Chapter Sixty-Seven: Defeat

The first rays of the morning sun spilled over, casting the imposing Tengfei Building in a golden glow.

At that moment, however, the Tengfei Network Technology Company on the 17th floor was in a state of chaos. The customer service hotline, which had been ringing all night, was finally unplugged at Liu Ming’s impatient command.

Several customer service representatives breathed a deep sigh of relief upon hearing the order. They scrambled to grab water or dash to the restroom, and in a flurry of activity, they vanished from the office. Ever since being urgently called in for overtime the night before, they had been stuck answering calls from internet cafe owners, repeating incessantly, "We are sorry, the company is currently handling the issue; please wait patiently." They had barely had time to drink water or use the restroom, and Liu Ming’s order was their only salvation.

As Liu Ming emerged from Liu Ze’s office, his temper was visibly raging. A keen observer might have even detected a deep-seated resentment toward Liu Ze burning in his eyes.

Liu Ming had never anticipated such a disaster. He had originally opposed pushing the software nationwide so quickly, knowing they hadn't fully mastered their own product. If something went wrong, who would fix it?

Now, the worst had happened. The product was failing, and they were completely clueless and powerless to address it. If this continued, even if only half of the two thousand internet cafe owners came to the company to cause a scene, it would be enough to trigger a public incident of significant social impact.

Even a conglomerate like the Tengfei Group would have to handle such a situation with extreme caution and attempts at appeasement. For a small, newly established company like Tengfei Network Technology, if they couldn't find a solution, they would likely vanish into thin air after this debacle.

If the company went under, that was one thing; Liu Ming could always find something else to do. But Liu Ming knew Liu Ze well, and he knew that Liu Ze would certainly vent all his fury upon him. The thought of the methods Liu Ze and Liu Teng had used against others in the past sent a shiver down his spine.

Glancing between Liu Ze’s office and the exit of the company, a thought suddenly struck Liu Ming: should he just walk away now?

Just as Liu Ming stood wavering, an employee ran over.

"Manager Liu, our sales staff just reported back: a very small number of computer rooms are reporting no issues with their systems."

"What? Are you sure? Say that again!" Liu Ming, still struggling with whether to leave or stay, snapped to attention and demanded loudly.

The employee replied with absolute certainty, "It’s true. Our people are currently at that very computer room."

"Good! I need to know immediately why their system is still functional!" Hearing this potentially heartening news, Liu Ming’s spirits lifted instantly, and his thought of fleeing vanished as quickly as it had come.

Liu Ming hurried into the office and immediately demanded, "What exactly is going on? Why does that internet cafe have no issues? Have you figured it out yet?"

"Manager Liu, I think I’ve mostly figured it out. This system paralysis is entirely man-made. The internet cafe where the system is normal is actually just a computer room; not a single computer there has internet connectivity." The speaker was a computer expert who had been hired into the company just a few days prior—the most tech-savvy person in the entire office.

With his thick glasses perched on his nose, he spread his hands and gave a wry smile. "Manager Liu, if I may speak frankly: after two days of attempting to crack this, I’ve found that this system is exceptionally well-made. The developer is highly skilled and has implemented top-tier security; it’s very difficult to break through in such a short time. This system definitely has a backdoor. This incident was orchestrated by using that backdoor to seize control of all internet-connected management systems, effectively paralyzing over two thousand units in under half an hour."

"Damn it, I knew it. How could anyone just let us promote this system without a fight? So that’s where the root of it all lies," Liu Ming cursed under his breath, directing his vitriol at Huanyu Software.

But this was no time for cursing. Liu Ming asked, "So, do we have any way to resolve the system paralysis at the other cafes?"

The expert thought for a moment before replying, "There’s no perfect solution for now. We can only notify the owners to uninstall the existing system, disconnect from the network, and then reinstall our software. Furthermore, until we can either crack this system or develop a new one, those computers cannot be connected to the internet. If they reconnect, the management system will be compromised again, and the result will be exactly the same as it is now."

After a few seconds of thought, Liu Ming made his decision. "Fine, we’ll do that. Tell everyone to call those cafe owners and inform them that we will send staff to reinstall the software. However, to prevent hacker attacks, the managed computers must remain offline. Then, instruct all sales staff to begin reinstalling the systems in order."

After issuing the order, Liu Ming knew that many cafe owners would likely refuse to accept this, and would surely demand refunds and compensation. Yet, in the current situation, this was the best possible course of action. The most important thing now was for Liu Ming to go in and convince Liu Ze to cough up the money already in his pockets to compensate the dissatisfied owners.

"Given Liu Ze’s personality, getting him to agree to refunds won't be easy," Liu Ming thought to himself.

Zhou Xuan learned of Tengfei’s countermeasure almost immediately, as they had already bribed several of the cafe owners. Reflecting on Tengfei’s response, Zhou Xuan felt a twinge of frustration; he hadn't expected them to come up with such a workaround on such short notice. This meant that some cafes, where only one or two computers needed internet access, would be back in business quickly. Moreover, some owners, intimidated by the influence of the Tengfei Group, would surely continue to use their system.

A plan that was meant to deal a fatal blow to Liu Ze had, due to his own miscalculation, ended up in an awkward stalemate. Zhou Xuan suddenly felt that his rebirth was not omnipotent, and wondered if he had been too arrogant.

Early in the morning, along the riverbank, facing the rising sun, Zhou Xuan was running.

Even though he had been reborn, Zhou Xuan knew that the cowardice ingrained in his bones had not completely dissipated. Decades of conditioning could not be erased so easily.

After his rebirth, Zhou Xuan had embarked on a path completely different from his previous life. When fame, wealth, and power came rushing toward him, he had felt lost and afraid—lost as to the future path, and afraid of suddenly losing everything he had gained.

Therefore, when Liu Ze had provoked him, Zhou Xuan had panicked. He feared a repeat of everything from his past life; he feared being crushed by Liu Ze and the forces behind him before he could become strong enough to defend himself.

That deep-seated cowardice and fear had forced Zhou Xuan to take a gamble, acting prematurely in the hope of strangling the threat in the cradle. His meetings with Deng Ting'an, Wang Ximing, Yu Xiangyang, and the others were like a high-stakes gamble; a single misstep could have led to his complete undoing.

Who could guarantee that none of them were plants from the other side? Who could guarantee that there were no ulterior motives within his own group? Looking back now, Zhou Xuan felt a sense of relief mixed with a cold sweat.

He had arrogantly believed that rebirth allowed him to control everything, and his rash entry into the whirlpool of power felt like a trial by fire. A wave of lingering fear washed over him, and Zhou Xuan patted his chest: fortunately, his luck seemed to be on his side, or he might have already been sunk to the bottom of the river.

Zhou Xuan continued his run, moving toward the rising sun and into the golden light.

Standing by the river, watching the wide expanse of water flow endlessly eastward, he saw a silver tower standing on the south bank, looking down at the vibrant little city across the way. Standing beneath the mottled old city walls, Zhou Xuan suddenly felt how truly insignificant he was.