10: Chapter 10 Undercurrents

March 18, 2025, Tuesday, light rain, 6 ~ 18°C

It was drizzling outside today, so Qiao Yichen, who hadn't gone for his morning run, arrived at the company early.

The sky was just beginning to lighten.

There were no meeting bombardments, no project milestones, and no urgent matters scheduled for this morning.

The lights in the office area flickered on row by row, colleagues gradually took their seats, and the sound of keyboards slowly merged into one.

Everything looked completely normal.

He turned on his computer, and after logging in, the first thing he did wasn't to continue reviewing the proposal, but to pull up the execution schedule for the current project.

He compared it with another project from a different company that shared the same budget tier.

The focus wasn't on the quality of the resources, but on the 'time window' and 'succession order' for the release of core resources.

In GG advertising placements, for the same spot, accessing it one day earlier or later could result in vastly different traffic quality and competitive environments, making the timing of the placement crucial.

This was something he had intended to do last night.

The urge wasn't urgent; it was more like being repeatedly nudged by something, giving him a feeling that he couldn't rest until he took a look.

This wasn't about finding fault or looking for evidence; it was simply a desire to confirm one thing.

The page finished loading, and he reviewed the execution sequence and windows provided by the outsourcing party.

The first pass showed no issues.

The second pass still revealed no obvious anomalies.

It wasn't until his gaze settled on a familiar position.

The same resource slot, the same time frame, yet it had been inserted prematurely into the tail end of the first round of execution.

Viewed in isolation, the adjustment seemed reasonable, but within the overall rhythm, it carried a sense of 'jumping the gun'.

It was like someone planning to snatch a seat in advance.

Qiao Yichen didn't highlight it in red or take a screenshot; he just noted the slightly unusual adjustment in his mind and continued scrolling down.

...

Around ten in the morning, the regular project meeting commenced.

Liu Yanran sat in the main seat, her demeanor unchanged from usual, maintaining the same calm tone and clear pacing.

She emphasized risk control during the execution period but did not delve into the specifics of the placements.

However, when mentioning the placement sequence, she paused briefly.

Qiao Yichen kept his head down, taking notes, but he still captured that moment of pause.

It didn't look like hesitation; it looked more like she realized something was wrong but chose not to say anything.

After the meeting concluded, everyone returned to their workstations.

Qiao Yichen reopened the execution plan sent by the outsourcer. He had already reviewed this plan completely yesterday,

but the key milestones were vaguely described, while unimportant parts were precise down to the minute.

He scrolled down and saw the contact person responsible for coordinating the project.

But this wasn't his first time working with them either.

At half-past twelve noon, he went to lunch as usual.

The dining hall was noisy, with several shared tables packed with people, conversations fragmented and trivial. Qiao Yichen sat by the window, ordered a simple set meal, and continued scrolling through backend data on his phone while eating.

He wasn't looking for 'evidence'.

He was confirming one thing—

If the previous Channel Provider nodes had been deliberately adjusted, then this was intentional.

At two in the afternoon, he sent an email to the outsourcing company, but his wording was restrained. He only inquired about one detail:

"Based on what judgment did you determine the execution sequence for this node?"

The reply came quickly, but it skirted the core issue, only stating, "A comprehensive consideration of the overall effect."

This wasn't wrong.

But it wasn't the answer either. It felt more like a pre-prepared response: very official, yet very perfunctory.

This in itself wasn't a problem, but Qiao Yichen didn't stop there.

He then casually contacted another execution personnel from the outsourcing company with whom he had previously cooperated, without mentioning the project name, just discussing a common placement issue in the industry.

The other party replied very casually.

"That placement sequence? Quite a few people have been asking about it these past two days, and I seem to recall it was handled by contacting Wang Yuhang."

Qiao Yichen's fingers paused. In that instant, he seemed to realize something suddenly, knowing what he was about to hear.

"Who?"

"Just yesterday, someone from another company came over and asked quite specifically," the person thought for a moment, "It seemed to be for a project in your division, a director from XX Company."

He stated the name.

Director.

The moment the name surfaced, the last shred of vague doubt in Qiao Yichen's heart dissipated. It wasn't an accident; it was the settling of a 'just as expected' realization. Thus, the places that couldn't align before suddenly found common ground at this moment.

He felt neither surprise nor anger.

Emotion? None. Only a cold clarity: the conflict had shifted from personal to commercial competition, but the methods remained despicable.

The company project contract had already been signed last Friday; there was no room for changing that.

On Saturday night, Intelligence Two had already alerted him to the risk, and his intervention had caused Director's scheme to fail.

Now, as the execution period approached, someone was inquiring about the placement sequence and windows from the outsourcing side.

This wasn't an emotional loss of control.

It was clear targeting.

Since the project couldn't be changed, they would seek compensation from the project execution results—a very decisive judgment.

Moreover, they even contacted Wang Yuhang at the outsourcing company to investigate the placement sequence; their methods were quite sophisticated.

It seemed not only Liu Yanran 'the person' wanted it, but others, like Director, wanted it too. This kind of greed for both profit and advantage actually made the situation easier to judge.

Qiao Yichen didn't press further; he just chatted casually for a few more sentences and ended the call.

For the rest of the afternoon, he took no further unnecessary action, proceeding with his work as usual, replying to emails, organizing documents, as if nothing had happened. But the feeling of being somewhat lost in a fog was gone.

When six in the evening arrived, people gradually left the office.

Qiao Yichen did not leave.

He reopened the system interface and glanced at the still-pending second and third pieces of intelligence, falling into thought.

The two characters hadn't changed.

The status hadn't changed either.

Qiao Yichen suddenly realized something.

The second piece of intelligence hadn't told him 'what the other party intended to do'.

It had only given a warning—there was a risk of malicious contact.

And 'contact,' it seemed, didn't necessarily just refer to physical interaction.

It could also mean resources.

Or information.

It meant all the details that weren't explicitly written.

If his judgment was correct, then the previous attempt to poison the well was just a gamble-like probe.

The real move was likely related to the subsequent channel information.

When this thought emerged, he finally understood the trap he was in.

Could he snatch this vacant traffic slot before Director did?

Qiao Yichen took out a pen and paper and quickly calculated an account.

If he were to secure that early channel slot, how much capital would he need?

Eighty thousand was all the cash he could mobilize right now.

Loans... he knew the limits.

Without collateral from a car, a house, or any other assets.

The most he could get into his account quickly in the short term was about three hundred thousand, and that was based on his good bank transaction history.

After calculating everything, he stopped writing.

It wasn't enough.

There was still a shortfall, precisely the difference between being able to sit at the table or not.

The night was already very late. The lights in the office buildings outside flickered off one by one, leaving only the streetlights on the main road casting long, thin shadows.

Qiao Yichen closed his notebook, folded the paper covered in numbers, and put it in his bag.

He didn't act immediately.

He just mentally rearranged his schedule for tomorrow.

Then he reached a conclusion—

He didn't have enough funds alone to handle this matter right now.

The computer shutdown prompt sounded. He stood up, knowing what he needed to do next.