Chapter 27
[Reply to the message!!]
With no reply, Zhang Mingxuan continued typing relentlessly.
I spent 50,000 yuan to buy this code, you have to give me an explanation!
What are you doing? I've read your message, but you're too afraid to reply?
...
Within ten hours, Zhang Mingxuan went through several states, from questioning to insulting, and then to pleading.
After her mother called and she saw the unread message in the latest conversation, all that remained was despair.
He came from a wealthy family and had average grades. With his parents' help, he got into the computer science department of University A. However, he had no interest in programming and only felt a headache when he saw those dense characters. He relied on having his homework done and buying exam study materials to get good grades every time. His parents were very happy and often boasted to their business partners about their good son.
In his junior year, his parents started urging him to take the postgraduate entrance exam. However, he knew that it was difficult to buy exam questions, and relying solely on grades for admission was not enough. So, he decided to rely on awards for admission. Of course, he also bought the winning entries. Knowing that the CAE competition was highly prestigious, he couldn't wait to participate. He spent extra money and placed an order with a seller on Xianyu (a second-hand marketplace) who described himself as "employee of a major company, ten years of programming experience, proficient in various languages." The seller was indeed very helpful, and the code he provided easily made it to the preliminary and final rounds. He was very satisfied; the CAE final round was already a very impressive resume.
But he never expected that the code he bought for 50,000 yuan would make it to the finals. Before he could even experience the excitement, a Weibo post from CAE plunged him into despair.
Sweat trickled into his eyes, causing a burning pain. He closed his eyes to catch his breath, then opened them again, only to see that the unread section had suddenly changed to the read section.
Then, a message emerged.
Don't worry, there's nothing wrong with the code.
Zhang Mingxuan's eyes suddenly lit up, a glimmer of hope appearing in them.
He couldn't wait to type slowly, so he made a phone call directly. It rang for more than ten seconds before the other end answered.
"Sorry, I have to work overtime today."
Zhang Mingxuan skipped the pleasantries and asked, "Can you guarantee there are no problems with the code?"
“Don’t worry,” S said, his voice young but tired, “I wrote the code, of course I can guarantee there will be absolutely no problems.”
“The company’s database was leaked. That girl probably got the code from other sources.” S said vaguely, then added dismissively, “I’ve seen plenty of girls like that. Young, incompetent, just spending money to buy a resume to make it easier to find a job later.”
Zhang Mingxuan gritted his teeth, feeling he was being insulted as well, but his voice was strained. "Both she and I... plagiarized. So how can I prove originality? Can you provide any evidence?"
"I have the first-hand submission records here, I'll send them to you later."
S said, "With this decisive evidence, you are in an invincible position."
"You can contact me if you have any other questions." S demonstrated a good after-sales attitude.
After the call ended, Song Yangyu, also known as S, breathed a sigh of relief.
It was one in the morning. The office was pitch black, and he was the only one left. His computer was glowing, displaying the code he had sold to Zhang Mingxuan.
He opened the commit history and found the earliest commit, which was made on July 6, 2024 at 2:58:24 AM by user YM.
He pondered for a moment, logged into the minister's developer account, moved the time forward by six months to 2024.01.12 07:28:14, changed the submitter to zhangmingxuan, sent the modified evidence to Zhang Mingxuan, and then deleted the login record.
After doing all this, he opened the chat window with YM again, looked at the chat history, felt a little more at ease, and breathed a sigh of relief.
I never imagined that doing a side hustle online would be so tiring.
As an employee of a large company, his salary was high, but the pressure of his mortgage was even greater. So he often took on side jobs online, writing code for others. However, sometimes when projects were urgent, he would work overtime until late at night and had no time to deliver the orders. So he turned his attention to other people, such as YM.
He had long noticed that YM, this veteran expert, seemed somewhat forgetful, often writing small pieces of code on the company's Git repository and then leaving them unopened for months. Song Yangyu, as a part-time clerk in the department, frequently used the department head's developer account. Seeing this beautiful code, he felt both admiration and heartache—admiration for YM's coding skills, and heartache that this code would only gather dust in the repository.
He moved these dusty codes out, made slight modifications, and sold them to others. He could make money and see the code come into play at the same time. Song Yangyu was very happy to do this win-win thing.
But unexpectedly, this order backfired, as they ended up copying the same code as someone else.
This money is really hard to earn, Song Yangyu thought to himself, I'll stop after this job.
-
On the other end, after hanging up the phone, Zhang Mingxuan turned on his computer and stared intently at the screen, his eyes wide open.
It wasn't until the "ding-dong" of a new email that he felt like he'd been saved. He opened the email and saw the series of evidence sent by S. Only then did he blink slowly, belatedly feeling the pain in his eyes.
He tidied up the evidence S sent him and submitted it to the organizing committee, but it still felt insufficient, and his heart was pounding like a drum.
What if... what if Yu Miaomiao also produces evidence? S says the company's database was leaked, but how can he guarantee that the editing records weren't leaked?
In his parents' eyes, he was a smart and obedient son who never caused them any worry; in his classmates' eyes, he was a popular male god with excellent grades and an approachable personality... If he was found guilty of plagiarism, not to mention being banned from the CAE competition and failing to get into graduate school, what would his parents and classmates think of him? Just thinking about those contemptuous, disgusted, and incredulous looks made Zhang Mingxuan feel cold all over, even though it was a relatively hot autumn night.
No... this absolutely cannot happen!
The phone screen lit up, and a notification sound indicated that he had been following a post. He opened the post and saw it was a message from his mother.
[I learned from my American friend Evens that the CAE competition my son participated in is a world-renowned competition. Evens was very surprised to learn that Mingxuan had made it to the finals and kept asking me about my parenting methods. However, I am always busy with work and spend very little time with my child. Perhaps it is the subtle influence of the family atmosphere that has taught my child to work hard.]
There are two pictures: the first is a photo of a spirited woman shaking hands with a bearded man, and the second is an introduction to CAE.
He shakily turned off his phone, closed his eyes, and made a decision in his heart.
-
The next day was the weekend. Yu Miaomiao spent the morning coding. At lunchtime, she checked her email but received no reply from the organizing committee. She then opened Weibo, but the CAE updates were still from yesterday.
Just as she was about to quit, a trending topic titled #ZhangMingxuanConfess# caught her attention. This trending topic was marked with the word "hot" and ranked very high.
She clicked on it, and the first result was a marketing account.
[Zhang Mingxuan, a top student from University A who made it to the CAE finals, posted a video this morning exposing plagiarism by his fellow student Yu Miaomiao!]
[Link to the video of the man who got hammered: @ZhangMingxuan (pinned post)]
Clicking into Zhang Mingxuan's Weibo, the pinned post is a ten-minute video.
The video's thumbnail features a black background with red text that reads: "I've been plagiarized!"
Yu Miaomiao's eyes narrowed, and she opened the video. In the video, a pale-faced young man with dark circles under his eyes was sitting upright. It was Zhang Mingxuan.
His tone was serious: "Hello everyone, I am Zhang Mingxuan, the protagonist of one of the CAE finals entries that have been making headlines these past few days for being similar to other entries."
"I apologize for only releasing this video response now. I've been busy with a project, and it wasn't until last night when a friend reminded me that I realized something so serious had happened—my work had been plagiarized."
"Let me first talk about my mental journey when I was creating 'The Prisoner of the Heart'."
A hint of nostalgia appeared on Zhang Mingxuan's pale face. "Heart Prisoner is a narrative puzzle game where the protagonist needs to disguise himself and hide in a laboratory full of humanoid monsters, solve puzzles, and escape. As the game progresses, more and more puzzles are solved, and he gradually becomes able to understand the monsters' dialogue, thus uncovering an astonishing secret."
"The inspiration came from my senior year of high school, when academic pressure caused me to suffer from depression. As time went on, the depression became more and more severe, and I even developed symptoms of dissociation. I was in a daze and could not perceive my own emotions. Sometimes when I talked to others face to face, I could not understand what they were saying. But because of the expectations of my parents and teachers, I could not tell them. During that time, I was like an alien living in my own world."
...
He smiled wryly, “The protagonist in the game is actually my alter ego. He is unfamiliar with and fearful of the world, and carefully hides himself. The process of the protagonist gradually understanding the NPCs’ dialogue in the game is also the process of me slowly healing myself in reality.”
"After entering university, I taught myself game programming. In order to turn that little inspiration in my mind into reality, I spent almost every day in front of the computer, trying and modifying it again and again. That's how 'Heart Prisoner' came to be."
A series of code commit records and inspiration sketches appeared in the upper left corner of the screen at just the right time.
"This is the first game I made, and it contains all my hard work and passion. I regard it as my own child and watch it take shape and grow little by little."
"When I learned that 'Heart Prisoner' had been shortlisted for the CAE finals, I was so excited that I couldn't express it. It wasn't because I received praise and honors, but because I knew that my work had been recognized and that my hard work had not been in vain."
"At first, I didn't know how the other person got my code. Later, I learned that Yu Miaomiao, a sophomore, took a junior course. I had taken the same class as her. Just now, I got the surveillance footage from that classroom from a month ago."
Zhang Mingxuan released a surveillance video. The video showed the classroom empty after class. A boy in a white shirt was sitting in the back rows, typing on his computer. After a while, he took a water cup and left. A girl sitting in the back row quietly came to his computer, made a few movements, and returned to her original position. The boy went back to the classroom and continued typing on his computer, completely unaware.
His voice came from behind: "During that time, in order to prepare for the CAE competition, I improved the code and even worked hard during class. I never expected that it was my carelessness that gave this student Yu Miaomiao an opportunity."
His tone suddenly turned stern, "Yu Miaomiao, I learned from the organizing committee that you have submitted evidence. Your code was submitted on July 6, 2024, which is one month after the college entrance examination."
"I would like to ask you, how did you learn engine development, sound effects production, and related programming knowledge in high school? How did you find time to conceive and write code during your intense exam preparation? Where did your game ideas come from? And where did the name of your game, 'Cocoon of Human Form,' come from?"
Zhang Mingxuan's series of questions were truly thought-provoking. At the end, his tone softened, but his determination became even stronger: "'Heart Prisoner' is my child, and I will not let it fall into the hands of others. Please give me an explanation, otherwise I will consider taking legal action to hold those responsible accountable."
...
"I will pin 'Heart Prisoner' to the top of this Weibo post. Everyone can download and try it for free. I assure you, 'Heart Prisoner' will never be made a paid game. I hope it can bring some strength and support to people who have had similar experiences. Thank you everyone."
At the end of the video, Zhang Mingxuan smiled. His fairly handsome face, coupled with his pale complexion, gave off a sense of resilience that was forced to endure.
"Hello everyone, I've been here these past few days..."
Since no one was operating the system, the video started playing repeatedly, and Zhang Mingxuan's sincere yet haggard face came to life again.
Yu Miaomiao stared coldly at the screen, her brows furrowed.
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