A few days later, a company called Blacklight Biotechnology quietly opened its doors in Shangdu.
Its offices occupied the forty-fifth floor of an ordinary building in Shangdu's central business district. Its arrival went unnoticed.
After all, several small businesses like it were founded every day, while several others disappeared. Their arrivals and departures barely stirred a ripple.
Like the countless people in this world, how many could leave even the faintest mark on the long river of history?
As soon as the company opened, it began hiring. Xia Yin, who had been thrust into the role at a critical moment, was soon scrambling to keep up. Luckily, she brought in a few employees from Huiyao Entertainment, and the company finally got on track.
Once the company had hired its first core team, Xia Yin sent those employees back. It was best to avoid any conflicts of interest.
For now, the company had established just five departments: customer service, technology, planning, publicity, and human resources. Together, they had fewer than twenty employees.
Chen Chen also entrusted the promotion of Little X Translation Assistant to the company. Publicity campaigns, promotional articles by paid posters, website pop-ups, and so on—Xia Yin went straight for the methods used to promote browser games. All that was missing was getting Uncle Da to shoot a few cheesy commercials.
The Technology Department was only responsible for running the website for now. It had no involvement at all in developing or updating the software, which also eliminated the risk of the source code being leaked.
At that moment, Chen Chen was dressed in a suit, sitting lazily in the chairman's office.
The company had just been established, and at Xia Yin's insistence, Chen Chen had come in to show his face. It was his first appearance at the company since its founding.
"Our product is still in the free-promotion stage, and that may continue for a while. If things get really bad, we can run ads to cut our losses."
Xia Yin sat across from Chen Chen. She was dressed in a black office suit, and her manner was noticeably more capable than it had been a month ago.
"No need. Our product doesn't need any ads."
Chen Chen shook his head, casually twirling a pen in his hand. "Every company has its own image. If I had the choice, I'd want people to think of our company and our product as clean and trustworthy. That matters far more than a little short-term profit."
"After all, word of mouth builds on itself."
"When should we start charging, then?" Xia Yin asked. "We spent over ten million last month on advertising. If this keeps up, the company will run out of money."
"Actually, people in the Central Continent Region don't need our product that much."
Chen Chen thought it over before continuing. "You have to understand, the Central Continent Region's population density is comparable to that of several other regions combined. Its people have far less urgent need to communicate with the outside world than people elsewhere. So our focus should be on the more diverse regions outside the Central Continent Region, such as the European Region, with its many languages, and our neighbor, the Yinzhou District."
"Especially the regions where people use Facebook and Twitter," Chen Chen added.
"Chairman, Manager Xia."
At that moment, a middle-aged woman's voice came from outside the door.
"Come in!" Chen Chen beckoned.
"This is my assistant, Sister Ye," Xia Yin introduced her to Chen Chen. "Her help makes up for my lack of experience running a company."
"You're too kind, Manager Xia."
The middle-aged woman called Sister Ye smiled faintly. "Chairman, representatives from Facebook and Twitter have arrived downstairs."
Chen Chen immediately looked up. "Did they come together?"
"It seems... they did." Sister Ye struggled to follow his train of thought and stammered, "Is there a problem?"
Chen Chen chuckled. "They waited a month to come here. Looks like they still can't crack the core of my program."
At that, Sister Ye gave an awkward smile. "Chairman, would you like to meet them at the entrance?"
"Why would I meet them?" Chen Chen looked puzzled. "Don't they have legs?"
"Uh..." Sister Ye was at a loss for words. "Then, should I have them go straight to the conference room?"
"Right. Have them wait in the conference room. I'll be there soon."
As Sister Ye turned to leave, Chen Chen twirled his pen and watched her back, looking thoughtful.
After a while, he saw several fair-haired, blue-eyed foreigners file in past the glass window. Only then did he get up and head for the conference room.
Xia Yin hurried after him.
When Chen Chen entered the conference room, the five foreigners were already seated in the guest chairs. There were three men and two women, all dressed in business suits. Sister Ye was busy serving them tea and water.
On Chen Chen's side, besides him, Xia Yin, and Sister Ye, there was also a recent law graduate.
Once Chen Chen and the others had taken their seats, the leading foreigner spoke. "Mr. Chen, Ms. Xia, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Tony, an executive in Facebook's legal department. This is my colleague Emily, and the gentleman beside her is Alvin, representing Twitter. The other two are our assistants for this meeting."
To everyone's surprise, he spoke fluent, idiomatic Chinese.
Chen Chen looked over the five of them and nodded. "I'm Chen Chen, chairman of Black Light Technology. May I ask what brings you here?"
"Well, Mr. Chen," Tony said with a smile, "our two companies, Facebook and Twitter, would like to invest in yours in a Series A round. Although your company isn't profitable yet, it has already built a certain reputation in the industry. We value your company at 1.5 billion dollars. If you agree, the two of us can buy a seventy percent stake in your company for one billion dollars."
"Sorry, I'm not looking for investors right now," Chen Chen replied without hesitation.
"Uh, Mr. Chen, don't you want to think it over?" Tony asked, clearly surprised. "As far as I know, your company raised only eight million dollars in its angel round. That can't be enough to develop an excellent product like Little X Translation Assistant, can it?"
"That's not something you need to worry about."
Chen Chen picked up his tea and took a small sip. "If that's all you came to discuss, there's no need to continue."
"All right..."
Seeing that Chen Chen wouldn't budge, Tony had to try another approach. "In that case, Mr. Chen, please take a look at this letter of intent."
As he spoke, Emily took a few thin white booklets from her bag and handed them to Chen Chen, Xia Yin, Sister Ye, and the others.
"As the letter of intent states, Facebook is willing to pay one hundred million dollars for a perpetual license to use Little X on our platform, without interfering with your company's operation of the software."
"Twitter is making the same offer," Alvin, who had not spoken until then, said. "We're also willing to pay one hundred million dollars to bring your Little X Translation Assistant onto the Twitter platform."
Sister Ye suddenly whispered, quietly enough for only Xia Yin and Chen Chen to hear, "Manager Xia, this offer is basically both companies paying us to advertise on their platforms. It's an incredible opportunity to promote our company!"
Thanks to the four big shots Fengwu Tingzhang, Dominating Black Dragon, Izumi Kiraya, and Qiaozhi Zhongshan for the generous rewards. I'm crying...
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