A Bizarre Turn of Events

The press conference ended smoothly. After saying goodbye to the media reporters, Zhao Min left the venue. Once she was below the stage, she took out her phone and called Chen Mo.

"Are you satisfied with the press conference just now?" Zhao Min asked directly as soon as the call connected.

"Very satisfied. For that last question, I really wanted to put the five brothers up on the big screen for you, with 'upright, brave, ambitious, handsome, alive' written above them."

"It'd be best to put you up there." Zhao Min laughed. "I wonder what kind of response the press conference is getting."

"It's already trending. The influence of a beauty CEO really is no joke. You're an internet celebrity now," Chen Mo teased.

"So fast?" Zhao Min sounded surprised as well.

"It was that pretty woman who asked you the last question. She livestreamed it on Weibo and sent the press conference straight onto the trending list," Chen Mo said.

"I'm going to start preparing for the phone sales next. Do you want to come by the company?"

"Another day. Get busy first."

Chen Mo hung up, packed his things, and left the press conference venue.

Not long after the press conference ended, Global Times posted an article on its official Weibo titled "An Awakened Marching Ant!" Along with some footage from the event, it immediately drew countless comments and reposts. Within minutes, both reposts and comments had exceeded ten thousand.

Shortly after Global Times released its report, People's Daily also posted on Weibo with the same title.

With two major mainstream media outlets speaking out, it immediately drew even greater attention.

The topic #AnAwakenedMarchingAnt# quickly climbed onto the trending list.

What left people both amused and exasperated was that #BeautyCEO# appeared right behind it on the trending list, its popularity nearly overshadowing the number one topic. The third trend was #DomesticMobilePhoneSystem#, while the fourth was #ButterflyEye#.

The snowball effect continued to grow.

One press conference had occupied four trending headlines in a row. It became the biggest hot topic and instantly buried some celebrity's scandalous dating rumor.

There had not been any major news lately, so Ant Army Company's press conference was undoubtedly a bombshell.

The Army Ant System had appeared, and it even claimed to be superior to Android and Apple.

Most importantly, images of the Butterfly Eye Phone rapidly flooded social media feeds. Many girls said they wanted one, while men everywhere wailed in despair.

Ant Army Company was releasing only thirty thousand units in its first batch. At this level of hype, even if people rushed to buy them at midnight, they might not get one—and they were available only online.

Tencent News, Squirrel Headlines, Sina, Phoenix Net, and many others all published reports.

At a time when major news was scarce, headlines across nearly every mainstream domestic media outlet were dominated by news of the Army Ant System.

A beauty CEO, a domestic operating system, and a phone so beautiful it had no friends—those three selling points captured everyone's attention, and the hype showed no signs of fading.

Gan Yu opened the door, tossed his briefcase onto the sofa, and collapsed like a corpse. These days, working oneself to the bone just to earn some money was not easy.

Suddenly, the aroma of food drifted into his nose, instantly waking him up.

"A Qiu, is that you?"

Gan Yu called out. His tomboyish girlfriend had never cooked before. Had someone come over?

"Hubby."

A coquettish voice came from inside. It belonged to none other than his tomboyish girlfriend. Then a woman in an apron emerged from the kitchen, carrying two slightly burnt dishes.

What was going on?

Gan Yu felt a chill run down his spine. This was completely unlike her usual style—there was something strange about it. "A Qiu, are you feeling unwell?"

"Hubby~"

A Qiu set down the dishes, untied her apron, and skipped toward him, her voice still soft and cutesy.

"A Qiu, do you have a fever? Let me feel?"

The way she addressed him made all the hair on Gan Yu's body stand on end. He suspected that his normally carefree girlfriend had a fever and had fried her brain.

"I'm not sick."

What? "I"? "I"?

Gan Yu was stunned. He ran it through his head twice—he had not heard wrong. This tomboy was acting cute with him... acting cute!

"Hubby, I cooked for you today."

"A Qiu, are you feeling uncomfortable anywhere? Tell your hubby." Gan Yu was so frightened that he nearly gave her a full-body examination.

"I'm not uncomfortable. Hubby, I want to buy a phone."

So she wanted to buy a phone. Gan Yu instantly let out a sigh of relief. "Another phone? Didn't you just buy one last month? We're saving up to get married. Can't you wait a while before buying another?"

"Hubby, you can use my old one, and you buy me another one, okay? I promise I'll cook for you every day from now on. Hubby~"

Her coquettish tone and adorable behavior made Gan Yu's heart melt. The exhaustion from work vanished without a trace.

"Okay, I'll buy it for you. Do you want the latest Apple?"

"Hubby, you're the best. Not an Apple—it costs half as much as an Apple. It's this one called Butterfly Eye, from a company called Ant Army Company." A Qiu kissed him on the cheek, immediately took out her phone, opened Weibo, and held the picture in front of him.

All kinds of bizarre scenes were playing out in every corner.

Online, debates raged everywhere, all centered on the domestic mobile phone system. Meanwhile, everyone acting out of character had gathered beneath Ant Army Company's official Weibo.

"Shocking! When I got off work today, my tough-as-nails wife actually cooked for me and acted cute. My heart melted. Just for being this considerate, even if she wanted a plane, I'd buy it for her—let alone a phone."

"Shocking! That hit me right in the heart, bro. Mine was the exact opposite. My normally gentle and well-behaved girlfriend came out of the kitchen holding a kitchen knife when I got home and told me she wanted a phone. I was so scared that I agreed without a word."

"Shocking! My girlfriend said that if I bought this for her, she'd go register our marriage with me."

"Shocking! My wife said that if I bought it for her, she'd have my babies."

"Shocking! My daughter said that if I didn't buy it for her, she'd go find a boyfriend."

"Shocking! You ruined the formation, hahaha... Wait, my mom's calling me."

Aside from the bizarrely amusing comments on Ant Army Company's official Weibo, online news coverage of Ant Army Company was mixed, with both praise and criticism. Most people chose to applaud it. Regardless of its performance, the existence of a domestic operating system was a good thing.

However, there were also some discordant voices. Ant Army's release volume was too low, which some people found unacceptable. They believed it was hunger marketing, and quite a few people began making an issue of it.

At that moment, Zhao Min was in her office, listening to Julie's report.

The results of the launch event had exceeded everyone's expectations. Even Zhao Min had not expected it to be such a success.

At first, she had thought the event would receive a decent response. She just had not expected it to surpass her expectations by so much.

Ant Army Company had swiftly become the center of attention.

"President Zhao, we haven't even officially started selling yet, and people online are already accusing us of hunger marketing. Some news reports have begun smearing us with insinuations. Should we increase production?"

"With no money, how are we supposed to increase mass production?"

"Bank loans, financing. We have the Army Ant System, Ant Office, and the patent for the waterproof interface is also being filed. With all that, are we afraid we won't be able to get funding?" Julie said.

"Using technology as collateral for loans—have you considered the consequences if something goes wrong and we can't repay on time? To major capital, we're just tiny ants. Besides, the chairman won't agree to financing. Everything in the company belongs to him, so why should we give profits away to capitalists?"

Zhao Min knew that the more critical the moment, the steadier they had to be. If they acted rashly and let major capital seize an opening, they would be plunged into a difficult situation. After all, the Army Ant System was an enormous piece of cake.

"Then what do we do next?"

"Prepare for tomorrow's online sales and be ready to increase production at any time. Also, be extra careful with component procurement and quality issues. No one paid attention to us before, so there wouldn't have been problems, but now we need to be cautious. The most important thing is the batteries. Keep a close watch on that batch of batteries in storage. Don't let anything go wrong. If someone tampers with them and causes a few battery explosions, we'll be finished."

"Understood."

After Julie left, Zhao Min rubbed her temples. She had not expected a single launch event to create an impact far beyond her original imagination. Judging from the activity online, some people were already becoming jealous.

In just half a day, Ant Army Company had gone from a small business to a well-known domestic enterprise, and the name Ant Army had also entered the sights of major capital.

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