Chapter 61: Lonely and Cold, Finding Someone for You (1/2)

Old Liu was furious.

Originally, a trip with his young wife was supposed to be a pleasant affair.

But just a few days into their vacation, he received bad news from the company. Now, various forums were buzzing with the news that someone had cracked his company’s most profitable product, ‘Xiaoqiang Pet Elf’.

This was no small matter.

It not only affected Old Liu’s future business but also the future of his daughter and his plans to find more young wives.

“Father!”

Liu Ruoxin approached, looking a bit aggrieved and wanting to say something.

“Dear.”

Old Liu, a man of deep schemes, thought about his troubles but didn’t show it. He patted Liu Ruoxin’s head and smiled, “My daughter, thanks for coming to pick me up so late. Daddy loves you. Let’s go home first. I have to go to the company for a meeting and will come back later to be with you.”

Their home was in a high-end apartment complex near the city center.

But Liu Ruoxin’s mother had left Old Liu years ago for another man, finding his business failures unacceptable. Therefore, only a housekeeper was responsible for the daily chores at home.

Liu Ruoxin really wanted to vent about today’s events.

But Old Liu was in a bigger hurry. He patted her cheek, smiling, then had the driver take her home. He himself took a taxi straight to Zhiqiang Technology Company.

Half an hour later.

In the meeting room.

Old Liu sat at the head of the table, his smile more a grimace, as he coldly surveyed the twenty-something employees who had rushed there overnight.

His smile was fake and somewhat chilling, making everyone uneasy.

Fortunately, a veteran employee soon broke the ice.

He lit a cigarette for Old Liu and said in a low, respectful voice, “Boss Liu, let me start. I’ve briefly mentioned it to you over the phone before.”

“The situation has changed. Here is a detailed report for you to look at.”

“According to the latest statistics.”

“The download count for this Mingyue hack for Stone Age has now exceeded thirty thousand on various forums.”

“Just yesterday it was eighteen thousand, and today it’s almost doubled. It’s an exponential increase, and it’s estimated that by tomorrow it will reach…”

“I know.”

Old Liu interrupted him with a raised hand before he could finish.

How could he not know about the speed of internet dissemination?

He stared at the report emotionlessly, not focusing on the details but fixated on the estimated losses.

Although a download count of thirty thousand seemed high, not all these users were originally ‘Xiaoqiang Pet Elf’ customers. Many of them used other free software.

Still, based on past revenue, if this trend continued, there would be a negative growth in this month’s income, likely more than a 50% decrease.

If this went on for a longer period, the ‘Mingyue’ hack could possibly outperform ‘Xiaoqiang Pet Elf’ in a few months.

“I know who’s behind this.”

After scrutinizing the report for a while, Old Liu, pained by the loss of tens of thousands in just a few days, put down the report and looked sharply at everyone.

Although he wasn’t tech-savvy, he wasn’t completely ignorant.

A tech guru had once explained to him the anti-hacking strength of their own hack, mentioning that it would take outsiders months to crack, even a team would need at least a month.

Moreover, their hack was constantly updated with the game version, making it increasingly difficult to crack.

So.

On his way back, he had considered all possibilities and concluded that the most likely scenario was that some rival companies, which he had been suppressing, had bribed his programmers to leak the source code. This was a vicious competition tactic to bring him down.

A minute later.

After his cold gaze swept over everyone.

The employees, feeling uneasy, expressed their loyalty, led by the veteran employee, all stating they had no reason to betray the company.

“I didn’t think so either, why are you all so anxious?”

Old Liu retorted with a smile after hearing their declarations.

But the incident had planted a seed of doubt in his mind. He planned to find an opportunity to subtly interrogate each one, confident he would find out who was responsible.

“Do we have a solution?”

After falsely comforting everyone, he asked the most crucial question.

There was a solution, according to the feedback from the veteran employees. Old Liu quickly made a decision.

“Like this.”

“He’s giving it away for free, right? Let’s create our own version of the ‘Mingue’ hack, infuse it with a virus or trojan, and tarnish its reputation. The downloads will naturally decrease.”

After Old Liu finished speaking, a veteran employee quickly shook his head, “Boss Liu, they’ve already mentioned this possibility when they released it.”

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