Mr. Huang, thank you so much for saving my life. Without you, I would have met the great Lord already!" the bearded man said, grasping Huang He's hand with immense gratitude.
The day after the doctor allowed the bearded man to leave the hospital for a short while, he went to see our boss, Mr. Huang. Mr. Huang did not refuse, and so they met at the headquarters of the Jiangnan Group's imperial capital branch.
"Mr. Huang, I heard that the event, which was scheduled to last for another month, was forced to be canceled after our accident?" the bearded man asked sheepishly after expressing his strong gratitude.
"Alas, there was nothing that could be done. Our country has always placed great importance on safety issues. With such a major accident this time, it was naturally necessary to stop the ongoing activities. Moreover, the Bird's Nest itself suffered some damage and the venue requires maintenance, so the Bird's Nest will be unusable for the next few months."
"Since these things have already happened, there's no point in complaining. As long as everyone is healthy, that's the best outcome!" Mr. Huang said with a smile.
"Yes, but to have caused such serious losses to my benefactor, I feel extremely guilty!" the bearded man said with a look of remorse. "How about this, Mr. Huang, it seems you still have 44 days left on your exhibition period. Do you know how many model boxes your company sells each day?"
"About 300,000 boxes!" Huang He replied with a smile.
"That's not too many!" the bearded man's face showed a relieved smile. "44 days, 300,000 boxes per day, that's 13.2 million boxes. So how about this, on behalf of one of my import companies, I will place an order for 13.2 million boxes with your company, all purchased at the public retail price of 199 yuan per box, to compensate for your losses. What do you think?"
"..." Mr. Huang was stunned when he heard this. He had quickly done the mental calculation. Buying 13.2 million boxes at once would cost around 2.6 billion yuan. If import and export taxes were added, the total cost would increase to about 3 billion yuan, equivalent to 450 million US dollars.
This bearded man was spending 450 million US dollars to apologize to him in one go?
Even the world's richest man, with trillions of dollars in assets, could not help but sigh at the magnanimity of the bearded man's compensation.
"This doesn't seem right, you are paying too much!" Huang He said.
"It's alright, these are just small sums. The key is that we can establish a long-term friendship with Mr. Huang, and that is the most important thing!" the bearded man said sincerely. Huang He nodded and did not stand on ceremony. This massive transaction was thus directly concluded. Mr. Huang had only picked up a flight, and he had sold 13.2 million boxes of Pangu · Homeland models in one go.
Moreover, the other party's attitude was incredibly sincere. As soon as the two bosses reached an agreement, the bearded man's secretary directly produced the purchase contract, which completely bewildered Mr. Huang's secretary.
Fortunately, the contract was quite simple, and almost all the terms were favorable to Daban Models. Therefore, the secretary only glanced through it two or three times. After receiving permission from Huang He, she signed the contract on the spot with great alacrity.
"With this, I can somewhat express my apology!" the bearded man said emotionally, tucking the contract into his pocket. He then invited Huang He to dine with him that evening, with the bearded man as the host.
Having just received a contract worth 450 million US dollars, Mr. Huang naturally could not refuse, so they happily agreed to meet again in the evening.
"Boss, I've truly witnessed it. Before, I thought it was an exaggeration when people said these Middle Eastern bearded men were extravagant. Now, it seems they are truly extravagant!" the secretary said with emotion, watching the bearded man and his entourage leave.
"Yes, they are too extravagant. It feels like he is the world's richest man!" Mr. Huang said with a grin, and then began to sort through the backlog of documents. After looking at a few files, his expression suddenly became very unpleasant.
"Oh no, I've fallen into this bearded man's trap! I've been set up by him!" Mr. Huang said with deep regret.
"We've been set up?" The secretary's face also changed, becoming extremely alarmed. "Impossible! I reviewed the entire contract very carefully three times, there can't be any traps in it!"
"Let me ask you, doesn't the contract have a clause requiring us to give him priority supply and to prioritize the delivery of his 13.2 million box order?" Huang He asked.
"There is such a clause, but there's no problem with it. Because he is purchasing the share that we originally planned to sell at the Bird's Nest site, it is natural to supply him first!" the secretary replied.
"That's where the problem lies!" Mr. Huang said, holding his temples. "News just came in that in the United States, a box of Pangu in MG scale has already risen to 99 US dollars!"
"99 US dollars! How can it be so expensive?" the secretary was also shocked.
99 US dollars, which is over 700 yuan, the retail price of Pangu Homeland in the United States has more than tripled. This price increase is simply indescribably exaggerated.
After all, Pangu Homeland is not a luxury item, nor is it a limited-edition model. Why would the price triple?
The PGU RX-78-2 2.0 wasn't even this exaggerated!
"We underestimated the huge impact of this accident!" Mr. Huang concluded. Indeed, Mr. Huang himself was not entirely aware of the immense impact this accident had caused worldwide.
First, the accident was broadcast globally. Although every performance of Pangu Homeland was live-streamed on Dabans official accounts on major video streaming sites worldwide, this was not something new.
The number of people watching the live streams every day remained high, averaging over 3 million concurrent viewers for each broadcast.
The number of concurrent viewers on the day of the accident was 4.6 million, which is already a massive figure. This means that 4.6 million people witnessed the helicopter crash and the subsequent scene of Pangu Homeland saving people with its hands through the live stream.
And the impact of this scene was unparalleled.
Why did Titanic dominate the global box office for over 20 years?
It was because Titanic used groundbreaking special effects. The realistic depiction of Titanic breaking in half and sinking delivered a soul-stirring shock to countless audiences in the cinema. This shock even lingered for a week or two, almost forcing them to share their shock with everyone else.
Avatar, more than a decade later, had a similar effect, using incredible special effects to create a soul-stirring impact.
However, whether it was Titanic or Avatar, those were special effects in cinemas, and there was always a sense of artificiality.
But this time it was different. This was live, witnessed by countless viewers, a real event that actually happened in reality. They had truly seen a terrifying steel behemoth cradling a crippled helicopter in its hand. This was reality for countless people, not a movie.
This shock effect was several times, or even ten times, greater than that of Titanic and Avatar.
So, after the live broadcast ended, almost all viewers who had watched it could not suppress the raging fire in their hearts and shared it with all their relatives and friends around them, telling them how shocking a scene they had witnessed.
Thus, the most terrifying online viral effect in history was born. According to data researched and calculated by some scholars years later, in just 6 hours, the news spread from 4 million people to 940 million people.
Although almost all news media followed up immediately, the number of viewers who actually learned about the incident through the news was less than 100 million. The remaining 840 million people learned about it almost entirely through word of mouth, through their parents, colleagues, friends, or even their children calling them to watch television or view videos on their terminals.
There was no need to say more afterwards. Almost all media outlets reported on this incident immediately. In the first two days, as long as it was a news program, you could see the footage of Pangu catching the helicopter with its hands.
Moreover, the media were far more adept than netizens. They somehow obtained high-definition versions of the recording.
The clarity of this recording reached 4K, and there were over a dozen camera angles. After meticulous editing, the entire crash scene achieved a cinematic effect, allowing all viewers to understand how thrilling the crash was at the moment of impact.
What followed was inevitable. In just three days, in all regions covered by the internet or satellite TV, almost everyone had seen this video.
It was thought that this was the peak, but even more explosive news was yet to come.
On the second day, well-informed media outlets exposed the origin of the helicopter and the identities of the passengers inside.
Initially, almost everyone assumed that the helicopter was carrying ordinary photographers and reporters who were filming the Pangu Homeland performance from an aerial perspective.
However, on the second day, the news revealed that the person in the helicopter was not an ordinary photographer, but a minister from a Middle Eastern country, and this minister was a genuine prince, the first in line to the throne.
This news was even more shocking. This was a prince of a nation, and moreover, the future ruler of the world's wealthiest country, who had nearly died in the helicopter crash. This story was so dramatic that it would be a waste not to turn it into an 80-episode television series!