Chapter 54 Cybertron Workshop (Part 2) (Patreon)

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After adjusting his outfit in front of the mirror for a while, Sun Cheng nodded in satisfaction.

The casual suit he was wearing was prepared for his entrepreneurship a few months ago, and Sun Cheng still remembered vividly the experience of scrimping and saving for over a month just to buy a decent suit for himself.

In mid-April, the heat in the southern city was already noticeable, but he still had to wear a suit today because, after a brief wait, he finally received an email from Apple company. With the numerous iOS system vulnerabilities he had, he forced the tech giant to contact him for his contact information. Upon learning that he was in the headquarters of the China branch in the city, the company even arranged for a vice president to meet with him.

How could Sun Cheng not feel proud of himself for this achievement?!

After tidying up carefully and putting a new USB drive in his pocket, he locked the door and prepared to leave.

Just as he walked out of the dormitory building, he saw a familiar face approaching him. The person's face lit up upon seeing him and walked over.

"Are you going out, Acheng?" The person was Lu Lan, Sun Cheng's classmate and one of his creditors.

Sun Cheng recognized him and smiled. He nodded and asked, "Old Lu, it's almost the end of the month. Are you here to collect money from me? I have an appointment with an investor later. If you're not in a hurry, come to my dorm tomorrow. If you're in a rush, come over tonight, and I'll give you back the two thousand."

Due to his entrepreneurship, he owed a lot of external debts, including some of his classmates whom he used to hang out with.

However, since the entrepreneurship project encountered a series of problems, rumors started to spread around the class, and many people had become distant from him.

Therefore, as he was about to receive a return from Apple, Sun Cheng had already decided to repay his debts without waiting for Lu Lan to ask for it.

This generous attitude stunned Lu Lan a bit. He hesitated before asking, "Acheng, isn't your entrepreneurship project already gone bankrupt? If you don't have the money right now, you can give it to me later to avoid the embarrassment."

Sun Cheng's eyes narrowed. He had only announced the dissolution of the entrepreneurship team the day before yesterday, but it had already spread so quickly. It seemed that someone had been stirring things up behind his back.

After thinking about it, he asked tentatively, "Is it Lu Lei, Huo Miao, or Liu Kun who told you?"

Lu Lei, Huo Miao, Liu Kun, and Sun Cheng himself were the four initiators of his entrepreneurship project. The former two were also classmates of Lu Lan, and they knew each other. Although Liu Kun was Sun Cheng's roommate, he often met with Lu Lan as well. Perhaps they were not as close as Lu Lei and Huo Miao, but they definitely knew each other.

Lu Lan didn't hide anything from Sun Cheng. Perhaps he didn't think it was a big deal. "I met Liu Kun last night, and he mentioned it."

Sun Cheng's mouth twitched, and he thought to himself that he was right. However, he didn't plan to mention the details to Lu Lan.

"Liu Kun left the entrepreneurship team more than half a month ago. He doesn't know our current situation. How about this, I'm in a hurry now. If you're not at ease, just come to my dormitory door in the afternoon. Oh, by the way, don't call me. My phone broke the day before yesterday, and it's still being repaired!"

After all, they were classmates, and Sun Cheng had said enough. Lu Lan couldn't say much more either, so he just nodded. He didn't agree to come over later, nor did he refuse. It seemed that he believed the rumors.

After Sun Cheng finished speaking, he didn't waste any more time. He bid Lu Lan goodbye and walked towards the school gate. He flagged down a taxi and arrived at the place where he was supposed to meet with the Apple company representatives in Jiangning District. It was a chic coffee shop, and he only spent less than twenty yuan on the taxi ride.

"Sir, how many people are in your party..." As soon as he arrived, a waiter came up to him, and Sun Cheng nodded slightly. "I have an appointment. Can you tell me where room 3013 is?"

"Please follow me..."

He followed the waiter all the way to the third-floor private room area and quickly found room 3013. After thanking the waiter, he walked in.

"Click!"

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

When he saw Sun Cheng, his eyes lit up. Before Sun Cheng could say anything, he asked, "Are you Mr. Sun Cheng from Cybertron Studio?"

Cybertron Studio was the ID Sun Cheng used for reporting vulnerabilities last time. However, he had changed it yesterday at the business bureau, from the previous "Crossing Studio" to Cybertron.

Sun Cheng nodded and smiled. "Yes, that's me."

The man's eyes sparkled with admiration. "I've heard a lot about you. Please come in."

Sun Cheng had a good understanding of the brand, and just from the other party's dress and temperament, which probably cost no less than five figures, he judged that the thin middle-aged man in front of him was likely in a high position at Apple.

But his mental adjustment was even better than he had imagined. He smiled slightly and nodded, answering, "It's me..."

The middle-aged man reached out and shook his hand, smiling, "No wonder they say 'each generation is stronger than the last.' Mr. Sun Cheng, at such a young age, you already have such profound computer skills. At my age, I'm still struggling with my thesis at MIT!"

Although he mentioned the prestigious American school, MIT, Sun Cheng didn't have much of a reaction. Although it was a top-notch school in Europe and America, the South Industrial University he attended was also one of the best universities in China. It was not necessarily inferior to others, and he had some pride in that.

After a moment of silence, the middle-aged man said, "I haven't introduced myself yet. I'm Liu Qingmin, the Vice President of Apple China."

Sun Cheng was surprised to find that he was actually a big shot!

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

As soon as Sun Cheng walked in, he immediately felt several pairs of eyes on him.

Looking closely, there were two men and one woman sitting in the private room. Aside from the young woman in professional attire with black-framed glasses, the four men looked to be over thirty years old.

After they entered the private room, Liu Qingmin introduced them to him, "These two are our company's vulnerability testers, and this is our legal advisor, Miss Chen Wei. Although it may be a bit abrupt to say this, I would like to ask Mr. Sun Cheng first, does your Cybertron Studio still have some vulnerabilities in our iOS system?"

"Indeed!"

Sun Cheng nodded and stopped there. He knew what the iOS system he had in his hands meant to Apple, so he could only wait and see what happened next.

As expected, Apple couldn't sit still.

Seeing that he had a very mature personality, Liu Qingmin had no choice but to speak, "I would like to thank you and your studio again for your support to our Apple company. Before, we didn't mention the reward for reporting the vulnerabilities in the email."

Sun Cheng's ears perked up. This was currently the issue he was most concerned about.

Fortunately, Liu Qingmin didn't keep him in suspense. He nodded to the legal advisor, Chen Wei, who then took out a document from her bag and handed it to him.

Sun Cheng took a look and found that it was an agreement.

Although the agreement was only two pages long, it took him several minutes to read it word by word.

After reading it, he put the agreement back on the table. Although there wasn't much change in his expression, he was very satisfied with the agreement.

Although the reward from Apple wasn't particularly generous, it was still authentic. As long as he agreed to sign the agreement with a six-month confidentiality period, they would immediately pay him a total of 20,000 yuan in cash, which was equivalent to about 3,000 US dollars, which was much more than he had expected.

However, although he was satisfied, Sun Cheng felt that he should fight for himself a bit more. He said, "I have no objections to other aspects, but the six-month confidentiality period is too long. Most of the vulnerabilities we found are relatively obscure, and it's hard to say when others will discover them! If you hold us responsible at that time, our small studio won't be able to bear the consequences."

"Mr. Sun, this..."

Apple's legal advisor, Chen Wei, was about to argue, but was interrupted by Liu Qingmin next to her.

After a moment of contemplation, he nodded and made a compromise, "Alright, we can shorten the confidentiality period to three months!"

Sun Cheng looked at him in astonishment. He didn't expect the other party to make concessions so easily.

Three months was acceptable to Sun Cheng, so he nodded, "Three months is acceptable!"

Chen Wei then took out a blank document with some disputed areas left blank from her bag, made some changes, and handed it to him, saying, "Please sign in the blank spaces on the document and provide me with a bank account. I will transfer the bonus to the account provided by Mr. Sun within five minutes!"

Sun Cheng immediately followed her instructions. Chen Wei quickly took out an Apple laptop and transferred 20,000 yuan in cash from the financial account to the bank card he provided in front of him.

Although Sun Cheng only glanced at her transfer briefly, he felt that a big company like Apple would not deceive him for such a small amount of money. Therefore, when the other party prompted completion, his tense nerves immediately relaxed.

Liu Qingmin obviously understood the principle of striking while the iron was hot. With this cooperation basis, he went straight to the point when he spoke again.

He said, "I wonder if you can discuss other vulnerabilities with us?"

Sun Cheng replied firmly, "Sure!" Obviously, he was satisfied with Apple's straightforwardness from before.

He took out the newly bought 2G USB flash drive from his pocket and handed it to him directly. "There are thirty-one iOS vulnerabilities in it, including my discovery process and detailed analysis..."

As soon as they heard that there were so many, the people from Apple all had their expressions change.

After thanking him, Liu Qingmin handed the USB flash drive to the two testing personnel he brought with him. They plugged it into the computer and opened it to examine it for a while before testing several Apple phones with the same device.

The whole process lasted for more than half an hour, and there were continuous cheers.

"The first vulnerability is confirmed, it is the same as 'DFGH-1562-6584' discovered by the headquarters!"

"The second vulnerability is real, and the process verification is no problem!"

"..."

The two technicians continued to report one vulnerability after another, and each one was repeatedly confirmed to exist.

But to Sun Cheng's surprise, the vice president of Apple, Liu Qingmin, who had been paying attention to the progress of the testing, occasionally looked at him with brighter eyes and a thicker smile on his face. He took the initiative to chat with him.

"Mr. Sun Cheng and your Cybertron Studio have really made us Chinese proud. You don't know, the bugs discovered by our Chinese branch these years have been very few, and we have been ridiculed by the technical team at the headquarters for this..."

"I'm older than you, so calling you little brother is more affectionate!"

"Oh? Little brother, you are a talented student from Southern University..."

"I don't know how many people are in your Cybertron Studio? Do you have any interest in working for our Apple company? With your skills, I guarantee that the annual salary of over 100,000 yuan is very easy..."

The other party's recruitment was really enthusiastic, to the point where Sun Cheng couldn't handle it, so he had to refuse decisively, "Thank you, President Liu, for your kindness. The members of our Cybertron Studio are all college students from Southern University. The reason why we have this studio is to gather everyone with dreams together to start a business, so I can only say sorry to you..."

Liu Qingmin was still a little unwilling to give up, and patiently advised, "Little brother, you have to know that although entrepreneurship has a bright future, you cannot underestimate the risks, and having skills does not necessarily mean success. After graduating from university, many of my classmates and friends joined the wave of Silicon Valley entrepreneurship, but there are few successful ones..."

Sun Cheng just smiled and nodded, but he didn't believe it at all.

He now had an adventure and limitless future ahead of him, how could he go work for someone else?

Although Liu Qingmin wanted to persuade him again, seeing his firm attitude, he could only sigh regretfully, but still left room for future recruitment. "Well, I wish you success in your entrepreneurship, little brother. Of course, if you change your mind in the future, you can contact me anytime. The door of our Apple company will always be open to you..."

Sun Cheng, although he didn't believe him, still exchanged contact information with him.

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

When the words "the last vulnerability has been tested, and the problem exists" fell, all the eyes in the private room fell on Sun Cheng again.

Facing everyone's gaze, he smiled gently.

Sun Cheng knew that in the real world, he had to set sail like Yang Fan!

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Next Chapter >>Chapter 55 Night Trial