Chapter 65: Bean Sprout's Corporate Mission

The morning sunlight filtered through the gaps in the plane tree leaves, casting mottled light and shadows upon the flagstone paths of Shencheng University.

It was yet another hopeful Monday, and the campus was still heavy with the lingering atmosphere of sleeping in.

After a vigorous "boot-up," Wang Can headed straight to Entrepreneurship Center Room 706. Everyone on the team was present except for Jiang Yixue, who had an early morning class.

This was their startup team's first full meeting, and a subtle sense of tension hung in the air.

"First of all, an announcement."

Wang Can glanced around the room, his voice steady and forceful. "Starting this week, I will lead a team to conduct on-campus promotional activities. This is a great opportunity to challenge and develop yourselves. Are there any volunteers? Of course..."

He paused, emphasizing a crucial point: "Participating members will receive additional financial bonuses."

Although the University Youth League Committee would assist in promoting the Sprout Live Welcome Gala, their methods would be limited to posting it on the website's homepage or pinning notices to bulletin boards—all passive ways that relied on students noticing them on their own.

To truly make a breakthrough at Shenhai University, they had to rely on this most primitive yet effective grassroots promotional method to transmit information face-to-face.

Moreover, this was not just a great opportunity for promotion, but also an occasion to build a marketing department, and perhaps unearth a few promising talents in the process.

The meeting room fell into a temporary silence, broken only by the faint hum of computer chassis.

The members present were all tech-oriented people, and they still felt some aversion to outward-facing jobs like handing out flyers.

After a moment, Zhang Yunfeng from the technical group raised his hand first.

Lin Xinyue hesitated for a second, and her slender fingers slowly rose as well, tracing an arc through the air.

"Alright, just the two of you then." Wang Can nodded nonchalantly.

As a technical team, he did not expect everyone to participate in promotion; after all, for programmers, knowing how to hand out flyers wasn't important.

However, if someone could showcase other talents amidst their code-crunching, their future room for growth might be even broader.

Naturally, he was willing to invest more effort into cultivating such talent.

Hao Xuan, sitting in the front row, twitched her fingers and was about to raise her hand when a look from Wang Can stopped her.

"The technical team needs a core pillar to stay behind," he lowered his voice to explain. "You and Zhang Yunfeng cannot both go out."

Only then did Hao Xuan retract her arm with some reluctance.

Wang Can crossed his hands and pressed them against the conference table, continuing, "Second item: Jin Hao, your testing group must ensure this week that the welcome gala can support 100,000 concurrent online users without a single flaw."

Although Shenhai University only had a total of 40,000 students, the speed of information spread on a campus was astonishing.

Wang Can knew very well that by then, a large number of students from other schools would find out through various channels, and the server pressure would not be underestimated.

Jin Hao, looking like a panda with two heavy dark circles under his eyes, wearily rubbed his temples. His voice, though hoarse, carried an unquestionable determination:

"Don't worry, Boss. Even if our testing group doesn't sleep, we will ensure the operation runs with absolute foolproof safety."

"Take care of your health and sleep normally." Wang Can felt somewhat helpless; employees who worked this hard were actually quite terrifying. "Tomorrow, I'm definitely getting you supplementary medical insurance."

I am genuinely afraid you'll drop dead from overwork.

Hearing this, Jin Hao's eyes lit up, and the exhausted look on his face was instantly replaced by being moved: "Thank you for your concern, Boss! I will definitely work overtime to complete the mission."

"..."

Speechless, Wang Can cleared his throat, turned back to the technical group, and continued:

"Lastly, your task for this week is to fully refine the tipping feature, making sure it goes live smoothly right after the welcome gala concludes."

With that, he added, "Also, our real-time online user count display needs some adjustments."

"Adjust the online user count?"

Hao Xuan, who was in charge of backend development, pushed up her glasses, her brows furrowed slightly. "Boss, isn't that supposed to show the actual current online count? How else can it be changed?"

Zhang Yunfeng in the same group suddenly brightened up and eagerly raised his hand: "Boss, are you planning to multiply the online count by a coefficient?"

"Bingo!"

Wang Can snapped his fingers and gave Zhang Yunfeng an approving look. "Ninety percent of people have a herd mentality; the more people there are, the more lively the atmosphere feels. We need to manufacture this illusion for users, and at the same time, give some confidence to those streamers who have nobody watching them initially."

He raised two fingers, his tone resolute: "First, the live broadcast room's online count must never display as zero; the minimum display must be 500 people. Second, all actual online counts must be multiplied by 30, and a dedicated staff member must be assigned to monitor and adjust it in real-time."

"Brilliant idea!"

Zhang Yunfeng slammed the table, then instantly realized he had overreacted, offering an awkward, sheepish smile. "Wise move, Boss! Why didn't I think of that?"

This somewhat exaggerated flattery drew sideways glances from nearby colleagues, and some even curled their lips in undisguised disdain.

Noticing everyone's expressions, Wang Can merely smiled slightly. He understood this psychology all too well.

Back when he was an ordinary employee, he too had looked down upon sycophants and flatterers.

But once he sat in a management seat, he finally understood why through successive dynasties, so many monarchs favored sycophants.

Still, Zhang Yunfeng's flattery was a bit too stiff, falling far short of the realm where things blend in silently like moistening rain.

"Boss, isn't 30 times a bit too exaggerated?"

Hao Xuan's gaze behind her lenses carried doubt. "With an online count that high, it will look very strange if there's no barrage interaction."

Indeed, on any video or text platform, silent users always constituted the majority.

While zero barrage messages for 100 online users was somewhat understandable, amplifying it thirtyfold to 3,000 online users while remaining dead silent would appear exceptionally bizarre.

Surely those 3,000 people hadn't all simultaneously lost their urge to express themselves?

"Therefore, you must also develop a program robot that automatically sends barrage comments," Wang Can said casually.

"Automatic barrage?"

The office instantly fell into dead silence, and everyone looked at each other in dismay.

Wasn't this barefaced fabrication?

Many people's expressions immediately turned complicated, an instinctive resistance welling up in their hearts.

You couldn't really blame them. After all, these young people still in their ivory towers had been raised on integrity education since childhood, naturally repelling such deceitful methods.

More importantly, they subconsciously felt that such tricks were destined not to last.

Wang Can lightly tapped his fingertips on the solid wood table, producing a crisp sound.

"I completely understand everyone's concerns, but we must face a reality: many enterprises use gray methods during their initial founding stages, which is inevitable."

"From Ford I, Rockefeller, to Bill Gates, and those familiar corporate giants domestically, I believe I don't need to elaborate—you've all heard snippets of their rise to power."

"So please set aside those unnecessary moral burdens. This world has never been simply black and white."

He paused for a moment, suddenly shifting his tone with a mischievous grin: "As for our Sprout corporate motto, it's quite simple: if money is gone, it can be earned back, but if your conscience is gone, you can earn even more."

"?"

The employees, who had been sitting upright and listening devoutly to the lesson, suddenly froze. They exchanged blank stares with large question marks simultaneously popping up over their heads.

Boss, the first half of your speech sounded like a business godfather, so how did the second half suddenly undergo such a drastic stylistic shift, reeking of an indescribable... shameless rogue vibe?