900: Chapter 895 Finding a Place to Hide from Debts?

Four hundred modified black computer cases were rearranged into a new configuration, resembling a silent army of steel, with dense cables snaking across the floor like blood vessels.

Guo Zhendong had completely lost his philistine antique dealer appearance; he tossed aside his sour-smelling Tang suit and went shirtless, his body covered in black oil marks and bloody scratches from the sharp corners of the cases.

He had an unlit cigar clamped in his mouth, and his hands flew across the keyboard so fast they were a blur.

This was no longer a down-and-out fat man, but a mad priest praying to the gods.

Chen Guangke squatted by the door, holding a modified rifle sourced from the black market, with a pile of empty Red Bull cans at his feet.

"Old Guo, how much longer? Things aren't looking good back home. I just checked the news, and the gates of the Shenyan Group are being swarmed by reporters."

Chen Guangke rested the rifle's butt against his shoulder, alertly watching several suspicious figures at the alley entrance through a crack in the door.

Guo Zhendong didn't even look back, his voice sounding like a broken bellows from shouting for too long.

"Ten minutes, give me ten more minutes. I have to rewrite this damn cooling system; otherwise, once these old guys start running at full power, they'll turn this warehouse into a crematorium."

Shen Yan sat on a folding chair with a broken leg, a laptop in front of him to monitor the overall situation.

The red line on the screen was still plummeting; the Shenyan Group's market value had evaporated by three billion in just twenty-four hours.

Those short-selling institutions were like sharks smelling blood, crazily tearing at the fat meat that was the Shenyan Group.

The domestic internet was flooded with overwhelming abuse.

Some called Shen Yan a fraud, others said the Shenyan Group's Finance Department's reports were all Photoshopped, and some even started doxxing Liu Hui and the children's information.

Shen Yan looked at those vicious comments, his face devoid of any expression.

He was like an outsider watching a farce that had nothing to do with him.

Only the slight tightening of his hand on his knee betrayed his true thoughts.

"Boss, we're out of coolant!"

Guo Zhendong suddenly roared, interrupting Shen Yan's thoughts.

"The core temperature of titan one has spiked to ninety degrees; if we don't cool it down, it's going to have a meltdown!"

Shen Yan stood up and walked to the huge water tank being used as a temporary cooling pool.

The industrial coolant that had filled it was now bubbling and emitting a pungent chemical odor.

"Guang Ke."

Shen Yan called out.

Chen Guangke immediately looked back. "Here!"

"Go dump in both truckloads of dry ice we bought yesterday."

Chen Guangke froze for a moment. "All of it? That was our backup..."

"Dump it."

Shen Yan said only one word.

Without a word, Chen Guangke dropped his gun, ran to a corner of the warehouse, and dragged several large insulated boxes to the pool.

White mist instantly exploded within the warehouse.

The extreme low temperature caused the boiling cooling pool to emit a tooth-aching sound of metal contracting.

The red needle on the thermometer seemed to be pressed down by an invisible hand and began to slowly fall back.

The bloodshot veins in Guo Zhendong's eyes looked ready to burst as he bit through the cigar in his mouth.

"Good! The temperature has stabilized! Core Architecture Reorganization complete! Loading Neural Network Self-Evolution Algorithm..."

As the enter key was struck heavily, the four hundred previously lifeless servers in the warehouse suddenly emitted a low hum simultaneously.

That sound didn't resemble mechanical noise; it was more like the breath of a giant beast that had slept for ten thousand years finally waking up.

The waterfall of code on the monitor stopped instantly, replaced by a deep blue point of light.

That point of light rotated slowly in the center of the screen, like an eye observing the world.

The system panel flashed frantically before Shen Yan's eyes.

[Detected that "titan one" has been activated.]

[Computing Power Assessment: 150 quadrillion floating-point operations per second.]

[Current Status: Has surpassed 30% of the total civilian computing power of the current era.]

Shen Yan looked at that deep blue point of light, and a curve finally formed at the corner of his mouth.

This was no electronic junk.

This was a nuclear weapon in his hands.

"Connect to the Shenyan Group's internal network."

Shen Yan issued the command.

"Understood!"

Guo Zhendong's fingers began to dance again.

...

Jinghai City, Shenyan Group headquarters building.

The meeting room was in total chaos.

Several minority shareholders pounded on the table, spouting accusations at Wu Ya, who sat next to the head of the table.

"Where is Shen Yan? The company is about to go bankrupt, where is he hiding?"

"I think he's absconded with the funds! I said from the start this kid wasn't reliable. What 'Artificial Intelligence'? It's just a Ponzi scheme!"

"Manager Wu, you must give us an explanation today, or we're calling the police!"

Wu Ya bit her lip hard until blood started to seep out.

She was dressed in business attire, but she still couldn't hide the exhaustion on her face.

She had barely closed her eyes in the last three days.

The tactics of those short-selling institutions were too dirty; they weren't just dumping stock, they had also hired a massive internet water army to spread rumors online.

Some had even splashed paint on the company doors and sent funeral wreaths.

"President Shen is abroad discussing very important business and will be back soon."

Wu Ya's voice was a bit raspy, but still firm.

"Important business? I think he's looking for a place to hide from his debts!"

A balding shareholder sneered and slammed the documents in his hand onto the table.

"I've already contacted an acquirer. The only way to stop our losses now is to sell the company. Everyone, sign here."

That balding shareholder was named Zhao De, the largest shareholder besides Shen Yan. He was usually submissive, but he was the most aggressive at this critical moment.

Wu Ya looked at the acquisition contract, which prominently displayed "Tianqiong Capital."

That was the largest investment giant in Jinghai City and the mastermind behind the short-selling of the Shenyan Group.

The acquisition price was outrageously low; it was practically daylight robbery.

"You can't sign it!"

Wu Ya stood up abruptly, her hands bracing against the table.

"This is President Shen's life's work; no one is allowed to sell it!"

"What do you think you are? A mere employee has no right to tell us what to do!"

Zhao De glanced at her with contempt and turned to the other shareholders.

"Everyone, the stock price has already hit the limit down. If we don't sell now, it really will be worth nothing more than scrap paper tomorrow."

Fear is contagious.

Under Zhao De's instigation, several shareholders who had been hesitant picked up their pens.

At that moment, the large screen in the meeting room suddenly lit up without warning.

The stock price trend chart that had been displayed vanished instantly, replaced by a deep blue background.

An emotionless electronic synthesized voice came from the speakers.

"Taking over all network permissions of the Shenyan Group."

"Cleaning abnormal data."

"Locking onto malicious attack sources."