Chapter 85: A Promising Start But Poor Finish

“Ms. Zhao, online rumors suggest that during the recent hacker attack on Legion Ant Company, your company leaked the personal data of millions of users. What is your response to this news?”

Zhao Min was surrounded by many reporters, with all cameras focused on her.

This simple impromptu press conference was Chen Mo’s idea. They needed to clarify the leaked documents, the online rumors, and address the attack on Legion Ant Company.

“You said it yourself, these are online rumors. We have special protections for our users’ data, and hackers cannot steal it. In this hacker attack, the most important things stolen were some undrafted promotional plans and a few unencrypted meeting recordings. There were no other losses.”

“Ms. Zhao, on a well-known international forum, a hacker claiming to have successfully breached your company published files stolen from you, including some audio recordings. Are these recordings real?” Another journalist asked as soon as Zhao Min finished her answer.

“Our company did lose some unencrypted audio files. As for the recordings you mentioned, I haven’t heard their content and cannot judge their authenticity. Regardless, we hope relevant websites will delete these files to prevent further losses to our company. We strongly condemn such illegal acts of stealing company secrets.”

“Among the leaked audio files, there is a recording of a conversation between you and your company’s Chairman. It discusses Mr. Cook’s invitation to discuss business. Mr. Cook claims you invited him. What is your response to this?”

Zhao Min smiled slightly. Cook had set a trap for her, and now she could return it with interest.

“We had no prior knowledge of Mr. Cook’s visit. After arriving in Binhai City, Mr. Cook repeatedly invited our Chairman for discussions. However, the Chairman was too busy to attend. Mr. Cook understood and took the initiative to come to our company to discuss cooperation.”

A slight stir arose among the seated observers. Zhao Min’s brief statement revealed much information. Legion Ant Company didn’t know about Cook’s visit. After coming to Binhai City, Cook repeatedly invited Legion Ant Company for talks, was ultimately refused, and then went to Legion Ant Company himself.

As professionals skilled with words, they quickly grasped the implications of Zhao Min’s statement.

“Online rumors say your company has reached multiple collaborations with Apple Inc. What areas do these collaborations cover?”

“The phrase ‘online rumors’ is very troubling for our company. Some people always use false information to attack us. Which companies we collaborate with is our own freedom.

Our company has many employees. Money doesn’t fall from the sky. We have already addressed your question: there are still many disagreements between us and Apple, and no collaboration has been reached yet.”

…

After the brief interview, Zhao Min returned to her company. Just as she entered her office, she received a call from Chen Mo.

“No phone recording this time, right, Mr. Chairman?” Zhao Min said as soon as she answered.

The appearance of her conversation recording with Chen Mo was strange. She didn’t record their calls, so the only possibility was that Chenmo recorded it.

“Huh? Accident. My phone is often in recording mode. After all, if I say some immortal famous quote, recording it could make me remembered forever.” Chenmo laughed.

Actually, Ink Girl recorded his call conversations, but Chenmo couldn’t reveal Ink Girl.

“Haha, so have you said any immortal famous quotes?”

“No.” Chenmo said. “You did well this time. I think you have potential to join the foreign ministry, speaking so skillfully.”

“I work for you, and now you’re mocking me?”

“No, clearly I’m praising you.” Chenmo said. “We’ve said what needed to be said. How the media interprets it isn’t our problem.”

“You really are someone who hates to suffer losses.” Zhao Min said meaningfully before hanging up.

After hanging up, Chenmo started drawing robot design blueprints. Once the designs were ready and the materials arrived, they could begin manufacturing the robot.

News of Legion Ant Company’s impromptu press conference quickly spread.

“Did Cook deliberately set a trap for Legion Ant Company?”

“Did Cook lie?”

“Why did Cook lie?”

“Furious after failing to reach collaboration with Legion Ant Company?”

No one cared about the hacker who breached Legion Ant Company. Everyone’s focus was on Cook. After all, Cook had publicly claimed he was invited, which caused trouble for Legion Ant Company.

The recording incident revealed that Legion Ant Company hadn’t invited Cook; instead, Cook had actively invited them. Moreover, news that Apple Inc. returned empty-handed quickly spread.

This meant all online rumors about Legion Ant Company were false.

Capital, Apple R&D Center.

Cook didn’t look happy. He thought he had set a small trap for Legion Ant Company, but didn’t expect to be counter-trapped so quickly.

Legion Ant Company hacked? Damn hacking.

Even Apple’s best hackers failed when trying to breach Legion Ant Company, suffering a hidden loss. If Legion Ant Company’s firewall was that easy to break, he wouldn’t need to work so hard coming to Huaxia.

Obviously, Legion Ant Company didn’t want to take the loss simply, so they created this hacking story. Then coincidentally, recordings of their conversation were leaked. And Legion Ant Company lost nothing except some unimportant promotional plans.

Yet he couldn’t refute the hacking incident.

Legion Ant Company used the opportunity to clarify without any impropriety. The only issue was that he had already apologized, but Legion Ant Company didn’t mention it at all.

While Cook was in a bad mood, his secretary entered. “Mr. Cook, the company notified us to return immediately.”

“Return? Why?” Cook said.

“Probably due to the continuous stock decline. The company said many board members want to hear your response strategy.”

“Book tickets for tonight.” Cook said darkly to his secretary.

Of all his visits to Huaxia, this was the most unsatisfying. Facing the Smart Assistant’s threat that could make phones obsolete, he had no choice but to come.

Otherwise, like Nokia being defeated by Android and becoming history, Apple would also exit the mobile phone market stage.

He only had two tasks upon returning: speed up Siri’s development, or convince the board to give Apple System’s source code to Legion Ant Company. However, the latter was almost impossible. Opening source code to a Huaxia company was unthinkable.

That night, Cook quietly left Huaxia without alerting anyone. He didn’t respond to the Legion Ant Company matter, just as he had arrived silently.

He came with great fanfare but ended anticlimactically. He came quietly and left quietly, taking not even a single cloud with him.