"Get me a PC. I will show you something."
Blake nodded to Trevor, who quickly left took out a laptop and placed it in front of Aakash. The laptop was connected to the projector in the room. Aakash quickly operated the laptop and had it infected by the ransomware virus.
Blake's eyes became wide open as he seemed to think of something when he saw that Aakash took out a USB drive from his pocket and inserted it into the USB port of the laptop.
The static screen that only displayed instructions and a QR code for the bitcoin wallet where the money was supposed to be deposited finally changed and a dialog box appeared on the screen.
It was a simple dialog box that asked whether to remove the virus and decrypt the drive. Aakash quickly clicked 'yes' and a small progress bar appeared. It only took 30 seconds and the computer was back to normal again.
"This..", Blake was about to say something when he saw that Aakash took out another USB from his pocket. Blake didn't continue and sat down to watch. This USB only contained a small executable file.
Aakash quickly run the executable file which also took about a minute to finish installing. After running this program, Aakash tried to infect the laptop with the ransomware virus again but the laptop could no longer be infected.
Most of these representatives sent from Microsoft were people with excellent technical skills. They were quite amazed by this and even wanted to go get the laptop in the hands of Aakash and check what he had done.
After all, for most of them, improvement in their skills what they wanted the most.
"Isn't this worth a good discussion.",Aakash looked at Blake with a smile.
Blake's face turned dignified after the initial excitement as he solemnly said, "Please name your price."
"135 million dollars for both this and the initial seven bugs that had been promised."
Blake's face, at this very moment, was worth taking a look at. Why? Just because Microsoft would have been ready to pay a lot more. After all, if Aakash wanted to sell this program by himself, he would probably earn a lot more than mere 35 million dollars that he had asked.
Any person would happily buy the solution for $10 instead of paying thousands to the hackers. Just conservative estimate of $10 would earn him over 50 million dollars.
But, of course, it was different for Microsoft. They obviously wouldn't charge for this and use this opportunity to carry out a comprehensive marketing campaign and solidify their brand image.
"We will immediately redraw the contract. We have already booked a room for you. You can rest there if you wish to. I do hope that you can provide us with the program that can decrypt infected computers."
"Let's talk about these things after we have signed the contract."
Aakash got up from his seat. He didn't forget to take the laptop that he had used with him and walked to the room.
"I'll lead you to the room. I have the room card with me.", Erica enthusiastically offered.
"No need. You can give me the room card.", Aakash politely declined and took the room key card from Erica before leaving the conference room.
Blake's face became a bit unsightly but he just sighed a bit while thinking, 'I can't do much about him.'
After all, a person in power is used to mostly hearing a 'yes' but the direct rejection from Aakash made him feel a bit stuffed and uneasy. Even so, he knew that Aakash was right in doing so and no matter what, he would surely get a hefty bonus or even a promotion with this contribution.
Blake didn't ponder much over this matter that he was powerless against and quickly contacted the headquarters. Initially, this deal and these patched would just be helpful in showing off but now things were different.
Solving this immediate crisis would surely increase Microsoft's reputation by a lot. Blake quickly reported the amount and prepared the new contract.
It was already 4 PM when the new contract had been finished being made. Aakash was quickly called and the contract was signed.
Aakash had a slight smile on his face throughout the whole thing. A copy of the contract was placed by Blake in a black briefcase while Aakash casually put the contract into the bag that he was carrying.
"I have already made the call to the headquarters. The funds have just been released. You have to report this transaction to the NRB by tomorrow, which Ashit will help you with. The money will reach to you the day after tomorrow."
Aakash's smile became bigger as he heard what Blake had to say. Not because the money would soon reach him but because of how Blake just pronounced Ashit's name. It sounded like Blake was saying 'A shit'.
Aakash nodded to Blake and was about to go back to his room when Blake said, "How about having dinner and celebrating?"
"Why not? Let's meet for dinner and celebrate. I'm going to go and rest for now."
Aakash didn't waste much time and went to his room and started ramming out the code for the AI that he was designing. It was only 5 PM and dinner was at least 3-4 hours away.
Aakash knew what his current achievements came from. It would take at least two or more days for this news to go out and be public and for his prestige to increase. He could use the system all he wanted then and deduce skills but for now, he needed to use his current skills and implement them.
The three USB drives that he had handed over to Blake had already been checked by the technical personnel that came with Blake. They quickly sent the contents of these USB drives back to Microsoft headquarters via a encrypted channel and updates were to be rolled out soon.
Microsoft was working in full swing to roll out these updates and corresponding marketing plans were also being designed. After all, it would be quite a weird situation if they released these patches and anti-virus solutions but nobody knew about it.
An immediate press conference was going to take place and a number of famous media were invited. Satya was going to personally speak and address this.