Chapter 174: Extreme Measures

Li Lingfeng composed himself and handed the folder to Zhao Min.

“These are screenshots of online articles and comments. Someone hired internet trolls to claim we created this virus crisis to eliminate competitors and pave the way for the Termite System.”

Zhao Min took the file and opened it.

“The Joker Virus was written in the Chinese Character Programming Language. The most familiar with this computer language is none other than the Legion Ant Company.”

“The virus originated from the Jiangnan Virus crisis. According to sources, Chen Mo stepped in to resolve that virus crisis. The program code was purchased by the Legion Ant Company and fell into their hands.”

“The Joker Virus left global cybersecurity companies helpless. When cybersecurity was in shambles, Legion Ant suddenly released the Termite System, claiming it could resist attacks from the Joker Virus.”

“The Legion Ant Company had the ability to prevent the Jiangnan Virus incident and might also have been able to solve this Joker Virus incident. Considering that the release of the Termite System brought higher profits to the company, or there might be another possibility…”

“I also think the coincidence is a bit too much.”

“Sitting back and watching the show.”

“…”

Reading the analysis in the articles and the comments from netizens, Zhao Min frowned deeply.

The analysis was thorough and logical, but it was only from a personal perspective. It didn’t explicitly state that the Legion Ant Company was the mastermind behind the Joker Virus but guided readers in that direction.

The most important point was that they released the Termite System and made a huge profit, making them the only company to benefit from the Joker Virus crisis.

From any angle, they were the prime suspect. If she were an ordinary person, she would also point the finger at the Legion Ant Company.

“It’s not just these. Mainstream media in the West are also criticizing the Legion Ant Company. They’re accusing us of creating this virus incident,” Li Lingfeng said.

Zhao Min flipped to the last few pages and indeed saw reports from foreign media, all criticizing the Legion Ant Company and demanding they release the virus removal software.

“It’s their usual tactic. We’ve touched their interests, so they’re putting pressure on us,” Zhao Min said, tossing the file aside. “Too bad we’re not overseas; they can’t do anything to us. The Legion Ant Company has faced this kind of situation more than once.”

“Should we respond publicly?” Li Lingfeng asked.

“Yes, respond that the Joker Virus has nothing to do with the Legion Ant Company. Ask the relevant platforms to remove articles and comments that slander the Legion Ant Company. Say nothing else and do nothing more,” Zhao Min said after thinking for a moment.

After Li Lingfeng left, Zhao Min continued working on the files, not taking any special action because of the online comments.

They had to address these matters head-on. Otherwise, people would say they had a guilty conscience, and any later explanation would only make things worse.

The simplest approach was to do nothing and let things resolve themselves. The Legion Ant Company had faced public attacks many times before, and many people were hoping for their downfall.

Releasing the Termite System had affected many people’s interests. In the corporate office sector, competition was low, but the main competitors were all giants. Now that the Legion Ant Company had stepped in, combined with the performance of the Termite System, it made them panic.

Now, online discussions were filled with claims that the Legion Ant Company created the Joker Virus. From the current situation, the Legion Ant Company was indeed highly suspicious.

The Legion Ant Company gave a weak response that seemed ineffective, like punching cotton.

In Seattle, inside a single-family villa.

Weiss stared at the computer screen, his thick glasses unable to hide the exhaustion in his eyes. He was a special technician at Microsoft, mainly handling tasks the company couldn’t officially acknowledge—in simple terms, a black-hat hacker.

The identities of people like him weren’t made public, and only a few within the company knew about them.

Elite hackers had their own exclusive forums.

The forum had hackers from all over the world, a mixed bag. The person on the other side of the screen could be a company boss, an executive, a teacher, or a student from some school.

Many people exchanged techniques on the forum without knowing each other’s identities.

In such forums, asking for personal information was taboo.

Lately, the most discussed topic on the forum was the Chinese Character Programming Language. The Joker Virus had brought this language into the spotlight for hackers.

Hackers, whether black-hat or white-hat, were often tech fanatics. This new computer language became another frontier for new technology.

Some hackers discovered that programs written in the Chinese Character Programming Language could avoid detection by antivirus software, becoming ghost viruses that lurked in computers and could be activated remotely at any time.

But Chinese was too difficult to learn, making him struggle with the Chinese Character Programming Language.

After the Termite System was released, threatened by the Joker Virus, the Legion Ant Company invaded the corporate office sector like a swarm of locusts.

The company asked him to contact the person in charge of the Joker Organization to discuss matters. He had sent a message on the forum a week ago, but it disappeared without a trace, with no response.

While he was browsing posts about the Chinese Character Programming Language, a message notification pulled him out of his focus.

“You were looking for me?”

These three simple words made Weiss briefly puzzled before he suddenly realized something and straightened his back.

“Joker?”

“You have one minute.”

Without confirming the identity, Weiss was skeptical. But at this moment, if someone contacted him, it probably wasn’t a hacker playing a prank.

“My boss wants to talk to you,” Weiss said.

“In one hour, I’ll contact you. Have your boss come.”

Seeing the message, Weiss’s eyes flickered. He still dialed the phone; he had no choice but to believe it was Joker.

A car entered Weiss’s villa.

The car stopped, and a bald middle-aged man with black-framed glasses got out. Anyone else present would recognize him as Nadella, the current President of Microsoft.

After the reign of Microsoft’s legendary Gates and the leadership of the tyrant Ballmer, Microsoft a few years ago, though still profitable, was in decline.

The tech world changed rapidly, with all technologies developing swiftly.

A few years ago, Microsoft watched Apple rake in massive profits while they relied on Office and Windows to get by. The world had entered the mobile era, cloud technology was advancing, yet they were stuck in place.

At that time, Microsoft’s internal environment was filled with fierce competition and office politics, making many worry about this legendary company, with voices predicting its downfall emerging one after another.

It was then that the board asked Ballmer to step down and announced him as the new CEO, making him the third Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft.

He wasn’t a famously known manager. Having experienced Microsoft’s ups and downs, he was more like a loyal veteran. When he first took office, many questioned his ability as CEO.

Upon taking office, he made “cloud services” the core of Microsoft. The new technology brought new challenges to Microsoft and also gave the stagnant company new life.

Now, Microsoft’s market value had doubled, surpassing even pre-bubble levels and reaching a historic peak.

Today, Microsoft faced yet another challenge.

After the Joker Virus emerged, it dealt a heavy blow to Microsoft. The Windows system was completely compromised. They initially thought fixing system vulnerabilities would resolve the crisis, but it turned out not to be a vulnerability issue.

The Joker Virus could bypass the Windows Firewall and infiltrate the system without any hindrance. This conclusion shook everyone at Microsoft.

The Chinese Character Programming Language also came into their view.

During this time, the company had dedicated staff researching the Chinese Character Programming Language. But time was too short; the Legion Ant Company didn’t give them time and directly released the Termite System.

The corporate office sector was a lucrative area for Microsoft. Due to past decision-making mistakes, Apple and the Umbrella Company had taken a significant share.

Since he took office, he had reclaimed some of it. Now, the Legion Ant Company had stepped in, bringing a strong sense of crisis.

This meat-eating Army Ant made people nervous wherever it went.

Now, they had to use extreme measures to buy time. To deal with this virus crisis, what they needed most was time.

Weiss saw Nadella walk in and felt a bit nervous, quickly inviting him to sit. “He said he’d contact me in an hour. There are still ten minutes left.”

Nadella nodded, sat on the sofa, and waited quietly.