926: Chapter 921 The Don Quixote of the East?

Lin Dong's temper now was even more volatile than when he was in the basement, because he knew they didn't have much time left.

Shen Yan walked over the scattered rubble, followed by a solemn-faced Chen Guangke.

"What's wrong?"

Shen Yan handed Lin Dong a bottle of water.

Lin Dong took the water and gulped it down, choking and coughing because he drank too fast.

"Hardware... still a hardware problem."

He wiped his mouth, the bloodshot veins in his eyes crisscrossing like a spider web.

"Although we managed the site and the electricity, the core computing power cards are still insufficient."

"The high-end GPUs available on the market are monopolized by the major giants. It's as if they colluded to impose an invisible embargo on the Shenyan Group."

"I even tried finding scalpers to buy them, but as soon as they heard the destination was Jinghai, they immediately hung up."

Chen Guangke sighed next to him and handed his phone to Shen Yan.

"Brother Yan, look at this."

On the screen was a newly published foreign media report, its headline full of arrogance and mockery.

"Don Quixote of the East: Is the Shenyan Group trying to challenge quantum hegemony with an obsolete thermal power plant?"

The article used every means of sarcasm, describing Shen Yan's acquisition of the thermal power plant as "scavenging garbage because he couldn't afford a proper server room," and asserting that without top-tier chip support, Shen Yan's supercomputing center was just a giant electric heater.

"These sons of bitches," Chen Guangke cursed through gritted teeth.

Shen Yan glanced at the headline, his face expressionless.

Just then, those familiar light blue characters reappeared.

[Branch Mission Triggered: Computing Bottleneck.]

[Today's Intelligence: On the cargo ship 'Heart of the Ocean' at the Port of Rotterdam, there is a container declared as 'scrap graphics cards.' In reality, it holds the most cutting-edge computing cards mortgaged after a cryptocurrency mining farm went bankrupt, totaling twelve thousand units. Due to an incorrect customs code, they are about to be auctioned off as electronic waste.]

Shen Yan's pupils contracted slightly.

Twelve thousand units.

It was enough.

Not only enough to fill all the cabinets here, but even enough left over for disaster recovery.

"Guang Ke,"

Shen Yan put away his phone, his voice deep and powerful.

"Call Ning Ke."

"Tell him to fly to Rotterdam immediately, bringing the most professional customs clearance team and enough US dollars."

"Even if you have to use cash to sink that ship, you must bring back the container numbered T-99 for me."

Chen Guangke was momentarily stunned. Although he didn't know why they needed to go to Rotterdam at this critical juncture, he was long accustomed to executing orders.

"Understood, I'll go handle it now."

Lin Dong desperately ran a hand through his hair.

"Even if we can buy the cards, cooling is a huge problem. According to my algorithm model, the current air-cooling solution simply cannot handle it..."

"I'll handle the cooling problem,"

Shen Yan interrupted him.

Yesterday's system reward included a copy of the "Phase Change Immersion Liquid Cooling Technology White Paper (Incomplete Scroll)".

Although it was an incomplete scroll, it was a dimensional strike against current industrial heat generation.

"You just focus on writing the code. Leave the rest to me."

Shen Yan patted Lin Dong's thin shoulder.

That tone of certainty was like a stabilizing pillar, inexplicably calming the restless Lin Dong.

For the next two months, the Shenyan Group operated like a giant machine running at full capacity.

The external questioning grew louder.

Some said Shen Yan was using high technology as a guise to seize land; others claimed the Shenyan Group's capital chain had broken and it was about to collapse.

Even some minority shareholders started causing trouble at the Board of Directors meetings, demanding Shen Yan disclose the specific progress of the supercomputing project.

Shen Yan had only two words in response: Shut up.

He poured all his energy into monetizing intelligence and allocating resources.

The intelligence refreshed by the system daily was varied.

[Intelligence: The renovation plan for the old residential area in the South Jinghai will be announced next week; purchase the building material factory's inventory in advance.]

[Intelligence: A famous actress will have a surrogacy scandal exposed three days later; the stock price of related endorsed brands will plummet; short the stock in advance.]

[Intelligence: International crude oil futures will experience a technical pullback on Friday...]

Shen Yan was like a cold hunter, precisely seizing every opportunity to profit.

The Shenyan Group's book capital expanded at a terrifying speed, only to be spent instantly like flowing water, transforming into those truckloads of equipment being transported into the thermal power plant.

When the first snow of winter fell, the renovation of the Third Thermal Power Plant was finally completed.

The once gloomy factory floor was now brightly lit.

Thousands of black server cabinets were neatly arranged, like a silent formation of soldiers.

The top-tier computing cards transported back from Rotterdam had all been installed, submerged in the special coolant made by Shen Yan, emitting a faint blue light.

In the control room, everyone held their breath.

Lin Dong's fingers hovered over the red Enter key, trembling slightly.

This was the final step.

Loading the core algorithm.

Liu Hui, holding Shen An and cradling Youyou, stood outside the glass curtain wall, quietly watching the scene.

Although she couldn't understand the complex parameters, she could feel the tense aura around her husband.

He was like a swordsman about to draw his blade.

"Start,"

Shen Yan said only those two words.

Lin Dong took a deep breath and heavily pressed Enter.

"Boom—"

It wasn't an explosion, but a low-frequency hum.

It was the sound of tens of thousands of chips waking up simultaneously, the roar of electricity surging across the silicon wafers.

Data flowed down the large screen like a waterfall, so fast it was dazzling.

"Core temperature 42 degrees, stable!"

"Liquid cooling circulation system load 3%, normal!"

"Bidirectional recursive algorithm loaded, self-check passed!"

Lin Dong's voice grew higher and higher, even laced with a hint of crying.

"Computing power is climbing, 10 PFlops... 300 PFlops..."

"It broke 50 PFlops! That's already the threshold for the global top ten last year!"

Wu Ya stood behind Shen Yan, staring intently at the screen, her fingernails digging into her palm.

That number kept jumping wildly.

80... 900...

Finally, the number settled at 1.2 EFlops (Exaflops).

The entire control room fell deathly silent.

Immediately following, an eruption of cheers threatened to blow the roof off.

Chen Guangke let out a strange cry and grabbed Zhao Tiezhu next to him, nearly suffocating the two-hundred-pound man.

Lin Dong slumped in his chair, looking at the number, grinning foolishly like a child, tears streaming down his stubbled cheeks.

It succeeded.

This was the real "brain."

Shen Yan looked at the screen, and a golden notification box popped up on his retinal display.

[Chain Mission: Computing Hegemony (Completed)]

[Mission Evaluation: Perfect. Actual computing power exceeds expectations by 2%, overall energy efficiency ratio is the world's best.]

[Reward Issued: Next-generation lithography machine blueprint fragment (1/5) has been stored in the system space.]

[New Intelligence Triggered: The global supercomputing organization TOP50 list will refresh in ten minutes. Shenyan Group's "pangu" Supercomputing Center will debut at third place, causing a tsunami in the Western tech community.]

Shen Yan's lips curved slightly upward. It wasn't a smile of pride, but the relaxation after a successful hunt.

He turned and pushed open the control room door, walking over to Liu Hui.

"Daddy, that big screen is so bright!"

Youyou stretched out her little hand, trying to grab the flickering light spots.

Shen Yan picked up his daughter and let her ride on his neck.

"That's a big toy Daddy made for Youyou."

Liu Hui tidied his slightly messy tie, her eyes full of tenderness.

"You must be exhausted, right?"

"It's alright."

Shen Yan held his wife's hand; her palm was warm and dry.