"Miss Louise, I believe you're trying to persuade me again. Whether my company, USA First Group, goes public or not isn't something I can decide. It's up to the gentlemen behind me!" Versailles stated calmly. The call was from a senior partner at Goldman Sachs, essentially the third highest-ranking person in the entire firm, holding considerable status.
She had urged Versailles to list USA First Group more than once, but Versailles had always refused. Hence, Versailles assumed this call was another attempt to persuade her.
Unexpectedly, Miss Louise said on the phone, "Ms. Versailles, I'm not actually here to discuss the IPO today. I heard that your group's Weibo has received a new batch of servers from Jiangnan Group, is that correct?"
"It seems Miss Louise has quite a few eyes within my company. The equipment only arrived yesterday, and you're calling today!" Versailles's expression shifted slightly, and she spoke with feigned anger.
"Don't ask me. Our intelligence channels are just a bit more informed. After all, we have friends all over the world!" Louise said openly.
"Alright, then what did you want to discuss? Are you perhaps looking to list these servers?" Versailles retorted sarcastically.
"Please, don't be so aggressive. We have no issue with your purchase of these servers. It's just that some of our companies are also in great need of such servers. However, the waiting list from Jiangnan Group is already until next year. Therefore, we hope to urgently purchase a batch of servers from your company. We are willing to pay an additional 10% fee; this is a very profitable deal, isn't it?" Louise said cheerfully.
"Oh, how peculiar. Is your company planning to operate an internet enterprise directly?" Versailles countered. "Or perhaps, Miss Louise, you're acting on behalf of other friends to purchase these servers from me?"
"Ms. Versailles, we're all friends here, and there's no need to be so explicit. In short, we need a batch of servers and hope you can sell them to us!" Louise stated.
"Jiangnan Group is our best partner, and we have profound cooperation on many projects. If this action were known to them, it would damage the relationship between our two companies. This is rather..." Versailles began, sounding genuinely troubled. This was indeed a very difficult situation.
"As long as Jiangnan Group doesn't know, their feelings won't be hurt!" Louise said with a smile. "Furthermore, in doing so, your company would also gain the goodwill of our Goldman Sachs Group. Isn't that beneficial?"
"Very well!" Versailles sighed, shaking her head. "There's no need for money. I can privately represent the group and offer you a set of servers for free. You can send someone to the Weibo data center to pick them up! You should know where that is, right?"
"That's not enough!" Louise shook her head. "Our demand this time is quite large; we need at least 100 sets to meet our requirements!"
"That's absolutely impossible!" Versailles refused without hesitation. "You don't know, but Jiangnan Group has implemented extremely stringent security measures for these servers. To purchase their server equipment, one must agree to their safety protocols!"
"Their personnel will escort the vehicles throughout the entire process, ensuring that each server is installed in the designated location!"
"Moreover, they will send personnel to inspect the server center approximately every ten days to ensure that each server remains in its original position without any changes!"
"In addition, all server malfunctions and damages must be repaired by them. We don't even have the right to open the server casing ourselves. Under these circumstances, my managing to procure even one for you is already a considerable risk. If ten are taken, this matter absolutely cannot be concealed!" Versailles explained.
"Are these guys insane? They've made it so secure?" Louise was stunned. These requirements were completely unknown to her beforehand. She had never imagined Jiangnan Group would establish such a set of rules!
"Yes, this is a supplementary agreement that only appears when signing the formal purchase contract. Jiangnan Group stated that these servers contain their company's most core scientific research secrets, valued at over hundreds of billions of dollars. The loss of any single server would pose a significant risk of technological theft. Therefore, such a supplementary agreement must be signed, otherwise, they won't sell a single server!" Versailles stated.
"Then 10 sets; this is our minimum requirement!" Louise pondered. She knew that if she tried to take 100 sets, she would undoubtedly be unable to deceive Jiangnan Group's people. Thus, she had to lower her demand to the minimum.
"If you can arrange a foolproof plan, I can agree to your request!" Versailles nodded.
"That's simple. As far as I know, the convoy transporting the servers has reached Denver, Colorado, and should pass by the Colorado Bridge tomorrow. I imagine if a truck suddenly lost control, plunged off the bridge, and sank to the riverbed, the 10 sets of servers inside would be considered destroyed, which is quite reasonable!" Louise chuckled.
"Even if the vehicle plunges into the riverbed, it can be salvaged. Moreover, the servers are assembled within the vehicle; they wouldn't be washed away by the river in large quantities, and the absence of 10 sets would still be discovered. This is not a proper plan!" Versailles argued.
"No, they won't have the chance to salvage it. The gentlemen at the Colorado River Management Office won't approve of actions that damage the river environment. As long as the driver can escape safely from the river, without any loss of life, then that truck can remain at the bottom of the river forever!" Louise stated.
"I'll give you someone's number shortly. He's the person in charge of the transport team. You can communicate with him directly!" After speaking, Versailles hung up the phone.
Indeed, the next day, as the convoy set off and passed by the Colorado River, because the driver of one of the trucks had secretly consumed alcohol the previous night, he was driving under the influence today.
Coupled with the icy road surface, the vehicle naturally began to skid, ultimately crashing through the guardrail of the Colorado Bridge and plunging into the depths of the Colorado River.
Soon, rescue personnel arrived. Divers in diving gear descended to the riverbed. Regrettably, after more than an hour, they recovered the body of the driver, who had drowned. As for the vehicle, it remained at the bottom of the river, being swept by the currents.
The accompanying staff from Jiangnan Group immediately proposed hiring local teams to salvage the vehicle, but their salvage application was denied by the Colorado River Management Office.
The reason cited was that such actions would damage the environment and that salvage operations might harm the river's aquatic life.
However, as to precisely how much environmental damage would occur, or whether leaving a vehicle filled with gasoline and various heavy metals submerged in the riverbed would cause even greater harm to the environment and animals, only heaven knows. In any case, the management office resolutely refused, and the truck remained at the bottom of the river, forgotten.
Of course, the people from Jiangnan Group could not possibly know that, on the night of the incident, the 10 sets of servers loaded in that truck had already been transferred to another truck and transported overnight to HP's research center. There, a dozen technicians who had been waiting eagerly immediately began testing these servers.
They initially wanted to connect the servers directly to power to test their performance and see if they lived up to Jiangnan Group's formidable claims.
However, before they could act, they were stopped by someone on-site. This was Versailles's representative and a staff member who had participated in the entire server receiving process. He hastily said, "You cannot power them on, because once powered on, you must input the server's exclusive password within 10 minutes, otherwise, the server will immediately trigger an alarm via its satellite transmitter, informing Jiangnan Group that these devices have been illegally activated!"
"Then where is the exclusive password? Jiangnan Group should have given the exclusive password to you!" The HP technicians asked urgently.
"No, the exclusive password is not in our possession. It is held by the Jiangnan Group's technical team, who are responsible for the installation and debugging of these server equipment. This is to ensure that all equipment installations are under Jiangnan Group's control, preventing others from interfering with or using these devices!" Versailles's representative explained.
"Damn it, who came up with such a perverted method?" One technical expert couldn't help but curse. However, a company executive beside him coughed awkwardly, signaling the technician to stop talking. But the representative from Versailles continued without hesitation, "I heard from the people at Jiangnan Group that they learned this from you. Because all your servers, when sold to them, have exclusive secrets set in the same way! Back then, they weren't even allowed to repair servers they bought from you themselves; they had to pay an exorbitant maintenance fee to have you handle it. So, they directly adopted this practice!"
"That's why I didn't tell you about this initially. I was startled when you immediately wanted to power them on!" said the person from Versailles. The expressions of the people from HP became very peculiar.
"It's alright, there are ways to proceed without powering them on!" A technical representative from HP stated proudly. "We won't power them on; we'll just remove the chips and motherboards from these devices and then dismantle the satellite signal transmitter, won't that suffice?"