Chapter 32 The Grandfather of Scarcity Marketing: Scalpers Break Down

Heavy trucks full of materials made deep ruts on the ring expressway of Donghai City.

One after another, the trucks with "Xinghai Exclusive" in white letters on a red background drove majestically into the gates of Xinghai Technology.

With 1.6 billion in real money invested, the entire supply chain in the Pearl River Delta went crazy.

Capacitive screens, double-sided Corning glass, and motherboard components were being shipped to Donghai City frantically; the glass factories in Shenzhen even canceled their holiday breaks.

In Workshop No. 1, the roar of fully automated robotic arms was enough to make one's ears go numb.

Old Li, wearing a hard hat and holding a greasy walkie-talkie, shouted to report to Lu Jingming.

"Young Boss, we are working three shifts around the clock, and the packaging boxes are piled up to the ceiling!"

He wiped the hot sweat from his face, his eyes full of excited bloodshot veins.

"One million units of xinghai gen 2 are in stock, neatly stacked in Warehouse No. 7, and even the SF Express trucks are lined up in the backyard!"

Lu Jingming, wearing noise-canceling earplugs, nodded with satisfaction.

"Well done. Let the masters eat their fill of meat tonight; the day after tomorrow is when the real test begins."

Meanwhile, in a stuffy group-rented room outside the gates of Huaqiangbei.

Brother Jin was biting on a cheap, filterless cigarette, shirtless, with his feet propped up on the computer desk.

He stared at the screen, the fat on his face trembling with laughter.

"Brother Jin, the posts asking for F-codes on the forum have reached ten thousand replies!"

A lackey with dyed yellow hair leaned over, his eyes glowing green.

"A wealthy boss privately messaged me, offering an extra two thousand yuan just to buy priority purchasing rights. Should we sell?"

Brother Jin exhaled a thick smoke ring and snorted disdainfully.

"Two thousand yuan? Are you trying to get rid of a beggar? Tell the brothers doing the scalping below to hold onto the codes tight; don't let a single one out!"

He picked up the iced beer on the table and took a big gulp, his eyes greedy.

"This is double-sided glass with a god-tier system; it's already been hyped up online."

Brother Jin pointed to the posts on the screen begging to buy, as if he saw gold bricks all over the floor.

"When Xinghai officially goes on sale the day after tomorrow, those thirty thousand units will definitely be gone in seconds."

"By then, the whole network will be out of stock. For this batch of inventory in our hands, we'll add at least three thousand to the price, and they'll still have to line up to beg us!"

The resentment online had indeed reached a boiling point at this moment.

In major digital forums, countless ordinary netizens who didn't grab an F-code were flooding the official Xinghai account.

"Lu Jingming is a vampire! What kind of hunger marketing is this? Treating us like monkeys!"

"Thirty thousand units? Who is that enough for? It all fell into the hands of scalpers. I'm not waiting for this crappy phone anymore!"

The cursing was deafening, and the backlash of public opinion was about to become uncontrollable.

At Xinghai Technology headquarters, Chu Xuan was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan, pacing back and forth in the office.

"Boss Lu! We are being roasted!"

Chu Xuan pointed at the laptop, his face almost twisted into a bitter gourd.

"Netizens are saying we are in cahoots with the scalpers, deliberately colluding to raise prices and fleece the sheep. If this continues, our reputation will completely collapse!"

Shen Qingqiu also stopped her accounting work, pushed up her gold-rimmed glasses, and looked worried.

"Those scalpers hold over eight hundred thousand paid orders in their hands, which is equivalent to controlling our lifeline."

"If we continue to let them speculate, the market price will be a mess, and in the end, it will destroy the Xinghai brand."

Lu Jingming leaned back in his chair, spinning a one-yuan plastic lighter in his hand.

The "click, click" sound was exceptionally crisp in the quiet office.

"The fiercer the scolding, the more it shows that the heat has been applied long enough."

Lu Jingming paused his wrist, put the lighter back in his pocket, and stood up unhurriedly.

"Since the one million units of inventory from Old Li's side are already stacked up."

He propped his hands on the desk, the corners of his mouth curling into a cold smile like an old hunter closing the net.

"Then let's not keep everyone waiting. Chu Xuan, issue the announcement."

Chu Xuan quickly sat up straight, his fingers hovering over the keyboard, swallowing dryly in nervousness.

"Tell the whole internet that Xinghai Technology appreciates the fans' love, and in order to resolutely resist scalping behavior."

A flash of sharpness crossed Lu Jingming's eyes as he slammed down his trump card, word by word.

"From this moment on, the F-code purchase restriction is completely canceled!"

"One million units of stock are already in the warehouse. No need to fight for codes, no need to pay extra. 1999 yuan, plenty available, buy as much as you want!"

When these words came out, Chu Xuan's hand on the keyboard trembled violently, almost pressing the wrong letter.

He froze for two seconds, then slapped his thigh hard and burst into wild laughter.

"Boss Lu, your move is too vicious! This is going to directly flip the table on those scalpers!"

Five minutes later.

A notice with the official Xinghai red V verification hit the boiling internet like a depth charge.

The notice was sincere, condemning the scalpers, and then proudly threw out one million units of stock.

The entire internet fell silent for a minute.

Immediately after, it ushered in an unprecedented crazy explosion.

"Holy crap! One million units in stock? Boss Lu is awesome! Long live Xinghai!"

"F-codes are canceled! I don't have to pay protection money to scalpers anymore. I can buy it at the original price!"

"I'm sorry, Boss Lu. I was speaking too loudly just now. Xinghai is the true conscientious domestic product!"

The public opinion reversed in an instant.

The hunger marketing that was being scolded a second ago turned into a dragon-slaying drama of Xinghai enduring humiliation to stab the scalpers in the back.

Meanwhile, in the rental house.

Brother Jin was happily calculating where to buy a seaside villa after paying off the usury.

"Bang!"

The yellow-haired lackey kicked open the broken wooden door, scrambled in, and fell to the ground, chair and all.

"Bro, Brother Jin! It's over! The sky has fallen!"

The lackey was so scared he lost all color in his face, his hand holding the phone shaking like he had Parkinson's.

"Xinghai released an announcement! The F-codes are void! They released one million units of stock for open sale!"

"What did you say?"

The beer can in Brother Jin's hand "clattered" to the ground, spilling light yellow liquid onto his shoes.

He snatched the phone and stared fixedly at the official announcement.

The world spun before his eyes, his head buzzing as if it had been hit hard by a heavy hammer.

One million units in stock? Buy at original price?

Then who would pay an extra two or three thousand yuan to buy those second-hand goods in his hands!

"Quick! Quickly refund!"

Brother Jin rushed to the computer like a madman, his hands typing frantically on the keyboard.

"Before they ship, quickly refund all five thousand of our orders! Get the principal of the usury back!"

The lackey scrambled up and followed, clicking the mouse like crazy.

However, the moment Brother Jin, with trembling hands, clicked the batch refund application.

A scarlet warning box popped up in the middle of the screen.

"Xinghai Anti-Scalper System Detection Prompt: Your account has been detected with malicious use of plug-in scripts for batch ordering."

Brother Jin stared at the small text below, his breathing stopped completely.

"According to Article 3 of the Pre-sale Overlord Clause: This order is judged as malicious commercial hoarding and does not enjoy the seven-day no-reason return policy for individual consumers."

"If you force a refund, a fifty percent restocking penalty will be deducted."

Fifty percent penalty!

Brother Jin felt a sweetness in his throat, and a mouthful of old blood almost sprayed onto the monitor.

He borrowed five million in usury and put it all in. If he refunded, two and a half million would evaporate directly!

If he didn't refund, and got these five thousand phones in his hands, he couldn't even sell them at the original price, and he would lose everything!

"Lu Jingming! You son of a b*tch, you plotted against me!"

Brother Jin howled, his legs went soft, and he collapsed straight onto the cement floor covered in cigarette butts, completely ruined.

Desperate scalpers like Brother Jin were all over the country at this moment.

They never dreamed that what they snatched with plug-ins wasn't gold bricks, but a super grave that Lu Jingming had dug long ago.

The next morning, outside the Xinghai Technology building in Donghai City.

Dozens of scalpers who lost everything were holding white banners, crying and howling at the door.

"Xinghai Technology, give me back my hard-earned money!"

"Unscrupulous black factory set a trap to cheat money, deducting my penalty, there is no justice!"

A few leading scalpers even wore mourning clothes, sitting in front of the big iron gate, making a scene.

The security guards were ready, holding batons, looking coldly at this group of clowns.

In the president's office on the top floor, Lu Jingming stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window with a cup of steaming black coffee.

He looked down at the group of people making trouble like ants outside the gate, without the slightest pity in his eyes.

In his mind, the system notification sound was scrolling frantically.

[Ding! Detected that scalpers nationwide are in despair, and the number of bankruptcies and suicides has surged!]

[Ding! The Dao heart of the Huaqiangbei scalper group has collapsed, generating deep fear of Xinghai!]

[Congratulations to the host, harvested group broken defense value: 800,000 points!]

Lu Jingming took a sip of coffee, feeling the aftertaste of the bitterness.

800,000 points, plus the previous balance, the broken defense value has exceeded the one million mark.

It is enough to raise Xinghai's technology tree by an entire era.

The office door was pushed open.

Shen Qingqiu walked in wearing high heels, holding a newly finalized process sheet.

She glanced at the scalpers making trouble outside the window and snorted coldly.

"The legal department, The Pizza Hut of Donghai City, has already drafted the indictment. These people dare to gather and make trouble at the door, which is enough to send them in for a few days."

Lu Jingming turned around and put the coffee cup on the table.

"Just clowns, let the security guards drive them away, don't delay our big business."

He pulled the lapel of his suit and looked at Shen Qingqiu with burning eyes.

"Is the venue at the Donghai City Sports Center set up?"

Shen Qingqiu nodded and opened the process sheet.

"The venue for tens of thousands of people has been booked, and reporters from hundreds of mainstream media are on the way."

She looked up, excitement flashing behind her gold-rimmed glasses that she couldn't suppress.

"The fruit generation from the other side of the ocean is going to be released in a week."

Lu Jingming walked to the office desk, picked up the double-sided glass phone that was glowing with a faint blue light, and played with it in his hand.

"Then let's give Old Qiao some face and flip the table before he does."

He turned to look at Chu Xuan who was poking his head in at the door.

"Go notify the media, the countdown to the press conference officially begins."