Hidden Moth-Chapter 592 - 341: Restabilizing the Law for Cleansing Robes

In the eyes of programmers like He Kao, this is just a system bug. But for the Xiao Alliance, it's a major leak incident.

The original text of the announcement from the Ancestral Hall, including translations in various languages, has been mass-sent to all Xiao Alliance members, causing extremely adverse effects!

At the Supreme Council meeting, Mei Lin introduced the investigation results of this incident and the remedial measures taken.

The remedial measures are nothing more than issuing another announcement, informing everyone that the previous content was merely internal testing, a false propaganda by the Ancestral Hall, attempting to deceive the disciples of the Xiao Alliance. Everyone should not believe it and should immediately delete the files without preserving them.

It's very difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of the remedial measures.

After all, many disciples in the Xiao Alliance hadn't even heard of the Magic Sect before, and now they've not only learned about the existence of the Magic Sect and its historical ties, but they've also seen the announcement content from the Magic Sect's Hall of Sect Rules.

Especially in the announcement of the Ancestral Hall, it mentions the historical ties of the Xiao Alliance, the many things the Xiao Alliance had done and is doing against the Magic Sect, as well as the proposed solutions from the Ancestral Hall.

The Magic Sect will severely punish various violations by the Xiao Alliance, but regarding sorcerers from the Xiao Alliance, the Magic Sect's Ancestral Hall doesn't consider them inherently guilty, as long as they themselves haven't committed any violations or prohibited acts, the Magic Sect will not impose any punishment.

Regardless of whether it's disciples of the Xiao Alliance Magic Sect or other independent cultivators in Jianghu, as long as they break through the Tier Four cultivation, they can accept the grotto heaven summons and return to the Magic Sect to receive secondary inheritance...

Too many people have already seen it, and it might have been privately preserved and circulated among them.

As for the investigation work, it's progressing smoothly, and the results are already out.

The investigators first identified this as a program error, marking the involved document as an "announcement," leading to the automatic large-scale mass dissemination by the system.

Even the information entry staff within the Xiao Alliance didn't make any mistake, as they didn't know the program would operate this way.

So does this fall under the responsibility of the system developers? The ones in charge of developing the information system were not internal members of the Xiao Alliance.

For an information management system like this, it ideally needs closed development by internal members, as done by the Magic Sect's Ancestral Hall.

But the Xiao Alliance is different. The Supreme Council allocated a large sum of money, first internally discussing project requirements, then handing the project over to a local software service company for development, with the Xiao Alliance only acting as the client.

Confidentiality certainly needed consideration, and during the project planning, three layers of guarantees were set.

The first guarantee was from the software company, which was also controlled by several high-level members of the Xiao Alliance, ensuring no problem in qualification review.

Secondly, a confidentiality agreement was signed, ensuring the company wouldn't disclose any information about the client to outsiders.

Finally, and most importantly, the software company only developed a platform, which was then delivered to the client for use. The information input and management work was still the client's responsibility, with the company not having access to the related database content.

But in this incident, all three layers of guarantees failed, surprisingly due to a program bug during the trial operation phase. So what happened?

The software company, though behind-the-scenes owned by some high-level members of the Xiao Alliance, had personnel with no direct relation to the Xiao Alliance, including the management.

They further split the project into numerous sub-items and outsourced many so-called non-core sub-items. This flaw was created by a software company in Hengzhu Country providing outsourcing services.

In Hengzhu Country, there are many such software development companies that typically find people to write programs after receiving projects, hiring temporary workers mostly from local graduates or students.

After the bug occurred, the outsourcing company did not take responsibility, or rather, they only agreed to make modifications based on feedback but wouldn't assume any other responsibility.

It's quite normal for bugs to emerge during the trial testing phase, just fix them!

The modification was actually very simple, but the programmer who created the bug had already completed his work, collected his pay, and left—long out of contact... Even if contacted, a foreign temp worker can't be expected to take such a heavy burden.

The investigation and accountability results show that the company has confirmed the problem and promised there will be no similar errors again.

After evaluation, further pursuit of responsibility from the company and outsourcing personnel has little meaning. As for internal personnel's operation, it wasn't the main cause of the problem, and corresponding penalties have already been made.

The topic for discussion today is the investigation and handling results, along with accountability measures for related parties. If following Eastern Country's traditions, Mei Lin undoubtedly bears the primary leadership responsibility, but this isn't Eastern Country.

Mei Lin merely reported the situation to the Supreme Council without an apology or proactively seeking punishment, as she didn't write the buggy program.

After Mei Lin's introduction, the scene was somewhat chaotic.

Several elders expressed different opinions, with the most significant being the proposal by the Grand Elder, Earth Master Madala, that Mei Lin should no longer be responsible for the project and that an audit should be conducted on the project's fund usage and more.

At this point, Fabre coughed lightly and signaled with Divine Thought for everyone to calm down, then spoke, "Regarding this incident, I also have a proposal to submit for the Supreme Council's vote."

The content of the Magic Sect's Ancestral Hall announcement was previously seen by all, and it was Grand Elder Grossey who believed the information should be blocked from regular disciples.

Initially, it was treated as a regular matter, and the present elders expressed no opposition, so it was executed by default, without being escalated as a significant matter for a Supreme Council vote.

Now that Grand Elder Grossey is no longer, and there's been significant changes among the Ancestral Hall's members, this matter should be revisited. My proposal is—forbidding regular disciples from reviewing the Magic Sect's Ancestral Hall announcement."

Immediately, an elder refuted, "The announcement has already been mass-sent; what's the point of prohibiting review now?"

Fabre responded earnestly, "Because it upholds rules! There's a saying in Eastern Country: 'Since the sheep have already escaped, the pen should be repaired.'

Though the announcement was sent to many, recipients are not allowed to preserve or review it further, and according to regulations should immediately delete it."

Arthur didn't say anything else, simply nodding, "Then let's vote."

Hu Weidong was already growing impatient and promptly stated, "I veto!"

Some people hadn't yet reacted when the proposal was already vetoed, owing to Hu Weidong's position as a Grand Elder, possessing a veto vote.

"Forbidding Xiao Alliance disciples from reviewing the announcement from the Magic Sect's Ancestral Hall," this proposal was vetoed, meaning reviewing the announcement is not a prohibited behavior.

Based on this premise, the nature of the incident doesn't constitute a leak anymore.

It's merely a small error in the newly developed information management platform, appearing during the trial operation testing phase, and can be corrected by charging related personnel.

All that transpired at the venue was, in reality, predetermined.

Mei Lin had previously approached Hu Weidong privately, telling him about her plan to arrange for Fabre to formally submit the proposal at the Supreme Council, which Hu Weidong would then veto during the vote.

Since the previous proposal from Hu had passed, Fabre's proposal was then vetoed by Hu Weidong as committed... This was essentially a tactic of "agenda setting."

Mei Lin appeared significantly more relaxed, saying amiably, "Grand Elder Hu, what was your reason for the veto?"

Hu Weidong said nothing, instead sent a Divine Thought to everyone—

He didn't cite nonsensical reasons, such as saying the announcement content was already shared, but instead formally stated three reasons.

First, the announcement of the Magic Sect's Ancestral Hall was intended for all Magic Sect disciples, making it completely public within the Magic Sect, visible to independent cultivators in Jianghu in contact with Magic Sect disciples.

Secondly, Xiao Alliance personnel are known to infiltrate inside the Magic Sect or maintain various contacts with Magic Sect disciples, with their most important mission being to gather Magic Sect intelligence, making it impossible not to see the announcement.

Since they've seen it, acquaintances of Xiao Alliance disciples likely know, eventually spreading further, making a complete ban virtually impossible in the long run.

Thirdly, and most crucially, the grotto heaven summons mechanism objectively exists. As long as someone breaks through Tier Four cultivation, they face this issue; it's an intuition that can't be banned.

Previously, only high-tier cultivators knew about this, and they would inquire from the Xiao Alliance high-level, who would provide explanations and require confidentiality.

Now that this matter is disclosed publicly, even regular disciples know, the most imperative work is how to handle public opinion and propaganda direction.

Hu Weidong's explanation not only provided veto reasons but also proposed a solution, leading Mei Lin to nod repeatedly.

Arthur spoke with a summarizing tone, "Grand Elder Hu is correct. Our main problem to solve now is the direction of public opinion propaganda, ensuring everyone isn't deceived by the Magic Sect.

The responsibility for this work should primarily fall on Elder Men Lu..."

Elder Men Lu is a Tier Five Heart Stealer who practices the Spirit Awakening Skill. Previously, the responsibility for internal Xiao Alliance propaganda belonged to the Tier Six Illusion Master Grossey, but now that Grossey is dead, she continues to be responsible.

Hu Weidong sat quietly at the table, knowing it would result in this outcome, and was aware of potential mishaps even before the leak incident occurred.

The software company in Hengzhu Country recruited a temporary team to write the program. The programmer responsible for the bug is an Indian student from the University of California, pursuing a master's degree.

While in Hengzhu Country for undergrad, this student took on work from the software company and continued taking on work via online chat groups after coming to study in the United States, as a way to support education through part-time work.

He wrote the program right under Hu Weidong's nose, and all the equipment and Wi-Fi used for programming wasn't his, but borrowed from an outside-train institution, owned by Hu Weidong.

**