Launch Event

(Regarding updates, I would normally maintain two updates a day. Since I wasn't a full-time writer and still had to work during the day, plus meetings every Monday night, updates might sometimes come a little later. Well, the new book had officially been signed, brothers and sisters—shower me with recommendation tickets and monthly tickets!)

A week later, Li Zhou led the company's more than two hundred employees in a grand march to the canyon for rafting.

Well, everyone except the company's ceo, Xiong Kexuan. After all, she had a little child to take care of.

The target Li Zhou had set for the new employees the previous week had unexpectedly been exceeded.

Not only had everyone completed Li Zhou's target, they had also secretly worked together to try developing an Intelligent Assistant behind his back.

Although the final product was riddled with flaws in Li Zhou's eyes and had extremely rudimentary functions, being able to switch from literature majors to programmers in just a few days and develop something resembling neither fish nor fowl had already far exceeded his expectations.

The person behind this whole spectacle was precisely the young girl Li Zhou had thought highly of—Ming Qiong!

Three hours of rafting in the scorching summer heat left everyone wanting more. Many of them discussed coming back again over the weekend.

After Li Zhou took the company group into the county town for a lavish meal, he finally had the buses send everyone back to the company dormitories.

Early in the morning, the sun had only just risen. The temperature in the mountains was perfect—not as cold as at night, nor as scorching as midday in summer.

After arriving at the company at nine in the morning, Li Zhou headed straight for Xiong Kexuan's office.

When Li Zhou reached Xiong Kexuan's office, he found only her secretary there. Xiong Kexuan herself was nowhere to be seen.

When Wang Fei saw the boss arrive with four personal bodyguards, she hurried forward to greet him, not daring to underestimate him just because he was younger than her.

"Boss, you're here."

Li Zhou sat directly in Xiong Kexuan's leather executive chair.

"Where's Xiong Kexuan?"

Wang Fei made a cup of tea for her boss, Li Zhou, and placed it on the desk.

"Ms. Xuan hasn't arrived yet. She should be here soon."

Li Zhou blew on the still-steaming tea and tried taking a small sip. He found it far too hot to drink in large gulps.

With nothing else to do, Li Zhou could only idly fiddle with his phone.

About ten minutes later, footsteps approached from afar.

The moment Xiong Kexuan entered the office carrying the child, she saw Li Zhou sitting in her office chair.

After handing the wide-eyed Xiao Nuonuo, who was looking around curiously, to Wang Fei, Xiong Kexuan smiled and said, "What wind blew you here? You can count the number of times you've visited my office on one hand, and every time you come, it's never good news."

Xiong Kexuan pulled out a wet wipe and wiped the fine sweat from her forehead. Although it still wasn't hot outside, she had worked up a sweat after carrying Xiao Nuonuo for a while.

"Tell me, my dear boss. What are your orders this time?"

Li Zhou rolled his eyes at Xiong Kexuan. He was just lazy; it wasn't as though he came to bother her every single time like she claimed.

Li Zhou got up and walked over to Wang Fei, reaching his evil hand toward Xiao Nuonuo in her arms and poking her soft, chubby little cheek.

"Xiao Nuonuo is being so good today!"

Seeing Li Zhou continuously tease her daughter until the little girl was about to cry, Xiong Kexuan glared at him.

Li Zhou clearly noticed the little girl's discomfort as well. He gave an awkward smile and quietly withdrew his evil hand.

"These hundred-odd people can barely be put to use now. Make the arrangements—we'll hold a launch event this Friday."

Xiong Kexuan stared at Li Zhou in surprise. How long had it even been?

"Are you really planning to release that thing?"

"What else? The people in the company have basically grown into their roles now, even if their abilities vary. Whether we release it early or late won't make much difference to Future Technology anymore, but it'll be completely different for the country."

Xiong Kexuan suddenly burst into laughter. "Boss, I guarantee that after Friday's launch event, a lot of people will be cursing Future Technology."

"As soon as our launch event ends, those programmers will definitely be called back by their bosses to work overtime researching it. Otherwise, what awaits them will either be their companies going bankrupt or the programmers themselves being eliminated."

Li Zhou shrugged indifferently.

"Don't worry. They learn quickly. As for those overseas, it might be very unfriendly for them."

For a moment, the office was filled with laughter. Even Xiao Nuonuo, who still understood nothing, was infected by their mood and started giggling.

After confirming the Friday launch event, Xiong Kexuan became busy again. First, she found the county stadium and temporarily rented the venue.

Then she had dedicated personnel deliver Future Technology's launch event invitations to major manufacturers, top software companies, and major media outlets.

Finally, she posted the invitation on the official Weibo account and website, along with the words, "Meet in Huo County on August 2!"

A month later, Future Technology once again surged onto the trending searches.

After discovering that Future Technology would hold a launch event on August 2, netizens began speculating about what it would release this time.

After all, Future Technology hadn't even held a launch event when Intelligent Assistant went online.

Of course, the netizens didn't know that Future Technology had consisted of Li Zhou alone at the time. What launch event could there have been?

As more and more people speculated, all kinds of theories emerged.

But the most common guesses were that it would be a launch event for Intelligent Assistant or for the second-generation Intelligent Assistant.

On August 2, traffic in Huo County came to a complete standstill. To ensure that Future Technology's first launch event could proceed normally, the county temporarily opened a dedicated route from the city straight to the stadium.

For Future Technology's first launch event, everyone who received an invitation showed up without exception.

Inside the enormous stadium, aside from the invited attendees, anyone who looked around would find quite a few international visitors present as well.

As time passed, everyone gradually took their seats.

At exactly ten in the morning, the entire stadium suddenly went dark until it was pitch-black. Everyone knew that Future Technology's launch event had officially begun!

Suddenly, a beam of light shone onto the central stage, where a young woman with a smile on her face stood in the middle.

Xiong Kexuan took a small step forward.

Smiling, she spoke in a gentle tone.

"Some say that Artificial Intelligence will bring convenience to humanity, make our lives more efficient, and leave criminals with nowhere to hide."

"Others say that Artificial Intelligence will cause us to lose our jobs and leave countless workers at the grassroots level uncertain about where their futures lie."

"Some even say that Artificial Intelligence is a disaster, that one day it may rebel against humanity just like in the movies and lead humanity to destruction."