The Nerd Who Conquered The World

Chapter 11

Two days passed quickly, as Wang Hao had asked everyone, sent messages to coursemates he hadn't spoken to since second year. Called people he barely remembered. His father had stopped calling and started sending messages, which scared the hell out of him.

Right now, he was sitting in his car outside a café, out of ideas, when the notification appeared.

A post in the university alumni forum. Developer of ClearShield identified Lin Chen, a CS graduate, in this year's class.

Wang Hao stared at the name. Lin Chen

The name was vaguely familiar, like he had heard it somewhere, recently, but couldn't attach a face to it.

But now that he had a name. That was enough he had no idea yet what that name was going to cost him.

---

Lin Chen was in the university library when his identity leaked publicly.

He had come back to campus not as a student but because the library remained the best place he knew to read without interruption. He still needed more knowledge. The system rewarded mastery and there was no ceiling on what he could master every hour of reading was an hour converting directly into future capability.

His phone had been on silent since morning. He picked it up now and scrolled through the notifications.

Emails of hire offers, partnership requests, enticing slary packages that would have seemed impossible to him a week ago. Five million yuan per year, chief IT developer positions at companies he recognized. His name was everywhere and the offers were coming from every direction.

Including one from Wang Tech Industries. An offer of five million yuan to help them develop an advanced version of ClearShield.

Lin Chen looked at that one for slightly longer than the rest. Then he put the phone back down.

Not yet. A good dish has to be cooked properly before you serve it.

Then he sent three messages to the top companies to meet.

---

The coffee restaurant was quiet in the mid-afternoon. Lin Chen arrived ten minutes early and chose a corner table with a clear view of the entrance. He ordered coffee and watched the door.

They arrived within two minutes of each other all three of them in suits, all three of them scanning the room trying to identify a person they had only seen described.

The first was Ren Bojun from Sunrise Tech, he looked like the kind of man who had been in boardrooms long enough that he wore his suit like a second skin. He moved with measured confidence.

The second was Fang Dehua from Fenglin Cybersecurity, he was younger, leaner, eager in a way he was trying to conceal behind professionalism. He was the one who had traced ClearShield first.

The third was Dongfang Mingyu from Supreme Cybersecurity. She was shorter than both men, black hair, glasses that caught the light when she turned her head. She moved differently from the other two not faster or slower but more precisely, like someone who was here with a different plan.

They spotted him at the same moment. He could see the shock on their face as he was younger than any of them had expected.

Ren Bojun recovered first, crossing crossed the room with his hand already extended. "Mr. Lin? I'm Ren Bojun, from Sunrise Tech. I have to say they always say genius doesn't discriminate by age, but I genuinely did not expect someone so young."

"Please sit," Lin Chen said smiling calmly..

They settled around the table. Three cards were placed in front of him in quick succession. He looked at each one briefly.

"Instead of meeting each of you separately and wasting everyone's time," Lin Chen said, "I thought it made more sense to have you here together. Tell me your offers."

The three of them exchanged a brief look at his straight to the point attitude.

Ren Bojun leaned forward first. "Sunrise Tech would like to offer you the position of Head of Cybersecurity Development. A base salary of two million yuan per year, full benefits package, performance bonuses tied to product launches. You would have your own team and complete creative control over your division."

Fang Dehua was next, adjusting his jacket slightly. "Fenglin Cybersecurity matches the two million base. We're also prepared to offer one percent company equity, which at our current valuation is"

"I know what your valuation is," Lin Chen said.

Fang Dehua paused. "Of course. Then you understand that one percent is a significant"

"What else?"

Fang Dehua blinked. "A Signing bonus of three hundred thousand yuan. Relocation support if needed and full access to our research infrastructure."

Dongfang Mingyu had been watching Lin Chen the entire time both men spoke. When they finished she folded her hands on the table. "Supreme Cybersecurity's offer is similar in structure. Two million base, one percent equity and signing bonus." She paused. "But I think you already know that's not why we're here."

Lin Chen looked at her. "Go on."

"We're here because whoever built ClearShield didn't build it as a product. They built it as a demonstration. And demonstrations imply there's something larger behind them." She held his gaze. "We want to know what that is."

Lin Chen went silent at their, words as it seems these big companies were smarter than he thought.

Lin Chen picked up the three contracts that had been slid toward him during the conversation. He looked at each one. Then he placed them back face down on the table and pushed them gently toward their respective owners.

Ren Bojun frowned. "Is the compensation not enough."

"It's not that," Lin Chen said. He opened his laptop and turned it around to face them. ClearShield Advanced filled the screen the full version, everything the basic release was not, with deeper scanning architecture, full core penetration and behavioral detection that could identify viruses that hadn't been catalogued yet. "Take a look at this first."

The three of them leaned in.

The room was quiet for a moment as they worked through what they were seeing. Ren Bojun's expression shifted first professional interest becoming something closer to hunger. Fang Dehua pulled his glasses from his pocket and put them on to look more closely, which he clearly didn't usually wear in meetings. Dongfang Mingyu's expression didn't change but something in her posture did a very slight stillness, like a person trying not to react.

Fang Dehua looked up. "Give me one minute." He stood and walked to the far corner of the restaurant, phone already at his ear.

Ren Bojun did the same, moving in the opposite direction.