Li Lingfeng took a moment to collect himself before handing Zhao Min a folder.
"These are screenshots of online articles and comments. Someone has hired a water army, claiming we orchestrated the clown virus crisis to eliminate competitors and pave the way for the Termite system."
Zhao Min opened the folder and skimmed through it.
"The Clown Virus was written in Chinese character programming language—Marching Ant Company is the most familiar with that system.
Its predecessor was the Jiangnan virus. According to insider information, that crisis was also resolved by Chen Mo. The code was acquired by Marching Ant Company and ended up in their hands.
The Clown Virus has left global cybersecurity companies helpless. When the online world was in chaos, Marching Ant suddenly released the Termite system, claiming it could resist the virus's attacks.
Marching Ant had the ability to stop the Jiangnan virus and now the Clown Virus. Releasing the Termite system at this moment raises suspicions. Was it all orchestrated for profit?"
"It all seems too convenient."
"Popcorn time. Let's watch the drama."
"..."
Zhao Min frowned as she read through the logical yet one-sided analysis. The article didn't accuse them outright, but it certainly guided readers to that conclusion.
What made things worse was that Marching Ant really had profited. They were the only ones to benefit from the chaos, making them the prime suspect—at least from an outsider's perspective. Even she would have raised an eyebrow if she were in their shoes.
"That's not all," Li Lingfeng continued. "Mainstream Western media are also pointing fingers at us, alleging that we engineered the virus and are now selling the cure."
Zhao Min flipped to the final pages, reading through headlines from foreign news agencies. Many subtly (and some overtly) accused Marching Ant of profiting from disaster.
She closed the file and sighed. "Same old routine. We touched their interests, so they're retaliating."
She tossed the file on her desk. "Too bad we're not based abroad—they can't touch us directly. This kind of thing? Marching Ant's been through worse."
"Do you want to issue a public response?" Li Lingfeng asked.
"Yes. Make it brief: the Clown Virus has nothing to do with Marching Ant Company. Request relevant platforms to delete defamatory content. That's it—no further comment, no drama."
Li Lingfeng nodded and left. Zhao Min continued working, unfazed. Online rumors were just noise unless you gave them attention. Letting things spiral unchecked would only lead to more nonsense.
The best way to handle this? No tricks. No stunts. Just act like nothing happened.
Marching Ant had survived countless smear campaigns. This was just another.
The release of the Termite system had rattled their competitors, especially the tech oligarchs in the office software market. Marching Ant's bold move and the superior performance of the Termite system had them in a panic.
Now the web was flooded with conspiracy theories suggesting Marching Ant created the Clown Virus. Given the circumstances, they did look suspicious.
The company's restrained response felt weak to many—a silent punch into a pillow—but Zhao Min knew better. Silence is sometimes the sharpest blade.
Seattle. A private villa.
Weiss stared bleary-eyed at his monitor. His thick glasses didn't hide the exhaustion on his face. He was a senior technician at Microsoft—unofficially, a black-hat hacker.
Only a few within the company even knew his true role.
Elite hackers often congregated on specialized forums—pseudonymous, global, and discreet. People might be teachers, executives, or students in real life, but in the forum, identity was taboo.
Lately, the forums buzzed with one hot topic: Chinese programming language.
The Clown Virus had made this obscure language famous among hackers. Whether black hats or white hats, they were tech obsessives, and this was the new frontier.
They discovered programs written in Chinese characters could bypass antivirus detection, creating ghost viruses—lurking silently, ready to be triggered remotely.
But Chinese was hard. For Weiss, it was like facing a digital wall.
After the Termite system dropped, it became clear Marching Ant was poised to dominate. The company asked him to make contact with whoever was behind the Clown Organization.
He had been posting bait on the hacker forums for over a week. Nothing. No replies. Radio silence.
Until now.
A new message popped up.
"You looking for me?"
Three words. Direct. Weiss hesitated for a second, then sat upright.
"Clown?"
"You have one minute."
No identity confirmation. No theatrics. But who else would pull this off?
"My boss wants to talk to you," Weiss typed quickly.
"I'll contact you in one hour. Have your boss ready."
Weiss stared at the message, then reached for his phone. Whether it was a hoax or not, he had to assume it was real.
A sleek car pulled into Weiss's villa driveway. Out stepped a middle-aged man with black-rimmed glasses and a receding hairline.
Anyone watching would've recognized him instantly—Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft.
After Gates and Ballmer, Nadella had taken the reins of a floundering giant. Under his leadership, Microsoft had refocused on cloud services and climbed back to historic highs.
But now, Microsoft was in crisis.
The Clown Virus had struck hard. Windows systems were compromised globally. Fixing known vulnerabilities hadn't helped—this virus ignored firewalls and cut through defenses.
That's when they realized this was something unprecedented.
Meanwhile, the Chinese character programming language had entered their radar. Their R&D division was scrambling to catch up, but Marching Ant had already pulled ahead with the Termite system.
Office software was Microsoft's golden goose. Apple and Umbrella had already taken bites out of the pie due to past strategic missteps. Now, Marching Ant was about to devour the rest.
They had no choice but to fight back—with whatever means they could.
Weiss greeted Nadella with a cautious nod. "He said he'll contact us in ten minutes."
Nadella sat silently on the sofa, his expression calm, but his heart tense.
A new technological war had begun.