Unexpected Gains

"Next, we'll test the camera function."

Xue Qing switched to selfie mode, and a camera rose from the top of the Origin Mobile.

"It looks pretty novel. I wonder how well it works?"

She took a beautiful photo of herself.

The 20-megapixel camera, paired with the 8K vibrant display, made the photo look remarkably natural and realistic.

Wow, Little Xue is so pretty. She really is naturally beautiful—the photo looks just like the livestream.

This camera is so clear. The photo is incredibly sharp too.

The display quality is amazing.

Amid a flood of praise, the images taken by Apple and Samsung phones seemed somewhat lacking by comparison.

It was already dark outside, and the room lights had not been turned up very bright, so their photos had obvious graininess and were not very clear.

When Xue Qing turned off all the lights and left only a desk lamp on, the gap became even more apparent.

The Origin Mobile's image remained crystal clear, almost as if it had been filmed with a professional camera, while the Apple and Samsung phones produced nothing but darkness, with only a vague human silhouette visible.

"Huh? There's a one-tap beauty filter here? Let's try it."

When Xue Qing tapped the Origin Mobile's built-in one-tap beauty filter, she froze.

Xue Qing had already been beautiful to begin with, but after applying the filter, she did not end up with the "snake face" or "flour face" common in heavily edited pictures. The entire photo still looked very natural.

Xue Qing stared at the beautified image on her phone in disbelief. It was truly beautiful and natural, as though it had been professionally retouched, and the women in the livestream went wild.

This... this looks even better than those edited pictures.

I don't care anymore. I'm buying an Origin Mobile for this alone!

Every woman should own an Origin Mobile.

I'm already worried about my wallet. I hope my girlfriend doesn't see this video.

At least you have a girlfriend...

Don't underestimate this beauty filter. "Two minutes taking pictures, two hours editing them" isn't just a saying. Do you really think those girls enjoy it? But if everyone else edits their photos and you don't, wouldn't you obviously look worse by comparison? How could that be acceptable?

Women who had always been cautious were immediately won over by the Origin Mobile's selfie beauty filter...

Xue Qing's livestream also became one of the ways people learned about Origin Mobile. Many media outlets even used footage from her livestream tests as material for their reports.

Everyone's curiosity about Origin Mobile grew even stronger.

All three online platforms were shipping units like crazy. By midnight, forty thousand Origin Mobiles had already been sold.

That might not have sounded like much—not even a fraction of Apple's launch-day sales—but this was Origin Mobile's first time on sale. It had no reputation beforehand; its only fame came from Artificial Intelligence, which was worlds apart from mobile phones.

The next day, everyone who had received their phones began spreading Origin Mobile test videos like crazy.

The view counts on Origin Mobile test videos online kept climbing steadily. Seeing that kind of exposure, all sorts of media outlets naturally refused to miss the opportunity, and Origin Mobile quickly became well-known.

Combined with the fans Xiaoke had gathered, people were already looking forward to Origin Mobile. Regardless of how good the phone itself was, many people wanted to buy one anyway, simply to support the Xiaoke they liked.

It might have seemed unreasonable, but there were actually quite a few people like that.

Besides, Origin Mobile had truly exceeded everyone's expectations. Super unlocking, a color-changing back panel, a full-screen display, Wireless Charging... its powerful processing performance and blazing operating speed all made Origin Mobile everyone's new favorite!

More and more people began rushing to phone stores to ask whether they could buy an Origin Mobile.

At Liangji Mobile Superstore in the center of Hailing City, owner Guo Jiawei was inspecting the sales floor.

When he saw a fashionable young couple walk up to the counter arm in arm, and noticed the doting look in the boyfriend's eyes, Guo Jiawei knew this sale was in the bag!

The two browsed the phones in the display cases before the beautiful woman looked up at Guo Jiawei.

"What kind of phone are you two looking for? Our store has everything."

"Boss, do you have Origin Mobiles here?"

Guo Jiawei was briefly stunned. Origin Mobile? It sounded like he had heard of it somewhere before.

"Right, hadn't someone asked yesterday whether we needed a supply of Origin Mobiles? Since I'd never heard of them, I turned them down."

"Uh, sorry, but we don't stock Origin Mobiles. However, you two can take a look at the new Apple 10, or Samsung phones. Their reputation and quality are both excellent!"

"And you have the nerve to say you have everything? You don't even have Origin Mobiles. Who still wants to buy Apple these days?" The woman rolled her eyes and left with her arm linked through her boyfriend's.

Leaving Guo Jiawei standing there in utter disarray...

Before long, another couple came in, and the first thing they asked about was Origin Mobile.

Naturally, they left disappointed as well.

Over the next hour, more than a dozen people came in asking about Origin Mobiles. Guo Jiawei's heart ached as he watched one sale after another slip away. Those were all stacks of cash.

Not understanding what was going on, Guo Jiawei turned to ask the salesclerks at the other counters.

After listening to the salesclerks' chattering explanations, Guo Jiawei finally learned about Origin Mobile.

He hurriedly searched online for Origin Mobile reviews and happened to find Xue Qing's review video. He was instantly astounded!

Suddenly, Guo Jiawei took out his phone, found the number of the salesperson who had contacted him that day, and dialed it. "The number you have dialed is currently busy..."

"Eh?" Refusing to believe it, Guo Jiawei called several more times in a row, only to get a busy signal every time.

Finally, on his twelfth attempt, the call went through. A slightly weary female voice came from the other end.

"Hello, may I ask who this is?"

Not dwelling on what had just happened, Guo Jiawei briefly introduced himself and asked her to send 100 Origin Mobiles to his store.

"I'm sorry, Boss Guo, but all of our Origin Mobile inventory has already been reserved. We're only accepting preorders now, and they require full payment. You can only preorder up to fifty units, and orders are already scheduled through next week."

Hearing that, Guo Jiawei was dumbfounded. What was going on? Even Apple hadn't been this impressive back then, had it?

"Fine, I'll order them. I'll transfer the money right away!" Gritting his teeth, Guo Jiawei ordered twenty units.

Before long, someone else came to ask about Origin Mobiles.

"Boss, do you have Origin Mobiles here?"

"Not at the moment, but we accept preorders. You can get them next week, though you'll need to pay a deposit!" Rather than being disappointed by Guo Jiawei's answer, the customer was delighted. Ordering from the official website would take around seven days to arrive, and stock was sold out everywhere. Next week here meant only three days away.

As though afraid Guo Jiawei might change his mind, the couple paid in full, then left happily with their receipt.

It was as if everyone knew this phone store had Origin Mobiles. Many people paid even though they couldn't get one immediately, and before long, all twenty phones Guo Jiawei had yet to receive had been reserved.

It made Guo Jiawei feel like he had fallen behind the times...

This time, he didn't hesitate. He called again and got another busy signal, but now Guo Jiawei understood why.

Because they were simply too popular!

That was only a preorder store. The experience store rented by Origin Mobile was even more packed with people.

Everyone was far too curious about Origin Mobile. It had been praised to the heavens, and overnight, it felt like anyone who didn't know about Origin Mobile was out of touch.

After all, people had only seen reviews and commentary online. No matter how incredible they made it sound, consumers these days were not so easily fooled. Without actually using it—or even seeing it in person—who would casually pay the steep price of 6,888?

A long line had already formed outside the physical store. Television station staff were conducting interviews, and many Internet Celebrities were livestreaming the hands-on experience. The whole street buzzed with voices. Afraid something might go wrong, the police station had also deployed extra personnel. Whenever a crowd gathered, trouble could easily break out.

There were only ten phones in the experience store, and each person was limited to ten minutes. One after another, it made everyone think there was some kind of promotional event going on.

"Come on, babe. What's so great about this Origin Mobile? How about I buy you an Apple instead?"

A young man spoke helplessly to his girlfriend.

They had been waiting in line for over an hour, and ever since his girlfriend had tried the Origin Mobile, she refused to let go of it.

"No! What's so great about Apple phones? Didn't you see how amazing this Origin Mobile's camera function is?"

Hearing his girlfriend's reason, the man was even more speechless...

But when the photo taken with the demo phone was printed out, everyone in the store froze.

The girl had been quite cute to begin with, but once the photo was printed, she looked even more like a celebrity.

There were no excessive, artificial edits—just a perfect blend of color and light that made the entire picture look like a poster.

Seeing the photo, everyone became even more excited. Her boyfriend saw it too, looking it over again and again to make sure the girl in the picture really was his girlfriend.

Just as his girlfriend was about to lose her temper, he immediately ran to the counter to preorder a phone and pay the deposit. That finally brought a smile back to her face. Totally worth it!

"Ah..."

A scream rang out, startling everyone. What was going on now?

The television reporters, meanwhile, were like cats that had smelled fish.

Everyone was curious too. Had something gone wrong with Origin Mobile?

It was a new product, after all, so problems were normal. Besides, everyone loved a good spectacle.

Inside, a girl wearing the VR headset that came with Origin Mobile was clinging to her boyfriend like an octopus. She had him in such a tight hold that he could barely breathe.

"Ah... ah! Dinosaur! A dinosaur is coming..."

"Damn..."

Why the hell was she getting so worked up over VR? Everyone curled their lips disdainfully.

But then several more screams came from elsewhere. They were all from people wearing the headset while watching videos on their phones.

The cameras captured everything perfectly. Who knew whether those people screaming hysterically would want to crawl into a hole once the footage aired?

Everyone's curiosity was piqued.

A girl in front of them had been shrieking for ages, yet she still refused to leave. The girl behind her impatiently tapped her on the shoulder.

The sudden touch startled her when she was already terrified. The screaming girl flung the phone away.

Under everyone's watchful gaze, the phone flew through the air in an arc before landing squarely on the marble floor.

"Clack." Everyone was stunned. The screaming girl tore off her headset and stared at the phone on the ground, while the girl who had tapped her shoulder also stood there blankly, staring at it.

Everyone was dumbfounded...

Happy New Year's Day! Wishing everyone a smooth and successful new year, good health, and happiness for the whole family!