Chapter 104: The Investiture of the Gods System

“Is there a traitor among us?” When Little Ma pointed his finger right at Zhang Zhidong’s nose, almost calling him a traitor, Zhang couldn’t help but pick up the document. Instantly, a surge of anger and blood rushed to his head, nearly causing him to faint alongside Little Ma.

Indeed, if Zhang Zhidong were in Little Ma’s shoes, he too would suspect himself a traitor.

The document contained the latest announcement from 00, roughly as follows:

“To enhance the experience for all OO users, OO will launch a brand-new Immortal Ranking System, allowing every user to witness their own growth firsthand and feel genuine joy from their progress.”

The specific rules are as follows:

Users who log in daily and stay online for over an hour will earn 100 Immortal Points. Subsequently, for every additional 10 minutes online, users will receive 5 more points, with no upper limit.

These Immortal Points automatically elevate the user’s cultivation level. Upon accumulating 100 points, users enter the Foundation Establishment stage, unlocking the Foundation Badge and earning one Immortal Seal. Collecting nine Immortal Seals advances users to the Golden Core stage, activating the Golden Core Badge. Another nine seals propel users to the Nascent Soul stage, unlocking that badge as well. Currently, the cultivation level cap is Nascent Soul with nine seals; higher levels will be gradually introduced later. The amount of Immortal Points required to level up will also increase—users are encouraged to explore this on their own.

Each cultivation rank is displayed on the user’s avatar as a badge, which cannot be hidden and is visible to all.

Activating different badges unlocks special features:

- The Foundation Badge enables the emoji pack feature. OO comes with 108 unique expressions to vividly convey your emotions.

- The Golden Core Badge activates status display options, allowing users to choose from Online, Invisible, or Do Not Disturb modes. Invisible status shows you as offline to everyone, while Do Not Disturb automatically replies to messages, indicating you’re unavailable for chat.

- The Nascent Soul Badge will unlock a mysterious new feature—stay tuned.

“Could there really be a traitor?” After reading OO’s announcement, Zhang Zhidong muttered to himself in disbelief.

“Zhidong, you need to thoroughly investigate your team. Are there any OO insiders among them?” Little Ma, now fully alert, glared fiercely at the document in Zhang’s hands. Zhang could even sense a murderous aura emanating from the usually gentle and refined Little Ma—an intensity he had never witnessed before.

Clearly, Little Ma was truly furious.

Of course, Little Ma firmly believed Zhang Zhidong was not a traitor. Zhang had no reason to betray them; with his talents, he could have simply taken a high-paying job at 00 directly. There was no need for such underhanded deeds.

The problem had to lie within Zhang’s team—the developers responsible for this update and the few who knew about it were prime suspects.

“Boss, I’ll investigate,” Zhang Zhidong nodded.

“Forget it, you don’t have to,” Little Ma suddenly shook his head. “It’s not that I don’t trust you—it’s that you’re too kindhearted and naive about the treachery in people’s hearts. I’ll hire professionals to conduct the investigation. Just have your team cooperate. If none of them are traitors, nothing will change.”

“Understood.” Zhang did not argue. This matter was too serious. The QQ feature was still under confidential development, known only to a very small group, yet 00 had already launched it ahead of schedule.

This was very different from the previous QQ voice feature. That function was widely known within Tencent, and even outsiders were aware of it, so 00 beating them to the punch was not surprising.

But this new QQ ranking system was the most closely guarded secret—an idea barely two months old, yet stolen and prematurely released by 00. This meant the leak had occurred the moment Little Ma announced the task to the development team, allowing 00 to develop it first.

Thinking of this, Little Ma couldn’t help but feel resentment toward Zhang Zhidong. Even if Zhang wasn’t a traitor, he clearly hadn’t put his full effort into the project. Otherwise, how could 00 have launched the feature before them?

It was obvious that Zhang hadn’t worked hard enough.

“Zhidong, we can’t wait three days. Get someone to write the update announcement immediately. The QQ ranking feature must go live tomorrow!” Little Ma was urgent.

“Yes!” Zhang nodded without hesitation. He knew there was no time to lose, so he gave up his plan to sleep that night and pushed the entire development team to work overtime.

The main reason was that the launch was practically complete, with only testing and preparations left. Even if those steps were skipped, the product could still be released, albeit with some bugs. There was no time to worry about that now.

Little Ma’s expression grew colder. “You promised this so easily, Zhidong. Clearly, one day is enough. But before, you told me three days. Isn’t that just slacking off? The delay in QQ’s progress is entirely your fault!”

His mood worsened, but he refrained from snapping at Zhang, as he was relying on him now more than ever.

“Maybe we should hire more people,” Little Ma mused inwardly.

Just then, a concerned voice came from behind: “Brother-in-law, you look awful. Did something bad happen?”

Little Ma turned to see his sister-in-law looking at him with worry.

“It’s nothing,” he forced a smile. “Just dealing with a few shameless thieves. Brother-in-law is fine, but I can’t take you on a company tour today. Ask the receptionist to accompany you. I have to get back to work.”

With that, Little Ma left his sister-in-law behind and returned to his office to contemplate the next steps.

“Who made brother-in-law so angry?” the sister-in-law asked the receptionist who had come to keep her company, her eyes filled with shared indignation.

“Definitely Jiangnan Group. It has to be that Huang He!” The receptionist, like everyone else at Tencent, harbored deep hatred for Huang He. “Apparently, Huang He stole our ideas and designs again. He’s a despicable man—not only does he plagiarize our work, but I heard he even seduced his own sister-in-law and ran off with her…”

The receptionist kept talking, oblivious to the fact that the woman beside her was also a sister-in-law herself.