Heroes Do Not Ask About Their Origins

Chapter 44: Heroes Need Not Ask Their Origins

Xisha University, Mechanical Engineering Building.

Several business representatives who had rushed over without pause were whispering to each other in the conference room.

"Are university students these days really this impressive? When I was in my twenties, I think I was still handing out flyers on the street..." Ma Teng leaned back in his chair and joked.

As the CEO of Evolutionary Robotics, a Fortune 500 company, and someone with a technical background, Ma Teng deeply understood the value of this paper, even though it had not yet been officially published.

But the fact that it hadn't been published yet had, at this moment, turned into a good thing—a golden opportunity for them to get ahead of their competitors.

"Mr. Ma, heroes need not ask their origins; ambition is not determined by age. True geniuses have already entered their peak productive years by the time they are twenty." The middle-aged man sitting opposite him was named Ding Peng, also the chairman of a large corporation.

Ma Teng continued, "To be honest, I can't understand a word of his paper. My team just thinks it's very important. Since I was bored anyway, I figured I'd just come over and take a look."

"Pardon my bluntness, Mr. Ma, but if you don't understand it, why bother coming here in person?"

Although the discussion hadn't officially begun, an invisible smoke of war was already permeating the conference room. Everyone present was a competitor, and the rivalry in the business world was fierce.

What do cutting-edge robots rely on?

Technology!

Especially for robots with high degrees of freedom, the better their coordination and the more human-like they are, the more they are favored by the market.

However, it is difficult.

Current mechanical hands always have a "backhoe" feel when they move.

To put it bluntly, they are rigid.

Human movements can be this way or that, filled with the vitality of life, but mechanical hands cannot; in reality, it is because their motion control algorithms are inadequate.

This paper could be said to have solved the core "control" aspect, and it is very likely to be an industrial upgrade!

Therefore, they couldn't help but take it seriously.

Professor Lu Junzhe saw their confrontational demeanor and was inwardly overjoyed.

Go ahead, keep bidding against each other; the higher you push the price, the happier I'll be!

"...Professor Lu, this paper hasn't been sent to any other companies, has it?"

"No, only you five; because you have close cooperative ties with our college, we chose to disclose this news."

"That's good. If it hadn't already been submitted, I would have even wanted to buy out the article directly and skip the publication entirely."

"Mr. Ma, that's not right of you; intellectual property should belong to all of humanity!"

Lu Junzhe cleared his throat: "Ahem, chairmen, it is basically impossible for you to recruit Zhang Yuan. He is a member of the Deep Space Foundation and will be leaving with that starship..."

Ma Teng smiled and said, "Professor Lu, none of what you said is a problem. If he is willing to stay on Earth, we have plenty of ways to ensure he avoids any punishment..."

"Even if he is punished by the government, we will still hire him regardless."

Just then, the door opened, and several young people walked in, accompanied by two middle-aged men.

Wang Lili and Han Ziyue ran straight to the back row; facing so many big shots, they didn't dare to be cheeky, so they decided to hide for as long as they could.

Ma Teng, who had been holding court, couldn't help but feel a headache coming on, because two of the newcomers were negotiation representatives from the Deep Space Foundation.

If he were only facing a twenty-something youth, wouldn't it be simple to fish for information or get him to sign some agreement? But facing this group of cunning old foxes, it wouldn't be easy to squeeze a single cent out of them.

"This is Zhang Yuan. This is Mr. Ma, this is Mr. Ding, and this is..." Professor Lu introduced the bosses sitting below one by one.

"So young!"

"Truly a chip off the old block!"

The barrage of praise made Zhang Yuan feel quite embarrassed.

Professor Lu paused and said with a smile, "We attach great importance to the paper you wrote. Could you share your thoughts on motion control moving forward? Of course, if it involves the next paper you intend to write, you don't have to say anything."

In reality, this was also to test Zhang Yuan's true capabilities.

Although he had written that key paper, everyone was still in the dark about his actual depth. By talking face-to-face, this group of old veterans could determine a person's true level in the shortest amount of time.

"In this article, I only roughly outlined a framework; there are a total of seven directions for the follow-up..."

Seven directions?

Professor Lu was stunned; yesterday, they had only managed to discuss five.

"The first direction is like this..."

Zhang Yuan spoke eloquently, first restating his paper in plain language, and then immediately beginning to describe these extended contents.

There were simply too many details in this area, and because the engineering workload was so massive, it was impossible for Zhang Yuan to complete it alone.

Therefore, he spoke about it quite generously.

He wasn't under any pressure to write papers, but these professors were; bringing all these ideas out during the discussion was beneficial for everyone. In any case, he didn't intend to write any more papers on this subject.

He spoke about the seven directions for over two hours, with people asking questions from time to time.

Professor Lu's brows would furrow and then smooth out as he asked various questions.

There were some particularly tricky questions that Zhang Yuan couldn't answer immediately, but he was able to easily answer the vast majority of them.

"Senior, did you understand any of that?" Han Ziyue, who hadn't understood a single word and had been boredly playing on her phone, suddenly asked the master's student sitting next to her.

The senior just turned bright red and didn't say a word for a long time.

"Senior sister, what about you?" she asked Wang Lili, who was sitting on the other side.

"What? Of course... I understood it." Wang Lili lied, blushing slightly, and could only keep changing the subject.

Fortunately, Han Ziyue didn't ask any highly technical questions. "What are they talking about? Can this project actually make money?"

Wang Lili pursed her lips. "There are two Fortune Global 500 companies involved here; do you think it can make money? By the way, are you actually his girlfriend or not?"

Han Ziyue blinked and said with a hint of provocation, "I've known him for a long time, much longer than you!"

Wang Lili laughed. "Don't worry, I already have a boyfriend. I'm just gossiping. So, is it true or not?"

"Of course... not! It's just that he looks quite handsome when he's being serious. Even though he looks a bit pathetic when he's being foolish, he's really a handsome guy when he's being smart!"

"Handsome guy? What does that mean?"

"It's an ancient Xia Language term, it just means someone who is quite good-looking."

"Alright then." Wang Lili felt like she couldn't keep up with the times. "He's not going to stay on Earth just because of you, though."

"It doesn't matter. I just want to keep him company and help him spend these last few days happily; it's not like I have to be his girlfriend... isn't it nice to just be friends?"