The IT director answered in a trembling voice, "Mr. Huo, we've never seen this sort of infection before. It changes every time it hops from one computer to the next. It moves code blocks out of the way, inserts itself, regenerates code and data references, including relocation information, and rebuilds the executable. It's different every time, so established pattern definitions don't defend against it. What's more, we just can't keep up with it, since it replicates at an alarming rate..."
"Oh, is that so? Then you're all fired. Start looking for other jobs. We'll contract out for IT!" Carlos hung up the phone furiously.
Star Anise's message popped up on Carlos' computer screen again. "Mr. Huo, what's your decision?"
"One billion!" Carlos replied decisively.
"Deal." Star Anise added, "It's what I'd expected you'd offer anyway. So I was prepared to accept it. Perfect!"
Carlos' face completely darkened. If he could find out who the hacker was, he would skin him alive to vent his anger!
Carlos had thought he could track down who Star Anise was by investigating the bank account, but Dixon told him it was a dummy account. It had been shut down as soon as the hacker received the money.
He did leave them a group of numbers, which also couldn't be traced. It was for tech support and service.
Carlos wondered if he'd been tricked, but all the computers returned to normal. There was no sign of the virus that had infected them. Not only that, cloud backups were operating normally.
Successfully going through the employee recognition system at the ZL Group's parking lot, Sheffield drove inside and parked his car at a particular spot. Then, he went straight to the floor where Evelyn's office was.
This time, besides Nadia, there were two more people working as secretaries. Nadia was the first one to spot Sheffield. She stood up and greeted him. "Good morning, Mr. Tang."
"Hello! Your boss in? I have something for her." Sheffield shook the paper bag in his hand. "I know I normally let you have first dibs, but this is Evelyn's favorite food."
Nadia smiled. "Thanks, Mr. Tang. But, our CEO is busy right now..." She forgot to explain the CEO inside the office wasn't the one he wanted to see.
"Don't worry. I won't disturb your boss. I just came here to give her something and I'll leave. Don't let me disturb you. I'll be fine." Then he left the secretary division.
As soon as he walked off, two other secretaries whispered to Nadia, "Miss Hua, who is that gorgeous man?"
"Why did he come up himself? How did he get in here? Does he work for us?"
Nadia shook her head. She knew nothing about it either. With a slight smile, she said, "None of our business anyway. We'd better get back to work."
"Oh. Of course."
Before Sheffield even pushed open the door to Evelyn's office, he sang in a chirpy voice, "Eve, Eve, my dear Eve..." The door was pushed open. A man with an imposing manner dominated the sofa. His face looked cold as his gaze met Sheffield's.
With a thud in his heart, Sheffield quickly retreated a few steps and closed the door. He groaned in his heart, 'Shit! Shit!'
The man inside Evelyn's office was none other than his future father-in-law, the guy he'd been trying to avoid.
'I gotta change tactics, ' the doctor thought.
He straightened up his clothes, smoothed his hair and opened the door again.
Carlos stood at the door, waiting for him. Before he could say anything, his eyes met the old man's sharp, ice-cold eyes. In a panic, he called out without thinking, "Dad!"
Hearing how the doctor addressed him, Carlos raised his fist and strode towards Sheffield.
Realizing what he had said, Sheffield corrected himself hastily, "Hello, Uncle... Wait, wait... Can we talk about this, Mr. Huo? Don't hit me."
Ignoring him, Carlos threw a fist at Sheffield's face. The doctor dodged and ran toward the spacious room inside the office.
And that was when he found out Evelyn wasn't even there.
With a sour face, Carlos locked the door. It required a passcode to open it. The old man was going to catch a rat in the hole.
Sheffield ran to hide behind the couch. Carlos took off his suit jacket and approached the doctor, slowly, deliberately—one step at a time.
"Um...Mr. Huo, can't we talk this out? Please calm down." 'Where's Evelyn? Where's my Evelyn?' he thought anxiously.
Carlos didn't respond. He casually threw his suit jacket over the sofa and approached him, cracking his knuckles.
Before Carlos' fists landed on him, Sheffield nimbly pressed his palms on the couch and jumped over it to dodge the attack. "Look, I know you don't want me to be with Evelyn. You don't have to punch me to make that sink in. Let's just try and talk about this like grown men. Think, man! Do you want to break Evelyn's heart?"
At the mention of Evelyn, Carlos couldn't hold back his anger anymore. He was like a bull seeing red. He ran after Sheffield as fast as he could; he didn't look like he was approaching sixty years old at all.
When Sheffield ran to the door and saw the password lock, he was stunned.
But Carlos had caught up to him. Left with no choice, he dodged his punch while trying to figure out the code.
The two men chased each other for a while in the office, but Sheffield still hadn't figured out how to get out. At last, Sheffield had one last trick up his sleeve. He simply tapped in one set of passwords and unlocked it. Not knowing if he had restored the factory setting of the lock or had cracked the password, anyway, the door opened. However, the high-tech lock in Evelyn's office, the one worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, had been destroyed.
Carlos was boiling in rage when he saw the door was opened. He hadn't been able to punch Sheffield in the face, and worse, the young man just escaped under his nose. In an instant, he ran out of the office to chase the guy, not caring what his staff might think.
The assistants were all shocked, staring slack-mouthed at the sight. They froze there and forgot to help their boss at that moment.
They wondered how Sheffield had pissed off the CEO of a multinational company. Their ever-composed CEO was now chasing after the young man.
If Evelyn had been around, Sheffield wouldn't mind being punched by Carlos to get her sympathy. Now that his woman wasn't there, no one would feel sorry for him. And Carlos wouldn't agree to let him be with Evelyn just because he had beaten the guy. Sheffield didn't want to be pounded on for nothing. So, he ran even faster to put more distance between them.
When Evelyn came back, she bumped into Sheffield who had just jumped into the elevator. Before she could speak, she saw Carlos chasing after him.
In shock, she called out, "Dad! What are you doing?"
His daughter's shouts pulled Carlos back to his senses. He rested his hands on his knees, panting as he watched the elevator doors slowly close.
From inside the elevator, Sheffield cocked an eyebrow at Carlos and said in a loud voice, "Bye, Evelyn!"
Carlos straightened his clothes and snorted at his daughter. Pointing at the closed elevator, he asked angrily, "How did he get in here?"
"Well, I... I gave him a pass." Actually, Evelyn didn't know how Sheffield managed to get through security and come up here.
Carlos took out his phone and dialed Dixon's number. "Print out a photo of Sheffield Tang and send it to the security department. If he gets in the building, rough him up and throw him out!"
"Yes, Mr. Huo," replied Dixon.
Evelyn didn't know what to say.
In Evelyn's office, Carlos checked the smart lock. It didn't work anymore.
When she saw a paper bag on her desk, Evelyn didn't dare open it around Carlos. "Dad, what happened?" she asked. "Why were you chasing him?"