Redeeming The Golden Ticket To Life

[POV Hu Qiang]

Today early morning Cyrus had a small nervous breakdown. It is D-day. The contest will take place today.

I thought I might have to step in but as always Bai Chang handled it. I don't know what she did? Or What she gave to Cyrus? But after fifteen minutes, he was alright and good to go. 

It had been a very busy week for them, while Bai Chang tailor designed a code for the contest, Cyrus was drilled with code and code-breaking tips and tricks. 

He had it rougher. As my wife informed me secretly that she trained Cyrus on the advanced course of hacking.

(I really applaud Cyrus' stamina, he broke after seven days of intense training. I think I will put Xiao Wei through it next time, he troubles me.)

While I had an evil plan cooked against my own son. Cyrus had some last-minute tips and advice from her. 

I turn towards her and ask, "Are you sure you don't want to join us?"

"Nope, let us confuse them some more. This will provide us with an added layer of security," she replied.

I kissed her forehead and bid her goodbye.

Next, we moved to the venue.

***

For security purposes and to keep it unbiased for the participating companies, the bidding contest was to be held at their IT department, here in the capital.

The place is like any other government office building. There is a lawn of fresh green grasses outside with a flower bed of seasonal flowers. Whereas the perimeter is covered in Ginko trees. Their orange hues give the whole area an impression of bright sunlight.

The inside of the office is more subdued, as it is mostly metallic grey or off-white in colour. The whole office floor is divided into cubicles of different shape and size. While for the contest they booked an auditorium.

Various projectors and white screens were covering the room. Dozens of laptops and CPUs were jacked up together in multiple sockets. It felt very tech-savvy.

(This time the government sure went a step ahead to arrange for this event, it seems.)

I look around to see who all have made it here to the venue, yet. I spot quite a few companies. All CEOs or SEOs are decked up in suits while their technical team mostly consisted of geeky looking software engineers.

(I concluded that we are neither too early nor too late.)

Most of these companies were flaunting their technical group. There were main coders and then support technicians. While the government technicians looked overworked and underpaid but have been packaged in tidy and uniform clothes to look their part.

(Well I can't comment on them as my coder looks much more lanky and unkept than most programmers present here. It's not like we didn't try to fix him up but that is not him and he feels uncomfortable. So Cyrus tagged along still wearing his trademark Sweatshirts and track pants.)

I move around the crowd, to look for any trouble or hidden traps.

I guess my wifey's cautiousness is rubbing off me too.

I check for surveillance cameras, then look for their blind spots. After that, I check out the competition podium, covertly. 

"CEO Hu, good morning. You are early"

I look around to spot the speaker.

A middle-aged man with salty hairs looks straight at me. He looks more like a corporate representative than a programmer. 

"Pardon me, but do I know you?" I asked.

"Forgive my manners CEO Hu. I have read a lot about you and thought to introduce myself," he handed me his card as he introduced himself, "I am the CEO and founder of the start-up company, Zebra Security Coding. We just started a year back."

"Hello," I politely offered my hand for a shake.

"It is good to see you in person, but I don't see your technical staff or support system," he inquired.

"I like to travel light. I have one IT programmer and the rest can be arranged among us. Me and my programmer can handle it by ourself," I said.

"That is some solid confidence," he replied half-heartedly. He lost his interest after knowing my support technicians.

'Even I didn't correct him. It would be less of a headache to handle for me later.'

It's almost time. But I don't see Feling anywhere. Not even near the blind spots.

****

The event begins, first all the leaders gave their respective speeches and finally we started the first stage of the competition. It is an elimination round. 

The rules were simple.

Crack the government firewall. The contestant who cracks the firewall faster and more substantially will move on to the second round.

I called Cyrus towards me.

"Cyrus, crush them, it doesn't matter, use the codes you learnt from Bai Chang," I said.

"Yes, boss," he replied and walked towards the competing station.

I keep an eye out for Feling. Till this moment, he is a no show.

('Let's see if you keep it together after the first round')

The participating contestants, all line up on the provided system. There is a huge virtual holographic timer in the middle of the contest podium. While there are press reporters from National TV recording this event. 

By my side, the CEO of Zebra Security Coding was brimming with confidence.

The gong rang, as the government programmers ready themselves to counter the attacks. 

The electronic timer started to run. Seconds turned to a minute. 

At this moment Cyrus glimpsed at me. I knew he wanted to confirm one last time before he inputs the code.

I slightly nodded. I saw him, he started to type.

On a big screen, you could see the coders in real-time. Not the codes but the hand movements.

As Cyrus types the last code, he pressed enter and removed his hands from the keyboard. 

The timer showed one minute fifty-three seconds and counting.

The man beside me smirked.

After exactly five seconds.

The system all went down on the government side. The program firewall got destroyed. They quickly started a backup but were not able to revive the firewall.

The timer had stopped at two minutes and five seconds.

The whole room turned pin-drop silence. While the man beside me, he twitched.

I ignore him while the programmers on the government side try to figure out the pathways of the opposite code.

They check their regular pathway folders and system operation but they find no trace. As they continue to check, the elimination round comes to a standstill. 

From there it took them exactly three hours forty minutes to even trace the invading code. While another half an hour to rebuild the firewall.

After all, that brain cells killed and manpower was explored. The host decided to say a few words.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your patience. We really appreciate your cooperation. As for the first stage of the bidding contest, the winner is clearly The Hu Corporations. Congratulations CEO Hu, you sure are direct. It didn't even take you five minutes to break the wall. A round of applause for The Hu Corporations and their programmer."

Everyone politely clapped while I nodded my head slightly as to acknowledge them.

"Congratulations CEO Hu, that was some strong play out there," the CEO of Zebra company offered his hand.

I lightly shook it and turned towards the stage.

Most of the people were looking out for Cyrus. This lanky guy with a wiry frame, wearing sweatshirts and track pants became the main focus of the event.

As he saw reporters coming towards him, he put on large headphones, cranked up the volume for the music and rushed to sit beside me.

Once he took the seat beside me, no one dared to approach us.

We watched the rest of the so-called elimination round in peace. On an overhead LCD screen, they displayed the people who would move on to the second stage of a bidding contest. 

1) Hu Corporations

2) Zebra Security Coding

3) Jinny Security Holdings

4) XTLM

The host once again owned the stage, "Ladies and gentlemen, as you see before you. The top four companies' programmers would head towards the second round. We will commence the second round after a lunch break. Please join us in the garden for some lunch. We will return in half an hour to our next round."

The crowd breaks away after the announcement. While Cyrus keeps on sitting.

I shake him by his shoulder, "Do you want to eat something?"

"No, I am good. Bai Chang gave me protein and carb. bars to fill my stomach," he replied.

My wife really goes the extra mile to ensure safety.

"Do you have some extra?" I asked.

"Yeah, she gave me more, she said, 'that you will totally ask for it once you get to know'," he replied.

I simply opened my hands towards him.

From inside his pocket, he revealed two packs of bars. One wrapped in off-white packaging and the other was in pink packaging.

I take them and wonder, "What made her so paranoid?"