Chapter 60: The Final Curtain

Chen Xiao replied with a simple message, "Wishing you success."

That night, Chen Xiao came across a Delong VCD advertisement on Jiangcheng TV, Jiangzhou TV, and Jiangyang TV.

Delong had invested a substantial amount of money this time, managing to secure the endorsement of the popular star Cheng Long for their advertisement, and it had been released quite swiftly.

In the advertisement, Cheng Long stood on TV, holding Delong's slim and lightweight VCD in one hand while giving a thumbs-up with the other. Looking into the camera, he spoke with enthusiasm in slightly broken Mandarin, "Delongwei C drops! Super clear, awesome '94! When watching my kung fu movie, use Delongwei C drops!"

"Hey!"

At the end of the advertisement, Cheng Long even threw a punch.

Cheng Long had just ended his contract with Aido VCD, and now he was endorsing Delong's slim and lightweight VCD without a pause.

Chen Xiao couldn't help but think, inviting Cheng Long might not be a good idea.

Wasn't this practically a prelude to your product's downfall?

Chen Xiao considered the products Cheng Long had endorsed in the past.

Xiaobawang, Aiduo VCD, Fenhuang Cola, Caddy, Bawang shampoo, Chigo air conditioner...

How many of them are still around? How many brands have survived?

It seemed that the products he endorsed often didn't fare well.

This time, Delong VCD would join the list of products that Cheng Long had inadvertently doomed.

"Hey," Chen Xiao sighed deeply. He quickly dialed Wang Xiang's number.

"Brother Xiang! I saw the Delong VCD advertisement on TV today."

Wang Xiang sounded excited, "You saw it? How did it look?"

Chen Xiao said, somewhat helplessly, "It didn't look too good. Why did you choose Cheng Long? Couldn't you have picked someone else? Maybe Uncle Benshan!"

Wang Xiang responded quite confidently, "Why didn't it look good? Jackie Chan was originally endorsing Aido VCD, but we paid a lot to snatch him away."

"These lines and ad concepts were specially designed by Hong Kong directors. It cost us a fortune!"

In 2000, Cheng Long's endorsement curse had only just begun, and he was currently the hottest star. If Chen Xiao claimed that Cheng Long had a "death touch" for endorsements, Wang Xiang would probably never believe it.

Chen Xiao merely suggested, "Could you consider changing the spokesperson? Maybe pick someone else, perhaps a newcomer or someone like that?"

Chen Xiao racked his brain, but he couldn't come up with any suitable candidates from around the year 2000. "Meteor Garden" wouldn't air until the following year.

Wang Xiang looked puzzled, "Who's Buttercream Xiaosheng? Having Cheng Long endorse us is a great thing! He's a kung fu superstar! Most people watching VCDs are fans of his and Zhou Xingxing's movies!"

"Moreover, we went through a lot of trouble to get him to endorse us. Changing it now would be impossible."

Chen Xiao: "You spent so much money to get Cheng Long as the spokesperson. You're also investing heavily in VCD production lines and distribution channels. Is Delong being that extravagant?"

Although Chen Xiao wasn't a shareholder, due to their technical collaboration, Wang Xiang was willing to share a lot of information with him.

Wang Xiang explained, "The electronics factory had some savings, and they also did some OEM work. Although CNC machine tool motherboard sales are good, there aren't orders every day. So Mr. Li borrowed money for the company."

Goodness!

It seemed that the era was one of audacious recklessness, and reckless loans had become a reality.

Chen Xiao couldn't judge whether Delong's strategy of capturing the market from the grassroots level would succeed. All he could do was sigh and wish them good luck!

Over the next month, Chen Xiao continued to develop the Legend hack. He tested its performance, meticulously fixed several bugs, and refined its functionality.

With less than a month remaining before the college entrance examination, Chen Xiao was ready to officially release the hack.

This time, Chen Xiao intended to offer two modes for using the hack.

One was the normal mode—essentially, the free mode.

In this mode, users could download and use the hack for free. However, it wouldn't automatically purchase red and blue potions, nor would it guide players to areas with higher chances of dropping top-tier equipment.

Charging entirely for the hack wasn't feasible, as establishing the payment habits of Xia Guo's netizens would take time.

Promoting the hack and 11181's website through the Legend platform while offering it for free was the best approach.

Meanwhile, to extend the hack's usefulness, Chen Xiao introduced a premium mode. In this mode, with more premium features, the hack would automatically purchase red and blue potions, guide players to areas with high-quality equipment drops, and assist with main quests, among other things.

Players could directly use their online bank accounts to recharge for the premium mode.

In reality, very few players had online banking at the time. This service primarily targeted internet cafe owners.

Chen Xiao set the price for personal use at 30 yuan for 4,500 minutes of hack time. For internet cafe operators, they could purchase a 4,500-minute license for just 20 yuan, and sell the same to players at 30 yuan for 4,500 minutes, making a 10-yuan profit.

In the hack, Chen Xiao included a small feature he'd implemented before.

Once the hack was installed, it would automatically set the browser's homepage to 11181 and create a shortcut for 11181 on the desktop.

Compared to many shady software practices, Chen Xiao's approach was quite mild.

Chen Xiao's Legend hack was not solely about making money from the hack itself. Its ultimate goal was to promote 11181.

Dominating the client market during the early days of the internet would provide a higher starting point for future endeavors.

Relying solely on the hack for revenue would be too short-sighted, especially when there were plans for a future technology guidance system.

Chen Xiao had ambitions to create a domestic desktop operating system, develop a domestic lithography machine and chip, and work on domestic semiconductors and integrated circuits. However, each of these ventures required significant investment—billions of yuan—and the current industrial chain in Xia Guo was too weak, lacking the necessary technology.

Additionally, these endeavors needed funding and enough influence to succeed.

Dreaming up grand ideas without the necessary capital would lead nowhere. Finding an unreliable partner could result in technology being lost to overseas competitors.

Progress needed to be made one step at a time, without rushing.

Chen Xiao uploaded the hack onto the 11181 website.

Given 11181's current influence, he didn't need to actively promote the hack; he just had to wait.

Sure enough, only a few hours after the hack was launched, he noticed something when he checked the 11181 backend early in the morning.