176: Chapter 176 Price War Plus Ecological Hijacking? Lu Li: It's All Garbage

For a while, this kind of narrative was everywhere.

Google, meanwhile, took the opportunity to package its own products as a different answer.

It wasn't about competing with the Virtual Helmet on which was more immersive.

Instead, it was about using lower barriers to entry, faster channel deployment, and a more mature overseas ecosystem to seize the definition of the future first.

Most crucially, the timing was too coincidental.

Google's teaser and launch were perfectly timed just before the September launch event for the Guanghui Mobile.

Anyone could see that this wasn't just a random scheduling conflict.

This was a battle for the narrative.

It was a fight for the right to define the word "Future."

In the villa's living room.

Wang Peng ran in, holding a tablet.

"Brother!"

"They've started!"

Lu Li was curled up on the sofa reading documents, barely even lifting his eyelids.

"Who started?"

"Google, of course!"

Wang Peng's voice rose in pitch.

"They released the news early, and the foreign internet is going crazy! Things like AI glasses, haptic devices, and that Genie3—it can generate an open-world game with just one sentence!"

"But that's not even the most disgusting part!"

"They've tied in the Android ecosystem, maps, videos, and the app store, and they're planning a simultaneous global rollout with prices set incredibly low!"

"Everyone on the foreign internet is saying that while the Virtual Helmet is powerful, it's too expensive, too heavy, and too hard to buy. They claim Google's setup is the future gateway that can actually reach the masses!"

Lu Yaoguang came down from upstairs, phone in hand, clearly having just finished scrolling through the latest public opinion.

"This isn't a normal teaser campaign."

She walked over, her brows slightly furrowed.

"They're intentionally stepping in before your launch event to set the pace."

"They have no intention of competing head-on with the Virtual Helmet on user experience."

"Because they can't win that."

"They are deliberately changing the track."

She paused, her tone becoming more somber.

"Lightweight wearables, low-price mass adoption, full Android ecosystem integration, developer migration subsidies, global simultaneous distribution channels—"

"If the overseas market accepts this narrative first, then no matter what you bring to the September launch, the outside world will subconsciously define Guanghui Technology as a 'maker of high-end immersive devices' and define Google as 'the one that truly controls the next generation of mass-market gateways.'"

Hearing this, Wang Peng became even more anxious.

"Exactly! That's exactly what I mean!"

"They're saying AI and spatial interaction are the true future, and that the Virtual Helmet route is too heavy and only suitable for a minority!"

"Some people are even saying that no matter how awesome Guanghui Technology is, it's only achieved the ultimate experience, whereas Google is setting the standard that will truly sweep the globe!"

"The most ridiculous part is that they're bringing up those previous bugs, claiming that while the Virtual Helmet looks impressive, the product isn't mature enough yet!"

"Plus, with the product already hard to buy overseas and the bans still in place, those people are getting all worked up!"

Lu Li finally looked up.

"Anything else?"

"And there's more—"

Wang Peng swallowed hard.

"They're hyping up that Genie3 of theirs to an extreme degree. They claim it can generate an open-world game with just one sentence, and a lot of gaming bloggers are starting to lose their minds over it."

Lu Yaoguang added:

"And the overseas market is really buying into it."

"The Virtual Helmet is either unavailable or a hassle to buy. Google's lightweight device route gives them exactly what they want: a substitute they can imagine and actually purchase."

"The more troublesome part is that they've pulled the developers over as well."

"It's not that they are stronger than the Virtual Helmet right now."

"But if they keep hyping it up like this, overseas developers, media, and ordinary users will subconsciously default to the idea that Google is the standard answer for the next-generation platform."

The living room fell silent for two seconds.

Wang Peng and Lu Yaoguang both looked at Lu Li.

Waiting for his reaction.

As it turned out, Lu Li simply leaned back on the sofa, tossed the documents onto the coffee table, and spoke in an overly calm tone.

"Oh."

Wang Peng: "..."

Lu Yaoguang: "..."

Just an "Oh"?

Wang Peng anxiously took two steps forward.

"Brother, aren't you worried at all?"

"What's there to be worried about?"

"They've slapped these leaks right in your face ahead of schedule!"

"Let them slap it."

Lu Li yawned.

"It's not like they're taking my ID photo."

Wang Peng was almost choked to death by that sentence.

"No, Brother, this time it's really different!"

"They aren't competing with you on technical specs; they're fighting for the market, for developers, and for public opinion!"

"And they're fighting for that entire overseas market!"

"If they actually manage to plant the flag of 'mass-market spatial platform' first, won't we be on the back foot when we try to push our products later?"

Lu Yaoguang didn't speak again.

She just stared fixedly at Lu Li.

After a few seconds, she suddenly understood.

It wasn't that Lu Li didn't understand the public opinion war.

Quite the opposite.

He understood it too well.

His calmness now wasn't because he hadn't seen Google's moves.

It was because he saw things much more clearly than they did.

Google's strategy was indeed very clever.

It avoided the direct battlefield where the Virtual Helmet excelled, and instead pivoted to seize everyday usage scenarios, the overseas developer ecosystem, and public perception.

If it were any other company, they would likely have been forced into leaking information early, starting their teaser campaign, or even changing their launch schedule on the fly.

But Lu Li hadn't.

This could only mean one thing.

He was holding something much bigger in his hands.

Sure enough.

The next second, Lu Li closed his eyes and said calmly:

"If they want to fight for the gateway, let them shout about it first."

"The louder they shout, the harder they'll fall."

Wang Peng was stunned for a moment.

"Brother, what do you mean…"

Lu Li didn't open his eyes.

In his mind, the underlying code architecture of the full version of Tech Director Dou Bao, the permission logic for the system-level AI agent, and that as-yet-unreleased creation platform for the Virtual Helmet flashed by.

Lightweight devices?

Developer ecosystem?

Generating games with one sentence?

A faint smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

Google was certainly not weak this time.

One could even say they hit the mark.

Unfortunately—

A screen is, after all, just a screen. Even if gloves can simulate touch, and even with headphones, they still lack smell and taste.

What truly determines the ownership of the next-generation platform has never been about who sells their device first.

"Wait for September."

He said calmly.

"Let them see what a true participatory spatial interaction device is."

He was naturally referring to the air imaging projection device. Wouldn't this thing absolutely crush those trashy AR glasses currently on the market?

This [Air Imaging Projection Device] had already gone through trial mass production and was currently undergoing testing.

That evening, Su Qingxue returned.

She placed the tablet in front of Lu Li. On the screen were clips from the overseas launch teaser, reactions from the capital market, and analysis articles from several top-tier media outlets.

"The company is a bit nervous."

She sat down next to him, her voice low but her tone steady.

"The marketing department suggests releasing a bit of information early."

"At least to raise expectations, otherwise it's easy for Google to seize the concepts of 'sense of the future' and 'next-generation gateway' first."

Wang Peng and Lu Yaoguang both nodded subconsciously.

Although one was still young and the other was still in school, neither of them was a fool.

When it came to actual experience, Google's so-called AI glasses and haptic devices couldn't compare to the Virtual Helmet head-on.

But the problem was that the other side had no intention of comparing head-on.

What they wanted to grab was something else.

Lu Li took the tablet and scanned it for a few moments.

"Google's new AI reshapes open-world generation logic."

"Lightweight spatial devices may become the next-generation mass-market gateway."

"Full Android ecosystem integration with XR; Google attempts to rebuild the global developer standard."

"Genie3 may redefine the gaming industry."

The headlines were bigger than the last.

The momentum was more imposing than the last.

Lu Li scrolled down two more pages.

Besides the AI glasses, haptic feedback devices, and Genie3, the truly ruthless part of Google's move this time was tying the entire package together with the Android ecosystem, app store, maps, video platforms, and cloud computing power.

More crucially—

The first batch would go on sale simultaneously in multiple countries across Europe and America.

The price was only about half that of the Virtual Helmet.

Furthermore, Google had released a developer migration subsidy plan.

It claimed it could help existing Android apps, mobile games, and utility software quickly adapt to their spatial interaction environment.

With this combination of moves, even if the technical experience wasn't as good as the Virtual Helmet, it was enough to get capital and the media excited.

Because this meant—

It was lighter, cheaper, easier to distribute, and easier to build scale overseas first.

The Virtual Helmet is the next-generation immersive platform.

But what Google was grabbing right now was the position of the "next-generation mass-market gateway."

After reading it, Lu Li put the tablet back.

"Let them publish it."

Su Qingxue looked at him.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

Lu Li's tone was very casual.

"Something like the future isn't won by whoever releases their trailer first."