536: Chapter 531 You can never have too many talented people.

Shen Yan hung up the phone and tucked his mobile into his pocket.

His movements were unhurried, as if the person who had just stirred up the situation miles away in T City through the phone was not him.

A waiter passed by with a tray, and he casually picked up a glass of champagne.

The golden liquid shimmered under the crystal lights, casting an alluring halo.

He didn't drink it.

He merely toyed with the base of the glass, his gaze sweeping through the flowing crowd.

Kevin Sterling, the Wall Street newcomer who had just narrowly won a family feud, owed him a favor.

A favor that wasn't huge, but was enough to secure him this top-tier summit invitation.

Kevin had made it very clear on the phone.

"Shen, I have prepared two gifts for you."

"One is tonight's private dinner, to celebrate our great partnership that is about to begin."

"The other is a surprise at the summit."

"A team of four people; they are absolute geniuses in the field of neuronal bionic chips."

"I checked, their contract with the MIT lab is about to expire, and they haven't decided on their next move."

"I know you need them."

Kevin's information was accurate.

Although 'Dawn Laboratory' had the eight core members dug up from 'Pioneer'—Xia Xue, Old He, and Jiang Ye—leading the charge, along with four billion in startup capital.

The research and development of Quantum Chips was a racetrack paved with gold and geniuses.

Talent is never too much.

Especially top-tier geniuses like these.

Shen Yan's gaze finally locked onto a corner of the venue.

There were four people there.

Unlike the other attendees dressed in formal suits, they were casually dressed in hoodies and jeans, gathered around a small round table, fiercely debating something in front of a tablet computer.

The leader was a white woman around thirty, wearing black-rimmed glasses, possessing a sharp and capable demeanor, speaking extremely fast, her fingers constantly swiping across the screen.

Next to her, a tall white young man was gesturing excitedly, seemingly explaining the structure of a model.

Another Asian young man frowned deeply, continuously inputting data.

And the youngest, looking no older than early twenties, with blond hair and blue eyes, carried an air of nobility and unconcealed excitement on his face. He was listening intently, occasionally interjecting with a question that always hit the key point.

It was them.

Shen Yan swirled the champagne in his glass and walked over.

He didn't speak to them directly.

Instead, he stopped in front of a holographic display board not far from them, pretending to be interested in the 'Prospects of Superconducting Material Application' shown on it.

The sounds of the four people's debate drifted over intermittently.

"No, Evelyn, the redundancy in this algorithm model is too high!"

"Arthur, that's not redundancy, it's reserved space for the error correction mechanism!"

"But that will sacrifice at least three percent of the computing power! We can completely use the higher efficiency of Quantum Tunneling Effect to solve the signal distortion problem!"

"Damn it, Arthur, we are discussing a commercial prototype right now, not your theoretical paper published in 'Nature'!"

Shen Yan's lips curved slightly upwards.

Quantum Tunneling Effect.

Interesting.

He turned around, as if inadvertently drawn in by their argument.

"Excuse me, may I interrupt for a moment."

His voice wasn't loud, but it clearly cut through the surrounding noise.

All four stopped and looked at the uninvited guest.

"Did I just hear something about the Quantum Tunneling Effect?"

Shen Yan's gaze fell upon the young man named Arthur, and he spoke with a pure London accent.

"Applying this theory in a neuronal bionic chip—are you trying to solve the issue of electron migration contamination under high-density integration?"

One sentence.

The expressions of all four changed.

From the annoyance of being interrupted to scrutiny and surprise.

This wasn't an investor trying to get close.

This was someone who understood the field.

The woman named Evelyn pushed up her glasses and stood up.

"Yes, sir. Are you also a researcher in this field?"

"I wouldn't call myself a researcher."

Shen Yan shook his head and walked to the table.

"I am just a businessman with a bit of interest in the future."

"Shen Yan, from Shenyan Technology."

He extended his hand.

Evelyn shook it.

"Dr. Evelyn Reed."

She introduced her companions in turn.

"Ben, Leo, and Arthur Vance."

"It's a pleasure to meet you all."

Shen Yan's gaze lingered on Arthur's surname for a tenth of a second.

Vance.

One of the top twenty financial groups in the US.

So this was the surprise Kevin mentioned.

"Your debate just now was very interesting."

Shen Yan cut straight to the chase without beating around the bush.

"Trading computing power for error correction, or risking high-risk technology to pursue the limit of performance."

"This is a problem every laboratory encounters when moving toward commercialization."

Arthur seemed to have found a kindred spirit and immediately became animated.

"Exactly! They always think my ideas are too radical, but if technology doesn't pursue the limits, what's the difference between it and a salted fish?"

Evelyn rubbed her temples, clearly accustomed to Arthur's rhetoric.

"Arthur, our goal is to produce a product acceptable to the market, not a monster that can only run for one second in an environment of negative 273 degrees Celsius."

"That's still a hundred times better than all these so-called AI chips right now!"

Shen Yan smiled and interrupted their argument.

"Perhaps there is a way where you don't have to make this choice."

Evelyn's eyes sharpened.

"What do you mean?"

"My company has just established a new laboratory."

"'Dawn'."

"It will specialize in the research of Quantum Chips and their application in the field of Artificial Intelligence."

Shen Yan looked at the four of them, his voice calm but carrying an irrefutable strength.

"I have prepared four billion in initial funding for it."

"I have only one requirement for it."

"Produce a prototype within three years."

"As for whether you pursue stability or challenge the limits during these three years, I don't care."

"I won't even evaluate any of your KPIs, nor will I require you to generate a single penny of profit."

"I only want results."

"You can treat it as a laboratory, or as a dream incubator that burns money."

"And..."

Shen Yan paused, throwing out his final bargaining chip.

"The head of the laboratory can own ten percent of the equity from the project's future commercialization."

The air seemed to freeze.

Evelyn, Ben, and Leo's breathing became somewhat rapid.

Four billion.

US dollars.

Burning it for three years without regard for cost.

Plus ten percent equity.

This was no longer generosity.

It was madness.

No tech giant in the world could offer such terms.

Only Arthur; his eyes shone with an almost fanatical light.

"Where is your laboratory?"

Evelyn also stared intently at Shen Yan, asking the most crucial question.

"It's in Country H."