Come on, What Kind of CEO Chases His Roommate Back to the Country? - Chapter 71

Just as the atmosphere was getting awkward, Pei Song’s phone rang at the perfect moment. It was the tech director calling. “Manager Pei, the system’s acting up again! This time it’s worse, we’ve lost all the surveillance data!”

Pei Song immediately stood up. “I’m coming over now.”

In the demonstration unit late that night, the technical team was anxiously combing through the system.

“It’s a hacker attack,” the tech director pointed at the screen.

“Someone maliciously tampered with the system data.”

Pei Song’s face darkened, “What about the backup data?”

“The backup system was hit too,” the director replied. “Whoever it was clearly knows our system architecture inside out.”

Shi Yancheng stood off to the side, quietly listening to the reports, his expression growing colder by the minute. “Restore the system first,” he ordered. 

“And initiate a full cybersecurity audit, I want to know where this attack came from.” Pei Song glanced at him, instantly understanding what Shi Yancheng was thinking too.

This wasn’t some simple technical glitch. There was definitely something more behind it.

After several days of nonstop investigation, there was finally a breakthrough.

“Manager Pei, we found suspicious code in the system logs.” The tech director pointed at the screen. “It was cleverly hidden inside the system update package, every update would automatically implant it.”

Pei Song leaned in, his brow furrowing tighter and tighter. This level of technique was highly professional, not something an ordinary hacker could pull off.

More importantly, without access to the system’s source code, it would’ve been impossible to implant it so precisely. 

“Any idea who did it?” he asked.

The tech director shook his head. “Whoever it was cleaned up after themselves well. But…” He hesitated.

“If you’ve got a theory, speak up.”

“With this kind of method,” the tech director lowered his voice, “Only someone very familiar with our system could’ve done it.”

Pei Song’s heart sank. It was a suspicion he’d had too but one he didn’t want to face.

Just then, Li Ming hurried in. “Manager Pei, someone from Zhilin Technology is here. They say they need to inspect the system’s operations.”

Pei Song checked the time. It was already past 9 PM. This late, coming to check the system?

“I’ll go meet them.” Pei Song stood up, but the tech director grabbed his arm.

“Manager Pei,” the director said quietly, “Should we notify Mr. Shi first?”

Pei Song considered it, then quickly sent a message to Shi Yancheng, “Someone from Zhilin Technology just arrived. Says they’re here to check the system.”

Almost immediately, Shi Yancheng replied, “I’m on my way.”

In the meeting room, Zhilin Technology’s technical director was chatting breezily.

“Honestly, these issues aren’t a big deal,” he was saying. “Just tweak a few parameters, and it’ll all be fine.”

Li Ming stood off to the side, nodding along eagerly. “Exactly, Manager Pei. I don’t think there’s any need to blow this out of proportion.”

Pei Song stayed silent, quietly flipping through the analysis report the other party had brought.

Just then, the meeting room door was pushed open. Shi Yancheng strode in, long-legged and imposing, followed by Jin Shuning and two people from the risk control department.

“Mr. Shi?” Zhilin Technology’s technical director was visibly startled, but quickly regained his composure. “Didn’t expect to trouble you this late…”

“I take this project very seriously.” Shi Yancheng took a seat next to Pei Song, his tone cool. “I heard there was a system issue?”

“Just some minor problems,” the tech director quickly replied. “We’ve already prepared a solution…”

“Is that so?” Shi Yancheng cut him off, pushing a document across the table. “Then how do you explain this?”

Pei Song leaned in, it was a technical analysis report listing various hidden vulnerabilities and suspicious code within the system.

The tech director’s face instantly turned ghostly pale.

“Explain,” Shi Yancheng’s voice went cold. “Why are there so many backdoors?”

“It… it might’ve been an oversight during development…”

“An oversight?” Shi Yancheng sneered. “Or intentional?”

Cold sweat broke out on the tech director’s forehead. “Mr. Shi, I think there might be some misunderstanding…”

“There’s no misunderstanding.” Shi Yancheng stood up. “As of now, all cooperation with Zhilin Technology is suspended. Risk control will conduct a full audit of the system.”

He looked at Jin Shuning. “Notify legal, get the lawsuit ready.”

Once the people from Zhilin Technology had left, Pei Song finally let out a long breath. “You knew about this already?”

Shi Yancheng nodded. “Risk control has been tracking this for a while.”

He turned to Li Ming. “You did well. Keep assisting with their investigation.”

Li Ming stood up straight. “Yes, Mr. Shi! I’ll fully cooperate.”

“Head to risk control and give a full written statement,” Shi Yancheng instructed. “Tell them everything you know.”

Li Ming followed the risk control officers out. Pei Song went back to his office, preparing to organize some more materials.

This incident made him realize there were still a lot of hidden dangers in the project that needed investigating.

“Go home.” Shi Yancheng appeared in the doorway at some point.

“Just a bit more,” Pei Song replied. “I’m almost done.”

Shi Yancheng came over and directly shut his laptop. “Enough. You’re so tired you can’t even keep your eyes open.”

“I can still—”

Without giving him a chance to protest, Shi Yancheng grabbed his wrist. “If you don’t rest, I’ll start considering replacing the project manager.”

Pei Song blinked, then realized he was joking. “Replace me if you want,” he shot back stubbornly. “You’re the boss anyway.”

Shi Yancheng chuckled quietly, suddenly leaning closer. “You sure about that?” His warm breath brushed against Pei Song’s ear. “Could you really bear to let me?”

Pei Song’s ears turned red. He quickly leaned away. “Y-You… what are you doing…”

“What?” Shi Yancheng advanced on him. “I’m just showing concern for my employee.”

“Mr. Shi…”

“You can call me ‘Mr. Shi’ at the office,” Shi Yancheng’s voice lowered. “But what about in private?”

Pei Song felt his heart pounding like crazy and hurriedly changed the subject. “Um… how’s the investigation on Liu Yan going?”

Shi Yancheng didn’t press him further. “Still lacking solid proof, but Galaxy Real Estate definitely gave him some nice incentives to act as an informant inside the company.”

“So the issue with Zhilin Technology…”

“Was also Galaxy Real Estate pulling strings from behind,” Shi Yancheng confirmed. “They’re trying to sabotage our project this way.”

The upper floor corridor was empty at this late hour. Shi Yancheng led Pei Song toward the private elevator and swiped his card. Inside the enclosed elevator, it was just the two of them. Pei Song couldn’t help yawning.

“Sleepy?” Shi Yancheng asked softly.

Pei Song shook his head, but yawned again anyway.

Seeing how exhausted he looked, Shi Yancheng murmured, “Lean on me and get some rest… there’s no surveillance here.”

“It’s fine…” Pei Song’s voice trailed off as his head tilted toward the wall.

Shi Yancheng gently pulled him over, resting Pei Song’s head on his own shoulder. “Sleep. I’ll wake you when we get there.”