80: Chapter 80 Lu Yike, are you here to flatter me?

Liu Min watched the expression on Zhao Yang's face and felt that something was off—that smile didn't look like someone who had just found out they were being investigated; it looked more like a hunter watching prey step into a trap.

Zhao Yang smiled. "The young lady is new to the capital and is just curious about the leadership. That's normal. If she's not violating any rules, don't worry about her."

"Are you sure I shouldn't worry?" Liu Min looked puzzled. "Director Zhao, I'm worried that it might affect you."

"No need to worry. If she's not violating rules, let her be. If she does, push back." Zhao Yang paused. "The power of the inspection System is immense. It's normal for a young lady like her to struggle with controlling it when she suddenly possesses such power. No need to make a fuss."

"Understood." Liu Min nodded and turned to leave the office, but she couldn't help but mutter to herself—the Director's attitude toward Lu Yike was just too indulgent.

Zhao Yang leaned back in his chair, the corners of his mouth curling up slightly.

It wasn't that Lu Yike having professional habits was scary; what was scary was if she didn't act on them. The faster and more severely she acted, the better!

Handong Province!

A massive chessboard.

It should be the final battlefield of this world. Although he couldn't go there yet, he could start making some arrangements.

Therefore, Lu Yike was very important.

Zhao Yang quickly pushed this matter aside. He didn't even have time to add fuel to the fire of the investigation into Lu Yike.

This was because the core System of the Joint Laboratory of Intelligent Investigation was still missing something crucial—a data transmission module between multiple servers. This was the physical foundation for the core algorithm of his thesis to be implemented. Without this module, the data throughput capacity of the entire System would be bottlenecked.

This thing was quite common in the future. A dedicated communication chip, widely used in server clusters and data centers. But chips with similar functions wouldn't appear until 2002.

He only had himself to blame; he had been careless when checking the background information for his thesis in the System.

The laboratory was set to produce results by mid-2001, so he couldn't wait.

Zhao Yang's first reaction was to exchange for it from the System.

That chip had excellent performance and even included the full technical documentation, and even the entire production process from a grain of sand to a chip, complete and detailed.

The price wasn't high either, a mere 100,000 emotion points.

With his former "financial resources," he could have exchanged for a whole box of chips at this level and eaten them like potato chips.

But he had just emptied his emotion points not long ago, so he could only silently back out.

Forget it!

Anything exchanged from the System would at least be at the 2018 level, which would be hard to explain if he brought it out. Anyone who knew anything about the industry would pursue the matter to the end. At that point, he couldn't exactly say he fished it out of Songshan Lake—well, Songshan Lake didn't even exist yet.

Zhao Yang mocked himself for a moment and made a decision.

If you want to get things done, you have to do them yourself.

There was already domestic EDA design software in this era—the "panda System."

It was rumored to be a state-supported project, a full toolchain capable of designing chips. In this era, it was particularly scarce!

It just so happened that the Third Institute had actually bought a set.

Zhao Yang opened it like he was on a pilgrimage, and then, after less than half an hour, his face turned dark.

Did the development team have a grudge against the users?

The human-computer interaction was anti-human, and the operational logic was extremely inefficient.

Relying on this thing to produce what he wanted was better than waiting for the 2002 chip to hit the market.

He tossed the keyboard aside; he had to admit that he couldn't count on this thing.

Should he buy foreign design software?

"Damn it. With the System at my disposal, do I really need foreign goods? No! I can't tolerate this!"

He scoured the mall again, intending to get a complete hardware design software, but he didn't have enough emotion points. However, he found a "lightweight EDA design framework."

"System. Exchange for this."

Swish. His emotion points were instantly emptied once again.

His brain surged.

A massive amount of architectural information flooded in. Although it wasn't the complete source code, the skeleton was all there. For him, that was enough; he would type in the rest himself.

His Level 6 Electronic Information Specialization was not just for show.

In the days that followed, colleagues at the laboratory noticed something.

Director Zhao had changed.

Previously, he would walk around the workstations every day, offering pointers from time to time, like a cold operator watching the machines run. Now, he would just sit in his office, facing the computer, typing from morning till night. He broke a keyboard every few days.

Even when someone went in to report on their work, his fingers never stopped for a second.

Several researchers whispered privately.

"What is the Director... writing?"

"Don't know. A program, maybe?"

"Isn't our laboratory for investigation? Why is he writing code?"

"And the code he's writing looks very strange."

Lu Yike noticed it too.

She saw Zhao Yang's hands flying across the keyboard through the half-open door. She wanted to go in and ask, but she held back. Zhao Yang was busy typing code, which was a good opportunity for her to speed up her investigation.

Her eyes darted around, and she found a place where no one was around, took out her phone, and dialed her mother, Judge Wu.

"Mom, don't you have a few old classmates in the capital? I want to pay them a visit. Could you give me their contact information?"

Judge Wu's voice sounded surprised: "You child, how long has it been, and you're only thinking of this now? Honestly. Just wait, I'll text them to you right away."

Lu Yike hung up the phone, her face composed.

She hadn't found anything of value in the laboratory, but among her mother's old classmates, there were people in the Real Estate Bureau and the bank. From these, she could always find something.

Over a month later.

Zhao Yang looked at the clean user interface in front of him and smiled with satisfaction. It was done.

Just as he was about to hurry and design the communication chip, the office door was pushed open.

Lu Yike walked in and closed the door behind her.

She was wearing the blue work uniform issued by the laboratory, her hair tied in a high ponytail, and her face was stern, her expression serious.

"Yike, is something wrong?" Zhao Yang looked at her with a smile. "Are you having trouble with your work?"

Lu Yike coughed lightly and took a deep breath.

"Deputy Director Zhao, I'm not having any trouble with my work. And I think that the work of our laboratory is at the forefront of the country and is very meaningful."

Zhao Yang nodded: "So, you approve of this place? Are you thinking of staying after you finish your thesis?"

"I still want to return to Handong Province." Lu Yike paused. "Recently, I discovered that our laboratory is different from other places; the work efficiency is extremely high. These things are inseparable from your overall planning and coordination. It is you who makes the entire laboratory run like a high-efficiency precision machine. I, and everyone else, admire your professional ability very much."

Zhao Yang looked intrigued: "Yike, are you here specifically to butter me up?"

Lu Yike bit her lip and shook her head.

"Director Zhao, since your ability is so strong, you should... you should hold yourself to higher standards and avoid making mistakes. So... so that you can lead the team to make greater contributions."

Her emotions were clearly becoming agitated, and her breathing grew rapid.

Zhao Yang sized her up and leaned back: "Continue. Speak your mind."

Lu Yike's eyes suddenly turned red.

"Must you really make me say it out loud? Senior?"

Zhao Yang's face darkened: "During working hours, use professional titles."

Lu Yike opened her mouth. Her emotions were stuck in her throat, like a glutinous rice ball stuck in her windpipe.

After a long while, she gritted her teeth, her voice trembling.

"Fine. Deputy Director Zhao."

She pulled a stack of neatly folded papers from her pocket, unfolded them, and placed them in front of Zhao Yang, her fingers pressing down on the paper, her knuckles turning white: "May I ask—how do you explain these things? Or rather, how do you explain these things to the organization?"