Chapter 33: The Challenge

“I’m sorry, Mr. Li. We don’t have any plans for financing right now. If we do, I will contact you.”

Zhao Min hung up the phone and placed it back on the base. She leaned back in her chair and let out a sigh of relief.

A week had passed since the official sale of the Butterfly Eye. In that week, Zhao Min kept receiving phone calls, all of them asking about financing.

Several of the largest venture capital firms in the country, like IDG, Tencent Investment, Sequoia, and Jiuding Holdings, had all called her. There were also many independent investors.

These days, she was exhausted from answering calls. In seven days, she had taken over seventy calls. If it weren’t for work, she would have unplugged the phone line.

That Chairman, Chen Mo, did nothing at all. He left everything for her to handle. She felt like she had fallen into a big trap when she made that bet with Chen Mo.

But there was one thing that made her feel relieved: the phone sales were going very well. The phone was waterproof, and with the smooth experience of the Army Ant System, it received many good reviews.

Many of the newly pre-ordered phones had already reached users. Because they had been careful every step of the way, everything had gone smoothly so far, with no major problems. There were only some negative voices on the internet occasionally, but they had no effect on them.

Some phone companies had already contacted them about the waterproof interface.

Many phone companies had their own unique designs for the charging port. For the headphone jack, the common one was the 3.5mm headphone jack.

The unique waterproof interface design of the Butterfly Eye had attracted interest from many companies.

Since Zhao Min had stated at the launch that they were open to licensing, many phone companies were already in talks with them about licensing.

After all, not every company could go for wireless charging like Apple. The waterproof interface wasn’t as expensive as wireless charging but still gave the phone a waterproof function.

Whether looking at cost or practicality, the waterproof interface was a good option.

Now the company was moving forward steadily. They just needed to hold on a little longer to become truly stable.

Just as Zhao Min was looking over some documents, there was a quick knock on the door. Li Lingfeng hurried inside.

“What’s wrong?” Seeing Li Lingfeng’s expression, Zhao Min frowned. In her memory, Li Lingfeng was always very calm.

“General Manager Zhao, there are some articles online attacking us, saying the Army Ant System has major security flaws. It’s already causing a big stir on the internet.”

“Security flaws?” Zhao Min became serious. “Are they real?”

“No, they’re not. I went to the tech department and talked to Old Luo. Old Luo said the so-called security flaws are completely made up. Someone hired internet trolls to smear us on purpose. I also heard from Zhu Li that many users are choosing to return their phones.”

Zhao Min picked up her phone and opened the news. Sure enough, just as Li Lingfeng had said, many articles were reporting on the Army Ant System security flaws.

After reading a few articles, Zhao Min also scrolled through the comments.

There were many harsh criticisms and insults. Led by a few trolls, the comments were one-sided attacks against the Legion Ant Company.

A large number of the comments were mindless hate.

Zhao Min glanced through them briefly, put down her phone, and rubbed her temples. What they feared had come. Clearly, someone didn’t want to see them succeed so easily.

“What should we do?” Li Lingfeng asked.

The appearance of the Army Ant System and the Butterfly Eye had disturbed the big cake that was the mobile phone market.

If they manipulated the situation to ruin the company’s reputation, the Army Ant System would be useless, and no one would dare to use it. Then they could take over the company, repackage it, and relaunch it.

This method was a bit old-fashioned, but very effective.

“Don’t worry. Let me contact the Chairman first.”

Zhao Min motioned for Li Lingfeng to sit and wait, then dialed Chen Mo’s number.

Such a big thing had happened, and she was working herself to death here while that Chairman was who knows where, enjoying himself. It was frustrating.

“Chairman, I have some bad news,” Zhao Min said as soon as the call connected.

“Is it about the Army Ant System security flaws?” Chen Mo closed the news on his computer.

He had designed the Army Ant System himself. He couldn’t ignore something like this.

As for the online smearing, he didn’t mind. If no one was jealous of you, you were mediocre. Every company went through this kind of trivial stuff.

“You know? That’s good,” Zhao Min said.

“If there was a flaw in the Army Ant System, I would have found it. I knew it was fake without even looking. Can’t you handle it?” Chen Mo asked.

“I can handle it. I just wanted to ask if you have a better way, since you know the Army Ant System best.”

“Is that so?” Chen Mo thought for a moment. “I do have a bold idea.”

“Your ideas are always bold. Go on.”

“We’ll offer one million to anyone who can find a flaw and crack the phone system,” Chen Mo said.

“Are you crazy?”

“Don’t worry. No one will find it.”

Chen Mo was full of confidence. This was a phone system he got from the Science and Technology Library and developed based on its structure.

After completion, it was optimized by the Science and Technology Library. In terms of security, it wasn’t perfect, but without the Source Code, cracking it would be extremely difficult. That was why he dared to think the Army Ant System was better than other phone systems.

“Fine. If you’re not worried, then I, as the employee, don’t need to worry either. But based on your idea, I want to change it a bit. If you’re not worried someone might find a flaw, how about we increase the prize to two million?”

“Do whatever you want with the reward, up to five million.”

“Okay.”

After hanging up, Zhao Min looked at Li Lingfeng.

“Lingfeng, go release a message. Whoever finds a flaw in the Army Ant System and cracks the system without damaging the data, our company will give out two million. One million will be donated to the children’s fund, and one million will go to the person who finds the flaw. The reward is valid for six months.”

Zhao Min had more experience with company matters than Chen Mo. Now that someone was smearing them, charity was the best way to restore the company’s reputation.

This kind of stunt would not only boost phone sales but also give the company a good reputation. The security of the Army Ant System would become known to everyone. It would kill multiple birds with one stone.

“Okay, I understand,” Li Lingfeng nodded and left the office.

…

The topic about the Army Ant System kept heating up online. The security flaws of the Army Ant System were described in detail in various articles.

Just when the topic was at its peak, the Legion Ant Company’s official Weibo reposted an article describing the Army Ant System’s security flaws and made a public response.

“Challenge! The Chairman says: two million for one flaw. Any person or team that finds a flaw in the Army Ant System and cracks the phone without damaging the data, the company is willing to pay two million. One million will be donated to the children’s fund, and one million will go to the person or team who cracks it. (The reward is valid for six months. The company has the final right to interpret this announcement.)”

This response was like pouring a bucket of water into boiling oil. It instantly ignited public opinion and pushed the topic to a new high.

Legion Ant Company’s Response

This topic quickly climbed to the top of the trending list.

Under the Legion Ant Company’s official Weibo, various joke accounts quickly took over.

“Me: Mom, give me money. I want to study computer science. It can make me rich—one million! Mom: You want to go to the internet cafe to play games, right? Dad, come tie him up.”

“Last time, you tricked me into going to Dubai to beg. Then you tricked me into going to Ukraine to find a wife. Last year, you told me I could make money playing cards in prison. My butt still hurts from that. Now you want to trick me into learning computer skills to find flaws? I’m not doing it… Hey boss, pay me for moving bricks. I need to pay for tuition. Yeah, to study computers.”

“Bamboo rats, bamboo rats, clearance sale!”

Under the Legion Ant Company’s official Weibo, a flood of comments appeared, all with bizarre styles. The news about the Legion Ant Company’s two million reward quickly overshadowed the smear articles.

The articles that attacked the Army Ant System’s security flaws died out quickly after the response. Online reports all turned to the Legion Ant Company’s reward event.

This event was shocking. Even Apple wouldn’t dare to say something like this. Who would have thought a little ant just out of the nest would dare to say such a thing.

After the news spread, tech experts quickly followed the Legion Ant Company’s official Weibo, shared the message, and announced they were joining the cracking team.

Leaders of the famous Tencent Cybersecurity Team and Qihu Cybersecurity Team also shared the Weibo post and publicly stated they would join the cracking team. If they succeeded, all the money would go to charity.

One message set off a huge wave of attempts to crack the Army Ant System online.