The video production was incredibly fast, completed that very same day.
When the head of the Yangcheng Culture and Tourism Bureau saw the final cut, he immediately gave the green light for its release!
The video editing was rhythmic, and the aerial shots captured the mountain and water scenery of City, a fifth-tier small City, with a touch of otherworldly charm.
However, that wasn't the main point.
The true core was the young man standing behind the counter of the "Old Lu Hardware Store"—Lu You.
Under the lens, he didn't have the exaggerated expressions of an internet celebrity, nor did he shout his wares until he was hoarse.
He just stood there quietly, his eyes as calm as a deep pool.
Facing the camera and various ridiculously tricky requests from fans who came to challenge him—"Boss, do you have the legendary Gale Bird from Marble Legend?"
"Boss, I want to buy a robot that can automatically do homework."
"Boss, do you have a custom Ultraman Tiga bodysuit?"
From beginning to end, his answer was always a single word, accompanied by a firm and indifferent nod.
"Yes!"
The end of the video featured a joint display between the official Yangcheng Culture and Tourism Bureau account and the "Old Lu Hardware Store" account.
And that challenge rule, enough to set the entire internet ablaze, was printed in the center of the screen in bold, black, eye-catching font.
At exactly six o'clock that evening, the video was released simultaneously through Lu You's personal account in the form of a "co-creation."
Initially, it was just Lu You's original fan base flooding in immediately.
The comment section was still a peaceful scene of daily greetings like "Boss is awesome" and "Boss finally updated."
Then, the platform's algorithm began to exert its power.
After pushing this officially endorsed, highly explosive video to hundreds of millions of users.
In just one hour, likes surpassed one hundred thousand.
In three hours, likes surpassed five hundred thousand.
Overnight, the number of likes on this video had boldly broken through the million mark!
The number of comments grew exponentially, skyrocketing from a few thousand to over a hundred thousand.
And it was still refreshing at a rate of hundreds of comments per minute.
It had become a grand internet spectacle of shock and skepticism.
The first thing to explode was, naturally, that challenge rule which acted like a depth charge.
Top comment: [Any item under 100,000 yuan? If you can't produce it, you pay 10,000? Am I seeing this right?]
[Does this boss have a gold mine at home, or is there water in his brain? Are you sure this rule wasn't written by a temporary worker?]
[@Yangcheng Culture and Tourism Bureau, come out and take a few steps. Are you going to take the blame for this?]
Beneath this comment, thousands of replies were instantly posted.
[I've already started looking at plane tickets. Are there any warriors who want to go together to fleece this guy?]
[Let's form a group. Each person makes one request. I don't believe he has Everything You Need!]
[Each person makes a clean 10,000 profit, round-trip airfare is reimbursed, and we get a free tour of City. This overwhelming wealth is finally my turn!]
[The person above must be a bit sick. Anyone who's finished nine years of compulsory education wouldn't think of something so naive.]
[This is 100% a joint hype campaign by Yangcheng Culture and Tourism Bureau, a new City marketing gimmick.]
[If you actually go, he'll just find an excuse, like 'the value of this item exceeds 100,000,']
[Or just say 'we're out of stock today, come back tomorrow.' You're in an unfamiliar place; what can you do to him?]
[In the end, you won't get any wool, and they'll be laughing behind your back.]
[Verified as a pure script. That boss's expression is too calm. Wouldn't a normal person laugh out loud hearing about a homework robot?]
[Even so... that word 'Yes' is really captivating. I've played it on loop thirty times. Now my head is full of 'Yes! Yes! Yes!' I feel like my mental state is far ahead of the curve!]
As the popularity soared, skepticism and meme-making became the mainstream.
But soon, those ironclad videos Lu You had accumulated previously were dug up by old fans.
[That guy before who asked for an aircraft carrier model—the boss actually brought one out. A 1:700 ultra-precision version with photo-etched parts, the kind that's completely out of stock on the market.]
[And that person who wanted a discontinued game card—the boss found that too! I'm a local from City, I can testify. Since this shop opened, I've never heard of anyone succeeding in a challenge.]
[As long as the challenge is successful, compensation is guaranteed, but so far no one has been able to succeed.]
This seemingly ordinary defense was like a fuse, igniting the excitement of another group of special netizens.
[Oh? No one has succeeded yet? This is getting interesting.]
[I'm not short on money, I just love to play. The 100,000 yuan threshold is set well; it filters out wild fantasies while giving enough room for maneuver. Brothers, I'm going first. I'll livestream meeting this Doraemon.]
[The fun of this challenge isn't in that 10,000 yuan, but in the process of 'winning.' To make this 'Omnipotent Boss' say 'I don't have it' with his own mouth—the sense of achievement is exciting just thinking about it.]
Some usually low-profile wealthy guys, tech geeks, and collectors began to feel restless.
They didn't lack money; they lacked fun and novel things that could pique their interest.
This kind of competitive challenge held a fatal attraction for them.
The enthusiasm of netizens quickly spread from online to offline.
"What's fun to do in City?"
"What are the local specialties of City? I'll bring some back after a successful challenge."
"Guide for challenging Old Lu Hardware Store in City: Day 1 landing, Day 2 challenging, Day 3..."
Various travel guides and challenge plans began to emerge on major social platforms.
Yangcheng City, this fifth-tier small City that no one had even heard of on the map of Dragon Country.
Its internet search index exploded thousands of times overnight. Plane tickets to Yangcheng City on major travel apps and local hotel bookings began to show abnormal surges.
The phones at the Yangcheng Culture and Tourism Bureau were nearly ringing off the hook.
No one expected that this collaboration with the "Old Lu Hardware Store" would be so terrifying!
The effect was a hundred times better than hiring an A-list celebrity for an endorsement!
On the morning of the second day, just as this internet craze reached its peak.
A shiny black luxury sedan stopped at the street corner opposite the crowded "Old Lu Hardware Store."
The car door opened, and a polished Bally leather shoe was the first to hit the ground.
Next, a man in his thirties, wearing a crisp dark jacket and gold-rimmed glasses, stepped out.
He had a tall stature and a steady, capable temperament.
Between his brows was a shrewdness settled from long-term negotiations and controlling situations.
His name was Li Wei, a procurement manager for a large-scale engineering project in Yangcheng City under Dragon Country Construction—a giant infrastructure conglomerate ranked among the Fortune Global 500.