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"Ahem, Old Yuan, we know each other so well. Wouldn't it be inappropriate for me to make demands? I'll give you the custom version of the Intelligent Assistant for free."

"Look how generous I am. Shouldn't you give me a Military Unit plaque in return? After all, we're a military-civilian cooperation unit."

The moment Yuan Jingsong heard "free," he sensed something was off. Sure enough, someone Zhou had been right—there was no such thing as a free lunch.

On the surface, Li Zhou seemed to be asking for nothing more than a stainless steel plaque. In reality, he was looking for backing for himself. Still, the state was willing to protect independent scientists like Li Zhou.

However, Yuan Jingsong could not simply issue such a plaque on his own. He still had to seek approval from his superior.

Yuan Jingsong looked calmly at Li Zhou. "Anything else?"

"And don't act so familiar with me. It scares me."

"Old Yuan, if you keep acting like this, then I won't hold back."

"Actually, there is something. Help me find a few retired special forces soldiers. The pay will be generous. You know, money isn't the issue."

"It'd be even better if you could equip them with one of these!" After saying that, Li Zhou raised his right hand and made a gesture at Yuan Jingsong.

"That's all."

Only after confirming that Li Zhou truly had no further demands did Yuan Jingsong let out a sigh of relief. Honestly, even if Li Zhou had not brought up those requests, they had already planned to secretly arrange protection for him.

They had originally worried that Li Zhou would notice, but now things were much easier.

Yuan Jingsong gave Li Zhou a deep look before speaking. "I can't make the decision on your requests. I need to ask my superior."

Li Zhou made a welcoming gesture toward Yuan Jingsong, who then left the living room.

Li Zhou still had no idea who the superior Yuan Jingsong had mentioned was. If he had known, he probably would not have been smiling so happily.

As time slowly passed in the living room, half an hour went by. Seeing that Yuan Jingsong had yet to return, Li Zhou began to feel worried.

Fortunately, just as Li Zhou was growing anxious, Yuan Jingsong pushed open the door and returned.

"My superior has agreed. The people you asked for and the Military Unit plaque will arrive by tomorrow at the latest."

With a definite answer, Li Zhou finally felt at ease.

"Wait here. I'll go get the USB drive."

Without waiting for Yuan Jingsong to speak, Li Zhou happily ran up to the second-floor room, picked up a USB drive from the bedside table, and headed back downstairs.

Li Zhou winked at Yuan Jingsong.

"Here, the big treasure you wanted."

The moment Yuan Jingsong received the USB drive, he shouted.

"Xiao Sun, the security case!"

As soon as Yuan Jingsong finished speaking, the two soldiers standing guard at the door walked in. One of them somehow produced a small black case and held it in his arms.

Yuan Jingsong took the black case, solemnly placed the USB drive Li Zhou had given him inside, and gently closed it.

With a click.

Yuan Jingsong slipped a silver handcuff attached to the case onto his wrist.

After finishing all this, Yuan Jingsong and the other two saluted Li Zhou before preparing to leave.

Seeing Yuan Jingsong about to go, Li Zhou hurriedly added something.

"Brother Yuan, the Intelligent Assistant is such a great product for the public. Help me promote it, will you? It'd be even better if you have connections with Central Mother."

Yuan Jingsong took a deep breath and nodded. Then, as though his feet had been greased, he swiftly ran off with the two soldiers.

Watching the three of them flee so quickly, Li Zhou could not help twitching at the corner of his mouth.

"Am I really that scary?"

Not long after Yuan Jingsong left, Li Zhou's father and mother returned. What was more, a whole group of people followed behind them—all of them neighbors.

The sight gave Li Zhou a headache. He picked up his laptop and returned to his room.

When Li Zhou opened his computer again, he discovered that total payments received had already exceeded three billion yuan. At the current rate, it would probably surpass ten billion within a week.

Sigh, I didn't expect my three-billion target to be completed so quickly.

That evening, after dinner, Li Zhou sat on the sofa watching the evening news, which he had not watched in a long time.

Don't ask why. That afternoon, Li Zhou had received a call from Yuan Jingsong. That guy had said only eight words: "Remember to watch the evening news." Then he had immediately hung up, leaving Li Zhou thoroughly annoyed. Li Zhou felt that he needed to trick Old Yuan next time, or it would not be fair to himself.

From the end of dinner onward, Li Zhou watched the news with his father and mother. Only when the broadcast was nearly over did he finally get to the main course.

"It is said that Artificial Intelligence is the key to the next era, and now that key is in our country's hands!"

"Recently, after continuous research and development by a team led by Future Technology Co., Ltd., Artificial Intelligence has achieved a major breakthrough! That's right, it is the Intelligent Assistant that many viewers are already using. The official launch of the Intelligent Assistant means that our country has taken the lead in the world in the field of Artificial Intelligence!"

"Here, we sincerely thank those unsung researchers."

"That concludes today's News Broadcast. Goodbye."

Li Zhou's mother looked utterly shocked upon seeing the final news report.

"Old Li, isn't our son's company called Future Technology?"

"Yes!"

"Our son's company was on the news?"

"If the news was not wrong, then yes."

Looking at his father, who appeared calm on the surface but was inwardly delighted, and his mother, who sat there smiling smugly and basking in self-satisfaction,

Li Zhou covered his forehead, unable to bear watching any longer, and went straight back to his room.

Lying comfortably on the bed, Li Zhou silently counted the numbers in his bank account.

Ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousand, hundred thousand, million, ten million, hundred million, billion!

There were a full ten digits before the decimal point, leaving Li Zhou deeply satisfied.

"Now that I have milk and bread, it's time to find someone to work for me."

Li Zhou was good at sitting around and counting money, but asking him to build and manage a company from scratch was simply too much for him.

Everyone had their own specialty. The funding was already in place, so if he did not find someone to work for him now, was he supposed to let the money in the bank sit there gathering dust?

Who had the largest talent pool? Naturally, it was Liebao Company. After all, they were professionals who made their living doing exactly this.

After registering a boss account, Li Zhou verified his identity.

Li Zhou directly sent his prepared recruitment requirements to Liebao Company.

First, applicants had to have work experience at a Fortune Global 500 company.

Second, regardless of gender, applicants could not be over forty-five years old.

In Li Zhou's view, people over forty-five generally lacked drive. They were too steady and cautious, making them unsuitable for a young company like Future Technology, which was taking increasingly bigger strides.

Third, they had to be willing to live in a small city below the third tier.

Generous compensation, negotiable in person.

The first two conditions were fine. Given Future Technology's current popularity, Li Zhou guessed that most applicants would have no problem meeting them. But the third condition would probably put many people in a difficult position.

It had to be said that Liebao Company was fast. After learning that Li Zhou was Future Technology's owner, it quickly selected ten resumes from its talent pool and sent them over.

Future Technology was a company that nobody had known before yesterday, but once the news broke, who in the industry did not know its name?