Chapter 135 Making Friends Without Making Money? Luo Yonghao Exclaims He's an Expert

With a crisp "clang."

It landed precisely in the metal trash can by the beach, echoing with a few clangs.

Chu Xuan hadn't even had a chance to chew the succulent, freshly grilled oyster in his mouth.

Hearing Lu Jingming's remark about "heading back to the country to make some little toys."

His Adam's apple bobbed violently.

"Gulp."

The piping hot oyster meat slid straight down his throat.

And got stuck, hard, in the middle of his esophagus.

Chu Xuan's eyes rolled back instantly, and his neck stretched out long.

He slapped his chest desperately, his face turning beet red from holding his breath.

After finally swallowing the meat, his stomach churned violently.

"Cough, cough, cough!"

Chu Xuan gasped for air, snot and tears streaming down his face.

"L-Lu, Boss Lu."

He didn't even bother to wipe his sweat, his trembling hands reaching for his pants pocket.

"What kind of 'not-for-profit' little toy is it? We haven't even warmed up on this Maldives beach yet!"

Lu Jingming ignored him.

He stood up directly from the beach chair, his ten-yuan plastic flip-flops sinking into the white sand.

He tugged at the collar of his faded black T-shirt.

His gaze swept across the coastline, filled with a predatory calculation.

"Pack up. Buy the tickets."

Lu Jingming's voice was languid, yet brooked no argument.

Two days later. Donghai City, Xinghai Technology underground core laboratory.

The air conditioner was huffing out white mist, the temperature set to sixteen degrees.

Xia Weiliang, barefoot, was curled up in a large swivel chair.

Her yellowing, dirty lab coat was wrinkled.

The hem dragged on the anti-static floor, stained with patches of black grease.

Her toes were digging hard into the leather cushion.

She was biting into a ham sausage—a cup noodle companion—with half the wrapper peeled off.

Munching on it with gusto.

"So annoying."

Xia Weiliang rolled her eyes dramatically and slammed a stack of data reports onto the table.

"The base materials for the holographic neurons? Those nerds are still brewing them in test tubes."

She kicked the mainframe case next to her with her toe. "Without a medium, my code won't run, no matter how fancy I write it."

Lu Jingming leaned against the edge of the workbench, legs crossed casually.

He reached his right hand into his worn-out jeans pocket and pulled out a one-yuan green plastic lighter.

His thumb pressed against the metal grinding wheel.

"Click." A deep blue flame shot up, illuminating half of his face.

"What's the rush? Brewing materials takes time."

Lu Jingming extinguished the flame, the plastic casing making a crisp sound.

Xia Weiliang swallowed the last piece of the sausage and burped, the smell of artificial flavoring lingering.

"How can I not be anxious? After Pandora 2.0 went live, the computing power redundancy of Xinghai Cloud hit three hundred percent!"

She pointed to the load graph on the screen, which had flattened into a straight line from idleness.

"The server array built from tens of thousands of supercomputers—half of it is idling every day. That's burning straight through dollars!"

Lu Jingming curled his lips, revealing half of his sharp, white canine teeth.

"Since the computing power is overflowing."

He casually picked up a discarded microwave receiver chip the size of a fingernail from the table and weighed it in his hand.

"Then just find some shell to put it in."

Lu Jingming sneered. "Make a little gadget. Shove all that redundant computing power to the consumers."

Chu Xuan stood nearby, wearing a loud floral shirt with red flowers on a green background, clutching the crumpled tissue. He was frantically wiping the oily sweat from his forehead.

"Boss Lu, what kind of shell should we put it in?" Chu Xuan swallowed dryly. "The warehouse is piled high with scraps from phones and computers; we can't just sell them as scrap metal."

"Who said anything about scrap metal?" Lu Jingming tossed the small chip to Xia Weiliang. "Make a plastic ring with a screen. Wear it on the wrist."

He tapped his knuckles on the stainless steel tabletop. "Stuff all our retired low-end screens and old sensors into it."

Chu Xuan's eyelid twitched. "A smart bracelet?" His legs started shaking. "That stuff is already dime-a-dozen on the market! You can buy one from those no-name brands for over a hundred yuan, and they can't even measure heart rate accurately."

Lu Jingming didn't respond. He turned to look at Shen Qingqiu. "Is the fully automated robotic arm assembly line at Foxconn running at full capacity?"

Shen Qingqiu stood by the air vent. The collar of her white shirt was buttoned impeccably. Her high heels made no sound on the wool carpet.

"It is." She pushed up her gold-rimmed glasses, a cold light of an actuary flashing behind the lenses. "No manual dispensing or testing is required."

Shen Qingqiu's voice was cold and hard. "If it's just assembling low-end electronic components, the labor and loss cost per unit can be compressed to approach zero infinitely."

Lu Jingming snapped his fingers. The crisp sound echoed in the laboratory.

"That's it. Use the waste materials." A fierce glint of smashing the traditional market shone in his eyes. "Drive the price down until the others vomit blood."

Half a month later. Donghai City Sports Center.

All the spotlights on the dome were on, dazzling beams of light crisscrossing on the stage. The eight thousand seats were packed to capacity.

Although the air conditioning was turned to the max, the air was still stuffy with the smell of hair gel and steaming human bodies.

In the front row VIP section sat the bosses of several traditional watch factories and wearable device manufacturers. Each of them was dressed in a suit and tie, with slicked-back hair.

They were here to test the waters. Xinghai Technology was too famous now.

Whenever Lu Jingming held a press conference, even if he were selling bricks, they had to come and see if there was a missile hidden inside.

In the corner, a slightly chubby middle-aged man sat on a folding chair. He wore black-rimmed glasses and a loose, dark-colored shirt. He was rubbing his chin with great interest.

This was Boss Luo of Hammer Technology, who had just broken into the digital circle and planned to make mobile phones.

The lights in front of the stage dimmed. A beam of cold white spotlight hit the center with a "whoosh."

Lu Jingming walked out from the shadows. He was still wearing the same faded black T-shirt and old jeans. He didn't even have a remote control in his hand. His old sneakers stepped on the wooden floor.

The whole venue went silent instantly, leaving only a few heavy breaths.

"Today, I'm not talking about mobile phones, nor am I talking about computers." Lu Jingming's voice traveled throughout the venue via his lapel mic. He leaned forward slightly, like a leopard eyeing its prey.

"Let's talk about some little toys to wear on the wrist."

He snapped his fingers. The thirty-meter-wide giant screen behind him instantly powered on. A black bracelet with a minimalist design appeared on the screen.

Curved glass, liquid silicone strap. No flashy physical buttons.

The bosses of several traditional watch factories in the audience looked at each other. Their lips curled into a sneer of mockery simultaneously.

"Pfft, is that it?" one boss lowered his voice. "What's the difference between this and the public molds from Huaqiangbei?"

Lu Jingming ignored the whispering in the audience. He rested his hands on the edge of the long wooden table. His eyes were like poisoned blades.

"There's no high-end chip in this watch," Lu Jingming said slowly and deliberately.

"But I've stuffed it with a micro-communication baseband for Xinghai OS, plus a set of the Pandora Protocol."

He straightened up. "Meaning, this thing can directly borrow the computing power of the Xinghai Mobile in your pocket."

"And it can connect to the microwave over-the-air charging towers we released previously." Lu Jingming snorted coldly. "As long as you are at home, it never needs to be taken off to charge."

A collective gasp swept through the audience. The faces of several watch factory bosses who were still sneering stiffened. Their shirts were instantly soaked with cold sweat.

Battery life anxiety completely wiped out? This was a dimensional reduction strike.

But the killer move wasn't over. Lu Jingming pulled the plastic lighter from his pocket with his right hand. His thumb pressed on the grinding wheel. "Click."

The deep blue flame shot up, and the giant screen instantly switched to a glaring blood red. There was no long-winded specification list on it. Only a number that took up half the screen.

The Arabic numeral: 99. Followed by a "Yuan."

The venue was dead silent. In a hall of eight thousand people, you could hear a pin drop.

Ninety-nine yuan? The price of a fancy coffee and a piece of cake.

"Xinghai Smart Bracelet. Launching today." Lu Jingming extinguished the lighter, the plastic casing making a crisp sound. He curled his lips, revealing half of his white canine teeth.

"This hardware isn't for profit." Lu Jingming's voice was filled with an arrogant languor. "Just making friends."

Boss Luo, sitting in the corner of the first row, heard this and his eyes lit up instantly. He couldn't help but slap his own thigh hard. A crisp "slap" sound.

"Holy cow!" Boss Luo straightened his back and pushed up his black-rimmed glasses. The flesh on his face was trembling with excitement.

"This pitch is absolute genius! Not for profit, just making friends? I know this game! A pro!"

Meanwhile, the row of traditional watch factory bosses were now slumped in their chairs like frost-bitten eggplants.

A boss with a receding hairline was gripping the armrest of his chair so hard his knuckles turned pale. The whites of his eyes were full of blood vessels that had burst from fear.

"Ninety-nine yuan?" The boss's voice cracked, and he was trembling. He gritted his back teeth, and he could taste the metallic tang of blood from his gums.

"This damn price isn't even enough for a decent piece of screen glass! How is this making friends?" He gasped for air, his lungs aching.

"He's trying to suck our industry dry!"

In the backstage control room, Chu Xuan was tugging at his floral tie, looking like he was about to collapse. He stared intently at the pre-sale data panel in front of him. The crumpled tissue in his hand was wrung dry.

"It's open! The pre-sale channel is open!" the programmer next to him roared at the top of his lungs. Chu Xuan's eyes went wide.

Three seconds. Just the time it took for one deep breath. The green inventory bar on the screen emptied instantly. Two huge, bold red characters popped up: Out of Stock.

Chu Xuan's legs went weak. His knees hit the carpet directly with a dull thud. He swallowed dryly, his mind blank.

"Three seconds... out of stock in three seconds?" He turned his head to look at Lu Jingming, who was still chatting and laughing on stage. His voice carried a trembling tone, on the verge of tears.

"Boss Lu..." Chu Xuan's lips trembled. "Five hundred thousand units sold in three seconds, with a five-yuan shipping loss on every single unit."

"Isn't the cost of making friends a bit too expensive in dollars?"