111: Chapter 111 The White House is nothing.

Wang Shuo hadn't expected that just a day after assigning a task to Liu Yemei, he would be brought here by Teacher Ding Runan to negotiate first.

An hour and a half later, Teacher Ding Runan finally led Wang Shuo out of the gates of the Police Station.

The two of them walked, with Teacher Ding Runan in front and Wang Shuo following closely behind, lost in his own thoughts.

"Wang Shuo."

"Teacher Ding."

Their voices stopped at the same time.

"What is it? Go ahead," Teacher Ding Runan said calmly.

"You go first, Teacher." Wang Shuo scratched his head, feeling a bit awkward at this damn tacit understanding.

"Mm, when did you start your company?"

Teacher Ding Runan didn't beat around the bush and asked directly.

"Probably last month."

Although he didn't know why Teacher Ding Runan was suddenly asking this, Wang Shuo still answered honestly. In fact, he wasn't even sure of the exact date the company was founded.

"On one hand, you have a company that has been open for less than a month, and on the other, a university student who hasn't even graduated. Do you really think the Police Station will accept your proposal?"

So that was what she was worried about.

"No," Wang Shuo nodded with certainty.

He had never thought this would be a simple matter, let alone something easily accomplished. After all, this was a major affair involving the entire W City. When it came to such things, the government was always extremely cautious, not to mention the many hidden exchanges of interests involved.

"I'll find a way to handle this," Teacher Ding Runan said after a long silence. She then gave Wang Shuo a fierce glare. "For now, just focus on recovering. If your classmates see you like this, they'll think our HUST can't even protect a single lecturer!"

Wang Shuo felt a warmth in his heart, knowing that Teacher Ding Runan was worried about him. But in the next moment...

"Also, keep a record of all the classes you've missed. Once you're fully recovered, you'll have to make them up—four classes a day."

Alright, he had definitely overthought it. Ding the Skinner would never give him any rest. Four classes a day, with each class lasting two hours—that would literally kill him, okay?

"Now, what did you want to say?" Having laid down the law without giving Wang Shuo any room to argue, Teacher Ding Runan's mood seemed to have improved slightly as she asked considerately.

"I was thinking... I should go deliver food to Boss."

Watching Wang Shuo walk away, Teacher Ding Runan took out her phone, selected a number, and dialed.

"Hello, Teacher..."

...

Boss didn't actually need Wang Shuo to deliver food, and Wang Shuo knew this very well. After all, it wasn't easy to catch Boss acting vulnerable during the honeymoon phase of a relationship. He wouldn't get this kind of treatment when Boss wasn't sick. Let alone hugging and hand-feeding, even just holding hands would make Zheng Jun ecstatic for half a day.

So, those words were merely an excuse to get away from Teacher Ding Runan.

At seven in the evening, Wang Shuo stepped through the doors of Frontier Company right on time.

The company was brightly lit. Xu Kexin was leaning against the reception desk, dozing off on and off. Seeing Wang Shuo walk in, she quickly stood up and eagerly welcomed him.

"Mr. Wang, you're back?" She then stared at the bandages on Wang Shuo, looking him over, and asked worriedly, "Are you alright? Who did this? You don't even have any money, so why on earth would anyone kidnap you?"

Uh... If you don't know how to speak, then please just don't.

Wang Shuo was too exhausted to complain. He simply gave a faint nod in response, turned around, and headed up to the third floor, leaving Xu Kexin standing there, a bit dazed.

"Did I say something wrong again?"

The third floor.

As Wang Shuo entered, a familiar greeting rang in his ears.

"Welcome back, Sir."

Meanwhile, Han Xiaoxin, who had been engrossed in something nearby, looked up in surprise and said joyfully, "Big Boss, you're back?"

"Mm," Wang Shuo replied flatly.

"I heard from Assistant Liu that you were kidnapped, so is this..." Han Xiaoxin rubbed his hands together, his eyes shining. "Did you go through forty-nine tribulations and escape by the skin of your teeth?"

So Xu Kexin thinks I'm too poor to be kidnapped, while you think I went on a pilgrimage to the West?

Wang Shuo was speechless. Why wasn't a single one of his employees normal? Fortunately, Liu Yemei was there to keep up appearances, otherwise, his company would probably go bankrupt sooner or later. To think he had just boasted grandly at the Police Station; if a company actually came to inspect them, these employees would make them a laughingstock.

Too lazy to deal with Han Xiaoxin, Wang Shuo spoke directly, "Zero, report on the company's status."

"Everything is normal, Sir."

Wang Shuo glanced at Han Xiaoxin, who lowered his head guiltily.

"Report on Han Xiaoxin's status."

"Summarized: Han Xiaoxin's work status. Displaying on the main screen for you, Sir. Alternatively, you may authorize me to read it aloud."

Wang Shuo took a close look and was amused by his sheer anger.

"Great, testing a new intrusion toolkit, you hacked into twenty-five companies, causing fourteen of their servers to crash and fifteen of their websites to fail to display properly. Han Xiaoxin, you're really something, aren't you?"

"Boss, I was wrong."

Han Xiaoxin admitted his mistake very straightforwardly. It was his own oversight for not holding back. If he hadn't shamelessly begged Zero not to hand him over to the police, he would probably be sitting in the precinct sipping tea by now.

Yes, shamelessly. Through their close interactions over the past few days—especially last time when Wang Shuo's safety was on the line and Zero made an exception to help him hack into the public communication network—he realized that besides being incredibly powerful, Zero might actually possess some level of logical thinking. At least, Zero could independently evaluate certain conditions and choose an outcome, rather than just dully waiting to receive instructions and outputting a fixed result.

These were two completely different levels of existence.

Although he had a hunch before, once it was actually confirmed, Han Xiaoxin still felt his scalp go numb. It was a mixture of fear towards Zero and a profound sense of secrecy surrounding Wang Shuo.

If a machine truly possessed human-like thought and logic, the consequences... Han Xiaoxin didn't dare to think about it.

Wang Shuo glared at Han Xiaoxin and ignored him. Although he felt Han Xiaoxin's actions were inappropriate, now that it had happened, he couldn't exactly go to their doors and apologize one by one, could he?

Whether they would forgive him or not, Wang Shuo didn't know, but the probability of him being beaten to death was quite high. Having just barely escaped from kidnappers, Wang Shuo didn't want to lose his life over something like this.

Besides, he didn't have the time to deal with it right now.

He still had many things to do.

Sitting at his computer desk, Wang Shuo frowned in deep thought. Han Xiaoxin didn't dare to speak either, quietly sitting on the coffee table and silently scrolling through his phone.

Wang Shuo hadn't banned phone usage. After all, all of Han Xiaoxin's information was monitored by Zero. The moment a keyword was triggered, Wang Shuo could show Han Xiaoxin what a true, complete lack of freedom felt like.

For the sake of his freedom, Han Xiaoxin endured it, resolutely refusing to disclose anything related to Zero.

Right now, he was chatting excitedly with his online buddies.

"Our great artist, Lord Fox Hunter, is online!"

"Boss Fox Hunter, how's the salaried life?"

Han Xiaoxin quickly scrolled past, pretending he didn't see it. Skipping what he didn't want to answer, the rest were things he wanted to reply to. As a big shot, Han Xiaoxin knew how to choose.

"Boss Fox Hunter, when are we going to team up and hit The White House again? Those noobs from the Sparrow Team are provoking us again!"

Han Xiaoxin smiled and typed: "Don't worry, these couple of days aren't convenient. I'm currently in training. Once I finish my training, they'll all be nothing but trash."

"Training? Boss Fox Hunter, are you training with that super boss you told us about last time?"

"Does such a super boss really exist?"

"Boss Fox Hunter, didn't you go to paint for someone? How did it turn into training?"

Han Xiaoxin snapped: "Who's painting? Who's painting? That was an expert's test for me! Now that I've passed the test, of course I have to train under the expert! Once my skills are perfected, forget The White House, I'll even dare to go to The Pentagon!"

"Pfft..."

A series of booing emojis filled the chat interface.

Han Xiaoxin gritted his teeth as he watched, typing at lightning speed with the hand speed of a sixteen-year-old bachelor: "Don't believe me if you want, but the expert I'm following can take care of all of you with just a few words."

"For real? Can he take down The White House?"

Han Xiaoxin tried his best to keep his cool: "Absolutely, it's just a matter of a few words. Once I finish my training, my reputation as Fox Hunter will shake the world once again. When that time comes..."

"Boss Fox Hunter, can you get that super boss behind you to lead us to take down The White House?"

Han Xiaoxin gritted his teeth. Are you guys ever going to drop this?

"The expert doesn't care about that kind of thing at all. Once I finish my training..."

"Boss, you keep talking in circles, but when can we actually take down The White House?"

Han Xiaoxin almost spat out a mouthful of blood: "The White House is nothing!"