81 PathFinder
Wang was pacing his office when his phone rang. He paused and stared at the table, where the phone vibrated innocently, expecting the worst.
Who was it? Nico? Or worse, Justin? Did they know? We're they coming from him?
He licked his lips, hesitated, then walked to the table.
When he saw the na of the caller, he didn't know whether to feel relieved or apprehensive.
Maria Hyatt.
"Hello?" He picked the call.
"Wang, Wang, Wang." Maria drawled, her voice full of humor.
Wang took a mont to sigh in silent relief. For her to be joking, it ant things were not as bad as he feared.
"How bad is it?" He asked, going straight to the point.
"For you?" Maria laughed. "Pretty bad."
"Fuck." Wang whispered.
"I know how you must be feeling." She continued. "You created the perfect plan and went through all these efforts to drag down your competitor only to find out that he is a phoenix."
"Rising from the ashes to beco stronger and all that." She chuckled. "Take heart, kid. This is not the end."
Wang exhaled. She was right. He should've looked into Nico thoroughly instead of dismissing him. He'd thought he was fighting a cat, not knowing it was a tiger.
He wasn't even as bordered by the $3.5 billion net worth as he was by the news that Nico Voss had a seat on Eidolon's board.
In the first case, he was still the richer man. But in the other case, Nico was in a position where he could influence Eidolon's business dealings. Who knew how close he was to Justin Kale?
Then his mind went to sothing he'd heard at the press conference.
"How about you?" He asked Maria. "How bad is the lawsuit?"
"The lawsuit?" Maria scoffed. "This isn't the first ti I'll be facing sothing like this. My sites are all parody sites and are protected under the free speech rights."
"If Sunset Inn wins, I'll just pay for the damages and since you'll be footing the bill, I still won't lose. I'm protected as the sites are registered as LLCs. I can just file for bankruptcy and open another outfit."
"I see." Wang had nothing to say to that. She really was alright. Definitely more than he was. "What about Nico? Does he know I'm behind this?"
"Definitely." Maria said bluntly. "He had WireFra working with him on this, so it's safe to say that he knows it's you."
Wang cursed.
"That's the right reaction because I've t Elsa Klarsson." Maria said. "She's a sharp woman for sure. Has a knack for getting information that cannot even be obtained legally. She's sothing else."
"You want to know my advice for you?" Maria asked.
"What should I do?" Wang held the phone tighter as if pressing it closer to his ear would allow him to absorb every word that ca through the speakers directly into his brain.
"Keep attacking." Maria said simply. "Anybody with Elsa Klarsson won't just sit back. She won't let them. If they did, she'll pressure them but if this… Nico himself is doing the attacking, she'll be even more enthusiastic."
"So, if you don't keep them on the defensive, you'll be the one stuck in that position. Let it not be said that I didn't warn you, kid. Pleasure doing business with you."
The line went dead and Wang stood there, phone still pressed to his ear.
He stared ahead but his attention was not on what was in front of him. His mind was stuck on Maria's words.
Keep attacking.
That in itself wasn't the problem. The problem was that he had no weapons to attack with.
[][][][][]
"Alright, peeps." Mr. Feast said, grinning at the cara as he adjusted his headset.
He glanced at a corner of the screen and his grin grew wider. There were now over a hundred thousand viewers tuned to his live stream.
The chat was going by so fast, he was having trouble catching anything. But that didn't an he couldn't do his job right.
He'd seen a very interesting ssage from one of his VIP fans and this seems the perfect place to expose it.
"Today," he clapped enthusiastically, "we'll be diving into Walk Shop's recomndation engine, PathFinder."
"I'm sure you guys have seen the ads everywhere. It's supposed to be the ultimate browser assistant, helping you to be faster and smarter but let's see if it will hold up to the test."
He rubbed his hands together as multiple "Let's go, Feast!" rolled by in the chat.
"Let's see." He leaned closer to the screen. "We'll start with sothing simple." He said as he began typing into the search bar. "Top 10 weirdest gifts for your best friend."
He grinned at the cara. "Among other things, PathFinder has access to my browser history and you know we've searched a lot of really weird shit over the years. Let's see if the AI will really give sothing I like."
The page loaded and he leaned closer. "Let's see what we've got."
He clicked through the results. "A personalized mug. World best Peoplephile. Okay, I'll admit it. That's sothing I like." He glanced at his table, picking up his Mr. Feast branded mug. Why not point to his rch with this opportunity.
"As you guys already know from my weird taste." The mag was branded with the words 'World Best Strear' and had the image of piss curving down into a toilet bowl.
"Let's see what other things are on display." He scrolled down the page. "Cool. Cool. Basic. Also cool."
"Okay, I have to admit. The recomndations are pretty- wait a minute." It finally caught his eye. The result he'd been waiting for.
"A luxury surprise egg?" He looked down at the price before feigning theatrical surprise. "$300?"
The chat exploded.
'$300 for an egg?!'
'Feast, buy it!'
'Who even makes this stuff?'
"This better hatch a dinosaur." He joked as he clicked on the link. He scrolled down to where the manufacturer of the product was listed.
"Silver Luxe Co. Who are these guys?" He turned to the cara. "Have you guys heard of them?"
He went back to the search page and kept scrolling, checking out a few items to keep things interesting. Then, he saw sothing else.
"Robotic sushi chef? That's pretty neat, actually." He checked the price. "$2000. It's also from Silver Luxe Co? Interesting."
Fortunately, the chat was doing the work for him.
'Feast is this rigged?'
'Silver Luxe is everywhere!'
'Ha! PathFinder's got favorites.'
"Okay, okay, calm down, chat." He said, holding up his hands.
"Let's do another search. Sothing random. Let's see."
He brought up the search bar. "Best running shoes for under $100."
The PathFinder results sat there waiting. Now for the mont of truth.
The top recomndation was a shoe from Strive Athletic.
. Feast nodded, pretending to be impressed. "Seems legit." He said. Now, it was all up to his viewers.
But as he scrolled, the chat exploded again.
'Silver Luxe owns Strive!'
'Silver Luxe has a partnership with Walk Shop. The AI's promoting their partners!'
'Expose them, Feast!'
"Wait, really?" He opened a new tab and searched for Strive Athletic. After confirmation, he searched Silver Luxe and finally, Walk Shop.
"Wait a minute." He opened a new tab and went to PathFinder's disclosure agreent. "Let's see what this says."
He followed eagerly until he got to the part he wanted.
"To enhance the user experience, certain featured products, services, or brands may be prioritized based on partnerships, promotional arrangents, or proprietary algorithms that assess relevance and quality."
"These prioritizations are determined solely at the discretion of Walk Shop and may include entities with which Walk Shop maintains a business relationship or other affiliations."
"While efforts are made to ensure a diverse and relevant selection, PathFinder does not guarantee the neutrality or comprehensiveness of its recomndations."
"Guys?" He turned to the cara with his trademark shark-like grin. "I think we just stumbled on sothing shady."
And the chat went wild.
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