At 8:40 the next morning, Zhao Wenyuan drove Han Luyi to a government compound somewhere in Beijing.
The security guard at the entrance directed Zhao Wenyuan into a parking space, grumbling impatiently in a Beijing accent about his driving.
After finally parking, Zhao Wenyuan sat in the car and took a deep breath. "Getting told off by that old guy actually made me less nervous."
Han Luyi smiled at the head of his research institute and asked, "Why?"
"I thought we were coming to something like a congressional hearing today," Zhao Wenyuan said. "You know, the kind Jensen Huang goes to in those videos online. But after that old guy gave me an earful, the tension just disappeared."
"Maybe it really will be like that," Han Luyi said. "Come on. Let's take a look."
They got out of the car, and someone guided them into a large conference room in the office building.
The tables inside had been arranged in a ring, with nameplates, documents, and bottled water set out on them. There were twenty-odd seats in all, and Han Luyi spotted several familiar faces at a glance.
The first was Academician Zhuang from Shuimu Forum. He sat beside the head seat, evidently attending as an official expert.
Academician Zhuang nodded to Han Luyi from across the room, and Han Luyi nodded back.
The people from Dingsheng had also arrived early. Han Luyi had met one of them twice and remembered his hairstyle vividly-Liu Dahai, chief scientist of Dingsheng's AI research institute.
Han Luyi had little impression of the other man beside him, whose name was Liu Bo. He activated Sight for a look.
[Liu Bo | Dingsheng Cloud Business Division · Vice president] [Emotion: nervousness] [Hidden emotion: fear]
While Han Luyi was observing the two men from