The press conference was scheduled to end at 10 PM. But it wasn't until 11:30 PM that the last wave of attendees finally left.
And with that, China Star's Star Series launch event could officially be declared a resounding success.
But for Haifeng?
"The real battle," he muttered as he surveyed the empty venue,
"starts after midnight."
🕛 Behind the Scenes – Midnight Approaches
In the suburbs of Piao City, lights blazed inside China Star Tech's operations center.
Everyone was still working—overtime.
Liu Jianyu, the man behind the Star Series, kept checking the time.
"11:58. Two minutes left."
"Let's see how many we can move…"
The clock ticked.
Midnight sharp.
"It's starting."
The online store opened.
The Star Q1 went live.
Everyone's eyes were locked on the order dashboard.
And then—
"Damn! It's gone!"
One of Liu's assistants yelled from across the room.
Liu rushed over.
Inventory: 0
Timestamp: 00:01:30
500,000 units. Gone in 90 seconds.
It was not just clicked, not just added to the cart—paid for, completed, and submitted shipping forms.
"President Lu! It's sold out!"
"One minute thirty seconds—completely gone!"
Liu sprinted to Haifeng's office, breathless and grinning like a madman.
Haifeng's response was calm but pleased:
"Good. Tell the marketing team to prepare a poster.
Announce the next sale will open in seven days."
Liu nodded and rushed off again—too hyped to hear the full instructions.
🌅 At Dawn – Internet Meltdown
As the sun rose, the news hit Weibo like a meteor:
"Star Series: 500,000 Units Sold in 90 Seconds"
It instantly rocketed into the top 10 trending topics nationwide.
The last time China Star saw this kind of buzz?
The release of the Hongmeng S1 was two years ago.
With a superior OS and in-house chip design, the Star Series had now become the most disruptive low-end mobile release in years.
📉 The Fallout Begins
Competitor brands?
They panicked.
Within hours, dozens of phone manufacturers across China issued emergency statements—and began slashing prices.
No one wanted to compete head-on with a tech juggernaut like China Star.
📍 Meanwhile, in Shenzhen – Huawei Press Conference
Huawei had its event that day, announcing that it would officially spin off its Honor series into an independent sub-brand.
The newly separated Honor brand would launch its first phones—the Honor 3X and Honor 3C—in seven days.
It was the same day as China Star's second Star Series drop.
Inside Honor HQ, Zhao Liangyun, head of the new brand, stared at the news—and his face turned dark.
"Great. So now we're competing directly with China Star."
He knew it wasn't personal.
It wasn't sabotage.
It was just… lousy luck.
They'd planned their release schedule a month in advance. And now, they were stepping into a head-on launch day collision with the most dangerous name in mobile tech.
His assistant hesitated before suggesting:
"Maybe… we delay by two or three days?"
Zhao didn't respond.
But deep down, he was fuming.
"I thought we were going to benchmark Xiaomi.
Instead, we ran straight into China Star."
"And there's no room to retreat."