NOVEL NEXT Chapter 172: A Good Move
Yun City Business Association, office.
Fang Cunshan's phone rang.
Fang Cunshan glanced at it and saw that it was a call from the hacker they had hired. He immediately felt proud and spoke to Yang Xing, He Guang, and Mei Yu:
"There's the call; it must mean the mission is accomplished. I'll take the call now, and all we need to do next is to wait for the good news."
Yang Xing, He Guang, and Mei Yu also showed a smile on their faces upon hearing what Fang Cunshan had said.
In their view, the world-class hacker they had paid so much money for surely couldn't fail.
Fang Cunshan answered the phone.
A man's voice came through, and the sentence formed by his broken Chinese came out: "Mission failed, that person is too strong. I dueled with her for a while, and she directly hacked my computer."
After he finished.
Before Fang Cunshan could react, the call was abruptly disconnected.
Yang Xing and the others slightly frowned upon hearing the man's words.
The mission had failed.
Meaning, the hacker hadn't contributed at all.
Mei Yu looked at Fang Cunshan with displeasure and asked, "Director Fang, is this the world-class hacker you mentioned? Not only did he fail to solve the problem, but he also got our computer hacked?"
Fang Cunshan felt some pain in his teeth: "Indeed, the opponent is also a world-class top hacker. Perhaps the hacker technology behind Wang Ye is a bit more advanced than his."
"Since he failed the mission, shouldn't he return the money we gave him?" asked Yang Xing.
He Guang also looked at Fang Cunshan: "Right, since he failed, he should return the money. There's no sense in paying someone who didn't complete the job."
"I'll call him now and ask him to return the money."
After saying this, Fang Cunshan dialed Shadow's number.
However.
When Fang Cunshan tried calling again, he found that the number he was dialing was now invalid.
Fang Cunshan slightly frowned.
He sensed something was amiss.
Under the watchful eyes of Yang Xing and the others, Fang Cunshan flipped through his phone and realized that he could no longer find any traces of his contacts with Shadow on his own phone or computer, nor any way to contact Shadow.
Fang Cunshan's expression turned visibly grim, and from his face, Yang Xing and the others could see the signs and asked him, "So, you can't contact him anymore?"
"Yes."
Fang Cunshan helplessly said, "Normally, we should have paid a deposit first, and after he completed the mission, we would then transfer the rest of the money."
"But we overlooked this point before and transferred the money directly."
"Now, we can't contact him anymore."
"We might not be able to get our money back now."
Fang Cunshan ended his statement and sat down, his gaze mingling with both despondent and angry looks.
Fang Cunshan had never suffered a loss before, but now he had taken losses on both Wang Ye and Shadow.
Though losing several million wasn't much, the main issue was that due to his own mistakes, his status among the Yun City Four Great Families' heads would likely diminish significantly.
Yang Xing, He Guang, and Mei Yu stared at Fang Cunshan with unusual expressions on their faces, pondering his words.
Eventually, Yang Xing spoke with a somber face, "It's done then; the information about the four of us can no longer be erased from the internet."
Their plan to use a world-class hacker to counter another hacker had failed, so now they had to find another solution.
With Yang Xing's statement, silence fell over the entire meeting room of the Yun City Business Association.
Eventually, Fang Cunshan spoke, "It seems that all we can do now is to step down."
Yang Xing and the other two looked at Fang Cunshan.
No one spoke.
But the implication was for Fang Cunshan to continue speaking and share his plan with them.
"Now, our reputation in Yun City has been ruined; not even jumping into the Yellow River would cleanse us."
"Staying in our positions as heads of the Four Great Families will likely prompt a backlash from the public."
"This, in turn, would greatly affect our Four Great Families."
"Rather than enduring these consequences, we would be better off stepping down and leaving the leadership to the younger generation on our side."
"We can publicly claim that these young people saw our misconduct while we were in charge of the families and, to reform the families for the better, they have ousted us from our positions."
"After stepping down, we can have these young people engage in some public welfare activities and offer discounts during business operations, so people will believe that the Four Great Families have changed hands and are moving in a better direction."
"Then our influence over the Four Great Families will naturally disappear."
This was the issue Fang Cunshan had been pondering over the past few days.
After Fang Cunshan finished speaking.
Yang Xing and the others began to contemplate.
Although Fang Cunshan's dealings with the top hacker had been unsatisfactory, causing them all to lose a substantial amount of money,
his suggestion was still excellent.
It would allow them to move from the forefront to behind the scenes, reducing their influence in the Four Great Families.
Their influence over the Four Great Families could be transformed into personal influence.
Moreover, who said giving the public a discount now would mean losing money?
If handled properly, they wouldn't lose money; instead, the Four Great Families could take this opportunity to make a large profit.
Not just that.
The public would feel that the Four Great Families were offering substantial discounts this time, thus gaining a favorable impression of the new heads of the families.
This would make the public develop a favorable view of the Four Great Families once again.
Truly a masterstroke.
Thinking this, He Guang laughed heartily, his face clearing of the previous gloom as he spoke to Fang Cunshan, "Director Fang is truly worthy of his reputation. This plan not only allows our Four Great Families to change the current situation but also enables us to enhance our visibility in the eyes of the public later on. Not only are we not losing money, but it also brings us substantial benefits."
"I hadn't anticipated Director Fang was so insightful. Before Director Fang proposed a solution, I thought the Yun City Four Great Families had reached a dead end. It turns out that with just one idea from Director Fang, we've found light at the end of the tunnel," Mei Yu also laughed as he spoke, clearly showing his approval of Fang Cunshan's plan through his expression.