376: Chapter 375 Honey Dates and Poison

Signing Room No. 1.

After Liu Yemei dismissed the interviewee in front of her, she placed a brand-new contract into her drawer and let out a soft sigh.

Glancing at the doorway, she did not immediately call in the next applicant. Instead, she sat in her seat, frowning in deep thought.

To be honest, Wang Shuo's sudden decision to recruit new employees had caught her somewhat off guard.

Originally, hiring employees was reasonable and was something she was already preparing to do.

Read Taiwan novels at your leisure.

Moreover, Frontier Technology's staff was indeed a bit small, and they truly needed fresh blood to replenish their ranks.

But... to recruit at least five thousand new employees in a month or even just a dozen days?

If this had been done by any other company's boss, she would have definitely classified them as a lunatic and never considered collaborating with them again.

Yet, this boss just had to be Wang Shuo.

Not only could she not consider cutting ties, but she also had to figure out how to clean up this messy situation for him.

Something involving thousands or even tens of thousands of people was impossible to keep a secret; it would be exposed online sooner or later.

When that happened, Frontier Technology's massive recruitment drive would become common knowledge. She didn't know how Wang Shuo planned to handle the impending public relations storm, but as the company's nominal assistant general manager, she had to consider the impact this would have on Frontier Technology.

Secondly, there was the issue of company profitability.

Currently, Frontier Technology's primary source of funding was still the pre-orders for the zero egg.

This accounted for nearly seventy percent of Frontier Technology's funding, with the remaining thirty percent coming from various investment revenues.

Of course, Lin Junfeng's company was currently in relatively good operating condition and had some surplus, but it was practically negligible.

As for the others, whether it was the already established equipment company and Security Company, the planned medical device company and bionic machinery company, or even the Chip factory co-founded with Huaneng Group, none of them could shoulder the burden of turning a profit for the time being, and they simply could not generate enough revenue for Frontier Technology.

Under these circumstances, embarking on a massive recruitment drive was truly not a wise move.

With all the major subsidiaries draining resources, increasing the number of non-essential personnel would bring no benefits other than worsening Frontier Technology's financial burden.

However, as the saying goes, Wang Shuo was the boss, so making decisions was his business. Her job as his assistant was to identify and patch up any loopholes in his decisions, turn disadvantages into advantages, and ultimately execute the decisions flawlessly.

Why was she, Liu Yemei, able to command an annual salary of two million at her previous company?

It was precisely because of her talent for identifying and patching up loopholes.

Although resources were scarce in Wang Shuo's company and room for maneuver was limited, the current situation was already much better than it had been two months ago, so it wasn't a complete dead end.

Rubbing her temples, Liu Yemei felt a slight headache. She looked up at the zero egg on her desk and said calmly, "Zero, please notify the others in the recruitment group. We are adding new recruitment fields: civil engineering, engineering machinery design and manufacturing, mechanical design and manufacturing, industrial and mold design, medical device assistance, mechatronics, and integrated circuit design. The specific list of majors must cover all the needs of Frontier Technology's subsidiaries and affiliates. In addition, we also need to recruit general military veterans, with the quantity temporarily set at one hundred."

The light strip on the zero egg slowly pulsed as a voice spoke, "A list of relevant majors has been generated according to your instructions, totaling fifty-six items. Your message has been sent to all personnel in the group directory. It has been detected that three people are not equipped with a zero egg. The information has been automatically sent to their WeiChat. Please equip them with a zero egg as soon as possible to obtain notification permissions."

"Understood,"

Liu Yemei said calmly.

Since hiring was now a certainty, she had to minimize costs as much as possible.

Fifteen thousand people was not a small number. If they fully recruited this many, none of Frontier Technology's current subsidiaries would be able to absorb them alone. Without a detailed employment and management plan, it could lead to severe staff redundancy and a waste of resources.

The only way was to distribute these fifteen thousand people across all the subsidiaries under the Frontier Technology Group.

This way, it would basically solve all the staffing issues of the Frontier Technology Group network, and those companies that were not yet officially in preparation would also have a foundational team.

As for the rest, that would be for President Wang to worry about.

As for the issue of equipping people with zero eggs mentioned by Zero, she had already taken it into consideration.

When she received Wang Shuo's request to draw up a recruitment plan, she had already notified Lin Junfeng. Right now, at least one thousand zero eggs were on their way to Hanzhong City, expected to arrive by evening at the earliest.

Directing her gaze back to the doorway, her clear voice rang out, "Next!"

A Middle-aged man slowly walked through the doorway, looking very neatly dressed.

He stared blankly for a moment upon seeing Liu Yemei's elegant face, and then solemnly introduced himself:

"Hello, interviewer. My name is Luo Changan."

...

Beijing.

Inside the villa, Zhi Shu sat on the seemingly unchanging sofa with a calm expression.

In front of him was a massive screen, displaying the figures of several elderly men.

"Zhi Shu,"

The second elderly man on the left spoke up, "The Board of Directors is very dissatisfied with your results over the past two months. You have wasted far too much time on a small company."

The first elderly man on the right said, "The organization has already mobilized a vast amount of resources for you, but your plan has yet to show any results. The Chinese Government has not personally intervened for this person, and we have not obtained the Artificial Intelligence technology either."

"Is that so?"

Zhi Shu revealed a faint smile and said calmly, "Dear directors, I wonder if you have noticed one thing?"

None of the elderly men spoke.

Zhi Shu did not take offense and continued on his own, "Starting from two weeks ago, Frontier Technology's official website stopped releasing pre-order slots for the zero egg."

"Even though I had people spread the word, and the internet is now flooded with demands for Frontier Technology to open pre-orders, they still haven't released even a single pre-order slot for the zero egg. To this day, the pre-order quota for the zero egg remains stuck at 100,000."

"Do you know what this means?"

Zhi Shu glanced at the screen and said with a smile, "It means Frontier Technology only has 100,000 zero eggs. They are trapped."

"And what does that prove?"

One of the elderly men asked calmly.

"It proves that our Chip sanctions have achieved great results."

Zhi Shu analyzed, "Currently, all of Frontier Technology's revenue comes from zero egg pre-orders. As long as the zero eggs become dead eggs, they will lose their source of funding. How long can a company with no revenue last?"

The elderly man who had spoken earlier narrowed his eyes slightly. "Are you saying that the opportunity for an acquisition is coming soon?"

Zhi Shu shook his head slightly. "They still have sufficient cash flow, so the likelihood of them going bankrupt in the short term is not high, but they will certainly face operational difficulties. Perhaps we can invest in them."

"Invest?"

The elderly men looked at each other, somewhat surprised.

"Yes, invest."

Zhi Shu nodded gently. "Dear directors, how is our operation within the upper echelons of the Chinese Government going?"

"It succeeded,"

The elderly man in the middle said calmly. "According to your plan, by uniting with The Freemasons and the Restoration Alliance, we have persuaded a high-ranking Chinese official to temporarily suppress Frontier Technology and minimize information leaks and dissemination."

"Very good,"

Zhi Shu nodded. "They should all be well aware of the value of Artificial Intelligence, right?"

"Of course,"

The elderly man said calmly, "If you can crush this company in one fell swoop, they will persuade that high-ranking official to step in and keep this Artificial Intelligence under the control of the Chinese Government as much as possible."

"Splendid,"

Zhi Shu praised, "Elder Linghua indeed has an excellent strategy. If the Chinese Government takes action, Wang Shuo will naturally have no power to resist and will have to obediently hand over the source code. At the same time, it is impossible for the Chinese Government to directly control this Artificial Intelligence. They will inevitably hand it over to one of their subordinate units or factions to manage. In their eyes, this is to prevent technology outflow, but little do they know, this actually makes it easier for us to execute our next step."

The elderly man nodded slightly. "Indeed. We will find a way to let this Artificial Intelligence fall into the hands of a private enterprise, which will make it much easier for us to make our move."

China has many advantages, but state-owned enterprises are too troublesome. They are beyond our control and are minimally affected. Even if we manage to win over some high-level executives of state-owned enterprises, they are quickly discovered and purged by the Chinese Government.

Over time, the cost of winning them over again has increased significantly, putting us in a very passive position.

Zhi Shu smiled and said, "In that case, we don't actually have to crush this company. As long as we make the Chinese Government feel that this company is being influenced by foreign forces, they will take action on their own."

"What is your plan?"

The elderly man asked.

"It's simple."

Zhi Shu adjusted his glasses, looked up at the screen, and said with a hint of coldness, "We have already restricted their productivity by choking their Chip supply, causing them to suffer from insufficient cash flow. Now, we will deliver cash flow right to them."

"You mean..."

The elderly man narrowed his eyes slightly, like a venomous snake.

"Invest in them."

Zhi Shu said indifferently, "Tens of millions or hundreds of millions don't matter. The sole objective is to acquire enough controlling shares. As long as we hold enough controlling shares, the Chinese Government will not sit idly by."

"Sweet dates are always tastier than poison."