Chapter 170: Cooperation Reached (Part 2)

Near Nanjing University of Technology, Tengwang Pavilion Hotel.

Sun Cheng was in a room on the second floor of the hotel, holding a wine glass and chatting heartily with several young people.

A dinner party was already nearing its end.

"... It is my honor to have been able to invite everyone out today. My tolerance for alcohol is poor, and I haven't been able to let everyone drink to their heart's content; please forgive me..."

In the room, after another round of drinks had been consumed, he was already slightly tipsy, yet his eyes remained clear, his gaze occasionally falling upon the young people in the room, with slight flickers of emotion.

The several young people he had entrusted Yang Fei to recruit all came from the Computer Science major at Nanjing University of Technology; there was not a single genius with great fame on campus here, and among those Yang Fei invited, besides two people who were seniors about to graduate like Sun Cheng, the rest were merely his classmates from the same year.

How does that saying go when evaluating current university students!

Freshmen are busy playing, sophomores are busy falling in love, juniors are busy studying, and seniors are busy breaking up.

Using this to describe university students, one wouldn't dare say it's ten-out-of-ten accurate, but it's at least half true.

However, the lack of genius-level figures did not mean there were no redeeming qualities among these people, otherwise Sun Cheng would not have known about them.

Previously busy with his startup, he wouldn't dare say he knew every capable person in the school, but he had put in some effort to inquire, especially about students in the Computer Science major who had made a name for themselves; Sun Cheng had basically inquired about them all.

For example, among these young people he entrusted Yang Fei to invite, almost all were top students who had received at least one scholarship in the Computer Science major; even if they were just bookworms, their knowledge base was much deeper than that of their peers.

Among these people, the one Sun Cheng paid the most attention to was a senior named Lu Nan.

This person was not simple; he had even applied to the school for startup investment support, and the project Lu Nan submitted was voice-activated control.

Voice-activated control was not a novel idea; Microsoft had done it long ago, and because it didn't take off, it didn't have much attention or presence.

But ever since Apple's 'Siri' became a hit, although this idea couldn't be called common, it had caught the eyes of ambitious people; in China alone, at least three internet companies focusing on voice-activated control had emerged, and even Nanjing University of Technology could not be an exception, as there were several voice-activated control projects among the supported ones.

With so many projects, the competition was undoubtedly more intense; according to Sun Cheng's inquiries, Lu Nan's project was even worse than his own, lasting only a little over a month before it flopped, and he heard that afterward, he had been working odd jobs everywhere just to pay off the debts incurred during his startup period.

"Cheers..."

"Brother Sun, you are too polite."

The meal was very satisfying, and once everyone had eaten and drunk their fill, they were all content.

Sun Cheng also knew it was time to get down to business, otherwise, he wouldn't have spent seven or eight hundred on this meal just to chat and build rapport with a group of classmates.

The others were clearly waiting for his explanation; although three bottles of white spirit had been opened, no one was truly drunk, and they were all waiting for him to speak.

Seeing that everyone had put down their chopsticks, Sun Cheng cleared his throat, took several documents out of the handbag he carried with him, and instead of handing them over immediately, he said: "The reason I asked Yang Fei to help me invite everyone out today is actually very simple: to gather everyone's strength to start a business together. As for funding, you don't need to worry at all; I have contacted an investment fund. Although it is inconvenient to disclose the specific amount, I can guarantee one thing to everyone: this funding is a seven-figure sum. Furthermore, I have signed a valuation adjustment mechanism agreement with the investor; if we achieve results in the early stages, there will be a follow-up investment of no less than eight figures hitting the company's account in three to six months!"

Everything must be reasonable and logical; although Sun Cheng had made a fortune by tinkering with Bitcoin, even after laundering it, it couldn't be exposed immediately, or it would easily arouse suspicion.

Like when he bought the mountain earlier, although he appeared in person, the documents were all fake, thanks to the fact that his AI could help him hack into relevant departments to modify the data.

These explanations were the preparations he made to avoid exposure.

In the room, it went quiet upon hearing this, and then a few soft swallowing sounds were heard.

Sun Cheng's gaze swept across the room in turn, and he was surprised to find that among the young people, Lu Nan's expression changed the most.

That expression was clearly one of shock mixed with a bit of skepticism; clearly, Lu Nan, who had also done a startup project, knew better than the others how difficult it was to connect with funding for those startups that sounded good.

He hesitated for a moment, but in the end, he couldn't hold back and took the initiative to ask: "Brother Sun, may I ask about the company's future development direction?"

During the meal just now, to put it bluntly, Sun Cheng was trying his best to integrate into their small circle as an outsider, so although he occasionally let slip a word or two, he didn't mention a single thing about the specific startup project, just to wait for this moment to hook everyone's curiosity before discussing it in detail.

Sun Cheng's mouth curved slightly upon hearing this; he had indeed inquired about Lu Nan's history, and his AI had even helped him hack into the school's student record database.

But Lu Nan clearly didn't know him, and calling him 'Brother Sun' the moment he spoke, while not lacking the intention to follow the crowd, was ultimately a concession.

He smiled and replied: "Naturally, I will explain it to everyone in detail. Let's put it this way: the reason I invited everyone is that the company needs to take action in terms of storage products in the future..."

"Storage products... do you mean shared products like network drives or cloud drives?"

Before Sun Cheng had even finished speaking, Lu Nan interrupted him with some surprise, and the look in his eyes when he looked at him already carried deep disappointment.

"Network/cloud drives..."

Sun Cheng smiled slightly, "You could say that, or you could say not..."

He naturally saw the change in Lu Nan's expression and understood why.

Network drives and cloud drives could be said to be among the first types of free shared products born on the internet; it's just that although this thing has very low technical requirements—so low that almost any internet company with the intention could recruit a group or two of program developers and create a similar product in a few days—it has very high hardware requirements for the company because it is very server-intensive.

Lu Nan's disappointment was naturally not because of this reason.

It was because it had been nearly ten years since the birth of network/cloud drives, and it had long passed the hype period of the network/cloud drive concept.

Therefore, looking globally, more and more network/cloud drive companies were dying in large numbers.

In China's internet industry, there were 34 companies providing network/cloud drive services in 2014, reaching a peak in April 2015 with 67 companies entering the network/cloud drive market.

However, starting from May 2015, with the first internet company in the country announcing the permanent shutdown of its network/cloud drive services, there were fewer than 20 network/cloud drive companies left in the country.

Judging from the half-dead signs of the remaining network/cloud drive service providers, it is conservatively estimated that this number is very likely to be halved again within this year.

In the end, it is very likely that no more than 5 network/cloud drive companies will survive in the country, and it is very likely that only the companies under those internet giants will remain.

"Shared network drives are unpopular if they use a fee-based model, and if content censorship is too strict, they will lose a lot of popularity, while if it is too loose, it will attract government reprimands... Have you considered these?" Lu Nan asked in a deep voice; clearly, this top student from the Computer Science major at Nanjing University of Technology was by no means ignorant.

Sun Cheng still looked at him with a pleasant expression, his face carrying a bit of satisfaction.

The two points Lu Nan mentioned hit the key; the reason why countless network/cloud drive companies were dying in large numbers was precisely because of these two reasons.

He smiled and nodded, just about to answer him patiently.

Suddenly, a cell phone ringtone came from Sun Cheng's pocket.

Taking it out, he saw it was a call from Xu Chun; he didn't expect this call to make him wait for ten days.

Although he was a little unhappy, he still gave an apologetic smile to Lu Nan and the others, then picked up the phone and answered, "Hello, Class Counselor. This call made me wait a long time. So, has the school considered the matter of cooperation?"

"Sorry, student Sun Cheng. The school has already given an answer; the principal hopes to meet with you in person to discuss it. What do you think?"

On the other end of the phone, Xu Chun's smiling voice came quickly.

Sun Cheng laughed heartily, "Sure, you set the time and place, but don't drag it out too long; I have other things to attend to!"

After hanging up the phone, he held it in his hand and thought quietly for a while, then raised his head and smiled at the people in the room, then distributed the things he had prepared in advance to them one by one, saying: "Regarding the company matters and your compensation, I have mentioned them in detail here. It's getting late, and I have things to do tomorrow morning, so why don't you take these back and look them over? If you feel there are no problems, then contact me later!"