Jerk

In the first basement level of Science Building 1, dozens of employees at Deep Space Technology were pulling an all-nighter.

The brilliant minds Chen Zhi had poached from Tsinghua and Peking University using stock options were now all staring at the data on their screens, their eyes gleaming with excitement.

Tomorrow was the day Moss would officially launch.

Dai Damai, clutching a stack of test reports, pushed open the door to Chen Zhi's office.

"Boss, the server stress tests all passed. The concurrent load capacity is thirty percent higher than we expected."

Dai Damai pulled out a chair and sat down.

"But there's one major problem. How do we market it?"

Chen Zhi was currently testing the latest version of Moss on his computer.

"Who says we don't have marketing channels?"

Hearing this, Chen Zhi looked up at Dai Damai sitting across from him.

"Zhihu, Weibo, Tieba, and all the major tech forums."

Dai Damai froze for a moment.

"Boss, are you saying... we just go and post on forums?"

"No."

Chen Zhi shook his head.

"Connect Moss to the backend interfaces of these platforms."

"Let it answer all the top fifty trending questions on Zhihu."

"Whether it's quantum mechanics, international politics, or relationship disputes."

"Have Moss answer every single question from the most professional and detailed perspective."

"Imagine it. When a single account dominates the trending lists across all academic fields at the same time, generating high-quality thesis-level answers at a rate of one per second."

"What kind of sensation would that level of extreme professionalism and inhuman production speed cause?"

Dai Damai's eyes lit up.

Chen Zhi continued,

"Once the hype has fermented enough and the entire internet is guessing who this 'omniscient and omnipotent' god is."

"We'll then activate our matrix of marketing accounts."

"TikTok, Kuaishou, Bilibili—we'll overwhelm them with marketing accounts following up on the trend."

"Make the titles as clickbaity as possible: 'Shocking! The mysterious Zhihu god is actually an AI? The latest masterpiece from a team of Peking University geniuses!'"

"This is the fastest marketing method with the highest traffic in the short-video era."

The excitement on Dai Damai's face faded, and his brows furrowed.

"Using marketing accounts for promotion... isn't that a bit too low-class?"

"We poured our blood, sweat, and tears into writing Moss. It's like our child."

"It's so perfect, so powerful."

"Mixing it up with those sensationalist marketing accounts won't be good for its early reputation."

In the eyes of people like Dai Damai, Moss's capabilities went far beyond this. It should make its debut at a top-tier academic conference in a much more shocking and high-class manner, rather than fighting for traffic with attention-seeking content creators.

Seeing Dai Damai's conflicted expression, Chen Zhi couldn't help but laugh.

He walked over and patted his CTO on the shoulder.

"Damai, you're still too young."

"Even the best product goes unnoticed without good marketing."

"In this era where traffic is king, being aloof and proud is an epitaph meant for the dead."

Chen Zhi looked at the servers still running outside the office.

"Butterflies will naturally come to fragrant flowers."

"As long as the product itself is solid enough, we don't need to care about its origins."

"When users truly experience how powerful Moss is, they'll just scramble to register. Who's going to care what channel you used to get here?"

"What we need to do is get our name out there."

"Only by surviving and completing our early user expansion will we have the right to talk about class."

Dai Damai fell silent for a moment.

He looked into Chen Zhi's ambitious eyes and finally nodded.

"Alright, we'll do it your way."

"I'll go write the interface scripts right now."

"Go on, make the final preparations."

Dai Damai left the office.

Barely two minutes after the door closed, it was pushed open again.

Smelling that familiar perfume, Chen Zhi knew who it was without even looking.

Pei Ningxue walked straight over to the sofa.

"I'm exhausted."

She casually tossed the folder in her hand onto the coffee table.

Almost all of Deep Space Technology's administration, finance, procurement, and even dealings with industry and tax bureaus fell entirely on her shoulders.

Those tech nerds from Tsinghua and Peking University only cared about writing code; whenever they needed money or equipment, they went straight to her.

She had been completely worn out recently.

Pei Ningxue kicked off her shoes and waved at Chen Zhi.

Chen Zhi consciously walked over and sat down beside her.

Pei Ningxue rolled over and directly draped her long, slender legs over Chen Zhi's lap.

Because she was too tired lately, she hadn't worn any fancy stockings to seduce Chen Zhi today.

Her smooth calves were like fine mutton-fat jade, so white they were almost translucent.

Chen Zhi placed his hands on them.

Soft, bouncy, smooth, and delicate. They felt absolutely amazing.

Pei Ningxue closed her eyes in comfort, murmuring a few soft sounds.

"The paperwork with the commerce bureau is all sorted, and I managed to push the final payments for a few server suppliers to next month."

Pei Ningxue reported her work with her eyes closed.

After a few minutes of massage, she sat up and rested her chin directly on Chen Zhi's shoulder.

Her warm breath brushed against Chen Zhi's neck.

"I've sacrificed so much for you these past few days, staying up late every night. My skin is even getting worse. Is there a reward?"

Chen Zhi turned his head, his nose brushing past her hair.

"Of course there is."

Chen Zhi reached out, opened the drawer under the coffee table, took out a document he had prepared earlier, and handed it to Pei Ningxue.

Pei Ningxue took it and glanced at it.

Her expression instantly changed.

It was a share transfer agreement.

A full fifteen percent of the original shares.

One must know that the entire equity incentive pool Deep Space Technology offered to all its founding employees combined was only fifteen percent.

She alone was receiving as many shares as the entire tech team.

According to Chen Zhi's future plans for Deep Space Technology, this fifteen percent stake could be worth tens or even hundreds of billions in the future.

But Pei Ningxue showed no signs of joy; instead, she stared fixedly into Chen Zhi's eyes.

"What is the meaning of this?"

Chen Zhi smiled.

"Your reward."

"To thank you for all your hard work recently."

Pei Ningxue slammed the agreement heavily onto the coffee table.

"What kind of reward involves a fifteen percent equity stake?"

Her voice began to tremble, and her eyes instantly turned red.

"Chen Zhi, are you trying to buy me off? Do you want to cut ties with me?"

From Pei Ningxue's perspective, Chen Zhi was giving her too much. It felt more like compensation, making their already uncertain relationship even more chaotic.

Seeing Pei Ningxue acting so insecure, Chen Zhi felt a slight headache coming on.

Chen Zhi didn't bother explaining.

He grabbed Pei Ningxue by the chin and kissed her directly.

All explanations would be pale; only action was the most direct answer.

Pei Ningxue's eyes widened. She struggled for a moment, her hands pushing against Chen Zhi's chest.

But very quickly, she softened.

She wrapped her arms around Chen Zhi's neck and responded with extreme passion.

Their breathing grew heavier, and the temperature in the office rose sharply.

It wasn't until both were drained of energy that they finally parted, panting heavily.

Taking advantage of the momentum, Chen Zhi lifted Pei Ningxue up and had her straddle his lap.

Looking at her teary, pitifully beautiful eyes, Chen Zhi kissed her again.

Time ticked by, minute by minute.

By the time they finally parted, the atmosphere in the office had completely changed.

Two buttons on Pei Ningxue's shirt were undone, revealing a large expanse of snow-white skin.

Several distinct red marks had also appeared on Chen Zhi's neck.

Chen Zhi rested his chin in the crook of her neck, his voice slightly hoarse.

"Pei Ningxue, I am a very greedy man."

"You've provoked me for so long, don't even think about running away in this lifetime. I will absolutely never let you go."

Chen Zhi's arms tightened, squeezing Pei Ningxue until it hurt a little.

"If you dare to so much as look at another man, I'll make him lose everything he owns."

Pei Ningxue leaned against his chest, her strength completely drained.

Hearing these extremely domineering and selfish words, she looked up, staring straight into Chen Zhi's eyes.

"Then marry me."

Chen Zhi did not answer.

Pei Ningxue bit her lip, tears welling up in her eyes. "Then I'll go out and find ten, twenty other men."

Chen Zhi sneered.

"Then I'll bankrupt them all. For every one you find, I'll destroy one, until no one in this world dares to come near you."

Pei Ningxue stared fiercely at him.

"Then marry me."

Chen Zhi remained silent.

He couldn't give her that promise.

Because he didn't want to lie to her.

"Then marry me!" Pei Ningxue's voice rose, laced with a sob.

After waiting for a long time, Chen Zhi still maintained his silence.

Pei Ningxue waited and waited.

The light in her eyes dimmed little by little.

Every second of his silence was like a knife carving into her heart.

"Why do you always bully me like this?"

Tears rolled down her cheeks and splashed onto the back of Chen Zhi's hand.

"You're just taking advantage of the fact that I like you, that I love you, to bully me so brazenly!"

"Just sign the equity transfer," Chen Zhi said.

"I won't!"

Pei Ningxue suddenly exploded, her fists raining down on Chen Zhi's chest and shoulders.

"I want you to marry me!"

"I want to be your wife, I want to marry you!"

"I don't want money! I have more money than I could ever spend! The Pei family has plenty of money!"

"As long as I can marry you, even if you were a beggar, even if you had to beg for food on the streets, I wouldn't care!"

Chen Zhi still said nothing, letting her vent her frustrations.

He truly couldn't give her that promise.

Lin Wanwan, Li Zhiyi, and the wealthy heiress currently in his arms.

He wanted them all, so he couldn't marry any of them.

"Scumbag!"

"Scumbag!"

"Scumbag!"

Pei Ningxue cursed at him as she hit him.

After a long while.

Pei Ningxue grew tired of hitting him.

Her strength waned until she finally collapsed against Chen Zhi's chest, sobbing.

Chen Zhi reached out and gently patted her back.

This was perhaps the most insignificant comfort he could offer.

"I hate you!" Pei Ningxue gritted her teeth against his shoulder.

"I love you," Chen Zhi replied.

"I hate you!"

"I love you."

Pei Ningxue looked up, her face covered in tears.

"Then marry me."

Chen Zhi fell silent once again.

Seeing his stubborn refusal to budge, Pei Ningxue completely deflated.

She knew she could never win against this man.

In matters of the heart, the one who falls first often loses the hardest.

"I want to have your child," Pei Ningxue wiped away her tears, her tone carrying an uncompromising resolve. "Your first child must be mine."

Chen Zhi looked at her red, swollen eyes and nodded.

"Alright."

"When you turn twenty."

Right now, Pei Ningxue was only a college freshman, still a ways off from the legal marriage age. Having a child was simply too early.

Pei Ningxue sniffled and reached out, tightly gripping Chen Zhi's collar.

"If you ever dare to stop loving me, I'll take our child and jump into Weiming Lake."

Chen Zhi grasped her wrists and pulled her into his embrace.

"Unless the world ends, I will never stop loving you."

Pei Ningxue buried her face in his chest and took a deep breath.

Smelling his familiar scent only made her feel more frustrated.

"Scumbag."

Pei Ningxue closed her eyes, seemingly having compromised.

"I've completely lost to you in this life."