Chapter 34: A Viral Intrusion?

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On Monday morning, Li Ping’an rose early and arrived at the incubation center ahead of everyone else to unlock the door.

Before long, the eight people who had received calls on Friday evening informing them that they had been hired began arriving one after another.

The once-quiet room quickly grew lively.

Once everyone had arrived, Li Ping’an clapped his hands softly to draw their attention and said in a calm voice, “Everyone, settle down for a moment. I just have a few things to say.

“Our company is still fairly small at this stage, so the monthly internship salary is three thousand yuan. It may not be much, but we never delay payment. Last month’s salary will be paid punctually on the third of every month.

“If the payment date falls during a holiday, we’ll pay you in advance. You can rest assured about that.”

At this point, Li Ping’an’s gaze fell on the two financial interns. With earnest concern, he reminded them, “The two of you need to pay particular attention to this. Make absolutely sure you don’t miss the payroll date.

“Also, I’ll give you a phone number in a moment. Add it on WeChat. We’ve hired an experienced professional accountant from outside the company—someone with years of experience and excellent skills.

“Your main responsibilities will be handling the company’s material purchases, assisting the contracted accountant with the books, and taking care of some general office work. Learn from your senior colleague and build up plenty of practical experience.”

Zhang Ting and the other financial intern nodded silently. Neither showed the slightest surprise.

After all, no matter how much theory they had studied, without genuine practical experience, they could never feel entirely confident.

Financial records were of the utmost importance. If even a small error were made and the accounts were prepared incorrectly, it would be no trivial matter. In the worst case, it could be considered falsifying the books—not only would the company face punishment, but the boss might even end up in prison.

What boss would dare hand the company’s most important work directly to inexperienced beginners?

Li Ping’an then turned his attention to the graphic designer and the front-end developers.

“As for the graphic design and front-end development teams, your responsibilities will be somewhat heavier.

“I’ll create a work group shortly and add everyone to it. I’ll post the relevant work documents and requirements there, so keep an eye on the group and check it regularly.

“For the front-end team, your immediate priority is to devote yourselves to adapting and developing Pet Spirits for Huawei’s new NEXT system, and strive to get the product online as soon as possible.”

“Now, the next point is probably the one everyone cares about most.”

The corners of Li Ping’an’s mouth lifted slightly, and a flicker of amusement appeared in his eyes as he raised his voice.

“Besides your regular internship salary, the company will set aside another five thousand yuan every month as an activity fund.

“You can spend it however you like—buying fruit, snacks, or reimbursing group meals outside. I won’t interfere. Discuss it among yourselves. Consider it a small benefit for everyone to enjoy outside of work.”

After a brief pause, Li Ping’an swept his determined gaze over the group and added sincerely, “Of course, I sincerely hope that everyone will truly bring out the talent and skills you claimed to possess during your interviews, and work together to make our company bigger and stronger.”

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Li Ping’an glanced at his watch. Seeing that it was getting late, he quickly called out to everyone, “Whoever leaves last, remember to lock the door.”

After leaving the key with them and adding everyone on WeChat, Li Ping’an slung his backpack over his shoulders and hurried toward class, leaving the eight newly arrived workers staring at one another.

The next moment—

The instant the boss disappeared, the atmosphere in the room became lively. Everyone began discussing matters all at once.

“Five thousand yuan for activities! Good heavens, we’re going to have unlimited fruit now!”

……………………………………

Time always slipped away before anyone noticed.

Winter passed, and spring arrived.

The campus bloomed with all kinds of flowers.

With the Labor Day holiday approaching, the school was filled with even more laughter and cheerful voices.

Everyone began making plans for the holiday.

At the 201 Innovation and Entrepreneurship Incubation Center, more than two months of working together had allowed everyone to become familiar with one another. During those two months of development, Pet Spirits had already received two updates, adding more pet designs and skins.

The NEXT version of Pet Spirits had also gone online ten days earlier.

Unexpectedly, users of the NEXT version showed even stronger purchasing power when it came to pet skins.

More than half of them had bought skins!

The Labor Day holiday was almost here. Although Li Ping’an was a ruthless boss, he knew he could not possibly keep everyone working overtime.

Even if they accomplished nothing, forcing them to work would only create chaos and bring more losses than gains.

The Labor Day holiday would begin the day after tomorrow. Taking advantage of the fact that everyone was present, Li Ping’an stepped out of the partitioned office and cleared his throat.

“Ahem…”

“Since the Labor Day holiday is coming up, anyone planning to travel should remember to keep your transportation receipts. When you return, take them to the two finance interns for reimbursement.”

“Long live the boss!”

Several of the young men shouted excitedly.

Having their transportation costs reimbursed for both the outbound and return trips was no small benefit for college students.

The money they saved would be enough to fund a trip during the holiday.

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Even those who had originally planned to stay on campus and study for the postgraduate entrance examination began considering going on a trip.

……………………………………

“Sister Sun, we’re leaving now. Don’t forget to lock the door when you leave, and come early tomorrow morning to open it.”

Still typing code, Sun Yutong replied without lifting her head, “All right, all right.”

After everyone had left, Sun Yutong discreetly checked that she was not being watched. Then she pulled a USB drive from her pocket and inserted it into her computer.

The moment the drive was connected, a program inside it activated automatically and began accessing the server to copy data.

What Sun Yutong did not know was that, at the very instant the virus invaded the server, the separate server housing the artificial intelligence in the machine room began operating at high speed.

“Warning: Unknown virus intrusion detected.”

“Activating emergency protocol.”

“Generating a new anti-intrusion virus.”

…

Back in his dormitory, Li Ping’an received the artificial intelligence’s alert and remotely accessed the surveillance cameras through his phone. Watching Sun Yutong on the screen, he felt deeply troubled.

But Li Ping’an did not stop her from copying the files.

How could he possibly have failed to take precautions when the artificial intelligence was so important to him?

What Sun Yutong was copying was no artificial intelligence data at all. It was merely a collection of short videos he had copied from his boss’s computer, along with a somewhat intelligent computer virus.

As soon as the USB drive was inserted into a new device, it would rapidly infect that device and quietly transmit its location information back to him.

Li Ping’an was genuinely curious about how much money Sun Yutong had been offered for her to abandon ten years of hard study and give up her plans to pursue postgraduate studies.

She surely knew what consequences would follow from stealing the company’s confidential information. Li Ping’an refused to believe that she was completely unaware.

More than an hour later, when the USB drive’s indicator light began flashing, Sun Yutong calmly pulled it out, packed up her things, and left.

“With acting that good, it’s a real shame she isn’t pursuing a career as an actress. The film industry has just missed out on another award-winning star.”

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