The night after Aurora AI was launched, Lin Tianyu stayed awake in front of his laptop.
The dormitory was silent except for the soft hum of the computer fan.
On the screen was a dashboard he had built specifically for monitoring the application.
Download statistics.
User activity.
Server performance.
For the first few minutes, nothing happened.
The number of downloads remained at 0.
Wang Hao sat on the opposite chair staring at the screen nervously.
"This is stressful."
Lin Tianyu remained calm.
"Apps don't explode instantly."
Wang Hao nodded.
"True."
But after a moment, a small notification appeared on the dashboard.
1 new user registered.
Wang Hao's eyes widened.
"Someone downloaded it!"
Lin Tianyu smiled slightly.
"Good."
Then the second user appeared.
Then the third.
Five.
Ten.
Within ten minutes, the download count had reached 28 users.
Wang Hao suddenly leaned closer to the screen.
"Wait… it's accelerating."
Indeed, the graph began rising steadily.
Most early users came from student communities.
Someone had posted about Aurora AI on a university forum.
A comment below the post read:
"This scheduling AI is actually insane."
Another user replied:
"It reorganized my entire study plan in seconds."
Wang Hao slapped the table excitedly.
"This is real!"
Lin Tianyu watched quietly.
Inside his mind, the system interface appeared again.
MISSION PROGRESS
Launch AI Productivity Application
Current Users: 52 / 10,000
Lin Tianyu leaned back slightly.
"Still a long way to go."
But the growth curve looked promising.
Morning — Unexpected Attention
The next morning, the campus atmosphere felt different.
Several students were discussing something on their phones.
"Did you try Aurora AI?"
"Yes, it's surprisingly good."
"It reorganized my schedule automatically."
Wang Hao nudged Lin Tianyu.
"You're famous now."
Lin Tianyu simply shrugged.
They walked toward the engineering building.
But near the entrance, they saw Chen Xiaoyu again.
She looked slightly excited.
"Tianyu!"
Lin Tianyu raised an eyebrow.
"What happened?"
Chen Xiaoyu showed her phone.
"I downloaded your app."
Wang Hao laughed.
"You're already using it?"
Chen Xiaoyu nodded.
"It reorganized my entire project timeline."
She looked impressed.
"This is better than most productivity apps."
Lin Tianyu smiled faintly.
"I'm glad it works."
Chen Xiaoyu studied him carefully.
"You really built this yourself?"
Lin Tianyu nodded.
"Yes."
Her expression became thoughtful.
For some reason, she felt like Lin Tianyu's future might be far greater than she had imagined.
Conflict Returns
But the peaceful moment didn't last long.
A familiar voice interrupted again.
"Impressive."
Everyone turned.
Wang Jun stood nearby with several students.
His expression carried a mocking smile.
"I saw your little app."
The nearby students began whispering again.
Wang Jun continued.
"Pretty good for a student project."
His tone changed.
"But do you know something?"
"What?"
"Apps like this appear every day."
"Most of them disappear within months."
Several students nodded quietly.
Startup failure rates were extremely high.
But Lin Tianyu didn't seem bothered.
"That's possible," he said calmly.
Wang Jun smirked.
"You think a small app will make you successful?"
Lin Tianyu shrugged.
"Maybe."
"But at least I built something."
The words landed harder than expected.
Several students laughed quietly.
Wang Jun's expression darkened.
"You're getting arrogant."
Lin Tianyu replied calmly.
"I'm just busy."
He walked past him toward the building.
Wang Jun clenched his fists.
Behind him, one of his friends whispered:
"Should we do something about his app?"
Wang Jun's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Yes."
A cold smile appeared on his face.
The First Viral Growth
Back in the dormitory that evening, Lin Tianyu opened the monitoring dashboard again.
Wang Hao sat beside him.
"Moment of truth."
The download numbers appeared on the screen.
Users: 2,318
Wang Hao nearly jumped out of his chair.
"Two thousand users in one day?!"
Lin Tianyu nodded slowly.
"Good start."
But the numbers continued increasing.
2,350.
2,400.
2,500.
Then the system interface appeared again.
MISSION UPDATE
Launch AI Productivity Application
Current Users: 2,576 / 10,000
Another system message appeared immediately afterward.
ECONOMIC NETWORK REPORT
Current Balance: ¥13,480,000
Projected Profit (Next 24 Hours): ¥1,900,000
Lin Tianyu's wealth continued growing rapidly.
But even more important was something else.
Aurora AI had begun attracting attention.
Several technology forums were already discussing it.
Some users claimed the AI scheduling algorithm was far more advanced than typical productivity apps.
And when something superior appeared in the tech world—
It spread quickly.
A Powerful Interest
Meanwhile, inside a luxury office downtown, Zhao Ming watched a report on his computer screen.
Aurora AI's user growth chart was rising rapidly.
He tapped his finger on the desk thoughtfully.
"This is no ordinary student project."
He looked at the developer profile again.
Lin Tianyu.
Zhao Ming smiled slowly.
"Looks like we need to meet."
Night — Quiet Reflection
Later that night, Lin Tianyu stood near the dormitory window.
The distant city skyline glittered with lights.
Behind him, the dashboard displayed the latest number.
Users: 3,104
The app was growing steadily.
But Lin Tianyu knew something important.
This was only the first step.
Aurora AI could evolve into a much larger platform.
Enterprise software.
AI assistants.
Cloud infrastructure.
Entire ecosystems could grow from a single application.
Inside his mind, the system displayed another notification.
SYSTEM NOTICE
Host Influence Increasing
Next Evaluation Phase Preparing
The message disappeared quickly.
Lin Tianyu didn't notice.
But the system had already begun preparing for the next stage.
And far away in the city—
Several powerful people had started paying attention.