Chapter 172: The Meeting
Chapter 172: The Meeting
Mayer sat in his office browsing the news. They were all reports about the Joker Virus. This damn virus had internet companies on edge.
No one knew which city would be next.
As a small internet company, they also wanted to develop software to detect and remove the Joker Virus, but it was easier said than done. The United Kingdom had mobilized its entire national strength, yet still failed to create software that could eliminate this virus.
“Damn Chinese Character Programming Language.”
Mayer cursed under his breath. For Western programmers, this Chinese Character Programming Language was like gibberish. If they wanted to learn it, they had to master Chinese first. Chinese was widely recognized as the most difficult language to learn in the world. This computer language was pure torture.
“Manager, it’s bad.” While he was cursing the Chinese Character Programming Language, a female secretary ran in.
“Did you see a mouse, Miss Leah?” Mayer asked.
“The Joker Organization just announced that the next city is New York City,” Leah said.
“Joker? Is there some circus performing in New York?” Mayer laughed. Then, the atmosphere turned quiet instantly. Mayer’s mind raced: “Did you just say the Joker Organization? Damn Joker, I hate circuses. Disconnect the internet, disconnect it now.”
Mayer’s pig-slaughtering-like scream shook the entire office.
A single tweet from the Joker Organization threw New York City into a state of panic. The first thing people thought of when they got the news while in front of their computers was to disconnect from the internet.
Holding a city hostage made people fear the name Joker.
New York had fallen.
A single tweet caused an entire city’s people to voluntarily disconnect from the internet. Nothing like this had ever happened before in any previous time. Furthermore, the Joker Virus had already begun to spread in New York.
“Brother Mo, latest news. The Joker released information saying New York has been imprisoned in a cyber cage, with a ransom of two hundred million dollars. The United States government announced it will not compromise with the hacker organization. The FBI is offering a five-million-dollar reward for the capture of the Joker.”
Chen Mo was organizing the Supercomputer technology when Ink Girl spoke.
“Things are getting more and more interesting,” Chen Mo stopped and took the water cup handed to him by the Robot.
“Brother Mo, should I step in to stop the virus from spreading?” Ink Girl asked.
“No need. This matter has nothing to do with us for now. If we step in to stop it, they won’t thank us anyway.”
“Why? Last time it broke out, didn’t you tell me to stop the spread? Why aren’t we doing that this time?” Ink Girl asked, puzzled.
“The position is different. Fluctuations in the domestic market are not good for us. Now, the foreign market is shaken, especially the panic in the internet field, which is beneficial for us. The bigger and more chaotic the impact of this matter, the easier it will be for us to enter this market in the future.”
Chen Mo put down the water cup, walked to the window, and stood looking down at the bustling traffic of Binhai City.
“So we don’t stop them because it benefits us?”
“Don’t think of it that way. Do you know game theory?” Chen Mo said.
“I know,” Ink Girl said.
“According to the calculation formula of game theory, right now it’s a multi-party game between the Joker Organization and other collectives. We are still outsiders. What decision yields the optimal and most beneficial outcome for us right now?”
“Reap the spoils without lifting a finger.”
“That’s right. You can use game theory to calculate every decision; it can give you the optimal decision. But sometimes you can’t just follow the calculated answer exactly. Game theory isn’t omnipotent; human involvement inevitably mixes in emotions.”
“So last time, we stepped in to stop the virus spread, but this time we didn’t. Emotions were involved in that. When we think, we mix in personal feelings. When your thoughts have emotions and are no longer just a pile of cold data, you will understand that a decision considers not just benefits; there are other things to consider too.”
“Ink Girl doesn’t understand human emotions.”
“You’ll learn that slowly. If you don’t understand, just ask me.”
Chen Mo taught carefully. He could feel Ink Girl growing continuously. Right now, Ink Girl only listened to him. He had to teach her properly, otherwise, if she caused trouble, the consequences would be serious.
At the very least, he needed to make Ink Girl’s thinking a bit more human-like. What she would face in the future wasn’t just cold data.
The conference room of the Legion Ant Company was now full of people.
If anyone saw, they would definitely notice that apart from Chen Mo, almost all the top executives of the Legion Ant Company were sitting in this conference room.
This was the second collective meeting of the Legion Ant Company’s top executives this year.
The conference room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Everyone was fully alert. This meeting was very serious. It wasn’t a teleconference; they had called the heads of the branch offices from various cities to come. Surely there was major news to announce.
Company matters were left to Zhao Min to manage. Chen Mo did not participate in these meetings.
With Chen Mo absent, Zhao Min sat at the head of the table.
To her right, in order, were Zhu Li, Li Danni, Wang Sijia, and others. To her left were Li Lingfeng, Zhang Yi, Old Luo, and others. Xiaoyu sat outside the conference table.
Zhu Li was the head of the market system. Li Lingfeng was the head of the administration system. Zhang Yi, Old Luo, Li Danni, and others were all among the first group who followed Zhao Min into the company, and they were also the heads of the various company systems. The others were professional managers and senior executives hired after the company developed.
Xiaoyu was now the President’s assistant. She did not participate in the management of the company’s top-level affairs, so she couldn’t take a seat at the table. But due to the special nature of Xiaoyu’s position, Zhao Min had Xiaoyu sit in to listen and learn from the experience.
“The meeting will now begin.”
Zhao Min checked the time and declared the meeting started.
“This meeting is a bit sudden. Some of you might not fully understand the situation. Let’s first have Old Luo briefly introduce it.”
“Okay.”
Old Luo stood up, nodded to everyone present, opened his computer projection, and began the introduction.
“During this period, our R&D department developed a brand-new Computer Operating System. This computer system is based on the Army Ant System. We call it the Termite System. With the Boss’s help, we have perfected the computer system.”
“Ecosystem development has been progressing simultaneously. We have currently opened up the application channel for the Army Ant System and possess the computer version of the Smart Assistant Xiao Die. The office ecosystem for the computer system is preliminarily complete.”
“Test data shows that with the Smart Assistant Xiao Die, which can control the system by voice—including documents, Excel, etc.—ordinary office efficiency is increased by 40%. The computer system possesses unique security. We have not yet found any virus capable of invading this computer system.”
“Now, the Joker Virus has held two international financial centers hostage, causing incalculable losses. Cybersecurity is in shambles. Every company is terrified. We believe this is an opportunity. The security of the Termite System will become a new choice for enterprise office work.”
As soon as Old Luo finished speaking, a murmur of low conversations filled the conference room.
“Quiet.”
As soon as Zhao Min spoke, the room fell completely silent. Zhao Min had built the Legion Ant Company from the ground up. Her authority within the company was second only to Chen Mo’s.
“Danni, report the status of your system,” Zhao Min turned her head to look at Li Danni.
“Okay,” Li Danni stood up holding her report. “The office hardware equipment designed by the R&D department, including tablet computers, notebooks, and desktop computers, entered the production stage a month ago. Currently, 200,000 units have been produced and can be released to the market at any time.”
Li Danni sat down. The room was utterly silent.
They had known nothing beforehand about the company researching a computer system. The company’s current moves indicated they were preparing to enter the enterprise office field. This news came too suddenly.
“Everyone understands now, right? Taking advantage of this virus crisis, we are going to enter the enterprise office field. Your task is to promote our products to the businesses in the cities where your branch offices are located,” Zhao Min said. “Zhu Li, what’s the situation on your end?”
Zhu Li stood up and nodded to everyone. “The product promotion plan has been formulated. It will be sent to you shortly. Advertisements can be launched at any time. The press conference is also ready. The venue is the Binhai Grand Theater. Invitations have been sent out. The product launch can be held three days from now.”