alliances and counter-alliances
The news of the overseas temptations received by the "Mountain Breeze" studio was like a bucket of cold water poured over Li Ming's heart. The other party was no longer engaging with him directly, but instead infiltrating the foundation of the ecosystem he was trying to build, using more sophisticated and deadly methods. He could almost see that giant hand hidden in the shadows, trying to uproot the seedlings he had carefully cultivated and transplant them to unknown soil.
A crisis was imminent, but Li Ming calmed down completely. Anger and panic were useless; he had to deal with it and use it to consolidate his position.
He immediately instructed Li Ziqing to contact the person in charge of "Shanye Qingfeng" on behalf of the platform, not to exert pressure, but to provide support. "Ziqing, go there in person and bring a list of all the resources we can offer—traffic allocation, technical support, and the government special support fund we are applying for for the 'Spark Program.' Tell them frankly that choosing overseas channels may offer better conditions in the short term, but it also means leaving the local ecosystem and facing unknown risks such as data export, cultural barriers, and payment settlement issues. Staying in the 'Spark' ecosystem, however, means we are a community with a shared future, growing together."
He chose to combine "profit" and "reason," demonstrating both sincerity and highlighting the risks. At the same time, he instructed Wang Hao to temporarily grant "Shanye Qingfeng" a higher level of data dashboard access in the "Spark Program" test environment, allowing them to directly see the real impact and potential value of their work within the platform community, and using data to strengthen their confidence in staying in the local ecosystem.
This is a silent battle for "value nodes".
Just as Li Ming was fully engaged in dealing with the "Shanye Qingfeng" crisis, new developments came from Zhang Lei's side. His assistant officially informed Li Ming that Lei Yao Capital's "strategic inspection team" would arrive in Jinyang next week for a two-day on-site inspection of "Mingyu Technology" and the "Spark Program." The inspection team was of a high caliber, led by a partner under Zhang Lei known for his discerning eye and focus on data.
This was both an expected scrutiny and a rigorous test. Zhang Lei needed to confirm whether the "Spark Program" was truly as valuable as Li Ming described, and whether "Mingyu" was worth his continued investment of "protection" resources.
Li Ming dared not slack off and devoted all the company's energy to the reception preparations. He personally reviewed every presentation material to ensure that the data was accurate and the logic was clear, neither exaggerating nor overstating the potential and uniqueness of "Spark". He even organized mock Q&A sessions in advance to rehearse the various pointed questions that the inspection team might ask.
However, just one day before the inspection team arrived, even worse news came – Zhao Zhen’s “Zhenhua Commerce and Trade” suddenly announced the launch of a project called “Prosperous Star Project”, which also aims to empower small and medium-sized businesses. Its promotional language and functional descriptions are strikingly similar to “Spark Project”, but in terms of resource investment and subsidies, it far surpasses “Mingyu”!
"Brother Ming! Zhao Zhen is clearly plagiarizing! And he's trying to bury us in money!" Liu Qiang was so angry that his face turned red.
Wang Hao stared at the technical architecture diagram of the "Program Stars" released by Zhenhua, his brows furrowed: "The architecture is very rough, obviously rushed into implementation, but... they directly copied the core concepts of 'data sovereignty' and 'value recording'."
Looking at the overwhelming promotional materials for "Zhenhua Commerce" on the screen, Li Ming understood perfectly. This was no coincidence! Behind Zhao Zhen was Lei Yao. Zhang Lei had just expressed interest in "Spark," and Zhao Zhen immediately launched a knock-off, enhanced version! This was undoubtedly a manifestation of Zhang Lei's will—he wanted to both examine "Spark" and use Zhao Zhen's "Starry Sky" as a check and balance, and perhaps even a warning: I can promote you, but I can also replace you with someone else at any time.
With overseas forces poaching its talent, Zhao Zhenshan's stronghold surrounding and attacking it, and Zhang Lei scrutinizing it from above, "Mingyu" seemed to be trapped in a desperate situation surrounded on three sides.
On the day the inspection team arrived, a light drizzle began to fall in Jinyang. Led by the partner surnamed Yan, the team members all appeared serious, asking professional and incisive questions, leaving no detail overlooked. They carefully examined the "Spark Project's" code repository, test data, user feedback, and even randomly selected several beta testers for telephone interviews.
Li Ming accompanied the delegation throughout, handling the situation appropriately, but he could sense that Partner Yan's gaze always carried a condescending scrutiny and suspicion. Especially after hearing about Zhao Zhen's "Project Starlight," the whispers and exchanged glances among the delegation members clearly carried a sense of comparison and weighing.
The first day of the inspection ended in a tense atmosphere. That evening, Li Ming received an internal message that the inspection team had differing opinions on "Mingyu." Some people thought that "Spark" had an advanced concept and a unique foundation; others thought that its model was too heavy and slow to generate results, not as simple, direct, and effective as "Zhenhua's" "Stars".
The pressure, like the gloomy rain outside the window, weighed heavily on the hearts of everyone in the company.
The next day, the site visit drew to a close, reaching the crucial comprehensive evaluation stage. The atmosphere in the meeting room was heavy. Partner Yan gave his concluding remarks, first offering a formulaic affirmation of the "Mingyu" team's efforts and the innovativeness of the "Spark" concept, but then abruptly shifted his focus:
"...However, business must ultimately return to its essence. The vision of the 'Spark Program' is wonderful, but the investment and return cycle is too long, and the business model needs to be validated. In contrast, Zhenhua's 'Starry Sky Program' relies on its existing scale, making it easier to scale up quickly and better meet capital's expectations for returns."
His gaze swept over Li Ming, his tone calm yet carrying a decisive force: "Leiyao Capital values innovation, but also efficiency. We may need to reassess the level of resource allocation we give to 'Mingyu' and the 'Spark Program'."
These words were practically a death sentence for "Spark," and also meant that "Mingyu" might lose Zhang Lei's last bit of patience and support.
The conference room was deathly silent. Li Ziqing's face was pale, Wang Hao's lips were tightly pressed together, and Liu Qiang was sweating profusely with anxiety.
Just when everyone thought the situation was settled, Li Ming slowly stood up. His face showed no frustration or panic, but rather an unusual calmness.
"President Yan, distinguished teachers of the inspection team," Li Ming's voice was clear and steady, "Thank you for your frank evaluation. I completely agree with your assessment of efficiency and returns. But I would like to ask everyone to consider this question: When all platforms are using the same model, lower prices, and stronger subsidies to compete for the same group of users and the same group of merchants, what will be the final outcome?"
He paused, his gaze sweeping over everyone present, and answered his own question: "It's involution, it's a zero-sum game, it's the withering of countless small individuals behind the winner-takes-all mentality. What the 'Spark Program' aims to do is not to join this war that has already reached its ceiling, but to open up a new track—a track based on trust, value, and ecological synergy."
He walked to the presentation screen and pulled up a data report that he had just received but had not yet released to the public.
“This is our tracking data for the first batch of merchants participating in the internal testing. Although the time frame is short, we found that merchants who joined the ‘Spark’ ecosystem saw a 25% increase in user repurchase rate and average order value, and new customers brought in by user-generated sharing accounted for 40%. More importantly, they began to spontaneously form mutual aid groups to share resources and jointly develop new products.” He pointed to the upward curves on the screen, “This proves that the value network we have built is generating real, endogenous growth momentum, a momentum that simple subsidies cannot bring.”
He turned to look at Partner Yan, his tone becoming incredibly solemn: "Mr. Yan, Lei Yao Capital invests in the future. I believe that the value of the future no longer lies solely in massive traffic and data, but also in this healthy, sustainable, and resilient ecological relationship. A 'spark' may be slow, but it is sowing the seeds for the next decade. And some 'stars' that rely on capital to mature may shine briefly, but their foundations are still built on quicksand."
His counterattack, combining data, logic, and a grand narrative, was well-reasoned, assertive, and dignified, instantly turning the tide of the meeting. Several members of the delegation began whispering among themselves.
Partner Yan looked at Li Ming, a serious look of contemplation appearing in his eyes for the first time. He remained silent for a moment, not immediately expressing his opinion, but simply said, "President Li's data and viewpoints are very convincing. We will take them back to headquarters for a more in-depth evaluation."
The inspection tour ended in a tense atmosphere. After seeing the inspection team off, Li Ming felt as if he had fought a fierce battle, and was completely exhausted.
However, before he could even catch his breath, Li Ziqing walked in quickly with her phone in hand and a happy expression on her face.
“Li Ming! ‘Mountain Breeze’ has replied!” Her voice was filled with excitement. “They rejected the conditions offered overseas and decided to stay with ‘Spark’! They said… they believe that together with us, they can take root even deeper!”
The first piece of good news! Li Ming was invigorated, as this proved that his "alliance" strategy had initially worked, safeguarding key value nodes.
But just then, Wang Hao walked over with a serious expression and handed him a network traffic analysis report that he had just printed out.
“Li Ming, there’s a new development. Just now, we detected a powerful data stream that has begun a sustained DDoS attack and vulnerability scan on Zhao Zhen’s ‘Zhenhua Commerce’s’ newly launched ‘Project Star’ server… The source of the attack points to the IP pool of that overseas force that we previously flagged.”
Li Ming took the report and looked at the attack intensity and accuracy displayed on it; his pupils contracted slightly.
Are foreign forces attacking Zhao Zhen's "Project Starlight"?
What do they mean by this? Are they disgusted by Zhao Zhen's counterfeit behavior? Or... are they trying to curry favor with Li Ming? Or is it a more complex strategy to incite conflict between him, Zhao Zhen, and even Zhang Lei?
He looked out the window as the rain gradually subsided, but the sky remained overcast.
The alliances and rivalries are far from over. This chaotic situation, involving multiple parties, has become even more unpredictable and treacherous due to the sudden intervention of overseas forces.
He didn't know whether this was a helping hand or another, deeper trap.
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