After the Divorce, I Could Hear the Voice of the Future

The ofo spokesperson quickly stepped forward to clarify and explain that General Manager Dai Wei's trip to the US was merely a market inspection in Europe and America, planned to last a month. There were no sudden disclosures to speak of, and he hoped that users wouldn't be misled by those with ulterior motives.

Certainly, they would refund the user deposits, but, as always, it would require a week's time for review.

Old Jia also received a warning promptly to take care of his own LeEco and not to meddle in other's affairs without cause.

"It's none of your damn business. This wretched fool is walking the path I was supposed to take," Old Jia muttered resentfully.

If Dai Wei didn't come back, individuals like him who posed a high potential risk surely wouldn't be able to apply for exit for a short time.

He could only try to hold out for another year or half, at least until Dai Wei's influence from escaping had dwindled to its lowest.

Meanwhile, remaining shared bicycle companies like Mobike and ofo tacitly raised their prices.

From the previous rate of 1 yuan for 30 minutes to 1 yuan for every 20 minutes, they declared an end to this costly war, for the moment.

One person ran off, and the whole industry had to clean up his mess. There was no point in continuing the competition; winter was coming in a week.

But they were too optimistic.

It didn't even take a week.

"Weren't we agreed on a week? How come it's been a week, and my deposit refund is still stuck in review?"

"Same here, it's been eight days."

The day after Dai Wei left the country, multiple topics about ofo users being unable to withdraw their deposits aggressively hit the top of the internet's hot searches.

The spokesperson came out again, this time to apologize to the vast number of users, admitting that indeed the company was facing difficulties in its operations.

Dai Wei's trip to the US was, in fact, to seek a solution, and he hoped the users could give them a bit more time.

Assuredly, the deposits of a total of 202,012 users would be refunded in full, but it would require just a little time, a little patience.

Half an hour after the declaration was published, someone suddenly discovered that the deposit refund interface began showing the queue number.

"Damn it, 8,250,124 in line, who can help me count how many zeros this is? The 'in this lifetime' series?"

"Just over eight million and you can already snicker. Look at me, 16,023,502nd in line—that's what you call the 'in this lifetime.'"

"No way, this can't be happening. Is there a glitch in your queue interface? Why am I at number 825?"

"Showing off, dog. Drag him out and chop him."

Dai Wei's escape and ofo's thunderous collapse, leaving deposits unrecoverable, became an established fact. Netizens could only use sarcasm to mask their sadness.

Thus, more and more people saw the news and logged onto the app to apply for their deposit refunds.

ofo might as well have given up, directly informing every user wanting a refund of their specific place in line. They would refresh the ranking every day at midnight, and the top place was more than 20 million.

They also claimed that they had abolished the rule preventing the use of bikes during the deposit refund period, hoping users would ride more and thus help expedite the deposit refund.

They weren't refusing to refund; they just needed some time.

"Your mother, give back the money!"

"Damn, doesn't anyone care?"

"Click this link to move up in the queue."

Suddenly, ofo's official comment section became a haven for chaos, as Pinduoduo users also jumped in for the fun.

Since receiving an investment of five hundred million dollars from Tencent, Pinduoduo's 'slash price' strategy spread across the internet like a virus.

Unbelievably, netizens' ridicule turned prophetic, and it wasn't long before ofo introduced a link to Pinduoduo's store.

They held a 'slash price' event that could speed up the refund queue.

"Holy sh*t, this is absolutely ludicrous."

"Who's running ofo? They're really good at stirring things up?"

"The core team and investors have all given up. Apparently, it's been entrusted to a professional manager."

All of a sudden, an internet unicorn company degraded to a third-rate enterprise full of tomfoolery.

Countless netizens also vented their frustrations in the comment section, their 99 yuan or 199 yuan seemingly gone for good.

"Purely throwing in the towel."

Lu Liang chuckled to himself, quietly opening the deposit refund interface. Since he applied later, he was ranked after the 20 million mark.

Then he opened the Mobike app, and sure enough, Meituan's management had grasped this tremendous surge in traffic.

If Mobike users needed seven days to refund their shared bicycle deposit through the Mobike app, with the Meituan app, it only took one hour.

Sometimes it took just a few minutes or tens of minutes to swiftly refund the 299 yuan deposit.

Such efficiency was in stark contrast to that of ofo, much like the contrast between the poor student and the top student in class, winning countless internet users' praise.

It could be said that Meituan didn't spend a dime and gained several million users, not only securing a strong market reputation but also smoothly incorporating Mobike into the Meituan fold.

They became the biggest winner from ofo's implosion.

"Has ofo really gone under?" Little Wang asked in a daze.

Just last month, ofo was valued at five hundred million US dollars; now it was worth less than a hair.

"Who would dare to take it over now?" Lu Liang couldn't help but snicker.

After all, taking over meant shouldering the responsibility of refunding the deposits of more than twenty million users and billions in accounts payable.

At the very least, you'd need to shell out forty to fifty billion in one go, and for such a vast sum of money, you'd only receive the notoriously troubled ofo.

Any sensible person wouldn't invest in it, and the previous investors like DiDi, Ali, and Jingwei could only curse their bad luck under their breath.

Especially Ali, solidifying its reputation as the harbinger of doom for industries, which many startups both covet and fear for its investment.

Wang Xiaocong was silent for a long time before suddenly asking, "Panda, could it end up like this too one day?"

Seeing Lu Liang shake his head, Little Wang was overjoyed but before he could celebrate, he heard Lu Liang say, "ofo still has 1.3 million shared bicycles, which could last at least a year or half, even without logistical maintenance."

Little Wang's face turned ugly: "Does that mean, if it were Panda, it might not even last that long?"

"Isn't that obvious?" laughed Lu Liang, stretching lazily, planning to leave Disneyland today.

These past couple of days, with throngs of people coming and going, he suddenly longed to return to his company for some quiet, solitary time.

Little Wang stopped Lu Liang and anxiously asked, "What do you think about my proposal from last time?"

"To introduce LeEco?"

Lu Liang pondered for a moment: "Now, it might actually be plausible, with Dai Wei as a precedent, Old Jia likely wouldn't dare to flee for the time being."

"However, I would still not recommend doing so. Panda isn't so poor that it's struggling to make ends meet; there's no need to partner with LeEco."

Little Wang hesitated and watched helplessly as Lu Liang walked away. Without Lu Liang's support, he had lost his biggest bargaining chip.

This July was quite eventful.

On the one hand, there was ofo's collapse, and on the other, BYD Qin's early car deliveries.

Unlike Tesla, which had to ship its cars across the ocean and scrape together fifty cars for delivery,

BYD Qin had a first batch of 3,000, announcing that from the next month onwards, they would deliver over twenty thousand units per month.

There was a reservation volume of 64,000 for this model, and they planned to complete all locked orders' delivery by October.

Lu Liang also received a plug-in hybrid and an electric car. Apart from the unsightly interior and design, the kinetic performance was very impressive, accelerating as well as any premium sports car.

The intelligent driving system was another highlight of the car: lane-keeping, adaptive cruise control, and yielding to pedestrians and non-motor vehicles.

Previously, these features may not even be found in luxury cars costing hundreds of thousands, yet now they appeared in cars costing just over a hundred thousand.

After receiving the car, Lu Liang had Wen Chao drive it; the two went to the NIO experience center. Even though the showroom was no longer empty, it only displayed one ep9.

As soon as he arrived, Li Bing hurried to greet the engineers, ready to disassemble the car and study it thoroughly, grumbling, "Why are you always able to get in on the first batch?"

If Tesla's delivery was to ride on Lu Liang's fame, then BYD didn't need to do so, and there was no point in it.

After all, it was just a sedan worth tens of thousands.

"Maybe I'm just lucky," Lu Liang replied with a smug smile, quite pleased with himself. Out of the 64,000 reservations, only 3,000 cars were in the first batch, and he had snagged two of them.

This was pure luck outclassing all.

Lu Liang also learned from NIO engineers that intelligent driving levels in the world today range from Level 0 to Level 5.

Level 0 has no autonomous driving capabilities, such as an eighty thousand yuan van, where all operations are controlled by the driver.

Level 1 has assisted driving features, such as adaptive cruise control, which automatically adjusts speed and braking based on the distance and speed of the vehicle in front.

Level 2 involves partial automation, achieving functions like automatic lane changes, parking, and following.

The intelligence level of BYD Qin's driving system fell between Level 1 and Level 2.