137: No NPCs? Restarting the Virtual Immortality Project

...Jingdong, Pinduoduo, and Alibaba's reactions were similar, all showing expressions of shock.

Then they all looked determined to get what they wanted.

Alibaba: "Chairman Lu, I want to develop such a virtual shopping software. How can I create it in your virtual world?"

Jingdong: "Oh my goodness! I've seen the most excellent online shopping method of this era. Chairman Lu, you must authorize virtual shopping to me."

Pinduoduo: "I can do virtual bargaining on the virtual platform, a single cut of 999. Hilarious (o^^o) There are still more than a dozen decimal places, so you'll never cut it down."

...Lu Xingye smiled faintly.

He temporarily ignored them.

He raised his hands slightly into the air, then suddenly pressed them down, and everyone stopped talking.

"Virtual shopping is just one small application within the virtual world."

"Besides virtual shopping,"

"there are also virtual social networking, virtual movies, virtual games, virtual travel, virtual training, virtual classes, virtual... and various other derivative applications."

Immediately after,

Lu Xingye demonstrated the virtual applications one by one to everyone present, from virtual social networking all the way to virtual teaching.

Each item was a revolutionary innovation.

There was no doubt that the birth of the haptic pod basically eliminated traditional internet.

This was a huge revolution... After Lu Xingye finished his introduction, the big shots' interest was completely piqued. They all rubbed their fists, determined to obtain the virtual world access license.

"Chairman Lu, I'll be frank with you! I'm very interested in your company's virtual access license. Just tell me how much you want."

"That's right."

"You can just quote a price. We guarantee we'll buy it."

...Just as they were speaking, an extremely unfriendly voice suddenly came from the side.

"Chairman Lu."

"No matter how much they offer, I'll offer 20% more than them. I wonder if you could prioritize giving me the virtual access license?" Boss Ma of Penguin Group raised his head and looked at Lu Xingye.

Hiss!

Hearing this, everyone turned their heads to look at Boss Ma.

You... are you crazy?!

If you can't speak, then don't speak.

Is that how you make an offer?

No matter what price others offer, you'll offer twenty percent more?

Are you afraid of people being stupid and having too much money?!

Is it meaningful to inflate prices like this?

For a moment,

everyone complained about Boss Ma of Penguin... However,

the price Lu Xingye quoted surprised them greatly.

"Can everyone listen to me for a moment?"

"...Chairman Lu, please speak." Everyone fell silent.

"Suihuo Technology is a company with a sense of sentiment. We won't talk about money this time; we'll talk about vision."

Vision?

Everyone was puzzled.

Immediately after, Lu Xingye's voice came again.

"Suihuo Technology has decided to open up the virtual access license to the entire network for free."

Free for the entire network?

Everyone was silent for a moment, then burst into ecstasy.

They had all prepared to bleed heavily, after all, Suihuo Technology held their lifeline. Even if Suihuo Technology demanded a high price, they could only give in.

But... they never expected that...

Suihuo Technology would actually make the virtual access interface publicly available for free across the entire network.

As a capital that devours people without spitting out bones, Suihuo Technology actually opened up such a huge piece of cake?

This is unscientific!

...Unlike the joyous expressions on everyone's faces, Mr. Xu of Huawei Company's expression changed drastically upon hearing this.

It was exactly like this.

It was this tone.

Chairman Lu had tricked him this way last time too.

That cunning businessman was back... I wonder if you've ever heard a saying?

What's free is the most expensive.

You want to take advantage of Chairman Lu, that cunning businessman? Not a chance.

At this moment,

Mr. Xu only wanted to ask Chairman Lu: I have money. I want to give you money... Please, don't make it free...

At this moment, Lu Xingye's calm voice came again.

"Everyone, there's no need to be surprised."

"The free opening of the virtual world access interface is beyond doubt."

"It's better to enjoy it with others than alone. It's better for everyone to make money together than for one person to make money."

Hearing this, everyone couldn't help but extend their right hand and give Chairman Lu a thumbs up.

Chairman Lu truly has vision.

Just as everyone was overjoyed, Lu Xingye's calm voice came, and something unexpected happened.

"However, for transactions generated on the virtual platform, we will charge a certain percentage as a handling fee."

"That's not too much, is it?"

"After all,"

"I employ tens of thousands of employees, and if I don't make some money, I won't be able to pay their salaries."

Everyone was moved to tears.

Chairman Lu is truly conscientious, only charging a small handling fee.

"Chairman Lu. We are all in the internet business, we all understand. There's no such thing as a free lunch in the world, it's reasonable for you to charge a handling fee, and we can understand."

"..."

At this moment, Mr. Xu of Huawei next to him had a bitter expression. Whenever he saw Chairman Lu like this, he knew he was definitely going to be exploited.

"Uh... uh..."

"I'd like to ask, exactly how much is this 'small' handling fee?"

Lu Xingye smiled faintly, revealing his perfectly white teeth. Actually, being 'cunning' really wasn't my original intention; my original intention was just to make money.

"35 percent."

Hiss!

Damn!

Greedy!

That's f*cking too greedy.

What platform dares to charge a 35 percent handling fee? Even Kyushu's taxes aren't that terrifying.

This is too high.

It's important to know that this 35 percent handling fee isn't a one-time payment, but rather, 35 percent is deducted every time a transaction occurs on the virtual platform.

Over the long term,

this is simply an astronomical figure.

It's no exaggeration to say that if Suihuo Technology is given a few years, it will even be richer than the national treasury.

What the hell?

"Chairman Lu, this handling fee is too high. Can you lower it a bit?"

"We can't possibly accept such a high handling fee."

...Just as everyone was bargaining with Lu Xingye, Mr. Xu of Huawei Group made a move different from the others.

"Chairman Lu."

"I agree to the 35% handling fee."

"Where's the contract? I'll sign it right away."

Mr. Xu had dealt with Chairman Lu many times, so he naturally knew his personality.

If he said the handling fee was 35 percent, then it was 35 percent.

Even if the emperor himself came, this point wouldn't change.

On the contrary... trying to bargain with Lu Xingye was an unwise choice.

Because if he annoyed Chairman Lu, Chairman Lu might even raise the price... Hearing Mr. Xu's voice, Lu Xingye smiled faintly.

Mr. Xu still knows how to handle things.

As someone destined to be exploited, he's going to be cut anyway. Why struggle?

"Jarvis."

"Prepare the contract for Mr. Xu."

After speaking,

Lu Xingye turned his head and glanced at everyone, a faint smile reappearing on his face. This gave everyone a very ominous feeling.

"As for everyone else... an additional one percent handling fee for all of you."

"If they don't agree to sign, then an hour later, another one percent handling fee will be added."

"And so on."

After speaking,

Lu Xingye left directly; he didn't have that much time to waste here.

While demonstrating the virtual world application earlier, he discovered a major bug — the virtual world actually had no NPCs.

Although Jarvis's intelligent code could temporarily replace NPCs, this was ultimately not a solution.