At the headquarters of the Marching Ant Company, Zhao Min sat across from Chen Mo.
"I've got good news," she said with a hint of excitement.
"What kind of good news?" Chen Mo asked.
"We've successfully applied for the Chinese character programming language environment project. It's been accepted into the National Torch Program. Plus, the Education Professional Committee has approved the pilot program to teach the Chinese character programming language in all primary and secondary schools in Binhai."
"That fast?" Chen Mo raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"Of course. After the virus incident in Jiangnan City, people finally started paying attention to the potential of alternative programming languages. They can't afford to ignore something with that much developmental value," Zhao Min explained.
Chen Mo nodded thoughtfully. The virus incidents—both in Jiangnan City and the recent Clown Virus Crisis in London—had probably opened people's eyes to the true value of a unique, localized programming language. With the government's support, the Chinese programming language's future looked secure.
"London really took a hit this time. What do you think will happen next?" Zhao Min asked.
"Who knows?" Chen Mo shrugged. "Maybe the Brits will compromise. If things keep going like this, they'll lose big. But this situation doesn't really involve us directly."
Zhao Min's expression grew a little more serious. "What do you mean by 'not directly'? Don't scare me."
"Remember the Jiangnan virus incident? After it happened, the city's Bureau of Public Security was hacked and the virus code was stolen. Whoever developed this new virus likely used that code. And get this—the virus was written in the Chinese character programming language."
Zhao Min let out a breath of relief. "So we're not directly involved. That's good."
"The virus must've been heavily modified and optimized," she added.
Chen Mo simply shrugged. He couldn't exactly explain that the ink girl had intervened behind the scenes.
The current version of the virus was similar in nature to a ghost-type virus. Firewalls couldn't detect it. The Chinese programming language was so different from traditional code that most antivirus systems couldn't recognize or neutralize it.
The original version was a semi-intelligent virus, able to bypass computer security systems effortlessly. But with improvements to Lin Shu's antivirus software, they could now detect and remove it.
"I could write software to kill the 'Clown Virus' now," Chen Mo said. "Do you think we should?"
Zhao Min considered the idea, then shook her head. "No need to take it down. It's not our backyard anyway. This is actually a great opportunity to break into the corporate office market. With 'security' as our selling point, companies will be lining up."
Chen Mo didn't object.
Sure, releasing antivirus software could earn them some goodwill and a bit of revenue. But compared to the massive profits available in the enterprise software space, it was peanuts.
The Clown Virus hadn't harmed their interests—in fact, it had done the opposite.
In a chaotic environment, new players had a better shot at breaking through. The old guard of cybersecurity had taken a major hit in public trust. Before the dust settled, the market would be wide open.
The timing was perfect.
Their operating system had been quietly available through the Army Ant application store and PC ecosystem, but the general public hadn't been exposed to it yet.
Now, the cyberattack was like the final act of a dying regime. A new one was ready to rise—if they played their cards right.
"The application channel is open, the office ecosystem is taking shape, and our smart assistant makes work more efficient," Zhao Min said. "We haven't fully entered the corporate office space yet, but the potential is huge. Before we go public, though, we can release one more piece of news."
"What kind of news?" Chen Mo asked.
"You've always wanted to promote the Chinese programming language, right? Now's the perfect chance—free advertising, worldwide. Just confirm to the public that the Clown Virus was written in Chinese character code."
Chen Mo nodded without hesitation. "Good idea."
After Zhao Min left, Chen Mo returned to refining the supercomputer technology.
Xiao Yu had recently spent a few days relaxing in Jiangnan, but now it was time to get back to work.
Production of room-temperature superconducting material had already been handed over to the robots and was progressing well at small-batch scale. His focus now was on developing the superconducting computer.
Once completed, the ink girl's processing speed would increase dramatically.
A single supercomputer could perform calculations that would take humans hundreds of years to complete. With that level of power, the ink girl would evolve into a true digital brain—critical for advanced AI research and other future projects.
Meanwhile, the outbreak of the Clown Virus had sent the internet world into chaos.
London's digital infrastructure was completely shaken, and the illusion of online safety had been shattered. Intelligence agencies were scrambling, but so far, they hadn't even located the hacker—let alone removed the virus.
Existing antivirus software had no defense against it. The virus signature wasn't in any database, and there were almost no global experts who understood the Chinese programming language well enough to analyze it.
Foreign media were fixated on the latest tweets from the Clown Organization.
This attack was now the largest cyber-assault in the history of computing. The idea of hijacking an entire city had gone from fiction to terrifying reality.
And no one knew which city would be next.
At the Globe newspaper's office, reporter Li Tiejun felt uneasy. He couldn't shake the feeling that he'd missed something critical about the Clown Virus.
"Iron Army, the Marching Ant Company just confirmed the Clown Virus was written in the Chinese character programming language. If you're looking for a way to stop it, that's probably where you need to start."
A female colleague placed her laptop on his desk.
"That's it!" Li Tiejun suddenly sat up.
"What is it?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Don't you think this virus feels familiar? Like the one from Jiangnan City? Remember that outbreak? After it hit, the Clown hacked into the Jiangnan Bureau's systems."
"You're saying the Clown is using the Jiangnan virus?"
"Yes. And after that incident, the Marching Ant Company warned everyone that network security was finished. Now they're saying this virus was written in the Chinese programming language—which they created. They have to know this virus is based on the Jiangnan one."
The more he spoke, the more convinced he became.
Nothing spread this fast before. The Clown Virus wasn't just similar—it was likely an evolution of the Jiangnan one. The Marching Ants' warning had come just before the next big attack.
Coincidence? Not a chance.
"Send it to print. Get this story out now."