Chapter 221: The Rich Guy Smashes a Shenhua N7—And the Reason Is—
After arranging the outstanding employees, Pei Qian went back to his rental apartment and pulled out the packages that had just been delivered.
This time, Pei Qian bought two phones at once.
One was Shenhua's newest flagship model, the Shenhua N7, priced at 4,199 yuan, mainly targeting business users.
The other was the latest flagship from the overseas manufacturer MSC, the B90, priced at over 4,600 yuan.
In this world, many industries had developed quite differently compared to what Pei Qian remembered. At this point in time, domestic phone manufacturers should have just been starting to gain traction, still struggling to compete with overseas brands. But here, Shenhua's smartphone business had clearly advanced rapidly.
Although its flagship models couldn't yet rival Pineapple's phones in overall strength, Shenhua had already firmly established itself in the 4,000+ yuan price bracket. That was three or four years earlier than in Pei Qian's memory.
Of course, considering the development pace of smartphones and mobile games in this world, Pei Qian didn't find this too surprising.
Anyway, that wasn't the main point.
The main point was that today's second "victim" was the Shenhua N7.
As for the MSC phone—that one could wait for the next episode.
Just like last time, Pei Qian used his own phone to record the process, following his usual routine step by step.
First, waterproof performance. Then, drop resistance. Then, strike resistance, disassembly—
In short, he tortured the phone as brutally as possible.
Once the whole routine was done, he quickly cut and rendered the video, then uploaded it.
"Alright, job done!"
Pei Qian stretched lazily.
Work was exhausting.
And to be fair, the Shenhua N7's durability really wasn't bad. Its back cover was even tougher than the Pineapple phone's. Pei Qian hadn't been able to pry it open as easily as last time and had to put in quite a bit more effort.
But as the saying goes, brute force creates miracles. In the end, there was still no phone Pei Qian couldn't tear apart.
After everything was wrapped up, he realized it had taken less time than expected—he still had energy for something else.
"Hmm… Perfect. Why don't I just do the MSC flagship today too?"
"After that, I can take a break from phones and start working on other gadgets. Headphones, cameras, laptops—lots of things could fit the bill."
Yawning, Pei Qian cracked open a can of cola for a caffeine boost and got started on Hardcore Review, Episode 3.
Of course, posting two videos at once wouldn't do. His plan was to wait until tomorrow to see how this episode performed. If it did well, he could release the MSC one tomorrow or the day after.
…
…
Once Hardcore Review, Episode 2: Shenhua N7 went live on Aili Island, fans who had followed the account after the first episode quickly got the notification.
Although the "Hardcore Review" account didn't have many followers yet, lots of people had subscribed after watching Episode 1. So as soon as the second episode dropped, the comment section lit up.
"Holy crap, Episode 2 already?!"
"Last time it was the Pineapple 4, and now it's the Shenhua N7? The first two videos together don't even have 5,000 views, but the production costs are already close to ten grand?!"
"Pineapple 4 was nearly 5,000 yuan, Shenhua N7 is 4,199—together that's over 9,000! All I can say is that the world of rich people is beyond us!"
"This has to be reuploaded from somewhere, right?"
"It's not a reupload. I searched everywhere and couldn't find this 'Hardcore Review' account anywhere else. Looks like Aili Island is the first to have it."
"This guy's a real rich dude!"
"Say no more—like, coin, and share. Just for the production cost alone, this deserves support!"
A lot of viewers started forwarding the video around.
Thanks to the traction from the first episode, this second video was already drawing in more people.
And lately, since there hadn't been any new product launches, the digital section was a bit lifeless, with nothing fresh to talk about.
So this video, uploaded at just the right time, naturally got more attention.
Plus, with keywords like "hardcore," "review," and "Shenhua N7," anyone searching those terms would likely stumble onto it as well.
…
That evening.
Peng City.
Hu Xiao had just finished a heated battle with a particularly persistent forum user, and his mood was still unsettled.
As the founder of "Little Fox Reviews," Hu Xiao was doing pretty well for himself. After all, audiences these days were easy to fool, fan money was easy to grab, and many overseas manufacturers were generous with their sponsorships.
As a professional Shenhua-hater, Hu Xiao had always seen it as his mission to tear Shenhua down and smear its reputation. But the more he cursed, the better Shenhua's phones sold—an infuriating reality.
Just now, he had been fighting on a forum, trading insults with a Shenhua supporter until the argument escalated to the classic "greetings to each other's immediate family."
Still seething, Hu Xiao opened the digital section on Aili Island, planning to casually browse for new videos.
"Huh? Hardcore Review, Episode 2: Shenhua N7?"
"Never heard of this review group. Must be new?"
Curious, Hu Xiao clicked the video.
It wasn't long, barely ten minutes. Most of it was shot in a single take, with only a few rough editing cuts visible.
But the content itself nearly made Hu Xiao laugh out loud.
This? They call this a review?
This was straight-up phone abuse!
First dunking it in water, then dropping it, then hacking at it with a kitchen knife—
The teardown at the end was even more ridiculous. Using a flathead screwdriver, the guy pried along a crack in the back cover. Then, while pulling apart the components inside, he followed the principle of "brute force makes miracles." Wires still connected? Glue still holding things down? Who cares—just rip it apart.
You could even see the veins bulging on his hand from how much strength he was using.
By the time there was nothing left to tear down, the phone was completely totaled, like it had been through a car crash.
And the funniest part? The host actually claimed he would "restore" the phone, then shamelessly played the teardown footage in reverse.
"Good stuff!"
"Seeing a Shenhua phone smashed up like this just feels so satisfying. Gotta share it!"
"I wanna smash one too, but I can't afford it."
Having just finished flaming Shenhua fans online, Hu Xiao was still full of pent-up rage.
Now, after watching a video where someone beat up a Shenhua phone, his mood instantly brightened.
No need to say more—share it!
Hu Xiao's main base of operations for "Little Fox Reviews" was on Weibo, but his Aili Island account also had three to four hundred thousand followers.
While that number wasn't huge, his fans were all highly combative, and Hu Xiao could also call on specialized troll teams. If he wanted to stir up some drama, it was a piece of cake.
When he reposted the video, he added a line:
"Rich guy smashes Shenhua N7 in rage, and the reason is—"
After typing that, Hu Xiao couldn't help but laugh.
To people who didn't know the context, it would look like some wealthy buyer had purchased the Shenhua N7 but was dissatisfied with it and smashed it out of anger.
It was underhanded, yes, but not too over the line—just standard clickbait. Not enough to provoke widespread outrage and get Hu Xiao flamed across the internet.
If anyone came after him, he could just brush it off with, "Relax, it's just a joke." If they insisted, then they'd look oversensitive and petty.
This was peak trolling—Hu Xiao was a seasoned hand at it.
After reposting, though, Hu Xiao did feel a flicker of curiosity.
What exactly was this "Hardcore Review" team?
When Hu Xiao did reviews, it was usually sponsored content, and he'd score a free phone along the way.
But this? It clearly wasn't a paid promotion.
If Shenhua really hired this group, there was no way they'd allow content that abused their phone like that.
Besides, everyone in the industry knew Shenhua rarely worked with review outlets. Hu Xiao himself had never been able to get any deals from them—which was why his frustration gradually turned into a vendetta, making him a professional Shenhua-hater.
So… could it be that Hardcore Review really was just spending their own money for clicks?
And the phone was definitely real. Before the test, it powered on normally, and even after being dunked in water, the host demonstrated various functions. Which shows that it's clearly not a dummy unit.
Wrecking a brand-new flagship phone for every episode?
The world of the rich… Hu Xiao just couldn't wrap his head around it.
Still, he didn't dwell on it. Humming a cheerful tune, he went off to wash up, perfectly content.
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