I control the AI empire thanks to the geniuses in my group.

Chapter 49 Crisis!

Zhao Zixuan had already started cursing: "Twenty yuan? We sell it for five hundred and fifty yuan a book, and he just sold it to someone for twenty? Seriously, these days people are even robbing students of their money?"

Now that pirated copies are available for twenty yuan, will anyone still buy their genuine copies?

Now that it's spread so widely, I wonder what the school teachers would think if they knew that this notebook was published by Su Zhou and was sold at such a high price!

His father taught him that some things can't be brought out into the open!

Now Su Zhou's business has not only failed, but he also risks being exposed!

"Are there many buyers?" Su Zhou quickly calmed down and asked Song Yuhan.

Song Yuhan hesitated for a moment and said, "Quite a few. Several people in our class bought some, and so did people from Class 3 and Class 5 next door. That person set up a stall outside the west gate of the school yesterday after school, and quite a lot of people gathered around it."

Zhao Zixuan slammed his fist on the table in anger: "I'm going to find him after school!"

Su Zhou grabbed him and said, "Don't rush, let's find out the source first."

He turned to look at Song Yuhan and asked cautiously, "You bought this book because...?"

Song Yuhan's ears turned slightly red as she said, "I saw someone passing it around and thought the problem-solving methods inside were very clear, so I bought a copy. After I bought it, I found the words 'Zhou's Secret Manual' on it. Among the people from our school who participated in the competition, only your name has the character 'Zhou,' so I came to ask about it."

Su Zhou nodded without asking any further questions.

Zhao Zixuan paced anxiously beside him: "Someone must have leaked the electronic document! Su Zhou, who did you send the Word file you used for formatting to?"

"No," Su Zhou said decisively. "The file was only stored in my QQ account from beginning to end. It was also printed at your house. I deleted the file after I finished printing it. I also emptied your computer's recycle bin."

Zhao Zixuan nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes, I can testify that he did all the work himself, I didn't even touch the mouse."

He was halfway through his sentence when he suddenly noticed that Song Yuhan was looking at him with a subtle gaze.

Zhao Zixuan's eyebrows shot up instantly: "Why are you looking at me? It wasn't me! It really wasn't me!"

"I didn't say it was you." Song Yuhan withdrew her gaze expressionlessly.

"Your look was clearly directed at me!"

"Alright." Su Zhou interrupted Zhao Zixuan's attempt to prove his innocence.

He picked up the pirated notebook again and began to carefully flip through it page by page.

"This isn't a print." Su Zhou held up one of the pages, pointing it at the light coming through the window. "Look, the edges of the characters aren't sharp enough, some strokes have slight blurring, the ink isn't evenly distributed, and you can even see the background gray in some places."

He spread the pirated notebook on the table, then took out his own original printed copy from his bag. The difference between the two copies was obvious to the naked eye.

"This was directly copied using a photocopier, not a re-formatted electronic document."

"If you get the electronic document, the reprint should be the same as the original, definitely not this quality."

Zhao Zixuan was stunned for a moment, then his mind finally clicked: "You mean... he got the physical notebook? And took it directly to a photocopy shop to make a copy?"

"pretty close."

Su Zhou said, "Someone got hold of the physical product, made a copy, and then mass-produced and sold it."

"That makes things much easier!" Zhao Zixuan slapped his thigh. "There are only eleven people who can access the physical notebook! That narrows down the pool significantly!"

Su Zhou continued flipping through the notebook, but his fingers stopped when he reached page forty-three.

In the upper right corner of the page, there is a very small symbol, an inverted triangle, with a dot inside the triangle.

"I know who it is."

Zhao Zixuan and Song Yuhan both looked at him at the same time.

"How did you know?" Zhao Zixuan's eyes widened.

Su Zhou pointed to the small inverted triangle in the upper right corner of the notebook: "See this?"

Zhao Zixuan leaned closer to take a look: "Isn't this just a triangle? I saw it when I handed out the notes, and I thought you just drew it casually."

"They weren't just drawn randomly," Su Zhou said. "The symbols on each notebook are different."

Zhao Zixuan was stunned.

Su Zhou explained, "There were only eleven students in total, not many. I thought that since I charged them 550 yuan, I had to provide good service."

"So I made different marks on the fixed page numbers of each notebook: circles, squares, triangles, five-pointed stars, some with dots, some without. Each symbol corresponds to a person, so when I flip through their notes in class, I can quickly know whose notebook it is, what their corresponding learning progress and weak points are."

Zhao Zixuan opened his mouth slightly.

He remembered that when he went to the training class to hand out notes, a student did flip through them and pointed to a symbol in the corner and asked him about it.

He had no idea that Su Zhou had made a mark in the notebook, so he casually told them not to worry about it, and sure enough, those people didn't ask any more questions.

Su Zhou made these markings because he learned from Newton's method of using anti-counterfeiting marks when minting coins, and he never expected that they would actually come in handy today.

"Wow," Zhao Zixuan gasped, genuinely impressed, "Su Zhou, you're incredibly clever!"

Song Yuhan's gaze towards Su Zhou also changed.

A person who can do things to this extent is definitely not just ordinary smart.

"So, who does this inverted triangle with a dot correspond to?" Zhao Zixuan asked eagerly.

Su Zhou took out a small notebook from his schoolbag, which contained eleven names and their corresponding symbol codes. He turned to the page and pointed to one of the lines.

"Wu Hao".

Zhao Zixuan immediately remembered; it was that boy in the gray school uniform who was usually quite arrogant.

"I'll message him right now. This is a major crisis for us, and we have to stop it!" Zhao Zixuan took out his phone, scrolled through his QQ list, and found Wu Hao's profile picture.

Su Zhou pressed his hand down: "Wait a minute."

"what?"

"Don't start by accusing him," Su Zhou said. "Wu Hao is a very serious student. He doesn't seem like the type to take notes for personal gain. Besides, you said his family isn't short of money. Ask him first if he lent his notes to someone else, but don't be too aggressive."

Zhao Zixuan thought about it and felt that Su Zhou made sense, so he changed his wording and sent a message.

Zhao Zixuan: Wu Hao, do you still have your "Zhou Family Secret Manual" notebook?

After sending the message, the two of them stared at the screen and waited.

Two minutes later, the other party replied.

Wu Hao: Yeah, what's up?

Zhao Zixuan continued typing.

Zhao Zixuan: Have you lent your notes to anyone recently?

This time the reply was even faster, almost instantaneous.

Wu Hao: No.

Zhao Zixuan frowned and turned his phone screen to show Su Zhou.

Su Zhou remained calm and gestured for him to continue asking questions.

Zhao Zixuan posted another message.