C101 High Stakes

One employee whispered.

"Do you think they're here because of the Dragon Tech negotiations?"

Another asked.

"Maybe, but whatever the reason, I wouldn't want to mess with them,"

Someone else added.

The whispers followed us as we made our way through the building, but we paid them no mind as we approached the elevators, Hope turned to me with a slight smirk.

"Just Imagine their reactions If they saw you all In youre power armor"

Hope said with a depressing smile to which I just shrugged my shoulders.

"Sooner or later they will"

"What's that supposed to mean?

Hope asked with narrowed eyes as she pushed her leg between my legs and pressed her knee against my family jewels causing my men to give me the stare to which I responded with my own.

"Well If anyone Is going to be dumb enough to f*ck around to the point we would have to use power armor..."

I answered only to get shut up by Hope.

"No Drac I don't even want to hear It don't say It"

Hope barked while pinching the bridge of her nose as she Imagined the massacre we would create.

Finally, the elevator doors opened, and we stepped inside, the marines filling the space behind us. The ride to the top floor was silent, the air thick with anticipation. When the doors opened, we were greeted by the secretary from the career fair, who had been diligently managing her new role.

"Miss Apex, the Dragon Tech representatives are waiting in the conference room,"

She informed us.

"Thank you,"

Hope replied.

"Let's not keep them waiting."

We entered the conference room, where the Dragon Tech representatives were already seated at the large table. They stood up as we entered, exchanging polite nods.

"Miss Apex, a pleasure to meet you,"

Their lead representative, Li Wei, said, extending a hand.

"I'm Li Nan, head of Dragon Tech's negotiation team."

"Pleasure to meet you as well, Mr. Nan,"

Hope replied, shaking his hand firmly.

"Shall we get started?"

Li Nan nodded.

"Yes, let's."

As everyone took their seats, I stood behind Hope while my cosmic marines spread out through the room with two guarding the entrance from the front and two from the back our presence was a silent reminder of the power and protection that backed her.

"Miss. Hope my president has come to a consensus that if Lilith were to be released on our platform, it would possess many high-quality, creative traits and increased functionality compared to the majority of the apps available today."

Li Nans tone then took a turn in the opposite direction.

"However, despite the excellent design of the artificial intelligence, I don't know if Miss Hope has already considered the security of the software, what if hackers infiltrated Lilith's programming and accessed personal user information, have you considered the consequences of this?"

Hack Lilith? Not In at least 10 years! And don't think I don't know that you've been trying youre best to crack Liliths code If I wanted I could sue youre asses until you went bankrupt.

Hope cursed In her mind while calmly waiting for Li Nan to finish before she responded with a knowing smile.

"Don't worry regards to security, my company has already released a statement, for any financial losses related to Liliths security, my response is to fully compensate the users, and so far the current amount is zero."

Hope said as she signaled her secretary to make a cup of coffee.

"You're right Miss Hope so far Lilith has yet to be a target by hackers, but it's impossible for Miss Hope to be completely confident in your program, after all, regarding information security, your company's talent is still zero,"

Li Nan responded with a poker smile even though he knew full well that their company so far had failed to breach Lilith's firewalls.

Hmph! I could get all the dirt you have with a snap of my fingers and youre lecturing me about cyber security.

Hope thought with a playful smile as she took a sip of the coffee her secretary just brought.

"Oh? Do we now? Say how are youre hackers fairing so far In cracking Liliths code?"

Hope said with a playful tone causing Li Nan to almost have a heart attack after all a giant with an assault rifle was standing right behind her, those crimson eyes with Ice blue pupils of his staring straight at his soul, he had seen the video of these giants wiping the floor with the most notorious gang In the country and they were under the control of the woman In front of him who was also a giantess.

Li Nan coughed awkwardly as he responded with a forced smile.

"Ahem, Miss Hope I hope there's no confusion or misunderstanding about this, my company did try to gain an understanding of Lilith, but it was all within the legal boundaries, we have an obligation to ensure security for our Dragon Techs smartphones users, If the users downloaded a software with a backdoor in the programming, it would damage our own reputation."

Hehehe oh they certainly did and you did too.

Hope couldn't help but chuckle at the fact that Lilith's core code had already hacked Into Dragons Tech's every server thanks to their attempts at cracking It.

But at the same time, Hope had the urge to jump up, whip out her fist, and shove it into this man's face after all no one liked when someone tried to steal what was theirs even though she technically stole It first.

At the same time, Li Nan was mentally cursing their technical department for their uselessness.

They had a full staff of hacking wizards and even created a separate project for this, after working day in and day out while pulling all nighters a week straight and being pounded with additional resources only to report upon being asked If they made any progress that they didn't.

How the fu*ck was he supposed to negotiate when he doesn't even know Apex Industries dirty secrets?

Even as he raged inside his mind, he couldn't show any of it at the negotiation, he slowly took a sip of the prepared beforehand water, seeing this Hope continued siping her coffee leisurely.

"Of course, while screening the security of Lilith we did make some progress, at this early stage, we can conclude that the software is safe."

Although he phrased it as a screening, everyone knew the truth it was hacking and an unsuccessful one at that.

Li Nan carefully observed Hope's reaction to his blatant lie, hoping to see a flash of uncertainty on her face yet all he saw was a smirk.

Hearing this Hope sneered

"Oh? Since your company already made some progress, then why are you here?"

Progress my ass! You didn't make s*it that's why youre here dumbass.

"What you say is true Miss Hope but we still hope your company will provide the core code so that we can conduct a full safety analysis, of course, we are also interested in some of the creative elements of your software, If Miss Hope doesn't mind, we can discuss the price..."

Li Nan continued to spew honey laced words without any shamelessness showing on his face only for the already pissed off Hope to Interrupt him.

"Stop spouting nonsense and tell me how much youre offering already"

Hope barked Impatiently as she finished her coffee.

"Two billion."

Li Nan quickly gave the conservative figure.

"Are you serious or are you joking?"

Hope asked as she looked at the man as If he was an Idiot as she leaned back Into her chair.