Chapter 4: The Deadly Cycle - C Language Cultivation

Lin Xun was familiar with many programming languages, but he wasn't particularly proficient in any. That changed when his idol developed glax, which then became his favorite language, leading to a decrease in his usage of other languages. However, this didn't mean he was clueless about C language. On the contrary, after coding a lot, learning any new language wasn't difficult for him. If writing "helloworld" was akin to reaching the initial cultivation phase in the martial art of programming, it was clear that other operations could advance the task progress as well. He began with simple operations. Assignment increased the progress to five percent. Simple conditionals, comparing the size of three numbers, raised it to ten percent. Simple loops, with summation and factorials, increased progress to fifteen percent. Arrays brought it to twenty. Functions jumped it straight to forty. Pointers raised it to sixty. Finally, the progress bar halted at eighty percent and wouldn't budge any further. Could it be that basic operations were no longer sufficient? Lin Xun took a deep breath and quickly coded a simple Minesweeper game. After finishing, the progress didn't increase. He then abandoned the idea of coding a web crawler—apparently, advancing from the entry-level to more advanced stages still required basic operations. Lin Xun began pondering. If he encountered an unsolvable problem, he wouldn't sleep until it was resolved. He dredged up the fundamental C language commands from deep in his memory and tried a few more. Finally, the progress reached eighty-five percent. Frowning, Lin Xun continued to think. Just then, a mechanical voice sounded from all directions: “Mental strength is about to deplete, system shutting down, goodbye.” Everything went dark, and when Lin Xun opened his eyes, he found himself lying in bed. Everything that had happened felt like a dream. When he closed his eyes again, the space had disappeared. A wave of drowsiness washed over him, reminding him that he had pulled an all-nighter. He was at the brink of mental exhaustion. Was this what “mental strength depletion” felt like? Still trying to make sense of it, Lin Xun succumbed to sleep in an instant. The alarm rang at eight in the morning. Lin Xun got up, washed up, and the first thing he did was search for a book in the pile of books in the living room. Wang Anquan, playing video games on the couch, asked, “What are you looking for?” Lin Xun sat across from him with a book: “Got it.” “Nice, Lin God,” Wang Anquan glanced at the cover, “Going back to basics?” Lin Xun held a blue book titled *C Primer Plus*—a classic C language textbook, now in its tenth edition. As he was browsing through the table of contents, the sound of a suitcase being wheeled was heard. The door to a room across opened, revealing a young man with a haggard face wearing a black hat pulled low. He emerged from the room, wheeling a suitcase towards the door. “I’m moving out,” he announced. Lin Xun didn’t know the man’s real name, only that the landlord called him Xiao Chen. Xiao Chen was their roommate, seemingly an artist. After Lin Xun, Wang Anquan, and Zhao Jiagou graduated, they started "Luoshen"—since they decided to start a company, they needed to rent a place. In this city, where space is a luxury, they settled on this third-floor apartment in an old residential building. A four-bedroom two-living room unit—it was a shared arrangement. Lin Xun had one room, Anquan and Jiagou each had another, and the last one was occupied by Xiao Chen. They were programmers, while Xiao Chen engaged in high art, which hardly made them compatible. Xiao Chen was quiet, so even after living together for a year and a half, they were only familiar at a glance. Now that Xiao Chen was leaving, there was little to say. However, not speaking made the atmosphere awkward. “So why are you moving?” Wang Anquan asked. Xiao Chen replied, “Looking for a change of scenery.” As he spoke, Lin Xun noticed his gaze flick towards the few whiteboards standing on the left side of the living room. These whiteboards were shared by Lin Xun and the others, used for ad-hoc demonstrations of algorithms and drawing program flowcharts, filled daily with bizarre formulas. “Safe travels,” Lin Xun said. Xiao Chen acknowledged with a nod and wheeled his suitcase away. Wang Anquan nudged Lin Xun with an elbow: “Do you think he felt our environment wasn’t conducive to his creativity?” Looking at the formulas and code on the whiteboards, Lin Xun replied, “Could be killing his inspiration.” Wang Anquan also looked at the whiteboards, pondering, “Yeah, probably needs to live with other writers. So what would be on their whiteboards?” “Poetry, like ‘A flock of egrets rises into the blue sky,’” Lin Xun replied. Wang Anquan retorted, “Can you be more cultured? At least go for ‘When will the moon and flowers of spring end?’” Zhao Jiagou, stirring his milk, walked out from his room, puzzled blue eyes directed at them: “Why are your Chinese skills worse than mine?” Before Wang Anquan could counter, Zhao Jiagou turned to Lin Xun: “Are you feeling better?” Lin Xun replied, “Somewhat.” He squinted and scrutinized Zhao Jiagou. After entering that peculiar space yesterday, the program interface had disappeared from everyone’s body, returning his world to normal. However, when he focused on someone, the interface reappeared over that person. Could this be the effect of "guiding energy into the body"? Zhao Jiagou nudged Wang Anquan, “Anquan, you’ve gained weight, the result of not using Java.” Wang Anquan joked, “Am I going bald?” After examining him for a moment, Zhao Jiagou reassured, “No.” Wang Anquan leaned back comfortably on the sofa, “Good, life’s too short; I’ll stick with Python.” With everyone present, it was time for serious matters. After Wang Anquan and Zhao Jiagou finished bickering, they turned to Lin Xun: “So, you’re thinking about accepting Dong Jun's offer of two hundred thousand for a five percent equity.” Lin Xun explained, “He said he believes we can deliver extraordinary returns. You should know, if Dong Jun says something like that…” Wang Anquan lamented, “The plight of the die-hard fan!” Lin Xun chuckled, then seriously replied, “The reality is, we do need the money. With two hundred thousand, we could immediately hire another programmer to flesh out the framework. In a month, there’s the technology expo. As long as we can roll out Luoshen completely and present it well at the expo, we might secure further funding and get on the right track.” “What you’re saying makes sense…” Wang Anquan looked troubled, “But, you see, the fruits of our hard work over three years, and Dong Jun offers only two hundred thousand? With your style, don’t you find it hard to accept?” “Our work is indeed worth far more than two hundred thousand,” Lin Xun said, “Once we’ve succeeded, Dong Jun will realize that his two hundred thousand brought him substantial returns, and he’ll see he made a very wise decision.” Wang Anquan turned to Zhao Jiagou: “You handle it, I can’t communicate with a die-hard fan.” Zhao Jiagou stated, “I like Dong Jun too. Anquan, consider that other companies’ shareholders are random people, at most bearing the name of the ‘Galaxy Group.’ But our shareholder would be Dong Jun, Dong Jun himself, Dong God! That’s impressive, plus we really don’t have much money left.” Wang Anquan conceded. The majority ruled, so the decision was passed. Lin Xun picked up his phone; Dong Jun had left a number, saying he could be contacted anytime. Just as he was about to dial, there was a knock on the door. The three exchanged glances; apart from the landlord, they rarely had visitors. Wang Anquan speculated, “The landlord’s here to collect rent!” Adjusting his clothes, Zhao Jiagou went to the door, sporting a bright smile and trying his best to express sincerity in clear Chinese: “Grandpa Huo…” His voice stopped mid-sentence. It wasn’t the landlord, Old Huo, who stood there. Instead, it was a man in a sleek suit, shoes shining, dressed as if attending a high-end meeting. “Hello.” The man looked at the scene in the living room, his expression hesitant yet remaining courteous, “Is this... the Luoshen company?” Zhao Jiagou replied, “Yes.” Lin Xun asked, “And you are...?” Suit Man wore a polite smile and exuded cologne, standing incongruously amidst the equation and flowchart-laden living room, akin to a door-to-door salesman. He introduced himself, “Let me introduce myself, my surname is Li, and I'm the manager of planning for Eagle's Asia-Pacific region.” He paused, his smile deepening, sweeping his gaze over the trio, seemingly expectant of their reaction. Clearly, he took pride in his affiliation with Eagle. Eagle, the formidable entity standing alongside Galaxy in the global market, both unshakeable giants. They monopolized cutting-edge technologies and boasted vast capital reserves, peacefully coexisting on the surface but engaged in countless clandestine battles. However, his introduction was met with a brief silence. Eventually, Lin Xun broke it, “Hello, Manager Li.” Manager Li apologized, “My apologies for the sudden visit. I tried calling Luoshen’s contact number earlier, but there was no response.” Lin Xun recalled, “I’m sorry, I must’ve been asleep then.” “No worries,” Manager Li reassured with a smile. Lin Xun invited Manager Li to take a seat. Politely, Manager Li outlined his purpose. To cut to the chase, Eagle was offering ten million to acquire Luoshen. From then on, the technology would continue to be developed by Lin Xun’s team of three, while the business operations and promotions would be managed by Eagle. Ten million. Lin Xun narrowed his eyes slightly. "At the Asia-Pacific Technology Expo next month, I’ve already seen ‘Luoshen’s’ registration information. By then, Eagle will spare no effort in providing Luoshen with comprehensive help and support. What do you think, Mr. Lin?" Manager Li concluded with this statement. Having said this, he smiled, waiting for a response. Lin Xun exchanged a glance with Wang Anquan, who seemed evasive. He then looked at Zhao Jiagou, who wore an expressionless face. Finally, Lin Xun turned to Manager Li, cleared his throat slightly, and said awkwardly, "I'm sorry. We have our own development direction and goals, and we're not considering that option at the moment." Manager Li's expression froze for a moment, "Are you sure, Mr. Lin?" Lin Xun nodded, "Quite sure. Sorry for the trouble you took to come here." After confirming a few times, Manager Li didn't insist further and bid them farewell—although his smile was much more forced than when he arrived, and his expression wasn't as friendly. After closing the door, Lin Xun looked at the two on the sofa, "Why didn’t either of you want to agree?" "I'm Norwegian, but I have one-eighth Jewish heritage," Zhao Jiagou said. "They've been trying to recruit me for a long time, but I'll never work for the Germans." Lin Xun looked at Wang Anquan. Wang Anquan, leisurely sipping his wolfberry tea, replied, "As you know, back in junior year, I hacked their database. I'm worried they'll recognize me." Lin Xun nodded, "Alright then." Wang Anquan asked, "What about you? Why did you refuse?" "Firstly, Eagle and Galaxy are rivals, and I can't betray Dong Jun." Lin Xun resumed his seat, reopened his *C Primer Plus*, and explained, "Secondly, I'm a bit of a lemon. Since Lions sold for thirty million, Luoshen shouldn't be sold for ten million." Wang Anquan shrugged, "Anyway, I feel Eagle isn't interested in our technology. They're probably aware that Dong Jun reached out to you and are trying to sabotage him. Eagle wouldn't spend ten million to acquire us three out of curiosity. But spending ten million to give Dong Jun a hard time, that they'd be happy to do." "You have a point." Lin Xun agreed, "Then it’s settled; we'll let Dong Jun have a stake, and we'll prepare for the tech expo preselection. When the time comes, both Eagle and Lions will attend, and we need to..." Zhao Jiagou exclaimed, "Crush them!" Lin Xun snapped his fingers, "Especially Lions." Wang Anquan leaned back on the sofa and patted his belly, "You really are jealous—now that I agree, you can get back to Dong Jun." Once again, Lin Xun prepared to call Dong Jun. At this moment, the doorbell rang again. With a feigned smile, Zhao Jiagou opened the door, "Manager Li, did you forget..." But it wasn’t Manager Li at the door. Zhao Jiagou’s smile instantly transformed into one of genuine flattery, "Hello, Grandpa Huo!" "Ah, Xiao Zhao." Their landlord, Old Huo, walked into the living room with his hands behind his back, scrutinizing them with steady eyes, "Everyone’s here. Xiao Chen moved out, so I came to check the apartment." Old Huo was short, with snow-white hair and a slightly hunched back. Yet, because he owned fifty properties in the city and had a hard line, his presence was unyielding. He was like a lion surveying his territory, or a patriarch in a feudal household, sternly looking over the room's setup and the formula-filled whiteboards, "Still scribbling nonsense!" Old Huo, now eighty-nine, couldn't comprehend what the three of them were doing. When he first saw the three each holding two laptops and later installing desktops, constantly typing away, he almost thought they were selling computers. Then, with a look of pressure, Old Huo glanced at them, "Isn’t your rent due as well?" Lin Xun replied, "I’ll transfer it to you today." Satisfied, Old Huo nodded, looking at the now-vacant room that had belonged to Xiao Chen, "A room freed up, huh..." He waved dismissively, "I won't rent it out either; it's too much hassle. You three can have it, store some computer parts or whatever." Still convinced they were selling computers, Old Huo, who was known for his thriftiness, unexpectedly showed generosity by offering them the room for free, which was peculiar. As Lin Xun pondered what might have led to this uncharacteristic benevolence from Grandpa Huo, the familiar mechanical voice suddenly rang in his mind, "Sect territory expanded, current territory level: 1, maximum level: 9." Lin Xun: "!!!" Old Huo had gifted them a room, leading to the expansion of their sect territory. Room = Sect territory. So, the sect = Luoshen company? And the sect funds, does that mean the company’s assets? He gazed at the C language textbook on the table, lost in thought. Meanwhile, Old Huo, basking in the sycophantic gratitude from the foreign handsome lad Zhao Jiagou, put on a gentle and kind expression, turning with Zhao Jiagou's help to head toward Xiao Chen's room to inspect it. Just as he was about to turn around, he suddenly halted abruptly. Lin Xun noticed this out of the corner of his eye, looking in that direction. Aged eighty-nine, it was crucial to continually monitor his health. He saw that Old Huo was staring intently at him. Curious, Lin Xun returned his gaze. At this moment, the peculiar ability he gained yesterday took effect, and with focused attention, a program interface slowly emerged on Old Huo's body. Unlike the blank interfaces on Wang Anquan, Zhao Jiagou, and many others, Old Huo's was brimming with dense code! Looking closely, Lin Xun realized it was a C language web crawler! A crawler is a common program used to automatically extract desired information or data from specific websites or across the internet. Lin Xun felt a twinge of surprise. Simultaneously, Old Huo’s gaze locked onto his. Old Huo took a trembling step towards him, muttering, "Exceptional aptitude, Qi in the body—a true prodigy!"