66: Bold Ideas

He was surprised to discover that the progress bar below the simulator had changed from 1 to 100 to 1 to 1000, and the level cap had jumped from 2 to 3!

His simulator had actually upgraded.

This sudden change filled him with both delight and confusion. What could have caused such a transformation?

The experience points on the progress bar had already accumulated to 736, just a step away from the next level. For Xu Ning, this was undoubtedly a pleasant surprise.

But he scratched his head, lost in thought. Where had these experience points come from?

Recalling that the experience points had started to soar after a recent trip to Iraq, could this sudden surge also be related to Iraq?

He stroked his chin, reviewing the latest news reports about Iraq, most of which were related to casualties.

A thought flashed through his mind, and he suddenly had a bold idea.

However, he couldn't be sure. Xu Ning shook his head and put this conjecture aside for the time being.

It seemed that after solving the Stinger missile upgrade problem, he would have to go to Iraq again. Perhaps he could find the answer there.

With a new direction, he decided to focus on the task at hand. After all, there was still a complex mental map that needed adjusting.

"Let's try increasing the processing power. Hmm, the effect is good."

"Then there's storage space and energy efficiency. I also need to improve the response speed."

"No, optimizing the response time too much will increase energy consumption. Although the level has increased by three, the performance has actually decreased."

"It's better to increase it moderately by two levels..."

"Reliability cannot be ignored either, otherwise no one will dare to use it, especially the military."

After countless attempts, a 600-nanometer chip with significantly improved performance gradually took shape in Xu Ning's mind.

With this high-performance chip, he was confident that within the field of 600-nanometer technology, it was absolutely unique! With it, opening the door to General Manager Zhang Jianxia's office would be a breeze!

Xu Ning's heart was filled with anticipation. As the data from the simulator began to pour into his mind, he felt as if he had been hit by a shockwave.

Immediately after, a strong feeling of swelling pain swept over him. Xu Ning felt as if his head had been forcibly stuffed with a soccer ball. The pain almost made him lose consciousness, but he gritted his teeth and held on.

Fortunately, the swelling pain slowly subsided. He slumped to the ground, took a few deep breaths, and only then felt life return to him. He struggled to stand up, poured himself a cup of tea, and sat back at his desk.

Facing the thick stack of blank paper in front of him, Xu Ning's gaze immediately became sharp. The pen in his hand seemed to be endowed with life, dancing rapidly across the paper. Soon, a sketch appeared on the paper. This was just the beginning; there were many more drawings to be made.

"Got to work harder," he muttered to himself, and then continued to wield his pen.

Time flew by. For two days, Xu Ning hardly left his room. Aside from eating and sleeping, he devoted all his time to drawing the mask design blueprints.

When the last blueprint was completed, he put down his pen and stretched his limbs. Next, he turned on the computer Tang Ziwei had bought for him. Although this computer was bulky and had limited functions, it was sufficient for assisting his work.

He needed to scan these hand-drawn design blueprints into the computer and then use software for further processing.

...

One morning, Tang Ziwei and Xiao Jianhao came to the hotel restaurant for breakfast as usual. Tang Ziwei served Xu Ning a bowl of millet porridge and took some tea-boiled eggs for his plate.

He knew Xu Ning liked to wait for the porridge to cool down before drinking it, so he found a seat and started eating first.

Xiao Jianhao sat next to him, but his attention was drawn to the crowd gathered in a corner of the restaurant. Something seemed to be happening there; people were watching and whispering.

Tang Ziwei was indifferent to this, but Xiao Jianhao's curiosity was piqued.

"Li Ge, watch my breakfast for me, I'm going over there to see."

"There's nothing to see. Hurry up and eat."

"Hey, it's a shame not to watch this kind of excitement."

Saying that, Xiao Jianhao put down his breakfast and walked towards the crowd. The onlookers were still whispering to each other, some even covering their mouths and snickering.

"Haha, look at him. Is this some kind of trendy art performance?"

"This is more than just a simple performance. Look at his hand, how much strength he must have to hold a bun like that for so long without dropping it."

"Yeah, I'm also wondering. Could it be glued?"

"It's possible!"

"Why is this young man playing performance art here? Did he get the wrong venue?"

It should be known that Huating Hotel was a famous high-end place, frequented by prominent figures in the business world.

Hearing these words, Xiao Jianhao's curiosity grew. He pushed through the crowd of onlookers and squeezed forward to see what was going on.

When he squeezed into the crowd, the scene before him stunned him. It turned out to be a person napping face down on the table, his face pressed tightly against the tabletop, as if integrated with the table.

The most astonishing thing was that in his right hand, which was almost touching the ground, he was still holding a pair of chopsticks, with half a bun clamped between them. It was only a few centimeters from the ground but remained steady and didn't fall.

Everyone was curious how long this bun would last before falling.

Xiao Jianhao's face showed a complex expression when he saw him, because he recognized this "artist" - it was Xu Ning, who had been working late last night.

"Everyone, disperse! There's nothing to see!"

He quickly dispersed the crowd and then called Tang Ziwei for help.

After some effort, they finally managed to wake Xu Ning. He squinted, looking at the two of them with half-closed eyes, a silly smile on his lips.

"Why are you here?"

"Why else would we be? It's you who looks like you haven't slept all night. When did you start being like this?"

Xu Ning smiled, about to answer, but his eyelids grew heavier and heavier, and finally, he simply fell asleep again.

"Xu Ning, Xu Ning?"

Xiao Jianhao shook him. Seeing that he was unresponsive, he looked at Tang Ziwei.

"What should we do?"

"What else can we do? Let's take him back to his room to rest first."

Tang Ziwei shook her head helplessly.

When Xu Ning got into work, he was like a desperate warrior; ten oxen couldn't pull him back.

Without a word, Xiao Jianhao directly carried Xu Ning on his back and walked towards the hotel room. Tang Ziwei followed closely behind.

Back in the room, seeing Xu Ning lying on the bed sleeping like a rock, both of them couldn't help but shake their heads. This guy was really exhausted.

"Li Ge, should we change hotels? I think everyone here knows our brother now," Xiao Jianhao suggested, completely forgetting that he himself had similar experiences before.

Tang Ziwei didn't speak, but her gaze was attracted by a folder on the table. A note was attached to the cover, which read: "Please give this to General Manager Zhang Jianxia of Zhongxing Microelectronics."

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