Changing the World

280 million to build a supercomputer?

Sun Zhongyong's words made Chen Mengchuan's eyes light up, but he immediately sank into thought.

His original plan had been to rent an ordinary supercomputer, since Chisako's initial hardware requirements weren't too high, but renting a supercomputer inevitably carried some security risks. If it were his own supercomputer, it would obviously be much safer. But with less than three million, he could only build a very small-scale supercomputer—would that even meet the activation conditions for Chisako?

Sun Zhongyong glanced at his expression and continued, "But, Mengchuan, sinking your personal fortune into building a supercomputer without a quick way to recoup the investment... that's not a rational move. You need to think it over."

Chen Mengchuan nodded. He understood Sun Zhongyong's goodwill well enough, but in his plan, Chisako was the core component—it had to be incubated as soon as possible. And after activation, Chisako would still need time to learn and grow.

"Brother Sun, where is this person?"

A hint of a smile appeared on Sun Zhongyong's face. "Very close. If you're in a hurry, I'll take you there now."

"Then I'll trouble you, Brother Sun."

With that, Sun Zhongyong drove straight east, pulling into Suke University.

Jiangmu Ancient Town was very close to Suke University—less than five kilometers. Chen Mengchuan was no stranger to Suke University.

The car stopped in the faculty housing area of Suke University. Sun Zhongyong pulled out his phone and made a call.

"Auntie... I need to see Xiaoxiao about something... Okay, if she's home, I'll just head over... We'll see... Alright, Auntie, you go ahead."

After hanging up, Sun Zhongyong smiled at Chen Mengchuan and explained, "Got sidetracked on the way and forgot to mention—the person I'm introducing is my cousin. She has a master's degree from Stanford, specializing in mechanical engineering, with a background in math and computer science."

Chen Mengchuan smiled and nodded. He didn't really care about that—as long as she could actually help him build a supercomputer.

Sun Zhongyong was clearly familiar with the housing area. He led Chen Mengchuan straight into a building, climbed to the third floor, and knocked on a door. But after knocking for a while, no one answered.

Looking a bit embarrassed, Sun Zhongyong pulled out his phone, then suddenly thought of something and put it away. He led Chen Mengchuan to another building instead.

Standing before a closed iron gate, Sun Zhongyong knocked.

"Who is it?" A young woman's voice came from inside.

A small window on the iron gate slid open. "Brother? What are you doing here?" The voice inside was sweet and soft.

"Clang..." The iron gate swung open. When he saw her, Chen Mengchuan was slightly surprised—the woman before him looked far too young.

Gu Xiaoxiao was about 160 cm tall, and unexpectedly beautiful to Chen Mengchuan. Her casually tied bun, jeans, and T-shirt made her look no different from any female college student outside.

After the siblings exchanged a few words, Sun Zhongyong introduced them. "Mengchuan, this is my cousin, Gu Xiaoxiao. She's the one I was talking about. Xiaoxiao, this is Mengchuan—the one who saved Weijie a few days ago."

"Hello." They each extended a hand and shook.

"Xiaoxiao, Mengchuan is a top student from Xia Science Academy, specializing in artificial intelligence. He wants to build his own supercomputer, and this is your area of expertise, so I brought him to you for help," Sun Zhongyong began.

"Brother Chuan, you're from Xia Science Academy?" Gu Xiaoxiao smiled as she looked at the man in front of her, adding the honorific "Brother" to her address. A few days ago, she'd heard her mother mention someone who jumped off a bridge into the Luoyin River to save the Sun family's only young heir. Now that she saw him in person, she didn't expect him to also be a top graduate from Xia Science Academy.

"I just resigned from Xia Science Academy. I'm planning to do something on my own." Chen Mengchuan smiled back, replying simply, even though Gu Xiaoxiao was very pretty.

"What's your budget? What's the project? Artificial intelligence?" Gu Xiaoxiao cut straight to the point.

"About three million. Artificial intelligence." Chen Mengchuan nodded.

Gu Xiaoxiao frowned slightly and shook her head. "Three million is way too little. You still have to account for venue rent, electricity, network, and other hardware support. It's only enough to build a very small computer cluster, and you'd also need to..."

In her area of expertise, Gu Xiaoxiao went on at length. Chen Mengchuan summarized her meaning as: too little money, hard to do.

Her words quickly plunged Chen Mengchuan into deep thought.

Standing to the side, Sun Zhongyong spoke up. "Xiaoxiao, I might be able to find a way to handle the venue, environment, and electricity costs. If we factor that in, how much do you estimate it would cost to build an ordinary-grade supercomputer?"

"With about 15 million in hardware, you could roughly put together a basic supercomputer," Gu Xiaoxiao said.

"15 million?" Sun Zhongyong was taken aback.

"US dollars."

"15 million US dollars? A hundred million in China?" Sun Zhongyong rolled his eyes.

Chen Mengchuan's brow furrowed as he sank into thought.

"Brother Chuan, how much computing power does your AI project actually need? If we lower the standard and go with a small computer cluster, it might be possible, but the speed would be much slower..." Gu Xiaoxiao added.

Chen Mengchuan slowly shook his head. The ultra-small computer cluster Gu Xiaoxiao mentioned—he had no confidence it could activate Chisako.

Sun Zhongyong stood to the side, watching Chen Mengchuan intently, a strange feeling stirring in his heart.

"Mengchuan, how confident are you in your AI project?" Sun Zhongyong asked seriously.

Chen Mengchuan looked up at him, shook his head with a smile, and replied, "I have plenty of confidence in myself, of course. But the AI project I'm designing and developing is different from what's on the market. It's an auxiliary computing AI—customized, not meant to be released to the market."

"If you're not planning to release it to the market, then Brother Chuan, what are you making this AI for?" Gu Xiaoxiao asked, puzzled.

"I need this AI to assist me in completing some technical research," Chen Mengchuan said simply.

Sun Zhongyong keenly latched onto the word "technical." "What kind of technical research? What's the prospect and industry valuation? If there's potential, I can introduce you to some capital sources."

"Brother Sun, I don't know how to describe the project's prospects or industry valuation. But if this technology is realized..." Chen Mengchuan stopped mid-sentence.

He took a slow, deep breath, then said calmly, "The entire world will change because of it..."

Sun Zhongyong looked at Chen Mengchuan, who spoke such arrogant words with such a calm expression, and his heart suddenly began to race wildly. For some inexplicable reason, he believed what this man, twelve years his junior, had said!

After the conversation ended, Sun Zhongyong drove Chen Mengchuan back toward Jiangmu Ancient Town.

"So?" Sun Zhongyong asked.

"Although 15 million US dollars is already a very low price for a supercomputer, it's still too expensive for my current finances," Chen Mengchuan replied.

Sun Zhongyong curled his lip. "I asked about my cousin. How is she? She's still single, you know."

"She's alright." Chen Mengchuan smiled, but as images of Ayase Sonoko from his dream—and the many figures that had appeared beside him afterward—flashed through his mind, his gaze dimmed slightly. That marriage with Ayase Sonoko had been a mistake from the start, never blessed by either family.

After seeing Chen Mengchuan to his door without staying for a meal, Sun Zhongyong returned to the Sun Family Mansion to meet with his father, Sun Aiguo. He needed his father's help in making a decision.

That evening, while brewing tea with his own father, Chen Mengchuan received a call from Sun Zhongyong.

"Mengchuan, the 15 million US dollars for the supercomputer—the Sun family will lend it to you!"

Please bookmark—this new book isn't easy. Currently in its recommendation period, updating 4 chapters daily! Plenty of content, no drops.