Chapter 82: Metamorphosis

Recalling my feelings when I drank a hundred glasses of wine in the bar was like Hisoka’s excitement and fear when he saw Gon in “Hunter x Hunter.” Jian Zhaowen had finally arrived at the turning point he had been waiting for—his rapid reaction ability and adaptability were terrifying even to himself, something he hadn’t yet realized. He no longer seemed to be that gentle artist, beginning to understand that raising the butcher’s knife was the first step in defending the city.

During their first all-nighter modifying the product, before going home, Lei Zheng had asked Jian Zhaowen a very open-ended question. It didn’t seem to be asking for an immediate answer but rather giving Jian Zhaowen something to savor and contemplate over a long period: “Do you know what ‘Day and Night’ will become after the first round of financing? And after you cash out, have you thought about how your life will change?”

The memory of that night might have been hazy in his mind, but it didn’t diminish Jian Zhaowen’s gratitude in the slightest, nor the feeling of camaraderie he found in their subsequent battles side by side. And regarding those two questions, Jian Zhaowen was refreshing his understanding every day, feeling the difficulty of creating content for social networking software. When Xiyou was doing travel content, Jian Zhaowen only had to be responsible for research and development and algorithms, with little connection to the content itself. The colleague who was in charge of the audit algorithm back then sat next to him and cursed every day: “It’s unbelievable how depraved netizens can be. People post travelogues on the website, and you still send private messages to harass them, or you leave comments from afar criticizing them for not being married or having kids, saying they’re sick, and you can twist anything into trying to find a partner.”

When there were few users, seeing the most beautiful expressions of love was moving, and that joy would outweigh the annoyance brought by harassing users. But after the user base exploded, whether it was the overall quality of users declining or Jian Zhaowen becoming increasingly intolerant of flaws, even though he could see enthusiastic sharing from users every day, as soon as harassing users appeared, Jian Zhaowen would become irritable, putting one hundred percent of his energy into reviewing inappropriate content. Jian Zhaowen, who was doing the checks, glared at his phone and computer every day, and his opening words were always national curses. Employees dared not approach him within three feet. Lei Zheng was used to this and just led the team to hold meetings and plan new VIP charges.

If the standards for inappropriate content were a little broader, perhaps users would only see unfriendly replies in the comment section, small advertisements for pornographic films, and moralistic lectures from strangers... But in his review, Jian Zhaowen also had to deal with an exponential increase in harassment and scams. Harassment went through AI and manual review twice, but as long as users had deep tactics and redirected conversations to WeChat or other software, they had no way to control the outcome. Jian Zhaowen could only remind everyone in the app’s announcements to be careful of gambling advertisements and being defrauded of money, and there wasn’t much else he could do. Occasionally, he would receive complaints on Weibo about meeting repeat offenders on “Day and Night” who had swindled money and sex, hoping the platform could provide an explanation. At this time, he would look at these complaints speechlessly, only able to find the relevant users and put them on the blacklist, unable to publicize their identities or come forward as the founder to apologize.

Lei Zheng finished the meeting and saw Jian Zhaowen sitting there with a furrowed brow, so he kicked his stool: “Want to go downstairs for a coffee?”

Jian Zhaowen stood up irritably, his heavy breathing sounding like sulking, with a bloodstain on his lip—in his focus on the computer, he had been picking at his peeling lips. Lei Zheng didn’t say much. They went downstairs, ordered a hot latte and a heated sandwich. They had a slight understanding; Jian Zhaowen probably hadn’t eaten, and an Americano would make him convulse on the spot.

“If you really can’t stand it, just lower the melting point of the blocked keywords.”

“I already did.”

“Then what are you angry about?”

“Human nature.”

“That’s not something you can control. Why do you always act like a savior? With more users, there are bound to be all sorts of people. A big forest has all kinds of birds. Didn’t you prepare yourself for this? Those live-streaming platforms that skirt the edge of regulations make millions in profit every month. If you were really as righteous as you claim, you wouldn’t make any money at all.”

Jian Zhaowen said sullenly, “I know, I’m just trying to find a way to filter more meticulously.”

“Have you ever considered that those who scam money by selling tea and gambling, might even buy our algorithm VIP, specifically targeting the vulnerable users they can easily deceive, increasing their success rate?”

“Damn it, that’s what I hate. You knew this all along and didn’t say anything, did you? You’re even more annoying than Philip.”

“Of course I let it happen. These are real transaction figures that investors like. Say whatever you want, but if everyone in the company were sentimental, this company would be finished. How can someone who works on algorithms be so emotional?”

Jian Zhaowen silently drank his coffee, stuffed the muffin into his mouth rudely, and chewed it angrily: “Algorithms aren’t used like that.”

“Even if you created this software for others to find love, it doesn’t mean all users are here for that, and the results you guide aren’t always beautiful. Have you seen the group chats? Some people meet up after chatting on ‘Day and Night’ and discover the other person is their ex-husband. They hate them so much, but the chat history is too beautiful, so they end up cursing and getting remarried. There’s also someone who chats and finds someone they think is a better match, who turns out to be their best friend’s girlfriend, so they start poaching. And there are people who use fake information and still find true love, then they both scold and praise, unaware of how much data we’ve collected. And if you look at these examples I’ve given, no one is perfect, including you and me who collected user privacy to create the algorithm. No one is innocent. This world isn’t black and white. Why do you always condemn others based on their actions?”

“Are you saying my starting this business is a fundamental sin?”

“Of course not. I was your age once too, righteous, impulsive, like an angry young man. But when you really stand in a position facing industry rules, never be trapped by moral perfectionism. Do you think saving 99 and giving up on 1 means you’ve achieved true universal harmony? That 1 will always be your stain, but you still have to grit your teeth and carry on for the sake of the 99.”

“Fine.”

Lei Zheng pulled his hat brim low, quietly watching the changes in Jian Zhaowen’s expression, using the coffee to block his sarcasm and the milk stain on his latte to hide the smile at the corner of his mouth. He knew Jian Zhaowen well. Besides work, he could always see flashes of immaturity and ridiculousness in different moments, yet he could always recall his own past self.

Jian Zhaowen had received a call a few days ago. The question was brief and direct: did he want to sell the company? Jian Zhaowen thought it was a harassing call, but the other party was very direct: “You set the price, we’ll buy it along with the IT infrastructure, and directly take over the business.” Jian Zhaowen refused and hung up, continuing to hold meetings with his team. He knew this kind of industrial chain existed. Young people who created an app and accumulated tens of thousands of users could sell it for hundreds of thousands, which was a decent first pot of gold.

That night, Jian Zhaowen suddenly discovered that the server’s outbound bandwidth was completely occupied. Initially happy, thinking it was due to increased daily active users, he excitedly bought more bandwidth, only to see it quickly filled up again in less than a minute. Feeling uneasy, Jian Zhaowen opened the app and, as expected, the network couldn’t connect—”We’re under attack.”

One-star reviews began to appear in the App Store and Android app markets one after another, and real-time Weibo also showed information that “Day and Night” couldn’t log in. Anxious users with no way to complain were venting through the remaining channels. Lei Zheng was just about to go home when he heard Jian Zhaowen next door calmly and seriously communicating with the cloud service provider about solutions. “Day and Night” was experiencing a denial-of-service attack. Currently, the app wasn’t responding to logins, and access was very slow. Lei Zheng leaned against the door: “What’s going on?”

Jian Zhaowen was still at his computer: “Post something on Weibo, the server is under attack. I’m still looking for a way to fix it, as soon as possible.”

“Is it serious?”

“Malicious attacks are occupying the bandwidth. Logging in is just impossible to connect to the server. Do you still want daily active users? The main thing is that these attacks are coming from various places, changing to new IPs after a while, so we can’t block them all, can’t track them down, and we’re completely helpless.” There was anger in Jian Zhaowen’s eyes, but his tone was calm: “I should have thought something like this would happen when I received that call.”

“What call?”

“Someone wanted to buy ‘Day and Night,’ a package deal for the app and the team, and they told me to set the price.”

An engineer beside him laughed: “We used to have this when playing games, a DDoS attack to disconnect you from the server. The users would go to his side, and he’d win. I didn’t expect to encounter this here too.”

DDoS was a common attack method in the industry, causing service unavailability by maliciously occupying bandwidth and resources. No one could connect to the server, similar to going to a convenience store to buy bread but finding it overcrowded. Late at night, Jian Zhaowen called a friend, contacting a professional security service team. Before the call connected, he was still saying: “This is equivalent to ‘room bombing’ in the gaming industry, extorting you to sell the app. If the attack is from overseas, it’s impossible to trace.”

After Lei Zheng posted on Weibo and added an announcement to the homepage, Jian Zhaowen asked Lei Zheng to go home first, while he stayed in the office with the technical team. Contacting a professional security service provider only took two hours. Jian Zhaowen asked a friend to wake someone up in the middle of the night and purchased a network security service package, spending several hundred thousand in one go. He stayed up until dawn, let his colleagues leave, and waited for the results in the office. The results were more serious than he had imagined, with tens of thousands of IPs targeting Jian Zhaowen. Fortunately, Jian Zhaowen had changed the domain name resolution, allowing him to transfer all services to a professional traffic cleaning service provider, and everything was updated within two hours—if he hadn’t structured his app well, it might have taken him several days. Relieved, Jian Zhaowen still stared intently at the bandwidth data. The attacking and defending sides were locked in a battle of strength, and although there were setbacks, they finally weathered this wave.

Jian Zhaowen, who had stayed up for two consecutive nights, had developed huge eye bags. When Lei Zheng entered the office early on the third day, Jian Zhaowen was still on the phone in the conference room. Two days and two nights had passed, and there were even white hairs on his head. Only after the next room became quiet did Lei Zheng slowly wander into the conference room. These past few days, Jian Zhaowen had showered at Lei Zheng’s place and gone downstairs, wearing Lei Zheng’s clothes, giving off a somewhat gay vibe. It only took two days for the service to fully recover, but Jian Zhaowen was not satisfied and was still bothered by the fact that he couldn’t sue. Lei Zheng handed him a cup of coffee: “You need to go home and get a good night’s sleep. Yu Zhimei hasn’t seen you in two days, right?”

“She’s an adult, she doesn’t need me to take care of her.”

“How do you know that?”

“I need to continue monitoring today, and I’m really angry that we can’t catch the person responsible. Going back would just mean taking my anger out on her.”

Lei Zheng felt a chill: “Isn’t that a bit much?”

“This is my responsibility, and this is still considered light. If our program had vulnerabilities and user data was stolen, it wouldn’t be as simple as this. At best, our reputation would be damaged and users would leave. At worst, regulatory authorities would come knocking, and I’d have to close down. Our database contains a lot of sensitive information.” Feeling uncomfortable under Lei Zheng’s gaze, Jian Zhaowen asked strangely, “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“You’re not the startup newbie Jian Zhaowen anymore. Just a few incidents, and you’ve undergone a complete transformation.”

“Really?” Jian Zhaowen gulped down his coffee: “There were many things that could have been avoided that I didn’t think of beforehand.”

“Who can foresee everything? You can’t just say, ‘If only I had scored sixty more points back then, I would have gone to Tsinghua,’ can you?”

“I am from Tsinghua.”

“Damn it, shut up.”

Jian Zhaowen raised his eyebrows,啃着 (kěnzhe - gnawing on) the hot panini in his hand, taking large bites. Only after he was full did he say coldly, “I won’t easily agree to you lowering the content threshold again in the future.”

Lei Zheng was silent for a moment: “Why?”

“Do you know what kind of services are usually vulnerable to attacks? Games, gambling, adult products—because they have high profits and many gray areas. Even if they are attacked, they can’t report it to the police and can only accept their bad luck and pay up—either to the attackers or to buy security services. I can’t say that this loss was caused by your relaxation of content restrictions, after all, I didn’t take adequate precautions either. But in the past few days, we’ve lost millions directly or indirectly. I’ve re-examined things, and ‘Day and Night’ might already be seen as an app with pornographic and obscene potential.”

“So cold-blooded, wanting to assign blame before the issue is even resolved.”

“This is our company, with so many employees relying on us. I can’t just say it’s bad luck. And—” Jian Zhaowen licked his lips: “I can’t let my hard work become a dirty money-making tool in the eyes of others.”

The accountability that entrepreneurs have nowhere to complain about ultimately leads to them turning their angry knife towards their partners. Lei Zheng stopped talking, his expression ambiguous, both smiling and not smiling, very awkward. Jian Zhaowen felt he had spoken too harshly: “I’ll go home and rest for half a day. You’ll have to handle the morning.”

“Fine. Jian Zhaowen, if we really want to assign blame, I can already question you dozens of times over.”

“If I made you uncomfortable, I apologize.”

“An apology is useless. Hurting someone and then trying to smooth things over is different from nothing ever happening. Have you noticed the biggest difference between us?”

“No.”

“We are both emotional people, even saying that love is our source of inspiration. But I can’t live without emotion, while you are not someone who puts emotion first. So, if we’re really talking about starting a business, you, Jian Zhaowen, are more cold-blooded than me. ‘Day and Night’ needs a founder like you more than it needs me.”

“Want to split up?”

“Of course not, I just feel sorry for Yu Zhimei. When you two really aren’t willing to sacrifice for each other, you’ll understand what I mean by this.”

“Isn’t it the same for you and Xiaoxi?” Jian Zhaowen was stunned after saying this. Lei Zheng and Xiaoxi showed much more mutual tolerance than he and Yu Zhimei. Upon careful reflection, there was almost nothing between him and Yu Zhimei that required such a degree of sacrifice. Urban life indeed didn’t have major ups and downs, and what defeated their relationship was just the usual trivialities. Looking at Lei Zheng’s smile, Jian Zhaowen said, “Don’t give me that look. The reason we haven’t lived together is precisely because of this. We each have our freedom behind two iron doors, and she’s not the kind of girl who can’t live without me. Aren’t you a non-smoker? Why do you have an e-cigarette in your drawer?”

“I smoke it occasionally for fun. Xiaoxi told me about the last time he ran into you, and he also mentioned your big forehead.”

“...Can we not talk about it?” Jian Zhaowen seemed to finally return to his usual playful self: “Aren’t you gays supposed to be unfazed by seeing people naked? Your partner looked me up and down.”

“Lust doesn’t discriminate by gender. We’re just more open about it.”

Smoking his cherry-flavored e-cigarette and watching Jian Zhaowen walk out of the office, a sense of sorrow slowly welled up in Lei Zheng’s heart. He could finally pinpoint the source of the uneasiness he had felt these past few days—the heart-stirringly passionate Jian Zhaowen, still full of fighting spirit, was not very good at controlling the power of the knife in his hand, and several times the sharp blade had almost swung towards himself. Recalling his feelings when he drank a hundred glasses of wine in the bar was like Hisoka’s excitement and fear when he saw Gon in “Hunter x Hunter.” Jian Zhaowen had finally arrived at the turning point he had been waiting for—his rapid reaction ability and adaptability were terrifying even to himself, something he hadn’t yet realized. He no longer seemed to be that gentle artist, beginning to understand that raising the butcher’s knife was the first step in defending the city.

The dragon slayer will eventually become the dragon.