In the assembly workshop, several rows of chairs were arranged in perfect order.
Song He sat in the exact center of the first row, with Li Gong and Xiang Xiaotong on either side. The engineers occupied the rows behind them.
The atmosphere was solemn and heavy. Everyone waited in silence, their faces filled with confusion.
Suddenly, the large screen in front lit up. The video conference was connecting!
The Moon Brain Team finally revealed their true appearance. Dozens of researchers in white lab coats sat in neat rows, with pristine laboratory walls behind them.
General Wang stood in front of the Moon Brain Team, wearing a peculiar expression.
Suddenly, General Wang raised his hands and began applauding!
The dozens of Moon Brain researchers behind him applauded in unison. The applause was warm and unceasing!
The applause from the other side left Song He and his colleagues completely bewildered.
"Wait, what does this mean?" Li Gong asked quietly.
"I have no idea. They started applauding the moment we met. Are they celebrating the project's successful completion? Why are they being so cryptic? Normally, shouldn't the general say a few words first?" Song He whispered in confusion.
"Don't worry about it. Just imitate them!" Xiang Xiaotong was utterly baffled, but she still raised her hands and clapped vigorously!
Song He and Li Gong reflexively joined in, and the engineers behind them quickly followed their leaders' example.
For a moment, thunderous applause rang out from both sides of the video conference!
After a long while, General Wang stopped clapping, and the attendees on both sides gradually followed suit.
"Allow me to make an introduction." General Wang turned around.
He extended a hand in invitation. The middle-aged man behind him stood up. He had a refined appearance and wore black-rimmed glasses.
"Old Dong?" Xiang Xiaotong murmured in surprise.
"You know him?" Song He asked.
"My defeated subordinate!" Xiang Xiaotong muttered. "That can't be right. They haven't met for years. Did Old Dong finally work hard? How could he possibly build such a powerful Moon Brain?"
Song He frowned.
"This is Professor Dong Qishui, the leader of Zheda's Moon Brain Supercomputer project!" General Wang introduced.
Professor Dong Qishui took a step forward and stood stiffly. "Professor Song, Professor Xiang, Engineer Li, and all the engineering comrades from the Xuanzhu Supercomputer team, greetings!"
Song He and the other two hurriedly stood up. "Greetings, Professor Dong! Greetings to all the engineering comrades from the Moon Brain Supercomputer team!"
Song He thought it was merely a simple greeting at the start of the meeting. He never expected the other side's next move to leave him completely dumbfounded.
General Wang suddenly wore a slightly embarrassed expression, and Professor Dong Qishui beside him looked awkward as well.
"Before the meeting officially begins, Professor Dong and I would like to offer everyone a solemn apology here!" General Wang said.
"To all the members of the Xuanzhu team, we are deeply, deeply sorry for deceiving everyone over the past few months! General Wang and I will take full responsibility. We hereby offer our sincerest apologies to all of you!" Professor Dong said.
With that, the two bowed in unison!
Song He was stunned. Xiang Xiaotong and Li Gong were dumbfounded, while the engineers seated behind them erupted into an uproar.
"Damn!" Song He blurted out. "Don't scare me! After hearing that, I think I can guess what happened!"
"General Wang? Old Dong?" Xiang Xiaotong asked suspiciously. "What do you mean, you deceived us?"
"Where should I even begin..." Professor Dong said awkwardly.
"Allow me. I'll explain from the beginning!" General Wang said with a smile. "Everyone, please sit. I'll stand here and punish myself for a while."
Song He sat down. Xiang Xiaotong and Li Gong hesitated before sitting as well, listening intently to the meeting.
"At first, we did indeed need a supercomputer to serve the Lunar Base. We surveyed supercomputers across the country and ultimately selected the supercomputer teams from Former University of Science and Technology and Zheda." General Wang began explaining in detail.
"Zheda's Moon Brain No. 1 was completed very early. It passed the inspection by our military technicians last year. Its performance and power consumption fully met the Lunar Base's requirements, so it could have been sent directly to the moon for use!"
"But in just a few short months, the international space competition intensified dramatically. Many key technologies underwent breakthroughs in rapid succession, and our Space Force also proposed a much larger Lunar Construction plan!"
"Therefore, we wanted a more powerful supercomputer to meet the Lunar Base's long-term needs on a larger scale. At the same time, its size and power consumption couldn't be too high. The technical requirements were extremely demanding!"
"So I asked Professor Dong whether it was possible to improve Moon Brain No. 1's performance without changing its power consumption or size." General Wang said.
"Impossible!" Professor Dong took over. "Moon Brain No. 1 was the result of two and a half years of refinement. Producing a more powerful brain-like supercomputer in just a few months was absolutely impossible. Our capabilities were limited!"
"Since Professor Dong couldn't do it, I went to ask you," General Wang said. "Professors Xiang and Song, you told me at the time that you could surpass Moon Brain No. 1, so I placed my hopes in you!"
The master and disciple exchanged a glance and fell into a daze.
They had guessed what had happened, but neither said a word. They silently listened as General Wang continued.
Li Gong and the engineers all stared wide-eyed, their minds crashing under the sheer volume of information.
"So I discussed it with Professor Dong and had his Moon Brain Supercomputer Team act as your sparring partner, serving exclusively as your imaginary opponent to spur your progress!" General Wang said.
Professor Dong took over. "We worked through the night to build Moon Brain No. 2. Moon Brain No. 2 completely failed to meet the requirements for a lunar mission. Its body was five times larger than the permitted size, and its power consumption was fifteen times higher—at least equivalent to combining five supercomputers!"
"Originally, we thought that five supercomputers fighting one of yours should guarantee us an easy victory. We even worried that winning too decisively would cause you to lose confidence in your technological research." Professor Dong said.
"Who could have expected you to quickly produce a new supercomputer comparable to Moon Brain No. 2? You achieved the same results as us using only one-fifth the chassis volume and one-fifteenth the power consumption!"
"We were impressed. We were truly impressed! That applause at the beginning of the meeting was meant to express exactly that." Professor Dong said.
"Damn, that's insane!" Li Gong couldn't take it anymore and covered his face.
Song He was so amused and exasperated that he laughed, yet found himself unable to speak.
Xiang Xiaotong was utterly speechless. She pressed one hand to her forehead and stared at the screen with an expression that clearly said, You people are seriously unbelievable.
"We then rushed to build Moon Brain No. 3. We doubled the supercomputer's size and power consumption again, making it equivalent to combining at least ten supercomputers!" Professor Dong said.
"Let's take a look at the true form of Moon Brain No. 3!" General Wang said as he walked toward the camera and adjusted it.
The video conference image flipped 180 degrees, capturing a panoramic view of Professor Dong's laboratory.
Towering black chassis filled the laboratory, forming high walls of supercomputer units. Three entire walls stood there, magnificent and imposing, backed by an overwhelming number of machines!
Everyone on Song He's side couldn't help turning around to look at the Xuanzhu Supercomputer prototype.
In Song He's usual impression, the Xuanzhu Supercomputer was enormous. But compared with the other side, it looked like an adorably tiny toy!
"Well, the orange cat fought a tiger, and the orange cat won." Li Gong let out a dry laugh.
After displaying the Moon Brain Supercomputer, the video conference returned to its normal angle.
"Moon Brain No. 2 scored more than 800,000 points, but after we doubled the supercomputer's scale, Moon Brain No. 3 only scored a little over 900,000." Professor Dong said.
"This shows that our supercomputer architecture has reached its limit. This is about as large as we can make it. If we keep expanding the scale blindly, its performance won't improve significantly."
"To continue serving as your sparring partner, we had no choice but to introduce human assistance."
"Quite a few of our team members were top students from the Mathematics Department. They could solve problems in various fields. When the Moon Brain Supercomputer was being tested, they rapidly solved the problems and entered the answers from the backend. The supercomputer only needed to copy the answers and submit them!"
After Professor Dong finished speaking, a long row of researchers behind him stood up. Some wore awkward smiles, while others grinned with schadenfreude.
"They were the mathematics-problem gunmen responsible for the score tests!" Professor Dong introduced.
The mathematics-problem gunmen bowed in unison and apologized!
Song He smiled bitterly. "I was wondering why Moon Brain's scores were so high, yet nothing showed up in the confrontational tests. So it was you doing the scoring!"
"Truly artificial intelligence." Xiang Xiaotong chimed in. "It looked like the machine was solving the problems, but a whole group of people behind it were worked to death!"
"As for the confrontational tests, Moon Brain couldn't keep up with your pace either, so we called in reinforcements: students from the military academy." General Wang said.
Another row of people stood up behind him with a clatter and saluted.
"Twelve people?" Song He counted them.
"They worked in shifts. In each confrontational test, three military academy students were stationed in command and fought against your Xuanzhu!" General Wang explained.
Song He nodded and smiled bitterly. "I have to admit, they fought well! With the same opening and resources, human brains managed to battle a supercomputer back and forth. They were exceptionally talented students!"
As soon as he finished speaking, everyone on the video conference once again wore embarrassed expressions.
"Don't tell me..." Song He asked incredulously. "You tampered with the confrontational tests themselves too?"
"It couldn't be helped. These students were technically inexperienced, and they simply couldn't beat Xuanzhu in a fair fight." General Wang chuckled. "So during the confrontational tests, we made some slight adjustments to the backend values. We worried you might notice while making the changes, but it seemed you were too busy building the supercomputer to verify the details of the confrontational test data."
"Is there any limit to this? What exactly did you change? How much did you change?" Song He was utterly stunned.
"The airdrops!" General Wang said.
Before you continue