202: Chapter 201 Principal Ding's Passionate Spirit

Wang Shuo had been to the Huazhong University of Science and Technology research institute before; it wasn't his first time meeting Principal Ding, Professor Zeng Xuewei, and the others.

However, the scene before him was still somewhat unexpected.

"Principal Ding, Professor Zeng, what are you all doing?"

Watching Principal Ding and Professor Zeng walk up to greet him, Wang Shuo felt a bit surprised.

Just a moment ago in the car, he had seen people at the entrance of the graduate school from afar, but he hadn't thought much of it. Now that he was right in front of them, he realized it was indeed Principal Ding, Professor Zeng, and the others; as for those behind them, Wang Shuo didn't recognize them.

That was one thing, but why had they come all the way to the entrance?

Ding Congsheng wore a smile, his gaze fixed softly on Wang Shuo, the sense of pride and accomplishment in his eyes nearly overflowing. Even the people behind him whom Wang Shuo didn't recognize were also offering looks of appreciation.

This kind of attention made Wang Shuo feel immense pressure.

"Student Wang Shuo." Ding Congsheng warmly grabbed Wang Shuo's hands, his tone extremely sincere. "From now on, you are a member of the Huazhong University of Science and Technology graduate school. Please, don't be a stranger. Come, let me, your principal, accompany you to take a good look around our graduate school, and then, I will introduce you to a very important person."

Before Wang Shuo could even move, he was surrounded by the senior leadership of Huazhong University of Science and Technology and ushered into the graduate school.

Amidst the crowd, Wang Shuo was completely dumbfounded.

Someone tell me, what is going on?

Since when did a principal personally accompany a student visiting the graduate school?

Principal, aren't you busy?

A short while ago.

The conference room at the Huazhong University of Science and Technology research institute.

The small conference room was already packed with people. Ding Congsheng sat at the head of the table, and beside him sat another person, around sixty years old, wearing glasses and looking quite refined.

Looking at the now-quiet zero egg, the entire conference room was deathly silent.

After a long while.

"Principal Ding."

A Middle-aged man opposite him stood up, still wearing a look of shock. "Is what we just saw real?"

"Of course it is real." Principal Ding smiled, feeling quite pleased. "Academician Fang, based on your professional standards, is it acceptable?"

Acceptable? Listen to that, is that even human language?

Looking at Ding Congsheng's punchable smile, Academician Fang really wanted to find a loophole to reject the application as he usually did, but unfortunately, what the other party had brought out this time was different—it was too hardcore, so hardcore that the finished product was right in front of them.

Questions about the project content? Feel free to ask. Worries about the project results? Feel free to look. Don't understand the project results? Feel free to tinker with them.

The strategy was essentially to act first and report later; just ask yourself if you're convinced.

Academician Fang was convinced, so he turned his gaze toward the slightly older Middle-aged man sitting opposite.

This made Ding Congsheng feel even better.

Always picking apart our projects, couldn't find any faults this time, could you? Shocked, aren't you? Nothing to say, right?

That's right. Felt good all over.

"Principal Ding." The Middle-aged man sitting next to Ding Congsheng spoke, his voice very steady.

Ding Congsheng instantly sobered up, leaning slightly toward the older Middle-aged man.

"We came this time mainly because of your report. After review, we unanimously agreed that the project and content you declared were too ambitious and lacked a grounded approach, with suspicions of being grandiose and empty. Now it seems..." The older man paused slightly, sighing, "It was we who were too shallow. What you have done this time is... very good."

Ding Congsheng was flattered.

To hear a "very good" from this person was already a very high evaluation.

He could be smug in front of Academician Fang, but in front of this person, his status wasn't quite enough, so he quickly said, "Dean Qin, you are too kind."

"Whether I am too kind or not, you know that yourself." Dean Qin shook his head slightly. Regarding this zero egg, his feeling was even more astonished than the others. In an instant, he had even thought of where this technology should go next, but these words could not be spoken here.

His gaze shifted slightly, scanning toward Professor Zeng Xuewei at the side.

"Xuewei."

Being named by Dean Qin, Professor Zeng Xuewei stood up and nodded slightly in greeting. "Teacher."

Dean Qin nodded. "You are also very good."

"Teacher..." Professor Zeng gave a bitter smile. "Although I would very much like to accept your praise, this thing..."

Professor Zeng pointed to zero egg. "It is indeed not something this student could have created."

"I know." Dean Qin smiled. "With your ability, you naturally cannot yet achieve such sophisticated intelligent application, but you are on the right path, and you have come a long way."

"Among the current intelligent technology paths in the world, the neural network-like pattern recognition and associative memory you chose are what I am most optimistic about."

"I originally thought the appearance of this achievement would be years or even decades away, but I didn't expect..."

Dean Qin shook his head slightly, not continuing, but everyone knew what he wanted to say.

For a moment, everyone was filled with emotion.

Technology is just like that; sometimes, if you can't make a turn, it can trap a technician, and that time could very well be a lifetime.

They were all technicians and had a deep understanding of this.

How many talented geniuses have fallen on this path.

"I have seen your hard work over the years. After this project is reported, come work at the Chinese Academy of Sciences; I will give you new research topics."

Everyone cast envious looks, especially those slightly younger professors, whose gazes were even more intense.

Working at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in a sense, meant one had entered the ranks of academicians.

This is the highest achievement for researchers.

If one could have a masterpiece passed down through generations based on this, that would be even better.

But to their surprise, upon hearing this, Professor Zeng actually shook his head slightly.

"Thank you for your recognition, Teacher, but I still want to continue working in the field of Artificial Intelligence until the very end."

Dean Qin laughed, a heavy, hearty laugh. "Decide this for yourself, but what I said still stands. If you change your mind, come find me at the Chinese Academy of Sciences at any time."

"Thank you, Teacher."

Professor Zeng nodded steadily.

After chatting about other matters, Dean Qin turned back to Ding Congsheng. "Principal Ding, zero egg is already a mature system with strong practical application. How do you intend to handle it?"

How to handle it? Ding Congsheng subconsciously exchanged a glance with Professor Zeng, hesitated for a moment, and finally gave a bitter smile. "Dean Qin, this zero egg is already being sold publicly."

"Already being sold publicly?" The expected rage did not come. Dean Qin only sighed with regret, then asked with hope, "Is there any possibility of taking it back?"

"Probably not." Ding Congsheng shook his head.

Thinking of how Wang Shuo was so obsessed with money, it wouldn't be easy to get him to return the revenue he had already earned.

"That is a great pity." Dean Qin tapped the table, pondered for a while, and said solemnly, "Principal Ding, since this thing is a project you reported, you must have the corresponding physical object—a completely independent, self-controlled physical object. Do you understand?"

"Naturally, I understand." Ding Congsheng nodded. From the beginning, this was his plan, and he was prepared to pay a large amount of resources to exchange with Wang Shuo for the usage rights and ownership.

He had persuaded the school committee, made an exception to hire Wang Shuo who was still a freshman, conducted a comprehensive school-wide assessment that was rare to see in decades, and made an exception to allow a freshman to enter the graduate project team.

He had calculated almost everything.

But despite all his calculations, he hadn't calculated that Wang Shuo didn't need the school's resources at all and had independently created Artificial Intelligence on his own, which made his enthusiasm almost spill all over the floor.

What about the talk that Artificial Intelligence was particularly expensive and resource-intensive?

What about the talk that one couldn't research Artificial Intelligence without high-end GPU Chip?

What about the talk that the conditions for mature Artificial Intelligence weren't ready yet?

Those experts who said these things, doesn't your conscience hurt? Do you know that deceiving people can be deadly?

But fortunately, the meat was still in the basket. It's just that the basket changed from the school to Wang Shuo himself.

Now, while the news hasn't spread abroad yet, seizing the time to secure Wang Shuo is what he should do.

It's just that the scale... needs to be raised a bit more.

Thus, after seeking Dean Qin's approval, Ding Congsheng waved his hand, and the scene above occurred.