Chapter 99: A Different Trade Can Kill an Ox

The startling appearance of the virtual machine almost instantly vaulted it to the top of every major news outlet in the world. From the capital of Huaxia, news of the virtual machine spread across the globe in the blink of an eye.

Japanese media: Through its enormous breakthrough in biotechnology, Huaxia has successfully developed bio-sensing technology. This technology was first applied to the treatment of blindness and in electronics. On December first, the Fuyun Technology Group officially announced the birth of the virtual machine, a groundbreaking technological product based on bio-sensing technology. It can transmit all information directly into the human brain, and it can also directly read the information contained within brain waves.

There is no question that the virtual machine is powerful. It is also the kind of technological product countless people now dream of. But for us, there is a fact we cannot avoid: if we want to obtain Fuyun Technology’s high-end products, we have to read the South Koreans’ mood first.

Just like the medicine for AIDS treatment: a drug whose factory price is only ten thousand dollars can, after passing through South Korean hands, end up selling for more than ten times that amount. The same will surely be true of the virtual machine. We pay the highest price in the world to buy the product, yet receive the worst service in the world.

We strongly urge the government to pressure Huaxia’s Fuyun Technology Group to revoke South Korea’s agency rights and fight for equal rights for our people. The virtual machine is not AIDS medicine; it is a technological product everyone wants.

The Japanese media reported in detail on the power of the virtual machine and the origins of its technology. At the same time, it once again reopened the wound in Japanese hearts, because after that moment of bad luck and one careless decision, throughout the entire year of eighteen, patients with AIDS in Japan had no choice but to endure South Korean exploitation.

Even if the price was multiplied tenfold and sold to you, it still depended on the South Koreans’ mood. Sometimes, when anti-Japanese activities broke out inside South Korea, even if Japanese patients died from their illness, the South Korean agents would remain unmoved and simply refuse to sell a single dose.

So when it came to future sales of the virtual machine, the Japanese were naturally filled with anxiety. They called on the public to pressure the Japanese government, and then pressure Huaxia, hoping to bypass South Korea altogether.

Compared with the Japanese who were wailing and lamenting, the South Koreans seemed almost triumphant. The Great Cosmos Daily was especially generous in its praise of Li Fu and the Fuyun Technology Group.

Today, Huaxia’s Fuyun Technology Group announced a major breakthrough in bio-sensing technology, successfully developing a virtual machine that can directly connect the brain to the internet. All information and operations can be completed through direct control by the brain. There is no need to use your eyes to look, and no need to use your hands to operate it; a single thought is enough.

As everyone knows, earlier this year, at the recruitment meeting for Fuyun Technology Group’s agents, Park Jeong-gi spared no expense in his bid to bring honor to his country and successfully secured agency rights for the East Asian region. That is why patients with AIDS in our country have been able to obtain the new medicine at a price far below the global average.

According to the agency agreement reached between Park Jeong-gi and Fuyun Technology Group, Park Jeong-gi holds agency rights for all countries in East Asia except Huaxia, covering all products. So if the Japanese want to obtain the virtual machine, they will likewise have to read our faces.

Compared with the Japanese, the South Koreans are clearly still far behind. Though both are sons following behind the same father, historical hatred between them runs deep, and conflicts between South Korea and Japan have long been common. But the South Koreans are basically helpless against the Japanese. After all, their strength is inferior.

Now that the agency rights are in Korean hands, there is naturally no shortage of grand publicity. Online, people are even discussing how many times the virtual machine should be marked up before being sold to the Japanese.

Of course, many South Koreans also saw a crisis: the crisis facing the Korean electronics industry. Samsung Electronics is one of the highest-ranked technology companies in the global top five hundred. In the past, Samsung phones were sold all over the world and were known as the only brand able to rival the Fruit phone.

Although the explosion scandal, combined with the release of large-screen Fruit phones, caused Samsung phones to decline sharply, Samsung Electronics remained a colossal enterprise. The Samsung Group behind it was still the largest chaebol in South Korea. In the year sixteen, Samsung’s output value accounted for one-fifth of the entire country.

So if Samsung Electronics, already struggling to survive, were hit by the virtual machine as well, it would be snow on top of frost. If Samsung Group were damaged, the entire South Korean economy would tremble.

As countless people had predicted, once news of the virtual machine reached South Korea, Samsung Electronics’ stock plunged in a straight line, with some shares collapsing off a cliff and diving like a waterfall. In turn, the entire Samsung Group’s stock also began to fall, dragging the whole South Korean stock market down with it at high speed.

Although the South Korean government responded quickly and rolled out corresponding market-stabilization measures, it still could not halt the decline in Samsung Electronics’ and Samsung Group’s shares, nor could it stop the violent turbulence in the entire stock market.

No one was foolish. Everyone understood that once the virtual machine went on sale, phones, computers, and the like would absolutely be impossible to sell in the future. Although the virtual machine was extremely expensive, the arrival of a new era would never be stopped by price alone. The end of the traditional electronics industry was already visible on the horizon.

Just like South Korea, on December first, when it was already night in Huaxia, dawn arrived on the other side of the ocean for the United States. But when the U.S. stock market opened, the shares of the now-mighty Fruit Company were suddenly cut in half by a single blow.

In an instant, countless Americans were dumbfounded. They did not even understand what had happened. Why had Fruit Company’s stock suddenly collapsed so violently? They could only watch helplessly as their wealth evaporated before their eyes.

Fruit Company had a market value of nearly one trillion dollars and was the world’s most famous electronics and technology enterprise. Even in the United States, it was a towering giant ranked among the very top. The crash in Fruit Company’s stock had an enormous impact on the entire U.S. market. First, the whole electronics sector turned a sea of red, and then the broader market began to fall at speed as well.

In the U.S. market alone, Fruit Company wiped out five hundred billion dollars in market value. And because electronics is such a major sector, it dragged the entire market downward. On December first, the U.S. stock market lost several trillion dollars in a single day, the whole board drenched in crimson.

The huge swings in the U.S. market caused stock markets around the world to change dramatically in response. The European market was directly affected as well, turning red at once. Every company related to phones, computers, and other electronics suffered a massive blow, with stocks crashing and market value evaporating.

But the nightmare had only just begun. As Fuyun Technology Group’s virtual machine was unveiled day by day and more and more people experienced its power firsthand, the impact of the virtual machine on the traditional electronics industry surged higher and higher, wave after wave.

Inside Fruit Company headquarters, in a meeting room, the company’s entire upper management was gathered together. Cook, with a dark expression, listened as his subordinates reported the latest figures.

“Ladies and gentlemen, our stock has already fallen below fifty dollars, and it is still dropping. If it were not for government support behind us, it could very well fall to the point of being worthless.”

“Take another look at our sales. Our newly launched Fruit phone is also declining in a straight line. Worldwide sales are less than one-tenth of what they used to be.”

“According to feedback from all major sales regions around the world, our phone and computer sales have almost completely stagnated. High-end consumers are basically waiting and watching, holding out for the virtual machine to go on sale. As for lower-end consumers, they are no longer considering our products at all.”

Ever since the virtual machine was announced, Cook had not slept well once. At this moment, he looked utterly exhausted, not a trace of a smile left on his face. Fruit Company, bearing the brunt of the blow, could now basically be said to have said farewell to the high-end consumer electronics market. The appearance of the virtual machine had effortlessly swept Fruit Company’s products into the dust of history.

“A business from another field can kill you outright. Who would have thought Fruit would have such a day? Back when our company was making computers, Nokia probably never imagined it would one day be killed by a computer company.”

“At the time, Nokia had pushed traditional mobile phones to the limit: incredible call quality, incredible battery life, phones that could open bottles, crack walnuts, and even serve as bricks for building. Nokia phones collapsed overnight. As Nokia’s own CEO once said, we did not even know what had happened, yet we were bankrupt in a single night.”

“Then phones made by Fruit, a computer company, replaced them. That was when smartphones replaced traditional feature phones, and the speed of it was staggering.”

For some reason, Cook suddenly thought of Nokia, the once-vanquished king that had been eliminated by Fruit Company. Back in nineteen ninety-nine, Nokia’s market value had been over two hundred billion euros, making it the most valuable company in Europe. Yet by the end of twenty thirteen, it had fallen so far that Microsoft acquired it for only five billion dollars.

“Fuyun Technology Group, a biotechnology company... Who would have thought that in the end, our Fruit Company would also fall to such a state, defeated by a company from another industry, repeating Nokia’s fate!”

“No! Fruit Company absolutely cannot fall in my hands. As long as we can also rapidly develop a virtual machine, there is still hope for us!”

Thanks to Gu Feng for the two-thousand-five-hundred tip, to Ke Ke Ji for the five-hundred tip, to Fat Eagle for the two-hundred tip, and to reader 20171226***58591 for the tip. Thank you all for your support.