In the dim private room, five people sat silently around a round table. Four of them seemed to be at odds with the person across from them.
The waiter who had just come in saw the strange scene and nearly buckled at the knees. Only after hesitating uncertainly did he bring the coffee to each person.
"Thanks. You can go."
Once everyone had their drinks, the young man waved the waiter away and had him close the door.
Then he took a small sip of the coffee in front of him and murmured in a voice only the people beside him could hear, "I assume you've all tested the software I developed."
SB and CZH exchanged glances. SB took out a pack of cigarettes and offered them around.
"No need. I brought my own."
Guo Dazhuang waved him off and pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, setting it on the table.
With the people beside him being strangers, how could Guo Dazhuang be sure their cigarettes weren't tampered with?
CZH then said, "Your product has a lot of potential. We'd be willing to invest. The two of us would buy a forty percent stake in your company for two hundred million."
Zhan Fei glanced at the two in surprise. They'd come in looking aggressive, so he'd expected them to confront the young man about the earlier threats. But they hadn't even brought them up; their attention had gone straight to the software.
So much for there being no eternal enemies—only eternal interests...
Zhan Fei sighed to himself, then hurried to speak, as if waiting any longer might mean losing the deal.
"In that case, I'm willing to buy a ten percent stake in your company for fifty million. I think that's a fair price, don't you?"
It wasn't that Zhan Fei was being generous. Even a layman could see the potential of the software.
Nobody there was a fool. On the way over, Zhan Fei had thoroughly studied the translation software. He'd even considered stealing its core algorithm.
But no matter what he tried, he couldn't crack the software's protection. He'd given up in frustration and come here instead.
"Sorry, but I'm only selling eight percent in total, and only in this project."
Even after hearing offers worth hundreds of millions, the young man across the table remained unmoved. "Two percent each. No more."
The others exchanged glances again. CZH then asked in a conciliatory tone, "Just this project? Won't your company accept investment? Nobody turns down money, do they?"
"Actually, money isn't the issue."
The young man shook his head. "I'm willing to accept investment at such a low price because I value your influence in the IT industry. Otherwise, do you really think this translation assistant is worth only five hundred million?"
Zhan Fei and the others fell silent.
"My team is also developing another translation program—a simultaneous interpreter that can hold conversations. If we succeed, I'm confident we can make the profession of interpreter a thing of the past."
What an audacious claim!
The group stared at the young man as if trying to see through him.
Everyone knew that interpreters would eventually be replaced by artificial intelligence, but no one had dared to say so outright—not yet.
But coming from this mysterious young man, the statement seemed perfectly natural.
After all, he had the hacking skills to defeat them with ease, and Little X Translation Assistant had already proven his remarkable talent in artificial intelligence.
More importantly, if this were all a scam, then going to so much trouble just to get tens of millions would hardly be worth it.
He could have targeted tech giants like Microsoft or Apple instead of the few of them.
"So, with an investment of ten million now, I'm confident you'll get back more than ten times that in the future."
"In return, you'd protect my company while it's still weak and prevent anyone from swallowing it up. That's why this deal is limited to the Little X Translation Assistant project. Otherwise, wouldn't I be getting the short end of the stick?"
The young man spread his hands and explained carefully. "That's why I invited you here. There are no threats or extortion involved. If you're still not interested in my project, you can leave now. I guarantee X will never appear in front of you again."
"..."
Silence fell over the private room once more.
After a long while, Zhan Fei finally stood up. "In that case, I agree to take a stake in this project. Have someone from your team get in touch with me. I'm free for the next few days."
With that, Zhan Fei turned and walked out.
"We'll do the same."
SB and CZH also got up and headed for the door. "You can still consider our offer, though. If your company ever decides to sell shares, remember to come to us."
After the three had left, only the young man and Guo Dazhuang remained in the room.
"Mr. King, what have you decided?"
"At first, I thought you were just a decoy. The real X wouldn't have shown himself so soon."
Guo Dazhuang stared at him from across the table. "But when I saw how calm and confident you were, I finally believed it. I believe you're the X who defeated me."
"You flatter me."
The young man picked up a cigarette and toyed with it. "But what if I told you I wasn't actually X?"
"What?"
Guo Dazhuang raised an eyebrow. "No, you're X. I've looked up all your records. You're a first-year student at the School of Life Sciences at Shangdu University of Communications. You recently published two papers on autologous stem cells as the corresponding author, stunning the entire biological sciences community and earning a reputation as a genius. Am I right?"
The young man clapped. "I never planned to hide that. It's nothing special that you found out."
"But I had no idea your identity as a hacker was so well hidden. No matter how hard I looked, I couldn't find a single clue."
Guo Dazhuang sighed. "If I hadn't seen your hacking skills for myself, I might have thought you weren't part of the hacker world at all. But people are right about you. You're a genius in biology and in computer science."
"Let's not waste time, King. Tell me what you've decided," the young man urged.
"I choose to refuse."
But Guo Dazhuang suddenly spoke up. "Didn't expect that, did you? The one thing I can't stand is being threatened. Everyone has to pay for what they do. That's my creed!"
The young man was taken aback for a moment, then looked Guo Dazhuang in the eye. "I'm sorry to hear that. In that case, I sincerely apologize for what I did earlier."
"Too late."
Guo Dazhuang stood up and shook his head. "I'm not a businessman. I started a company as a hobby. My real identity is that of a hacker, and you've crossed a line."
"You're declaring war on me?"
The young man's expression gradually turned cold.
"That's right. I'm not like those three. I don't care about making money—I've already got more than enough."
Guo Dazhuang sneered. "I'm not just a hacker. I also have friends in the underworld, so don't think you can threaten me with dirt on my past. Otherwise, I can't guarantee nothing will happen to your parents."
Instead of getting angry, the young man sighed. "I thought it would be simpler than this. People really are impossible to figure out."
Guo Dazhuang snorted, straightened his jacket, and turned to leave.
"You forgot your cigarettes."
Just as Guo Dazhuang was about to open the door, the young man spoke again from behind him.
Guo Dazhuang stopped.
But at that moment, the overhead fluorescent lights in the private room suddenly went out with a pop.
In an instant, the room was plunged into darkness.
"What's going on? Did the power go out?"
Guo Dazhuang turned around in astonishment. In the darkness, he could just make out the mysterious young man sitting quietly in his chair, little more than a silhouette.
"Are these your cigarettes? Mind if I have one?"
In the darkness, the shadow across from him raised its right hand. With a click, a bean-sized flame appeared out of nowhere, lighting up half the young man's face.
Between the shifting shadows and the flickering firelight, his face appeared and disappeared like a ghost...
Guo Dazhuang's expression gradually changed from fierce to vacant. All he could see was a tiny flame flickering on and off, like a star in the sky.
One star, two stars, three stars...
The plot's been a little slow over the last few chapters, but this is just a transition. Things will get exciting again soon!
Before you continue