Chapter 8: Friends or Foes

After listening to his cousin, Gu Cheng felt that her words were indeed quite reasonable. In those grey and ambiguous business sectors, local protectionism was a powerful, swaying factor. Those who made money through grey internet businesses in China often went out of their way to avoid the jurisdictions where their victims were registered. After all, if a company lost 40 million in profits, it was equivalent to the local government losing 10 million in tax revenue—a cut that hit officials right where it hurt. This was especially true for online gaming companies, which were among the biggest taxpayers in the internet industry.

Once his thoughts cleared, Gu Cheng mused, "It seems I need to have Branch Chief Wang push a bit harder and dig deeper. Give them some extra 'hardship pay' for this. We won't engage in under-the-table deals or bribery, but since we are troubling them to work overtime, we shouldn't skimp on the perks. Official sponsorships are fine, too."

Pan Jieying agreed but cautioned, "Just give them a heads-up. It's the Lunar New Year, so there's no need to rush for results in a day or two. Keeping them steady is what matters most."

Gu Cheng always listened to his cousin regarding details, so the matter was arranged accordingly. His aunt, Gu Wen, made sure to visit the local tax bureau with gifts during the holidays, while Pan Jieying handled the middle-management executors, spending hundreds of thousands in small change to maintain relationships. Everything seemed to have passed for the moment.

The news of dismantling the cheat and account-theft syndicate led by Du Ming naturally had to remain confidential for now, as Gu Cheng was still counting on Du Ming to act as if nothing had happened, lay a trap for Park Young-gwan, and continue serving as a prosecution witness.

After the meeting, Gu Cheng didn't tell many others, only informing Che Lizi, the project manager for *Legend*, and Gan Jiawei, who still served as the marketing director. These key confidants needed to adjust their work schedules based on the progress of the crackdown to ensure a smooth transition for the official *Legend* servers, so they couldn't be kept entirely in the dark.

...

The next day was New Year's Day. Gu Cheng and Pan Jieying weren't too busy and spent the holiday at home. It wasn't appropriate to push the economic investigation team too hard; Branch Chief Wang had promised that whatever secrets Du Ming was holding, he would extract them, and Gu Cheng accepted this pace.

The company was on break, but the operations and maintenance teams for *Legend* and Alipay had to remain on duty. Even on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day, people were still playing *Legend*, and the number of concurrent players might even be higher than usual. Furthermore, Gu Cheng had previously instructed the operations department to run events during the holiday, keeping the staff even busier.

In 2002, the concept of in-game events for online games didn't really exist in China. It would take another two years for various games to start the trend of "killing New Year beasts," "collecting lucky bags," or "setting off firecrackers" to boost engagement.

Therefore, the unique New Year event arranged for *Legend*—which was actually just double experience and double drop rates—managed to boost sales for the game and attracted hundreds of thousands of new users through social word-of-mouth.

Che Lizi, the project manager, along with a few key technical staff from Dongyi (who had been there since the beginning, excluding the artists) and a dozen local Chinese maintenance engineers, all had to work overtime until the seventh day of the Lunar New Year. Gu Cheng's offer to them was: triple pay for those seven days, a large bonus, and double the duration of annual leave after the holiday. As for the Dongyi employees, Gu Cheng specifically granted them a half-month holiday starting from the eighth day, allowing them to return home for the New Year—among East Asian countries, the people of Dongyi celebrated the Lunar New Year just like the Chinese, unlike the people of Fusang.

It was the second day of the New Year, late at night. It was the turn of Che Lizi, a Dongyi-born data operations supervisor named Jin Chengze, and several Chinese test engineers to work overtime.

Jin Chengze was one of the first six Dongyi-born employees recruited by Che Lizi, and he was now considered a veteran technician for *Legend*. Over the past year, Gu Cheng had paid him several hundred thousand RMB in salary and bonuses, so he hadn't been treated unfairly.

Player traffic was higher than expected, but thanks to the backup servers prepared in advance, everything looked stable. After midnight, everyone went to the cafeteria for a late-night snack, their moods quite relaxed.

"Oh? There's cheese spicy rice cakes today. I want that." Che Lizi was the first to enter the cafeteria and, seeing her favorite dish—topped with seafood—happily ordered a portion. Jin Chengze did the same, while the other Chinese employees, not fans of this, ate Chinese food.

Perhaps due to homesickness during the holiday, Che Lizi and Jin Chengze sat in a corner of the cafeteria, chatting in the Dongyi language. Their relationship wasn't particularly close—to be precise, Jin Chengze was very obedient to Che Lizi, but she never showed him much warmth. The other maintenance staff didn't understand the language, so they didn't disturb the leaders.

While eating, Che Lizi casually instructed, "After the New Year, we need to handle the backup servers well. We might see an influx of new users even greater than the holiday rush within the next two months. We also need to upgrade the anti-wall-clipping and anti-player-clipping cheat detection algorithms..."

Hearing this, Jin Chengze’s expression shifted uncertainly. "Isn't the New Year the peak for players? How could it be higher after the holiday? Did something happen?"

"It's nothing, really." Che Lizi still had her guard up, knowing Gu Cheng had told her not to speak carelessly. However, without explaining the work orders, her subordinates couldn't understand the "why" behind them. After struggling with herself for a moment, she felt distressed.

Jin Chengze said with a look of displeasure, "Little Che, we've been colleagues for three years now. Do you not trust me? Is there something you can't tell me?"

Che Lizi stiffened her expression. "You should call me Manager Che!"

Jin Chengze seemed emotionally unstable. "Manager Che! Although your administrative rank is higher than mine, I am in a purely technical role, and my compensation grade... I don't want to bring that up. You know how I've treated you these past two years. If I really wanted to fight for something..."

Che Lizi blushed, slightly impatient. "Some things only need to be said once. If you mention it again, I'll turn hostile!"

"You're already 24! You should think about yourself; don't be unrealistic. Thinking you can win Gu Cheng's favor through loyalty is a pipe dream! Even though you're a beauty, he is surrounded by gorgeous actresses. You started out in game design and are five or six years older than him—how can you compete?"

"Shut up!" Che Lizi was enraged, her face turning crimson. She hadn't even finished her spicy seafood rice cakes. Gritting her teeth, she ordered, "What I said earlier, you will execute if you understand it, and you will execute it even if you don't. Otherwise, I will report this to our superiors."

With that, Che Lizi left the cafeteria without even clearing her tray. Jin Chengze followed, seemingly angered as well. "If you don't tell me the reason today, I won't execute it even if you report me later. Even if I get disciplined, the company's work will be delayed!"

Che Lizi stopped and took a few deep breaths, thinking to herself: *I can't let Gu Cheng's orders be delayed... Forget it, no one else understands the language. If I explain it to Jin Chengze alone and appeal to his sense of justice, he wouldn't gamble his future.*

"I can tell you, but you must execute the deployment without compromise. Also, you must not tell a third person!"

Che Lizi, thinking she had been sufficiently strict, returned to the office and told him the essential details about Gu Cheng secretly taking down a large-scale account-theft and cheat syndicate.

She didn't see the sudden change in Jin Chengze's expression.

*Du Ming has been exposed? Damn it! I used my authority as the data operations director to modify server-side programs to sell equipment—I wonder if the company has discovered it? No, they probably haven't, otherwise Little Che wouldn't have let her guard down around me.*

Jin Chengze's situation wasn't accidental. Historically, when Chen Tianqiao's Shanda Network operated *Legend*, there were "moles" who modified data to sell equipment. That case resulted in three people being caught, from the data operations director down to the GMs, netting millions in illicit profits. This couldn't be blamed solely on human greed; it was truly the temptation of wealth. When a data operations lead watched "Judgment" swords sell for hundreds, "Dragon Slayer" blades for tens of thousands, "Roaming Fans" for thousands, and "War God" sets for over a thousand, it was hard not to waver. Especially when those responsible for server-side data maintenance only had to move their fingers to modify them... Modifying thousands of items and fencing them was a multi-million-dollar business with zero cost.

Since the latter half of 2001, when the Alipay personal account system began to expand and the trading of game equipment became hot, Jin Chengze couldn't resist the temptation. He started doing this with a trusted crony, taking the lion's share for himself. He had already raked in over 2 million RMB, about ten times his legitimate income over the past six months.

However, Jin Chengze couldn't have a direct channel for offloading the goods, so he recruited a middleman: Du Ming. This was why Du Ming insisted on staying in a high-risk place like Qiantang to run his business—Jin Chengze demanded that all payments be made in cash, refusing bank transfers or Alipay, because he wanted to protect himself absolutely and leave no trace. Every month, Du Ming had to meet him offline to hand over the cash for the equipment sold, then sell the gear he got from Jin Chengze through his own fencing channels.

...

After chatting with Che Lizi, Jin Chengze's brain raced. Back in the office, the first thing he did was check flight information. There were still seats on the flight to Seoul on the third day of the New Year. He could pay to change his ticket from the eighth to the third.

*The longer this drags on, the more trouble there will be... If the case breaks, the 2 million will definitely be seized, and I might end up in prison for years. Enough, at this point, the best strategy is to run. I don't have any relatives in the country to implicate anyway. Fleeing back home to live under an alias or finding another path—such a small case won't lead to extradition.*

*But 2 million isn't enough to live on for the rest of my life... If this blows up, I'll never find a normal job again. No, is there a way to make a quick buck? Right! Little Che said they are keeping Du Ming around to trap Mr. Park. If I can leak this to Mr. Park and let him know he must never contact Du Ming again... that information should be worth a good reward, right?*

As Jin Chengze thought this, he didn't consider that he had already betrayed Park Young-gwan once a year and a half ago to join Legend Entertainment. In his own mind, he had never betrayed Park; he fancied himself a dashing romantic and only joined the company because he coveted Che Lizi's beauty. If only that girl hadn't been so obsessed with loyalty to Gu Cheng... Thinking of this, Jin Chengze felt immense hatred for his past decision.

Driven by greed and stupidity, he changed his ticket to the next morning—the third day of the New Year. He then walked to the men's restroom on that floor. After confirming no one was around, he ducked into a stall and pulled out his phone to dial Park Young-gwan's number.

However, he didn't expect that before the call could connect, the stall door behind him would be kicked open by a long leg in a high heel.

"Jin Chengze, what are you doing? I suspected you the moment you insisted I tell you the details!"

Jin Chengze was startled, and his phone dropped to the floor. Che Lizi, ignoring the danger, pounced and pressed the hang-up button. Seeing the number he was about to dial, her face changed drastically. "You were actually contacting Park Young-gwan? Are you trying to betray Mr. Gu?"

Jin Chengze held his hands up in a placating gesture. "Little Che, don't be nervous. Can you call it betrayal? Park Young-gwan and Gu Cheng are both people who would eat you alive. We create the products that make them hundreds of millions, but how much do they share with the R&D team? Only a few million for everyone! I have my own hardships. If you let me go today, I'll give you 1 million, how about that? If you're willing to come with me, I guarantee you a good life for the rest of your days."

"Get lost! You disgust me! I never expected you to be this kind of person, Jin Chengze!" Che Lizi backed away in disgust and took out her phone to call Gu Cheng.

Jin Chengze's face turned pale. If Che Lizi successfully snitched on him, his chance to flee would be gone; not only would he have to cough up the 2 million, but he would also go to prison. In a fit of blood-rushing rage, he lunged forward and kicked Che Lizi in the abdomen. Che Lizi was a slender girl, only 1.6 meters tall and weighing 90 pounds, and had no combat ability. She was kicked flying, her back slamming into the wall, and she coughed up a mouthful of blood.

However, Che Lizi didn't lose consciousness. Though the phone had slipped from her hand, she could still move. Jin Chengze was now past the point of no return; if he didn't at least knock her out, he would never get away. One phone call would prevent him from boarding the plane.

With a murderous look in his eyes, he pulled out a pocketknife, stabbed it viciously into Che Lizi's abdomen, and then covered her mouth and nose until she passed out. Jin Chengze then threw the knife into the toilet bowl to flush it away, washed his hands, and fled the company in a panic.

...

"Sister Che, why are you calling me in the middle of the night?" The moment the call connected, Gu Cheng's heart skipped a beat. Ever since he started operating *Legend*, he was terrified of sudden game operations incidents, like server crashes... Every time he was woken by a late-night call, he couldn't fall back asleep for a long time. At this moment, he assumed there was a major bug in the New Year event.

There was no sound from Che Lizi. Just as Gu Cheng was about to ask again, he heard intense movement and struggling on the other end. "What's going on?" He felt blood rush to his head. After struggling for a few dozen seconds, he jumped out of bed, threw on some clothes, and prepared to leave.

Pan Jieying, in the next room, was also startled awake. She walked into the living room, looking at him with confusion. "It's the New Year, why the commotion in the middle of the night?"

Gu Cheng said while putting on his shoes, "Something might have happened at the company. Sister Che called me, but didn't say anything."

"What? I'll go with you, I'll drive." Pan Jieying, hearing this, hurriedly threw a trench coat over her nightgown and followed him out.

15 minutes later, Gu Cheng arrived at the company, only to be told by employees that no one had seen Manager Che since the late-night snack.

"Search! Search immediately!"

"Yes, Mr. Gu!" A group of operations staff scattered to search.

"Wait!" Gu Cheng felt his eyelids twitch violently.

"What is it, Mr. Gu?"

"Also... call an ambulance! Sister Che called me before something happened; it must be a major accident."

"An ambulance? What if she's fine..."

"If she's fine, I'll pay the bill! I'll handle it! Go!"

Five minutes later, they found Che Lizi, unconscious and stabbed, in the restroom.

"She still has a pulse, stop the bleeding! Get her to the hospital!"