Chapter 35: Negotiations Fall Apart

After Xia Ruoxi finished replying to the fax, it wasn’t long before she received a phone call from the Academy of Sciences, informing her that in the afternoon, a group of experts would be visiting FutureTech for an inspection. Xia Ruoxi wasn’t in a position to make decisions about such matters, so she relayed the message to Lin Feng. When Lin Feng heard the news, he was left speechless. Who said that government work was slow? Look at this efficiency! In the end, he had no choice but to agree, and had to rush back to the company from Dragon Soar just to prepare for the arrival of the Academy’s specialists.

FutureTech was no longer what it used to be; it didn’t just rent a single floor anymore. They now leased five entire floors of Haixia Plaza’s commercial center. Furthermore, Xia Ruoxi informed Lin Feng that she’d already reached an agreement with the Zhanhai city government to acquire a plot of land at the commercial center, where a new building would be constructed to serve as FutureTech’s new headquarters.

After arriving at the company, Lin Feng went straight to Xia Ruoxi’s office to discuss the next steps for the business. Half an hour into their conversation, a knock sounded at the door. At Xia Ruoxi’s invitation to enter, Lin Feng saw her secretary come in and say to them, “Chairman Lin, President Xia, the experts from the Academy have arrived. They should be downstairs any minute now. Manager Zhang from R&D is already waiting for them!”

“All right, we’ll go down at once!” Lin Feng rose, grabbed his jacket, and headed downstairs. As soon as he reached the lobby, he saw seven or eight black business vans parked before the FutureTech office building. A crowd of people, mostly middle-aged or elderly, emerged from the vehicles. Most crucially, Lin Feng realized he didn’t recognize a single one of them.

“Do you know any of these people?” Lin Feng whispered to Xia Ruoxi beside him.

She shook her head. “No. They’re all from the Academy—there’s a strict confidentiality protocol. They don’t appear in the media. But Zhang Wen from R&D should recognize them; he used to be one of them.”

“Let’s go.” Seeing the group heading their way, Lin Feng put on a smile and led the way forward.

“There’s the man himself! That’s him!” At that moment, an elderly man in his sixties spotted Lin Feng, grinned, and called out, pointing at him. The rest laughed as well. Lin Feng, leading the group, could only force a smile—so they’d found the right person, but he himself was still anxious, not even knowing who was in charge among them.

“Haha, young Lin Feng, I’m the director of the Academy’s Computer Research Institute. I’m leading the team this time—these gentlemen are all veterans of computer research!” Another elderly man, white-haired and bespectacled, came up to Lin Feng and introduced himself.

“Hello, welcome, everyone!” Lin Feng quickly extended both hands to shake his.

“We’ve finally made it! Ever since we learned you had a new operating system, we’ve been eager to come see for ourselves. But then your company had that incident, so things were delayed. When we asked Xiao Zhang about it, that kid was tight-lipped—wouldn’t say a word!” The old man laughed, glancing at Zhang Wen with mock annoyance.

“It’s not that I didn’t want to talk—I simply didn’t know! I studied it for ages and still couldn’t figure it out,” Zhang Wen defended himself hurriedly. These men were national treasures—he couldn’t afford to offend them!

“Well, never mind. We managed to buy a few computers from your company anyway and started studying your system, but we still can’t make sense of it.” The director shook Lin Feng’s hand warmly.

“By the way, may I ask your name?” Lin Feng wanted to address them properly but realized he didn’t know how.

“Oh, look at me—I forgot. There’s nothing special about my name, just call me Director Wang,” the director replied frankly.

“In that case, Director Wang, the weather isn’t great outside. Why don’t we continue our conversation inside the company?” Lin Feng suggested politely.

“Good idea, let’s go in. I’d hate for any of them to catch cold—it’d be my headache! Let’s go see what the young man’s company has created, let you all feel some shame so you’ll stop calling yourselves computer experts everywhere!” Director Wang called out to the group.

Lin Feng and Xia Ruoxi didn’t know how to react. They felt somewhere between amused and stunned—these experts were nothing like the solemn figures they’d imagined from the Academy.

But Lin Feng said nothing more. These were all elderly men; what could he say? He guided them into the office building and up to the main conference room. As soon as they entered, the company staff began serving tea.

“Lin Feng, young man, you don’t think we came just to drink tea, do you?” one of the elders said to him.

“Ah, no, of course not. But please, warm yourselves up first,” Lin Feng replied, a little flustered.

“No need, I’m already fired up inside. Show us the backend of your operating system. We want to see how it’s structured. If you could let us study the source code, that would be ideal!” the elder pressed.

“Uh… this is a commercial company, not a research institute. The source code and architecture are core secrets—I can’t just hand them out,” Lin Feng said awkwardly.

“What? If we can’t see the source code or the architecture, why are we even here? You’re not just going to show us the interface, are you? We’ve already seen that,” another expert objected.

“I…” Lin Feng wanted to retort that he hadn’t invited them—they’d come of their own accord—but seeing their age and knowing they represented the country, he swallowed his words.

“Lin Feng, I was an old friend of your grandfather’s. We’re all researchers. We need to understand how the code works before we can confidently recommend it for use by government agencies. That’s why the state sent us—this is in your company’s interest,” Director Wang tried to persuade Lin Feng.

“I understand, but let me ask you—have you ever seen Microsoft’s source code?” Lin Feng replied, nodding.

“Are you joking? They’re a foreign company—they’d never let us!” an elder retorted indignantly.

“Oh, so they’re a foreign company, and you don’t get to see their code, but the country uses their products anyway. Let’s not even talk about security, but at least you use it. Now, I’m a domestic company, and you want to use my computers and operating system, but you demand to see my source code and algorithms. Do you really think I’m that easy to push around?” Lin Feng’s tone hardened.

“Hey, what kind of attitude is that? We’re thinking of national security here. Besides, if we find no issues, your computers could be included in the national procurement program—surely that’s a benefit to your company!” another elderly expert objected.

“In that case, there’s no deal. As you know, our domestic sales are already booming, and you’ve probably heard we’re planning to expand overseas next year. Frankly, I’m not impressed by any government orders—I don’t need that benefit!” Lin Feng retorted.

“What’s this? You don’t trust us?” Director Wang asked, still smiling.

“Director Wang, as a research institution, you must know that the fewer people who know a secret, the better. My company is commercial—we can’t possibly give our core secrets to professionals. That would be suicidal! Put yourself in my shoes: if I wanted to see your institute’s research, would you agree?” Lin Feng pressed.

“But if we don’t see it, how can we determine whether your system and software are up to standard?” another expert argued.

“Let me ask you this: is Microsoft’s up to standard?” Lin Feng shot back.

“You—young man, you’re being unreasonable. We’re doing this for your own good. If the government procures your products, it’s to your benefit!” a woman in her fifties reproached Lin Feng.

“Expert, I know the sales potential, but as I said, our company doesn’t lack sales, so I don’t care. There’s no way I’ll let you see our most valuable secrets,” Lin Feng replied with a wry smile.

“You’re really stubborn!” The other experts looked at Lin Feng with obvious displeasure.

“So what are you saying? If we can’t see it, what are we even doing here?” Director Wang was clearly annoyed.

“How would I know? You insisted on coming. I thought the state was sending representatives to discuss business, not to inspect my source code. If I’d known, I would have refused outright. Don’t you think your demands are unreasonable? Do you take me for a fool, easily bullied?” Lin Feng spread his hands, unyielding.

“I understand your mistrust, but we can guarantee absolute confidentiality—would that suffice?” Director Wang tried to persuade him further.

“No guarantee is absolute. You should know, people can’t keep secrets forever. No matter how tight-lipped, if someone really wants to know, they’ll find a way. My operating system is worth trillions—how many people would be tempted by that? Besides, you all know what happened to my company before. If you saw the code, it would do you no good either, don’t you agree, Director Wang?” Lin Feng replied coldly, making Director Wang pause in surprise.