61: Chapter 61 Storm Public Beta, the same three million?

A week passed.

At Inspur Technology.

When Zhao Lei pushed the door open, Qin Mo was leaning back in his chair, looking at his computer screen.

On the screen was a newly arrived data report; the launch data for Douyin group buying and local services exceeded the operations team's expectations.

"Boss, Douyin group buying and local services have been online for a week."

Zhao Lei sat down across from the desk, spread out the folder in his hand, and flipped to the first page.

"The number of merchants that have joined exceeds expectations, and user reviews are good, especially for dining vouchers, which have a remarkably high redemption rate."

"The operations team says that at this rate, we can start taking commissions and turning a profit next month."

Qin Mo took the folder, flipped through a few pages, and nodded.

"Local services are a vital part of the Douyin ecosystem, keep a close watch on it."

"Once it matures, it will also become a major source of revenue for Douyin."

Zhao Lei nodded, then flipped to another page in the folder.

"There's one more thing."

"The JD.com logistics lines and warehouses you asked me to track, I've been following them."

He leaned forward slightly, his tone lowering a notch.

"To challenge Taobao, JD.com previously deployed a massive amount of logistics lines and storage centers across the country, preparing for a showdown with Taobao."

"For that system, Liu Dong poured over ten billion in, covering major cities nationwide and achieving same-day delivery."

"But they didn't beat Taobao, and JD.com suffered, with its market share shrinking. These extra logistics lines and warehouses have been left idle due to cost issues."

"JD.com is now desperate to offload this part of their assets and has been looking for a buyer."

Zhao Lei closed the folder.

"Domestically, almost only Taobao has the capacity to swallow these assets."

"But you know Old Ma—he always drives prices down to the limit when negotiating deals."

"He's waiting for JD.com to buckle and lower the price themselves."

"So, we can also keep waiting; it'll take at least half a year for the price to drop to a level we can accept."

Qin Mo picked up the coffee on the table and took a sip, not responding.

After Zhao Lei finished his report, he didn't make a move to leave.

He hesitated for a moment, his fingers rubbing unconsciously on the folder.

"Boss, can I ask a question?"

"Speak."

"Why are we concerned with JD.com's logistics lines?"

There was clear confusion in Zhao Lei's voice.

"Liu Dong previously used JD.com to challenge Taobao with everything he had, deploying these logistics lines and warehouses, but in the end, he didn't win, and they became today's burden."

"We're watching these, could it be..."

He swallowed, looking at Qin Mo's calm face, a guess forming in his mind.

"Boss, do you really want to get into e-commerce?"

"Are you planning to take a shot at the Alibaba Group's core business, Taobao?"

Qin Mo leaned back in his chair, looked at Zhao Lei, and shook his head with a faint smile.

He reminded him, "Taobao is not the core of Alibaba."

Zhao Lei was stunned for a moment, then nodded.

"That's true, Alibaba's core is Alipay."

He paused, his tone becoming a bit more certain.

"However, Alipay and Tencent's QQ have become the foundation of the Great Xia's internet."

"These two things are too deeply rooted."

"Alipay is tied to all online transaction payment gateways, and QQ is tied to everyone's social network chain."

"Things like this, they simply can't be moved."

Qin Mo didn't speak, just leaned back in his chair, looking at Zhao Lei, a faint, imperceptible smile on his lips.

The air in the office was quiet for several seconds.

Zhao Lei felt somewhat uncomfortable under his gaze and subconsciously adjusted his sitting posture.

"Boss, what are you smiling at?"

Qin Mo didn't answer.

He shifted his gaze from Zhao Lei's face to the computer screen on the side.

Zhao Lei's expression began to change.

He understood Qin Mo.

This boss of his could absolutely not be judged by conventional logic.

In an instant, Zhao Lei seemed to think of something, his voice trembling slightly as he repeated what he had just said.

"This Alipay... it can't be moved, right?"

"Is it, right, Boss?"

Qin Mo still didn't answer.

He leaned back in his chair and set his coffee cup on the table.

Zhao Lei sat there, his mouth opening several times, but in the end, he didn't ask anything else.

He stood up, picked up the folder, and took one last look back as he reached the door.

Qin Mo had already clicked on the Blizzard official website.

On it was the latest slogan for heroes of the storm.

"Extremely simplified, easy to pick up."

"Suitable for all types of players."

"Your heroes, gather here!"

The final week passed in the blink of an eye.

heroes of the storm officially entered open beta!

At midnight, Great Xia time, Blizzard's servers opened simultaneously worldwide.

Overseas, Blizzard's brand appeal was fully manifested at this moment.

The homepages of the gaming sections on all major overseas streaming platforms were almost entirely occupied by heroes of the storm live streams.

On Twitter, the hashtag for the heroes of the storm open beta surged into the top three of the global trending list within ten minutes.

This was a grand occasion that even the dota 2 open beta hadn't achieved!

"Blizzard is finally here!"

"For the Lich King!"

"I'm already tired of dota 2; let's see what a MOBA made by Blizzard is actually like."

"I've been waiting for Tyrael for over half a year; I can finally control him myself."

Domestically, NetEase's promotional campaign was equally overwhelming.

All games and software under NetEase launched linked events simultaneously, and the homepage recommendation slots of all major app stores were replaced with download portals for heroes of the storm.

NetEase News client, NetEase Mail, NetEase Cloud Music—the splash screen ads for all NetEase-affiliated products were the same poster.

Silhouettes of five classic Blizzard characters, with the Nexus logo printed in the center.

On Douyin, Su Xiaomo's live stream title had changed for the night.

"heroes of the storm open beta, playing a MOBA for the first time!"

Less than ten minutes after starting the stream, the number of online viewers had already exceeded 150,000.

Su Xiaomo was now one of the most popular bloggers on Douyin, from that poor student who secretly filmed transformation videos in her dorm, to the big internet celebrity who no longer worried about her livelihood.

Her live stream was always lively, and the comments scrolled by rapidly.

"Babies, I tried dota 2 before, it was too hard, I couldn't understand it," Su Xiaomo said to the camera while downloading heroes of the storm.

"Just that equipment shop gave me a headache; I played two games and got scolded both times."

"This time, the promotion for heroes of the storm says the operation is very simple—no last-hitting, no equipment—so I'll try it out for you."

"If I still can't understand this one, then maybe I'm just not suited for MOBAs."

The comments scrolled by rapidly.

"Xiaomo is playing a MOBA too?"

"The graphics for heroes of the storm look really good; Blizzard's art has always been top-tier."

"And there's no last-hitting or equipment, it should be easy to pick up."

"Hurry, hurry, hurry, let's get into the game and see."

Su Xiaomo logged into the game and selected the beginner tutorial.

The graphics were indeed exquisite; Blizzard's art style was manifested to the fullest in every detail.

Hero models, skill effects, map scenes—all were top-tier.

"The graphics are so pretty," Su Xiaomo couldn't help but praise.

The beginner tutorial was very short and ended in a few minutes.

She clicked matchmaking directly and entered the first match.

She hesitated for a moment when picking a hero, and finally chose Queen of Blades Kerrigan.

"I've seen this character in StarCraft, so I'll pick her."

The game started.

Su Xiaomo controlled Kerrigan and walked out of the fountain.

She walked a few steps on the map, then stopped.

"Huh?"

There really was no shop.

Aside from healing, she couldn't find a shop to buy equipment anywhere in the base.

Although this map also had three lanes and minions, other parts were indeed quite strange.

There was no gold bar, no equipment shop.

The team shared experience, and everyone's levels were displayed side-by-side at the top of the screen.

The map was dotted with several strongholds that needed to be captured, as well as vehicles that needed to be escorted and pushed.

It wasn't about pushing towers.

It was about capturing points and pushing carts.

After success, the winning side would receive assistance from a field boss.

All sorts of designs were indeed completely different from regular MOBA games.

"How is this completely different from dota 2?"

Su Xiaomo was stunned for a moment.

She had tried two games of dota 2 before and knew that a MOBA was a tower-pushing game.

Three lanes, last-hitting, buying equipment, destroying the opponent's defensive towers, and finally destroying the base.

But heroes of the storm was completely not that logic.

The lanes were unique, there was no gold, no equipment.

The five heroes had to run all over the map, capture points, push carts, and team fight.

Soon, the first match was over.

Su Xiaomo's expression was somewhat blank.

She didn't even know why the opponent's minions were suddenly left with a sliver of health, or why some big guy helped her side push the tower.

"Won?"

She looked at the victory screen, with not a hint of excitement in her tone.

The comments asked her how she felt.

Su Xiaomo thought about it, her brows slightly furrowed.

"The graphics are indeed good to look at; Blizzard's art is really beyond reproach."

"But..."

She gathered her thoughts, her fingers tapping unconsciously on the keyboard.

"It's so boring."

"I just feel... I can't describe it, but I don't feel happy even though I won."

"It's just very boring."

She queued up for another match.

This time she chose Tyrael.

The second match finished, and she won again.

But Su Xiaomo's expression was even more confused than the first match.

She leaned back in his chair, tilting her head to look at the screen.

"Is this a MOBA game?"

"It's not fun at all."

"There's no feeling of wanting to keep playing."

"There's no sense of achievement after winning, and I don't feel unwilling to lose."

Rows of comforting comments drifted by.

"Maybe you're just not good at MOBAs, Xiaomo."

"heroes of the storm looks pretty good, and there are many innovations; it looks like it should be fun. I'll try it myself after work."

The comments didn't think the game was bad because of Su Xiaomo's words; after all, looking at it, the appeal of heroes of the storm was indeed quite good.

And since Su Xiaomo hadn't played many MOBA games before, in their view, it was highly likely that Su Xiaomo wasn't suited for playing MOBA games, rather than there being anything wrong with heroes of the storm.

Su Xiaomo looked at the comments and nodded.

"Maybe I'm just not very good at playing it."

She played one more match, then exited the game.

"Forget it, it's not fun."

She stretched, and switched the live stream screen back to her desktop.

"I'll just wait for league of legends to come out and try that as a final attempt."

"If league of legends isn't fun either, then I'm afraid I'm really not suited for this type of game."