The company's annual revenue exceeded 100 billion RMB. Although it wasn't a pure profit, the revenue figure was comparable to the profits of state-owned enterprises like China National Petroleum Corporation, China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation, and China National Offshore Oil Corporation. Perhaps no one wouldn't be jealous of its success. XlouS's growth was so fast that no one could react in time. It was so unexpected, and with Facebook as the big tree, it was apparent that both sides were interdependent.
Time went by and in an instant, two years and three months had passed.
In the past two years, XlouS had been making an honest fortune and didn't release any relevant news since the last announcement of a data report. But the outside world was very clear that XlouS continued to earn a lot of money and was a model of silent prosperity!
The public almost forgot that there was such an internet company in China.
Nanwang, Wanning, Hainan.
A business helicopter shuttled in the sky at high speed, passing over the Nanwang reservoir. A young man sat in the cabin with a pair of sunglasses. The sunglasses covered his eyes but weren't huge enough to cover his suave face. This person was Ren Hong. A few hours ago, he was still in Guangzhou, dealing with Tianhe-2.
He looked out over the other side of the reservoir, where five skyscrapers hundreds of meters high stood above the land. Gazing from a distance, the five buildings formed the XlouS logo: unusually eye-catching and breathtaking.
Ren Hong gazed at the XlouS logo made up of five buildings and couldn't turn his attention away. The surging thrill inside him was indescribable. In two years, five new and amazing skyscrapers appeared on this planet.
"Change the world, starting from now! My dream is about to set sail!" he shouted inwardly.
The helicopter flew toward the dome of the 'X' shaped building, landing on the helipad on the roof. Five minutes later, Ren Hong finally stepped onto the building, and a group of people entered the building elevator with him.
The vertical inclination of the 'X' shaped building was over 40 degrees, and compared to normal elevators that took off and landed vertically, this elevator was a parallelogram that moved at an incline. Of course, the interior of the elevator was still a cube structure.
The Nanwang district had its busiest day ever today with the arrival of correspondents from all major media houses. And today was an incredibly important and memorable day for XlouS as well.
Because today, XlouS would officially announce its arrival at its new headquarters.
Next to the entrance to the new headquarters, the company's huge logo stood out: XlouS. Change the World!
A protective fence had been constructed around the company's new headquarters, creating a stark contrast between the inside and outside. The headquarters had been transformed into a high-tech park with all its infrastructure in place. All garbage and waste generated during construction had been transported and removed.
At that moment, reporters from various media outlets roamed around the outside of XlouS's headquarters, snapping any useful information they could find. There were also a number of helicopters circling in the sky for aerial shots.
The new headquarters, with the exception of the open-air perimeter, was free to roam. And all five skyscrapers were off-limits to uninvolved parties, especially the 'S' shaped building, which was the most heavily guarded, out of bounds to unrelated parties—including internal staff.
"I really don't understand what the founder of this company is thinking. Why would he build five skyscrapers in this desolate and remote area? There's not even a decent road here, let alone a KFC. There's also not even a kiosk here; you can't even buy a bottle of water!" A foreign correspondent looked around and complained.
"Come on, Rick! It's not our business. If you're hungry or thirsty, you can show your ID to get food. This company is offering food for free today; you don't have to pay. Maybe this company wants to create a self-contained ecosystem too. Well, it is rich, after all!" the partner carrying the bulky camera said.
"It's so goddamn rich, that's for sure!" Rick said viciously. He was famished. But since there was free food and water provided, the situation wasn't too bad for him. "What do you need?"
"Just bring me a bottle of mineral water. Thanks, I'll be over there."
"Okay, got it!"
It was apparent that the wealthy XlouS wasn't mindful about this amount of money. Free food and water were plentiful. But it wasn't for visitors. They were handed out inside the company to registered personnel who entered through the company's gates after showing their IDs.
With the exception of the company's staff, as well as the media, visitors could only sightsee on the outside and couldn't enter the internal park.
It was true that there were quite a few visitors today, as the five skyscrapers of XlouS had become world-famous since the company announced its new headquarters.
As time passed, 17 buses drove toward the company's gates and entered the headquarters. Each bus was filled with people looking around with curious and astonished faces; basically all of them were attracted by the five skyscrapers.
The company's new headquarters soon attracted a number of reporters on a tour of the interior, who raised their cameras in excitement.
In the parking lot, young faces got out of the vehicles, each carrying a modest duffel bag. These were the last of the employees to arrive at the headquarters.
"Is this the new headquarters of our company?" A young female employee who had just gotten out of the car looked around like a curious baby.
"So tall! It's spectacular! You can't even see the top!"
"Cool! This is where we'll be working at!"
"Although it's not the first time I've seen or learned what our company headquarters look like, I'm still shocked standing at the foot of these five buildings in person for the first time!"
"Don't just stand there, my great aunts and uncles; we've got enough things to handle on our hands. Follow your department heads!"
"Tech department, follow me!"
"Marketing department, come with me!"
Each department head held up a red license plate and led their respective staff out of the parking lot.
"Supervisor! Where are we going?" A girl with glasses from the tech department asked.
"We'll bring you to the staff quarters first, of course. We'll settle in today and start work tomorrow. It's a tight schedule. The employees who arrived early have already started working." the supervisor said without looking back.
Under the arrangements of the HR department staff, the company's employees got off the bus and followed their respective department heads into the 'U' shaped building in an orderly manner.
"The brochure says the entire 'U' shaped building is housing for the employees… Gosh, it can accommodate at least 20,000 people!"
"I'm so looking forward to it!"
Every employee of the company entered the 'U' shaped building with anticipation. The first floor of the building was an incomparably spacious hall, with more than 10 large elevators each capable of accommodating nearly 30 people at a time.
"Welcome aboard the Otis Elevator!"
Upon entering the elevator, the employees witnessed a 10-inch screen on the side. The image of a three-dimensional short-haired woman appeared and greeted them with a professional smile.
One of the supervisors in the elevator coughed twice and said, "23rd floor!"
"9th floor!" Another voice rang out.
"All right! The elevator will start moving in five seconds!" An electronically synthesized voice sounded in response.
"Wow! It's voice-activated. How advanced!" An employee exclaimed in astonishment.