Chapter 62: The Hidden Hand?

Zhu Lang sat before his computer, scrolling through trending news online with a smile on his face. The online troll army he hired had worked — even if Legion Ant Company responded, they were just a tiny boat in a vast sea of trolls; the moment any news appeared, it was drowned in a flood of malicious comments.

Attacking Legion Ant Company was now mainstream online. The task the Boss assigned was done; what came next was collecting his reward.

After shutting down his computer, Zhu Lang swiveled in his office chair, picked up his phone, and dialed a number.

“Ink Girl, redirect his call and start recording,” said Chen Mo calmly from his office.

“Okay, Brother Mo.”

As soon as Ink Girl’s voice faded, an audio interface popped up on the computer screen.

“Hey, Boss, the job you asked me to do is finished. Have you heard about the situation with Legion Ant Company?” Zhu Lang said excitedly.

“Well done. No loose ends, right? Otherwise, it could have a bad impact on us,” came a low, resonant voice from the phone.

“Ink Girl, find out who he’s talking to.”

“Okay, Brother Mo, please wait a moment.”

Not long after Ink Girl’s childlike voice went silent, an archive file appeared on another computer screen.

“Dong Shun, joined Long River Capital seven years ago, focusing on investments in new energy, electronic products, and innovative tech. Currently the Chairman of Donghai Venture Capital Company…”

Seeing the information on his screen, Chen Mo leaned back in his chair, listening quietly to their conversation.

“Boss, I’ve got reporters and trolls ready. As soon as the Tax Bureau people enter Legion Ant Company, the reporters will take pictures. Then the story about the company cooking its books will spread like wildfire online, leaving them no way to defend themselves.”

“Good, keep up the good work. I won’t treat you unfairly.”

“Thank you, Boss.”

When the call ended, Chen Mo leaned back in his office chair, turned to look out the window, and let out a breath. “Ink Girl, check the finances and accounts of Long River Capital, and Donghai Venture Capital’s too.”

“Okay, Brother Mo.” Ink Girl fell silent, and soon two compressed files appeared on the computer desktop. “Brother Mo, these are their financial records for the last three years. Long River Capital falsified their accounts last year, and Donghai Venture Capital has been evading taxes for three years straight.”

“Send these to the market regulators, anonymously. Use a fake IP address too,” Chen Mo instructed.

Many companies hired skilled accountants to handle their books. As long as things weren’t too extreme and no major flaws appeared, even the Tax Bureau had difficulty spotting them.

Now that the other side was trying to hassle him, he saw no reason not to retaliate.

He wasn’t someone to be bullied. Since they sent the Tax Bureau to check his books, he had no problem turning the tables on them.

“Okay, Brother Mo, sent successfully,” Ink Girl said.

“Keep a close watch on the company’s finances. If anything unusual pops up, notify me right away.”

“Monitoring continuously.”

With tasks delegated, Chen Mo stood up, grabbed two books from the shelf, sat back down, and quietly began to read. He wasn’t in the mood for experiments right now, so reading was the next best thing.

As for the rumors online, he could have Ink Girl delete them all. But doing so would only make them look guilty, so Chen Mo simply ignored it. After this wave blew over, he could deal with it however he wanted.

The online bombardment continued all day, with articles bashing Legion Ant flooding screens everywhere.

These articles were written to skirt the line, avoiding outright slander. Some were just clickbait headlines, so there was little that could be done about the media spreading them.

But this constant flooding made the online discussions even crazier.

“Did Legion Ant Company dig up these people’s ancestors’ graves? When will these trolls give the internet some peace? Shouldn’t certain authorities step in?”

“Money talks. I heard that a while back, many big players approached Legion Ant, but they refused to transfer shares. Considering the market value of Legion Ant’s Smart Assistant, the stakes are huge — big enough that any capitalist would want a bite, especially since Legion Ant hasn’t fully grown yet.

Back in the day, even the powerful Rockefeller family saw Standard Oil split into 34 companies. Why did Microsoft restructure its equity? Because the profits were enormous; no one could resist.

It’s just that Legion Ant is currently on a hot streak. The big capital giants are afraid of tarnishing their reputation if they act recklessly, so they won’t make a move. Without a doubt, the ones in such a hurry to act are the small to mid-sized capitalists. If they don’t strike now, once Legion Ant solidifies its position, smaller players won’t even get a seat at the table.”

“Classic second-floor truth! Adding to that — even if Legion Ant is taken down, it’s not the small and mid-sized players who’ll benefit; they’re just doing the hard work for others…”

“Legion Ant can’t compare to Standard Oil or Microsoft back then, can it? At best, it’s just a little ant. Standard Oil monopolized the U.S. oil market and was a non-governmental enterprise, so the U.S. government, worried about national security, had to break it up — though there were interests involved too. Legion Ant hasn’t reached that level, has it?”

“Legion Ant has that potential!”

“If rising means dying, who’d dare to start a business? Who’d innovate? Who’d develop technology? Does big capital have the final say in the domestic market?”

…

The online debate raged fiercely. Legion Ant had risen quickly and was now a rising tech star in the domestic market.

Many believed this was just one tribulation among many — only by surviving this challenge could Legion Ant solidify its footing in the domestic market and keep moving forward.

From the chat dialogues of Smart Assistant, it was clear Legion Ant’s Artificial Intelligence research had already pulled ahead. The potential of AI was the future — who wouldn’t want a piece of that pie?

Two days passed in a flash. Legion Ant Company remained in the eye of the storm, with various versions of claims still circulating online.

Being targeted behind the scenes had a significant impact on the company, but most departments continued to function normally.

Many reporters camped outside the company, but all employees kept silent about recent events, refusing any interviews.

Meanwhile, Chen Mo sat in his office quietly reading, occasionally glancing out the window. With Zhao Min managing the company’s day-to-day affairs, he didn’t need to step in. So while Zhao Min was busy, he was quite relaxed.

The company servers were attacked daily, but with Ink Girl’s presence, all assaults were blocked, leaving the company unaffected.

Given the company’s current high profile, no one dared to openly confront Legion Ant Company.

Since they weren’t a listed company, manipulating them through the stock market wasn’t possible, so the only options were cyber attacks or other sneaky tactics. Today was the day the Tax Bureau came to check the accounts.

“Brother Mo, someone has altered the company’s accounts without authorization.” Ink Girl’s voice suddenly spoke up as Chen Mo was reading.

Chen Mo’s pupils contracted, his expression darkened, and he set down his book. Today was the day the Tax Bureau was checking the books; tampering with the accounts now was clearly a deliberate move.

Chen Mo immediately picked up the landline phone on his desk and dialed Zhao Min’s office number.

“Chairman, what’s up?” Zhao Min’s voice came through shortly after.

“Go to the Finance Department and check the accounts.” After saying this, Chen Mo hung up, stood, and left the office.

“Okay.” Without hanging up, Zhao Min in her office dialed Zhang Yi’s number. “Zhang Yi, go check the company’s accounts right now.”