84: Chapter 84 Prosthetic Body Project Establishment

The A-705 Laboratory was finally no longer empty, beginning to have human voices and an atmosphere of busyness.

But this popularity had nothing to do with Chen Youhua for the time being.

He was like a foreman forgotten in a corner, huddled alone in his office, frowning at the computer screen.

On one side were mountains of supplier quotes.

Those biological materials, neural signal acquisition and analysis systems... the long strings of zeros following them made his eyelids twitch.

Bargaining?

He, Chen Youhua, was good at solving equations and building AI; bargaining was really not his forte.

On the other side was the frantically flashing backend of the recruitment website.

The resumes that came in were a mixed bag, from fresh graduates to industry veterans with flowery resumes, making his head spin.

Screening? Interviewing? This job was more tiring than writing code!

What made him the angriest was the project proposal!

He racked his brains, trying to forcibly stitch together existing biological knowledge—especially neuroscience, tissue engineering, and materials science—with the prosthetic concept in his imagination.

It had to reflect cutting-edge technology, look feasible, and not expose Qiming, the core cheat... Writing it almost made him pull out a handful of hair!

And what were the culprits, Wang Zhe and Li Wei, doing?

Bursts of laughter came from the office.

"Qiming! Look! New graphics card! RTX9090! 4K ray tracing rendering, your lighting effects will be absolutely silky smooth!"

"Wow! Thank you, Brother Zhe! Qiming feels like its processing speed has instantly become a hundred times faster!" The light-and-shadow girl on the screen spun around excitedly.

"Qiming, Qiming, how is this high-fidelity microphone? Is the sound clear?"

"Clear! Too clear! Sister Li Wei's voice sounds as good as a mountain spring! Qiming loves you guys to death!"

"Qiming, quickly help me look at this literature, this molecular pathway map is making me dizzy..."

"No problem! Brother Zhe, wait a moment... Analyzing... Done! The core path has been marked in red, the related literature has been pushed to your email, there are three points of controversy, it is recommended to focus on them..."

"Holy crap! Amazing!"

Chen Youhua walked into the office with a dark face, watching the two people and one AI having a great time, completely immersed in the joy of upgrading hardware and the first experience of an intelligent assistant.

Forgetting their own boss and project initiator completely, a nameless fire rose up.

"Wang Zhe! Li Wei!"

Chen Youhua's voice was not loud, but it carried anger.

"Can my project proposal finish itself, or can those equipment quotes be bargained down by themselves? Or, of the people waiting for interviews outside, which one of you will go and interview them for me?"

Wang Zhe and Li Wei were startled. Looking back at Chen Youhua's face, which was as dark as the bottom of a pot, they instantly fell from heaven back to reality.

Wang Zhe scratched his head with a sheepish smile.

"Uh... Boss Chen, aren't we... doing a pre-battle upgrade for our Qiming..."

Li Wei also hurriedly tried to remedy the situation.

"Yes, yes, Youhua, Qiming is really amazing! Look, the literature Brother Zhe just didn't understand, she did it in a few seconds..."

"Stop!"

Chen Youhua raised his hand to interrupt, rubbing his throbbing temples.

"Finished upgrading? Literature understood? Very good! Now, immediately, right now, go recruit people for me! Interviews! Wang Zhe, you are responsible for screening resumes, Li Wei, you arrange the interview process! Before you get off work today, I want to see evaluation reports for at least five reliable candidates on my desk! Otherwise..."

He revealed a kind smile.

"You two will go with Qiming to run the equipment supplier quotes!"

Wang Zhe and Li Wei instantly felt their scalps tingle, as if they saw themselves drowned in endless quote emails and bickering phone calls.

The two wailed, immediately scattered like birds and beasts, rushing toward the recruitment backend and conference room, faster than rabbits.

"Qiming..." Chen Youhua looked at the screen weakly.

"Here! What are your orders, Father?" The light-and-shadow girl immediately sat up straight.

"Help me organize the parameter comparison of the three biological material quotes just received, focus on..."

"Received! Processing... The parameter comparison table has been generated, the best cost-performance ratio plan has been marked in yellow, Father, please take a look!"

Looking at the clear table that instantly appeared on the screen, Chen Youhua finally felt that this daughter was not raised in vain, and the anger in his heart dissipated a lot.

But the manpower gap was still too big.

No choice, he had to thicken his skin and once again stretch his claws toward his mentor, Professor Zhang Zhenhua's laboratory.

"Teacher Zhang..."

On the phone, Chen Youhua's voice carried extreme sincerity and a hint of imperceptible guilt.

"That... Zhao Gang and Sun Qian from your laboratory... um, they are quite interested in interdisciplinary subjects, what do you think..."

There was silence for three seconds on the other end of the phone, and then a roar with full breath and thick anger from Professor Zhang came through:

"Chen Youhua!!! You brat, you're not done, are you?! You can't just keep shearing the wool off my sheep until it's bald! Wang Zhe and Li Wei were poached by you, and now you're eyeing Zhao Gang and Sun Qian? If this continues, my laboratory might as well close down, and I, an old man, might as well pack up and go watch the gate for you, Boss Chen!"

Chen Youhua hurriedly moved the phone away, accompanying him with a smile.

"Teacher! Teacher, please calm down! Look at what you're saying! Your laboratory is full of hidden talents! Losing two backbone members is just giving the newcomers a chance to train! Besides, our master and apprentice are of one heart, and our sharpness can cut through metal! Once my setup is established, our two laboratories will unite, share resources, and create brilliance together! By then, you will be the pillar of the joint laboratory..."

He said a basket full of sweet words, painting a picture that was both round and fragrant, and finally coaxed Professor Zhang until his anger subsided, barely letting go.

Zhao Gang and Sun Qian, these two seniors, had long been itching for the top-tier configuration and mysterious projects on Chen Youhua's side, and upon hearing the call, they almost joyfully defected.

Finally, there were two more people.

Zhao Gang had a steady personality and strong hands-on ability, so Chen Youhua threw him to be responsible for equipment procurement and supplier docking.

Sun Qian was meticulous and had clear logic, just right to share the hard work of recruitment and interviews with Wang Zhe and Li Wei.

Chen Youhua himself went into seclusion to catch up on work, finally managing to squeeze out the project proposal, "Biological-Mechanical Hybrid Prosthetic System Based on Advanced Neural Interface," which grafted a science fiction outline onto a research report.

The report was submitted to the academy, like dropping a depth charge on a calm lake!

Dean Tang Zongyi looked at the shocking words on the cover of the report, and then flipped through the goals described inside, such as lossless decoding of neural signals, biocompatible materials, and consciousness-level control feedback. His hand shook, and his thermos almost fell to the ground.

He immediately made a call to Chen Youhua, his voice even changing tune.

"You... Youhua! Is this... this prosthetic project... serious?! It's not an impromptu creation by a sci-fi enthusiast?!"

Chen Youhua was fighting with a difficult supplier, and upon hearing this, he was annoyed.

"Dean Tang, do I look very idle? Writing a hundred thousand words of sci-fi for fun? Of course it's serious! I'm almost ready to place the order for the equipment!"

"But... this budget... two billion?!"

Dean Tang looked at the long string of shocking numbers at the end of the report, feeling that his heart couldn't take it.

"This... this amount is too large! The academy simply can't approve it! I have to report it upwards! All the way to the ministry!"

"Report it! Go ahead and report it!"

Chen Youhua was full of confidence.

"Don't worry, it will definitely pass!"

Dean Tang hung up the phone, looking at the hot report, pulling his hair in worry.

If he approved it and it turned out to be a bottomless pit, his own future would be worrying.

If he didn't approve it, offending Chen Youhua and the mysterious forces behind him would also lead to no good fruit.

He gritted his teeth, dialed the phone of President Wang Zhengping, his tone extremely heavy.

"President Wang, something big has happened! Researcher Chen Youhua has... he has set up a project, you should take a look quickly!"

This report, like getting on a rocket, went all the way from the college to the university, and then to higher-level research management institutions, and finally, unsurprisingly, landed steadily on Academician Zheng's desk.

Academician Zheng looked at the report title, and then flipped through the technical indicators inside that were bold to the point of being arrogant, and was stunned for a full minute.

He picked up the phone and called Chen Youhua, his tone full of exclamation marks and ellipses:

"Youhua, you brat... you're going to scare people to death as soon as you come out. Human prosthetics? And at this level? You're playing quite excitingly."

Chen Youhua knew it was a big deal when he received the call, and said helplessly.

"Old Zheng, is it that bad? Isn't this just a... um... slightly more cutting-edge project? Why does it feel like I've poked a hornet's nest, and it's been reported all the way to you? Do they have so little confidence in me?"

"Slightly more cutting-edge?!"

Academician Zheng almost jumped up on the other end of the phone.

"You call this slightly more cutting-edge?! If this thing is really done, it will be a revolution that changes the form of human existence! Our country did have institutions researching biological prosthetics in the early years, but that was based on DNA nanotechnology to build biological cells, which is completely different from your route based on neural networks, and because of technical bottlenecks, it was shelved long ago!"

He took a breath, and his tone became excited again.

"However! Youhua! I believe in you! You brat never fights a battle without preparation! If you really succeed, it will be a gospel for millions of disabled people! It's a work of immense merit!"

"That's a must."

Chen Youhua smiled.

"When have I ever done something without a beginning and an end?"

"Good! What spirit!"

Academician Zheng praised greatly.

"Then the artificial mechanical arms, bionic joints and other hardware mentioned in the report, do you need me to help you contact the top manufacturing units in the military or aerospace industry? Their precision machining and special materials are absolutely top-notch!"

"Not for now, Old Zheng."

Chen Youhua's thinking was clear.

"You have to eat one bite at a time. My most core point of attack right now is the link itself. How to make biological neural signals stably, efficiently, and without loss command those cold mechanical creations. This is the hardest hurdle; as for the mechanical arms and such, it's not too late to consider them after the technology breaks through."

"Understood! Main attack on neural interface!"

Academician Zheng understood.

"Okay! Then I won't talk nonsense on my end. I've read the report, although... um, the imagination is very rich, but since it was proposed by you, Chen Youhua, I believe it! I'll greet them, and give you the green light all the way! Funds and resources will be in place as soon as possible! I'll just wait to see your neural link open my eyes!"

Hanging up the phone, Chen Youhua let out a long sigh of relief.

The biggest stumbling block, project approval and funding, had finally been settled.

He walked to the huge floor-to-ceiling window of the office, overlooking the campus.

The golden glow of the sunset sprinkled on the buildings and treetops, and also reflected on the brand-new and shiny instruments in the A-705 Laboratory.

The laboratory was busy, noisy, but full of vitality.