Chapter 758 I Want It

Evan Lawson wasn’t about to break up with Vera Coleman over this, but the incident did put him on high alert.

For over a year, the Lane Group had never given up on acquiring their program. They’d started with a single approach but had now escalated to infiltrating the team through their personal connections.

He and Vera Coleman had only been together for three or four months.

’Not only does the Lane Group have a lot of tricks up their sleeve, but their reach is also incredibly long!’

"I’m heading to the studio. You should go back to campus."

"Huh? Didn’t you say you were going to take me to get my nails done?"

"Some other time."

Evan Lawson raised his hand to hail a cab. With his mind preoccupied, he couldn’t spare a thought for Vera Coleman. He got in and left.

When Cecilia Sterling got the call from the studio, she was still in her dorm, admiring herself in the mirror.

"What’s up? Is it urgent?"

Cecilia Sterling asked, her phone on speaker.

Her senior, Timothy, rarely contacted her. Usually, it was for one of two reasons.

One, the project had a breakthrough or reached a major milestone.

Two, he needed money.

Today, he was unusually asking her to come over for something.

"It’s not exactly urgent, but if you’re free, you should come over. It’s better to discuss this in person."

Cecilia Sterling didn’t ask any more questions. She knew Timothy Rowe’s personality well enough; he would never bother her unless he absolutely had to. Something must really be up.

So she hung up, arranged with Blair and Estelle to meet directly at the bar later that evening, and headed out.

When she arrived at the studio, everything seemed normal with the employees.

"Miss Sterling, President Rowe and the others are in the meeting room."

Cecilia Sterling nodded. Walking to the door of the meeting room, she peeked through the glass and saw several of her seniors laughing and joking around.

’The atmosphere seems good,’ Cecilia Sterling thought, sighing in relief. ’It’s probably not bad news.’

She pushed the door open and walked in. The moment they saw Cecilia arrive, everyone stood up. "Cecilia."

A smile on her face, Cecilia Sterling looked at them and asked, "So, what’s so important that you had to call me all the way over here?"

Timothy Rowe looked at Evan Lawson. "Evan, why don’t you tell Cecilia."

Cecilia Sterling looked at Evan Lawson in surprise. He seemed a little embarrassed but spoke up anyway, recounting his meeting with Shawn Lane from earlier that day.

He didn’t try to cover for Vera Coleman, because she was the key—and most critical—part of the whole incident. He was telling the others to warn them as well.

"Cecilia, Vera was just dazzled by a sudden windfall. I’ve already talked to her. But really, the Lane Group’s tactics are disgusting. I can’t believe they’d stoop to that."

After hearing Evan Lawson out, Cecilia Sterling wasn’t angry. Instead, she shook her head with an amused smile. "The tactic is disgusting, but I have to admit, it’s pretty tempting."

"Today, it was because you have strong willpower, Senior Evan. If it were someone else, with their girlfriend egging them on, they might have actually been swayed."

As soon as she said that, the others in the studio exchanged glances.

Gavin Garrett’s eyes widened. "What ’someone else’? I’d like to see anyone dare to be that ’someone else’!"

Timothy Rowe pursed his lips. "Well, I don’t have a girlfriend."

Paige also chimed in, "Anyone who can’t resist the temptation and goes to the Lane Group would be committing the greatest betrayal against our studio and Cecilia. They wouldn’t come to a good end."

The others chimed in, all agreeing that they would never waver either.

"So, aside from Senior Evan, none of you have been in contact with anyone from the Lane Group?" Cecilia asked.

They all shook their heads in unison. "No."

Evan Lawson said, "It was probably because Vera Coleman and Shawn Lane knew each other, so it was convenient for him to approach me. He probably didn’t expect me to be so blunt and turn him down."

Cecilia Sterling nodded in understanding. To get their technology, the Lane Group had resorted to poaching their team from within. It was a dirty move, but a common tactic in the business world.

"They must be getting really desperate."

Timothy Rowe suddenly looked at Cecilia and said, "I heard that the Lane Group was in talks with a tech company from Occidenta. They don’t offer a patch program like ours, but a full suite of terminal technology. The licensing rights aren’t cheap—they must be far, far more expensive than our program."

"Now that they’re pulling these dirty tricks on us, they probably failed to reach an agreement with that Occidentan company and have turned their attention back to us."

This was the first Cecilia Sterling had heard of it. She couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. "Oh really? The Lane Group has been stuck on us for over a year. Our 2.0 program is almost finished. If they can’t crack a seamless egg like us, they might actually end up working with that Occidentan company."

At this, Cecilia couldn’t help but ask curiously, "Senior, I don’t know the technical details, but is this Occidentan company’s terminal technology better than ours?"

Timothy Rowe nodded, not denying it. "It’s definitely much better than our current 1.0 program on the market. But it’s expensive. Domestic companies pay just a few hundred yuan a year to license ours. To buy that company’s full suite of tech, you’re looking at a few thousand a year, and that’s in British Pounds."

’Foreigners don’t go easy on Cathayan companies. If you want it, you have to pay a hefty price!’

Gavin Garrett chimed in at the right moment, "The Lane Group isn’t short on cash. It’s just that our program offers a better cost-performance ratio, which makes it more tempting for them."

But Cecilia said, "But when someone is backed into a corner, they might just take the only path available."

Everyone nodded lightly. In his mind, Timothy Rowe was already imagining how the domestic AI market would change if the Lane Group acquired Occidenta’s more advanced technology.

He wasn’t the only one. Cecilia was thinking too. ’This is bad. If they really spare no expense to get that technology from Occidenta, the Lane Group’s products will take a huge leap in performance, maybe even leaving all other brands in the dust. The advantage of our program would be completely gone.’

"Given the price of Occidentan technology, even if they buy it, they probably won’t be able to make their money back, right?" Gavin Garrett analyzed. "As far as I know, the Lane Group’s current AI products are mostly for daily use—robot vacuums, smart home devices, that sort of thing. You’d need tens of thousands in pure profit per year just to offset the cost of foreign tech, and that’s not even counting other expenses. No matter how you slice it, they’d be losing money!"

Gavin Garrett had a point. In the current domestic AI market, the greatest demand was for home goods, which was why many companies started there.

For over a year, the Lane Group had been hamstrung by the studio’s optimization program, their AI development stagnating without any further progress. That’s why they were still producing the same old things.

And just then, after a long moment of thought, Cecilia Sterling finally looked up at Timothy Rowe and said, "Senior, I want you to contact that Occidentan tech company as soon as possible. That technology cannot fall into the Lane Group’s hands. I’m buying it!"