Negotiation

Hailing City Airport had not seen such a grand spectacle in a long time.

After all, Hailing was only a third-tier city, so there were not many travelers coming and going. Most people usually traveled by bus, since Hailing did not even have high-speed rail—a constant sore point for its residents.

The airport, which had been so difficult to build, was still shared with Yang City. It was merely a 4E-class civilian airport, with only one terminal covering just over thirty thousand square meters, one runway, and thirteen parking stands. It was truly shabby.

It also had only forty-five domestic and international routes, connecting to just thirty-six domestic cities, so many people had to transfer flights to get there.

Yet today, Yanghai Airport was unusually bustling. One famous entrepreneur after another, along with foreigners, appeared at the airport, making the airport officials think something major had happened. They personally led the reception team to welcome the arriving guests.

Ten Hongqi L5 reception cars had long been parked outside the airport. Each one cost five million yuan, and buying them had nearly cleared out the supply in Hailing and its surrounding areas.

Every guest who arrived was driven directly to the Haiyan Grand Hotel to check in. The numerous luxury cars drew repeated glances from passersby, who took photos that quickly spread through social media and online, sparking heated discussion.

The department managers of the Haiyan Grand Hotel had also prepared to receive the guests at the entrance, determined to leave them with a good impression.

Meanwhile, Chu Feng was receiving Zhou Hongwei, chairman of 361 Company, who had arrived ahead of the others.

"Hello, Mr. Zhou." Chu Feng shook Zhou Hongwei's extended right hand, welcoming him with a smile before inviting Zhou Hongwei and his group to sit.

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

But anyone who truly thought he was honest would be swallowed whole. This was Zhou Hongwei, chairman of the 361 Group.

Several people followed Zhou Hongwei. One was an ordinary female office worker, presumably his secretary. Zhou Hongwei also introduced the others as company vice presidents and the manager of the technical department.

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

Chu Feng had his secretary go prepare the tea.

"You're too polite. Mr. Chu, you truly are young and accomplished."

After taking his seat, Zhou Hongwei was the first to sigh in admiration and praise him.

Chu Feng did not take it to heart. "I don't deserve that. Mr. Zhou is a senior in the field, a role model for people like us to learn from."

Zhou Hongwei smiled and shook his head. This kid accepted the sugar coating and fired the shell right back. He also put away his contempt.

"Mr. Chu, it looks like you're quite busy today, so let's get straight to the point."

Chu Feng had not expected Zhou Hongwei to be so direct, without any empty pleasantries. He was somewhat surprised, though he did not show it.

"Please, go ahead."

"The first reason I came today was naturally to see for myself what kind of person President Chu is, to have built such a foundation in only a month."

Chu Feng did not interrupt Zhou Hongwei. He merely listened with a smile.

"The second reason was to see whether 361 Company might have an opportunity to cooperate with your company."

"And how does Mr. Zhou wish to cooperate?" Chu Feng asked calmly.

Zhou Hongwei took the folder handed to him by his secretary and passed it to Chu Feng.

Chu Feng accepted the document and read through it carefully, unable to stop himself from sneering inwardly.

This old fox really had a nice scheme going. Technology sharing, customer sharing... Did Origin Company need 361 Company's technology? Customers? At Origin Company's rate of growth, would it ever lack customers?

Chu Feng calmly closed the folder.

"Mr. Zhou, your company's proposal does not seem very sincere."

Before Zhou Hongwei could speak, one of the executives beside him spoke up. "Mr. Chu, 361 Company has 562 million monthly active users across computers and mobile devices. We hold a 72% share on the PC side, and our mobile market penetration rate is as high as 62%. With such an enormous customer base, cooperating with your company and sharing those customers—is that not sincerity?"

"Heh. I do know something about your company's scale, and I believe what this gentleman said. But have you looked into Origin Company?"

Without waiting for the other man to continue, Chu Feng casually picked up a document from the table and spoke.

"Origin Accelerator currently has 730 million PC installations. The Personal Butler System currently has 820 million installations. Those numbers are still rising continuously. This was yesterday morning's data, and Xiaoke has been out for less than a week."

Zhou Hongwei and the others were startled by Chu Feng's words. They had not expected Origin Company's growth to be so terrifying. What they had just said was practically a joke. Would a millionaire care about a thousand-yuan investment offered by someone worth ten thousand?

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

"Mr. Chu, have you considered that your company's Basic Artificial Intelligence has an excellent design and powerful technology, but what if hackers crack the program, steal customer data, or even use it for illegal activities? What then?"

Chu Feng was utterly dismissive inside.

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

"Your company should have tested our software as well, right? The results should be very clear."

Chu Feng smiled and waited until Zhou Hongwei had finished before speaking.

"As for Xiaoke's security, we have already made a commitment in the installation instructions for users. If any losses result from Xiaoke being cracked, we will follow Teacher Ma's example and compensate them tenfold."

Even Zhou Hongwei was shaken by Chu Feng's confidence. How much self-assurance did it take to say something like that? Even the well-known domestic Zhifu Baobei dared not promise tenfold compensation.

At that moment, the technical department manager also spoke.

"It seems Mr. Chu has great confidence in his software. However, we cannot abandon the protection of customer privacy. Within a legal and reasonable framework, we conducted a certain degree of analysis on Xiaoke, but we were unable to determine whether the software had background programs collecting customer privacy, which could ultimately lead customers to distrust our company because of our irresponsible attitude."

Hearing that, Chu Feng nearly rolled his eyes. There was no enemy for someone shameless enough. Reaching this level of shamelessness was truly something else.

He really wanted to smash his phone into the man's face and let him see how many background programs were in the app store. Last time, the national telecommunications department had even publicly criticized a pile of their trash software. Now that they could not crack it, they still had the nerve to claim it was for customer privacy and security?

Seeing Chu Feng remain silent, the man assumed he had persuaded him and wanted to continue, but Zhou Hongwei stopped him.

Zhou Hongwei also sighed inwardly. Damn idiot! Did people have to download it through your 361 Software Manager? There were countless channels to download it from... What a pig teammate.

"I believe Mr. Chu's words. There is another document here. Mr. Chu, please take a look."

Zhou Hongwei had his secretary take out another document and hand it to Chu Feng.

Chu Feng accepted it casually. But after opening it, he was somewhat surprised.

Zhou Hongwei was really willing to pay the price.

Ten percent of 361 Group's shares, customer sharing, resource sharing, company endorsement, in exchange for Origin Company's technical support.

This was a serious investment.

Not to mention anything else, that ten percent stake alone was worth more than thirty billion yuan, given that 361 Company's market value was already over three hundred billion. Giving away more than thirty billion in one stroke was no small gesture.

The other forms of sharing and endorsement were exactly what Chu Feng needed most right now.

After all, although Chu Feng had both strength and ability, he had been developing for too short a time. Without a major company backing him, people would still be uneasy about a new technology.

Influenced by current movies and novels, people still had some resistance toward Artificial Intelligence. Weren't Artificial Intelligences always villains in movies? Weren't they always trying to rule humanity?

Moreover, without a solid foundation, Chu Feng did not dare release many of his ideas at all. Could Xiaoke not have Taobao's functions? Could it not have WeChat's functions?

The only reason he could survive in the cracks now was that no one dared push Chu Feng too hard. If one of their competitors obtained Chu Feng's technical support, they would be completely defeated.

But if Chu Feng took away everyone's livelihood, there would be nothing left to discuss—they would simply come after him. Origin Company absolutely would not be able to withstand it. What awaited him would be suppression by the entire internet.