Chapter 29
That threatening phone call from overseas, with its altered voice, lingered in Li Ming's mind like a cold, venomous snake. "Key"? The word echoed repeatedly in his mind, yet he couldn't find any corresponding entity. Did it refer to the platform's core algorithm? The valuable domain names he had registered with the help of the Oracle? Or… his unspeakable secret of rebirth? This situation—where the enemy was in the dark while he was in the light, and he couldn't even determine the other party's purpose—was more suffocating and powerless than facing Zhao Zhen and Zhou Ruilin's open attacks.
He kept this information secret from Wang Hao and Li Ziqing. Wang Hao strengthened security monitoring of all systems, trying to find clues from the credential stuffing attack and the mysterious phone call, but the other party was extremely cautious and left almost no valuable traces. Li Ziqing used all her personal connections to secretly investigate whether any foreign forces or organizations with special backgrounds were paying attention to Jinyang's internet sector recently, but she also found nothing.
Under pressure, Li Ming could only temporarily focus his main energy on dealing with the visible enemy at hand.
In response to Zhao Zhen's overwhelming capital influence with "Zhenhua Commerce" and Zhou Ruilin's merchant blacklisting, Li Ming's "small and medium-sized merchants + seed users" strategy began to show results. The "merchant self-service onboarding system" developed by Wang Hao's team significantly lowered the barriers to cooperation. Many small street-side shops, independent cafes, and niche studios, often overlooked by large platforms but possessing unique characteristics, joined "Mingyu Life." While the influence of individual merchants is limited, their collective presence creates a rich and unique local lifestyle content ecosystem. This is precisely the unique value of the "Mingyu" platform, distinguishing it from Zhao Zhen's standardized e-commerce model.
Li Ziqing's "Seed User Program" was a resounding success. Driven by the special points and sense of honor they received, early supporters unleashed an astonishing creative passion, resulting in a flood of authentic, detailed, and personally insightful reviews and restaurant guides, generating a powerful word-of-mouth effect and strong community engagement. This user-generated content (UGC) is a barrier that Zhao Zhen, relying on capital-driven advertising, could not quickly replicate.
The user activity and reputation of the "Mingyu Life" platform have grown against the trend in the cracks. Although its size is still not comparable to "Zhenhua Commerce and Trade" which is backed by Lei Yao Capital, it is like a tenacious little grass, firmly rooted in the soil, showing vigorous vitality.
The pressure Zhou Ruilin attempted to exert on large chain merchants, to some extent, helped Mingyu select partners who better aligned with its philosophy and placed greater emphasis on direct interaction with users. Every cloud has a silver lining.
However, just as Mingyu had stabilized under the pressure from the two giants and its business began to slowly climb, an unexpected "gift" was quietly delivered to Li Ming.
It was an ordinary brown paper document bag, unsigned and without sender information, as if it had appeared out of thin air, slipped under the door of Mingyu Technology's new office. Liu Qiang discovered it when he opened the door that morning.
Li Ming cautiously put on gloves and, under Wang Hao's watchful gaze, carefully opened the file bag.
There was no letter inside, only a few blurry photocopies of pictures whose contents were still legible, and a few pages of printed bank statement fragments.
The photo shows Zhou Ruilin's father, Zhou Guangkun, the head of the Zhou Group, meeting with several unidentified individuals at a private club. The date is marked as several years ago. Although it's unclear what they are doing, the atmosphere is quite secretive.
Those few pages of bank statements clearly showed several large sums of money from overseas offshore companies flowing in batches into the account of a specific person closely related to Zhou Guangkun, with rather ambiguous remittance remarks.
The implications of these materials are very clear—Zhou Guangkun may be involved in improper political and business relationships and huge financial transactions!
Li Ming's heart suddenly raced. The value of this "gift" was self-evident. If it were made public or handed over to the right channels, it would be enough to deal a devastating blow to the Zhou family! All the pressure Zhou Ruilin had placed on him would probably vanish in an instant.
"Who...who sent this?" Liu Qiang's eyes widened, his breathing rapid.
Wang Hao adjusted his glasses and calmly analyzed, "The source is unknown. It could be a political enemy of the Zhou family, or it could be... the force behind that mysterious hacker from before. They want to use someone else to do their dirty work."
Li Ming stared at the stack of papers on the table, which seemed light yet weighed a ton, and fell into a long silence.
This is a huge temptation. If he just nods and anonymously hands this material to Shen Yan, or spreads it through some channels, the Zhou family could very well be plunged into an abyss of no return, and the business suppression he faces would be instantly lifted.
But then what?
First, he cannot verify the authenticity of the material. It could very well be an elaborate trap. If he uses this dubious "dirt" to launch an attack, the other party may immediately retaliate, suing him for defamation, commercial discrediting, or even fabricating evidence, leaving him with no way to defend himself.
Secondly, even if the materials are genuine, this act of overturning the table, while severely damaging the Zhou family, also means he will be completely drawn into a higher-level and more dangerous power struggle. The mysterious force that delivered the materials is definitely not innocent. They likely chose Li Ming as their "weapon" because of his conflict with the Zhou family and his headstrong nature. Once he makes his move, he will be binding himself and "Mingyu" to the other side's chariot, and his future will no longer be in his own hands.
Finally, and most importantly, Li Ming always held fast to a bottom line. Business competition can be fierce and ruthless, but he did not want to win by relying on "dirt" of dubious origin, or even potentially involving darker deals. How is this fundamentally different from Zhou Ruilin's investigation of his parents? The "Mingyu" he wanted to build should be an upright company that wins the market through product, technology, and business model innovation, not one that rises to power through conspiracies and whistleblowing.
He remembered the simple truth his father, Li Jianhua, often said: "To be a person, one must be upright and honest."
The office was eerily quiet. Wang Hao and Liu Qiang both looked at Li Ming, waiting for his decision.
After a long while, Li Ming slowly raised his head, his eyes regaining their clarity and determination. He picked up the file folder, walked to the shredder, and without hesitation stuffed all the materials inside, along with the brown paper bag, into it.
"Buzz—" The sound of the paper shredder working rang out, and the evidence that could have caused a huge uproar was instantly turned into tiny strips of paper.
“Brother Ming! You…” Liu Qiang looked puzzled and regretful.
Wang Hao watched Li Ming's actions, a hint of understanding and approval flashing in his eyes.
“This stuff is poison.” Li Ming looked at the shredder and said calmly, “Using it might provide temporary relief, but it will erode our foundation. If we’re going to win, we have to win fair and square, so that no one can say a word against us.”
He turned around, his gaze sweeping over Wang Hao and Liu Qiang: "This matter ends here, and we'll keep it a secret from Ziqing for now. What we need to do is continue to refine our product, expand our user base, and use the power of the market to defeat them fair and square!"
However, the tree may wish to remain still, but the wind will not cease.
Li Ming chose to destroy the "poison," but that doesn't mean the person who delivered it will give up.
A few days later, one evening, Li Ming received another call from that overseas number. It was the same cold, synthesized electronic voice:
"It seems you made a foolish choice."
"Since you're unwilling to be a clever knife, then..."
"Be prepared to be crushed."
The call was disconnected again.
Li Ming gripped his phone, his brow furrowed. The other party clearly knew he had destroyed the materials and was extremely dissatisfied with his "uncooperative" attitude.
This means that the behemoth hidden beneath the deep sea, after its plan to "use someone else to do its dirty work" failed, may very well have to... take matters into its own hands?
Just as he was pondering the other party's next move, Li Ziqing hurriedly pushed open the door and entered, her face showing a hint of panic.
"Li Ming! I just received news that the city has suddenly set up a joint investigation team to conduct a surprise inspection of the data security and personal privacy protection of emerging internet companies! Our company is the first one they specifically named! The person leading the team... is that guy who helped Zhou Ruilin investigate his uncle and aunt before, the one with connections in the public security system!"
Li Ming's heart sank!
A surprise inspection? Data security? The reasons sound plausible, but the timing and the choice of the team leader reek of conspiracy!
Is this yet another crackdown by Zhou Ruilin, leveraging official power? Or... has that mysterious force used a more "compliant" method to forcibly obtain the "key" they want?
Whichever it is, they're up to no good!
Looking out at the deep night, Li Ming felt as if a bottomless crack was opening in the ground beneath his feet.
Meanwhile, the investigation team's convoy, with its red and blue lights flashing, drove into the street below.
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