180: Chapter 180 A Battle of the Century – Can It Be Played Like This?

The morning sun filtered through the blinds, casting mottled light and shadows on the floor of the Fanmi Technology CEO's office.

Lei Jun held a report from the Security Department, the corners of his mouth twitching upward uncontrollably until he finally couldn't help but burst into laughter.

"Zhou Fan, look." He pushed the report over, still shaking his head slightly.

"Has Liu Wei's brain been crushed by a door? Sending two people with wrenches to break into our building just to smash the lucky cat at the front desk and the Money Tree next to it?"

Zhou Fan had heard that someone broke into the Fanmi building last night and thought something major had happened. Hearing this and looking at the report in his hand, he also shook his head in amusement. "These people are certainly interesting..."

"Luo Ming from the Security Department said that when those two were caught, they were still shouting 'Manager Liu sent us,' as if they were afraid people wouldn't know who was behind it."

Lei Jun picked up the thermos on the desk and took a sip of tea to suppress his laughter. "I've really seen it all. Business warfare that targets a lucky cat—this move could win the 'Most Confusing Behavior of the Year' award."

Zhou Fan tapped his fingertips on the report, his gaze falling on the words "Signal Jamming Device."

"Being able to get a professional jammer means they're not just street thugs. Liu Wei actually put some effort into this."

As they were speaking, the office door was pushed open.

Jiang Yuechan walked in carrying a brand-new lucky cat, a slight smile on her face.

"President Lei, the cat at the front desk seems to have been chipped last night, so I bought an even bigger one. What do you think of this one?"

The new lucky cat was a size larger than the original, its gilded paw raised high and its eyes set with sparkling rhinestones, looking much more exquisite than the old one.

Lei Jun looked at the old cat with a missing ear being placed in an evidence bag to be sent to the police station. He suddenly found it a bit farcical and shook his head with a smile.

"Alright, this cat has endured too much. Let it retire!"

"The whole company is talking about it!" Jiang Yuechan couldn't help but laugh. "The R&D Department said they want to put a bulletproof glass cover over the new cat, and the programmers at the Data Center said they'll write a program to give it real-time monitoring and an automatic alarm system."

Lei Jun waved his hand. "Don't mess around. Tell them to get back to work."

Just as he finished speaking, he couldn't help but laugh himself.

News about the lucky cat in the lobby being smashed spread through the company as if it had wings.

At ten in the morning, suppressed laughter could be heard everywhere in the Fanmi building—in the elevators, the breakrooms, and the hallways.

"Did you hear? Tesla sent people to smash our lucky cat!"

"This is ridiculous! I thought business warfare was all about stealing patents and poaching talent. Isn't this move a bit too... down-to-earth?"

"That's not all. I heard those two thieves had yellow talismans in their bags. They probably wanted to put a curse on our company! It's like 'absurd' opened the door for 'ridiculous'—it's ridiculous beyond belief!"

"Is this the IQ level of Tesla's executives? Suddenly, I feel a lot less pressure..."

"If this gets out, Tesla will definitely be famous! Is this some kind of new marketing strategy??"

"..."

Not just within Fanmi, but soon the "lucky cat Business War" drama was leaked online as well.

Li Xiangyu, a reporter for the Huaxia Science and Technology Daily, was the first to publish the news with an equally absurd headline.

[Tesla Suspected of Hiring Personnel to Infiltrate Fanmi Technology, Performing the Year's Most 'Hardcore' Business War!]

The accompanying photo showed the earless cat and the intact Money Tree.

As soon as the news was posted, the comment section instantly became an ocean of joy.

"I'm dying laughing. This is the first time I've seen business warfare played like this! Hahaha!"

"What a simple and unpretentious battle of the century. I suggest Tesla executives study 'I Ching Feng Shui.' The placement of that lucky cat was clearly a bit off. Fanmi might have other lucky cats; they should at least calculate the auspicious directions before taking action!"

"lucky cat: I'm just a kitty, what did I do wrong?"

"Is it possible this is a diversion by Tesla? Maybe they wanted to steal technology and only said they were there to smash the cat after being caught?"

"The person above is overthinking it. With those two carrying yellow talismans, do you think they could even understand technical blueprints?"

"I can't even. This move really makes me see Tesla in a new light! Hahaha!"

"President Lei, stop playing around and focus on making phones. When is the second batch of fanmi 2 coming out..."

The atmosphere online was full of merriment.

For a moment, many people actually learned about the Tesla brand for the first time.

Whether the impression of the brand was good or bad was another story.

Because of this incident, many people also began to associate it with Fanmi's entry into the New Energy Electric Vehicle market.

They started paying even more attention to it.

...

Tesra China Headquarters.

The atmosphere in the top-floor office was like ice.

Zhu Danyang gripped his phone. On the screen was the news that had reached the top of the trending searches, and the word "Tesla" in the headline was as eyesore as a needle.

He slammed his phone onto the desk. The sound of the tempered glass screen protector shattering was exceptionally piercing in the silent office.

"Idiots! A bunch of idiots!" he growled, his chest heaving.

When Liu Wei was taken away by the police, he was still shouting, "It's just smashing a cat!"

Zhu Danyang couldn't help but suspect that this guy must have climbed to the manager position through the back door. How could his IQ be this low?

He knew very well that the problem with this incident wasn't about the cat at all.

What kind of place was Fanmi Technology now?

It was a high-tech enterprise with key national support, and the security level of its R&D center was comparable to that of a military unit.

Trespassing in such a place, even just stepping on the lawn, could be considered "endangering national security"!

Not to mention bringing tools to commit vandalism...

This man was truly finished!

"President Zhu, the police just sent a notice for assistance in the investigation, requesting Manager Liu's job certification and recent activity records." The secretary kept her head down, her voice trembling.

"Give it to them!" Zhu Danyang said through gritted teeth, a flash of ruthlessness in his eyes. "Say that Liu Wei's actions were personal and have nothing to do with the company. Issue a statement immediately to cut ties! Wait, did the police say how long the investigation would take?"

The secretary was about to turn around when he called her back.

"I heard they're going to investigate thoroughly to see 'if commercial espionage is involved'..."

Zhu Danyang's face instantly turned pale.

This was what he feared most.

Once "espionage" was involved, the matter would spiral completely out of control. Not just Liu Wei, but even he, the President of the China Region, could be implicated.

He walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, looking at the rows of office buildings in the distance, and suddenly felt a chill.

Previously, he only thought Fanmi was a fast-growing mobile phone company. But from the breakthrough of the 45nm Lithography Machine to the current level of police importance placed on the cat-smashing incident, he realized once again the weight behind this company.

"I still underestimated them..." Zhu Danyang muttered to himself.

He had always felt that Fanmi's cross-industry move into car manufacturing was somewhat unwise, but now he suddenly realized that perhaps the other party had already made a comprehensive and detailed layout.

This company was definitely not a pushover.

Liu Wei's stunt hadn't caused trouble for Fanmi; instead, it had severely damaged Tesla's brand image, and he would inevitably be implicated.

In this way, his plan... would likely be affected as well!

This made his heart feel even heavier.

"President Zhu, the North America Headquarters has sent an email of inquiry and postponed the launch plan for the Model S, saying we need to handle the public opinion here first..." The secretary in professional attire said, looking at the information flashing on her phone screen.

"Postpone my ass!" Zhu Danyang turned around abruptly, a hint of ruthlessness flashing in his eyes.

"We absolutely cannot stop now. As long as the Model S can be launched on schedule, with its performance and brand, it can still sweep the Huaxia market. At that time, this embarrassment might even turn into a special marketing opportunity—at least it's made more people aware of Tesla!"

He walked to a product display stand nearby and ran his finger over the Model S model, his tone becoming firm again.

"Email the headquarters and say I have a way to solve the public relations issue, but the premise is that the Model S launch plan must be accelerated!"

"Tell them I need full support. In six months, they will see the Model S holding over 30% of the electric vehicle market share in the Huaxia market. If I can't achieve that, I will voluntarily resign from my position as the President of the China Region!!!"

"Won't this be too risky?" the secretary couldn't help but ask, her brow furrowed.

"We have no way back!"

Zhu Danyang looked at the materials regarding Fanmi Technology in his hand, feeling immense pressure.

Even BYD had never given him such a feeling.

It was an intuition.

A sense of oppression from facing a powerful opponent!