He even copied the notes.

Tangcheng is an ordinary city on the southeastern coast of Longguo.

Tangcheng Institute of Technology is an ordinary school located in Tangcheng.

"What institute of technology?" Professor Zhang asked with a frown.

Generally speaking, universities with "University" in their name are not necessarily good universities, but universities without "University" in their name are almost certainly not good universities.

"Tangcheng Institute of Technology," Lin Yuan repeated.

Professor Zhang tilted his head and quietly asked Xiao Liu next to him, "Have you heard of it?"

"I've heard of it, but I don't know much about it."

Dean Li chimed in, "It's a second-tier engineering college in a neighboring city."

"Second-tier? You... how could you attend a second-tier university? Your code style is neat, and your logic is clear. Did you fail the college entrance examination?"

"No, I didn't fail the college entrance examination," Lin Yuan answered honestly. At the time of the college entrance examination, he really did get into a second-tier university based on his own ability.

"Not good at liberal arts?"

Lin Yuan shook his head. At the time of the college entrance examination, he wasn't particularly good at any subject.

Seeing this, Dean Li couldn't help but frown, "Old Zhang, that's why I told you. We need to pay attention to standards and procedures. Let him open the code and take a look."

Dean Li was instinctively suspicious of Lin Yuan's undergraduate background, implying that Professor Zhang had misjudged him.

Professor Zhang said without hesitation, "It is a bit strange. But I've taught computer science for 30 years; I can tell if someone is capable of this job just by smelling them." He exuded the confidence of an old grandmaster.

"You continue."

"I..." Lin Yuan was at a loss for how to introduce himself.

Because, damn it, he had just coasted through his four years of university. He couldn't possibly say: I was just a slacker, and then I became a cheat half a year ago.

"I... I didn't have much of a goal before. Later, I decided to study computer science and then self-studied for a while. Now I basically have a grasp of fundamental computer science knowledge and some programming ability. In the future, I hope to work in artificial intelligence. That's it."

"Then have you done any projects in university? Or participated in any competitions, or had any works?" Dean Li didn't intentionally make things difficult; instead, he asked Lin Yuan in a gentle, encouraging tone.

"No," Lin Yuan shook his head. The computing power system only guided him on his learning path, but it didn't guide him on how to package his resume. And Lin Yuan couldn't lie.

Dean Li had a very troubled expression. He thought for a while before saying, "If there are no project or competition experiences, then are there any good open-source projects?"

Project experience during schooling represents the learning situation at school; competitions organized by national education departments have public credibility; open-source projects are like a list of martial arts heroes.

It could be said that Dean Li was also trying to give Lin Yuan a chance to prove himself.

However, Lin Yuan shook his head from beginning to end. He was a cheat, but he had only been a cheat for too short a time.

Dean Li could only look at Professor Zhang, "Old Zhang, you're in technology. You should also know that excellence has a trajectory."

Professor Zhang was certainly well aware of this. An excellent student could not suddenly burst out of a rock like the Monkey King.

If Lin Yuan was truly excellent, it should have been evident during his studies. The quality of "excellence" absolutely could not appear suddenly. At least, after modern industrial civilization brought recording and video equipment, such explosive geniuses had not appeared again.

Professor Zhang thought for a moment, then said to Lin Yuan, "I just looked at your code, and I believe you definitely wrote it yourself."

Dean Li said cautiously, "How can you tell?"

"He copied the variable names and comments from the open-source project, so of course he wrote it himself," Professor Zhang replied righteously.

"Copied? He even copied the comments?" Dean Li asked in confusion, "Then how can you say it's 'his own work'?"

"I'm telling you, you've been so busy being an official all these years. The amount of computer code now is not what it was when we were studying. We used to write assembly language; now it's all various high-level languages. If you can directly apply it, why write it yourself?

All code in the world is generally copied."

Lin Yuan listened to this, wondering how such words could come from a professor's mouth.

Dean Li still didn't understand, "Then did he copy it or not?"

"It's precisely because he copied it that I'm sure he wrote it himself. The original intention of this exam question was to test students' ability to grasp comprehensive knowledge. Originality refers to the originality of implementing the principle process after understanding the principle. It's about letting them build a house with ready-made bricks and wood, not asking them to make the bricks themselves.

Yet, many blockheads really go and make their own bricks.

If that were the case, how could I only give them three hours?

If they don't even have that much insight, they should enter society and start working earlier, there's no need to come and study for a master's degree."

Dean Li coughed a few times, "Is it possible it was a coincidence?"

"Impossible. The questions I've given these past two days are all unique. Moreover, I've seen his commit history in his GitHub code repository; the code editing process is step by step."

Lin Yuan was startled to hear this. He hadn't expected that Professor Zhang had already checked his GitHub code repository's commit history after just a brief look. It was as if a master had inadvertently checked the bones of a junior.

"In the past, I would have found it hard to believe such a situation. But now, seeing is believing, and we must base it on facts. Since he passed the written test and the practical assessment, then let's admit him as usual."

Before Lin Yuan could even be happy, Dean Li interrupted, "Interview scoring has its own set of rules and regulations; you can't just do whatever you want. It must be based on facts."

Professor Zhang said impatiently, "Then how do you want to be factual?"

"His past resume is empty. If he truly has real talent and knowledge, why not spend a year first to achieve something? He could participate in some competitions, or I could recommend him to work at an IT company of one of our alumni for a year. There's no rush to pursue a master's degree."

Joining a company was not something Lin Yuan hadn't considered, but since the computing power system had given him task guidance, Lin Yuan naturally chose to follow it as much as possible.

According to Dean Li, he could even help with recommendations. Lin Yuan felt that this wasn't unacceptable, if he really couldn't get in.

"Stop talking so much nonsense. Just tell me, what score do you plan to give him?"

Dean Li seemed a bit troubled, "Old Zhang, I know you appreciate talent. But the purpose of establishing rules and regulations is to better select talent. Our school recruiting students is different from a company recruiting employees..."

Lin Yuan understood. A school can't just fire students, but if a company hires an employee and finds out they're incompetent, it's just a matter of paying a little compensation. Ultimately, Dean Li still didn't trust him enough.

"So, what's the score?"