52: Chapter 52: A lavish offering to ignite the flag, a night of explosive ignition!

May 1, 2011, International Workers' Day.

While the whole country was immersed in the holiday, the atmosphere inside the Jiyuan Technology headquarters on the 55th floor of the Lujiazui International Finance Center was tense.

After more than two months of burning money and overcoming technical challenges, the platform that carried their commercial ambitions: the beta version of 'Spark,' was finally going live tonight.

On the eve of the launch, Red Phoenix demonstrated her execution.

In less than two months, she had poured in 50 million in capital.

Following the star-making guide given by Shen Du, Red Phoenix had assembled a matrix of a thousand first-generation streamers across the country.

She didn't coddle these girls like internet celebrities; instead, she adopted an efficient, assembly-line star-making model.

Red Phoenix forced them to memorize their scripts backwards and forwards.

She even combined her experience from mingling in the demimonde to integrate a "Streaming Formula."

From the rotation of their eyes and the elongated ending of their coquettish tones, to facial control and emotional feedback when receiving large tips, every girl selected had to pass the scenario simulation exams she set.

Those who failed were dismissed immediately.

Only those who passed the assessment and mastered this traffic code were allowed to sign contracts and start working.

She had forcefully polished a thousand armed, humanoid money-printing machines.

Meanwhile, Operations Manager Zhang Nan, who was responsible for operations and publicity, also demonstrated her capabilities.

To coincide with the May Day holiday launch, Operations Manager Zhang Nan turned her budget into firepower, launching a traffic coverage campaign across the entire web.

From recommendation slots on major Android app stores and jailbreak channels to trending topics on Weibo and Tieba, and even the corner pop-ups on major web pages... every corner of the internet that netizens could reach was filled with 'Spark' black-gold UI advertisements.

In Operations Manager Zhang Nan's publicity logic, there was no restraint, only indiscriminate traffic coverage.

If it weren't for the funds consumed by the initial server room construction and R&D losses, which capped the budget, this operations officer would have even wanted to smash through and buy prime-time advertising slots on CCTV.

The troops were ready, and the fuse had been laid at the feet of hundreds of millions of smartphone users across the country.

This machine was just waiting for midnight to launch a charge against the social empire.

The night was deep, and the hour hand pointed to 23:59 on the night of May 1st.

Inside the high-spec national operations room, a thousand well-polished first-generation beautiful streamers were wearing their makeup.

They sat in front of their fill lights, staring intently at the "Start Streaming" button on their phone screens, waiting for the final seal to be broken.

In the hall of Lab Zero on the 55th floor of the International Finance Center, the atmosphere was suppressed to the extreme.

The air seemed to have solidified.

In front of the huge data monitoring screen, Shen Du stood with his hands behind his back, his expression calm.

Behind him, General Manager Chen Shengqiang, Technical Expert Su Hua, Operations Manager Zhang Nan, Xu Hao, and other core executives, as well as the server maintenance team and the bug fixing team, had all stopped their actions at this moment.

They were staring at the jumping red countdown in the center of the screen.

Everyone held their breath; in the vast space, only heartbeats could be heard.

This was a gamble with no way back.

Over the past two months, the Jiyuan Technology machine had already burned through 78 million in hard cash.

This was not only the cash flow Shen Du had poured in, but also the ambition poured in by this group of people.

If, at the moment the door opened, there was no one outside... that would mean the rupture of the capital chain.

"10..." "9..." "8..."

The red numbers on the big screen were jumping.

Accompanied by Technical Expert Su Hua's trembling low-voiced countdown, the countdown reached its end: "3, 2, 1... Unlock!"

Midnight sharp.

With a low roar from Technical Expert Su Hua, the main server lifted its restrictions right on time.

At that instant, all publicity ports across the entire web simultaneously opened the download channels and underlying entry points for 'Spark.'

Everyone's eyes were locked on the data at the very top of the big screen that would determine life or death: the real-time number of online users.

However, at that moment when everyone was watching, the data box on the big screen flickered.

What popped out was a cold number: 0.

One second, two seconds, five seconds, ten seconds... Time stretched out.

Dozens of seconds passed, and there was no movement from the server backend.

That "0" remained frozen there, unmoving.

Lab Zero fell into dead silence.

Xu Hao's forehead broke out in a layer of cold sweat.

Operations Manager Zhang Nan's clenched fists were trembling uncontrollably.

A sense of panic spread through the air of the command center.

Could it be that the massive publicity campaign and the 78 million poured in had simply vanished into the sea like a stone?

The suppressed silence lasted for nearly a minute.

Suddenly, the master control computer in front of Technical Expert Su Hua let out a "beep."

Immediately after, the "0" frozen in the center of the big screen flickered without warning, then jumped violently, turning into [100].

This was like a spark falling into a pile of dry firewood.

Before everyone could even catch their breath, the number 100 didn't even stay for a second, and it began to roll at a dizzying speed.

[1000]! [5000]! [20000]!

"It's moving! The data is coming in! The traffic ports have all exploded!"

Xu Hao stared at the backend.

The stream of data, pouring down like a waterfall, let out a roar.

Under the guidance of the entire web publicity matrix, it flooded in like a dam bursting.

In just half an hour, the statistical box representing the real-time number of online users, with an exaggerated curve, soared all the way to break through the 500,000 mark.

500,000 people online simultaneously!

On this late night of the May Day holiday, countless netizens holding iPhone 4s and various smartphones followed the traffic from app stores and pop-ups, clicking on this black icon.

Immediately after, they fell into this "three-in-one" social mode.

The experience of swiping up and down to switch Short Videos hooked the users' eyes.

Not only that, but as the user base expanded, a viral transmission effect was generated.

More and more people began to raise their phones to upload their first Short Video.

The content flywheel of Spark was activated within half an hour by this surging flow of 500,000 people.

The real traffic carnival was simultaneously playing out in the live streaming section.

Those thousand beautiful streamers, in the first ten-plus minutes of the server opening, faced empty streaming rooms and could only brace themselves to perform a solo show for the air.

However, just half an hour later, with the traffic diversion from the homepage recommendation slots, massive amounts of real users flooded into one streaming room after another.

In front of these stunners created by the industrial-grade assembly line, how could those early netizens who had spent years mingling in Tieba and forums have ever seen such a spectacle?

Under the tension of the "Streaming Formula" and emotional value, the number of online viewers in the streaming rooms of several top streamers surged and broke through 10,000 in just a few minutes.

"Ding! User 'Lonely Smoke' sent a Sports Car x1!"

"Ding! User 'Modu Crazy Youth' sent a Luxury Yacht x10!"

The full screen exploded with gorgeous virtual gift effects, completely drowning out the barrage.

Those female streamers, watching the revenue in the backend skyrocketing by the second, were so scared they forgot their scripts.

Even their hands holding the phones were trembling.

This was simply a rain of cash.

Time flew by.