Chapter 68: The Clash

Since Liu Ze has now tasted the bitterness of lacking core technology, his next step will be either to desperately attempt to crack Zhou Xuan’s Huanyu Internet Cafe Management System or to hire a team of computer technicians to develop a management system in the shortest possible time. Given his confidence in his own technical prowess, Zhou Xuan estimated that Liu Ze would ultimately choose the latter. After all, Liu Ze lacked the capability to crack his system in such a short period.

Regardless, Liu Ze was bound to be in a state of chaos for a while, and this period was Huanyu’s golden opportunity. While Tengfei was busy trying to fix their mess, Huanyu needed to seize this chance to capture the remaining market. By the time Tengfei managed to develop their own system, Huanyu would have already released the 2.0 version, which would surely make internet cafe owners turn a blind eye to whatever Liu Ze had to offer.

Thinking of Tengfei’s background and their past tactics, Zhou Xuan suspected they would likely threaten the cafe owners to prevent any backlash. However, that wouldn't stump Zhou Xuan. While he wouldn't count on the owners in S Province for now, the owners in other provinces cared little for how tyrannical Tengfei was in S Province. They had already been mistreated by Tengfei’s sales staff during the initial rollout, and now, to have the system collapse after only a few days—this was an outrage. As long as someone organized and led the charge, Zhou Xuan believed it would be easy to build momentum.

After his morning jog, Zhou Xuan called Deng Cheng and Wei Lian to assign tasks. He insisted on occupying the majority of the market while Tengfei was preoccupied with this crisis. Furthermore, Zhou Xuan offered a 2000 yuan discount to any internet cafe willing to adopt the Huanyu system. He believed that many owners would stop cooperating with Tengfei; after all, the golden age of internet cafes was just beginning, and running a simple computer room was effectively moving against the tide. These owners were not fools; once internet access fees dropped, they would be desperate to have more machines capable of going online.

As for the collapse of the Tengfei system, Zhou Xuan instructed Deng Cheng to follow up and stay updated. If Liu Ze was too greedy to return the millions to those who chose to terminate their cooperation, the resulting uproar would be quite a spectacle. If they could capture some explosive footage and post it in the newspapers or online, it would surely spell ruin for Liu Ze.

Gazing at the rising sun in the east, Zhou Xuan felt a weight lift from his chest, and he found himself surprisingly calm. The direction of the rising sun was the east, which was also the direction of Yudu.

"I suppose Qiao Yingbo must have found that villa complex by now," Zhou Xuan murmured to himself.

Meanwhile, Liu Ming was in Liu Ze’s office, reporting on the situation and suggesting countermeasures, then staring fixedly at Liu Ze, who sat in his boss chair.

"Crash!" With a dull thud, Liu Ze swept a cup worth several hundred yuan off the table in a fit of rage, shattering it on the floor.

"Zhou Xuan, you’ve gone too far!" Liu Ze roared, his voice trembling with fury.

He was not stupid, and he finally understood why Zhou Xuan had known he was behind the poaching of his staff even before he had made a move. Back then, because Zhou Xuan hadn't taken any action, Liu Ze had assumed that Zhou Xuan was helpless against the theft of his software.

Only now did he realize that Zhou Xuan had been waiting for him—waiting until he had already pushed two thousand installations. Only then did he cause almost all the connected systems to crash. Now, facing the anger of thousands of cafe owners, Liu Ze had no idea how to survive this predicament.

The thought of the solutions Liu Ming had just proposed gave Liu Ze a headache. Most internet cafes would likely be unwilling to continue using a non-networked management system from Tengfei, which would mean refunding the millions he had already collected.

Hiring promotional staff to travel across the country for sales, covering meals, accommodation, and salaries—all of that would likely cost hundreds of thousands. Even with luck, he would barely break even, and without it, he would definitely lose money. This was even assuming that the company’s office space continued to be provided to him for free by the Tengfei Group.

If he added in the cost of the facilities and the refunds, a loss was inevitable.

After meeting Zhou Xuan for the first time and suffering a setback at Wang Ximing’s place, Liu Ze had redirected his resentment toward Zhou Xuan, who was always hanging out with Deng Cheng and Wang Ximing. After investigating and finding that Zhou Xuan was just a kid from the countryside, Liu Ze decided to teach him a lesson.

However, after learning about the project Zhou Xuan was working on and realizing the potential of the management system, Liu Ze became tempted. He felt that such a lucrative opportunity shouldn't go to waste; it would be an insult to heaven if he didn't seize it for himself.

And so, Liu Ze had his subordinates approach one of Zhou Xuan’s promotional teams in Rongcheng, choosing the most vulnerable one. Using coercion and bribery, they copied the Huanyu software and used those individuals as the core to establish the current Tengfei Network Technology Company.

Everything had gone exactly as he expected; the Tengfei system spread smoothly, achieving sales figures comparable to Huanyu within the province. The only thing that annoyed Liu Ze was that due to the poor quality of his staff, his national expansion lagged far behind Huanyu.

Liu Ze had originally decided to mimic Huanyu’s strategy by hiring local staff to catch up. He was also hiring technical personnel, determined to crack the system in the shortest possible time and turn Huanyu’s technology into Tengfei’s once and for all.

Unfortunately, Zhou Xuan didn't give him the time. Last night, Liu Ze had jumped straight into the trap Zhou Xuan had dug for him. It had to be said that Liu Ze, having grown up in a business environment, had natural talent; his previous decisions were all correct. He was simply too unprincipled, having stolen Zhou Xuan’s system.

After a long while, Liu Ze suppressed his anger and asked, "How many people do you think will continue to use our system?"

Liu Ming thought for a moment and estimated, "In S Province, relying on the Group’s influence, we should be able to retain half. If we lower the price and refund them a portion of the money, we might be able to retain some in other provinces as well."

At this point, the best approach Liu Ming could think of was to engage in a price war with Huanyu. Since his system could only manage machines that weren't connected to the internet, he would just lower the price. He believed many cafe owners would still be satisfied, as many cafes still only had one or two computers capable of going online. For those one or two machines, using the old method of management wouldn't have a significant impact on the cafe as a whole.

"Fine, do it. Go make the arrangements." Faced with the reality of the situation, Liu Ze knew this was his only option. Unfortunately, Liu Ming didn't know that Liu Ze’s heart was bleeding, "My millions!"

Hearing Liu Ze’s consent, Liu Ming was somewhat impressed; he hadn't expected Liu Ze to agree to refunds so readily. It was quite unexpected.