The Unrivaled Master of Folk Black Technology
Chapter 49

Promotion

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Li Zhou's expression turned grave. He sat up straight and began speaking.

"We need to hurry with the launch event. Those who need to find contract manufacturers should find them. If we can't find any, we need to hurry and build our own factories. We can't let the launch event end only for us to still be mass-producing the product."

When it came to business, Xiong Kexuan set aside her work and became serious as well.

She could joke around with her boss normally, but when work was involved, she needed to act professionally.

"The date for the launch event was decided yesterday. It'll be on July 1st. Preparations have already begun, and I just received the promotional image submitted by the planning department. Do you want to take a look?"

A promotional image? Of course he had to take a look! Li Zhou stood and walked over to Xiong Kexuan's side.

Xiong Kexuan reached out and turned the computer screen toward her boss.

As he looked at the promotional image on the screen, Li Zhou's eyes lit up.

The image showed a data hand made of zeros and ones, its palm facing upward. Floating above the palm was a black chip emitting tiny starlike specks of light.

The minimalist color scheme made the chip in the palm particularly eye-catching.

Other than that, there was no text or explanation on the image. A single picture was enough to let people's imaginations run wild.

What exactly was the product Future Technology was about to release?

At the very least, Li Zhou could casually think of keywords such as Artificial Intelligence and chips.

A smile hung on Li Zhou's lips. "This image is great. We'll use it."

Xiong Kexuan smiled faintly. "I think so too. To strengthen the sense of mystery, I've decided that the official account only needs to post this one image, without any accompanying explanation. We'll only put the launch date in the title."

"That makes sense. Post it now and start building hype." Li Zhou rubbed the back of his head with one hand and tapped the desk with the other. The matter was settled.

With the decision made, Xiong Kexuan immediately operated the computer and logged into Future Technology's official account.

After logging in, she selected the option to publish a new post, uploaded the promotional image, added the date July 1st, and, after confirming there were no mistakes, directly clicked Publish.

Xiong Kexuan looked up at her boss, Li Zhou.

"Boss, it's done."

"As for the factories, I'll need the people below to investigate the situation thoroughly before I can make a decision. I can guarantee we'll have an answer before the launch event and complete mass production before the end of the year."

At Future Technology headquarters, Li Zhou and Xiong Kexuan discussed how to solve the mass-production issue for the Photonic Supercomputer. Meanwhile, online, many netizens following Future Technology's official account received its push notification immediately.

"July 1st"

Promotional Image.JPG

Under Future Technology's newly posted update, netizens left comments one after another after seeing the news.

"??? What does this Future Technology post mean? I can't understand it at all. Are there any experts who get it?"

"Has Future Technology made another breakthrough in Artificial Intelligence? This image really looks like Artificial Intelligence."

"This newbie is trembling... Big shots, shouldn't the key point be the chip held in that robot hand?"

"??? A chip? You're overthinking it! Future Technology is indeed awesome in the software industry, but I've never heard of them researching hardware. Compared with software, hardware research costs are on an entirely different level. Unless Future Technology has a screw loose, why would they pour bottomless amounts of money into hardware R&D, a field they're not good at?

"Not to mention chips, the pinnacle of human hardware products.

"I'm not looking down on our people, but the most advanced 5nm chips simply can't be produced by one country alone. Even lithography machines, which are indispensable to chip production, are the result of cooperation among many countries."

"The post above has lots of words, but it makes sense. Something as sci-fi as a lithography machine is the product of cooperation among different countries."

"So does anyone know what product Future Technology is actually going to release?"

"Who knows? But Artificial Intelligence is still the most likely possibility! July 1st is only a little over a month away. We'll find out then."

News that Future Technology might be releasing a product was quickly reported by employees of major companies to their leaders.

When the leaders of those companies saw the news, their hearts inexplicably skipped a beat.

Future Technology never played by the rules. Whenever it made a move, it unleashed its ultimate move instead of testing the waters first.

Yu Chengbei stared at Future Technology's official account post in silence for a long time.

He didn't know when it had begun, but every minor development from Future Technology had started affecting the entire tech industry. More importantly, Future Technology had only one voice, and Li Zhou alone called all the shots.

For a moment, Yu Chengbei stared out the window and thought about many things.

After taking a deep breath, Yu Chengbei made himself keep smiling. Once he had adjusted his mood, he returned to his desk, picked up his phone, and dialed Li Zhou's private number.

Beep~ Beep~ Beep~

The call connected, and Yu Chengbei said with a smile, "Hello! Brother Li Zhou, have you been busy lately?"

On the other end, Li Zhou saw Yu Chengbei's incoming call. Without even thinking, he knew Yu Chengbei was calling to fish for information.

Li Zhou and Xiong Kexuan exchanged smiles, and Li Zhou answered Yu Chengbei's call.

The moment the call connected, Yu Chengbei's voice came through.

"Hello! Brother Li Zhou, have you been busy lately?"

Li Zhou replied with a smile, "Recently? I just delivered a batch of goods to the military, so I'm very free now. I'm currently drinking tea in our boss's office. President Yu, it looks like you've been very busy lately. Why do you have time to call me today? Don't tell me you're calling to ask what I'm having for dinner."

"Haha, listen to you. As long as you come over to my place, I'll definitely arrange everything perfectly for you."

Li Zhou smiled and raised an eyebrow... "That sounds great. To be honest, I've never experienced five-star treatment before. If I get the chance to visit you, I'll definitely have to try it."

The two chatted idly for more than ten minutes as though nothing had happened. Only at the end did Yu Chengbei bring up Future Technology's new official account post.

"Brother, can you give your old brother a hint? Secretly tell me what move Future Technology is preparing this time? That promotional image of yours has everyone completely baffled."

The corners of Li Zhou's mouth unconsciously rose. Sure enough, Yu Chengbei had come to probe for information.

"President Yu, this is a trade secret. But considering our relationship, I can tell you for certain that, for your Huawei, the benefits will definitely outweigh the drawbacks this time."

After hanging up, Yu Chengbei's brow furrowed deeply.

The benefits outweighed the drawbacks! That meant there were both benefits and drawbacks!

If it really were Artificial Intelligence, it would only benefit Huawei and bring no drawbacks. That meant Future Technology's launch event definitely would not be releasing a product related to Artificial Intelligence.

Other than Artificial Intelligence, the most likely possibility was the chip in that promotional image.

But... was that possible?

Yu Chengbei shook his head self-mockingly. He was overthinking it. How could it possibly be a chip?

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