Discussion

Initially, Zhan Fei had already planned out the conversation in his head.

Who was this? What was their identity? How were they planning to threaten him?

Would there be a cold, masculine voice? A flirty, female voice? Perhaps even a distorted sound produced by a voice changer?

However, Zhan Fei had never thought that he would hear a kid's voice.

"My friend, have you heard of Little X?"

As Zhan Fei was too stunned to reply, the childish voice at the other end repeated the question.

"I've just heard of this name today."

Zhan Fei decided to continue talking for the time being, observing the other person's objective before thinking of what to say next.

"That's great."

The voice in the call seemed overjoyed. "In that case, would you like to join us in promoting Little X to the entire world?"

"What do you mean?" Zhan Fei frowned. "Who are you guys? Why do you want me to join? How would I be useful and what do I get out of this?"

"Mr. Zhan Fei, you may call me X."

The child's voice said solemnly through the phone, "We're a small organization that focuses on biotechnology in our research. The Little X Translation Assistant sent to you is the first artificial intelligence product under the X banner."

"If an organization that can design such a product is considered a small organization, then the company that I run is worth nothing, is that it?" Zhan Fei snorted coldly. 

"No, no, no! The reason we're a 'small organization' is that we have no staff in our organization," the kid's voice explained, "so, I rummaged around the dark web and tracked you down."

"What are you saying? I don't understand."

Zhan Fei's face turned icy. Indeed, this person had found him through the dark web.

"Of course, I've located others as well. I've also tracked down King, SB, CZH."

"Impossible!"

Zhan Fei's pupils shrank and his hand was practically crushing his phone. "You've even tracked down King and the others in real life?"

These English names might appear ordinary, even a little comical. Nonetheless, anyone involved in the hacker world would know how fearsome they were.

Any one of these names was a top figure in the hacker world.

"Of course, to me, the traces you guys left online are too obvious."

The voice chuckled childishly. "I looked for you because you are all successful people who've forged your own paths and you don't have a complicated background. Thus, cooperation between us is possible."

Zhan Fei felt a chill run down his spine. He reached back and realized he was already drenched in a cold sweat.

If any hacker had told him that they found the real identities of King, SB, and the rest, Zhan Fei would surely sneer disdainfully. However, at the present, he did not feel as if the caller was making empty boasts…

Zhan Fei had always been careful to clear up any online traces. Even in that battle against Whine one year ago, he had only suffered a small loss.

To be able to track him down without him realizing it – what sort of god was this X?

With this in mind, Zhan Fei drew in a deep breath. "What do you want us to do?"

"My request is simple: I hope that you can all become shareholders of Little X Translation Assistant."

The child's voice did not seem aware of how it came across and continued speaking in the same, innocent tone, "I hope that you can help finance a company called Blacklight Biotechnology Ltd. This will save my company a lot of trouble."

"But from what I can tell, this product doesn't need us."

Zhan Fei frowned. "I believe that with this software's technology, it'll attract plenty of venture capital for sure."

"However, in that case, the product and even the company would no longer completely belong to me."

The child's voice sounded helpless. "Although this isn't a bad option, my wish is that the company will forever remain under my control."

"I get it."

Zhan Fei nodded. It was normal for entrepreneurs to feel attached to their own company. Even so, if a company were to expand significantly, it would require investments from different parties. Hence, something like angel investors became common in the industry.

Not every company or project was capable of attracting investments. Those that could do so were all companies with immense potential, regarded to have good prospects.

After all, capital was driven by profit. Often companies went through several rounds of financing and they ended up being named after other people. Sometimes, the founders were even kicked out. 

On the other hand, if one did not accept financing, other people might imitate one's technology and establish a new competitor company. When one lacked the funds, the only outcome was to be easily defeated by one's competitors, with nothing left to one's name.

This was the reason many people had a love-hate relationship with venture capital.

Capital would never sleep. In the eyes of capital, there was no right or wrong, only profit.

However, if one had control over the lifelines of the company shareholders, the situation was different, of course. Those shareholders would be unable to intervene in company matters nor interfere with the founder's authority.

Currently, this seemed to be what X meant.

"Do I take these words as a threat?" Zhan Fei asked coldly.

"If that makes you happy." X sounded unconcerned.

"Then, I have one last question – what do I get out of this?"

Zhan Fei asked once again, "If all this doesn't benefit me and even requires me to invest everything I have, then I'm sorry, but I'll rather fight to the death with you!"

"Calm down now, I'm not that kind of person."

X said, "Each of you four shall invest ten million in this project of mine. I'll give you a two percent share. The condition is that you mustn't interfere in any of the company's internal affairs. Surely that's reasonable?"

Zhan Fei burst out in indignant laughter. "You're talking about the project Little X Translation Assistant and not the company? Ten million each, in return for only two percent of the shares? Why don't you just rob us?"

"Two percent is plenty!"

X argued, "Perhaps you're not familiar enough with the technological capabilities of Little X Translation Assistant. Let me put it this way – once this software hits the market, it'll resolve any issues in written communication. It's the only one of its kind in the entire world and is more than five years ahead of current AI translation technology!"

Zhan Fei opened his mouth to retort, but suddenly felt a jolt of temptation.

Although he had merely fooled around with the program earlier, that level of technology, which could flawlessly replace every word on a foreign-language webpage, without any clumsy aspects – just as X had said, it could kick the *ss of any similar products.

The other person was not exaggerating at all.

If this was the case, once this software was officially launched, they would be raking in huge profits!

Having thought of this, Zhan Fei's initially angry and resisting mood was somewhat alleviated.

"Moreover, my company would've more than just Little X Translation Assistant in the future."

X continued speaking, "The company is also researching a 'simultaneous translator', predicted to hit the market within half a year. You'll understand then."

"Simultaneous translator?" Zhan Fei frowned. "Is it something that allows two people who speak different languages to communicate? I've used that before, it doesn't work well."

"But we're different," X explained, "you've watched The Wandering Earth before? Our simultaneous translator will reach the level of the one in the movie."

When Zhan Fei heard this, he fell silent. After a long while, he continued. "I'll have to think about it."

"No problem." That d*mn kid's voice of X still chattered on relentlessly. "If you don't mind, please head to the Mickey Café in the city center three hours later. There, you'll meet King, SB, and CZH. Let's discuss further then."

…