In Chen Mo's office, Wei Zhe, Wang Sijia, and Lin Shu sat quietly on the sofa, waiting. Moments earlier, they'd received a notice from Zhao Min and were promptly escorted here by a robot.
It wasn't often one got called in for a personal meeting with the boss himself.
Wei Zhe appeared calm, accustomed to pressure. Wang Sijia, on the other hand, was curiously scanning the elegant and spacious office. Even in the upper echelons of the company, not many employees had stepped foot in here. Lin Shu was the most nervous—and also the most excited. Since reporting for work at Marching Ant, she'd only seen Chen Mo from afar, usually catching brief glimpses of him like the other wide-eyed young female employees.
Now, being this close, in a personal meeting… it still didn't feel real.
She stared at the door with quiet anticipation, heart fluttering.
Wang Sijia leaned over and whispered teasingly in her ear, "Lin Shu, you've been staring at the door like it owes you money. Waiting for the boss to walk in?"
Both women worked on the artificial intelligence team and were among the few female engineers in the department. Naturally, they shared a good rapport. While not best friends, they were close enough to joke around.
"N-no… I wasn't!" Lin Shu quickly denied, her eyes darting away.
Wang Sijia grinned wider. "So nervous… you're totally caught. You're crushing on the boss, aren't you? At your age, hormones run wild—completely understandable."
"I—no! That's not—" Lin Shu's cheeks turned scarlet, her whole face glowing with embarrassment.
"Pfft. You're practically wearing it on your face like a sticker," Wang Sijia laughed.
"Honestly, having a crush on the boss isn't exactly rare around here. The man's a walking dream: smart, successful, mysterious. You know how many girls in this company would marry him on the spot? My own sister once said if she ever met him, she'd propose on the spot. And if he didn't already have a girlfriend..." She smirked. "I might've pounced on him myself."
Pfft—cough!
Wei Zhe, who had been quietly sipping his water, choked violently. He patted his chest, coughing hard to recover. Wang Sijia's bluntness had nearly killed him.
Seeing his reaction, Lin Shu nearly sank into the couch, her face burning even more.
"Relax, Wei Zhe," Wang Sijia chuckled. "I was just chatting with Lin Shu. You didn't need to eavesdrop."
"…You weren't exactly whispering," Wei Zhe muttered, wiping his mouth.
"Anyway," he added quickly, steering the conversation away, "what do you think the boss wants from us this time?"
"Most likely something to do with the Artificial Intelligence+ initiative," Wang Sijia replied, her tone shifting to serious. "The project's just started, and all three of us are on the AI development team."
Lin Shu silently nodded, grateful for the shift in topic. Her gaze once again drifted to the office door.
Then—click—the door opened.
Her heart jumped.
Chen Mo walked in with his usual calm and unhurried demeanor. Lin Shu shot to her feet, quickly followed by Wang Sijia and Wei Zhe.
"Relax. No need to be so formal—sit," Chen Mo said, taking a seat across from them.
Wang Sijia and Wei Zhe sat down with practiced ease. Lin Shu, still slightly stiff, slowly lowered herself onto the edge of her seat.
"You probably guessed why I called you here," Chen Mo began, looking at each of them.
The three exchanged glances and shook their heads. "No, President," they said in unison.
Chen Mo leaned forward slightly.
"Let me ask you this first: If you had better development opportunities elsewhere, would you leave the company?"
It was a direct question, but one that made his intention clear. He was testing their loyalty.
Wei Zhe was the first to speak. "I'm not going anywhere. Xueyin prefers stability, and frankly, I don't think there's a better place to grow than here."
"I don't have big ambitions," Wang Sijia added. "And if my cousin Zhao Min isn't leaving, I'm definitely not leaving."
"I won't leave," Lin Shu said seriously, shaking her head with conviction.
Chen Mo nodded, satisfied. This wasn't a trick question, but a necessary filter. There was no point teaching a deeper level of technology to people who might walk away with it.
"How's the Artificial Intelligence+ project going?" he asked.
Wei Zhe gestured toward Wang Sijia. "Director Wang's leading it."
"We're progressing steadily," she explained. "The boss already approved the overall direction. We're currently working on developing the personal intelligent assistant—based on Xiaodie's framework. But the new assistant will require significantly more intelligence, something closer to the level of the Demon Ji robot. The problem is, the functions and usage scenarios are very different, so adapting isn't easy."
"Have you made any breakthroughs?"
"Not yet," Wang Sijia admitted. "The current tech level of our team can only go so far with mobile assistant-level intelligence. We don't have access to the deeper robot core code."
Chen Mo didn't reply. He stood up and simply said, "Come with me."
The three followed Chen Mo through the building, eventually arriving at a pristine, highly secure lab.
"This is the artificial intelligence lab I used to work in. I have other spaces now, so I'm giving this one to you."
All three froze for a moment, stunned.
The AI lab once used by Chen Mo?
This was legendary—every engineer in the company had dreamed of even visiting this place. Now, it was being handed to them.
Chen Mo didn't linger on the reaction. "Mo Nu, open the intelligent programming tutorial—Chinese character algorithm."
"Okay, Mo Ge," Mo Nu's voice responded, and a massive screen on the wall lit up with files and video tutorials.
The three looked at each other with wide eyes. The name Mo Nu wasn't widely known in the company—most employees only knew the boss had a personal AI. Few had ever heard her speak. But hearing her now, and hearing the way she addressed Chen Mo—Mo Ge—was a moment they wouldn't forget.
They also realized something else: this wasn't just any AI. The depth of her voice, her responsiveness… this was something far more advanced than anything they'd worked with.
Chen Mo continued calmly, as if none of this were strange.
"This tutorial covers intelligent programming algorithms based on the Chinese character programming language. It uses nonlinear logic to build AI frameworks—far more adaptable than traditional models. The Demon Ji robot's intelligence core was developed using this algorithm."
The three of them sat upright, now completely serious.
"This is also one of the main reasons I've been promoting the Chinese character programming language. Without my permission, none of you are to share this algorithm with anyone."
Chen Mo's tone wasn't harsh—but it carried unquestionable weight.
The trio nodded earnestly. They knew very well: this was company-core, top-secret technology. Chen Mo was trusting them at an unprecedented level.
"With your background in Chinese character programming, it shouldn't be hard to learn. This lab is yours now. Study hard. Build something great."
At Chen Mo's command, Mo Nu granted them access rights to the lab and elevated their technical privileges.
For the three of them, this wasn't just a promotion.
It was a passing of the torch.
And they knew: the future of Marching Ant's next-generation AI—began right here.