88: Chapter 88 The Ghost

“President Ji, this is our game demo, which you’ve seen before!”

Ji City gestured for Song Yuan to sit down and said,

“I believe the code is yours, but Li Mingqi sending this to me is just a hint about our cooperation. He has already applied in the Android and iOS markets, and once approved, everyone can install and download this game.

You need to understand that the market doesn't reason with you; whoever puts it on the shelves, the game belongs to them.

Moreover, Tianyu Company's legal team is already preparing to sue you for plagiarism and infringement. You need to think about how to respond.”

Song Yuan's vision blurred, then blurred again. He had just received investment when he was dealt a fatal blow.

His mind raced, wondering which part had gone wrong?

Only a few developers had permission to open the company's source code, and those few were brothers who had been willing to join him when he was down and out.

Could there be a mole among these people?

Song Yuan shuddered at the thought. If that were true, that person was hiding very deeply!

“President Ji, I will find a way to prove who the real plagiarist is!”

Ji City sat in his leather chair, his expression calm.

“What's most urgent for you now is not to prove anything to me, but to prevent Apple and Android from approving Tianyu Company's listing application. Once their submitted email is approved, Fengxue Entertainment will have almost no chance of recovering.

Also, you need to think of a way to prove it and meet Li Mingqi in court.

Before these matters are resolved, the agreed-upon funds cannot be disbursed. Not only that, but once you file a lawsuit, you will also face huge compensation under the investment agreement.

I believe Huo from Mingyang Real Estate has also received this installation package.”

Song Yuan calmed down.

“President Ji, I will deal with this and then come to see you. My apologies!”

After leaving Ji's Capital building, Song Yuan indeed received a call from Huo Ziming. Huo Ziming had also received a copy of the same installation package.

It seemed Tianyu Company's goal this time was to completely crush him.

Song Yuan was fortunate to have brought his laptop with him. Time was urgent, so he returned to his car and started working.

Song Yuan hacked into the official email accounts of the Apple and Android markets and indeed saw Tianyu Company's application email for listing. Fortunately, the email was still unread, so everything was still in time.

Song Yuan swiftly deleted those two emails!

This was his first time using his hacker identity to do something unethical, but thinking that the deleted emails were sent by the unscrupulous Li Mingqi, he felt no burden at all.

To deal with evil people, one should use the most evil means.

Next, he needed to identify who the mole was that Li Mingqi had planted under his nose. If the mole wasn't found, the company would never have peace, and similar incidents would happen sooner or later.

Song Yuan drove back to the company. No one knew where he had been.

He didn't make a fuss, but instead opened his computer and buried himself in work as usual, to avoid alerting the enemy.

Song Yuan checked the records of code uploads and downloads in the system and found that he, Lu Chi, Li Lei, and Zhang Qiang had operated the code in the past two days.

Gu Shiyuan and Wang Shuai were on leave and hadn't come to the company, so there were no login traces for them in the system.

Lu Chi and Gu Shiyuan were his earliest brothers who had worked hard with him and had no direct connection with Li Mingqi. Song Yuan ruled them out.

That left Li Lei, Zhang Qiang, and Wang Shuai.

Song Yuan looked over to a not-so-distant spot. Li Lei and Zhang Qiang's cubicles were next to each other, and both were immersed in their work.

Who could it be?

Developers all had permission to download code. If the other party refused to admit it, it would be difficult to find evidence.

Near closing time, Song Yuan created a small group, adding several colleagues who had come from Tianyu Company, and also some department colleagues who were still at Tianyu Company.

【I'm treating everyone to dinner tonight. Long time no see, let's chat about recent work.】

As soon as he sent the message, Li Lei was the first to respond,

【Boss finally remembered us, let's get the team building started!】

Some colleagues still at Tianyu Company responded,

【How about we go to that private villa BBQ place we rented for team building before?】

【Great, great, I agree to BBQ! I'll be in charge of grilling skewers, Xu Yuanyuan can mix the dipping sauces!】

...

The group chatted lively, everyone agreeing to go to the previous BBQ place. Song Yuan immediately called to book the venue and asked the owner to prepare the ingredients.

After work, the main group arrived at the venue one after another. There were over twenty people, all of whom had good relationships with Song Yuan.

Song Yuan called Gu Shiyu, telling her he would be home late and wouldn't be back for dinner.

He hung up the phone, and Xu Yuanyuan handed him a bottle of iced cola,

“Boss, have a bottle of happy water to cheer up!”

Xu Yuanyuan's cubicle was closest to Song Yuan's, and she had noticed his unusual mood that afternoon.

Song Yuan took the cola she offered. Xu Yuanyuan then asked,

“Boss, have we encountered any problems with our game development?”

Song Yuan smiled but didn't elaborate. Until the mole was caught, anyone was a suspect, so he wouldn't reveal anything for now.

“No, it's personal. How are you all doing? Has anyone encountered any unpleasant things recently?”

Xu Yuanyuan was a bit surprised why Song Yuan suddenly asked that.

“No, everyone's doing fine.”

“That's good then.”

Song Yuan replied perfunctorily. Not far away, colleagues were busy grilling skewers.

Besides skewers, many lamb chops were also grilled today. All the food was brought out, and over twenty people gathered around, raising their glasses.

Having not gathered for some time, everyone was quite excited. These people were all personally interviewed and recruited by Song Yuan into Tianyu Company, and it was not easy for them to gather again now.

Everyone chatted about some recent interesting things.

Song Yuan interjected and asked the colleagues who were still at Tianyu Company,

“Are there any interesting things at Tianyu Company recently?”

“Interesting things? The most interesting was the incident of pretending to be James at the Internet Conference a few days ago. Liang Kuan and Wang Jincai were scolded to death by General Manager Li when they came back, but General Manager Li's expression has returned to normal these past few days. I wonder if something good has happened.”

Song Yuan understood. It seemed Li Mingqi's application to list the stolen game had not been disclosed to the development department colleagues, at least not publicly yet.

Perhaps he was guarding against him.

Then a colleague said,

“The higher-ups are secretly planning something big. Wang Jincai has also been beaming these past few days. He was swollen like a pig's head the day he returned from the Internet Conference, but the next day he was like he'd won a five-million-dollar lottery, even singing as he walked.”

Song Yuan's eyelid twitched. He recalled that his game code had been stolen the day after the Internet Conference ended.

Song Yuan took a sip of his drink and casually asked,

“Is Wang Jincai busy at the company these days?”

“Hmph, what's there for a nobody like him to be busy with? I often see him going out during work hours, and he's gone for two hours at a time. I should record him and send it to the boss next time he annoys me, let the boss see this slacker!”

Song Yuan recalled his work these past few days. He didn't remember anyone leaving their cubicle during work hours, but he himself had gone out, and even left early. If the mole was active during the time he was not there, it would be hard to say.

Song Yuan messaged Lu Chi,

【These past few days, do you remember anyone leaving their cubicle during work?】