72: Chapter 72 The Dark Horse Emerges Ahead of Schedule

"Everything is in chaos!"

Zhou Wennan painfully grabbed a handful of his hair, his voice filled with a deep sense of powerlessness:

"Ever since Meituan, that fat piece of meat, was forcibly protected by you... A bottomless pool of hundreds of billions in funds suddenly flooded into the market from who knows where! The first to bear the brunt is our e-commerce stronghold, JD.com! A trashy platform called 'Pinduoduo' was suddenly injected with hundreds of billions in funds and broke into the market overnight. Their methods are thuggish, and they are frantically devouring our market share!"

Zhou Wennan took a deep breath and continued to drop a bombshell that made even Young Master Shen's heart skip a beat:

"Not only that, Alibaba Group has also received massive amounts of foreign aid funds! They've gone crazy, directly launching a money-burning plan called the 'Billion Yuan Subsidy Plan,' and have started frantically dumping money and competing viciously in the local delivery sector!"

"Because of the terrifying pressure from these two forces, JD.com is in a very difficult position now; we have been pushed to the brink!"

Zhou Wennan pressed his hands heavily onto the coffee table, his knuckles turning white from the force:

"We are currently facing enemies on both sides! In the delivery business, we can't beat Alibaba, which is wielding the Billion Yuan Subsidy Plan, nor can we compete with the already established Meituan under your command; if we pivot to local services, we will inevitably clash head-on with your Meituan; and in the e-commerce arena, we have the massive Buddha of Alibaba blocking the path ahead, and the madman Pinduoduo frantically digging out our foundation from behind!"

"Young Master Shen." Zhou Wennan's voice cracked with a hint of trembling: "If we continue to be squeezed by these various factions like this... we won't even have a chance to breathe, and this time... JD.com will really be dead on arrival!"

After hearing this nearly desperate and broken statement from Zhou Wennan, Shen Du, sitting on the sofa, felt a brief buzzing in his brain.

Pinduoduo? Born ahead of time? Alibaba Group? Launching the Billion Yuan Subsidy Plan slaughter right now?

Shen Du picked up the ice water on the table and took a sip. The cold liquid flowed down his throat, forcibly suppressing the tumultuous shock in his heart.

He understood completely. The frantic flapping of his reborn butterfly wings hadn't just fanned away half of Tencent's life; it had also fanned the historical timeline of the entire Chinese internet into something unrecognizable!

It was a mess, everything was a mess! That tragic three-way, multi-billion war from his past life was supposed to break out years later. Now, because of the frantic dumping of capital by overseas investors, it had been forcibly brought onto the stage of 2011 ahead of schedule.

But after a brief moment of shock, Shen Du's eyes instantly returned to that calmness that made his opponents tremble.

So what if the timeline is messed up? So what if the opponents have become stronger? The landscape of this life is already completely different!

In his past life, JD.com fought alone. But in this life, standing behind JD.com are The Three Young Masters of Shanghai, those super moneybags. More importantly, they are now standing in the same trench as the "Meituan" he controls!

In terms of capital volume, the nascent Meituan might not be able to compete with Alibaba and Pinduoduo, which are backed by hundreds of billions in foreign capital. But when it comes to the future business landscape and strategic vision, Shen Du was confident he could outclass them by miles!

"Since the situation has become this critical, there is no need for us to fight separately and guard against each other anymore."

Shen Du put down the water glass, his fingers tapping lightly on the tabletop. The crisp sound was like a war drum, instantly stabilizing the chaotic atmosphere in the private room.

He raised his head, looking at the three people before him with burning eyes, and decisively made the call: "I will give you a solution to break this deadlock: a major strategic merger!"

Upon hearing these five words, Zhou Wennan and the other two suddenly held their breath.

"I don't need Meituan to monopolize the big cake of first-tier cities anymore." Shen Du's tone was cold and stern, revealing a determination to burn his bridges: "From now on, JD.com's delivery, local services, online wallet, and e-commerce businesses will fully join hands with Meituan! In all regions, both sides will completely open up barriers and simultaneously initiate business swaps and deep integration!"

"Doesn't Alibaba want to compete with the Billion Yuan Subsidy Plan? Doesn't Pinduoduo want to swing the axe? Fine! Then we will completely fuse Meituan's offline field promotion iron army and high-frequency traffic with your JD.com's heavy asset warehousing and capital pool. We will build an absolute defensive barrier that they won't be able to punch through, even if they dump tens of billions!"

Shen Du stood up, an aura of dominance radiating from his body: "In two days, the three of you pack up and come with me to Beijing in person! I'll take you to meet Wang Xing for a face-to-face talk and finalize the contract for a comprehensive alliance between the two companies! We will combine our forces and block all these capital crocodiles attempting to crash the market outside the city walls!"

As soon as Shen Du's resounding words fell, the heavy atmosphere in the private room seemed to be instantly drained away.

Zhou Wennan, Young Master Jie, and Zhu Shuyan all let out a long sigh of relief, their faces full of ecstatic relief.

Were they actually short on money? Not at all! Were they short on technology? JD.com's foundation was right there!

The reason they were being beaten back step by step and felt constrained was that their biggest concern was accidentally stealing Meituan's business during expansion and angering the great god, Shen Du.

Now, with Shen Du's supreme directive to "fully open up barriers," it was equivalent to completely unlocking the last shackle binding them. Since they no longer had any concerns, the fangs of Shanghai's top capital could finally be bared to outsiders without reservation!

Just as The Three Young Masters of Shanghai felt relieved, and Zhu Shuyan was even smiling as he picked up the decanted bottle of red wine on the table, ready to pour and celebrate this epic alliance, the gravity on Zhou Wennan's face had not completely faded.

He reached out to block Zhu Shuyan's wine glass, turned his head to look at Shen Du, who was preparing to get up, and said with a hint of sharp vigilance and unease in his tone: "Young Master Shen, with you stepping in to integrate things, JD.com's crisis can be considered stabilized. But there is one thing I must remind you of."

Zhou Wennan's brows were furrowed deep, and his voice was very low: "In this nationwide frenzy of hundreds of billions in capital, it's not just us who are in trouble. Your stronghold is likely being eyed by someone too!"

Shen Du's just-relaxed brows twitched slightly again: "Speak."

"The Penguin Empire recently, through some unknown channel, obtained a massive injection of overseas capital. It seems Mr. Ma has completely given up on fighting you to the death over the social media base. Instead, he has dumped all of this massive funding into the pan-entertainment field."

Zhou Wennan took a deep breath and threw out the most fatal piece of intelligence of the day: "What's even more bizarre is that a Short Video platform called 'Douyin' has suddenly appeared on the market! Behind this platform, there seems to be a terrifying capital pusher. Just in the last few days, they have officially launched an overwhelming and frantic promotional campaign. It looks like they are gearing up to fight your Xinghuo to the death in the Short Video track!"

"During this period, those overseas assets have been like sharks smelling blood, frantically flooding into the country. I always feel... this isn't just normal business competition; there is a huge net behind this that is closing in on all of us!"

"Bang!" Shen Du's heart skipped a beat, and it felt like a thunderbolt exploded in his mind! Douyin?!

If the premature appearance of Pinduoduo and the Alibaba Billion Yuan Subsidy Plan only made Shen Du feel tricky, then the mention of the two words "Douyin" in this summer of 2011 was simply as terrifying to him, a reborn person, as seeing a ghost in broad daylight!

In this era where 3G networks were still stumbling, that ultimate monster that ruled the entire second half of the mobile internet in his past life and set off a global Short Video frenzy had actually been forcibly birthed by this violent flow of overseas capital?!

Until this moment, Shen Du finally woke up from his dream. He realized completely that he had missed some important information on the Geomantic Map. The market dumping by the Beijing Circle was not just aimed at JD.com and Meituan. Their hundreds of billions in overseas capital had also simultaneously ignited a devastating, raging fire in the backyard of Xinghuo!

The storm is coming, the mansion is about to collapse!

"I won't drink this wine today." Shen Du didn't hesitate at all, didn't even say a word of unnecessary nonsense. He directly reached out, grabbed the suit jacket on the sofa, threw it over his shoulders, turned around, and walked with long strides toward the door of the private room.

"Young Master Shen?" The Three Young Masters of Shanghai behind him were stunned by Shen Du's sudden, sharp aura.

"I have important matters to attend to. Gentlemen, I won't be drinking with you today!"

Without looking back, Shen Du pushed open the heavy door of the private room, leaving behind a sentence filled with endless killing intent: "I need to rush back immediately and re-evaluate the current runaway market trend. This is no longer a normal business war; the subsequent changes will likely exceed everyone's imagination. I will notify you immediately if there are any new developments. Prepare your capital reserves; the real war... has only just begun!"

Before his voice had even faded, Shen Du's tall and straight figure had already disappeared into the depths of the dim corridor.