Who would still start a business seriously after being reborn?

Chapter 535 Collapse of Trust
While Cheng Yi and Chen Zhi were having tea and chatting, the Actoz headquarters in Seoul was still brightly lit.

On the projector screen, the data bar chart for the Legendary Asia server after 72 hours of operation showed a continuous surge in red, with both the number of online players and the recharge revenue exceeding expectations.

Kim Myung-chul, champagne in hand and beaming, moved through the celebrating crowd, accepting compliments from his subordinates and reserved nods from Samsung's representatives. The air was thick with the cloying scent of money and victory.

"President Kim, it seems your plan is very successful." A Samsung representative smiled and raised his glass.

"It's all thanks to Chief Lee's strategic planning. With the PayPal sign up, the players are brimming with confidence," Kim Myung-chul said with a fawning smile, brimming with self-satisfaction.

“Although we’ve made a good start, we still shouldn’t let our guard down,” Li Minghao said slowly. “Momo Group is no pushover. We’ve taken their jobs, and they can’t possibly not react.”

Kim Myung-chul laughed and said, "They're just an internet cafe company in China. I don't believe they would dare to do anything to Samsung."

Kim Myung-chul's words made many people in the room laugh.

Yes, the two sides are more than ten times stronger. If they are smart enough, they can only endure it.

At this moment, a precise surgical intrusion targeting the Legendary Asia server is underway silently.

Lin Qingyin's fingertips danced across the keyboard.

On the screen, she peeled back the core protocol stack of the Actoz Legendary Asia Server recharge middleware system layer by layer.

The core of recharge is undoubtedly what internet companies value most.

While not as complex as PayPal, it still has multiple layers of security measures in place.

Lin Qingyin was in charge of the main attack, the Dark Lance hacker team was responsible for the support, and Yu Sen and others were responsible for providing source tracing and defense measures as well as the cleanup work after the successful intrusion.

Under the guidance of those psychopathic geniuses at the Gods Network Research Institute, the Dark Lance hacker team is growing very rapidly. Any one of them is enough to crush Lin Qingyin two years ago.

But now, even if all five of them were combined, they would still be completely overwhelmed by Lin Qingyin.

After all, Lin Qingyin was the sect's holy maiden of the Gods Network Research Institute, while they were at most just peripheral disciples.

Lin Qingyin quickly identified a fatal flaw.

A buffer management module for handling high-concurrency recharge requests.

The code here is outdated, and a very minor vulnerability has been found in the boundary checks.

"There's an overflow vulnerability here!" Lin Qingyin's finger hovered over the Enter key for a second before she immediately began exploiting the vulnerability.

As strings of code were entered, the screen continuously refreshed with images of the same code.

The code refreshes very quickly; unless you're a top-tier hacker, the sheer volume of code can be overwhelming.

Twenty minutes later, Lin Qingyin finally hacked into the module and cracked the recharge core.

Once the code was cracked, she immediately said, "Detonation command, inject! Target: all Southeast Asian node recharge servers! Execute!"

“Received.” The five members of the Dark Lance hacker team also got excited.

Soon, a series of highly disguised, distorted data streams, mixed in with the normal game login heartbeat packets, silently passed through Actoz's firewall like virus spores and were precisely injected into the memory core of the target template.

At first, there were no warning signs.

The notification sounds of successful top-ups continued to play in the top-up system.

It was 20:31 PM.

A piercing alarm sounded in the monitoring center of Actoz headquarters in Seoul.

The alarm sounded without warning, instantly drowning out the celebratory noise in the control room.

On the main control screen, more than a dozen server nodes representing the Southeast Asian region instantly turned from green to red, and alarm messages flooded the screen!
[WARNING! SEA-NODE-07 recharge service process crashed!]

[WARNING! SEA-NODE-12 memory overflow! Core services unresponsive!]

[Critical Error! Recharge queue backlog exceeds threshold! Database connection pool exhausted!]

【…】

"What's going on?" Jin Mingzhe's smile froze instantly. He rushed to the control panel, staring at the blood-red screen, his voice trembling.

The technical lead was pale, his fingers futilely tapping on the keyboard as he said in a trembling voice, "No, I don't know! It suddenly crashed. All recharge requests from Southeast Asia were frozen. Restarting didn't help. The load was off the charts as soon as it started."

"What about PayPal? Is there a problem with PayPal?" Kim Myung-chul shouted as if grasping at a straw.

"The PayPal gateway is working properly. All transaction requests have been sent out, and we've received successful callbacks from PayPal." The technical lead said nervously, "But... but our middleware system is down. It can't process PayPal's callbacks, can't distribute in-game currency to players' accounts, and can't record orders! The current situation is that players have paid real money to PayPal, PayPal tells us the transaction is successful, but we haven't received anything, and there's nothing in the players' accounts either."

Jin Mingzhe felt a sudden darkness before his eyes.

Finished!

Players paying money but not receiving the goods is more terrifying than payment insecurity; it's blatant fraud.

Their promotional materials these past few days have focused on how secure PayPal is, and the fact that they only charge a 15% service fee has attracted a lot of players' attention.

But now that this has happened, where is their reputation?
This problem is too serious; the news spread like wildfire throughout the Southeast Asian gaming community.

On the Philippines' largest gaming forum, a post with a blood-red title was instantly flooded with upvotes:
[A shocking scam on the Actoz Legendary Asia server: I sold equipment, the transaction showed as successful, but I never received my money. Where did my hard-earned cash go?]

Following closely, similar posts, screenshots, and videos of accusations erupted like a volcano in Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and beyond!
"Actoz is a scammer! Give me back my hard-earned money!" "What's the point of PayPal's security? It's a complete rip-off!!"

"Where is Actoz? Come out and give us an explanation!"

"Boycott Actoz! Boycott the Asian server for Legendary games!"

Angry players began to organize and flood Actoz Asia's official forums and customer service channels, with some even starting to dox Kim Myung-chul and Samsung's representative to find their contact information.

On major social media platforms, the hashtags #ActozScam#, #LegendaryAsiaServerMoneySwallowing#, and #SamsungPayPalScam# have seen their popularity skyrocket, instantly overshadowing Actoz's previous massive advertising campaign.

A few hours later, an even more infuriating scene unfolded.

Some tech-savvy players discovered an even more infuriating fact through packet sniffing analysis: not only was Legendary Treasure Pavilion having problems, but some players who repeatedly recharged in-game currency during the recharge system crash were also successfully charged multiple times by PayPal.

When Actoz's middleware system is down, it is completely unable to properly handle these duplicate payment callbacks.

"Damn it, I recharged three times and they deducted money from my account three times, but I'm still broke in the game." A video of a Vietnamese player's outburst went viral online.

Trust completely collapsed at that moment.

PayPal's prestigious brand has become the biggest irony.

Jingzhou City, Momo Group Headquarters Building.

"Great!" Seeing the surging public opinion on social media, Kong Feng clenched his fist and the gloom that had been hanging over his face for days vanished.

He looked at Cheng Yi with excitement and said, "President Cheng, this time, Actoz will be badly injured, even if he doesn't die, right?"

At this moment, Huang Wenrong kept staring at his phone. After a while, he said, "President Cheng, Actoz's stock price plummeted at the opening of the Korean KOSDAQ, triggering the circuit breaker mechanism. Samsung Electronics' stock price was also affected to some extent. However, the Korean media has already pointed the finger at us, saying that we are engaging in improper policies."

“Pointing to?” Cheng Yi sneered and said, “Where’s the evidence? Who can prove that we did it? What does it have to do with Momo if Actoz’s own crotch isn’t properly secured?”

He said to Kong Feng, "Mr. Kong, please release a press release on the Momo Games website in a little while. The gist of it should be: we express our deep sympathy for the Actoz Asia server players' experience, we express our deep regret for their technical malfunction, we strongly condemn all unfounded speculation and malicious slander against the gaming industry, and we strongly condemn some unfair competition practices in the industry. Finally, we should state that Momo Games always adheres to legal and compliant operations and is committed to providing players with a safe and stable gaming environment."

"Okay." Kong Feng looked at Cheng Yi, who didn't blush as he lied, and felt extremely impressed.

Kong Feng had never admired many people in his life, but Cheng Yi was one of them.

"Cheng Yi." As she spoke, Lin Qingyin's clear but obviously worried voice rang out.

She walked in carrying a stack of documents, her delicate brows furrowed. She went straight to Cheng Yi and said, "The technical department's analysis report is out. Although we used multiple springboards and disguises, Samsung's security team is not to be underestimated. Sooner or later, they will be able to find some clues about the source of the attack."

Kong Feng couldn't help but ask, "If they find out it was us who did it, will they retaliate?"

Cheng Yi smiled and said, "They will definitely retaliate, but they will never retaliate openly. Samsung has so many industries in China, would they dare to completely break off relations? This punch of mine is to deter them from acting rashly."

He surveyed the crowd, his voice resolute: "Now is not the time to hesitate. Lao Huang, immediately contact Enze Capital and, in coordination with the Actoz stock price crash, quietly short Samsung Electronics-related derivatives. Give it another kick in the financial market. Kong Feng, immediately launch the 'Legendary Refugee Exclusive Welfare Channel' on all servers of the Honghuang War Chronicles Asia server. With a screenshot of your Actoz Asia server character, you can directly claim double the newbie gift pack and a limited-time high drop rate buff! Swallow up all the players Actoz has worked so hard to win over during this period."

Huang Wenrong couldn't help but sigh, "President Cheng, is it really okay for us to kick someone when they're down like this? People will think that Momo Group has no professional ethics."

"We should press our advantage and pursue the enemy to the bitter end, rather than seeking fame like Xiang Yu." Cheng Yi sighed, "If we don't take this opportunity to make Samsung pay a price now, we will suffer even greater losses when they retaliate."

"Just listen to me and get to work. Anyway, with our chairman backing you up, you won't get the blame."

A week later.

The atmosphere inside Samsung's headquarters offices in Seoul was extremely tense.

Li Minghao's face turned ashen as he slammed a thick technical analysis report onto the huge conference table, sending papers flying everywhere.

"Useless! Those idiots at Actoz are useless! Your security response team is useless too!" He pointed at the several technical executives standing below, silent and trembling, and cursed, "It's been a week, and you still can't pinpoint the exact source of the attack. You only have a bunch of indirect evidence pointing to Southeast Asian botnets. This report wouldn't even fool a third-rate tabloid!"

A technical supervisor wearing thick glasses forced a defense: "Director Li, the other party's methods are very sophisticated. They exploited outdated vulnerabilities in Actoz's own system, carefully dissecting the attack chain with multiple layers of jump servers, ultimately pointing to several long-abandoned botnets. We suspect..."

"Suspicion? I need fucking evidence! Evidence that proves this is related to Momo Group! If I had suspicions, what would I be doing keeping you guys around? I'd be keeping a mistress." Li Minghao roared, interrupting the technical director, and angrily said, "Everyone outside is laughing at us now. Actoz's stock price has collapsed, and it's affecting our reputation too!"

He took a deep breath, suppressing his surging anger. His eyes were terrifyingly gloomy. He walked to the huge floor-to-ceiling window, looking down at the bustling street scene of Seoul. His voice seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth as he said, word by word, "You dare to launch an attack on Samsung. Well, very well indeed."

The last company that dared to do something like this to them was Toshiba of Japan.

The two companies had previously engaged in fierce competition in the television industry, with Toshiba taking the lead in launching the attack.

Jin Mingzhe, the outsider, could only huddle in the corner. He glanced at Li Minghao and cautiously asked, "Chief Li, so what should we do now..."

Li Minghao whirled around, staring intently at Jin Mingzhe, and said, "Actoz Asia server, restore it as quickly as possible, at any cost! Double, no, triple compensation for all affected players! Stabilize the situation first; we can't lose the partnership with PayPal. As for Momo Group..."

He said coldly, "Do they think they can rest easy with such underhanded tricks? Hmph, only the weak resort to such despicable methods. A bunch of lowlifes."

Li Minghao quickly said, "They think they can rest easy with just one sneak attack? What a joke! What is Momo Group's biggest asset? It's nothing more than this game, 'Honghuang Zhanji'. What we need to destroy is not their payment channels, but the players' love and trust in this game. We need to turn 'Honghuang Zhanji' into a garbage dump that everyone despises from the root."

"The biggest weakness of their game has never been inside the game itself, but in the network beneath their feet!"

Li Minghao's finger jabbed heavily onto the crisscrossing blue lines on the tactics board in front of the conference room.

That's a map of the telecommunications infrastructure covering Southeast Asian countries.

Samsung Group's investments span almost the entire telecommunications network sector across Southeast Asia.

"What's the lifeblood of online games? It's smooth gameplay!" He smirked cruelly and said, "Notify our old friends in Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines to do everything they can to let the internet cafes and players running 'Primordial War Chronicles' experience what true 'one step, one lag' really means. I want to see just how tolerant the players of 'Primordial War Chronicles' really are!"

(End of this chapter)