Cutting-Edge Technology R&D Center

Chapter 20: Wang Hao, Who Hates Trouble

Wang Hao kept deleting code related to cleaning up files. Time slipped by unnoticed; the two of them had even forgotten about the boxed meals Fang Bing had brought. Fang Bing had found a new toy to play with, while Wang Hao was immersed in a frenzy of coding. Neither of them even thought about eating. Wang Hao, completely absorbed in his code, suddenly heard the phone ring. He glanced at it and answered. The cleanup program they were releasing to the public was nearly finished—all that remained was the final encryption step. “Bro Bing, why’d you stop playing with the plane?” Wang Hao’s mind relaxed once he’d figured out a way to make money, and he teased. “Play my ass—the battery died. I’ve been knocking on the door for ages. I’ve even woken up your neighbors three or four times, and here you are, Hao Ge… not opening the door for half a day.” Hearing the grumbling on the phone, Wang Hao gave an sheepish laugh. He’d probably been so absorbed in his code that he hadn’t noticed—his apartment didn’t have a doorbell, so when he heard the faint sound, he’d mistaken it for the one next door. “I’m starving. Were you working on that drone app just now? Is it ready to install yet?” As he opened the door, he saw Fang Bing walking in, excitedly holding the drone. “Uh, it’ll be ready soon—just a little more to go.” Wang Hao kept a straight face, giving no hint that he hadn’t even started working on the drone app yet. “Hao Ge, I’m not rushing you—take your time. I’ll start my livestream once you’re done.” Seeing Wang Hao’s expression, Fang Bing assumed the drone app must be quite challenging. “Oh, by the way, Hao Ge, this drone performs really well. Have you thought about mass-producing it?” Fang Bing seemed to have an idea and said excitedly, “You’ll definitely become a millionaire by selling these drones.” Wang Hao lowered his head and pondered for a moment. He’d thought about this drone before, but the thought of the tedious registration process made him scratch his head. “I haven’t really thought about it… Are you interested? Maybe I could hand it over to you to run.” However, this gave Wang Hao an idea for a compromise: since he found the process too troublesome, he could simply hand it off to someone else. He’d built this drone just to save time; many of the processes and parts were off-the-shelf. For instance, the positioning and recognition technology was an improvement on Longnao’s existing system. Moreover, when paired with other brand-new hardware, it would certainly see a further performance boost. After all, every component of this drone came from the secondhand market, so its performance naturally couldn’t match that of brand-new parts. Fang Bing was taken aback. He hadn’t originally intended to get involved in this—after all, he hadn’t contributed anything at all. But since he could see the potential, he didn’t believe Hao Ge wouldn’t realize it either. “Hao Ge, aren’t you going to do this yourself?” Fang Bing hesitated for a moment before speaking up. If the other party didn’t plan to take it on himself, then he was quite tempted to give it a try. “I’m not planning to do it myself—it’s too much trouble. But if you want to give it a shot, I’d be happy to grant you the rights to handle it.” Although Wang Hao was very eager for money, he had so many other ways to make it that he didn’t really see much value in a single drone. “Really?” A flash of intense excitement flickered in Fang Bing’s eyes. He knew full well that if such a drone went into mass production, even if it didn’t make him a billionaire, it would certainly make him a multimillionaire without a doubt. “Right. If you have a plan, I can give you the production technology.” Wang Hao nodded calmly. “Hao Ge, how exactly will we split the profits?” Fang Bing forced himself to stay calm as he spoke. He was confident he could convince his father—he believed that once his father saw the drone, he’d make the same choice. “You’ll handle all the production funding and set up the factory. I’ll contribute the technology as equity, and we’ll split the profits fifty-fifty,” Wang Hao said after a moment’s thought. This was his bottom line. He’d long considered the drone’s potential, but he’d found the process too troublesome. “Hao Ge, if I handle the production funding and the factory, and you contribute the technology as equity, how about an 80-20 split—I take 80 percent and you take 20?” ” Fang Bing pondered for a moment before speaking. “Hao Ge, I can’t invest much money—I’ll have to ask my dad. You know my family’s situation; I estimate that investing 500,000 or a million at most would be the absolute limit. Besides, even without having researched it myself, I know the prospects for this drone are excellent. When you think about it, I’m basically just reaping the benefits of someone else’s hard work.” A look of distress crossed Fang Bing’s face. He was tempted to take over the project himself, but given his family’s financial situation, it was simply impossible to invest much more than what was needed to get the factory up and running. He’d barely have enough to keep it afloat, and by then, there likely wouldn’t even be funds for advertising—and without advertising, there would be no sales. This would severely impact product sales. While the target audience for drones isn’t particularly large, a technologically advanced product will never lack a market, regardless of the size of its audience. “Tell me your thoughts,” Wang Hao said calmly after a moment’s thought. As far as he was concerned, although he didn’t have the money right now, he hadn’t really set his sights on the drone market. “My family can secure a loan of about one million. We’ll use it all to build the factory, and then I’ll definitely make my livestream go viral. I’ll run ads during the livestream…” Fang Bing began. Fang Bing’s words took Wang Hao by surprise; he was genuinely surprised that the other man had come up with such a concrete implementation plan in such a short time. “All right, let’s do it your way. I’ll give you the list of production requirements and raw materials,” Wang Hao nodded, feeling a slight sense of relief, as if he’d just shed a heavy burden. For him, having someone else handle the drone business was the best option. He didn’t actually have much desire for money—a glance at his lifestyle over the past three years would prove that—but money could not only improve his life but also help those in need. Most importantly, it would allow Longnao to acquire more servers, making his research run more smoothly. So while he didn’t have much desire for money, he didn’t resist it either. “Great! I’ll go talk to my dad right away.” Fang Bing perked up immediately upon hearing Wang Hao’s words, but just as he was about to stand up, Wang Hao held him back. “No need to rush. Charge the drone first, get the app set up, and then we’ll talk… I’ll heat up some food; let’s eat before you go.” Wang Hao shook his head as he looked at the excited Fang Bing and said. Fang Bing thought about it and realized Wang Hao was right. If he went to see his father now, his words alone wouldn’t be enough—there was a high chance of being turned down. It would be better to wait until everything was ready before approaching his father about the investment. Afterward, Wang Hao heated up the food in the kitchen. Once he and Fang Bing had finished eating, he charged the drone, then slipped into the room to package the drone’s app and install it on Fang Bing’s phone. Fang Bing curiously opened the app on his phone and examined it closely. There weren’t actually many features: it allowed him to set the drone’s shooting range, configure a shooting schedule for a specific time period, and use manual mode. “That’s all for now. I’ll add more features later,” Wang Hao said without batting an eye—these were the three most important features he had in mind.