Chapter 12: The Deal
Chapter 12: The Deal
Zhou Hongwei moved quickly, arriving at the café Chen Mo mentioned around five that afternoon. After receiving the call, Chen Mo grabbed his laptop and documents and immediately headed to the café.
His rented apartment was not far from the café, so he got there in just five minutes on foot.
Once inside the café, Chen Mo looked around. There weren’t many people—only a handful. Chen Mo immediately recognized Zhou Hongwei and his group sitting in a corner.
“Hello, Mr. Zhou,” Chen Mo said as he walked over, smiling and extending his right hand.
Seeing Chen Mo, Zhou Hongwei’s eyes showed surprise. The voice was familiar—it was the same Chen Mo he had spoken with on the phone, but the young man was much younger than he had expected.
“Hello, Mr. Chen.”
After exchanging a few pleasantries with Chen Mo, Zhou Hongwei sat back down with him.
“Mr. Chen, I’d like to see that program you mentioned in person,” Zhou Hongwei said, getting straight to the point. He seemed a bit impatient.
“Sure, but I don’t have a computer infected with the virus,” Chen Mo replied.
“We’ve prepared some.”
Zhou Hongwei nodded to his assistant beside him, who pulled two laptops from a backpack and placed them on the table.
Both laptops displayed screens locked with an image of an iron gate.
Without hesitation, Chen Mo took out a USB drive, plugged it in, and typed a few commands. Two minutes later, after a progress bar finished loading, the screens changed instantly, returning to the familiar Windows desktop.
Seeing this, Zhou Hongwei’s face lit up with joy.
It was real.
The infected computers were ones they had prepared themselves, so there was no way it could be faked. Suppressing his eagerness, Zhou Hongwei watched as Chen Mo performed the same fix on the second computer.
When the second computer also returned to normal, Zhou Hongwei let out a sigh of relief and leaned back in his chair.
This meant that ‘Eternal Heart,’ which had swept across the globe, had been cracked—and by this unbelievably young man in front of him.
“Mr. Chen is so young. Are you still in school? A student at Binhai University?” Zhou Hongwei asked.
“That’s not really important, is it?” Chen Mo replied with a light smile.
“True, it’s not important,” Zhou Hongwei said, grinning. “Did you develop this program on your own? You’re really talented for your age. Would you be interested in working for our company?”
“Not for now,” Chen Mo said calmly and confidently. “Let’s get to the main topic.”
Zhou Hongwei studied Chen Mo carefully. This young man’s manner and speech were far better than any other young person he had met—truly a rare talent.
“Alright, let’s get to the point. Mr. Chen, you’re planning to sell this program, right? For how much?”
“Not much. Eighty million.”
Hiss…
As soon as Chen Mo stated his price, those who heard it gasped in shock and stared at him in disbelief.
“Mr. Chen, isn’t that price a little too high?” Zhou Hongwei said with a smile.
“If you think it’s too high, then forget it,” Chen Mo shrugged, putting the USB drive back into his backpack. “I’ll contact Tencent instead. Maybe they’d be interested.”
“Mr. Chen, don’t be hasty,” Zhou Hongwei said, stopping him immediately. “Your price really is a bit steep. Even if you contact Tencent, they won’t give you that much.”
“How do you know without trying?” Chen Mo replied. “Eternal Heart has indirectly caused billions of dollars in losses worldwide.”
“Let’s do this: ten million, all-in for the technology transfer. We can sign the contract right now,” Zhou Hongwei offered.
“Forget it,” Chen Mo said. “Right now, no one in the world has found a way to kill this virus. If your company is the first to release software that can remove ‘Eternal Heart,’ you’ll gain both fame and profit. My price is already a bargain.”
“Thirty million. That’s my final offer,” Zhou Hongwei said. “Globally, only about a million computers were infected. Our company wouldn’t make much profit.”
“Reputation and public recognition are what matter most. Surely you’re not that short-sighted, Mr. Zhou?” Chen Mo said. “If you don’t want it, I’ll contact other companies. This program could significantly boost Tencent or Baidu’s market value.”
Zhou Hongwei hadn’t expected someone so young to be this shrewd. But this antivirus program really could bring their company both fame and fortune, especially during this global virus crisis.
If he let a competitor get the program, his company would miss a crucial opportunity.
“To be honest, we might not even make eighty million from your program.”
“Seventy million. Not a cent less,” Chen Mo stated.
“Wait, sixty million,” Zhou Hongwei countered. “We’re releasing it as a free program, so we won’t earn much from it.”
“Whether you charge or not is your business. It has nothing to do with me,” Chen Mo said, rising to leave.
“Wait, seventy million. It’s a deal,” Zhou Hongwei said quickly.
“Here are the contract and the technical documents.”
Chen Mo sat back down, pulled a USB drive and two copies of a contract from his laptop bag, and placed them in front of Zhou Hongwei.
Seeing the prepared materials, Zhou Hongwei was stunned. It seemed this young man had predicted from the start that they would give in.
After having their lawyer review the contract carefully and confirming everything was in order, Zhou Hongwe looked at Chen Mo and said, “I didn’t expect such an impressive young talent here.”
“You flatter me. I came up with this program by chance—just luck.”
“Oh?”
Zhou Hongwei didn’t expect Chen Mo to say something like that, leaving him speechless. No one would believe that a virus unsolvable worldwide was just a matter of luck for him.
“If everything’s fine, let’s sign the contract,” Chen Mo said.
“Alright.”
Once the contract was signed, Zhou Hongwei had his team transfer the money to Chen Mo immediately.
Seeing the transfer succeed, Chen Mo grinned. This was his first bucket of gold, earned through his own hard work.
Even after deducting income tax, he would still have over fifty-six million left. Chen Mo’s mind was already racing, thinking about how to spend the money.
“Pleasure doing business,” Chen Mo said, shaking Zhou Hongwei’s hand. “I’ve deleted the program data from my end. Your copy is the only one left, so remember to back it up. I’ll head out now.”
“Won’t you stay for a meal?”
“No, I’ll contact you another time.”
After saying goodbye to Zhou Hongwei, Chen Mo left the café with his books.
“Send the program to the tech department. Call them and tell them to integrate the antivirus code into our Guardian software and prepare for an update.”
After instructing his assistant, Zhou Hongwei gazed at the door Chen Mo had exited through, lost in thought.
At seven o’clock that evening, Qihu Weibo released a statement.
Qihu Company had developed a program to remove ‘Eternal Heart’ and was currently doing final urgent adjustments. Once completed, it would be released as soon as possible, and as always, it would be free of charge.
The announcement immediately caused a stir across the internet. Qihu’s Weibo post received countless likes and positive feedback from netizens.
“History repeats itself. Qihu has already found a program to kill ‘Eternal Heart,’ while a certain computer manager is still posting about gaming news.”
“A company with a conscience. I’m switching to their antivirus software right now.”
“This time, I stand with Qihu.”
…
The event naturally made headlines in major media outlets.
It all happened without warning.
At the time, anything related to ‘Eternal Heart’ was hot news. Qihu’s announcement was quickly picked up by the media and spread throughout the country in a very short time.
When the news broke, some TV stations that were airing live news programs urgently interrupted to share the latest update. The news also quickly made its way onto foreign social media platforms.
The entire online world was buzzing with excitement.
The ‘Eternal Heart’ ransomware incident was almost the largest digital hijacking event in the history of the internet. Nearly a million computers worldwide were infected, mainly in critical areas like government departments, energy companies, railway companies, banks, hospitals, universities, and trading venues.
Almost a week into the crisis, unless people reinstalled their operating systems, there was no way to get rid of ‘Eternal Heart.’ But reinstalling the system meant losing all data on the computer—something many could not accept.
Qihu’s announcement was like a shot of adrenaline. Those who were about to pay the hackers to get their files back stopped and waited for Qihu to release the antivirus program.