Negotiation

The Hailing City Airport hadn't seen such a grand display in a long time.

Since Hailing was, after all, a third-tier city, not many people traveled through it. Most people opted for cars, as Hailing didn't even have high-speed rail, which had always been a sore point for its residents.

This airport, which had been so hard to establish, was even shared with Yang City. It was just a 4E-class civil airport with a single terminal covering over 30,000 square meters, one runway, and thirteen aprons – truly meager.

Furthermore, it only had 45 domestic and international routes open, with 36 domestic city routes, meaning many people had to transfer to get here.

Today, however, Yanghai Airport was bustling with activity. Prominent entrepreneurs and foreigners arrived one after another, making the airport's management think something major had happened, and they personally led their teams to welcome the guests.

Ten Hongqi L5 welcoming cars were already parked at the airport entrance. Each of these cars cost 5 million, and they had nearly scoured Hailing and its surrounding areas to purchase them.

As each guest arrived, a car would specially escort them to the Haiyan Grand Hotel to check in. The sight of so many luxury cars drew constant glances from passersby, who took pictures. These photos quickly went viral on social media and the internet, sparking heated discussions.

The department manager of Haiyan Grand Hotel was also at the entrance, ready to receive guests, striving to leave a good impression.

Meanwhile, Chu Feng was currently hosting Zhou Hongwei, the chairman of the 361 Company, who had arrived earlier.

"Hello, Mr. Zhou," Chu Feng said, shaking Zhou Hongwei's outstretched right hand with a smile before inviting him and his entourage to sit.

He had neat, short hair and wore gold-rimmed glasses, but his eyes were sharp. His broad lips gave him the appearance of an honest man.

However, if you truly believed he was an honest man, you'd be devoured without a trace left. This was Zhou Hongwei, the chairman of the 361 Group.

Zhou Hongwei was accompanied by several people, including a regular office lady who was likely his secretary. Zhou Hongwei also introduced the others as vice presidents and the head of the technical department.

"Secretary, bring out the good tea I brought last time."

Chu Feng had his own secretary prepare the tea.

"You're too kind, Mr. Chu. You're truly young and promising," Zhou Hongwei said, sighing with praise after taking his seat.

Chu Feng, however, didn't take it to heart. "I don't deserve such praise, Mr. Zhou. You are a senior, a role model for us to learn from."

Zhou Hongwei smiled and shook his head. This kid is deflecting compliments with flattery, he thought, putting away his initial condescension.

"Mr. Chu, you seem very busy today, so let's get straight to the point."

Chu Feng was a bit surprised that Zhou Hongwei was so direct and didn't engage in pleasantries, but he didn't show it.

"Please, go ahead."

"The purpose of my visit today is, firstly, to personally see what kind of person Mr. Chu is, to have built such a foundation in just one month."

Chu Feng didn't interrupt Zhou Hongwei, merely listening with a smile.

"Secondly, I also want to see if our 361 Company has any opportunity for cooperation with your company."

"And how would Mr. Zhou like to cooperate?" Chu Feng asked calmly.

Zhou Hongwei took a folder from his secretary and handed it to Chu Feng.

Chu Feng accepted the file and read it carefully, a scoff escaping him internally.

This old fox has a clever plan. Technology sharing, customer access. Does Origin Company need 361's technology? And customers? With Origin Company's development, why would it lack customers?

Chu Feng calmly closed the folder.

"Mr. Zhou, your company's cooperation proposal lacks sincerity."

Before Zhou Hongwei could speak, a senior executive next to him interjected, "Mr. Chu, our 361 Company has a monthly active user base of 562 million on both PC and mobile. PC accounts for 72% of the market share, and mobile penetration is as high as 62%. With such a massive customer base, isn't sharing it with your company a sign of sincerity?"

"Heh, I have some understanding of your company's scale, and I believe what this gentleman said. But do you understand Origin Company?"

Without waiting for the other person to continue, Chu Feng picked up a file from the table.

"Origin Accelerator currently has 730 million installations on computers, and the Personal Butler System has 820 million installations. These numbers are still growing. This data is from yesterday morning, and Xiao Ke has only been released for less than a week."

Hearing Chu Feng's words, Zhou Hongwei and the others were somewhat surprised. They hadn't expected Origin Company's development to be so terrifying. What they had said earlier was practically a joke. Would a millionaire care about a thousand yuan investment offered by someone who only had ten thousand?

Zhou Hongwei stopped the department manager, whose face had turned red.

"Mr. Chu, have you considered that your company's entry-level artificial intelligence has first-class design and powerful technology? But Mr. Chu, what if hackers crack the program, steal customer data, or even use it for illegal activities? What then?"

Chu Feng scoffed internally.

If you could crack it, would you be running here?

"Surely your company has tested our software? The results should be clear, right?"

Chu Feng smiled and waited for Zhou Hongwei to finish before speaking.

"Regarding Xiao Ke's security, we have already made a commitment in the customer installation and usage instructions. If any losses are caused by cracking Xiao Ke, we will compensate tenfold, following Teacher Ma's promise."

Zhou Hongwei was also shocked by Chu Feng's confidence. How much self-assurance did one need to say such a thing? Even the renowned Zhifu Baobei in China wouldn't dare to promise tenfold compensation.

At this moment, the technical department manager also spoke.

"It seems Mr. Chu has great confidence in his software. However, we cannot neglect customer privacy protection. Within a legal and reasonable framework, we have analyzed Xiao Ke to a certain extent, but we cannot confirm if the software has any background programs that collect customer privacy, ultimately leading to customer distrust of our company's responsibility."

Hearing this, Chu Feng was close to rolling his eyes. People who are shameless are invincible. To be this shameless is truly something.

He really wanted to smash his phone in the manager's face and show him how many background programs were in his own app store. Last time, they were even criticized by the Ministry of Telecommunications for a bunch of junk software. Now, they couldn't crack it and had the nerve to talk about considering customer privacy?

Seeing Chu Feng remain silent, the manager thought he had convinced him and was about to continue, but Zhou Hongwei stopped him.

Zhou Hongwei inwardly sighed, "Damn idiot! Does he really have to download from your 361 Software Manager? There are so many other download channels... What a teammate."

"I believe what Mr. Chu says. Here's another document, Mr. Chu, you can take a look."

Zhou Hongwei had his secretary bring out another document and handed it to Chu Feng.

Chu Feng casually took it and opened it, a hint of surprise on his face.

This Zhou Hongwei really went all out.

10% of 361 Company's shares, customer sharing, resource sharing, company endorsement, and technical support from Origin Company.

This is a massive investment.

Putting aside other benefits, 10% of the shares alone – 361 Company is currently valued at over 300 billion, so he's giving away over 30 billion. That's no small gesture.

The other terms, sharing and endorsement, were exactly what Chu Feng needed most right now.

After all, although Chu Feng had the strength and ability, he had too little development time. Without the endorsement of a large company, people were still hesitant about a new technology.

Influenced by current movies and novels, people were still somewhat resistant to artificial intelligence. Didn't you see how AI were the villains in movies, always wanting to rule humanity?

Moreover, without a foundation, Chu Feng couldn't even dare to release many of his ideas. Couldn't Xiao Ke have Taobao's functionality? Couldn't it have WeChat's functionality?

He could only survive in the cracks because no one dared to push Chu Feng too hard. If his competitors gained Chu Feng's technical support, they would be utterly defeated.

But if Chu Feng took everyone's jobs, there would be no need for talk; they would just attack. Origin Company would definitely not be able to withstand it. He would face "nationwide suppression."