Capital Branch, Marching Ant Company.
At the entrance, Xia Changlong stood with a team of staff, anxiously checking his watch.
As the branch manager of the Capital Division, he had been personally recruited by Zhao Min through a headhunting agency. Back then, many professionals had scoffed at her offer—low salary, unknown startup—but now? Those same people were practically lining up to join.
Today, word had spread that Chen Mo himself was coming to inspect the branch.
It made Xia Changlong uneasy.
He'd never interacted with the company's mysterious founder. All he knew was what the internet said: Chen Mo, a young genius fresh out of university, had somehow skyrocketed to billionaire status through tech development.
When he first saw Chen Mo's photo, Xia Changlong had a minor crisis—he'd toiled for years in the industry, only to be completely outclassed by someone barely in his twenties.
With the China Internet Conference taking place tomorrow, the Capital Division would be supporting the company's appearance at the event. As the person in charge, Xia Changlong would be assisting Chen Mo directly.
As he ran through polite greetings in his head, Chen Mo and his group arrived at the building entrance under the guidance of a company secretary.
When the employees caught sight of the young man walking confidently in the middle, a ripple of excitement went through the crowd.
He wasn't movie-star handsome, but he had the kind of calm, self-assured presence that made people turn and stare. Young, brilliant, and successful—Chen Mo had become the subject of many workplace daydreams.
Some of the younger female staff instinctively straightened up or edged forward, hoping to catch his attention.
Chen Mo glanced around and quickly spotted the man in charge.
"Boss, I'm Xia Changlong, manager of the Capital Division," he greeted, stepping forward.
Chen Mo nodded. "Hello."
"You all get back to work," Xia told the employees, then turned to lead Chen Mo and Julie inside.
"Take me to your R&D department," Chen Mo said.
The Capital Branch handled the North China market and was located close to Yanjing, so it was rich in talent. It also housed a small R&D team dedicated to software development—specifically for the Butterfly Eye smartphone and internal software systems.
As always, Chen Mo cared deeply about the company's tech core.
R&D Department
Lin Zhiyuan was fully immersed in his screen, fingers dancing over his keyboard as he tested his game script.
Ever since the company had released its proprietary Chinese character programming language, he had been fascinated by its potential. Curious, he'd rebuilt a simple game three times—once in C, once in Java, and once in the new language.
The Chinese programming language had produced the shortest, fastest-running code. That alone had caught his attention.
Others might not have realized it yet, but he could feel it—this language had real future potential.
In his free time, he'd been using it to develop game scripts. Right now, he was testing one in a popular first-person shooter.
"Done!" he exhaled, grinning as he leaned back and pulled out a USB drive from his backpack. Now it was time to test the script on his laptop.
As the game loaded, he became completely engrossed.
Meanwhile, Chen Mo, led by Xia Changlong, stepped into the R&D room.
The moment they entered, the air shifted. Conversations dropped, postures straightened. Everyone recognized their manager—and Chen Mo.
The tension was palpable.
Chen Mo casually scanned the room, then paused, gaze locking on a corner workstation.
Without a word, he walked straight over.
All heads turned as they followed his movement. Lin Zhiyuan, still deep in the game, didn't notice the growing silence.
"Zhiyuan..." one of his neighbors whispered, nudging him, eyes wide with panic.
Still focused, Lin didn't respond.
Xia Changlong clenched his fists behind his back, visibly struggling not to explode. But seeing Chen Mo calm, he held himself back and trailed silently behind.
"Boss, I—" he began.
Chen Mo lifted a hand to stop him and leaned over Lin Zhiyuan's desk, eyes fixed on the game script running on-screen.
The rest of the room held its breath.
Playing a game at work—while the company founder was visiting? The tension was thick enough to cut.
Then Lin Zhiyuan finally killed the last in-game opponent. Triumphant, he leaned back—
—and nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw Chen Mo, the manager, and the department head standing behind him.
His grin evaporated. His entire soul nearly left his body.
"B-Boss… Manager… Supervisor…" he stammered, face pale. "I-I can explain…"
Everyone watched in silence, waiting for Chen Mo's verdict.
But Chen Mo didn't say a word. He just stepped forward and began reviewing the code on Lin Zhiyuan's screen.
Seconds ticked by.
Finally, Chen Mo straightened up. "Did you write this script yourself?"
Lin Zhiyuan blinked, stunned. "Y-Yes…"
"It's well written. Too bad it's not being used in the right place," Chen Mo said calmly.
"I was wrong," Lin blurted, thinking this was the start of a firing.
Chen Mo raised a brow. "As a penalty, you'll lose half your bonus this month. Fair?"
Lin Zhiyuan swallowed. "Fair!"
"Then don't waste your skills on this kind of thing again."
"I won't."
Chen Mo turned to Xia Changlong. "Starting next month, give him a 5% salary raise."
The room fell into stunned silence.
What?
This was not the reaction anyone had expected. Punishment—sure. But a raise?
"Per company policy," Chen Mo said casually, "any developer who becomes proficient in the Chinese programming language gets a 5% salary bump. That's not just talk."
Xia Changlong gave Lin a look that said you lucky bastard, then barked, "Still not thanking the boss?"
"Thank you, boss!" Lin Zhiyuan said, flustered and deeply grateful.
Chen Mo scanned the rest of the department. "Anyone else here learning the Chinese programming language?"
Two young developers raised their hands. "We've been studying it after hours. We even built a small test program," one said, holding out a USB.
"They're fresh grads," the department director added. "Still in their probation period."
Chen Mo examined their code briefly, then nodded. "Effective immediately, they're full employees."
The two were stunned, then immediately beamed with excitement.
"As members of the R&D team," Chen Mo said, "you'll be exposed to this language a lot. I suggest you get familiar with it now. It'll be useful in your future work."
He looked around the room. "Survival of the fittest—don't get left behind."
That got everyone's attention.
After the brief inspection, Chen Mo walked through the rest of the branch with Xia Changlong and shook hands with various team leads. Once the formalities were done, he left with Julie and headed back to the hotel.