Ji Ears, Little Ears

Half an hour later, Shili's legal counsel, Attorney Liu, arrived.

He first listened as Xu Ren gave him a rough account of what had happened. His expression remained unchanged afterward; he merely glanced at Ji Yanzhi.

Ji Yanzhi understood that he had something to say, so the two stepped aside.

"President Ji, this Xu Ren..."

Ji Yanzhi knew what he wanted to say. "He wouldn't steal anything. I can guarantee that."

"All right, that gives me something to work with." Attorney Liu nodded and continued, "The worst-case scenario right now is that Xu Ren's advisor frames him for the theft at his home. But don't worry. I'll immediately arrange for someone to retrieve the residential compound's surveillance footage."

Ji Yanzhi knew handling a case like this would be child's play for him. He reminded him, "The frame-up is easy enough to deal with, but I suspect his advisor's real goal is to steal Xu Ren's research."

"Then what would you like me to do...?"

"Don't reveal that. Find some other grounds to get his advisor locked up first."

Only then did Attorney Liu understand why he had been summoned specifically for such a minor matter. He smiled faintly. "I understand."

After their conversation, Attorney Liu walked over to Xu Ren. "Mr. Xu, shall we head out now?"

Xu Ren looked at Ji Ting with reddened eyes. Ji Ting said, "Don't worry. Ji Yanzhi is still reliable when it comes to things like this."

Ji Yanzhi's eyes narrowed briefly. Attorney Liu cleared his throat awkwardly. "Let's go."

Xu Ren left with the other two. Ji Ting stood at the door, watching him get into the car, when Ji Yanzhi suddenly spoke beside him in an icy tone. "Are you genuinely worried about Xu Ren, or are you afraid he won't be able to help Lu Yanchu if he can't get out?"

Ji Ting turned and looked at him for two or three seconds. "Aren't you the one worried about Lu Yanchu?"

"I'm worried about him?!"

Ji Ting took that as an admission and reassured him, "Don't worry. Xu Ren has already sent me the finished program."

Ji Yanzhi genuinely froze for a moment, surprise filling his eyes. "Xu Ren finished it-?"

A surveillance program wasn't some bargain-bin produce at a supermarket. Leaving aside how quickly it had been done, Xu Ren had just said he had spent all last night sorting through materials with his advisor. Where had he found the time to write a program?

Ji Ting knew he would be suspicious, so he said calmly, "Unit One's creator finished it."

Ji Yanzhi's thin lips parted slightly before he clenched his teeth. Then his chest rose and fell with a deep breath. "Who decided to ask Unit One's owner to write the program?"

Not wanting Xu Ren to take the blame, Ji Ting answered honestly, "I did."

It was as though a starting pistol had gone off beside Ji Yanzhi's ear. He erupted instantly. "What right did you have to bother him over Lu Yanchu's problems? Do you know how important this person is to Shili? I haven't even established contact with him yet, and you dared to take it upon yourself to order him around?"

Ji Ting paused, seemingly unable to understand why he was so angry. "He only made Unit One, and it's still an unfinished product..."

"What do you know? What do you mean, 'only'?" The more Ji Yanzhi spoke, the angrier he became, and he lashed out again. "Could a useless piece of trash like you achieve anything in your entire life worth even a single hair on his head?"

Ji Ting blinked. He wasn't angry; he merely found the experience rather novel. Ji Yanzhi seems to be insulting me, but at the same time, he's praising me in exaggerated terms.

Praising him??

Ji Yanzhi nearly laughed in sheer fury at that ridiculous train of thought. Being an idiot before was one thing, but now he couldn't even understand what people were saying?

Seeing that even his ears had turned red with anger, Ji Ting said quietly, "Then do you want to see the program? If not..."

"Yes!" Why shouldn't he look at it? That person counted as one of his connections, after all.

Ji Ting couldn't help curling his lips into a slight smile, which only provoked Ji Yanzhi again. "What are you smiling at?"

"Nothing."

It's just that this prickly guy finishes arguing, then immediately turns around and pesters someone to feed him.

Without warning, a large hand clamped onto the back of Ji Ting's neck.

Ji Ting looked up to find Ji Yanzhi gazing down at him darkly. "Ji Ears, are you asking for another beating?"

He wasn't afraid in the slightest. He merely asked, "Ji Ears?"

"What?" Ji Yanzhi narrowed his eyes, his tone cold and mocking. "You can call me Tasmanian Devil, but I can't call you Ji Ears?"

Ji Ting considered it. "You can."

He had given Ji Yanzhi a nickname, so of course the other man could give him one too. That was perfectly fair.

From Ji Yanzhi's perspective, Ji Ting's round, grape-like eyes were wide open, making him look like a little deer caught by a hunter, innocent and guileless.

He turned his face away with a cold snort, releasing his grip at the same time. "Stop putting on that act. It doesn't work on me."

Ji Ting was utterly confused. "What act...?"

Before he could finish, Ji Yanzhi turned and headed toward the elevator. "Upstairs."

Once they reached Ji Ting's room, Ji Yanzhi scanned the desk. "Where's your computer?"

"In the gaming room."

"Then why didn't you say so earlier?"

"Weren't you the one who said to go upstairs?"

Ji Yanzhi felt certain that one day this would make him ill with rage. He took a deep breath. "Let's go to your gaming room."

"There's no need to use the computer." Ji Ting took out a USB drive and handed it over. "The program is on here."

Earlier, he had thought that with Ji Yanzhi home today, it wouldn't be convenient for him and Xu Ren to go to the gaming room, so he had copied it onto the drive.

Ji Yanzhi took it, then worried that there might be something wrong with the files Ji Ting had copied. "Is the original program still on your computer?"

"Yes."

"Send it to me later."

With that, Ji Yanzhi left with the USB drive.

He went downstairs to his study and first sent the program to Wang Bin at the group's communications laboratory, asking him to run several rounds of tests.

He wasn't questioning that person's abilities, but since it had been put together in such a short time, a little caution couldn't hurt.

A little over an hour later.

Just as Ji Yanzhi was about to leave, he received a call from Wang Bin.

"How did the program tests go?"

Something sounded off in Wang Bin's voice. "President Ji, who made this program?"

Ji Yanzhi didn't answer directly. "Why? Is there a problem?"

"While testing it just now, I added a macro out of habit." Wang Bin let out a breath, but his voice still sounded unsteady. "I discovered that this program was created last night, and writing the entire thing took only forty-three minutes. Do you know what that means?"

Ji Yanzhi had an inkling, and his heartbeat began to quicken. "What?"

"It means there's a supercomputer in his laboratory, and its processing performance exceeds our group's Deep Blue."

Ji Yanzhi's heart gave an uncontrollable jolt. "It exceeds Deep Blue? Are you sure?"

"I can't give you an absolute guarantee, but there's at least a ninety percent chance."

Though he knew Wang Bin wouldn't exaggerate, those words still left his heart pounding.

Because supercomputers capable of outperforming Deep Blue could only be found in military and government laboratories.