Chapter 20: ddos (2)

20 – ddos (2)

Lin Xun’s movements halted as he stared at those two words. It took him two seconds to realize he had forgotten to breathe.

He felt his knuckles stiffen, hovering over the screen for another three seconds before finally pressing the answer button.

“H-hello.”

Dong Jun’s voice remained the same—somewhat low, like liquor, yet with a cold texture, like strong spirits mixed with ice cubes: “Not working?”

Lin Xun felt a slight sense of suffocation.

A check-in from a capitalist?

He answered truthfully: “I was watching the launch event. Your speech was very inspiring. The concept video was also… breathtaking.”

At this point, he added: “I didn’t think you would reply, so I was surprised you called. If I’ve disturbed you…”

“No disturbance,” came the voice from the other end of the line. “After the release of Nutshell, I’ll take a break for a while. Then I’ll consider… Nutshell 2.0 or something similar.”

Lin Xun said: “To be honest, I’m quite curious about the R&D cost of Nutshell.”

Dong Jun’s voice seemed to carry a hint of amusement: “At least not enough to bankrupt me.”

Lin Xun also laughed, saying: “But buying it might bankrupt me.”

Dong Jun: “Do you like playing games?”

“I don’t play much, but my roommate does,” Lin Xun replied. “I’m also quite curious about its experience.”

Dong Jun said: “It shouldn’t disappoint you.”

Lin Xun thought to himself, That’s not something you can say—I might not even be able to afford it.

But on the surface, he remained polite and gentle: “Mm, I believe in Galaxy.”

Dong Jun: “How is the progress on Goddess of the Luo River?”

Lin Xun: “We’ve found a suitable programmer, and things are going smoothly for now. Personally, I’m working on optimization algorithms, and the progress is fairly normal.”

Dong Jun said calmly: “If you encounter any difficulties, you can come to me.”

Lin Xun: “Alright, thank you.”

He believed he could handle the current workload on his own. If truly epic-level challenges arose, perhaps he would indeed need Dong Jun’s help.

“Wishing you all the best,” Dong Jun’s phrasing was quite formal, but in the next sentence, his tone shifted slightly: “Galaxy Tower will be screening a sci-fi movie this Saturday. I was wondering… if I could invite you to watch it together.”

“Huh?” Lin Xun was a bit taken aback by this statement. “I…”

Dong Jun: “Mm?”

Lin Xun: “I’m a bit surprised.”

Dong Jun said: “It’s about artificial intelligence. Given the unique nature of ‘Goddess of the Luo River’ in this field, I thought if we could watch it together, I might hear some unique insights.”

“I can’t guarantee that,” Lin Xun’s voice softened slightly. “But as for Saturday, I’m available.”

According to his planned schedule, he would have already left Mount Qingcheng and returned to the modern city by Saturday.

Dong Jun said: “Good, I’m glad you can come.”

Lin Xun: “Thank you for the invitation.”

Dong Jun: “You’re welcome.”

At that moment, what sounded like Assistant Ruan Zhi’s voice seemed to come from the other end of the line.

Lin Xun considered that the launch event wasn’t over yet and said: “You should go ahead and attend to your matters. If I have anything, I’ll contact you again.”

Dong Jun’s voice seemed to soften slightly: “Mm, goodbye.”

Then, Lin Xun didn’t hang up the phone. He waited until Dong Jun ended the call before putting down his phone.

At that very moment, the host of the launch event was announcing the price.

Lin Xun stared unblinkingly at the number that appeared on the screen.

200,000.

Two hundred thousand?

Alright, a price that was to be expected, strictly equivalent to the cost of a Luo Shen company product.

This thing was cutting-edge technology that had just hit the market, falling squarely into the luxury category. Galaxy had also clearly stated that they would later release a low-cost, simplified version for medical support. In two to four years, as the technology matured and costs decreased, the price of the official version would see a significant reduction.

A perfectly normal business strategy.

However, for Lin Xun, although the price of the holographic gaming pod had dealt him a blow, his gloom was completely washed away by that phone call.

…He didn’t believe that if the leader of lions sent Dong Jun a text saying “congratulations,” Dong Jun would also call back to check on their work progress and then invite him to watch a movie—if that were the case, Dong Jun would have been overwhelmed long ago, and he wouldn’t be described by others as that cold and aloof CEO.

He even calmly opened the barrage comments, thinking, Your husband is going to watch a movie with me on Saturday.

This gave Lin Xun a great boost of motivation, and his confidence in Luo Shen grew a little more.

As soon as the press conference ended, he opened the Glax compiler, pulled up his hideously ugly optimization code, and started debugging. In one particularly conspicuous spot, he had used seven ugly elseif statements, making the function bloated and fragmented.

—If Dong Jun were to write it, two elseif statements would be the limit.

And this piece of code had a total of thirteen error prompts.

He began fixing them one by one.

—In a programmer’s coding career, perhaps only one-fifth of the time is spent writing code, while the remaining four-fifths is spent on endless debugging. As Lin Xun wrestled with these thirteen errors, he also felt that at least he had bugs to fix, which was far better than those colleagues who had no error prompts but still couldn’t get their code to run smoothly, leaving them scratching their heads in frustration.

He spent two and a half hours reducing the seven bugs to zero, then tidied up and prepared to sleep.

Before bed, he opened the WeChat group. In “One Big Happy Family”, various sects were reporting their travel plans and estimated arrival times, while in the group with his two fellow programmers, they were still howling about not being able to afford the gaming pod.

Lin Suanfa: Stop howling. Think about it—once Luo Shen succeeds, you’ll become the kind of person who wouldn’t even blink at buying ten gaming pods.

Wang Anquan: ? How is that any different from Dong Jun, who only talks about dreams and not money? At least Dong Jun gave us 200,000.

Lin Xun stared at Wang Anquan’s words, his gaze lingering on the two characters “Dong Jun” for five seconds, and he couldn’t help but smile.

He started typing.

Lin Suanfa: Go to sleep.

Lin Suanfa: In your dreams, you can have everything.

After sending that, he ignored Wang Anquan’s curses and happily hugged his pillow as he lay down.

On the mountain, all was silent, and he fell asleep quickly.

But despite his usual irregular sleep schedule and regular waking time, he didn’t wake up at eight according to his biological clock.

—Because at five o’clock, young Daoist priests nearby were already chanting the Nanhua Jing in unison.

And at six, Yuanxiao came to find him for their “date” outside.

Lin Xun: “…”

Do all you Cultivation folks start your days at five in the morning?

The meeting spot was outside the Shangqing Palace, on a large rock at the mountain peak.

Yuanxiao said he was taking him to see the sunrise over Qingcheng.

Alright, let’s take a look then.

The mountains were beautiful, and the clouds were lovely too.

Yuanxiao was full of energy.

Lin Xun was drowsy.

“The sun rises and sets, and all things move in cycles!” Yuanxiao said, “Senior Brother, the laws governing heaven and earth are so profound!”

Yuanxiao continued, “The Zhuangzi says: ‘The Dao is above the Supreme Ultimate yet not high, below it yet not deep. It existed before heaven and earth yet is not ancient; it is older than antiquity yet not aged.’ Only now do I begin to grasp its meaning.”

Lin Xun looked at Yuanxiao seriously. “Junior Brother.”

Yuanxiao: “Hmm?”

Lin Xun: “Let me teach you an idiom.”

“Hmm?” Yuanxiao said, “Please enlighten me, Senior Brother.”

Lin Xun: “Playing the lute to a cow.”

Yuanxiao blinked, looking innocent: “…”

Lin Xun remained expressionless. “Junior Brother, object-oriented programming differs from procedural programming. It is a structured design approach. Programs are composed of objects as basic units, utilizing encapsulation, inheritance, polymorphism…”

Yuanxiao’s expression shifted from confusion to dullness, then to gloom. “Senior Brother…”

Seeing the budding flower of the motherland about to wither into a dead branch, Lin Xun stopped and spoke gently, “Junior Brother, you understand… right?”

Yuanxiao nodded. “I understand. Senior Brother, the sun is so red, so beautiful.”

That’s how perceptive children are.

Lin Xun was satisfied and watched the sunrise with him.

When the crimson morning sun had fully risen from the misty mountains, the temple bell rang in the distance.

Yuanxiao said, “The guests have arrived!”

They then left the spot and headed to the main hall, each finding their own master to welcome the guests.

The first to arrive was the Ten Thousand Buddha Sect from the North Sea.

An elderly monk with kind eyes, snow-white eyebrows, and dressed in a red kasaya, accompanied by four middle-aged monks and six young novices, greeted Xiaoyaozi: “Benefactor Xiaoyao.”

Xiaoyaozi returned the courtesy: “Great Master Wanchan.”

Then, Great Master Wanchan said, “We were supposed to arrive last night, but the flight was delayed. Please forgive us, Benefactor Xiaoyao.”

Xiaoyaozi replied, “Flight delays are common. Fellow Daoists from Geling are still waiting at the airport.”

Great Master Wanchan laughed, “Fortunately, when the North Sea Airport was completed two years ago, I was invited to consecrate it and have some influence. Otherwise, I’d likely be sitting idly at the airport too.”

Xiaoyaozi stroked his beard and laughed heartily. “As the saying goes, ‘If you show no kindness in this life, reciting Amitabha’s name is in vain.’ Great Master Wanchan, with your compassionate heart, naturally reaps boundless rewards.”

Great Master Wanchan said, “Benefactor Xiaoyao, you flatter me.”

The second sect to arrive was the Tianyan Sect.

The sect leader of the Tianyan Sect was Shenji Zhenren. He had refined features, a slender frame, and wore a flowing gray robe, exuding an air of immortal grace.

However, as soon as he opened his mouth, he said, “The turbid Qi on the green train made me so uncomfortable!”

Xiaoyaozi replied, “Zhenren, if you charged more for your divinations, you wouldn’t have to squeeze onto the green train.”

Shenji Zhenren said, “You’re right. From now on, when I tell fortunes, I’ll only say good things, not bad ones.”

Next, Shenji Zhenren caught up with Old Man Huo, discussing demonic creatures and ominous divinations.

Lin Xun quietly observed the people in the main hall.

Everyone chatted and laughed with ease, appearing quite accustomed to it all.

He was doing fine too.

Yes, just fine.

It was just a bit schizophrenic hearing “Benefactor” and “Fellow Daoist” in one ear, while the other ear caught “flight delays” and “green train.”

Before the third sect even crossed the threshold, several colorful butterflies fluttered in first.

Then, a strange fragrance wafted over, accompanied by the sound of silver bells, as two women walked in.

Judging by their appearance, both seemed just over thirty years old. One of them carried herself with dignified grace, dressed in blue, while the other wore purple attire adorned with silver ornaments, silver rings wrapped around her wrists and ankles, her makeup enchanting and exquisite, strikingly beautiful. Behind them followed three girls dressed in Miao attire, all exceptionally lovely in appearance.

However, this Butterfly Madam’s face… why did Lin Xun find it somewhat familiar?

Xiaoyaozi first bowed to the one in blue: “Madam Peacock.”

Then he addressed the one in purple: “Butterfly Madam.”

Old Man Huo whispered to Lin Xun, explaining that they came from the Sun-Moon Mountain in Miao territory, masters of gu sorcery. Madam Peacock was the sect leader, and Butterfly Madam was her junior sister.

As he spoke, Old Man Huo added, “Hmph, this Butterfly is no good person. Her secular identity is an actress, specializing in roles as mistresses and concubines! You’re still young, don’t let her seduce you.”

Lin Xun: “…”

He remembered.

A certain film industry diva, whose name contained the character for “butterfly,” had just won a film award last year. Her haughty and domineering concubine image was often turned into memes, circulating widely online.

As they were speaking, Butterfly Madam gracefully walked over, raising an eyebrow: “Oh, Azure Peak True Lord, what are you saying over there? Surely not speaking ill of little old me?”

The fragrance wafted over, and Azure Peak True Lord’s eyebrow twitched a few times, his voice stiff: “Good morning, Madam.”

But the madam did not continue speaking with him.

“Let me see my darling!” With the sound of silver bells, Butterfly Madam lifted her skirt and quickly walked up to Lin Xun. Her fragrant hands cupped his face, her eyes sparkling: “How like a little rabbit, like a little kitten, my heart is melting.”

…Lin Xun, aside from his sister, had never been in such close contact with a woman before. For a moment, his entire body stiffened.

But that wasn’t all. Butterfly Madam turned around: “Sister, come quickly and see our little darling!”

The dignified and elegant Madam Peacock walked over.

The girls behind her followed, giggling and laughing.

“Little brother, come join the industry with your sister,” Butterfly Madam said. “I’ll take you under my wing, let you parachute into a film crew, you can act in whatever role you want.”

Lin Xun, unable to move his limbs freely, replied: “I don’t know how to act.”

“Oh, come now,” Butterfly Madam said. “All you need to do is know how to widen your eyes, how about that?”

Old Man Huo coughed heavily and said, “Butterfly, don’t you dare set your sights on my Limitless Sect disciple!”

“What?” Butterfly Madam drawled. “Old bones, even if you wanted to go, I wouldn’t let you.”

The situation was not good. Judging by their interaction, his master had no way to rescue him from Butterfly Madam’s clutches.

Lin Xun’s pleading gaze shifted from his master, past Butterfly Madam’s fragrant shoulder, to Madam Peacock behind her.

Madam Peacock was elegant and dignified; surely she would not stand by and watch her junior sister behave like this.

His eyes met Madam Peacock’s.

Madam Peacock smiled and nodded at him.

A cold, mechanical voice sounded: “Achievement Unlocked: ‘Madam Peacock’s Approval,’ Spiritual Power +5.”

Lin Xun: “…”