Chapter 144: The Northern and Southern Layout

“Wow, Brother Ma really has guts. His methods are ruthless—who knew he could be this fierce!” Tengda had never before acquired United Online, so this time was unprecedented in its history. Our Boss Huang no longer had the advantage of foresight; he only learned of the event through some friends a week after it happened.

This incident shook the entire industry. No one expected Brother Ma to be so ruthless. It’s one thing to be harsh to others, but to turn that severity on one’s own company by violently clearing out the original management was a double-edged sword. While it struck others hard, it also dealt a harsh blow to himself—after all, United Online was his own company.

Both United Online and Brother Ma paid a price. Bao Yueqiao showed no intention of going to study in the U.S.; that very night, he decisively submitted his resignation, which Brother Ma promptly approved. They parted ways swiftly and cleanly.

True to his word, Bao Yueqiao almost singlehandedly took the entire United Online executive team with him. Some were staunch loyalists who had firmly decided to follow Bao, but many others simply didn’t want to leave—they were just terrified by Brother Ma’s thunderous tactics and felt they couldn’t survive in the company anymore, so they reluctantly left.

As a result, United Online’s entire senior management was almost completely wiped out—a fatal blow for a company in crisis. Within two days of the upheaval, United Online announced a shutdown for maintenance. Losing so many of its leaders made normal operations incredibly difficult.

Yet, the maintenance lasted only two days. After that, United Online World was back online and immediately rolled out a brand-new update. The first move was to shut down the world chat channel. They then announced that users who had purchased loudspeakers could either get a refund or exchange them for 10,000 United Online credits.

Since earning 10,000 credits usually required hours of grinding, barely anyone chose the refund; most opted for the credits instead.

Next, United Online announced a temporary suspension of the membership system. All features previously reserved for members were opened to all ordinary users. Those who had already bought memberships—whether for months or years—could request a refund or convert their membership fees into United Online credits at a 1:10,000 ratio.

They also promised to quickly launch various single-player game battle functions, inviting players to look forward to it. This time, the “maintenance” really felt like a major overhaul.

After just two days of maintenance, United Online emerged transformed, and longtime users were very satisfied. According to internal sources, the decline halted immediately after the relaunch, and user numbers even began to climb.

Some users who had abandoned United Online for the OO platform returned. Although the OO Game Center offered a better experience, many were nostalgic and accustomed to United Online’s atmosphere and environment—they simply didn’t want to leave this familiar place.

How was such a massive change accomplished in just two days? The answer was simple: Brother Ma had brought all of Tengda’s top technical talent to Beijing.

After ousting Bao Yueqiao and his team, Brother Ma personally led the tech department to take over the entire software. For two sleepless days and nights, with no handover or external help, each engineer took responsibility for a different part of the software, mastering the code and tools. Along with support from some ordinary employees who stayed behind, they managed to fully understand and control the entire United Online codebase. They even began rewriting code and adding updates, creating an industry legend.

It is said that after completing the task, half of Tengda’s technical staff remained working in Beijing. At the same time, Zeng Qing was reassigned as United Online’s chairman, marking complete control over the company. Bao Yueqiao and his followers, meanwhile, were effectively barred from returning.

That very night, Bao Yueqiao called the police, alleging personal harm, illegal detention, and restriction of freedom, demanding that Brother Ma be arrested.

The police did summon Brother Ma to the station, but after investigating, he was released immediately.

Brother Ma had committed no crime. Bao Yueqiao’s accusations did not hold.

For instance, there was no evidence of physical harm—Bao had no injuries, nor had any employees been hurt, so no personal harm occurred.

Illegal detention was impossible—Bao was held for less than twenty minutes before being freed, which clearly does not constitute detention.

As for restricting freedom, Brother Ma pointed out that he was Bao’s employer and chairman of United Online. Entering his own company with security and ordering employees not to touch the computers and remain seated was entirely justified.

Bao was merely asked to leave the office and refrain from using company property—completely legitimate requests. No one could claim Brother Ma acted unlawfully. After the brief questioning, Brother Ma left, while Bao raged helplessly.

“Ah, I have to admit, Brother Ma is a formidable opponent. I still have a long way to go in this battle with him!” Huang He sighed deeply upon hearing the news.

He had long known what kind of man Bao Yueqiao was. United Online’s peak was thanks to Bao, but its downfall was also largely his doing. Huang He knew exactly how treacherous Bao was, so he never intended to invest genuinely in United Online.

That was why he had tried everything to drag Tengda into the mess, even costing Tengda a huge sum. He thought Tengda would get stuck in United Online’s pit, but unexpectedly, Brother Ma cut through the chaos like a sharp knife, decisively dealing with Bao.

As a result, although Huang He had extracted a lot from United Online, the company’s foundation remained intact. In the future battle for dominance in game platforms, the outcome was still uncertain.

“Sis-in-law, there’s no need to be so pessimistic. Besides, our original goal has already been achieved. Yesterday, Yalian announced it will shut down its servers in a month and cease operating its game battle platform to focus entirely on importing and operating online games,” Leng Zhimeng said with a smile.

“That means we’re now the sole player in the single-player game market. With no competitors left, our goal is accomplished!” she added cheerfully. “Moreover, our game platform is already feeding back users to our OO platform. Nearly a thousand active users transfer daily from the OO Game Center to OO, and our OO platform’s active user count has surpassed three million. Almost all single-player gamers nationwide are now in our pocket!”

“No, this is just the beginning!” Huang He laughed. “Remember, competitors can emerge anytime, anywhere. If we don’t find ways to win users’ hearts permanently, we won’t always succeed.”

“And three million active users is still too small. For our next steps to succeed, the OO Game Center needs at least twenty million active users.”

“Twenty million? That’s a bit exaggerated!” Leng Zhimeng stuck out her tongue.

“Not at all. There are currently thirty million single-player gamers in China, but many are used to playing pirated games, and most don’t need online play, so they haven’t joined our platform yet.”

“And that’s just the current figure. The next few years will see explosive growth in personal computers and the internet. That base will likely rise from thirty million to over eighty million. Reaching twenty million active users will only be the start! So we have a lot of work to do.”

“For example, do you know what players complain about most regarding our product, and where our user base is most unbalanced?”

“Uh, I guess you mean network issues between northern and southern users?” Leng Zhimeng blinked.

“You actually noticed that!” Huang He looked shocked.

“Of course. Unlike you, who handle online operations, I also manage offline. I focus on our OO platform, so I know much more. But this problem is tough—it’s a technical limitation. We’re based in Wenzhou, deep in the south. Northern users are too far away; it’s beyond our reach,” she said with a hint of frustration.

What she meant by “beyond reach” was the network issue.

Many remember that early online games had multiple servers named according to region and network provider—Southern Telecom, Northern Netcom, Southern Netcom, and so forth.

When choosing servers, players had to pick based on their ISP and location, or else suffer the dreaded lag.

This was because, in the less developed network era, China’s vast geography caused significant north-south divides. Signals from the north slowed and weakened by the time they reached southern servers, and vice versa.

This was a minor issue for browsing websites but fatal for latency-sensitive online games.

So game companies built servers at key network hubs across the country, serving nearby provinces and improving speeds.

“If we can’t reach far enough, then I’ll move the reach!” Huang He smiled. “This time, I’m going north to build a network center for Jiangnan, so the north and south networks will balance out, greatly improving user experience.”

“North, huh? Where exactly do you plan to go?” Leng Zhimeng asked.

“Well, I’m thinking Cao County for now.”