Chapter 14: Launch

However, Li Ya didn’t pay much attention to the “market potential” her older brother mentioned. What truly occupied her heart was the soon-to-be-born electronic pet.

With eager anticipation, Li Ya looked at her brother and coaxed, “Big brother, once it’s developed, you have to be the first to install it on my phone.”

“You?” Li Ping’an glanced at his sister with a slight tilt of his head upon hearing her request.

His eyes held a hint of teasing skepticism as he said lightly, “You? Don’t I know you well enough? With your careless nature, you’ll probably end up killing it.

In the rules I set, if you don’t interact with the electronic pet for a long time or fail to feed it, the pet will gradually lose its ‘memory’ and eventually revert to its original state.”

“You’re at school most of the time—when would you have time to interact with it?”

Li Ya’s eyes widened upon hearing her brother’s stipulation.

“Wow! Big brother, you’re so cruel!”

The next day, Li Ping’an methodically uploaded the carefully packaged installation files to the app stores of various major phone manufacturers, initiating the review process.

Because each platform’s review mechanisms and efficiency vary, if all went well, these installation packages would be available for users within three to five days.

During this waiting period, Li Ping’an did not slack off. He promptly expanded the NAS cloud storage to accommodate the users’ basic data.

As for making the AI smarter, Li Ping’an’s current financial strength simply wouldn’t allow it.

Just purchasing a Huawei Atlas900 for AI training costs over a hundred million yuan per unit!

His resources just didn’t permit it!

This explained why only the big internet companies could truly master the AI domain.

Time passed swiftly, and two days later, just before the Lunar New Year.

Apart from Apple and Huawei’s latest Next system, which were still pending, almost all other major app stores had completed their reviews and officially launched Li Ping’an’s software on the same day.

Before the computer, Li Ping’an could hardly contain his excitement. He eagerly opened the Da Mi app store, quickly searched for, and downloaded the “Pet Spirit” app, ready to personally experience the fruit of his labor.

After a detailed and thorough trial, Li Ping’an was generally satisfied.

Though the app had achieved initial success, it still had some shortcomings. The most obvious was the lack of a rich variety of skins for the interface.

Overall aesthetic improvements had significant room for enhancement and urgently needed meticulous refinement in the future.

His gaze briefly lingered on Huawei’s new system. After careful consideration, given the relatively small user base and the less favorable input-output ratio of adapting the software at this time, Li Ping’an decided to set it aside for now.

He planned to optimize and expand the software deeply with Huawei’s new front-end development language after the New Year when he had more leisure time.

Filled with anticipation and joy, Li Ping’an stepped lightly out of his room and paced over to his sister’s door, gently knocking.

“Li Ya,” he called softly.

“What is it?” came her voice from inside.

Soon the door opened slowly, and Li Ya appeared at the threshold, her gaze falling on her slightly disheveled, somewhat tired but excited older brother.

“Search for ‘Pet Spirit’ in the app market. The software your big brother developed is officially launched. Try it out quickly, and if you like it, remember to recommend it to your classmates,” Li Ping’an said with a beaming smile, his eyes full of hope.

“Already launched? So fast!”

Li Ya was momentarily stunned, surprise showing on her face.

In her previous understanding, developing software seemed like a long, massive project.

She never expected her brother could complete it and get it successfully launched in such a short time. It left her both amazed and admiring.

Without hesitation, Li Ya picked up her phone, expertly opened the app store, and entered “Pet Spirit” into the search bar.

In an instant, a simple icon featuring a single white egg representing the Pet Spirit app appeared before her eyes.

Checking the details, she found the app package was just over thirty megabytes.

Thanks to their gigabit broadband at home, the download was lightning-fast, completed almost instantly.

Seeing her sister finish downloading smoothly, Li Ping’an exited the room with satisfaction.

He gently closed the door behind him and returned to his workspace.

He knew well that launching the software was only the first step of a long journey. To let more people know about and use Pet Spirit, he had to devote himself fully to promotion and marketing next.

Back in his room, besides posting on his friend circle, Li Ping’an started advertising in various chat groups and uploading short videos of Pet Spirit on major short video platforms.

It wasn’t that Li Ping’an didn’t want to buy advertisement traffic—it was just too costly.

Meanwhile, in another room, Li Ya was gleefully playing with the newly downloaded Pet Spirit app.

Unintentionally, she discovered that this pet spirit her brother developed seemed to harbor unexpectedly powerful features.

It wasn’t limited to simple chat interactions—it even possessed problem-solving abilities!

This surprising revelation thrilled Li Ya. Her eyes instantly fell upon the unfinished physics test paper on her desk.

With a sudden idea, she quickly activated the photo input function in the Pet Spirit’s input box, snapped a picture of a difficult physics problem, and eagerly fed it to the white egg-shaped pet spirit that was still hatching.

On the white egg’s screen, a speech bubble popped up instantly, clearly displaying the words: “Thinking...”

After a brief three seconds, an astonishing scene unfolded.

The still-hatching egg methodically provided a detailed solution process. Its problem-solving approach was clear and logical, meticulous and rigorous.

Li Ya carefully compared the answer with the test paper and found that the pet spirit’s solution process, hints, and final result were spot on—completely correct!

“Wow!”

Li Ya exclaimed, her eyes sparkling with excitement and delight.

“This is amazing!”

“This is so good!”

She danced with joy, her admiration and pride for her brother swelling in her heart.

Such a brilliant piece of software was truly crafted by her big brother—it was almost unbelievable.

Indeed, only a mind sharp enough to get into Shuimu University could create such a marvel.

Driven by her surprise and excitement, Li Ya didn’t hesitate and immediately shared Pet Spirit with her school friends, proudly boasting,

“This is the software my older brother developed!”

Her words brimmed with pride and adoration for her brother.

In the 602 dorm group chat, Zhao Peng and several others, curious after seeing Li Ping’an’s message, downloaded the so-called “Pet Spirit” software developed by Li Ping’an.

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