16: Chapter 16 2 billion? Get out! I'll hand over this trillion-dollar technology to the nation!
A secret base of the Xiang Province Military District in the Southern Theater Command.
A man with a general's star on his shoulder and frost at his temples was holding a secure phone, listening to a report.
His fingers tapped rhythmically on the tabletop, making a dull "thud-thud" sound.
From the receiver came the voice of Captain Li Jun, dry and filled with frustration.
"...Yes, General."
"He used junk from a scrapyard to cobble together an Artificial Intelligence, and it reverse-locked onto three of our optical surveillance points..."
"And then..."
Captain Li Jun paused, seemingly organizing his thoughts.
"Then, he used that Artificial Intelligence to tutor his cousin on elementary school math problems."
On the other end of the line, there was a silence lasting half a minute.
It was so long that Captain Li Jun thought the signal had cut out.
"Nonsense!"
A roar full of vigor nearly shattered Captain Li Jun's eardrums.
"Captain Li Jun! Do you take me for a three-year-old? Or have you been on the front lines so long that your brain has gone fuzzy!"
"Report, General! Everything I said is the absolute truth!" Captain Li Jun straightened his back, his voice resonant.
On the other end of the line, heavy breathing could be heard.
"You mean to tell me..." General Zhang's voice carried a sense of unbelievable absurdity.
"A kid who was expelled from the National Defense University, in a village, used a pile of scrap metal to cobble together an Artificial Intelligence that even we cannot understand..."
"And his purpose was to check a 'chickens and rabbits in the same cage' math problem?"
"Report, General, it wasn't the chickens and rabbits, it was a distance and speed problem." Captain Li Jun corrected him earnestly.
"..."
"Get lost!"
General Zhang cursed, but laughed first himself, his laughter filled with helplessness and a trace of... excitement.
"Absurd! Simply absurd!"
He scolded, his fingers tapping even faster on the table.
"This kid... he's a treasure! First he produced an electromagnetic pulse and Quantum Communication routing, and now he's come up with this thing!"
"Pass the order down!" General Zhang's tone turned serious in an instant.
"The surveillance level remains unchanged, and no personnel are to withdraw!"
"However, the strategy is to change from 'control' to 'service'!"
"Service?" Captain Li Jun was stunned.
"Yes, service!" General Zhang said decisively.
"Doesn't he like to tinker with inventions? Whatever he lacks, we will provide it to him!"
"Doesn't he like playing with junk? We will find a way to deliver retired, scrapped, and unused 'high-end junk' right to him!"
"I don't care what excuse you use, whether it's scrap collection or targeted poverty alleviation, just make sure you serve him well!"
"Whatever he wants, give it to him! Whatever he wants to do, let him do it!"
"I want to see just how much more stuff is hidden in that little guy's brain that we wouldn't even dare to imagine!"
"Yes! General!"
After hanging up the phone, Captain Li Jun stood on the balcony, looking at the studio with its lights on across the way, speechless for a long time.
Service?
What the hell, how am I supposed to serve him?
I can't just run over and ask: Su Che, what do you want to hand-craft today? Do you need a scrapped radar antenna or retired engine parts?
...The next morning.
Su Che yawned and loaded the steampunk-style "Smart Error-Correction Printer" onto a wheelbarrow.
He had already agreed with Lin Waner last night that he would bring a big treasure for her and the children today.
His father, Su Pingan, was holding a bowl of rice porridge, squatting at the doorway, watching him.
"Going to school again?"
"Yeah."
"...Can that thing really teach the kids how to do problems?"
"Yes."
Su Pingan didn't say anything more, just silently watching his son push the cart away.
He felt that his son, upon returning this time, seemed to have poked a hole in the sky, but all that leaked through that hole was light.
Su Family Village Primary School.
When Su Che moved the "monster" into the classroom, the children swarmed around it with a "whoosh."
"Wow! Big brother is here to perform magic again!"
"What is this? It looks so strange!"
Lin Waner settled the children down and looked at Su Che with some embarrassment.
"Su Che, I'm troubling you again."
"It's a small matter."
Su Che connected the machine to power and turned it on.
The small screen lit up, displaying lines of startup code.
He took a workbook that the children had made the most mistakes in yesterday and placed it on the scanning platform.
"Creak... creak..."
The machine once again made that sound as if it were about to fall apart at any moment.
A few minutes later, a brand new practice sheet, tailored to each child's type of errors, was printed out.
Lin Waner picked up the test paper, which was still warm with ink, and looked at the clearly organized summary of knowledge points and the similar problems that progressed from easy to difficult.
"Su Che..."
She looked up, her voice tinged with a hint of tears, filled with excitement, and even more so, moved!
This man had taken what she said to him to heart.
"Thank you."
"This... this is the best New Year's gift they have ever received."
Su Che looked into her sparkling eyes, and the strings of his heart were plucked once again.
"Alright, alright, it's no big deal."
He scratched his head, wanting to say something to change the subject.
Just then, the phone in his pocket vibrated with a "buzz" again.
It was that same unknown number.
He frowned and opened it.
This time, it wasn't a threat, but a line of simpler, and even crazier characters.
[We'll give you two billion. Then we can cooperate to develop civilian Quantum Communication technology; subsequent profit sharing and additional investment are all open for negotiation!]
[Miss Jiang says she is very sincere.]
Two billion?
Miss Jiang?
Sending threatening text messages before, and now wanting to cooperate?
And the R&D funding for the firecrackers last time was offered at one hundred million, this time it's straight up two billion, what the hell, so generous!
It seems the strength behind this babe with the slim waist, long legs, big chest, and curvy butt cannot be underestimated.
In Su Che's mind, the woman with the big breasts that could play basketball, wearing yoga pants, and a butt that could burst the seams of her pants, instantly appeared.
But does he really dare to accept this cooperation? Does he really dare to take this astronomical sum of two billion?
If the other party is really a spy, the next second the label of "treason" could be slapped on him.
He only hesitated for three seconds before stuffing the phone back into his pocket.
...In the afternoon, Su Che pushed the empty cart home.
When passing by the small building where Captain Li Jun and his team were stationed, he stopped.
Captain Li Jun happened to be walking out from inside, and upon seeing Su Che, his expression was somewhat complex.
"Something up?"
"Yeah." Su Che nodded and pointed toward the direction of the village primary school.
"That thing that allows the village to get online, the last one was a one-time use."
"I can make a permanent one."
Su Che looked at Captain Li Jun's poker face, calmly dropping one bombshell after another.
"The implementation cost is less than one-tenth of the existing technology."
"If it's promoted, you should know its value."
"For the technology, I don't want money."
"I'm giving it to the country."
Captain Li Jun was truly shocked this time; he even suspected he had misheard.
He didn't understand the technology in this area very well, but he had seen enough to know the basics.
He had at least watched the news; that was defense and strategic security technology, and it could break into a trillion-level market in the future!
Su Che looked at him, his eyes calm and earnest.
"There is only one condition."
"Let my village be the first to use it."
"Let those kids watch cartoons to their heart's content during the New Year."