Daily Intelligence: Forced to Save the Beautiful President at the Beginning

44: Chapter 44 This isn’t cooperation, it’s extortion!Gu Feifei called Chang Yuan back in a huff: ”He blocked me on WeChat and my phone number!”

”How is that possible?” Chang Yuan’s first reaction was disbelief. ”Hasn’t Zhang Fan always...”

He wanted to say ”always been licking your boots,” but he swallowed the words back down.

”It’s true!” Gu Feifei waved her phone screen at the receiver, even though he couldn’t see it. ”He did it on purpose! He must have climbed onto some high branch and now looks down on us!”

Chang Yuan fell silent. Gu Feifei had no reason to lie to him, especially under the temptation of that bag.

”Understood.” He hung up the phone, his mind a complete blank.

In the conference room, CEO Allen was still waiting for his reply. What should he do?

Chang Yuan gritted his teeth.

Forget it, he would do it himself.

Wasn’t he just a low-level programmer?

Give him a few benefits, and could he really turn the world upside down?

He pulled a bank card out of his wallet, calculating in his mind: give him 20,000 yuan. That poor wretch definitely hasn’t seen that much money before; it would be enough to make him behave obediently.

He pulled up Zhang Fan’s number, took a deep breath, and pressed the dial button.

”The number you have dialed is currently busy, please try again later.”

The same automated prompt felt like a slap, landing hard on Chang Yuan’s face.

It was the middle of the night; who could Zhang Fan be calling? The most likely possibility was—he had also been blocked.

Chang Yuan’s hands began to tremble. He suddenly remembered Zhang Fan’s eyes on the day he was fired—calm like a pool of deep water. At the time, he thought it was just the numbness of a loser, but now he realized it was a complete break.

He stumbled back into the conference room. CEO Allen looked up at him: ”Did you get in touch?”

”CEO Allen...” Chang Yuan’s voice was strained. ”Zhang Fan... he seems to have blocked us all.”

”Blocked?” CEO Allen frowned. ”A fired employee has such a big temper?”

Wei Xiang added from the side, ”How about letting the people from his old team try? Maybe they still have a way to contact him.”

Like a drowning man clutching at a straw, Chang Yuan immediately turned to the programmers in the back row: ”You guys, the ones who were in a group with Zhang Fan, all of you give him a call!”

The programmers looked at each other and pulled out their phones one after another.

”Beep... The number you have dialed is currently busy...”

”Me too...”

”Same here, I’m blocked...”

The successive automated prompts were like bombs being dropped in the conference room.

Chang Yuan’s face went completely pale. He finally understood that Zhang Fan wasn’t just throwing a tantrum; he truly wanted nothing to do with Blue Whale. Thinking about it, if someone had their girlfriend stolen by their boss and was then fired by the company, would they have even a shred of goodwill toward their former employer?

CEO Allen’s expression grew darker and darker. His fingertips tapped lightly on the tabletop, making a ”tap tap” sound. Each beat felt like it was knocking on Chang Yuan’s heart.

”It seems,” CEO Allen spoke slowly, his gaze sweeping over Chang Yuan, ”this Zhang Fan has quite a lot of grievances against the company.”

Chang Yuan opened his mouth to explain, but found any words to be hollow. He couldn’t exactly say that he had stolen Zhang Fan’s girlfriend, taken his job, and finally fired him under the false charge of ”absenteeism,” could he?

”CEO Allen,” Wang Chengsi suddenly stood up and said hesitantly, ”Zhang Fan wasn’t like this before. He just... suffered too many injustices.”

”Injustices?” CEO Allen raised an eyebrow. ”Did the company mistreat him?”

Wang Chengsi lowered his head, not daring to say more. Some things weren’t for a minor programmer like him to meddle in.

The wall clock in the conference room pointed to one in the morning. The ”tick-tock” of the second hand was infinitely amplified in the dead silence.

CEO Allen looked at Chang Yuan’s pale face and suddenly reached out: ”Give me Zhang Fan’s phone number.”

Chang Yuan was stunned for a moment, then instinctively pulled out his phone.

As his fingertips swiped across the screen, his hand was shaking—CEO Allen calling personally meant Zhang Fan’s weight far exceeded his imagination, and it also meant his plagiarism could be exposed at any time.

CEO Allen looked at Zhang Fan’s number on Chang Yuan’s phone and pressed the dial button.

A long ”beep” came from the receiver, and after three seconds, it was hung up decisively.

He raised an eyebrow and dialed again.

This time it rang five times before finally being picked up. A drowsy voice came through the receiver, tinged with the annoyance of being woken up: ”Who is it? Calling in the middle of the night.”

Immediately following that, a gentle female voice could be heard faintly: ”What’s wrong?”

CEO Allen’s finger paused for a moment before he regained his composure.

To have a woman by his side at this hour, it seemed this kid wasn’t doing too badly after leaving Blue Whale.

”Hello, Zhang Fan. This is Allen from Blue Whale Games.” He straightened his tie, his voice steady and powerful.

”CEO Allen?” Zhang Fan on the other end of the line seemed to wake up a bit, his voice carrying a hint of surprise.

A barely perceptible smile tugged at the corner of CEO Allen’s mouth. It seemed this young man still knew how to show respect. As long as he was given enough of an out, things would be easy to handle.

”Zhang Fan, I need your help with something right now.” He got straight to the point. ”There’s an issue with the servers for ’Skyrim’. Can you come to Blue Whale?”

Zhang Fan glanced at the time on his phone—1:17 AM. He turned his head to look at Zhou Yurou, who was sleeping soundly beside him, her long hair scattered on the pillow and her breathing even. Asking him to go to Blue Whale now? His brain must be full of water.

”I’m sorry, CEO Allen.” His voice was lazy. ”I’m no longer an employee of Blue Whale. I don’t have time.”

CEO Allen had long expected him to decline and said gently, ”Zhang Fan, I know you were treated unfairly at Blue Whale. As long as you come and resolve the issues with ’Skyrim’, I’ll make the call to promote you to Director of the Technical Programming Department and double your salary.”

Standing nearby, Chang Yuan’s face turned white instantly upon hearing this, as if all the blood had been drained from it.

Director of the Technical Programming Department? Then what about him?

”I’m really sorry, CEO Allen.” Not a hint of hesitation could be heard in Zhang Fan’s voice. ”I have no interest in returning to Blue Whale Games now.”

CEO Allen’s brow furrowed. This kid had quite an appetite. He patiently said, ”You can state your conditions. As long as they are reasonable, I can agree to them.”

”It’s not about the conditions.” Zhang Fan rolled over, trying his best not to wake Zhou Yurou. ”I recently founded a studio and am now a small boss myself. Besides, I have projects to attend to. If you want to hire me, it has to be according to the rules of ’business cooperation’.”

A studio? CEO Allen was stunned. He hadn’t expected that only a month after leaving Blue Whale, Zhang Fan had actually started his own company.

”Business cooperation?” CEO Allen’s tone darkened. ”How do you want to cooperate?”

”It’s simple.” Zhang Fan’s voice became clear, carrying an unquestionable certainty. ”Our Singularity Technology will take on this technical outsourcing to solve the ’Skyrim’ server issues. The quote is 2.5 million yuan, with a 30% deposit upfront and the remainder settled upon completion. Additionally, I require Blue Whale to issue an official statement acknowledging that I designed the underlying encryption logic for ’Skyrim’ and apologizing to me.”

2.5 million? Are you freaking crazy! And he’s actually demanding an apology?

Chang Yuan’s legs felt weak as he listened. This wasn’t cooperation; it was clearly extortion!