With the main tasks settled, I relaxed.

Su Zelin opened QQ. It was a five-digit number, which would be incredibly valuable if sold later on.

Five-digit QQ numbers could only be registered in 1998. At that time, internet cafes in the country were still rare, and the high internet fees discouraged many curious people, so internet users were quite scarce.

However, Su Zelin was among the earliest internet users, someone who loved chasing new things, even at great cost. He came from a well-off family, with plenty of pocket money from his parents. Although he never experienced the 40 yuan per hour internet cafes, once the price dropped to 10 yuan per hour, he stepped into his first internet cafe and became a regular.

Back then, everything on the internet fascinated him. Not long after QQ was launched, he immediately registered to try it out.

If delayed by just one year to 1999, he would have only been able to register a six-digit QQ, and by 2000, a seven-digit number.

If reborn in 1998, he would have directly registered a bunch of five-digit QQ numbers. A decent-looking number could fetch hundreds of thousands later, even the cheaper ones were worth tens of thousands.

Seven-digit QQ numbers held no value, and Su Zelin wasn't interested in registering more of those. Although it was a cost-free investment, the return period was too long.

The 2000 version of QQ had a very simplistic interface, essentially a pure communication software without the many flashy features of later years like QQ Pets, QZone, FarmVille clones, music... none of those were visible, not even QQ signatures, which would only appear in the 2001 version.

At this point, the communication software was entirely free.

Su Zelin couldn't help but feel nostalgic.

Tencent was once pure, unlike the future "Top-up for happiness, play for free? You're kidding!" demeanor of Tencent.

It wasn't until the 2002 version that Tencent launched its first value-added service - QQ Show, corresponding to QQ version 2002 beta II.

Before launching QQ Show, Tencent had even considered charging for chatting. Fortunately, QQ Show earned its first fortune; otherwise, it's hard to say whether the Tencent empire would have emerged later.

However, compared to the 1998 version, the 2000 version did have some changes, like adding a pager SMS feature.

As the name implies, it could send messages to pagers.

At this time, mobile phones were still very expensive, and quite a few people were still using pagers. Yet, it's guessed that 99% of those present have probably never used this feature.

The custom avatar feature hadn't been launched yet, and Su Zelin's QQ used the classic sunglasses avatar, which could, to some extent, reveal the user's personality. For instance, Su Zelin's avatar suggested he liked to act cool.

It wasn't the most used avatar; male users, especially the younger ones, preferred another avatar of a brown-haired boy because it looked more handsome. Meanwhile, female users favored an avatar of a burgundy-haired character. These two avatars possibly dominated nearly half of QQ users at the time.

The interface popped up, accompanied by continuous cough notification sounds, with a bunch of avatars bouncing up.

For newcomers to QQ, seeing this was as exhilarating as getting a shot of adrenaline.

But for Su Zelin, who had been reborn, it was quite calming.

Almost all of these messages were from girls. Naturally, Su Zelin wouldn't add male users just for fun. At this time, there were still very few men pretending to be women online, so user gender generally matched their avatars.

Su Zelin was what would later be called a "social butterfly." In real life, he could even charm the cafeteria aunties, and online he was even more at ease.

He was easy-going and especially adept at flirting, having a whole set of cheeky lines.

Someone else might greet a new friend like this.

"Hi!"

"Hello!"

"How old are you?"

"Are you female?"

"Nice to meet you!"

"..."

Upon meeting again, the exchanges would be...

"Are you there?"

"Where are you?"

"What are you doing?"

"Have you eaten?"

"..."

If you wanted to collect a hundred ways to kill a conversation, you could easily survey those early QQ users from around 2000.

Such awkward exchanges wouldn't last long before the girl stopped responding.

As for Su Zelin, his approach was different.

Just added a new friend.

"Wow, awesome, I caught a cute one!"

This line might seem cringey or silly, potentially scaring off a friend?

No, actually it's not.

Compared to the boring "Hi" and "Hello," this flirty line left a much stronger impression on female users.

In this era, many female chatters were seeking excitement online; between mundane and cheeky conversation starters, many preferred the latter.

As for why not just call them a beauty?

Because that term was too common; any female gets called a beauty, meaning it's lost its significance, making listeners indifferent rather than happy. Instead, "cute one" is both playful and intimate.

Of course, there would be women who found such openers too casual and might choose not to respond.

But that's okay.

If there's no response, it means she's not cheeky enough.

There's little chance of flirting with such prim women, so it's not worth wasting three yuan an hour of valuable online time; just delete them.

Anyone who can withstand this opener and continue chatting is worth it.

Su Zelin referred to this skill as "precisely defining the target audience."

Oh, choosing an online name is important too, just like sharpening an axe won't delay the woodcutting.

For example, Su Zelin's nickname was "Handsome Since One Year Old."

Pretty corny isn't it?

But in that era, it was quite trendy.

The key is, with such a nickname, people wouldn't think you're a creepy old guy, but more of a trendy youth, making it easier to lower their guard.

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