Social Scourge? A Counter-Blow! (Seeking Reads & Collections)

Chapter 23: Societal Beatdown? A Counter-Strike Instead! (Please Read and Bookmark)

When Luo Yao went to the library, he stopped by a digital store in University Town to buy a hard drive. As soon as he entered the library, he headed straight for his destination: the second-floor computer lab.

It was lunch break, and everyone was succumbing to elevated blood sugar, either sitting in their dorms playing games or lying down to catch up with the Sandman. There were far fewer people in the library than the last time Luo Yao had visited.

In the second-floor computer lab, Luo Yao had the entire place to himself.

Once seated, Luo Yao ignored whether Wu Tianming and Wang Ye had entered the lab or not and started on what he needed to do.

The system had given him EDA technology, and now he needed to organize his thoughts on the entire EDAAA concept.

Although EDA software is called software, its essence is vastly different from everyday software like Adobe or Microsoft products.

A more accurate description of EDA is that it's an industrial product wrapped in software skin.

It requires feedback from downstream manufacturers and continuous iteration based on data accumulated from users before anyone is willing to adopt it.

If it can't be updated and iterated in time, its fate is like the Nokia phone in Luo Yao's hand—abandoned by the times and relegated to the low-end market.

China lacked a complete chip industry chain as support, which was the main reason domestic EDA was such a mess.

A unique feature of EDA is that it sits at the upstream end of the chip industry chain.

From chip design, silicon wafer foundry, to packaging and testing, every step requires EDA involvement. That's why many EDA vendors collaborate directly with downstream companies.

What they want is manufacturing data and user feedback from those downstream companies, which they then analyze and optimize into their software.

Over time, this industry chain becomes increasingly refined.

For anyone else trying to surpass it, the costs and technological barriers are right there. Who would dare try without confidence?

Luo Yao knew how hard it was to build such an industry chain. Even if the downstream was established, an underperforming upstream wouldn't cut it.

He checked the current state of China's chip industry through the computer. There were scattered downstream chip companies here and there. If he could produce a mature EDA software, it might be possible to reverse-drive the downstream market and carve a path for the chip industry.

Luo Yao had now grasped the basics well enough. The technology provided by the system was crystal clear in his mind, 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 follow me to the library too?" Wang Ye asked, frustrated. One abnormal person was bad enough, but why were both of them acting weird?

"Don't you feel like we've become a little more disciplined under Santuo's lead?"

"No." Wang Ye answered bluntly.

Wu Tianming: ...

Having just eaten, Wang Ye had no mood to read. He had spread his book open on the table and started zoning out, and now he was pulling out his phone.

"Hey, the big group chat is so lively?" Wang Ye thought maybe it was about Luo Yao's email to "Semiconductor" being discovered, so he quickly clicked in.

Soon, his expression changed.

"Tianming, look." Wang Ye urgently handed his phone to Wu Tianming, who was sitting across from him.

Wu Tianming took it and curiously looked at the screen. He quickly understood why Wang Ye was so excited.

"Proudly Roaming the Jianghu Master Bai: Big drama at school! Physics teacher Ke Zhan was caught buying and selling papers. Word is he's getting fired."

"Walking Rice Bucket: Holy crap! For real?!"

"Proudly Roaming the Jianghu Master Bai: Rumor has it that after Ke Zhan's latest paper had issues, 'Semiconductor' flagged his previous ones. The school had the college's academic committee review his papers from the past year, and they found a lot of problems."

"Proudly Roaming the Jianghu Master Bai: I heard Director Xia personally led the academic committee to question Ke Zhan. He slipped up and panicked, exposing his paper trading!"

"Yu Tianyun: That's disgusting! He was just sharing his paper-writing process with us, and it was all lies!"

"Gasket: The school should fire him! How can someone who buys and sells papers be a teacher?"

"Yingjishasha: Virtue doesn't match position! Support his dismissal!"

"Wave Ah Li Ge Wave: As a teacher, he deceived us! Hope the school deals with him soon!"

"Sasuke's Bow: Gotta thank the big shot who emailed the editor. If not for him, the school wouldn't have caught this!"

"Xiao Ai: If we let someone like Ke Zhan go unchecked, it won't stop at paper trading. He'd probably eye our papers too!"

A thesis represents everything a student has learned over their academic years—staying up all night to write it is a student's lifeblood. The thought that a scoundrel might covet their lifeblood made the microelectronics students explode in the group chat, with almost everyone demanding Ke Zhan's dismissal.

At that moment, Wu Tianming's gaze shifted from the phone to Wang Ye. He organized his words for a long time before saying, "I said earlier that Luo Yao hadn't experienced a societal beatdown. Well, now he's delivered a counter-strike and taken Ke Zhan out completely!"

"Is Ke Zhan really getting 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 this scandal's out, do you think they'll go easy?"

"So we don't have to worry about anyone targeting us anymore?" Wang Ye's face trembled slightly with excitement.

"Ke Zhan's leaving. Who's going to target us?"

Wu Tianming leaned in close to Wang Ye and whispered, "All I can say is, Santuo's move was brilliant!"

"But this time, it was a blind cat catching a dead mouse—he just happened to catch Ke Zhan with a problem. We should still tell Santuo to be careful from now on."

"That's assuming he'll listen to us." Wu Tianming smiled bitterly.

Class time was approaching. Luo Yao saved the program he'd written onto the hard drive. As he walked out of the computer lab, he saw Wu Tianming and Wang Ye chatting about something.

As soon as the two saw him come out, they walked over with books in hand.

"Luo Yao, Ke Zhan is about to be fired." Wu Tianming immediately shared the good news with him.

Luo Yao was taken aback. That serious?

He asked, somewhat puzzled, "He's getting fired just for a mistake in his paper?"

"No, all those papers were bought—he didn't write them himself. The school found out, so they're dismissing him."

Luo Yao let out an "Oh" and instantly lost interest.

If he had to buy his papers, he really was a fool.

"A fool's business has nothing to do with me. Is this next class Professor Xia Qing's?"

Wu Tianming and Wang Ye exchanged a glance.

Seriously? He didn't even crack a smile hearing about Ke Zhan's trouble?

Was this guy even normal?!

Wu Tianming reluctantly nodded in answer to Luo Yao's question, and then he saw a flicker of a smile on Luo Yao's face—something he had never witnessed before.

"I can't wait to meet Professor Xia Qing."

What was going on?

Was Luo Yao a fan of Professor Xia Qing?

P.s. Thanks everyone for your support and tips! The book is now live on X-Yue. If the follow-up data holds up, the author will keep dropping extra chapters (usually 8K words daily).

X-Dian readers might not understand why it's going live so early. To clarify, as an author from an outside platform, I haven't received a single recommendation here in the early stages.

The author's background is in computer science, so all the material in this book has been researched from various sources (including CNKI). Rest assured, you can read with confidence. Any theories or code involved won't be piled on all at once—I'll explain them in the simplest terms possible. After all, you're here for the story, not the data, right? Thanks again for your support, and I'll see you in the chapters ahead!