In the darkest hour, steel is tempered
On Monday morning, Mo Xiaoyu arrived at the review venue an hour early. It was an old government building, with gleaming marble floors and wooden plaques on the walls that exuded a solemn air. She took a deep breath and adjusted her pearl earrings—they were specially given to her by her mother that morning, supposedly to bring her good luck.
Shen Que and Lawyer Li arrived shortly after, and the three of them exchanged a tacit glance, needing no further words. Lin Wei and her team waited outside the venue, providing logistical support.
"Remember," Attorney Li gave his final instructions before entering the courtroom, "stay calm and present your case with reason and evidence."
The review room was arranged in a circular pattern, with seven experts seated on the stage and the bidding teams seated below. Mo Xiaoyu noticed that Chen Yongchang was already seated, surrounded by three assistants and with a thick stack of materials in front of him.
The first to take the stage was Chen Yongchang's team. As Mo Xiaoyu had expected, their proposal was filled with clichés: an annual mental health seminar, an employee support hotline, and a few flashy posters. The experts' reactions were lukewarm, until he presented the "list of supporting companies"—a list that prominently featured several leading corporations—and a few murmurs erupted in the room.
"They're all his affiliated companies." Shen Que whispered, "It's just bluffing."
When it was Mo Xiaoyu's team's turn to present, she took the stage herself. The moment she opened the PowerPoint presentation, she was stunned—the core data had all turned into garbled text, and the carefully crafted dynamic charts had become a bunch of colorful squares.
Whispers rose from the audience. Chen Yongchang picked up his teacup, a faint smile playing on his lips.
"Sorry, please allow me to adjust it." Mo Xiaoyu smiled, his mind racing. He'd checked this PPT countless times last night; there couldn't be any mistakes. The only explanation was...
She looked at Shen Que, who immediately understood and handed over a backup USB drive. However, something even worse happened—the backup file also couldn't be opened.
"Ms. Mo, do we need to skip your team's presentation?" the host asked.
At this critical moment, Lin Wei stood up from the back row of the conference room and said, "Expert teacher, we have prepared paper materials."
It turned out that the attentive Lin Wei had printed five extra copies of the materials this morning, which came in handy right now. Mo Xiaoyu gave her a grateful look, took the materials, and began his impromptu presentation.
"Dear experts, even without a PowerPoint presentation, I can explain our plan in detail," she said in a clear voice. "Because our true innovation lies not in the presentation but in the core of our service."
She began to explain page by page, reciting every data point by heart and citing every case study effortlessly. Gradually, the experts' eyes shifted from questioning to focused, and some began to take notes seriously.
At the end of the presentation, the room erupted in applause. A white-haired expert took off his glasses and said, "That was a fantastic presentation. But I'd like to ask, how do you ensure that this system can be implemented across different types of businesses?"
This was exactly the question Mo Xiaoyu had been waiting for. She looked at Professor Zhang, who nodded slightly.
"We've completed verification in three pilot companies," Professor Zhang continued. "One in manufacturing, one in technology, and one in the service sector. This is the complete pilot report."
The first day of review concluded, and Mo Xiaoyu's team clearly had the upper hand. But just as they were about to leave, a staff member hurried over: "Ms. Mo, please stay. The review team has received new indictment materials."
In the conference room, the review team leader shoved a folder over with a serious expression: "Someone has reported that you falsified pilot data and are suspected of stealing intellectual property from other institutions."
Mo Xiaoyu opened the folder and found their core model code, marked "suspected of plagiarism." Even more frightening, the pilot company's signature was clearly forged.
"This is a false accusation!" Shen Que couldn't help but speak out.
"We'll investigate thoroughly," the team leader said, closing the folder. "During the investigation, your eligibility to participate will be temporarily frozen."
It was already dark when I left the building. Freezing rain was falling in Beijing, and the icy raindrops hitting my face were nothing compared to the chill in my heart.
"What should we do?" Lin Wei cried, "We've been preparing for so long..."
"Let's go back to the office first." Mo Xiaoyu opened the car door. "Now is not the time to be depressed."
Back at the Foundation, everyone gathered in the conference room. Mo Xiaoyu stood in front of the whiteboard, his eyes scanning the weary faces.
"It's clear someone hacked into our system, tampered with files, and forged the report," she wrote down the key points. "Now we have three things to do: first, restore the original data; second, identify the culprit; and third, prove our innocence."
The team immediately divided up the work. The technical team began tracking system logs, the legal team prepared counterclaim materials, and Mo Xiaoyu personally contacted the pilot companies.
At 11 p.m., the bad news rolled in. The technical team discovered the system had been hacked by professional hackers, who had cleaned up all the traces. The pilot company leaders were all on business trips and couldn't be contacted.
"You must submit your defense materials by tomorrow noon at the latest." Lawyer Li rubbed his brow. "We're running out of time."
At this moment, Mo Xiaoyu received an encrypted message: "Check the files that Professor Wang had access to before he left."
The sender's number was hidden, but she intuitively felt that it was a warning from Zhou Ling.
She immediately retrieved Professor Wang’s work records before he left and discovered that he had requested raw data from pilot enterprises.
"Found it!" the technical team suddenly cheered. "We've recovered the deleted logs. The intruding IP points to a cafe, and surveillance footage shows Professor Wang spent three hours there that day."
"But this only proves that he was present, not that he committed the crime." Shen Que frowned.
Mo Xiaoyu pondered for a moment, then suddenly remembered something: "Professor Wang has a habit of backing up all the files he handles to his personal cloud drive."
She immediately contacted Professor Zhang and, through her connections in the academic circle, found the upload record of the original file in Professor Wang’s cloud drive, which was the day before he left the team.
The evidence was overwhelming, but it was already three in the morning, with only nine hours left until the deadline.
"Is it too late to submit evidence now?" Lin Wei asked.
"Not enough." Mo Xiaoyu shook his head. "We need more direct evidence to prove that it was Chen Yongchang who ordered it."
At this moment, the office door was pushed open. Zhou Ling stood at the door, soaking wet, holding a file bag in his hand.
"Boss Gu asked me to deliver it." He handed over the briefcase. "This time, we're really even."
The file bag contained records of financial transactions between Professor Wang and Chen Yongchang, as well as an audio recording that clearly recorded the conversation in which Chen Yongchang instructed Professor Wang to steal information.
"Why did he..." Mo Xiaoyu couldn't believe it.
"Mr. Gu said he owes you." Zhou Ling turned and left. "Take care."
At five in the morning, the team returned to the review venue with all their evidence. The staff looked at them in surprise: "So early?"
"Let's submit the supplementary materials." Mo Xiaoyu said calmly.
At eight in the morning, the review team held an emergency meeting. At nine o'clock sharp, the notice arrived: the report was unfounded, and the foundation's eligibility to participate in the review was reinstated.
During the final presentation, Mo Xiaoyu stood on the stage, looking at Chen Yongchang below. He remained calm, but his clenched fists betrayed his inner turmoil.
"After this incident, I'm even more convinced of the value of our plan," Mo Xiaoyu said, "because a truly excellent plan can withstand any test."
When the statement ended, the applause lasted for a long time.
As we left the conference room, sunlight pierced through the days of gloom. Shen Que asked softly, "How did you know Professor Wang would back up the files?"
"Scholars all have a penchant for collecting information," Mo Xiaoyu smiled. "It's their professional habit."
Three days later, the evaluation results were announced: the foundation's proposal won the bid with an absolute advantage.
At the celebration banquet, Lin Wei asked curiously, "Sister Mo, what were you thinking when you were most desperate?"
"I was thinking," Mo Xiaoyu looked out the window, "the deeper the darkness, the brighter the stars."
And she has learned to look for starlight in the darkness.
The darkest hour, the closest to light
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