29: Chapter 29 To Gamble or Not to Gamble

The call connected quickly, and Zheng Jun's loud voice roared from the speaker.

"Number Two, where on earth did you go! You turn your phone off when I call, you don't reply to WeiChat, and there's not a peep from your email! If you disappear for a few more days, life in our dorm is going to be impossible!"

"Boss... I saw the messages you guys sent. What's going on?"

Placing his phone on the sofa armrest, Wang Shuo lay back comfortably and asked.

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"You're still asking me? I want to ask you! Number Two, how on earth did you provoke the Old Witch!"

"The Old Witch?" Wang Shuo took a moment to react before realizing who Zheng Jun was talking about. "What happened to her?"

"What happened? It's a total breakdown! She calls your name in class every single day! Whenever you're not there, she pulls a long face, and everyone avoids her." Zheng Jun's voice paused, sounding somewhat helpless: "What's worse! She actually comes to inspect the dorm every day! She doesn't check anyone else's room, only ours! She demands everyone in the dorm be in bed with the lights out by 9:30! Life is simply impossible like this!"

Wang Shuo was speechless and didn't know how to comfort him for a moment, so he just said, "Boss, you guys have had it rough."

"Rough my foot!" Zheng Jun's voice grew louder. "Number Two, hurry up and settle things with the Old Witch, don't let her keep tormenting us like this! Because of her, Li Li hasn't been able to go out with his girlfriend for seven consecutive days! And that little girl I told you about last time—we were making some progress, but now it's all over!"

Truly... unbearable to witness.

Wang Shuo could imagine the misery, couldn't help but wince, and carefully kept quiet.

"And there's Number Four. I don't know what's been up with him the last couple of days; he's always not coming back to the dorm, and when he does come back, he's got a long face. All those little sweethearts of his, they keep running to our dorm for no reason, it's annoying as hell!"

Wang Shuo was curious: "Isn't it a good thing to have little girls running to the dorm every day?"

"A good thing?" Zheng Jun seemed even more furious. "I'm Number Four's classmate, not his lackey! Those little girls, they're polite enough when they ask, but the moment they hear Number Four isn't there, they immediately change their expressions. I find it annoying just looking at them; I really want to tell the dorm mother to stop letting girls wander in!"

"What's even more infuriating is that the little girl I'm seeing, I don't know when she observed me from afar, but seeing these other little girls taking the initiative to talk to me, she actually... mistook me for a gigolo!"

"Pfft!" The mouthful of water Wang Shuo had just taken sprayed out instantly.

"What? Boss, you're not kidding me, are you?"

"If I'm kidding, I'm a puppy!" Zheng Jun's rough, loud voice was full of grievance. "Number Two, come back! Stop taking leave! Your brothers have something important to hand over to you!"

"Alright, alright, I'll be back tomorrow."

Hanging up the phone, Wang Shuo couldn't hold it in any longer; he tossed his phone aside and burst into laughter.

Putting aside how Wang Shuo was being berated, Chen Xin's mood at this moment was far less calm than she appeared on the surface.

Her furrowed brows and the occasional sorrow on her face indicated the intense inner struggle she was going through.

This was something she had never encountered in her eighteen years.

Chen Xin didn't know what words to use to describe her feelings at this moment.

Excited? That doesn't seem right. Thrilled? That doesn't seem right either. Anxious? That seems closer.

But regardless, she was clear about what her mindset had been before.

It was a feeling like the sky was collapsing, a state of mind where despair was greater than the death of one's heart. She had even developed hatred toward her father, who had always doted on her, and distrust toward the entire Chen family.

She had run away from home, traveling thousands of miles to W City, just to find out the reason from Uncle Chen, the person she had felt closest to since childhood.

But after truly understanding the ins and outs, she felt lost again.

Just like the confusion she felt now.

On one side were her father and mother, the Chen family that raised her; on the other side were her aunt and uncles who couldn't wait to sell her for a good price; and on another side was the independent personality she had always hidden in her heart, just like her sister.

The competition and struggle between these three aspects made her very confused.

She wanted to work hard, to become a strong person just as Uncle Chen said, but she had thought about it too simply; the threshold of technology was not something she could enter just by reading a few books.

She could easily understand classic economic theories, could effortlessly grasp the effect of compound interest, figure out the paradox of thrift, and read "principles of economics" with great interest.

But she couldn't understand "Mechanical Principles and Construction," couldn't figure out "Principles of Computer Programming," let alone produce a usable control system within ten days.

This was not a field she was good at, but she had no choice.

She didn't want to accept the arrangement of fate; she wanted to resist in her own way, she wanted to make a weak sound and contribute her meager strength.

At least when she asked herself ten or several decades later, she wouldn't regret it because she hadn't made any effort.

But Wang Shuo's reminder made her wake up; no matter what she did, it would only be in vain.

She accepted her fate.

But accepting fate did not mean accepting it without reaction.

She could use her own way to protest against those family members who made demands. She wanted everyone in the family to know that the decision she made was not because of their pressure, but a decision she made voluntarily; saving this group of parasites was just an incidental effect.

The script she had already written for herself had been broken once again because of Wang Shuo's appearance, and along with it, her heart, which had already fallen silent, was also broken.

No one knew what kind of raging waves rose in her heart when she heard Wang Shuo say he had completed the system and handed her the USB drive. Over a decade of emotional management habits kept her expression from losing control too much, but she had still lost her composure.

It was the first time she had lost her composure in front of a man.

Chen Xin looked at the bag in her hand; this was the LV her mother had given her for her eighteenth birthday, and she had always cherished it.

But today, it was finally no longer the most important thing to her.

Chen Xin pursed her lips and looked up out the window.

It was already night, and the streetlights and neon lights on the street reflected off each other, looking very beautiful.

The original feeling of tension slowly relaxed, as she remembered how Wang Shuo had scratched his head and handed her the USB drive with a smug look, even fearing he might miss the time.

A faint smile appeared at the corner of Chen Xin's mouth.

He really is a person who is hard to read.

One hour later.

Chen Group W City branch.

In an office on a high floor, young man, looking like an engineer, was operating a computer with sweat pouring down his face, occasionally opening a tool and then closing it with a confused look on his face.

After tinkering like this for half an hour, he wiped his sweat and glanced at Chen Xin, who had been standing on the side the whole time.

"Miss Chen, is there a problem with this program of yours..." He pointed to the prompt on the screen: "Normal software packages are separate folders, with the runtime environment and executable programs installed together. This one of yours..."

"It only has one executable program file icon, and it's completely unable to run."

"It also prompts that hardware information cannot be found. Hehe, I'm not bragging, but the servers our company has configured are top-tier; it's completely impossible for there to be a hardware problem."

"What is your analysis?" Chen Xin asked indifferently.

young man spread his hands and said helplessly: "It's completely impossible to analyze. I used various analysis software trying to reverse-engineer it, but..."

Chen Xin understood; she turned her head to look at the assistant behind her.

"There is no one else, Miss Chen." The female assistant said with some hesitation: "Many staff members have resigned from our company in the last two days, and many programmers have left."

"Even if they hadn't resigned, I am still the one with the highest technical level among them." young man, having finished wiping his sweat, looked slightly proud. "If it's something I can't analyze, they would have even less of a way."

"If I tell you that this is an installation program for a control system, can you analyze it from other aspects, such as the architecture?"

"A control system program?" young man shook his head like a rattle, his face full of disapproval: "If you told me this was an ordinary executable file, I might believe you. A system program? Haha, how is that possible."

"Miss Chen, you are not in our line of work, so you don't know how complex a system program is. Let me give you an example. Take the Japanese W Company we are currently negotiating with; they specialize in high-precision Tool Presetter, and their control systems aren't even the best. But even so, the cost of having them install a system is staggering. Not only do we need to provide detailed data and parameters of our Machining Center, but we also need to provide 24/7 accompaniment services. If there's even a slight hardware problem, they can just walk away, and we still have to pay."

"That would be one thing, but Miss, do you know how much such a system costs?" young man clicked his tongue exaggeratedly: "One hundred million. Just for one set of this system, the initial installation and training fee is one hundred million, and that doesn't even include teaching us; subsequent installation and usage requires a service fee of ten million each time."

"With such high service fees and almost no cost, as long as one can produce it, we could save a huge amount of money. So why doesn't anyone do it? The reason is simple: it's too complex." young man shook his head. "A CNC control system involves too many issues. Mr. Chen has invested quite a bit in R&D costs and has strongly supported us programmers, but..."

Looking at Chen Xin's calm expression, young man seemed to lose the desire to continue showing off his knowledge and said somewhat boredly: "Not to mention that the program you brought is not a system program, even if it were a system program and could be installed, it would take half a year of training to use it proficiently. What's more..." young man looked at the display on the computer screen, "It's obviously just an icon."

Chen Xin frowned.

"If you ask me, Miss Chen." young man advised kindly: "Don't waste your effort on this icon. This is obviously something some programmer made to tease you when they were bored. We used to make things like this for fun when Ning Hao was still here, though none were as advanced as this one—this is the first time I've seen something that analysis software couldn't reverse-engineer..."

Chen Xin once again turned her gaze to the female assistant.

"Ning Hao was also an employee of our company, responsible for the construction of the system architecture." The female assistant said with some difficulty: "He later resigned for personal reasons."

"He went to a better company with more prospects." young man clicked his tongue: "If it weren't for the fact that our company treats me quite well, I would have wanted to accept a job offer to jump ship too."

"Li Siyu!" The female assistant scolded.

"Alright... alright, I said the wrong thing." young man raised his hands in surrender, looking helpless. "But Miss Chen, what I said to you above is true. This thing cannot even be called a program; it doesn't possess any of the essential elements of a program."

Chen Xin was silent for a moment. "Got it."

"Miss Chen, should I help you call someone else to take a look?" The female assistant glared at young man and leaned over to Chen Xin to make amends: "Our company doesn't have programmers, but quite a few experts from the Group have arrived in the last few days. Let me help you contact them."

"No need." Chen Xin said indifferently.

Experts from the Group? They are all just nominal professors and scholars. They probably wouldn't be interested in coming here to help her analyze a worthless program. Besides, she reckoned no one would believe she could produce a control system.

young man took the USB drive off the computer and handed it to the female assistant, who then handed it to Chen Xin.

Chen Xin looked quietly at the USB drive in her hand, seeming somewhat dazed.

Could Wang Shuo have used an icon to deceive her?

It seems possible... then what benefit would doing so have for him?

It seems there is no benefit.

Then... is this thing real?

But since it's real, why can't it be analyzed through technical means?

Chen Xin couldn't help but feel a headache. Since meeting Wang Shuo, she found that her composure was getting worse and worse, and she was increasingly susceptible to environmental influences.

"What time does the test start the day after tomorrow?" Chen Xin asked.

"This..." The female assistant said with some hesitation. "This is also something I need to report to you. I just received news that the Japanese W Company requested to move up the time for the test and negotiation, saying they have an urgent matter and need to leave."

Chen Xin frowned slightly: "When?"

"The latest time is... tomorrow morning." The female assistant's voice sounded helpless: "Tomorrow morning at 10:00, the test and negotiation will be held simultaneously at the Group branch and the Sheraton Hotel. The Chairman has already notified all event participants of the change in time and will arrange for personnel to transport the engineering prototype to W City overnight."

Chen Xin slowly tightened her grip on the USB drive in her hand, a flash of anger passing across her face.

"Miss Chen, why don't you... contact the Chairman?"

"No need." Chen Xin said indifferently: "We have to go eventually."

Some things, you have to bet on to know the result.