Fishing 2

“I, I, I...” Lin Yuan’s voice sounded like he had a guilty conscience.

Dean Li, who was beside him, straightened his body. He never expected Lin Yuan to have such quick on-the-spot reactions, even his current expression was filled with the panic of being exposed.

Perhaps this was the advantage of a loser's ability to effortlessly portray a humble act.

“However, Lin Student seems to be quite honest. At least he admitted it voluntarily.

We kindly provided you with free computing equipment, but you used it to mine for personal gain. When you applied for the equipment, the relevant agreement terms were sent for you to review. What you did was very inappropriate.”

“I, I know I was wrong. Please don’t tell my teacher.”

“Tell your teacher? Hahaha, this isn’t just something to tell your teacher about. Do you know you’ve broken the law? This is illegal occupation of someone else’s property. Even if it’s considered theft, the amount involved in your illegal mining is estimated to have exceeded 30,000.

Do you know how long that will be sentenced for?”

The other party deliberately paused for a moment, “Three years to ten years of fixed-term imprisonment.”

“No, please don’t. I didn’t spend it, I didn’t spend a single cent. I was so afraid of being poor, I saved it all. Please, let me go. Can’t I just give it all back to you…?”

The other party let Lin Yuan ramble on for a while before continuing, “Since your attitude towards admitting your mistake is good, we don’t want to ruin your future. It must not have been easy for you to get into Zijin Aviation School as a graduate student. As long as you compensate us for our losses, this matter will be over.

However, we do not accept bitcoin from your mining as compensation. Our company does not accept digital currency.”

“Thank you, thank you so much.” Lin Yuan’s tone was as if he had been granted a great pardon, “I will save up 30,000 yuan as soon as possible, I promise.”

“Lin Student, your mining gains are approximately 30,000, but the losses you caused are not just 30,000.”

“Then, how much do you want me to pay?”

“Because you violated our usage regulations for the computing equipment, it must be calculated as a commercial lease. For these three months, the rent is 50,000 per month, so you need to pay 150,000.”

“But I didn’t use the computing equipment for mining the whole time. I also used the computing equipment legitimately, can’t you just calculate it based on my mining time?”

“Lin Student, you need to be more mature. Your improper use of the computing equipment means that the computing equipment has changed from being provided for free to a commercial lease. This is clearly stated in the relevant legal documents when you applied.”

“150,000? Where am I going to get 150,000? Can I pay it back slowly after I start working?”

“I’ll tell you the truth. I haven’t reported your matter to the company yet. As long as you make up the money as soon as possible, I can report the computing equipment you used as a commercial lease. Otherwise, once the company finds out, I won’t be able to help you.”

“But, I… I really can’t come up with 150,000.”

“Then do you want to go to jail? Try to find a way with your family.”

“If my family had money, I wouldn’t have used your equipment to mine.”

“Haha, Lin Student is quite honest. How about this, I’ll introduce you to some side jobs, and you can pay off your debt with labor.”

Lin Yuan immediately became wary, “What do you want me to do?”

“Hey, aren’t you a computer science major? I’ll get you some programming development and maintenance work.”

“But it’s 150,000. How can I earn that in a short time?”

“I can give you a contact, you can borrow 150,000 first, and then pay it back slowly.”

“Borrow money? You’re not trying to make me borrow from loan sharks, are you?”

“If you say that, then I won’t bother with you.”

“No, no, no… I was just saying.”

“Hey, I see you’re a student, and I sympathize with you. I’ll introduce you to a low-interest loan, you can pay it back slowly. You can also deal with those digital currencies you have yourself, which can help you pay off the money sooner.”

“Really? Thank you so much.”

“Ah, who hasn’t been young? It’s good to know when to turn back.”

After another round of tearful gratitude, Lin Yuan finally hung up the phone.

As the red hang-up button was pressed, Professor Zhang immediately patted Lin Yuan on the shoulder, “Very good, well-paced. This fish is starting to bite.”

Dean Li quickly asked, “Old Zhang, whose people do you think they are?”

“How would I know?” Dean Li was eager to know how big the fish under the water would be.

Lin Yuan, on the other hand, had a headache. His wish to wash his hands of the matter had fallen through. As for why he cooperated with the performance just now, it wasn't just to continue clinging to his mentor's leg, but also to avoid disappointing his mentor.

Although Lin Yuan had thoughts of being a deserter, once the call connected and he was on the front line, he unconsciously picked up his gun again.

“Teacher, what should we do next?”

“The other side definitely wants to tie you down with money. If they asked you to work for them from the beginning, from a normal person’s perspective, they would inevitably weigh the pros and cons. Any sane person would report them, not only avoiding compensation but also becoming a hero.

So, they will definitely use the excuse of making you pay compensation to slowly drag you into the water.

You must remember one thing. Never actively express that you can help them gather intelligence. And when they probe you like this, you must show extreme apprehension.”

In fact, Lin Yuan thought the same, “I think so too, I understand what to do.”

Professor Zhang nodded repeatedly, “Great minds think alike.”

Then he turned to Dean Li, “Old Li, the matter of joining the organization can be put on the agenda. We also need to start preparing our report to the higher-ups.”

Dean Li finally regained his usual spirit, “Don’t worry about this, no one can steal this spot. I will prepare the report materials.”

“Okay, you’re good at that.”

Lin Yuan looked at his mentor’s expression towards Dean Li, and it seemed that Dean Li really was just a support player. If interpreted from a code perspective, then Dean Li should be a “system log”—not much help in solving business problems, purely for recording business processes.

But just as system logs are indispensable in the world of code, there will always be a place for people like Dean Li in the real world.

Even though Lin Yuan was a million times unwilling and didn't want to get involved in this muddy water, after hearing about the reward, his mindset immediately changed.

‘People, indeed, still need to push themselves.’

After no longer lacking money, Lin Yuan was still very much looking forward to joining the organization.

“There’s one more thing,” Professor Zhang seemed to remember something, “You’re doing too well at Good Group now, you’ve even become the Assistant General Manager of the Purple Gold branch. We need to find a way to cover this up, otherwise, you, a dignified IT professional with a high salary, secretly mining for some money, this will be exposed.”

Dean Li immediately interjected, “I’ll find someone to talk to Good Group. The reason is simple, Lin Yuan is still a student, and in principle, he is not allowed to hold outside positions while enrolled. We’ll ask Good Group to handle it discreetly and not publicize it. Or I can play the bad guy,”

Dean Li looked at Professor Zhang and said, “On the surface, everyone thinks you and I are at odds. I’ll use the excuse of suppressing you to target your student Lin Yuan, and I’ll put pressure on Good Group. The excuse will be the ‘student holding outside positions issue’ I just mentioned. If that doesn’t work, I can even use that 100,000 yuan scholarship as leverage.”

“Ah?” Lin Yuan was stunned, “Didn’t you use that 100,000 yuan scholarship for political propaganda?”

“Eh~~” Dean Li had an expression like he was looking at a child, “This… you don’t need to worry about.”

Professor Zhang explained, “You don’t understand this. He can implicitly indicate: on the surface, he has to publicize it as a political achievement, but secretly he has a problem with me, and then he’ll find an excuse to pick on me and annoy me.”

“It can be like that?” Lin Yuan imagined it, but still didn’t understand.

Seeing Lin Yuan’s confused expression, Professor Zhang continued, “It’s all smoke and mirrors, you don’t need to think about it. The only trouble with doing this is that you might be kicked out by Good Group. Companies are generally unwilling to get involved in internal university disputes.”

“That’s fine.” Lin Yuan was very calm, because he was confident that Good Group needed him now, and they would never fire him no matter what.

“Look.” Professor Zhang pointed at Lin Yuan and said to Dean Li, “Look at my student’s awareness, he doesn’t care about his personal gain for the greater good, and then look at you.”

Dean Li looked embarrassed, “Nothing much, I’ll go back and prepare the report first.”