"Why don't I come work for your company?"
After the two of them had finished horsing around, Xia Yin suddenly blurted out the suggestion.
Her words stirred something in Chen Chen.
He did, in fact, need to start hiring employees.
Black Light Biotechnology Co., Ltd. had been established for quite some time, yet he was still its only employee. He didn't even have anyone to pour tea or fetch water.
He also had a contract to sign in a few days. Surely he couldn't go alone?
X, of all people, personally showing up at another company to sign a contract—while the other side had four or five lawyers, three or four executives, and a whole crowd of people, and he was there by himself. Wouldn't that be a little embarrassing?
Thinking it over, Chen Chen asked, "What can you do?"
"I could be your secretary." Xia Yin unscrewed a bottle of mineral water and looked around. Apart from Chen Chen's computer desk, the enormous warehouse didn't even have a stool.
So Xia Yin plopped down on Chen Chen's folding bed, her long, shapely legs swinging right in front of him.
"You know how to do a secretary's job?" Chen Chen put particular emphasis on the word "do."
"Of course."
Xia Yin took it completely at face value, not catching his innuendo at all. "Every summer and winter break, my dad arranges for me to intern at his company. I can do more than secretary work—I could manage the whole company!"
"But don't you hate managing a company?" Chen Chen pursed his lips. He still remembered how Xia Yin had needed his help just to rent a lab.
"I don't exactly hate it. I just don't want my dad bossing me around. If it were your company, I'd work hard!" Xia Yin gazed at Chen Chen expectantly.
Chen Chen considered it in silence for a while. He hadn't known Xia Yin for all that long, but they had worked together every day for three months straight—so much so that they might as well have shared a bed. He already had a clear grasp of her personality and abilities.
Simply put, perhaps because of her family background, Xia Yin did have some aptitude for management and planning. She wasn't the quickest learner, but she was clearheaded and meticulous in her reasoning. When she took things seriously, she rarely made mistakes.
Her only weak spot was dealing with people, but that was something she could improve with practice.
Besides, even if Chen Chen hired a professional manager through a headhunting agency, their loyalty would still be a concern.
With that in mind, Chen Chen raised his head and said seriously, "If your father has no objection, I can have you start in HR. Use your father's connections to help me hire a team. I'll also send you the first product I've recently developed. You can put in a good word with your father and see if he's interested in investing. If he is, I can offer him a discount."
"Sure! Sure!" Xia Yin nodded enthusiastically.
Watching how excited she was, Chen Chen suddenly began to doubt his own judgment.
He'd only been testing the waters, but Xia Yin had sold out her own dad without a second thought. Did this girl actually have a brain...?
One way or another, under these circumstances, Chen Chen's company settled on its first employee.
What Chen Chen hadn't expected was that, after Xia Yin sent Little X Translation Assistant to her father, he sent a request to speak with Chen Chen less than two hours later.
Xia Yin's father was named Xia Hui, and his company was called Huiyao Entertainment Information Technology Co., Ltd. It was an IT company, too, though it specialized in browser games.
Simply put, it was the sort of game company that churned out titles with ads like "I'm Zhazhahui. If you're a brother, come hack me!" and "A brand-new version you've never played before!"
Huiyao Entertainment wasn't as famous as the company behind "If You're a Brother, Come Hack Me," but it had produced plenty of popular browser games. It ranked among the top thirty browser-game companies in the entire Central Continent Region.
The very next day, Xia Yin's father flew to Shangdu. With Xia Yin accompanying them, the two men discussed things at length and eventually reached an agreement.
The contract covered the following:
"Xia Hui will invest twenty million yuan in Chen Chen's Little X Translation Assistant project in his personal capacity, in exchange for a four percent stake in the project."
"Meanwhile, provided that the artificial intelligence algorithm behind Little X Translation Assistant is not disclosed, Chen Chen will help Huiyao Entertainment integrate an intelligent NPC system into one of its games. In return, Chen Chen will receive fifty percent of the profits from the browser-game project."
However, Chen Chen wasn't interested in the game's profits under the second clause, so he had that part converted into ten million yuan in cash.
With that, Chen Chen had successfully exchanged a ten percent stake in Little X Translation Assistant for fifty million yuan. He could also pay back the university student startup loan.
Professor Wang Xi had signed off on that loan in the first place. Over the past few months, Chen Chen had rented a factory and paid its electricity bills, yet neither the industry and commerce bureau nor the bank had investigated his finances. That was because Professor Wang Xi had been taking the pressure on his behalf.
Now that Chen Chen had enough money, he naturally wouldn't put Professor Wang Xi in a difficult position any longer.
Xia Hui's thirty million yuan came through almost as soon as the contract was signed. It wasn't even divided into installments.
As for the company, Chen Chen handed control of the funds directly to Xia Yin. He had her find an office building to rent a whole floor in, then ask her father to send over a few capable assistants to fill out the team.
After all, he would be signing another contract with Zhan Fei and the other two in just a few days.
Chen Chen wasn't worried at all about Xia Yin's father getting his hands into the company.
Once they had secured an office, X would be able to take over the company's entire network as soon as the local area network was set up. Nothing those people did would escape X's notice.
And Chen Chen could simply sit back and let others handle things.
After a year or so, he could release an offshoot product from OASIS and watch the money pour in.
Take the "Simultaneous Translation Device," developed alongside "Little X Translation Assistant." On its own, it was just an ordinary translation program, but with AI support, it could immediately revolutionize an entire industry.
That was the magic of technology.
Chen Chen could have released "Simultaneous Translation Device" and "Little X Translation Assistant" together, but then he thought better of it. That would be far too shocking.
If someone created a single product that was decades ahead of its time, people might call him a genius or say he'd spent ten years honing his craft.
But if he released two such products at once, some people with vivid imaginations might start thinking, "Did this guy cheat?" "Did he get some kind of system?" "Was he reborn?" and other such strange things.
So, to avoid attracting too much attention, Chen Chen gave up on the idea.
Chen Chen was still clearheaded. His dream wasn't to be some domineering CEO, spending all day playing office politics like it was a game. That would be completely missing the point.
What was one company worth? The USB Drive was what mattered.
With the USB Drive, Chen Chen could start ten thousand companies. No matter how many times he fell, he could always get back up again.
Even his dream of immortality depended on the USB Drive.
Thanks to the generous tip from [Night Moon Hook]!
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