182: Chapter 182 Full Acquisition! AI Source Code Acquisition

The café was dimly lit. Wang Changlong gripped his peeling leather bag so tightly that his knuckles turned white and protruded due to the excessive force.

He stared fixedly at Lin Zhou, his throat bobbing several times, but he couldn't bring himself to name a price.

"Lin Zhou, you know that after selling that version of the code, to avoid a lawsuit, I specifically hired a group of new faces for my second startup to redo it. And the result..."

Wang Changlong let out a heavy sigh and pulled an old laptop with a cracked screen from his bag.

He struggled to flip the power switch and brought up a tangled mess of program diagrams.

"The result ended up like this. To avoid those patents, the code was altered beyond recognition, and the logic is so bloated it's unreadable. This thing is literally a sprinter who wanted to run the hundred-meter dash, but I chopped off their legs and forced on a pair of rotten wooden prosthetics. It can't run fast, and even basic autonomous learning has become a luxury. Why are you buying this junk?"

Lin Zhou ignored his dejection, took the computer, and his fingertips danced across the keys so quickly they left a blur.

Lines of code flashed rapidly across the screen. The chaotic indentation and incomprehensible variable naming made Lin Zhou furrow his brow deeply, a knot forming between his eyes.

This wasn't artificial intelligence; it was clearly a pile of stuffed electronic garbage. It was like forcing a tractor chassis onto a top-tier sports car; because the center of gravity was unstable, it would fall apart at any moment.

"Is this what the people you hired cobbled together?" Lin Zhou pointed to a section of infinite loop logic, his tone filled with disgust.

"Mr. Wang, work of this quality would have been tossed into the recycle bin before I even saw my professor back in my freshman year. When did your standards drop this low?"

Wang Changlong's old face flushed red immediately. He rubbed his palms together awkwardly and muttered, "I couldn't hire anyone; I couldn't afford high salaries, and the big shots wouldn't even look my way. These kids are all fresh out of school; just getting the program to run was their limit. I... I didn't have the energy to focus on the fine details. All day long, I was either fending off creditors or begging for investment. You've seen the situation."

Lin Zhou closed the unnecessary background processes and glanced sideways at the high-rises outside the window.

He had hoped to pick up something ready to use, but he hadn't expected to have to help clean up a mess.

But he didn't intend to stop, because what he valued wasn't this superficial garbled code, but the spark hidden in the cracks of the rotten code. It was the original logic manuscript that only those who had started the business together could understand.

"Mr. Wang, to be honest, this code is truly rotten. Even a scrapyard would find it a waste of space." Lin Zhou closed the screen, his gaze piercing Wang Changlong, his tone becoming exceptionally cold and hard.

"But I know you have a private backup drive. It's hidden in the attic of your old house. That first version, the framework with the seeds of 'consciousness germination'—is it still there?"

Deep in Wang Changlong's eye sockets, there was a sudden tremor. He froze in his chair, like a thief whose tracks had been exposed.

That was his last shred of dignity, and also a taboo he dared not easily show others. Because that framework had, in a sense, crossed the line; it wasn't very stable, yet it contained a self-evolving capability that made people fear it from the bottom of their hearts.

"How did you know that thing was still around?" Wang Changlong lowered his voice, his whole body almost leaning onto the table as he growled.

"Because you're a madman. Someone with a germaphobic obsession with technology wouldn't just watch their own flesh and blood be castrated. You would definitely keep a seed, waiting for the day you could make a comeback."

Lin Zhou raised an eyebrow and held up one hand. "Five million. US dollars. To buy that original manuscript you have locked in your cabinet. Additionally, I want all the assets of your company, including those rotten servers that haven't been moved yet, and... all the staff who haven't resigned from your place yet."

Wang Changlong was stunned on the spot, doubting if something was wrong with his ears.

Five million US dollars, converted, was over thirty million. With this money, he could not only plug all the holes but also ensure he would be worry-free for the rest of his life.

But hearing the second half, his mind couldn't quite wrap around it.

"What do you want those greenhorns for? They are all programmers who have been led astray; if thrown outside, they might not even be able to handle outsourcing work for big companies."

"That's not something you need to worry about. A first-class tailor can piece together a treasure garment from scraps of cloth, and I intend to throw these scraps back into the furnace to refine them."

Lin Zhou stood up and tugged at the collar of his trench coat. "Lead the way to your company. I want to see, aside from you, the boss about to jump off a building, how much life Changlong Tech has left."

Half an hour later, the motorcade stopped under that dilapidated office building. The area was remote; even food delivery drivers didn't like coming here.

The elevator had long since stopped due to unpaid bills, so Lin Zhou followed Wang Changlong and forced himself to climb five flights of stairs. Pushing open the creaking glass door, a wave of stuffy heat accumulated from long-term lack of ventilation rushed to meet them.

The room was dimly lit, and a dozen or so young people were huddled in oversized hoodies, staring blankly at the flickering monitors.

Wires and fast-food boxes were scattered on the floor, and there were a few yellowed bedding rolls in the corner.

Seeing Lin Zhou and his group enter, the people in the room looked on with a mix of numbness and wariness. Wang Changlong clapped his hands awkwardly. "Everyone, put down your work for a moment. Let me introduce someone; this is..."

"No need to waste your breath." Lin Zhou cut him off and strode to the center of the hall, where a small, uncleaned blackboard stood. He grabbed a piece of chalk and wrote down a URL—it was the official portal for the Cyber Freedom Republic.

"I know you all. You gathered here to escape the endless overtime and for those ridiculous dreams. But right now, the dreams are shattered, and you can't even get your wages. The crappy work in your hands is no different from waste paper in the eyes of capital."

Lin Zhou's words tore away their dignity and struck directly at the heart of these young people.

A few hot-headed young men immediately braced themselves against the tables and stood up, their faces dark as they prepared to rush over and argue.

But before they could take a step, He Jun, who had been like a shadow behind Lin Zhou, took a half-step forward. The mere sense of oppression brought from a pile of dead bodies caused the air in the entire room to drop to freezing point. The young people trembled in their hearts and scurried back into their chairs.

"Lin Zhou, don't be so aggressive, they are having a hard time too..." Wang Changlong tried to smooth things over but was glared back by a look from Lin Zhou.

"I am here to recruit." Lin Zhou threw away the chalk and stared at the pairs of eyes that were re-ignited with sparks but still filled with suspicion. "Wang Changlong's company has folded. From now on, this place belongs to me. I'll give you two choices. First, take one month's salary and bonus now, get out as soon as possible, and go back to your cubicles to continue grinding away. Second, pack your luggage for these few days and take a ship ticket to Africa. My territory happens to be short of a group of madmen who dare to code in the desert."

"The air there might be a bit rough, and water is scarce, but it has the advantage of not having those bullshit copyright laws, nor any rules from big internet corporations. There, you can write whatever kind of intelligence you want to write. Moreover, I will offer a salary that you would never have looked down on in your entire life."

The entire hall fell into a breathtaking silence, with only a few old fans spinning amidst the sound of worn-out bearings.

These young people, who had been battered and bruised by reality, looked at each other. Go to Africa? Follow this lord who stirred up a country in the news? This kind of thing was even more bizarre than writing a true general-purpose artificial intelligence.

Lin Zhou didn't rush them, but looked down at his watch. "I'll give you ten minutes to deliberate. Those who agree, sign this paper. From now on, your codenames will no longer be programmers, but the first batch of... pioneers of the National Research Institute of the Cyber Freedom Republic."

Watching Lin Zhou's back, Wang Changlong's eye sockets couldn't help but heat up. He realized that what Lin Zhou took away wasn't just his technical manuscripts, but the wild ambition he had failed to uphold his entire life.