67: Chapter 67 Meituan Collapse

Carrying the aircraft engine design blueprints, Zhang Kai didn't dare to delay for a moment. He flew directly to the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the institution that communicated most frequently with Tianxing Technology.

Upon arriving at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, although the gatekeepers knew he was from Tianxing Technology, they still performed a diligent inspection before allowing Zhang Kai into the core office area.

Within half an hour, several heads of the core area rushed over.

Taking the blueprints from Zhang Kai's hands and opening them, everyone's eyes widened.

The more they studied them, the more shocked they became!

"This... this is a design blueprint for a new generation of aero-engines?"

"The performance is significantly stronger than the most advanced engine in America?"

"That kid Chen Mo is incredible! He actually managed to research and develop this?"

A group of people stared at the blueprints, their faces full of shock and admiration.

Having dealt with Chen Mo for two years, they didn't know how many times they had been shocked by him.

Originally, they felt that whatever Chen Mo researched next would be within an acceptable range, but they didn't expect him to bring them something so massive this time.

However, they also knew that if Chen Mo was willing to hand over such a national treasure, the request he would make afterward would certainly not be simple!

Sure enough, Zhang Kai spoke up at this moment:

"Leaders, our President Chen has one request."

"However, it's not for himself. It's for all the freelancers at Tianxing: the delivery riders, the live streamers, and the web novel authors. He wants a policy."

The leading official said with a smile, "Go ahead, what policy does he want? As long as it's within a reasonable range, I can agree directly. If it's unreasonable, we'll report it to higher-ups!!"

Zhang Kai shook his head: "It's not an illegal or unreasonable request. Our President Chen wants the state to allow freelancers to participate in social security flexibly—paying for a month of insurance for a month of work, without interruption or affecting their total years of contribution."

"Even further, President Chen hopes the state can mandate legislation so that the entire industry must buy insurance for these types of practitioners."

As soon as these words were spoken, the entire conference room fell silent.

The leading official frowned:

"Mandatory legislation?"

"Little Chen is trying to flip the table for the entire internet industry!"

"Tianxing has the money to withstand it, but Meituan, Fast Ride, those small streaming sites, and Express Delivery Companies—how can they withstand such costs?"

The few of them discussed it back and forth, knowing full well in their hearts.

This request was indeed beneficial to the country and the people, but it would cost those capitalists their lives.

But Chen Mo had even handed over the aero-engine blueprints; it would be truly unjustifiable not to agree.

In the end, they could only report it upward; it was impossible to rely on the lobbying of just the few of them.

After careful consideration, the authorities finally gave a response:

Legislation was not possible, but they could open up flexible social security participation for freelancers. Insurance could be purchased per order, per month, or per workload. Policies would tilt in their favor with a green light all the way.

After receiving the reply, Zhang Kai immediately called Chen Mo in Shanghai to report.

"President Chen, the authorities have agreed to flexible social security for freelancers, but legislation is temporarily not possible."

Chen Mo said with a smile:

"That's enough."

"Legislation was impossible to begin with; it was just left as room for bargaining."

After hanging up, Chen Mo connected to the Chairman's Secretarial Office:

"Notify the PR department to immediately post the announcement I sent them earlier regarding social security contributions for flexible practitioners on the company's official website."

That afternoon, Tianxing Technology's official website released an announcement:

For all flexible practitioners on Tianxing platforms, once the basic workload is completed, the company will pay the full insurance for that month!

If riders meet their order quotas, streamers meet their hours, and signed authors meet their targets, the company will pay for medical, work injury, and pension insurance!

Moreover, according to the content on Tianxing's official website, netizens found that the threshold was extremely low—any normal person working could reach it!

As soon as the news came out, the entire internet erupted in heated discussion!

#President Chen Demands Insurance for Millions of Workers#

#Tianxing Technology, a Conscientious Enterprise#

#This is a True National Enterprise#

Trending searches exploded instantly, and the comment sections were in an uproar.

Rider No. 1: "I've worked for Meituan for a year and have no insurance at all. If I get injured on a delivery, I have to bear it all myself! I'm flat-out kneeling to Tianxing for this move. From now on, I'll only take Tianxing orders!"

Small-time Streamer: "Low-level streamers don't even have a base salary, yet Tianxing is actually providing insurance? Why wouldn't I switch! What am I waiting for!"

Web Novel Author: "Insurance just for signing? This is treating us like human beings! Spring has finally come for us little 'pujie' authors!"

Many internet trolls and capital-backed accounts also came out to stir up trouble.

"Chen Mo is suppressing his competitors! Other companies don't have the money to buy insurance; they'll all go bankrupt!"

"He's a capitalist too; he just wants to create a monopoly!"

But netizens weren't buying it at all.

"If they go bankrupt, then let them! Companies that suck our blood should die sooner rather than later!"

"Exactly, exactly. I'm standing with President Chen on this one!"

"Even if President Chen monopolizes, it's ten thousand times better than you black-hearted capitalists!"

"Tianxing provides insurance, do you? All you do is whine! If you have the ability, speak with your actions!"

Public opinion was one-sided, and Meituan Takeout, at the center of the storm, was having an exceptionally difficult time.

Meituan Headquarters.

Executives looked at the background data and sighed.

"Boss! The riders have all run away! No one is taking our orders anymore!"

"Yeah! They've all gone to Tianxing Takeout! They provide insurance there!"

"Now when users place orders, there's simply no one to pick them up! They're all just hanging there!"

Meituan's Boss Wang listened to the executives' reports with a livid face.

He was still waiting to go public in the US, waiting for Wall Street to take over and help him recover.

But now...

The riders had all run off, no one was delivering orders, and the company was directly paralyzed!

"Sigh... It's over... It's all over..."

In just twenty days or so.

The takeout giant that had once burned nearly ten billion yuan didn't even struggle before directly announcing bankruptcy and closure.

After the news spread, the entire internet circle experienced a massive earthquake.

Kuaidi Taxi was shivering even more, Express Delivery Companies were also trembling with fear, and low-level personnel from streaming sites and web novel platforms were frantically jumping ship.

Everyone was afraid that Chen Mo would target them next.

But Chen Mo had no intention of touching ride-hailing or express delivery.

Ride-hailing was still burning money, and express delivery was too heavy on offline operations and storage troubles; he couldn't be bothered with the hassle.

On Tianxing's side, the number of takeout riders alone exploded to over two million people, with insurance expenditures alone reaching nearly two billion yuan every month.

Others couldn't hold out, but Chen Mo didn't care.

Tianxing didn't have sky-high priced programmers or high-salaried executives. The money saved on salaries alone was enough to cover the insurance costs.

Coupled with a complete monopoly and no need to burn subsidies, while they might not immediately turn a profit, at least they wouldn't be losing money.

Besides, even if they lost money, it was small change. A single trip to the foreign exchange market would be enough to burn for several months.

Three days later.

In a private club on Wall Street, America.

A dozen men in suits sat around, their expressions each more unsightly than the last.

One blonde man slammed the table hard and said:

"Fuck! Meituan has gone bankrupt! I wanted to make another play! That damn Eastern demon!"

He was none other than Tom, who had previously lost money shorting gold.

Another fund manager wearing glasses said indifferently:

"The valuations we agreed on, the takeovers we planned—all gone! We were originally thinking of harvesting a wave!"

"Chen Mo only used one insurance policy to play Meituan to death!"

A capital tycoon nearby said with a dark face:

"This Chen Mo is not only harvesting us on Wall Street, but now he's even pulling up the internet companies we laid out by the roots? He's not letting us earn a single dollar!"

"He's not doing business at all; he's clearing the field! He's breaking the pot! He's smashing our rice bowls!"

"Alibaba and Tencent have also lost a lot over there; tens of billions in investment have all gone down the drain, and Kuaidi is almost unable to hold on!"

Everyone looked at each other, seeing the wariness and rage in each other's eyes.

"We can't let him be anymore."

"This kid is too terrifying. If we let him continue to develop, all our layouts in Dragon Country will be swallowed by him!"

Tom said through gritted teeth:

"Then we'll set up a trap for him to crawl into and exhaust all his liquid capital! Even if we don't exhaust it all, we must exhaust a portion and nibble away at him bit by bit!"

"Fine, how do we do it!"