Chapter 1521 Legend of the Great Fantom (Part I)
Chapter 1521 Legend of the Great Fantom (Part I)
Iris handed her glass of champagne to her husband.
Jin Liwei drank the rest before putting the now empty glass on the table in front of them. Then he settled beside his wife and added to putting pressure on the nerdy tech billionaire with his cold and intimidating aura.
Grandpa Lu and his old friends also sipped their own champagne, pretending to chat among themselves, but the way they craned their necks and strained their ears made it super obvious that their attention was on somewhere else.
Iris didn't pay them any mind. She had a way to deal with them later. For now, she needed some answers.
"May I ask how you came to the conclusion that I might be Fantom's disciple?" she asked.
Her voice was soft and languid, but there was an unmistakable pressure in her words.
The nerdy tech billionaire swallowed.
Although he was unbelievably nervous, there was also excitement in his eyes.
"I…I heard it from somewhere," he said
Iris tilted her head to the side. "Tell me everything."
The nerdy tech billionaire took a couple of deep breaths and began telling his story. He started at the very beginning.
"As you all may know, I made my fortune in the tech industry. I was pretty talented with computers. Everyone was telling me that I'm a genius, but I know that I'm nobody compared to my idol—Fantom!"
This time, there was an almost feverish obsession in the man's eyes.
But Iris didn't feel anything malicious from him. She could sense that it was similar to a child getting excited talking about a favourite cartoon character.
The nerdy tech billionaire continued, "Fantom is the best hacker in the world! I don't care about what other fools say, arguing that this or that hacker is the best. I say that they don't know what the hell they're talking about! For me, there's nobody in the world who can compare to the legendary Fantom!
"Despite being the top wanted hacker in the world, he has made a lot of contributions to the world of computers, the internet, and cybersecurity. A lot of the programs that he wrote and made available to everyone for free are still being used by many programmers today. Many of us learned how to become better programmers by studying and dissecting the open-source programs that she wrote. So many companies and even governments all over the world benefited from using his programs to strengthen their cybersecurity.
"In fact, I built my company by innovating the concept of several of her programs. Maybe that's one of the reasons why I caught the eye of my mentor, investor, and business partner who's a Cross Academy alumnus. He was a graduate of the Computer Department and also a big Fantom fan."
At this point of the story, he slowed down a bit. His fervent eyes from earlier turned embarrassed.
"Sorry about that. I just get too excited whenever I'm talking about my idol. Fantom has been my inspiration and role model for the longest time. I definitely wouldn't have achieved my success today without him."
Iris fought a smile by pressing her lips together. In truth, she felt happy that a successful billionaire took her past life as Fantom as a role model.
She told him, "No, it's fine. I just want to know why you think that I might be Fantom's disciple."
"I actually heard about it by accident," he said, a little sheepish.
She tilted her head to the other side, waiting for him to elaborate.
Jin Liwei, Grandpa Lu, and the others were also curious. They stayed silent and focused on listening to the conversation between Iris and the nerdy tech billionaire.
"My mentor, he's friends with the current head of Cross Academy's Computer Department. They sometimes call each other and chat. One time, we had an issue in my company. All of us had to rush and fix several major bugs for several days with barely any sleep. My mentor isn't directly involved in the company, but he does help out now and then, especially during emergencies. We needed the extra hand. He's a genius—a bit lazy—but in times of emergencies, he's the person who we can rely on the most.
"So he quickly identified the bugs and suggested several ways to fix them. My team and I worked hard to follow his advice while he took a break. I also took a little break afterward, but I ended up overhearing him speaking with his friend, the current head of Cross Academy's Computer Department. Maybe it's because my mentor was also mentally exhausted like the rest of us that he didn't bother double-checking whether he was alone in the place or not. So in short, I heard mostly everything that they were talking about."
Iris asked, "So what did they talk about?"
The nerdy tech billionaire's eyes once again shone with excitement. "My mentor said that if he had been Fantom, fixing the bugs would have been a breeze. Fantom wouldn't have to fix it personally. He bet that Fantom would have had a program, possibly an AI, that could fix the bugs for him instead."
Jin Liwei inhaled sharply. Iris squeezed his thigh, silently warning him not to react too much.
He poured himself a new glass of champagne and downed all of it in one go. She gave him a side-eye.
The nerdy tech billionaire was too stimulated to notice the covert exchange between the husband and wife in front of him.
Similarly, Grandpa Lu and his old friends were too engrossed in the nerdy tech billionaire's story to notice anything else. They wanted him to continue.
"The department head agreed. In fact, he revealed that Fantom should've been working on an amazing, very powerful AI that would change the world forever if released. But he hadn't personally witnessed Fantom working on it. He just heard about it from Fantom himself."
One of Grandpa Lu's friends interrupted and asked, "How can the Computer Department Head be sure that Fantom had been indeed working on an amazing AI? What if Fantom has been just bragging about it?"