Chapter 56: Cybertron Studio (Part II) (Begging for recommendations, collections, and rewards)

Sun Cheng nodded with satisfaction after adjusting his attire in front of the mirror for a while.

The casual suit he was wearing was one he had prepared for his startup several months ago; to this day, Sun Cheng still clearly remembered the month he spent living frugally just to buy himself a decent suit.

By mid-April, one could already feel the heat in Nandu, but despite this, he had to wear a suit to go out today because, after a short wait, the email reply from Apple had finally arrived.

The corners of his mouth couldn't help but curve into an arc, and a look of what could be called "pride" hung on Sun Cheng's face.

He was, after all, a young man with a normal mind; this time, by relying on the many iOS system vulnerabilities he held in his hands, he had forced this behemoth—which could definitely rank in the top ten among global enterprises—to impatiently ask him for contact information, and even upon learning that he was in Nandu, the headquarters of their China branch, they immediately arranged for a vice president of the company to meet with him.

How could this not make Sun Cheng feel extremely proud?!

After tidying himself up carefully and taking out a brand-new flash drive to put in his pocket, he locked the door and prepared to head out.

Not long after leaving the dormitory building, Sun Cheng ran into a familiar face; the person's face lit up upon seeing him, and they hurried over.

"A-Cheng, are you going out?"

The person who came over was Lu Lan, who was also Sun Cheng's classmate and one of his creditors.

Sun Cheng looked toward the voice, and after recognizing who it was, a smile couldn't help but appear on his face; he nodded and took the initiative to ask: "Old Lu, it's almost the end of the month, you're here to ask me for money, right? I have an appointment with an investor, and I'm meeting them in a bit. If you're not in a rush, come to my dorm tomorrow; if you are in a rush, come over tonight and I'll pay you back those two thousand first."

Previously, for the sake of his startup, he had indeed incurred quite a few external debts, including some from several classmates he used to get along well with.

However, ever since his startup project started running into problems one after another, some idle gossip had been blowing non-stop in the class, causing the relationship between him and many people to cool down.

Therefore, seeing that a sum of returns from Apple was about to arrive and figuring that the money was a sure thing, Sun Cheng didn't wait for him to speak and directly confirmed the matter of repaying the debt.

This generous attitude clearly caught Lu Lan off guard; he hesitated for a moment before asking: "A-Cheng, didn't your startup project go bust? If you don't have money for now, just give it to me later, so you don't end up in an awkward spot!"

Sun Cheng narrowed his eyes; in the real world, he had only announced the dissolution of his startup team the day before yesterday. For it to spread so quickly, it seemed there were quite a few people fanning the flames behind his back.

After thinking for a moment, he tentatively asked: "Was it Lu Lei? Huo Miao? Or Liu Kun who told you?"

Lu Lei, Huo Miao, Liu Kun, plus Sun Cheng himself, were the four founders of his startup project. The first two were also classmates of Lu Lan and already knew each other; as for Liu Kun, although he was Sun Cheng's roommate, he also met with Lu Lan frequently—perhaps not as familiar as the others, but they certainly knew each other.

Lu Lan didn't actually hide it from him, perhaps he didn't feel it was anything to begin with: "Ran into Liu Kun last night and heard him mention it!"

Sun Cheng curled his lips and secretly thought "as expected," but he wasn't prepared to discuss the details with him.

"Liu Kun left the startup team over half a month ago, so he doesn't know our specific situation. How about this, I'm in a rush now; if you're worried, just go directly to my dorm door this afternoon to wait. Oh right, don't call my phone; I dropped my phone the day before yesterday afternoon, and it's still being repaired!"

After all, they were classmates, and since he had said this much, even if Lu Lan had concerns, it wasn't easy for him to say anything more; he nodded immediately, neither agreeing to come over at that time nor refusing, appearing as though he still believed the rumors.

After Sun Cheng finished speaking, he didn't delay any further; after bidding him farewell, he walked quickly toward the school gate, hailed a taxi at the entrance, and soon disappeared from sight.

The meeting with the people from Apple was arranged by the other party in the Jiangning area where Sun Cheng was located, which actually worked out in his favor; it cost less than twenty to get there by taxi, and it was a very chic cafe.

"Sir, may I ask how many are in your party..."

Just as he arrived, a waiter came up to greet him, and Sun Cheng nodded slightly: "I have an appointment; may I ask where room 3013 is?"

"Please follow me..."

Following behind the waiter all the way up to the room area on the third floor, he soon saw 3013, hurriedly thanked the waiter, and walked over himself.

After taking a deep breath, Sun Cheng knocked on the door.

"Creak!"

The door to the room was quickly opened, and a thin, middle-aged man wearing gold-rimmed glasses walked out.

When he saw Sun Cheng, his eyes lit up immediately, and without waiting for Sun Cheng to speak, he asked first: "Could you be Mr. Sun Cheng of 【Cybertron Studio】?"

【Cybertron Studio】 was the ID Sun Cheng used when he reported the vulnerability last time, but just yesterday, he had also changed the name at the Bureau of Commerce, changing the previously used 'Kuayue Studio' to Cybertron.

Sun Cheng had a fair understanding of brands; just from the other party's attire—which was likely worth at least five figures—and his temperament, he judged that this thin middle-aged man who showed his face might hold a high position at Apple.

But his mindset was adjusted better than he had imagined; he just smiled slightly and nodded in reply: "It is me..."

The middle-aged man reached out to shake his hand and laughed: "No wonder they say 'each generation is stronger than the last.' Mr. Sun Cheng has such profound Computer Science skills at such a young age; at this age, I was still worrying about my graduation thesis at MIT!"

Although he heard him mention 'MIT,' that famous American university, Sun Cheng didn't have much of a reaction.

Even though the other party was from a famous European or American university, the 【Nandu University of Technology】 he attended was also a premier institution of higher learning in the country, not necessarily inferior to theirs; Sun Cheng still had that much pride.

After a slight pause, the middle-aged man then said: "I haven't introduced myself yet; I am Liu Qingmin, Vice President of Apple's China branch!"

Didn't expect it to really be a big shot!

After introducing himself, Liu Qingmin enthusiastically invited him into the room.

As soon as Sun Cheng walked in, he immediately felt several gazes fall upon him.

Looking closely, it turned out there were two men and one woman sitting in the room; besides the woman in professional attire wearing black-rimmed glasses who was still very young, the four men all looked to be over thirty.

After entering the room and just as Sun Cheng sat down, Liu Qingmin introduced him: "Let me give a brief introduction; these two are our company's vulnerability testers, and this is our legal advisor, Ms. Chen Wei! Although it might be a bit abrupt to say this, I would like to ask Mr. Sun Cheng here first: does your 【Cybertron Studio】 still hold any other vulnerabilities for our company's iOS system?"

"Indeed!"

Sun Cheng nodded, keeping it brief.

He knew what the iOS system vulnerabilities he held meant to Apple, so he remained calm and composed; the one who should be anxious was the other party.

Sure enough, it was Apple that couldn't sit still first.

Seeing that his personality was very mature, Liu Qingmin had no choice but to say: "Once again, thank you and your studio for your support of our Apple company. It wasn't convenient to discuss in detail in the email before, and we haven't yet conveyed the reward for the previously reported vulnerability to you."

Sun Cheng's ears twitched; this was indeed the issue he was most concerned about at the moment.

Fortunately, Liu Qingmin didn't keep him in suspense; he nodded to the legal advisor Chen Wei beside him, and she took out a document from the briefcase she was carrying and handed it over.

Sun Cheng took it and looked; it turned out to be an agreement.

Although the agreement was only two short pages, after reading every word and term in detail, several minutes had already passed.

After finishing, he placed the agreement back on the table; although no major changes could be seen on Sun Cheng's face, he was actually very satisfied with this agreement in his heart.

The reward Apple gave him couldn't be called generous, but it was decent; as long as he agreed to sign this agreement with a confidentiality period of half a year, they would immediately pay Sun Cheng a total of twenty thousand yuan in cash, which was roughly equivalent to three thousand US dollars, much more than he had expected.

However, although satisfied, Sun Cheng felt he should still strive for more for himself, so he said: "I have no objections to the other aspects, but the half-year confidentiality period is too long. Most of the vulnerabilities we discovered are just relatively obscure; it's hard to say when they might be discovered by others! If you want to hold us accountable then, a small studio like ours can't afford your accountability."

"Mr. Sun, this..."

Apple's legal advisor Chen Wei had just prepared to argue a few points when she was interrupted by Liu Qingmin waving his hand beside her.

Seeing him ponder for a moment, he nodded and made a compromise: "Fine, the confidentiality period is shortened to three months!"

Sun Cheng looked at him in surprise, clearly not expecting the other party to make a concession so easily.

The three-month confidentiality period was about up; Sun Cheng thought for a moment and nodded, "Three months, that is acceptable!"

Chen Wei immediately took out another blank document from her briefcase with the controversial sections left unfilled, made a few slight changes, and handed it over along with a pen, saying, "Please sign the blank spaces on this document and provide me with a bank account number. I will transfer the bonus to the account provided by Mr. Sun within five minutes!"

After Sun Cheng did so immediately, Chen Wei quickly took out an Apple laptop and, right in front of him, transferred 20,000 yuan in cash from a financial account to the bank card he had provided.

Although he had only glanced briefly at her transfer, Sun Cheng felt that a massive company like Apple could not possibly be cheating him over this small amount of money, so when the other party indicated it was complete, his tense nerves immediately relaxed.

Liu Qingmin clearly understood the principle of striking while the iron is hot; with this foundation of cooperation established, he went straight to the point as he spoke again.

He only said, "I wonder if you could discuss other vulnerability issues with us?"

"I can!" Sun Cheng answered quite readily; clearly, the straightforwardness the other party had shown earlier made him very satisfied with Apple.

Taking the newly purchased 2GB flash drive out of his pocket, Sun Cheng handed it directly to him, "There are thirty-one more iOS vulnerabilities in here, including my discovery process and detailed analysis..."

Upon hearing there were actually so many, the few people from Apple all had their expressions change slightly.

Liu Qingmin said a word of thanks, and after taking the flash drive, he handed it to the two testing personnel he had brought along. He watched as the two of them plugged the flash drive into a computer, opened it to look through it for a while, and then began testing several Apple phones using the equipment they had also brought.

The entire process lasted for over half an hour, with constant reports of success.

"The first vulnerability is confirmed, identical to 'DFGH-1562-6584' discovered by the headquarters!"

"The second vulnerability is real, the verification process has no issues!"

"..."

The two technicians' reports continued, and one by one, the vulnerabilities he provided were continuously confirmed to exist.

However, contrary to Sun Cheng's expectations, Liu Qingmin, the Apple Vice President who had been watching the progress of the testing from the side, looked at Sun Cheng with eyes that grew brighter and brighter, and the smile on his face grew thicker as he very proactively began to chat with him.

"Mr. Sun Cheng and your 【Cybertron Studio】 have really brought honor to us Chinese people. You don't know, but in these past few years, the number of bugs discovered through our China branch has always been very small, and because of this, we haven't been spared the sarcasm of the headquarters' technical team..."

"I am a few years older than you, so calling you 'little brother' feels more intimate!"

"Oh? So little brother is a top student from Nanjin University of Technology..."

"I wonder how many people are in your 【Cybertron Studio】? Are you interested in coming to work at our Apple company? With your technical skills, I guarantee an annual salary of over one hundred thousand is truly very easy..."

The other party's solicitation was so enthusiastic that Sun Cheng found it a bit overwhelming, so he had to firmly refuse, "Many thanks for the kindness of President Liu, but the members of our 【Cybertron Studio】 are all university students from Nanjin University of Technology. The reason this studio exists is to bring together everyone who holds dreams to start a business together, so I can only say I am sorry to you..."

Liu Qingmin was still not willing to give up and patiently persuaded him, "Little brother, you must know that although the prospects of starting a business are beautiful, the risks cannot be underestimated; having technical skills does not mean you will succeed. After I graduated from university, many of my classmates and friends threw themselves into the tide of entrepreneurship in Silicon Valley, but very few succeeded..."

Sun Cheng only smiled and nodded, though in his heart he did not agree at all.

He now possessed a miraculous encounter, and his future achievements would be limitless; how could he possibly go off to work for someone else?

Liu Qingmin wanted to persuade him further, but seeing his firm attitude, he could only sigh secretly that it was a pity, yet he still left room for future solicitation, "Fine, I will first wish you and your little brother success in your venture. Of course, if you change your mind in the future, you can contact me at any time; the doors of our Apple will always be open for you..."

Although Sun Cheng did not agree, he still exchanged contact numbers with him.

Meanwhile, the two Apple testing personnel, who had been busy for half a day, finally completed the testing of the last vulnerability.

When the words "The last vulnerability has been tested, the existence of the problem is confirmed" fell, all eyes in the private room fell once again upon Sun Cheng.

Facing the gazes of the few, he smiled gently.

Sun Cheng knew that he, in the real world, was also about to set sail!

PS:

Thanks to the two readers 'Jason·Lin' and 'You Da Shao Zi De A Lin' for their tips.