Chapter 707: Internet Cafe Upgrade and Renovation
Lu Yiming got the information about the hackers who attacked "Legend of Mir 2" from Wang Yubing and directly asked Yu Jiayi to call the police.
He will not be polite at all to those bullies who bully him.
The game "Legend of Mir 2" was very popular, with a maximum number of online players exceeding 700,000 and monthly revenue exceeding 50 million. Naturally, it attracted all kinds of evil wolves.
Those who are doing serious business have already gone to South Korea to become game agents.
But in this world, there is white and black. Since the first day of the launch, "Legend of Mir 2" has been constantly attacked by the Internet, and a large number of people are needed to maintain and defend it. This is one of the reasons why Lu Yiming spent a lot of effort to build a technical team.
Previously, the Shengda network had its server hacked by a hacker who then held it for ransom, leaving Cheng Tianqiao in a state of humiliation and helplessness. In the end, he had to call the police to resolve the issue.
The H- hacker industry is full of mixed people. Some, like Gu Jian, are okay, they just do it to show off. But most H-hackers are doing illicit business, and what they do is not much different from thieves and robbers, and they completely regard the Internet as a lawless place.
After Yu Jiayi sorted out the materials needed to report the incident to the police, she ran over to Lu Yiming and said, "Mr. Lu, there are some people on this list that we don't think are convenient to deal with."
"Hmm? You attacked my "Legend of Mir 2" for no reason, and it's inconvenient to deal with it?"
Lu Yiming frowned and asked, "Who?"
Yu Jiayi said, "Mr. Ma from Tenglong Company."
"I'm so fucking..."
Hearing this name, Lu Yiming suddenly felt unwell.
Among those who hacked the "Legend of Mir 2" game server, there was actually Brother Xiao Ma!
A year ago, Ma Teng was still a well-behaved and obedient "shy tech geek" in front of Lu Yiming. Unexpectedly, just after selling QQ for a short time, he dared to make a move against Junzi Interactive Entertainment.
"Damn it, I already knew that this guy looks harmless, but he's actually a vicious person. Then put the list aside for now, I'll talk to Brother Xiao Ma first."
Lu Yiming took out his phone and called Ma Teng.
"The one with the surname Ma!"
Ma Teng was in a meeting at the company, discussing how to solve the problem of plug-ins. He wanted to hang up the phone, but when he saw that it was Lu Yiming who called, he had to answer it: "Mr. Lu? Why are you so angry?"
“Yes.”
Ma Teng is now an Internet tycoon with a net worth of over 100 million thanks to "Miracle MU". Although he is not as good as Lu Yiming, he is also a person with a bad temper. He immediately said with a dark face: "Boss Lu, can you please speak properly?"
Lu Yiming said rudely: "How dare you ask me to speak to you in a proper manner? Were you also the one who hacked into my computer some time ago? This time you went even further, you hacked into my game server directly!"
It turned out that when Wang Yubing joined the company, she told Lu Yiming that there was a Trojan program in the company's computers. Lu Yiming had a hard time organizing people to get the matter resolved.
Although Ma Teng appears to be a gentle and shy person, he has actually been a shy and shy person since he was a child. When he was a student, he caused serious damage to the campus server of Pengcheng University and was directly put on the school's blacklist. Whenever there was any trouble, the school leaders would directly pick him out and beat him up.
From then on, he liked to hack into other people's computers whenever he had nothing to do, especially those Internet colleagues who had grudges against him.
This time, when he was caught, Ma Teng looked calm, not even blushing, and shouted, "Boss Lu, please don't wrongly accuse a good person. I didn't do that ."
Lu Yiming snorted, "Wrongly accusing a good person? I have a list of all the hackers who attacked Junzi Interactive Entertainment this time, and your name is on it. The IP address is also highly consistent with yours. Don't tell me that there is a computer expert with the same name as you in your area."
Ma Teng laughed and said, "The world is so big, there are all kinds of things. Isn't it normal for people with the same name to appear? Now the whole world is learning computers, so it's not surprising that someone with the same name as me can also use computers, right?"
Of course, Lu Yiming knew that this guy was quibbling. He secretly sighed at the old man's thick skin and planned to solve it violently: "You can tell the police about this. I'm giving you a chance now. Sell Tenglong to me and I will pretend that this incident never happened. Otherwise, we will see you in court."
As soon as Lu Yiming said this, Ma Teng immediately understood Lu Yiming's intention - this guy was planning to take advantage of the situation!
For a moment, Ma Teng had the illusion that Lu Yiming was directing and acting in the film himself. He even thought that Lu Yiming must have been the one who leaked the code of "Miracle MU".
Unfortunately, I can't find any evidence.
As soon as he thought about it, Ma Teng's face turned even darker, and he said bluntly: "The company is not for sale. I have something else to do. I'm hanging up now."
Ma Teng regretted selling QQ last time. Although that was a decision made when the company was struggling to survive, and even part of the funds for establishing Tenglong came from Lu Yiming, Ma Teng felt that if he could hold on for a few more months, things would get better, and Lu Yiming had reaped the benefits.
Now Lu Yiming is looking for another excuse to acquire Tenglong. It would be strange if Ma Teng agreed.
Although Lu Yiming claimed that he had evidence of him discrediting "Legend of Mir 2", he was not afraid at all. In Pengcheng, even if the richest man Lu sued him in court, he could not do anything to him.
After hanging up the phone, Ma Teng saw that the people in the office had interesting expressions, and he became even more depressed. He said in a muffled voice: "Lu Yiming called and insisted that I hacked their "Legend of Mir 2" server. He also threatened that if I didn't sell Tenglong to him, he would sue me in court."
Seeing Ma Teng's angry expression, everyone in the office couldn't help laughing. Zhang Zhidong said, "Pony, Mr. Lu is young and hot-tempered. I told you not to mess with him. And it's time to change your bad habit of hacking people's computers."
The people who were meeting here were all the core members of the company. They had followed Ma Teng back then, so there were no secrets between them at work. The server of "Legend of Mir 2" had to be shut down for maintenance for several hours after being attacked by hackers. Although they were not participants, they were witnesses. As for Ma Teng's participation, he only hacked Lu Yiming's personal computer.
As for the reason for doing so, firstly, seeing the popularity of "Legend of Mir 2", they planned to cause trouble for "Legend of Mir 2", and secondly, they speculated that the source code leak of "Miracle MU" was related to Lu Yiming, so they took revenge to a certain extent.
Regardless of whether Lu Yiming did it or not, the right thing to do is to hack into Lu Yiming's computer.
Ma Teng argued, "What does this have to do with me? He was just taking advantage of the situation! And I haven't even settled accounts with him about the leak of the source code of the game "Miracle MU" yet! He is the most suspicious, right?"
Ma Teng was getting angrier and angrier the more he thought about it. He didn't think there was anything wrong with him hacking into Lu Yiming's computer. It was just his little hobby, and he hadn't done anything bad. It was impossible to change it anyway.
On the other end of the phone, Lu Yiming cursed and put away his phone: "Tsk, what? You actually hung up on me. How rude."
Yu Jiayi, who was standing next to Lu Yiming, was speechless. Holding the folder, she asked, "Boss Lu, are we really going to sue Boss Ma from Tenglong?"
Of course, Ma Teng is not in the same group as those H-ers who blackmailed Junzi Interactive Entertainment. This guy is not that stupid. He just has a bit of bad taste. He would never touch anything illegal, at least he would never do it himself.
Moreover, even though Ma Teng's net worth is less than one thousandth of Lu Yiming's, the Ma family is backed by the Lingnan business group, and their relationships and connections are extraordinary. Lu Yiming has no concrete evidence, so it would be useless for him to sue.
So after thinking about it, Lu Yiming waved his hand and said, "Forget it. I am a magnanimous person. I will let him go."
Yu Jiayi stood behind Lu Yiming and couldn't help but give her boss a disdainful look, then she twisted her waist and left the office.
In the blink of an eye, it is already early June 2003.
A lot of things happened during this period.
The Alipay control, which has been under development for a long time, was launched in conjunction with the "Zhenbao Pavilion" virtual mall after verification.
After Wang Juntao joined Luming Mall, the construction progress was greatly accelerated.
Time always goes fast in the busy life. In the blink of an eye, Lu Yiming is about to graduate from university.
In half a month, in July 2003, I will get my graduation certificate and leave.
On Friday, Lu Yiming called Li Quanwang and said, "Wangzai, you're about to graduate. Take advantage of these last few weekends and go out and have fun."
After receiving Lu Yiming's call, Li Quanwang sighed and said, "Why are you hanging around? I need to look after the store. Do you want to come over and play for a while?"
At the moment, seeing that Lu Yiming's other friends were all rising one by one, even Lv Yiping and Xiao Qinghe made a lot of money by opening studios, Li Quanwang was very excited. So, he took advantage of the fact that he had few courses in his senior year and spent almost every day in the Internet cafe, as if he could make more money by doing so.
"OK."
Lu Yiming thought about it and realized that he hadn't been to Tongxin Internet Cafe for some time, so he agreed.
Arriving at the Tongxin Internet Cafe flagship store, Lu Yiming took a quick look and found that the occupancy rate was only about 50%. The business was not bad, but it was definitely much slower than when he had been waiting for a seat before.
"There aren't many people at this hour."
Li Quanwang complained: "Recently, many Internet cafes have opened around us, and many of them are operating without a license, which puts us in a very passive position."
Not having an Internet cafe license means no need to pay taxes, so the cost is naturally much lower than that of Tongxin Internet Cafe.
What makes Li Quanwang even more upset is that many Internet cafes outside are now also using the same recharge reward system that Lu Yiming used, and the rewards are astonishing. Some even give 150 for every 100 recharges. The whole market has no rules at all, and it is so competitive that the profits of Tongxin Internet Cafe have been falling again and again.
Li Quanwang sighed, "They say ducks know first when the river water warms in spring. To outsiders, Internet cafes are still making a lot of money. Only people like us in the industry can feel the impending crisis. No wonder you said before that Internet cafe business would be difficult around 2003."
As the two were talking, He Zeming just came out of the office. When he saw Lu Yiming, he quickly called out, "Boss Lu, why are you here today?"
Lu Yiming nodded slightly and said, "I'll come over and take a look."
Li Quanwang said to He Zeming, "Old He, I was just talking to Mr. Lu about the business problems of the Internet cafe. You are more professional in this area. Please report to us."
He Zeming is now the general manager of the Zhonghai branch of Tongxin Internet Cafe. He started as a store manager and worked his way up to this position, so he is quite capable. In front of Lu Yiming, he used some detailed data to give a detailed introduction to the current development status of Tongxin Internet Cafe.
Then he suggested: "Boss Lu, I think our Tongxin Internet Cafe cannot take the route of lowering prices now. Instead, we should raise prices and provide better services to customers, and work harder on hardware, decoration and atmosphere."
Lu Yiming found it interesting and immediately asked, "Why do you think so?"
When Tongxin Internet Cafe was first established, Lu Yiming's goal was to expand rapidly, so he basically ignored the decoration. For example, although this store is called a flagship store, when you look up, you can see the thick beams and pipes of the building, without any decoration at all.
He Zeming immediately replied, "Zhonghai is a big city with a developed economy and a high per capita income. The locations chosen by Tongxin Internet Cafe are often near shopping malls and office buildings, with very convenient transportation. There is no need to compete with other peers on price. Especially those unlicensed black Internet cafes, some of them have now reduced the Internet fee to less than two yuan, we can't compete with them."
Some illegal Internet cafes only have a dozen computers and are often located in old residential areas. They do not need to pay taxes, and their operating costs are incredibly low, so they can engage in price wars.
If Tongxin Internet Cafe wants to engage in a price war with these black Internet cafes, it will never win.
I have to say that He Zeming has a good business acumen.
Lu Yiming carefully recalled the year 2002 that he had experienced, and then said with a smile: "It's a good idea, but it's not good enough."
Li Quanwang said : "Do you have any good ideas?"
He Zeming also looked at Lu Yiming.
He had been thinking about this idea for a long time, but Lu Yiming said it was not good enough. He felt a little unconvinced, but he also wanted to hear what Lu Yiming had to say.
Lu Yiming said: "The operating conditions of Internet cafes are also subject to the 80/20 rule, that is, 80% of the profits are provided by 20% of old customers. So new customers are important, but how to retain old customers is even more important. In addition to Internet access fees, the profits of Internet cafes actually come from the various foods and beverages we provide. The income brought by these value-added services is often not low."
When Lu Yiming said this, He Zeming echoed, "That's true. Many people who come to the Internet cafe like to buy water, snacks or instant noodles in the Internet cafe."
Lu Yiming said: "We can start from this aspect and provide some special snacks such as milk tea, coffee and special snacks. We can even cooperate with nearby restaurants and agree on a suitable price with them. Then, we can set up a one-click ordering function in the Internet cafe to provide maximum convenience for customers."
Li Quanwang said impatiently: "That's great, I'll arrange it right away!"
Then Lu Yiming smiled and said, "By the way, we can also set up some non-smoking areas exclusively for women to attract female customers."
Li Quanwang laughed: "This is a good idea. Where there are girls, there will be no shortage of customers."
He Zeming also agreed: "Many Internet cafes outside are now smoky, dirty and messy, which is indeed not very friendly to female customers. Since our Tongxin Internet Cafe is positioned in the mid-to-high-end, we can start from this aspect and build our reputation."
The three of them discussed it together and quickly established a new development strategy for Tongxin Internet Cafe.
Lu Yiming even used the tactics of later Internet cafes, such as Internet cafe game benefits, playing games in exchange for Internet fees, etc. The most important thing is to create added value. According to the current intensity of industry competition, don't even think about making much money from Internet fees. On the contrary, the profit from selling milk tea is actually quite good.
After all, when selling other beverages, it is the manufacturers who make money, but Tongxin Internet Cafe can provide milk tea and the like by itself. How much do the raw materials cost?
They acted right away. In just one week, the Tongxin Internet Cafe Zhonghai Flagship Store was fully prepared according to Lu Yiming's requirements and began to provide services.
Another weekend, Lu Yiming came to the Internet cafe and looked at the Tongxin Internet Cafe, which had been transformed. He was very satisfied and said, "Let all other stores do the same."
Li Quanwang thought that he could make more money, so he immediately said, "No problem."
Just at this moment, Cao Jingwen and Shi Qingxue walked in.
Cao Jingwen yelled, "Lu Yiming!"
Lu Yiming was startled, turned around and asked in surprise: "Why are you here?"
Cao Jingwen complained: "I went to play with Xiaoxue, and Xiaoxue told me you were here, so I came to see if you have a mistress hidden in your house."
Lu Yiming said depressedly: "I'm not, I didn't, don't talk nonsense. I'm busy."
"Come on, try our newly renovated Internet cafe. This is the coffee and milk tea window, which provides delicious freshly squeezed juice and freshly ground coffee at any time. There is also a dining window. We have cooperated with the Zhenxiang fast food restaurant downstairs, and the food can be delivered directly to the Internet cafe when you order it. There are also fried chicken, French fries and so on. What do you want to eat? It's my treat."
Cao Jingwen said: "It's rare that you are so generous, so I won't be polite."
Soon, the table was filled with all kinds of snacks and everyone ate and chatted.
Cao Jingwen exclaimed: "Isn't this a place where you surf the Internet? How come there are food and drinks?"
Lu Yiming said: "The internet cafe business is not doing well now. There are competitors everywhere trying to steal your job. So if you want to make money, you can only work hard on food and drink."
Then, he smiled and said to Cao Jingwen, "I heard from Xiaoxue that you recently got a boyfriend. When can we meet up for dinner and get to know each other?"
When Cao Jingwen heard this, she blushed: "Let's... talk about it later."
Shi Qingxue said: "Why are you so shy? You are about to graduate from college. Isn't it normal to fall in love? Bring her out to play together."
Cao Jingwen whispered, "I'm not mentally prepared yet. Let me hesitate for a moment."
Lu Yiming just mentioned it casually and didn't dwell on it any further, and soon moved on to other things.
"You're about to graduate from college, what are you planning to do?"
