When Luo Yao went to the library, he stopped by a digital store in University Town to buy a hard drive. The moment he entered the library, he headed straight for his destination: the computer room on the second floor.
It was lunchtime. Everyone had surrendered to their rising blood sugar, either sitting in their dorms playing games or lying down to continue dreaming. There were far fewer people in the library than the last time Luo Yao had come.
In the second-floor computer room, Luo Yao had the place all to himself.
After taking a seat, Luo Yao did not care whether Wu Tianming and Wang Ye had entered the computer room. He got straight to work.
The system had given him EDA technology. What he needed to do now was sort out his ideas for the entire EDA Software.
Although EDA Software was called software, its essence was vastly different from everyday Adobe and Microsoft software.
A more accurate description of EDA was that it was an industrial product wearing the skin of software.
It needed feedback from downstream manufacturers, as well as constant iteration based on data accumulated from users, before anyone would be willing to use it.
If it could not be updated and iterated at any time, then it would end up like the Nokia phone in Luo Yao's hand—discarded by the times and reduced to the low-end market.
Hua Nation lacked a complete chip industry chain to support it. That was the main reason why domestic EDA products were such a mess.
EDA had one particularly special feature: it sat upstream in the chip industry chain.
EDA was involved in every stage, from chip design and silicon wafer fabrication to packaging and testing. That was why so many EDA manufacturers worked directly with downstream companies.
What they wanted was manufacturing data and user feedback data from downstream companies. They would then analyze that data and use the results to optimize their own software.
Over time, this industrial chain became more and more complete.
If others wanted to surpass it, the costs and technical barriers were right there. Who would dare try without confidence?
Luo Yao knew that this kind of industrial chain was difficult to establish. Even after it was built, it would not work if the downstream side was strong while the upstream side was weak.
He searched the computer for information on Hua Nation's current chip industry. There were scattered downstream chip manufacturers. If he could produce a mature EDA software product, perhaps he could drive the downstream market in reverse and carve out a path for the chip industry.
Luo Yao had more or less mastered the foundational knowledge. The technology given to him by the system appeared in his mind with perfect clarity, and he began programming the circuit design and editing modules.
While he was programming, Wu Tianming and Wang Ye were reading outside.
"Tianming, why did you come to the library too?" Wang Ye was annoyed. One abnormal person was bad enough—why were there two?
"Don't you think that under Santuo's lead, we've become a little more disciplined?"
"No." Wang Ye answered without hesitation.
Wu Tianming: ...
Having just eaten his fill, Wang Ye had no mood to read.
He had spread his book open on the table and begun spacing out. Now, he directly pulled out his phone.
"Hey, why is the big group so lively?" Wang Ye wondered whether Luo Yao's email to the semiconductor editor had been discovered, so he hurriedly tapped in.
Very quickly, his expression changed.
"Tianming, look." Wang Ye anxiously handed his phone to Wu Tianming, who was sitting across from him.
Wu Tianming took it and curiously looked at the screen. He soon understood why Wang Ye was so agitated.
"Proudly Roaming the Jianghu Master Bai: Big news just broke at school. Physics teacher Ke Zhan was buying and selling papers, and it sounds like he's going to be fired."
"Walking Rice Bucket: Holy shit! Is that for real?!"
"Proudly Roaming the Jianghu Master Bai: Word is that after Ke Zhan's latest paper had issues, the semiconductor side flagged his earlier papers. The school had the department's academic committee review his papers from the past year, and they found quite a few problems."
"Proudly Roaming the Jianghu Master Bai: I heard Director Xia personally led people from the department's academic committee to question Ke Zhan. Ke Zhan gave himself away, and in his panic, exposed his paper-buying and selling!"
"Yu Tianyun: That's disgusting! He was even sharing his paper-writing process with us before. So he was lying to us!"
"Gasket: I support the school firing him! Why should someone who buys and sells papers be a teacher?"
"Yingjishasha: His morals don't match his position! Support expulsion!"
"Wave Ah Li Ge Wave: As a teacher, he actually deceived us! I hope the school deals with him soon!"
"Sasuke's Bow: We should thank the big shot who emailed the editor. If not for him, the school definitely wouldn't have noticed!"
"Xiao Ai: If someone like Ke Zhan is allowed to continue, it probably won't stop at buying and selling papers. He might even start getting ideas about our papers!"
A paper contained everything students had learned during their school years. A paper written through countless sleepless nights was a student's life. At the thought that a thief might be eyeing their lives, the microelectronics students became agitated in the group. Almost everyone demanded that Ke Zhan be fired.
At that moment, Wu Tianming moved his gaze away from the phone and looked up at Wang Ye. After struggling to organize his words, he said, "I said before that Luo Yao hadn't received a harsh lesson from society. Well, now he's delivered one hell of a blow and wiped Ke Zhan right out!"
"Ke Zhan is really going to be fired?" Wang Ye looked at Wu Tianming in disbelief.
"Buying and selling papers isn't a minor mistake. Our school has always valued academic research. Now that a scandal like this has happened, do you think they won't handle it strictly?"
"So we don't have to worry about anyone targeting us anymore?" When Wang Ye got excited, the flesh on his face trembled slightly.
"Ke Zhan is about to leave. Who else is going to target us?"
Wu Tianming leaned closer to Wang Ye and whispered, "All I can say is that Santuo's move was truly beautiful!"
"But this time, it was a blind cat catching a dead mouse. He just happened to catch Ke Zhan having problems. We should still tell Santuo to be more careful in the future."
"That's assuming he's willing to listen to us." Wu Tianming smiled bitterly.
Class was about to begin. Luo Yao saved the completed program onto the hard drive. When he left the computer room, he saw Wu Tianming and Wang Ye discussing something.
The moment the two saw him come out, they walked over with their books.
"Luo Yao, Ke Zhan is going to be fired." Wu Tianming immediately shared the good news with him.
Luo Yao froze. It was that serious?
He asked in confusion, "Would he be fired just because his paper had errors?"
"No, all those papers were bought. He didn't write them himself. The school found out, so they're firing him."
Luo Yao gave an "oh" and instantly lost interest.
He even had to buy papers. He really was an idiot.
"An idiot's affairs have nothing to do with me. Is this Professor Xia Qing's class?"
Wu Tianming and Wang Ye exchanged looks.
Seriously? He wasn't even happy after hearing that Ke Zhan was in trouble?
Wu Tianming helplessly nodded in answer to Luo Yao's question. Then, on Luo Yao's face, he saw a trace of a smile he had never seen before.
"I'm a little impatient to meet Professor Xia Qing."
What was going on?
Was Luo Yao a Professor Xia Qing fanboy?
P.S. Thank you all for your support and tips! This book is now available on X Reading. If the later data performs well, the author will keep pumping out updates. Normal daily updates start at 8K words.
X Point readers may not understand why it was put on shelves so early, so let me explain: as an author from another platform, I did not receive a single recommendation here during the early stage.
The author's field is related to computers, so the material in this novel was gathered from various places, including CNKI. Please read with confidence. The theoretical and code-related parts will not be piled on all at once; they will be explained in the simplest terms possible. After all, everyone is here for a story, not reference materials, right? Thank you again for your support. See you in the chapters to come!
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