Offside game

Although it was just a server operating system, Sicheng Software still caused a great stir in China. After many professional media outlets tested the official version of the Kuafu system, they were delighted to find that, as Sicheng claimed, this operating system not only integrated many unique technologies, but also significantly improved the computing efficiency of servers after installing it. Judging from its various performance characteristics, it can be said to be the best server operating system currently available.

Moreover, for network administrators, this operating system is not difficult to learn and master. Many operations are very user-friendly, which is the result of the mother nest conducting many simulation operations.

Faced with this result, some media outlets even used headlines like "Kuafu VS Windows, Sicheng challenges Microsoft's dominant authority!" to report on this significant event in the history of Chinese software. Suddenly, the newly established Sicheng Software seemed to become the hope of China's software industry in the eyes of the Chinese people.

Meanwhile, although the collaboration between Dream International and Wave Group was kept relatively low-key, it was still noticed by astute reporters. When Liu Jun attended a charity gala organized by the Yanjing Municipal Government, a reporter specifically asked about Wave Group, to which Liu Jun gave a rather vague answer: "This can be considered an experiment by Dream International."

The very next day, reports such as "Chinese IT giant Dream International tests the server market" and "Dream International's diversification strategy" flooded the market.

From the start of the "Dream Cup" in January to April, people's attention was constantly drawn to Dream International's numerous activities. The frequency with which Dream International or its subsidiaries appeared in domestic and international media was unprecedented for any other Chinese company.

In the April issue of Fortune magazine, based on a survey by the well-known analysis firm GREAT Research, ten of the most promising emerging companies in the IT industry were listed, with Dream International, which was founded only six months ago, being the most promising company in the assessment.

In its review, GAME Research Lab pointed out that the companies under Dream International are all very dynamic.

Its earliest subsidiary, Lechang Networks, has dominated numerous internet-related industries, including instant messaging, interactive gaming platforms, video-on-demand, search, online shopping, portals, and communities, thanks to its outstanding technology and services. Particularly in Asia, Lechang Networks has firmly established its dominant position in these industries based on its unique technology. Now, this internet behemoth is expanding globally. Following the dot-com bubble burst in 2000 and the subsequent IT industry downturn, Lechang Networks seems to have found the right profit model and combination, rapidly absorbing global user resources. This Chinese-funded company, relying on the vast Chinese market and its massive user base, has become the world's number one in terms of user numbers.

Another company under Dream International, Dream Games, currently only owns one game, "Mechanical Civilization," but the continued popularity of "Mechanical Civilization" worldwide has brought huge profits to the company.

As for the newly established Sicheng Software Company of Dream International, its Kuafu Operating System, although it is only an OS software for servers, has shown everyone its strength to challenge Microsoft due to its excellent performance.

According to the latest news, Dream International and Inspur Group, China's largest domestic server manufacturer, have entered into a major collaboration to jointly establish a new server R&D and manufacturing center. This seems to indicate that after achieving solid results in the network and software industry, Dream International is beginning to extend into the IT manufacturing industry and is already showing signs of becoming a diversified conglomerate.

At the end of the report, Glamour Research gave Dreamworld an overall valuation of around $200 billion, which is only because the internet industry has not yet fully emerged from the bursting bubble and the market is still relatively sluggish.

As a result, a few days later, when an American financial television reporter interviewed Bill Gates and brought up the topic, when the reporter asked Bill Gates for his opinion on the report, Bill Gates jokingly said, "Only 200 billion? Then I would acquire it without hesitation!"

This news excited domestic media again, prompting them to report on it extensively. Some even began collecting information on Dream International's shareholding structure. Eventually, media outlets revealed that the largest shareholder of Dream International, currently China's largest IT group, is a Chinese man named Su Yi. According to available information, he holds 60% of Dream International's shares. Based on this alone, Su Yi's net worth is estimated at at least $120 billion, surpassing Li Ka-shing, the generally accepted richest Chinese person, to become the new richest person in China. Authoritative institutions estimate Li Ka-shing's current personal net worth at around $80 billion. It's worth noting that Li Ka-shing accumulated this wealth over several decades, while Su Yi's Dream International has only been established for a little over six months. This further demonstrates the allure of the IT industry, a sunrise industry capable of creating overnight fortunes.

Because Su Yi has always maintained a low profile, the media couldn't find any publicly available video or audio recordings of him; his name was the only information available online. Although news about his assets had been widely circulated, Su Yi continued to handle company affairs as usual. After all, apart from the company's employees, no one could imagine that the newly crowned richest man in China was such a young man. Internally, a gag order had been issued, prohibiting employees from disclosing any personal information about the company's leadership to the media. While such information might boost the company's visibility, its lack of strict control could hinder its normal operations.

On April 14th, at an industry forum on online games held in South Korea, a reporter spotted representatives from Dream International. The following day, headlines prominently featured the headline: "Online Games! Dream International's New Target?" Based on recent recruitment of experienced online game operators by Dream International's subsidiary, Lechang Network, it was speculated that the presence of Dream International's representatives at this forum was a exploratory move by the company to enter the online game industry. The article concluded with a speculative tone: "As an industry giant, what will Dream International's first online game be? *Historic Evolution*? *Mechanical Civilization*? Or something else?"

This news was already an open secret within companies with special access to information. Back in March, Lechang Network had already quietly established an online game operations department. Therefore, many companies in the industry had already foreseen that the domestic online game industry was about to become lively again.