Chapter 26: The Counterattack Begins

Right now, many people in society were discussing the shutdown of Lin Feng’s company. Especially those who had watched the video earlier—they had all heard what Xia Ruoxi said: “The company made money, which made others jealous, so it was shut down!” That sentence sparked a flurry of speculation, and even more people began to direct their anger at those responsible, particularly the departments involved in the closure, who became targets of online abuse. The Wang and Lin families, however, remained unbothered. They believed that once they found the operating system’s source code, none of these problems would matter.

That evening, accompanied by several tech experts, they arrived at Lin Feng’s company to search for the operating system’s source code. Only by finding the source code could they truly resolve the issue. As the technical team began examining the computers and servers, Wang Man and the Lin family’s representative waited on the sofas in the lobby, anticipating the results.

“Wang Man, don’t get too worked up! Soon, our two families will own this company,” the Lin family’s representative teased. He was well aware of the past conflicts between Lin Feng and Wang Man, and the deep animosity between them.

“Haha, this is the result of our cooperation,” Wang Man replied with a smug smile. At that moment, the Lin family representative’s phone rang. Glancing at the caller ID, he saw it was from home and answered immediately.

“Sir, is something the matter?” he asked hurriedly.

“Have you found the operating system’s source code?” the old master of the Lin family asked directly.

“We’re still searching. There are so many servers at Future Technology Company. We’ve only just begun. Once we locate the main server, it’ll be much easier!” the representative replied quickly.

“You need to hurry. The pressure from above is immense. Our people can’t hold out much longer. I just got off the phone with a vice premier—he said public opinion is overwhelmingly against you for shutting down Future Technology Company. If you can find the source code, that’s fine, the company can be reopened immediately and the issue resolved, which would quell the criticism,” the old man instructed.

After relaying his orders, the old master hung up. Around midnight, the technicians finally came downstairs. Wang Man and the others, seeing them, stood up anxiously and asked, “Well? Did you find the source code?”

“Not yet. There’s just too much data across all the servers. It’ll take us several days at least,” one of the technicians replied.

“Days? Can’t you go any faster? Or maybe bring in more people? We’ll pay!” Wang Man said, frantic.

“It’s not that easy to find so many trustworthy, skilled people at short notice. And unqualified personnel would only get in the way,” the head technician answered.

“All right, all right, he’s just anxious. Please do your best to hurry. The pressure on us is enormous now,” the Lin family’s representative from Yanjing quickly tried to smooth things over.

The technicians nodded and left for their assigned hotel nearby to rest. Until the task was done, neither the Wang nor the Lin families would let them wander freely. After seeing the technicians off, the Lin family’s people sat in the company for a while, then returned with Wang Man to their villa in Zhanshi.

The next morning, Wang Man and his people returned to Future Technology Company. Meanwhile, Lin Feng and Mo Tian had already powered on all the computers at the Lin family villa, logging into their prepared accounts and waiting for the domestic stock market to open. When it did, Lin Feng took control, mouse in hand, and began placing orders to buy as soon as the market opened.

Soon, the market began to tumble. Especially the shares of companies controlled by the Yanjing Lin family and the Wang Group—Lin Feng was brute-forcing the prices down. Investors noticed and started speculating about what was happening.

“Is there some bad news coming out that we don’t know about?” some wondered aloud. But no one had answers. About an hour later, as those companies continued to fall, shareholders grew uneasy and began selling their stocks for fear of bigger losses.

In the investment departments of these Yanjing-based conglomerates, the trading staff also sensed trouble. At first, they thought it was just bad news affecting the market. But after reporting to senior management, they realized something was wrong—someone was deliberately targeting their stocks. Soon, the entire board was aware.

Senior management instructed the trading team to keep monitoring the situation; they had to report to the board of directors. Lin Feng, having put up numerous buy orders, was able to amass a fair amount of stock as prices continued to fall, dropping nearly half a yuan per share by noon.

When the market reopened in the afternoon, Lin Feng continued to short the stocks, keeping his buy orders low. The conglomerates felt the pressure and ordered their investment teams to inject funds to prop up the prices. Opportunistic investment firms began to analyze the situation, realizing someone was deliberately attacking these stocks. They became curious, wondering who in the country had the audacity to challenge such powerful interests.

By the market’s close, the conglomerates had managed to recover some ground, but the prices still ended the day lower than the morning’s opening.

The next day, Lin Feng spent only a little over three hundred million to acquire more shares in those companies. Meanwhile, the search for the source code at Future Technology Company remained fruitless. Public pressure continued to mount, with people demanding on forums to know what the company had done to warrant such a long closure without explanation. Consumers who had paid for computers they never received were especially vocal and angry.

“This is absurd! It’s been a whole day and night and they still haven’t found it. Are these people even competent?” Wang Man asked the Lin family’s representative anxiously.

“If these experts can’t do it, who can? They’re the most skilled people we could find in the country,” the Lin family’s representative replied helplessly.

“We’ll just have to wait,” Wang Man said, unable to think of a better solution, fiddling with his phone.

On the third day, as soon as the market opened, Lin Feng and Mo Tian started trading again, selling off the shares they had bought the day before at favorable prices. The conglomerates were trying to drive their stock prices back up by buying, but Lin Feng kept placing low-priced sell orders. Noticing this, other investment firms, impressed by the financial firepower behind the operation, began to follow suit. In Yanjing, powerful families were a dime a dozen, and these institutional investors had plenty of backing. If there was money to be made, no one cared who they were up against—they all piled in.

Seeing fresh capital flow in, Lin Feng and Mo Tian both smiled. Though the amounts were still modest, they knew that if they kept this up for a few more days, more and more money would join them. Then it would truly be interesting to see how the Lin and Wang families handled the situation.

The conglomerates, now feeling the pressure, scrambled to gather funds from all sources to prop up their stocks. Many shareholders saw what was happening and, realizing the game was afoot, started selling off their shares while they still could. Lin Feng and the institutional investors each acquired a significant amount, but Lin Feng’s low prices meant he had to wait until the institutions finished buying before his orders were filled.

By the end of the trading day, Lin Feng and his team tallied their profits and found they had made over a hundred million yuan.

On the fourth day, they continued their strategy. By now, almost all retail investors had dumped their shares in the conglomerates. Lin Feng and the institutions began aggressively buying them up. The Lin and Wang family-controlled companies were alarmed; if prices kept falling, their market capitalization would plummet, potentially causing a cascade of problems—even insolvency. This forced them to pour in even more funds to hold the line.

Lin Feng and the institutional investors stuck to their tactics, buying at low prices, selling when the families intervened to raise the price, then buying again at a lower price. This see-saw action kept dragging the stock prices down, pulling the entire market with them.

Meanwhile, Wang Man and his associates were on edge. Four days had passed, and the tech team still hadn’t found the source code—even though they had nearly finished searching all the servers. Online criticism was only intensifying, and news outlets in various regions continued to cover the story.

Now, the political figures in the Wang and Lin families were beginning to pressure Wang Man and his counterparts, demanding to know if the source code had been found. If not, they needed a clear timeline—those in power couldn’t stall much longer. Rival factions had already seized the opportunity to attack.

Wang Man and the Yanjing Lin family’s representative received several such calls, all conveying the same message: the authorities could not afford to wait. Many tech enthusiasts and consumers strongly supported Future Technology Company, especially the new operating system, which had earned universal acclaim among domestic computer enthusiasts. The public was urging the authorities to clarify the situation as soon as possible and provide an explanation for the company’s closure.

“Damn it, when are these technicians finally going to find the source code? This is driving me mad—it’s already the fourth day!” Wang Man shouted in frustration, unable to bear the pressure any longer.