Manual query of OCR

When December arrived, Lin Yuan received another pay raise.

Good Group proactively requested to increase the non-compete compensation amount.

Furthermore, the non-compete compensation, which was originally scheduled to be disbursed gradually after one year of employment, was brought forward to this year, calculated from his start date in September.

Lin Yuan's non-compete compensation was increased to 300,000 per year, and he received the first three months of it in early December.

With 300,000 averaged out per month, Lin Yuan's salary instantly increased from 42K to 67K.

This, of course, was not due to Good Group's benevolence; rather, their research institute had been pondering Lin Yuan's food delivery algorithm for nearly three months without any breakthrough.

For this reason, Good Group had to stabilize Lin Yuan.

Despite Lin Yuan's sudden salary surge, he was not without worries.

Even though Good Group paid his five insurances and one housing fund at the highest standard, Lin Yuan's monthly personal income tax still exceeded 10,000.

Thinking about contributing 10,000 for nothing each month, he felt immense pain.

Lin Yuan, who had always been highly aware, experienced a loosening of his Dao heart for the first time.

His family had been poor since he was young, and the memory of lacking money was deeply ingrained in him.

After a complex ideological struggle, Lin Yuan finally managed to calm the pain of handing over 10,000 each month.

Compared to this slight pain, what was more terrifying was his thought of being content with a little wealth.

Because the cheat was too good, even a bad cheat was still a cheat. Lin Yuan had only used it slightly, and he was already on the verge of financial freedom (at least for a common person like him).

If he continued at the current pace, Lin Yuan could foresee that he would establish himself in the internet field as an IT big shot, and then just wait to count money.

What was the point of struggling then!

He had already begun to fantasize about a cozy life with his wife Xia Ye and children.

As a result, when his mentor brought up the topic of the fishing OCR, Lin Yuan couldn't muster much enthusiasm.

He asked himself, helping his mentor with the fishing OCR was mixed with a bit of his own selfish motives—to cling tightly to his mentor's leg, of course.

Although the idea of benefiting the world would occasionally pop into his head, the current comfortable life was too beautiful, and Lin Yuan's fighting spirit was imperceptibly waning day by day.

Once the two most desired things, money and a girl, were within reach, the common person's mentality gradually began to sprout and wreak havoc.

Thinking of this, Lin Yuan admired his mentor even more.

Who knew what kind of mental journey his mentor had gone through, still harboring a youthful, indignant heart at such an old age.

Lin Yuan gradually began to understand Dean Li. He was old, wouldn't it be better to just wait for retirement? Why stir up trouble for no reason? Unless he saw hope of taking another step forward, then it would be worth the trouble.

When this thought popped into Lin Yuan's head, he suddenly felt a deep fear.

'I'm actually empathizing with that 24K pure old man, Dean Li?' Lin Yuan suddenly realized: he was imperceptibly being influenced by economic laws.

What was even more terrifying was that he seemed to be on the verge of sinking.

At this moment, he finally understood the essence of those eight true words—Do not forget your original intention, keep your mission in mind.

'I've only succeeded a tiny bit, and my original intention has already begun to waver. I am... not human...'

Lin Yuan also recalled a famous saying from history—He who travels a hundred li, takes ninety as half.

And Lin Yuan's hundred-li journey had only just begun, far from reaching 'ninety'.

At this point, Lin Yuan finally realized the weight of the words 'original intention'.

No wonder so many ancient and modern sages kept prattling on and on; the core of it was actually one sentence—People cannot forget where they came from.

However, the principle is easy to understand, but difficult to practice.

Monthly income of tens of thousands was more than enough to spend.

Xia Ye's body was enough to make Lin Yuan crave for a lifetime.

So what was the meaning of struggling in the future?

Lin Yuan then fell into a faint sense of confusion, a confusion enveloped by happiness.

He always had two voices in his heart: one told him, "You've suffered for so many years, it's time to enjoy yourself," while the other kept reminding him, "What you're doing is wrong."

It was in this struggle that Lin Yuan welcomed the first human inquiry about OCR.

One ordinary morning, Lin Yuan woke up as usual and instinctively picked up his phone, because he and Xia Ye had a habit of "morning and evening greetings"—starting each day with a kiss and a good morning, and ending it with a kiss and a good night.

Unexpectedly, below Xia Ye's kiss emoji, there was an additional message from an OCR application specialist.

"Lin Student, when are you free for us to chat?"

Currently, Lin Yuan had pushed the mining time proportion of OCR computing power equipment to 50%, which was already blatantly obvious, just short of beating gongs and drums.

In these nearly three months, the OCR side had only sent him formulaic inquiry emails.

The content of the emails naturally reminded Lin Yuan that their backend monitoring had detected abnormalities in the computing power equipment and that the free computing power equipment must be used correctly.

Lin Yuan replied to these emails seriously each time, as instructed by his mentor.

After five rounds of email back-and-forth, the human inquiry finally arrived.

Lin Yuan immediately typed a line, "I can now."

Then he remembered his mentor's instruction—to play hard to get.

So he quickly deleted the content and retyped a segment, "What exactly do you want to ask?"

"It's just a routine usage follow-up that will take a little time. We can do it when Lin Student is free."

Lin Yuan deliberately put on an act of being anxious—he kept typing and deleting text, repeating this for over a minute.

Because this would make the other party see his status as "The other party is typing..."

"Okay, I'll go eat breakfast first." After his performance, Lin Yuan kept the other party waiting, then immediately called his mentor.

Following his mentor's instructions, he then headed straight to his mentor's office.

When Lin Yuan stepped into his mentor's office, Dean Li was already there.

From the eyes behind his glasses, Lin Yuan read a fervent desire.

This old man seemed to have become many years younger.

"You haven't had breakfast yet, have you? What do you want to eat? I'll have someone buy it," Dean Li said, pulling Lin Yuan to sit on the sofa.

For someone Lin Yuan's age, skipping breakfast wasn't a big deal. "Teacher, Dean, I still have classes this morning."

"Oh, no one dares to deduct your usual points. What do you want to eat?"

Looking at Dean Li's concerned eyes, Lin Yuan casually replied, "One meat bun, one vegetable bun, and a cup of soy milk."

Dean Li then made a call, speaking with the natural tone of a leader.

After a series of instructions, he looked at Lin Yuan with concern again.

How could Lin Yuan not be sensible? "I've stabilized the other side for now. I didn't know what to say, so I called Teacher first."

"You did very well. Sit down, open your phone." Dean Li almost pressed Lin Yuan onto the sofa.

Professor Zhang also leaned over at this moment, "Hey~~, don't come up with any more bad ideas. Your brain wasn't bright enough back then."

"I'm afraid he'll give himself away," Dean Li retorted.

"You're overdoing it. Lin Yuan is currently playing the role of a rural kid who lacks money; your meddling will only make him more likely to give himself away."

"I also came from the countryside, won't I understand?"

"You indeed came from the countryside decades ago, but you've worn the official's hat for too long now. So you'd better stand aside, just like how you clung to our legs back then."

"How did I cling to your legs back then? If it weren't for me those few times, would we have been able to get the information out?"

Professor Zhang thought for a moment, "You're right, playing a traitor, you were indeed a master at it."

"Go away~~" Although Dean Li was verbally defiant, he was obedient and sat aside.

Then he picked up the thermos with goji berries on the table, "I won't watch, is that good enough?"

Then Professor Zhang signaled to Lin Yuan, "When you're ready, let's begin. Don't be nervous, just immerse yourself in the most difficult period of your life."