displays a rough 3D scene: a temple-style racetrack, a simple character model, and a few obstacles.
"This is a demo of the core gameplay we made, the most basic version," Geng Zhi said, turning the computer screen towards Wang Kai and beginning to demonstrate for him:
Slide your finger up on the touchpad—and your character jumps over an obstacle.
Slide down—the character slides along the ground, crawling under low obstacles.
Slide right – the character can turn flexibly on the track to avoid obstacles.
Tilt your character to collect coins on both sides of the track.
After demonstrating the operation, Geng Zhi began to explain the design philosophy: "If we want to create a hit product and become pioneers, we can only innovate from the simplest gameplay."
"The simplest approach is simple in development and easy to play. It requires no tutorial and can be picked up in two minutes by both adults and children. However, mastering it is extremely difficult."
"Like the iPhone, the screen is only 3.5 inches; if you put two fingers on it, it will cover half the screen —"
"Simulating a physical joystick on a touchscreen would look very fake—so using gestures is the most suitable approach."
"This kind of escape, this constant running, has an instinctive sense of immersion that can instantly grab the player's attention —"
Wang Kai's eyes widened further.
The character can turn, jump, and glide along the ground with just a single swipe. Furthermore, you can collect coins by tilting your phone!
He pretended to be a seasoned gamer, but he had never seen a game designed like this before.
"I've played games for so many years, and this kind of skill is the first I've ever seen," he muttered. "And this is only recently—"
Can near-3D scenes really be achieved on a mobile phone?
"Technically, it's definitely achievable," Geng Zhi affirmed. "It's just a matter of development time, and how strong Xiao Guang's learning and research abilities really are. The Unity engine supports 3D development, and the hardware performance of mobile phones is also rapidly improving. The iPhone 4 coming out this year will definitely be much stronger than the L3GS."
Wang Kai stared at the demonstration on the screen, lost in thought.
"What is the game development engine you're using?"
Ring ring ring—!
Geng Zhi's phone rang again; it was Zhu Xiaohu calling once more. Geng Zhi closed his eyes and silenced it again.
"This is Unity," he continued. "It supports cross-platform development, both iOS and Android. The latest Unity 2.6 version offers a pretty good experience for creating 2.5D and 3D games."
"However, Xiaoguang may need some time to learn before he can get started. After all, he mainly worked on 2D projects before."
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Wang Kai pondered for a moment, then frowned slightly: "With so many complicated new things, I feel it would be very difficult for Xiaoguang to do them all by himself."
"It's alright," he said straightforwardly. "If he has any questions, he can just ask me. This game focuses on gameplay; the core logic isn't actually that complicated. As long as you're proficient with Unity tools, the development workload itself isn't that heavy. The art assets are the real challenge."
Next, Geng Zhi explained the game's temple scene design, Unity considerations, the method of calling the gravity sensor framework, and the recognition logic of swipe gestures to Wang Kai in detail.
As Wang Kai listened and asked questions, he gradually learned a lot.
In the conference room of Mingfan Technology.
Zhu Xiaohu, who was getting a little impatient, picked up his phone and looked at Zhao again.
He sent two messages and made two phone calls to Qi Gengzhi, but Qi Gengzhi neither answered nor replied to the messages.
He leaned back in his chair, his fingers tapping unconsciously on the table, making a soft tapping sound.
Kong Shi sat opposite him, not saying much, only occasionally glancing at his phone and then at the door.
At that moment, the door was gently pushed open.
Lu Siyu entered again, carrying a fresh teapot, and poured hot tea for Zhu Xiaohu and Kong Min.
Zhu Xiaohu didn't touch his glass, but turned to her with a slight frown: "Assistant Lü, hasn't President Geng replied to your message yet?"
Lu Siyu gave a perfectly timed apologetic look: "President Zhu, the boss hasn't replied yet. He's probably in a very important meeting or negotiating. As you know, we've had a lot of people contacting our boss lately."
She answered politely, and even showed Zhu Xiaohu her phone screen, displaying her chat window with Geng Zhi.
Of course, she had already deleted their latest chat history beforehand.
Zhu Xiaohu glanced at her twice and, seeing that Lü Siyu had indeed not lied to him, said nothing more, only nodding slightly.
"Mr. Zhu, may I ask if you're looking for Mr. Geng?" Lu Siyu asked tentatively.
"Oh, it's nothing. We're in Shanghai on a business trip and just happened to stop by to chat with your CEO Geng about Momo's Series B financing."
He paused, then added, "After all, Sequoia Capital snatched up the Series A funding, so they should at least leave a chance for us at GSR Ventures in the Series B round, right?"
"Oh, really!" Lu Siyu's face lit up with just the right amount of excitement. "Our boss has been talking about B a lot lately."
They're in the round of financing! They say several institutions are in contact with them, and they're struggling to choose the right one.
Zhu Xiaohu and Kong Shi exchanged a glance, their hearts tightening simultaneously.
Is he going to talk about Series B funding right now?
But this Series A funding round was just completed not long ago, shouldn't it be this fast?
Even if we're talking about Series B, didn't this kid say last time that he'd prioritize Jinshajiang Ventures for Series B? Why didn't he say hello to his senior?
Zhu Xiaohu immediately put on a smile: "Is Momo's user growth going smoothly?"
"Yes, everything is going very smoothly!" Lu Siyu said earnestly, "We're not far from our goal of 400 million users. Our team is monitoring the data every day, and it's growing incredibly fast."
Lu Siyu wasn't lying; they're only 400 million users away from reaching 200 million.
"Huh? So fast??" Zhu Xiaohu looked incredulous.
Kong Shi, standing beside Lü Siyu, also widened his chin.
"That's right!" Lu Siyu's face was filled with barely suppressed excitement. "Our user growth was already high organically, and after we got the Sequoia Capital investment, the boss was willing to invest heavily in promotion. Moreover, Momo's Q2 spending will be even greater!"
"Oh? What kind of changes will there be?" Kong Shi hurriedly asked.
"Well—" Lu Siyu hesitated slightly, then smiled apologetically, "I'm sorry, Mr. Zhu and Assistant Kong, this might not be convenient to talk about. The Q2 plan is a trade secret."
"However, when President Zhu invested in Momo's Series B round, he must have known about it," Lu Siyu added, her expression quite sincere.
Zhu Xiaohu nodded, revealing a knowing smile.
"Um, Mr. Zhu, Assistant Kong, I'll go check with the boss to see if he's replied yet," Lu Siyu said, and quickly left the meeting room.
The door closed gently, and the conference room was quiet for a few seconds.
"Mr. Zhu, it's only been online for a short time, and their Momo user base is already approaching 400 million. That's a terrifying growth rate!" Kong Shi asked in a low voice.
"How could it possibly rise so quickly? It's most likely fake." Zhu Xiaohu shook his head, his tone certain.
"Huh?" Kong Shi was stunned. "But Assistant Lü and I were very sincere. We didn't even blink when we spoke, and our expressions were very natural."
"Xiao Kong," Zhu Xiaohu said, standing beside her, "this is our first time talking to her in person, so it's hard to say what kind of person she is. Besides—"
He paused, then said meaningfully, "Like boss, like soldier. That straightforward kid, he seems harmless on the outside, but is he really sincere? Is he truly straightforward?"
Kong Min blinked, thinking that she strongly disagreed with her boss's analysis.
She believes that Boss Geng is a very straightforward and honest person!
Moreover, she also believed that although she worked for Zhu Xiaohu, she was not cunning at all.
"Xiao Kong, don't you believe me?" Zhu Xiaohu, having guessed her thoughts, smiled and said, "I'm usually very accurate. I'll go to the office later and ask the other employees to cross-verify. Asking a few more people will surely yield some real information."
Kong Shi nodded with a hint of doubt.
As they talked, the two walked out of the reception room and into the office area.
Kong Min, in coordination with Zhu Xiaohu, went to Lu Siyu's workstation to chat with her and keep her occupied.
Zhu Xiaohu went directly to the operations department.
The employees all know Zhu Xiaohu, and Zhu Xiaohu also knows that everyone knows him.
He pretended to stroll around aimlessly, then walked up behind the college girl who looked the most honest.
"Hey classmate, has Momo reached 150 million users yet?" Zhu Xiaohu bent down and asked casually.
Yang Mingxia turned around and saw that it was Zhu Xiaohu. She quickly greeted him politely, "Hello, Mr. Zhu! We've already exceeded 150 million! Now we'll soon be able to reach 400 million!"
Her eyes shone as she said this, and her tone was filled with genuine pride.
"Not bad, not bad, keep it up." Zhu Xiaohu nodded and gave a thumbs up, his expression stern but not particularly charming.
Two minutes later, he wandered over to what he considered the most honest R&D team.
Seeing this, Song Qing, who was coding, took the initiative to greet him across Jia Zhenbiao and Guan Peidong.
Zhu Xiaohu then took the opportunity to ask Song Qing about the approximate number of users and daily active users.
The answer I got was still that the number of users was approaching 400 million and the daily active users were approaching 120 million, and the servers were almost overwhelmed.
Zhu Xiaohu's heart sank slightly.
How long will it take for Li Haipeng's Weiju to reach 120 million daily active users?
Just as he was about to ask for more details about the data, his phone rang, and Geng Zhi called him back.
As soon as Zhao opened his mouth, the other person called out to him in a sweet voice, "Senior Brother!"
PS: Several readers have commented that the late posting schedule means they have to stay up late to read, which is bad for their health. I accept the suggestion and will be posting earlier from now on.