The head of the human resources department, who was sitting nearby, leaned over and reminded them, "Tulong and Lanxing are currently in a business competitive relationship. If it is considered as stealing trade secrets, depending on the losses and the severity of the circumstances, the sentence would be 3 to 7 years."
Mingyan nodded and said, "The circumstances aren't particularly egregious. Let's leave it to our legal team."
Just from those words, Benjamin burst into tears, choking back sobs as he said, "Thank you, thank you... Chief Engineer Ming, you are a magnanimous person."
Mingyan smiled and said, "To be fair, your result is only average. We still have a lot to do."
Benjamin walked out feeling weak all over, knowing that a lawyer's letter was waiting for him outside.
The remaining person in charge of Blue Star was also sitting upright, looking like a primary school student afraid of being called on by the teacher to answer a question, with his head down.
Mingyan said, "You too, your laptop contained confidential Blue Star documents. According to regulations, the file names should also be encrypted. Also, when people outside the Blue Star Studio conduct inspections, you should be present the entire time. Why weren't you here?"
The person in charge said dejectedly, "I'm so sorry, boss. I wanted to complete the handover as quickly as possible, and I also felt that since the Dragon Slayer Sword was part of our brother department, there was no need to be so cautious... I'm really sorry, it was a problem with my thinking! I will definitely strictly abide by the safety regulations next time!"
His attitude in admitting his mistake was fairly good.
He probably thought that since both studio owners were Mingyan, the Dragon-Slaying Saber was one of their own, so he became careless.
Mingyan seemed to understand, so he said, "For what you said, I'll deduct two months' bonus, and your performance rating for the second half of the year will be lowered by one level. By the way, go back and learn the Blue Star safety regulations again with next year's new recruits. Any objections?"
"No!" The person in charge shook his head repeatedly. "I will definitely study hard."
The employees involved in this matter all spoke with Mingyan in his office.
Depending on their individual circumstances, each person received a corresponding punishment. The most severe punishment was a lawyer's letter warning to Benjamin, while the lightest was a month's bonus being deducted.
With the year drawing to a close, Mingyan was too lazy to make any big fuss and would just give an internal punishment within the studio.
However, the last person to enter the office for a conversation was also the top lawyer from Blue Star.
He cut to the chase and asked directly: "What should we do about Benjamin's nephew's alleged theft and malicious dissemination of our trade secrets?"
The lawyer said, "We have already checked the information. This boy named Harry is 15 years old and just started high school. He is not yet of criminal responsibility, so we can only send a lawyer's letter to his guardian."
Mingyan, who hadn't yet thoroughly researched the laws concerning minors within the Chaoyang Alliance, asked in surprise, "So he's not responsible?"
The lawyer laughed and said, "Of course not. His guardian will bear all the responsibility. He deliberately sought out classified information and maliciously spread it on a large forum with hundreds of millions of registered users. He should be sentenced to at least five years and ordered to pay three million in compensation."
Mingyan clasped his hands together with satisfaction.
"Don't forget to make them apologize publicly."
...When the lawyer's letter arrived at Harry's home, his parents were stunned when they opened it.
"What?! I just posted something on a forum, and they're demanding three million in compensation?! Am I crazy, or has the world gone mad???"
"You son of a bitch, playing games all day long, playing games from Earth! Earth has reported you, you little brat!"
His father beat Harry up that very night, leaving him bruised and battered, but still felt it wasn't enough to vent his anger.
But the child is our own, we can't just let him go to jail; we can't come up with three million either, we can't sell the house to pay the compensation...
After thinking for a long time, it seems there's only one way.
"Find out where Blue Star Studio's headquarters is, you little brat, come with me to apologize in person tomorrow!"
Chapter 126 Apologizing in Person
By evening, Mingyan was already comfortably lying in bed at home, scrolling through messages on his phone.
After news of the new Blue Star project was leaked, Mingyan could have chosen to clarify immediately or change the planned schedule, but he did not do so.
Because he had planned to announce the new project as soon as he returned.
The leak of information was an unexpected incident, but it brought about a welcome result.
For some reason, rumors always spread much faster and cause much more sensations than official announcements.
When the "insiders" on the Blue Star Forum revealed the news, the Sixth Star Province's internet instantly erupted into a frenzy of celebration.
The media flocked to the scene, each trying to obtain more information about the poster through various means, all wanting to contact him for more scoops.
Forum users flocked to the thread, and someone created a new post to reconstruct the original revelation. The post was upvoted to tens of thousands of views, and the number of people sending private messages to the original poster was endless.
Because Blue Star has not yet taken any action to refute the rumors, everyone thinks that this revelation may be blocked soon, and they should hurry up and tell their friends about this important matter.
At this time, the Ming Cult and the Rain God Cult were the most rational.
These two "long-established" fan groups are quite cohesive and disciplined, requiring their followers not to spread rumors and to remain skeptical of gossip.
The Ming Cult, in particular, had its two protectors, the left and right, issue a notice establishing rules.
"Our basic principle is: do not forward, spread, trust, or discuss any information that has not yet been officially released."
Regardless, the hype has already been generated, and it has topped the trending searches several times in just a few days.
The news quickly spread beyond the network of the Sixth Star Province, becoming a "secret" known to everyone in the Chaoyang Alliance.
Even in the Central Star Province, many astute individuals sent emails.
Golden Ring Pictures went even further, asking directly, "Is Chief Designer Ming planning to collaborate with Odin? Can we discuss a new project together? We're very interested!"
The game hasn't even been released yet, and it doesn't even have an official name, but it has already attracted so much commercial attention.
This is the unconditional trust that everyone has in Chief Engineer Ming's quality and Odin's traffic.
...