Living in a county town, starting as a stock market maker...

interesting.

It turns out that what he saw was not all.

He had just ended an old business model when someone told him, "Welcome to the new world."

Gu Ming knew that Shen Guodong would not let the matter rest.

Today, Gu Ming clearly saw the coldness in his eyes from the audience.

That wasn't admitting defeat; that was the look in his eyes after being provoked.

This "AME" is hidden in the shadows, and the mere glimpse of its information has already created pressure.

His real advantage lies in his memories, which are a decade ahead of their time.

He must seize the next opportunity before everyone else realizes it.

Gu Ming put away his phone and dialed Chen Mo's number.

"Boss."

"Help me arrange a meeting with someone."

"Who?"

"A young man named Zhang Yiming. He should have just left the 'Fanfou' website and is now working on something called 'Toutiao'."

"Where is the location?"

"He decided. Tell him that Gu Ming from Starry Sky Holdings wants to talk to him about the future of 'algorithms'."

Hang up the phone.

Gu Ming turned around and looked towards the conference center. He could imagine that Su Qingying and Shen Lian were at a victory celebration party, enjoying their triumph.

In late 2016, the weather in Beijing turned cold.

In an office in the Zhongguancun Startup Building with insufficient heating, Gu Ming met the man.

Zhang Yiming.

She looks younger and more down-to-earth than she does in photos.

She was wearing a plaid shirt, her hair was a bit messy, and she had heavy dark circles under her eyes. The office was piled high with instant noodle containers, and the air was filled with the mixed smell of instant noodles and coffee.

The two did not exchange pleasantries.

Gu Ming said it directly.

"I looked at your product, Toutiao."

"Hmm." Zhang Yiming nodded, his expression unchanged.

"Using algorithms to replace human editors for personalized recommendations is a great idea," Gu Ming said.

"Just an idea?" Zhang Yiming raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, it's just an idea," Gu Ming said. "What you're doing now is 'information finding people.' But your algorithm is very rudimentary. It only knows what users 'like to watch,' but it doesn't know what users 'might like to watch.'"

Zhang Yiming's eyes changed.

He stared at Gu Ming.

This statement hits the nail on the head regarding the question he had been pondering.

"you……"

"I'm not here to point out mistakes," Gu Ming interrupted him. "I just want to tell you that you're on a promising path, but you lack crucial technology. I can help you."

That night, the two talked a lot.

They discussed collaborative filtering in recommendation engines and cold start of content pools.

They discussed the tag dimensions of user profiles and also talked about using "stay time" as a business model.

The more Zhang Yiming talked, the brighter his eyes became.

He felt he had finally met someone who understood his thoughts.

Gu Ming was mostly listening.

He only occasionally, in key places, put forward a few concepts that have been verified by later generations.

such as--

"Text is one of the carriers of information. Can images and videos, even short videos of ten seconds or so, also become part of the information flow?"

"What if the algorithm could recommend not only 'content you might like to watch,' but also 'people you might know'? Social relationships themselves are a powerful algorithm."

Zhang Yiming was inspired.

He looked at Gu Ming in front of him, a person who was younger than him and very famous in the Internet circle, and felt that he was unfathomable.

The concept that Gu Ming presented to him made him realize that his virtual humans and digital life projects were only a small part of the whole.

"Why did you contact me?" This was the last question Zhang Yiming asked.

"Because you and I are the same kind of people." Gu Ming stood up, patted him on the shoulder, and said, "We both believe that algorithms will dominate the future."

"Moreover, I need an ally."

"An ally who can help me hold off Shen Guodong in Beijing."

Back at Starry Sky Holdings headquarters, Gu Ming convened a strategic meeting.

When he announced that the company's core strategy for the next phase was to "fully commit to short videos," the entire conference room fell silent.

Su Qingying was the first to stand up.

She was wearing a Dior suit today, and her expression was serious.

"Gu Ming, I disagree."

She called him by his name directly.

"The commercial value of 'zero' is just beginning to emerge. Luxury brands, car manufacturers, and airlines around the world are lining up to cooperate with us. We predict that our net profit next year will exceed 10 billion."

"This is a highly certain source of profit."

"And now you want us to give all that up and invest in this 'short video' thing you've mentioned?"

"What are those? Those crude lip-syncing videos on phones? What future do they have? What does they have to do with our 'digital life' strategy?"

Her questions were all direct and reasonable.

This is a professional judgment by a CEO.

In the conference room, all the executives nodded subconsciously.

Their thoughts were the same as Su Qingying's.

All eyes were on Gu Ming.

Gu Ming didn't look at them.

He walked to the floor-to-ceiling window and looked down at the city below.

Then, he said something that no one could understand.

Have you ever thought about what the future of business competition will really be about?

"The competition in the future will be for users' time."

He slowly turned around, his gaze calm yet persuasive.

"An average person has only 3 to 4 hours of personal time in a 24-hour day, after deducting time for sleeping, working, and eating."

"Our past successes, whether in novels, games, or the virtual idol 'Zero,' have essentially been about using content to compete for users' three hours of entertainment time each day."

"Our competitors are cinemas, KTVs, and shopping malls."

"But short videos are different."

Gu Ming spoke slowly, but every word carried weight.

"What it's competing for is all of the user's fragmented time."

"The 30 seconds spent waiting for the elevator, the 10 minutes spent on the subway, and the 3 minutes spent in the bathroom—time that used to be wasted will now be filled by short videos."

"When a product can increase users' daily active time from 3 hours to 6 hours, or even 8 hours, what do you think it is?"

"It will become the mainstream of the next era."

He walked up to Su Qingying, looked into her still puzzled eyes, and softened his voice.

"Qingying, I know you feel that we are giving up a huge source of profit."

"But you're wrong."

He stretched out his hand and pointed to the city outside the window.

"We are not giving up profits; we are changing the tools we use to make profits."

"Because I want to define the business model for the next era."

He looked at Su Qingying and said, word by word:

"Algorithms will dominate the future."

An order from Gu Ming was swiftly executed.

Starry Sky Holdings, a company that has just achieved success in the field of digital life, made a bold move when no one could understand it.

It has fully committed itself to short videos.

All of its virtual characters, from "zero" to "Steel Flower" Chen Mo, and then to hundreds of virtual YouTubers, were launched on short video platforms at the time overnight.

This is a dimensional reduction attack.

While others are still using their phone's front-facing camera to film blurry lip-syncing videos in dimly lit bedrooms...

"Zero's" first short video was a CG animation. In it, she leaps from a high-rise building against a cyberpunk-style urban night scene, and the movement of her skirt and hair is incredibly realistic.

While others are still using the software's built-in filters...

In Chen Mo's short video, she simply performs a fluid Bajiquan routine with a blank expression. Every muscle exertion and every breath is clearly captured by the high-speed camera. There are no beauty filters, no effects, only raw power.

Dimensionality reduction strike.

A complete and utter defeat.

It leads in all aspects, including picture quality, sound effects, content creativity, and algorithm understanding.

Starry Sky Holdings' virtual avatars quickly captured the market and garnered significant attention wherever they went.

In just one month.

The account with "zero" has over 100 million followers.

The total number of followers across the accounts under Xingchen Holdings has exceeded 500 million.

The entire short video industry is dominated by Starry Sky Holdings.

……

It's New Year's Eve again.

The last day of 2016.

The city's night sky was lit up time and time again by fireworks.

Gu Ming did not attend the company's celebration banquet; he stood alone on the rooftop of the new headquarters.

He was holding an internal beta version of an Android phone. On the screen was a simple app.

No followers, no likes, no comments.

Only vertical scrolling is supported.

One video after another.

It's like a program that can devour time.

Gu Ming scrolled through the screen, a slight smile on his face.

He knew that the competition had only just begun.

"Boss."

Chen Mo appeared silently behind him and handed him a document.

"Shen Guodong has joined forces with several media groups to establish a 'Short Video Content Legitimate Army Alliance,' which is preparing to restrict us in terms of copyright and licensing."

"As expected." Gu Ming didn't even turn his head, his voice calm.

If he didn't do this, he wouldn't be Shen Guodong.

Chen Mo paused for a moment, seemingly hesitant, but still handed over another document.

"Also, there's been some progress on the 'AME' organization you asked me to investigate."

For the first time, her voice changed slightly.

"Based on the overseas fund flows we intercepted and an encrypted list of military procurement, we discovered that its biggest investor is..."

"It's very likely that he was your father's old comrade-in-arms from back then."