Chapter 1: Infinite Loop (1)

1 - Infinite Loop (1)

Glaring sunlight filtered through the gaps in the curtains; it had been light for a long time.

Lin Xun checked the time: nine o’clock in the morning.

After a whole night of coding, it was time to go to sleep.

He exited the compiler, and at the same moment, a news notification popped up in the upper-right corner of his computer screen.

Lin Xun rarely read the news, but this article was different—a certain keyword caught his eye.

The headline read: "Galaxy Group Splurges, Injecting Thirty Million into Lions Company." Clicking on it, the content matched the title, describing how after "Lions" received the thirty-million-dollar investment, its founder met with the CEO of "Galaxy." They discussed future development plans and looked forward to the great revolution about to happen in the world under the trend of intelligence based on the Artificial Neural Network Engine.

He closed the window expressionlessly.

Lions was a team that had risen to prominence in recent years, using neural networks as a gimmick to make a big splash at a creative exhibition. Lin Xun knew the founder of this team and had dealt with him during school. Upon graduation, the man had invited him to join, but Lin Xun had looked down on the project and didn't go.

In truth, what he cared about wasn't that, but rather those two words: "Galaxy."

That person—the CEO of Galaxy, a myth in the programming world—was his idol, as well as the idol of the vast majority of programmers.

His idol had started from scratch, first working in the Internet of Things, then moving into Artificial Intelligence. For years, he had stood at the forefront of the era, and "Galaxy" had become a technological empire rooted in various fields. There was a saying: "Without Galaxy, the arrival of the smart city era would have been delayed by at least twenty years."

—In short, the news meant that someone he looked down upon not only got the chance to have a cordial conversation with his idol but also took thirty million of his idol's money.

Lin Xun thought to himself that if those thirty million were given to him, he would definitely do better than that guy.

After feeling bitter for a while, his head began to ache. The blood vessels at his temples throbbed—a side effect of coding all night. But just as he was about to leave his computer desk to catch up on sleep, his phone rang abruptly from an unknown number.

He had received too many calls lately.

The landlord demanding rent, notifications of unpaid utility bills—they all bothered him because if he still had money, he would at least buy a dozen energy drinks to keep himself from being so sleepy.

Lin Xun answered: "Hello."

On the other end was a sweet female voice: "Hello, is this Mr. Lin Xun?"

"Yes."

"Hello, Mr. Lin. This is Paper-cut Network Technology Co., Ltd. Regarding your 'Goddess of the Luo River' concept, after two rounds of discussion, we believe it does not align with our company's development strategy. At the same time, it doesn't..."

Lin Xun leaned back in his chair and pressed his brow, noticing his voice was a bit hoarse. "Alright, sorry for the trouble."

Just as he finished the call, someone pushed open his door. A round head poked inside and asked, "How was it? Which company? Do we have hope?"

This person was named Wang Anquan, Lin Xun’s friend and partner. He wore a green checkered shirt and was getting fat before he could go bald—a typical programmer's appearance, though his small eyes made him look a bit shifty.

Lin Xun tossed his phone aside. "No, Paper-cut rejected us too."

Wang Anquan sighed and slumped onto the bed.

While they sat in silence, an angry shout came from the living room: "Motherfucker!"

Lin Xun: "What’s wrong with Architecture?"

Wang Anquan: "He probably got frustrated writing the business plan."

A moment later, the sound of a chair being kicked over came from the living room. Shortly after, Zhao Jiagou entered Lin Xun’s room and slammed a USB drive into his computer port. "I'm fucking finished!"

Zhao Jiagou was a Norwegian boy with brown hair and green eyes, possessing a bit of Asian heritage. His original name was Louis, and he had an amazing talent for languages, being extremely proficient in Chinese.

The three of them had formed a team before graduating from school, and it had been three years now. In this three-man team, Lin Xun wrote the algorithms and the core code; Wang Anquan, true to his name, was responsible for network and data security; and Louis handled the system architecture.

However, when this young man named Louis was learning Chinese, he accidentally discovered the surprisingly significant correlation between Wang Anquan’s name and his professional field. Thinking it was a genius naming method, he gave himself a name—Zhao Jiagou.

Wang Anquan looked listlessly at the business plan and muttered, "There's no point in uploading it. we can't even afford rent. No one wants 'Goddess of the Luo River.' Let's just disband."

Zhao Jiagou said, "Disband? I've wanted to disband for a long time. Eagle has been trying to headhunt me for a year."

They both looked at Lin Xun.

Wang Anquan sighed and said, "...We’ve wasted three years."

Three years.

The three of them had poured themselves into "Goddess of the Luo River" since before graduation. Now they had finally completed its basic framework, yet not a single company or investor found it worthy.

Today, three years later, the time to disband had finally come.

Lin Xun wasn't discouraged. He was about to say something when, suddenly, a wave of dizziness hit him, followed by a violent headache.

His vision blurred. The figures of Wang Anquan and Zhao Jiagou became fuzzy, and then, two blue masses slowly rose from above their heads.

Was he hallucinating from staying up all night?

At that moment, his phone rang again.

This thing rang every day like a death knell, bringing nothing but bad news. Hearing the familiar ringtone made Lin Xun feel a bit suffocated.

Zhao Jiagou glanced at the phone on the desk. "Who is it?"

Wang Anquan got up to grab the phone and hand it to Lin Xun, but his body suddenly froze. His eyes went wide as he turned to Lin Xun. "Bro... Brother..."

Lin Xun thought the landlord was calling for rent again.

He was trying to remember his credit card limit when Wang Anquan thrust the screen in front of his eyes.

Two words were written on the screen.

Through his blurred vision, he could vaguely make out those two words: Galaxy.

Galaxy??

Lin Xun’s mind went blank for a second before he took the phone.

"Hello, is this Mr. Lin Xun?" It was still a sweet-sounding female voice.

Lin Xun: "Yes, hello."

"Hello, Mr. Lin. My surname is Ruan, Ruan Zhi. I am the Assistant to the CEO at 'Galaxy.' Do you happen to be free recently?"

He had put it on speaker, so both Zhao Jiagou and Wang Anquan could hear.

They looked at each other.

Wang Anquan’s mouth slowly fell open.

Lin Xun’s heart sped up as he said into the phone, "I'm free anytime."

"Great," she said. "It’s like this: we are very interested in your 'Goddess of the Luo River' model. If you have time, would it be convenient for you to come to Galaxy headquarters this afternoon? We would like to discuss some matters with you in person."

Lin Xun: "O... Okay."

The assistant on the other end chuckled. "Then I won't disturb your work. I hope to have a pleasant meeting with you."

The call ended.

Lin Xun slowly lowered his phone.

Zhao Jiagou stood in front of him and said, "Brother Lin, I apologize for my previous remarks."

Wang Anquan followed immediately: "Xun, I also offer my most sincere apologies for what I just said—you, me, him, Lin Suanfa, Wang Anquan, Zhao Jiagou, the three of us will never disband, until the end of time, until the seas run dry—"

"That’s enough." Lin Xun interrupted Wang Anquan’s mushy confession, unable to stop the corners of his mouth from curling up. The exhaustion of staying up all night vanished, and his vision gradually cleared. But the hallucination remained—two blue squares floated above his two partners' heads. He thought it was strange, but considering what had happened today, it seemed understandable; it was just extreme emotional excitement, and maybe it would go away in a bit.

After all, this was the best news he had received in his life.

Galaxy!

Thirty million!

His idol!

Wang Anquan collapsed onto the bed in ecstasy, hugging a pillow. Obviously, he had also seen that news and muttered senselessly, "Thirty million, thirty million... Jia Gou, how did we divide the shares? Did you just write whatever?"

Zhao Jiagou hugged another pillow and lay opposite Wang Anquan, also muttering senselessly in reply, "Just wrote whatever. Even split."

Wang Anquan became even more entranced by the prospect of wealth, his eyes going blank.

Zhao Jiagou slapped the mattress. "Ten minutes ago, I was still tempted by the 600,000 annual salary Eagle offered..."

Wang Anquan stroked the pillow. "I was also secretly delighted by the 700,000 annual salary Lions offered."

Zhao Jiagou’s Chinese became even more proficient under his irritation: "Why the hell do you get 100,000 more than me?"

Wang Anquan: "Because Python is the best language in the world."

"What about Java then?"

Finding no common ground, they threw the pillows aside and began to scuffle on the spot.

But Lin Xun was different.

Lin Xun began to prepare for the meeting with "Galaxy," though he didn't know who it would be with—it might just be a low-level product manager.

Afternoon arrived quickly.

After getting out of the car, Lin Xun looked at the car window, checking one last time if his attire was appropriate.

A white shirt, naturally, was no problem. For the outer layer, he chose a light gray, striped casual suit; the overall look was relaxed and bright.

—He looked decent enough.

Zhao Jiagou rolled down the car window and whistled at him. "You’re the most handsome!"

Lin Xun smiled and said, "I’m going."

Wang Anquan let out a strange cry from inside the car: "Thirty million!"

Under the afternoon sun, the glass curtain wall of the Galaxy Building sparkled.

Lin Xun had thought he would have to ask where to go, but to his surprise, as soon as he entered the main entrance of the Galaxy headquarters, someone dressed as a secretary stepped forward. "Are you Mr. Lin Xun?"

He followed the secretary into a private elevator and watched as she pressed the button for the top floor, realizing that this meeting might not be as simple as he had thought.

He blinked hard.

The secretary also had a blue semi-transparent square above her head, just like the ones he had seen on Wang Anquan and Zhao Jiagou.

"Ding."

The elevator stopped. Ruan Zhi, the assistant, stood at the door, smiling at him with an identical blue square above her head.

Lin Xun truly felt that something was fishy, but time was pressing, and he couldn't afford to investigate.

Ruan Zhi was a familiar face to Lin Xun; she often appeared in major media interviews following the CEO of Galaxy.

The assistant made the call.

The assistant came to meet him.

Then who was he going to see?

Lin Xun could only think of one possibility.

It must be his idol—otherwise, who else could command Ruan Zhi’s presence?

In this second, the strange blue squares were no longer important; his heart was filled only with his idol.

At this moment, he was no longer bitter about that thirty million; he, too, would have it today.

Ruan Zhi pushed open the wooden office door. In the slightly spacious room, everything was in perfect order.

The sunlight from the top floor spilled through the floor-to-ceiling windows, illuminating the office décor composed simply of silver and white. The walls shimmered with a luster like a snowy mountain.

Lin Xun walked in, feeling the temperature drop slightly for some reason. The surroundings were silent, with only the rhythmic sound of his own footsteps.

And at the end of the office, behind the desk, sat a person with his head down, reading a document.

A very simple white shirt, a relaxed yet upright posture—a cool and solitary figure.

The founder and CEO of the technological empire "Galaxy." He was very young.

Even though Lin Xun had seen many interviews and reports about him, he still felt a shock when his idol actually appeared before his eyes.

At the same time, his eyes seemed to return to normal; there was no blue thing on his idol.

He breathed a sigh of relief, his gaze drawn to his idol's fingers.

Slender fingers were currently flipping through the document. A cold white color, with faint pale blue veins showing through, like the silhouette of a snowy mountain. The knuckles were beautiful. If he were to place his fingers on piano keys instead of paper, everyone would hold their breath, waiting for the music to begin—music that would far surpass any earthly sound.

—And these hands had indeed, like playing a piano, created countless lines of elegant and amazing code for the world. In their teens, Lin Xun and Wang Anquan would spend all day on GitHub watching their idol's code, concluding that this man’s right hand had been kissed by Von Neumann and his left hand had been held by Turing. In university, Lin Xun thought his coding skills were finally presentable—but by then, his idol was already developing his own programming language.

Later, Lin Xun’s focus shifted toward algorithms rather than programming, perhaps realizing that in the realm of programming, there would always be a legendary figure who was too brilliant to ever catch up to.

He walked closer.

His idol raised his head.

The clamor of the world seemed to fade away as a snowfall descended.

He had long black hair and wore a pair of thin-framed gold glasses. As he moved, the matching gold chain swung slightly in the air, reflecting a bit of brilliant light in the sun.

Behind the lenses, a pair of cool, clear eyes met Lin Xun’s gaze.

This man was beautiful. His features, more three-dimensional than most, seemed to carry a hint of mixed heritage, yet it was untraceable. There seemed to be no trace of emotion in his light-colored pupils, which made him look even less like someone who belonged in the real world.

"First meeting, Mr. Lin." His voice was like his appearance—marked by a coldness that felt distant from the mortal world.

"Hello," Lin Xun chose his words carefully, "...Dong Jun."

—This was the man’s well-known preference. Whether in formal or informal settings, people called him by his name, Dong Jun.

The name seemed related to ancient Eastern legends; in any case, it sounded full of mystery.

Dong Jun seemed to slightly curl his lips into a faint smile. "Please, sit."

Lin Xun sat down and exhaled softly. He was indeed a bit nervous.

Dong Jun’s fingers pressed on the document as he turned it and pushed it toward Lin Xun. "I invited you here today because there is something I wish to discuss with you."

Lin Xun met his gaze. Although he tried hard to keep his expression unchanged, his heart was full of joy.

He imagined tomorrow’s headlines.

"Galaxy" injects thirty million into the "Goddess of the Luo River" team!

Thirty million.

He was already flying, clutching a check and soaring ten thousand meters in the air.

He could buy servers, expand the database, stop renting old residential buildings and move into a studio. His "Goddess of the Luo River" would be launched and trigger a new era... Thirty million!

As if noticing his distraction, Dong Jun paused before continuing calmly, "I intend, in my personal capacity, to invest two hundred thousand to purchase a portion of the equity in 'Goddess of the Luo River'."

Lin Xun: "..."