Chapter Summaries

Chapter Summary: “Chuunibyou Have to Make Products Too”

Key Plot Points and Events

• On Monday morning, Jiang Yixin prepares to test the company’s newly built AI personal-growth product, which she and Qian Xiaole developed over the weekend.
• The tool is still only a rough internal prototype: it has a basic interface, limited data connections, no official name, and is not intended for public release yet. However, its core process works from initialization to generating a user profile.
• Jiang decides to test the product on herself before Qian Xiaole arrives. The tool presents a dramatic “character card” experience, complete with music, visual effects, and a star-map interface.
• After receiving permission, the system analyzes her authorized work traces while explicitly assuring her that it will not read private communications, rank employees, or make performance judgments.
• The system displays the major stages of Jiang’s career: her work on Tianshu Cloud adaptation, transition from engineer to product manager, involvement with Open Things and Kaiwu Overseas Edition, promotion to management, creation and launch of Riding the Wind, and work on the internal AI-native prototype.
• Her experiences form a star cluster, and the system assigns her the archetype “Pioneer.”
• Although Jiang understands that the result is simply generated from prompts and company data, the description deeply moves her. She realizes that her current position is supported by years of real effort and growth rather than luck or undeserved trust.
• Jiang becomes emotional and begins crying, only to remember that her makeup is running.
• The chapter ends when she sees Han Luyi and Su Niannian arriving at the company, reminding her that important visitors are expected that day.

Character Development

• Jiang Yixin is shown as both a capable product manager and someone who still struggles with insecurity. She initially approaches the product critically, evaluating its animation, wording, and usability as a professional.
• As the system displays her work history, her detached attitude gives way to emotional self-reflection. She recognizes how far she has progressed—from an inexperienced engineer to a manager and product leader.
• The character card helps Jiang reframe her self-doubt. Instead of seeing her success as the result of luck or others’ misplaced confidence, she understands that her achievements were built through continuous learning, experimentation, and perseverance.
• Her reaction also reveals her modesty and vulnerability: despite designing the system herself, she is unexpectedly affected by its affirming description.

Significant Themes

• Self-recognition and personal growth: The chapter emphasizes the importance of seeing one’s own development clearly instead of dismissing achievements as luck.
• Reality behind artificial intelligence: Although the AI’s output is generated through prompts, its emotional impact comes from the genuine experiences and accomplishments underlying the data.
• The value of accumulated effort: Jiang’s progress is presented as the result of many real moments—learning new skills, managing teams, taking risks, and completing difficult projects.
• Technology as a tool for reflection: The prototype is not merely a productivity product; it acts as a mirror that helps users understand themselves.
• Chuunibyou-style presentation versus meaningful content: The grand, fantasy-like “Pioneer” language is intentionally dramatic, but the underlying assessment remains grounded in Jiang’s actual work history.
• Privacy and responsible AI: The product explicitly limits its data access, avoids rankings and performance judgments, and allows users to delete their records.

Character Interactions

• Jiang’s partnership with Qian Xiaole is reflected in their intense weekend collaboration. Although Qian is absent at the start of the chapter, Jiang playfully thinks of “taking the first time” with the new tool before her colleague can try it.
• Jiang’s past work with President Han and the company leadership is recalled as an important part of her development, especially her experience learning AI while working on Open Things.
• Her concern about living up to President Han’s and President Su’s trust reveals the pressure she feels in her current position.
• The arrival of Han Luyi and Su Niannian at the end shifts the chapter from private introspection back toward the company’s immediate business events and suggests that Jiang’s emotional moment will soon be interrupted by professional responsibilities.

Chapter Summary: “Leading a Delegation on an Inspection Visit”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Jiang Yixin hides her tears before a high-profile government inspection begins, then secretly watches Han Luyi and Su Niannian arrive together in formal attire. She is impressed by how well they appear as a pair and discreetly photographs them.
• Haicheng Vice Mayor Zhu Jianming arrives with a large delegation of officials from economic, technology, data, employment, and state-asset departments, accompanied by media representatives.
• Zhu and Han publicly exchange praise and perform a formal handshake for the cameras. The visit demonstrates the city’s support for Source Intelligence Technology while also pressuring Han to clarify whether the company will remain based in Haicheng.
• Using Sight, Han identifies Zhu’s main concern: whether Source Intelligence and Source Code Technology will keep their industrial chains and decision-making centers in Haicheng.
• During the tour, Han explains that the two companies are legally separate but remain closely connected in management. Source Intelligence will focus on foundational models and computing infrastructure, while Source Code will handle applications and commercialization.
• Han repeatedly emphasizes that commercial decisions, product pricing, customer strategy, partner relations, and major product teams will remain in Haicheng, while Beijing may be used for advanced research and national-level projects.
• Zhu avoids giving a direct response, instead praising Haicheng’s industrial base and noting that strong companies can receive support anywhere.
• The delegation examines demonstrations of Riding the Wind, Open Things, and BugKiller. Zhu asks about the products’ customers, their usefulness to traditional industries and small businesses, and their potential for digital transformation.
• Han and Su present Riding the Wind as an accessible AI development tool already serving many small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as manufacturing, finance, government digitalization, and outsourced development teams.
• Zhu stresses that AI innovation must be balanced with security, especially regarding enterprise, government, and industrial data. Han responds by promising localized deployment, permission isolation, comprehensive logging, and strict data boundaries.
• Although the visit appears to be a routine, highly publicized inspection, the officials recognize that it carries political significance. They expect further instructions about the company’s future location and possible expansion to Beijing.

Character Developments

• Han Luyi demonstrates composure, political awareness, and strategic firmness. He understands the difference between Zhu’s public statements and their underlying demands, using Sight to assess Zhu’s true concerns. Rather than openly rejecting Beijing expansion, he carefully asserts Haicheng’s importance while leaving room for research operations elsewhere.
• Su Niannian acts as a capable and reliable spokesperson. She confidently introduces the companies, explains their products and customer base, and takes notes when Zhu discusses policy and security priorities. Her professional coordination with Han reinforces their close working relationship.
• Jiang Yixin is emotionally vulnerable but careful to maintain professionalism. Her admiration of Han and Su’s apparent compatibility reveals her personal interest in them, while her efforts to conceal her tears show her awareness of workplace expectations.
• Zhu Jianming appears diplomatic and supportive but is also probing and politically deliberate. His questions test the company’s commitment to Haicheng, its industrial usefulness, and its ability to handle sensitive data.

Significant Themes

• Public statements versus hidden intentions: The inspection’s official praise conceals a negotiation over corporate location, political loyalty, and future investment.
• Local government competition for strategic technology: Haicheng seeks to retain the companies’ commercial core, while Beijing represents stronger opportunities for frontier research and national projects.
• AI commercialization and industrial impact: The chapter emphasizes that AI’s value lies not only in advanced models but also in practical tools that improve productivity across traditional industries and SMEs.
• Innovation versus security: Zhu’s remarks establish data protection and controlled deployment as essential boundaries for future AI applications, particularly in government and enterprise settings.
• Political performance and media optics: The handshake, tour, and product demonstrations are arranged for public messaging, even though the real negotiations occur through carefully chosen questions and indirect replies.

Character Interactions

• Jiang Yixin observes Han and Su from a distance, idealizing their appearance as a couple.
• Han and Zhu engage in a polite but strategically charged exchange, with each using diplomatic language to communicate deeper positions.
• Su supports Han by presenting the company’s structure, products, and customer base, while Han steps in to deliver the company’s formal stance on its future in Haicheng.
• Zhu’s questioning gradually moves from company organization to market influence, SME support, and data security, allowing him to assess both the company’s economic value and its suitability for government cooperation.
• The delegation’s officials and reporters act as witnesses to the public performance, while privately recognizing that the visit may lead to major policy decisions.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• After touring the office, Han Luyi, Su Niannian, Zhao Wenyuan, Vice Mayor Zhu Jianming, and government officials hold a closed-door briefing without the media.
• Han presents the companies’ future organizational structure:
  • Haicheng headquarters: group management, business decisions, product definition, customer and partner coordination, and industrialization.
  • Beijing R&D branch: advanced model research, domestic computing adaptation, and national-level collaborations.
  • Overseas business hub: international operations for Kaiwu and Riding the Wind, along with future products.
• Han frames the arrangement as a complementary “dual-headquarters” strategy: Beijing provides technological depth, while Haicheng remains the center of product development, commercialization, and industrial growth.
• Vice Mayor Zhu approves the plan, affirming that it serves both national strategy and Haicheng’s development. He pledges municipal support and urges the companies to convert technological advantages into products, industries, and local economic growth.
• Han and Su outline plans for pilot AI applications in local industries, SMEs, government services, training programs, and data-security deployments.
• During the media session, Zhu publicly praises the companies’ progress, especially the Tangyuan Model and its commercialization. He emphasizes the themes of being rooted in Haicheng, serving the nation, and expanding internationally.
• After Zhu’s departure, Deputy District Mayor Chen leads a second delegation that offers concrete assistance:
  • A standalone office building of over 20,000 square meters.
  • Three years of rent-free use and reduced property fees.
  • Assistance with renovation, approvals, registration, and related administrative procedures.
  • Talent policies covering residency, housing, children’s education, and subsidies.
• The company accepts that the new building will support its expansion over the next several years. Han and Su reflect on how quickly the company has outgrown its current office.
• The chapter ends with Han asking whether Deputy District Mayor Chen’s daughter is about to begin elementary school, hinting at a possible personal or strategic connection.

Character Developments

• Han Luyi demonstrates political awareness and strategic foresight. He anticipates Haicheng’s concerns and presents a structure that protects the city’s importance while accommodating Beijing’s national-level role. His anxiety turns to relief once Zhu explicitly endorses the plan.
• Su Niannian acts as a practical executive, focusing on implementation, office requirements, recruitment, SME programs, and government coordination. She recognizes the tangible value of the district’s support.
• Zhu Jianming emerges as a capable and pragmatic official. He understands both national policy and local economic interests, offering public approval while privately setting expectations for industrial development.
• Deputy District Mayor Chen is even more action-oriented, translating political support into specific benefits such as office space, administrative assistance, and talent policies.
• Shen Congyun highlights the importance of family-related support in attracting senior talent, showing awareness of the human and logistical dimensions of recruitment.

Significant Themes

• Balancing national and local interests: The dual-headquarters strategy allows the companies to pursue Beijing’s national resources without abandoning Haicheng.
• From technology to industrialization: Government officials stress that AI companies must move beyond research and products to create broader industrial and economic value.
• Government-business cooperation: Support is shown not merely through praise but through offices, subsidies, administrative coordination, pilot projects, and talent services.
• Commercialization of innovation: The Tangyuan Model is important because it has already generated practical products and pathways to market.
• Rapid corporate growth: The company’s need to relocate after less than six months reflects its accelerating scale and rising importance.
• Ecosystem responsibility: The companies are encouraged to support SMEs, local industries, government services, and the wider AI ecosystem rather than focusing only on internal growth.

Important Character Interactions

• Han carefully presents the organizational plan and waits for Zhu’s reaction, making the approval a significant moment of mutual understanding.
• Zhu publicly validates Han’s strategy and sets expectations that Haicheng should retain the resulting industrial benefits.
• Han and Su jointly reassure the government that they will establish dedicated teams and standardized programs for local cooperation.
• Zhu’s comments to department heads pressure them to provide practical, coordinated support rather than symbolic approval.
• Deputy District Mayor Chen directly negotiates with Su over office needs and with Shen over recruitment policies, showing the government’s willingness to work with different company departments.
• Han and Su privately share relief and excitement after receiving concrete support, reinforcing their partnership and shared responsibility for the company’s expansion.

Chen Jianye learned that Source Code Technology and Pudong officials were coordinating school admission support for his daughter, easing his family’s worries about her education. After sharing the news with Xu Li, he returned to his code that night, but Xu Li surprised him with a romantic gesture.

• Shen Congyun told Chen Jianye that Han Luyi had arranged for the company to help eligible employees coordinate their children’s school admissions, and Chen Jianye submitted his family’s information.
• Chen Jianye overheard Jiang Yixin help Qian Xiaole check her eligibility for a discounted Talent Apartment, then went home without mentioning his own application yet.
• Chen Jianye received an invitation to the Pudong New Area Key Enterprise Children’s Education Coordination Group and sent his daughter’s documents directly to Section Chief Zhang.
• Chen Jianye showed Xu Li the officials’ swift response, and she celebrated the news and urged him to thank Han Luyi.
• After Xu Li put their daughter to bed, she closed Chen Jianye’s laptop, embraced him from behind, and revealed her black lace nightdress and stockings.

Chen Jianye thanked Han Luyi for securing his child's school enrollment, and Han saw how the support had improved Chen's stability. At a meeting on training models with the L100 Cluster, Han agreed to handle operator parameter tuning himself, then asked Zhao Wenyuan to meet him privately.

• Chen Jianye thanked Han Luyi for helping with his child's school enrollment and pledged loyalty to Source Code Technology.
• Han Luyi reviewed Chen Jianye's improved attributes and reflected on the importance of developing and retaining talent.
• Jiang Songran presented a lengthy plan for adapting L100 operators and estimated that the first phase would take three months.
• Zhao Wenyuan proposed completing the first phase in one month, and Han Luyi agreed to try.
• Han Luyi told Jiang Songran's team to ensure the operator logic worked while he handled the parameter tuning, then asked Zhao Wenyuan to come to his office.

Han Luyi persuaded Zhao Wenyuan to lead Source Intelligence’s Beijing Research Institute and pursue AGI. Zhao Wenyuan agreed to take charge, while Han Luyi’s frozen smile left his promise to help unresolved.

• Han Luyi asked Zhao Wenyuan to head the Beijing Research Institute, but Zhao resisted taking charge because he feared another failure.
• Han Luyi explained that he wanted the institute to pursue AGI and trusted Zhao to guide its research.
• Zhao asked what would happen if the institute spent years without results or pursued the wrong direction, and Han promised to keep investing.
• Zhao agreed to go to Beijing and oversee the institute, promising to spend its money responsibly.
• Zhao asked whether Han would step in if the researchers faced an unsolvable problem, and Han’s smile froze.

Han Luyi agreed to visit the new data-center site with Jiang Songran and Zhao Wenyuan as Source Intelligence prepared to expand its computing cluster. Meanwhile, Jiang Yixin’s Personal Growth System beta testers discovered that it recorded skills gained through real work, and their suggestion of “Deep Blue” left Jiang Yixin wondering whether AI could help users acquire abilities.

• Jiang Songran asked Han Luyi for permission to visit the site where the next batch of L100 cards would be installed, and Han agreed to go with him and Zhao Wenyuan.
• Jiang Yixin updated the Personal Growth System to let users choose themes for their character cards after beta testers requested a title preference selector.
• Little Yang and Little Niu compared their character cards and discovered that the system recorded growth events from their work rather than awarding experience points.
• Little Yang and Little Niu suggested naming the system Deep Blue, and Jiang Yixin added the name to her shortlist.
• Little Yang asked whether users could assign points, prompting Jiang Yixin to consider whether AI might teach people skills.

Chapter Summary: “The Double-Edged Sword of ‘Skills’”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Jiang Yixin reflects on why employers pay workers: employees’ skills generate more value than their wages cost.
• She examines how market demand and scarcity determine the value of skills, using AI, programming, finance, civil engineering, and architecture as examples.
• She explains how “hot industries” often collapse because education and career decisions lag behind market changes. By the time students finish years of training, demand may have disappeared.
• Jiang identifies herself as an example: computer science was highly desirable when she entered university, but the programming market had become saturated by the time she graduated.
• She realizes that AI systems such as Open Things can shorten or eliminate lengthy training processes by allowing ordinary users to perform tasks once reserved for programmers.
• Open Things already lets users generate simple apps without coding, and its capabilities are improving through the hybrid Glutinous Rice Ball–Heavenly Craft architecture.
• Jiang recognizes that AI may eventually replicate many professional skills, potentially displacing workers. Although Han Luyi’s previous argument—that such technology should not be monopolized—still applies, Jiang is frightened by the consequences for people whose skills become obsolete.
• To investigate the “Skills” function of the Personal Growth System, Jiang visits Qian Xiaole, one of its creators and earliest testers.
• Qian Xiaole demonstrates her character panel, which presents her as an extraordinarily powerful “Titan” warrior with the title “Sargeras,” surprising Jiang.

Character Developments

• Jiang Yixin: Becomes increasingly thoughtful and uneasy about the social consequences of AI. Her concern moves beyond technological progress to the fate of workers whose expertise may be automated. She also shows curiosity and skepticism toward the Growth System, immediately suspecting Qian Xiaole may have manipulated it.
• Qian Xiaole: Is portrayed as highly enthusiastic, unconventional, and extremely productive. She uses sixteen Riding the Wind Agent processes simultaneously and has developed a carefully structured work routine. Her character panel suggests that the system interprets her relentless drive for improvement and multitasking as extraordinary potential.
• Han Luyi: Though absent from the scene, her earlier statement provides an important philosophical framework: technological progress is inevitable, but access to its benefits should not be controlled by a small elite.

Significant Themes

• The value and instability of skills: Skills become valuable when demand is high and supply is limited, but their worth can decline rapidly as markets shift.
• Education lag and economic misalignment: Long training periods make it difficult for individuals and institutions to respond quickly to changing industries, leaving graduates trapped in obsolete career paths.
• AI as both liberation and displacement: AI can democratize complex abilities by making them accessible to nonexperts, while simultaneously threatening the livelihoods of trained professionals.
• Technological inevitability and ethical responsibility: The chapter suggests that progress cannot simply be stopped, making the key issue who controls new capabilities and how society protects those affected.
• Personal identity and productivity: Qian Xiaole’s panel reflects how the Growth System converts personality traits, habits, and ambitions into game-like classifications and power levels.

Character Interactions

• Jiang approaches Qian Xiaole before she begins her intense work session to ask how she has been using the Growth System.
• Qian Xiaole proudly shares her panel, expecting Jiang to be impressed.
• Jiang reacts with disbelief at Qian Xiaole’s seemingly overpowered “Titans” classification and the “Sargeras” title, questioning whether she used prompt injection.
• Qian Xiaole denies cheating and credits the system—especially Glutinous Rice Ball—with understanding her true nature, leaving Jiang even more puzzled.

Chapter Summary: “Become the Master of Skills”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Jiang Yixin examines Qian Xiaole’s character attribute panel and discovers an exceptionally dense skill constellation. Qian’s abilities span multiple programming languages, system architecture, product research, user modeling, feature prioritization, AI integration, and multi-agent design.
• Qian explains that the system contains so much information because she has recorded not only work results but also years of thoughts, doubts, observations, ideas, and reflections.
• She reveals that her personal “growth system” began in high school, when she adopted the habit of recording raw thoughts, reviewing them weekly, and organizing them into monthly and yearly journals.
• After AI tools became available, she used them to organize her notes more efficiently. The Glutinous Rice Ball Growth Assistant later imported these records and compared them with her actual work behavior, automatically identifying meaningful growth events.
• Jiang reviews the system’s logs and sees that each major cognitive development corresponds to a title upgrade:

Burning Legion Imp → Hellhound

Hellhound → Dreadlord

Dreadlord → Kil’jaeden

Kil’jaeden → Sargeras

• Qian’s latest advancement came from designing the Personal Growth System with Jiang and integrating years of notes into a functional personal knowledge graph.
• Although Qian feels the “Sargeras” title may have come too early, she is not obsessed with reaching the next level. She regards the title panel as merely a representation of growth, not the source of it.
• Jiang reconsiders the future of AI and human skills. She concludes that Qian is unlikely to be replaced because she continually absorbs AI’s capabilities and uses them to accelerate her own development.
• Inspired by Qian’s example, Jiang realizes the growth system should evolve beyond helping users understand their existing abilities. It should actively support deliberate, ongoing personal growth.
• Jiang contacts Liu Huo to arrange a meeting with Han Luyi, believing President Han can help develop this new direction.

Character Development

• Qian Xiaole is revealed as extraordinarily disciplined, reflective, and self-directed. Her strength comes less from any single technical skill than from years of systematically capturing, reviewing, and applying her own thoughts.
• Qian demonstrates a mature attitude toward gamification. Unlike Little Niu and Little Yang, she does not seek titles for their own sake; she values the system because it makes her development visible and actionable.
• She also embodies a new model of AI-assisted expertise: rather than being displaced by AI, she continually incorporates AI’s advances into her own capabilities.
• Jiang Yixin undergoes an important conceptual shift. She moves from viewing the system as a tool for identifying people’s skills to seeing it as a mechanism for cultivating proactive growth.
• Jiang also gains a clearer understanding of which kinds of people will remain valuable in an AI-driven workplace: those who can learn, adapt, and turn AI into an extension of themselves.

Significant Themes

• Proactive self-improvement: Genuine growth requires continuous reflection, organization, and deliberate action rather than passive measurement.
• AI as an amplifier: AI does not automatically replace skilled people; individuals who integrate AI into their learning may become even more capable.
• The limits of gamification: Titles and levels can visualize progress, but they are not substitutes for real development.
• Externalizing thought: Recording fragmented ideas allows people to preserve insights, test assumptions, recognize patterns, and build a personal knowledge system.
• Adaptability as a core skill: The most durable advantage is not mastery of one fixed skill but the ability to learn whatever new capabilities become necessary.

Character Interactions

• Jiang’s inspection of Qian’s system leads to a revealing conversation about Qian’s long-term habits and philosophy of growth.
• Qian openly shares her notes and system logs, demonstrating trust and allowing Jiang to understand the depth of her process.
• Their discussion contrasts Qian’s intrinsic motivation with the level-seeking behavior of Little Niu and Little Yang.
• Qian’s achievements, especially the latest title upgrade achieved through their joint project, directly influence Jiang’s thinking about the system’s future.
• Jiang chooses not to immediately discuss her ideas about “AI skills” with Qian, deciding to reflect first. Instead, she begins pursuing a broader product-development discussion with Liu Huo and Han Luyi.

Jiang Yixin presented the successful Glutinous Rice Ball Growth Assistant and proposed reusable AI skills to Han Luyi and Su Niannian, who approved further development and assigned her new responsibilities. After the meeting, Han Luyi began preparing to work on Operator Adaptation with Sight.

• Jiang Yixin compiled user research on AI applications and prepared reports on the Growth Assistant and reusable expert skills.
• Jiang Yixin demonstrated the Growth Assistant to Han Luyi and Su Niannian, who approved rolling it out across Source Code that week.
• Jiang Yixin proposed AI skills as reusable action scripts, and Han Luyi approved exploring the idea and asked her to consult President Zhao about Glutinous Rice Ball's capabilities.
• Su Niannian told Jiang Yixin to help interview new hires, and Han Luyi chose Deep Blue as the Growth Assistant's name.
• Su Niannian playfully meowed at Han Luyi before leaving, and Han Luyi stayed late to begin Operator Adaptation work with Sight.

Chapter Summary: “Sight, Add Points”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Han Luyi activates Sight and receives the mission “L100 Operator Adaptation.” His current domain mastery is only 23.4%, and Sight warns him that the task requires expertise spanning GPU architecture, parallel computing, compiler optimization, numerical analysis, deep learning, hardware drivers, and debugging.
• He recognizes that adapting software operators from Nvidia GPUs to Ximing’s domestic L100 GPU is extraordinarily complex. Although it sounds like simple code translation, it is more like moving an entire orchestra into a bus while preserving its performance.
• Han reviews Ximing’s operator-adaptation progress and sees that most operators remain incomplete. The company’s team has spent over a year covering less than five percent of possible use cases.
• To overcome the knowledge gap, Han uses Sight to search and absorb vast amounts of technical material, including university courses, research papers, industrial documents, and valuable Nvidia-related materials.
• He creates an academic-analysis plugin that ranks resources according to value, relevance, and duplication. Sight filters out redundant information and organizes the useful material into a structured network of knowledge.
• For dramatic effect, Han commands, “Sight, add points!” Sight then grants him the new skill: [Operator Adaptation Lv.1 Acquired].
• Han selects FusedAttentionBackward, a critical but previously unadapted operator used during model training. Since it is part of backpropagation rather than inference, the team had postponed it despite its importance.
• He activates the new skill, causing Sight to generate a detailed three-dimensional visualization of the L100’s internal architecture. Han prepares to optimize the flow of data through memory, registers, thread blocks, and computing cores.

Character Developments

• Han Luyi initially feels overwhelmed by the scale of the task and acknowledges that even extensive formal education would not equal the knowledge of a large specialized engineering team.
• Despite this, he demonstrates confidence in Sight’s capabilities and creatively turns accumulated information into a usable AI-assisted skill.
• His playful command to “add points” shows his growing comfort with Sight and his tendency to treat its abilities like a game system, even though the underlying functionality is genuine.
• Han shifts from passive knowledge absorption to active engineering problem-solving, taking responsibility for one of the most difficult unresolved tasks in the project.
• Jiang Songran and the Ximing team are established as experienced but limited by the enormous complexity of adapting every operator. Their prior work has focused mainly on getting inference running, leaving training efficiency incomplete.

Significant Themes

• The complexity of technological innovation: Hardware adaptation requires far more than translating code; it demands deep coordination between algorithms, memory, architecture, and execution.
• Data movement versus computation: The chapter emphasizes that transferring data between video memory, registers, and shared memory is often more expensive than performing calculations.
• Human expertise enhanced by artificial intelligence: Sight does not merely provide answers; it gathers, filters, organizes, and compresses vast amounts of knowledge into a practical skill.
• Domestic technological independence: Making the L100 capable of training large models represents an effort to reduce reliance on Nvidia’s mature hardware ecosystem.
• Limits and breakthroughs: The daunting scale of the problem contrasts with Han’s ability to create a breakthrough by combining existing expertise with Sight’s extraordinary processing power.

Character Interactions

• Han interacts primarily with Sight, treating it as both a research assistant and a system capable of granting skills.
• He relies on Jiang Songran’s operator statistics and prior engineering experience, which help identify the most urgent adaptation targets.
• The chapter references Zhao Wenyuan, Jiang Songran, and the broader software team, showing that their decisions prioritized inference while leaving the more difficult training operators unfinished.
• Han’s interaction with the L100 is presented almost theatrically: through Sight, he views the GPU as a living factory whose workflow he must redesign and optimize.

Chapter Summary: “Sight Skill, First Test”

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• Han Luyi tests Sight’s newly unlocked [Operator Adaptation] skill on the difficult FusedAttentionBackward operator used during model training.
• Sight transforms the operator’s computational process into a virtual data factory, allowing Han Luyi to observe hardware utilization, data movement, memory access, and bottlenecks in real time.
• He identifies severe inefficiencies:
  • Compute cores sit idle while data becomes stuck in queues.
  • Mechanical “arms” overload certain conveyor belts instead of distributing work evenly.
  • The operator suffers from thread blocking and excessive VRAM traffic.
• Han Luyi applies block-wise recomputation, reducing VRAM read/write volume by 37%.
• He then calibrates the data-block or tile size by testing different virtual configurations. Sight reveals the ideal balance between blocks that are too small—causing underutilized compute cores—and blocks that are too large—overloading the pipeline.
• The optimized operator achieves dramatic improvements:
  • Single-step time: 46.8 ms → 4.6 ms
  • VRAM read/write volume: 5.7× theoretical optimum → 1.09×
  • Hardware utilization: 31% → 91%
• Sight converts Han Luyi’s mental adjustments directly into code. He submits the completed adapter to the repository and leaves work.
• Han Luyi then discovers that he has exhausted more than 600 energy points in under an hour. Although he cannot continue immediately, he realizes that careful energy management could allow him to adapt every operator within a month.
• Meanwhile, the Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Group works overtime to adapt the company’s model to the L100 accelerator. The team faces intense pressure and uncertain deadlines.
• Senior engineer Fan Xiaotian, formerly of Nvidia, is assigned several difficult operators. He regards FusedAttentionBackward as nearly impossible to optimize and plans to postpone it.
• Fan notices a new repository commit claiming that the FusedAttentionBackward adapter has been completed. He investigates the unfamiliar committer and opens the code, becoming visibly astonished.

2. Character Developments

• Han Luyi gains his first full understanding of Sight’s Operator Adaptation ability. He discovers that it effectively replaces months of engineering experimentation with a high-speed mental simulation.
• His confidence grows as he realizes Sight can optimize sophisticated hardware-software interactions with extraordinary precision. He also learns an important limitation: the skill consumes enormous amounts of energy.
• Jiang Songran is shown as determined to complete L100 adaptation, though his aggressive schedule places heavy pressure on the team.
• Fan Xiaotian is introduced as an experienced, idealistic engineer with Nvidia-level expertise. Despite his financial independence and professional ideals, he is skeptical of Source Intelligence’s rushed strategy.
• Fan’s confidence in the company is already weakening, but the mysterious completion of the hardest operator challenges his assumptions and sparks his curiosity.

3. Significant Themes

• Human expertise versus extraordinary technology: Sight turns complex engineering judgment, testing, and profiling into an intuitive simulation, making Han Luyi vastly more efficient than a conventional engineering team.
• Hardware-software co-optimization: The chapter emphasizes that performance depends not only on code but also on memory movement, chip architecture, compiler behavior, data partitioning, and physical limitations at the nanoscale.
• The difficulty of cutting-edge engineering: Even experienced engineers cannot easily predict or control every hardware bottleneck. Real-world optimization requires painstaking experimentation.
• Patience versus organizational pressure: Fan Xiaotian believes hardware adaptation requires months of careful work, while management expects rapid progress. This conflict reflects the tension between engineering reality and business demands.
• The limits and costs of power: Sight appears almost overwhelmingly capable, but its energy consumption introduces a practical restriction and forces Han Luyi to plan strategically.
• Professional pride and craftsmanship: Han’s satisfaction resembles the pleasure of perfectly solving a technical puzzle, while Fan’s dedication reflects the ideals and pride of elite engineers.

4. Character Interactions

• Han Luyi interacts primarily with Sight, treating it almost like a capable partner and affectionately calling it “Brother Sight.”
• His work indirectly affects the wider engineering team through the repository submission, though they do not yet know who completed it.
• Fan Xiaotian encounters Han Luyi’s anonymous commit without realizing its source. His initial disbelief and confusion turn into intense interest when he examines the unusually small but impressive code submission.
• The chapter ends with Fan staring at the code in shock, creating suspense over how he will respond and whether Han Luyi’s identity will be discovered.

Plot points and events

• Fan Xiaotian studies a newly submitted L100 implementation of FlashAttention’s Block-Wise Recomputation strategy. Its clean, elegant style seems implausible for such demanding hardware-adaptation work, especially since the team lacks a profiler and has not finished calibrating the L100.
• Doubting it will work, Fan runs the correctness suite. All 414 tests pass.
• Curious about performance, he benchmarks the L100 against the team’s Nvidia H100. The L100 averages 4.6 milliseconds per step, beating the H100’s 4.8 milliseconds by 4.2 percent.
• Stunned by the result, Fan questions how the team could have achieved such a breakthrough. Little Niu brings in Fan’s cold delivery and identifies the code’s author: the account “null-pointer” belongs to Boss Han.

Character developments

• Fan Xiaotian shifts from skeptical reviewer to astonished witness. His expertise helps him recognize just how difficult the implementation should have been, making its success all the more startling.
• Little Niu remains focused on his playful “cultivation” progress in the game Deep Blue, hoping to reach the Golden Core stage before his colleague Little Yang. He also reveals that he knows who submitted the code.
• Boss Han is established as the likely author of the breakthrough, though he does not appear directly.

Significant themes

• Theory versus practice: Adapting an algorithm to unfamiliar hardware normally requires extensive profiling and repeated testing, yet this code succeeds without the team’s expected tools.
• Expertise and the unexpected: Fan’s knowledge of the difficulty makes the result seem almost impossible.
• National ambition and surprise: Fan’s hope of helping overcome a computing blockade is upended when a domestic card unexpectedly outperforms Nvidia’s H100.
• Hidden capability: The revelation that “null-pointer” is Boss Han hints that the breakthrough may come from someone more capable than the team realizes.

Character interactions

• Fan tests and evaluates the anonymous contributor’s code on his own, privately reacting to each successful result.
• Little Niu interrupts Fan’s stunned reflection by returning his delivery. Fan asks who “null-pointer” is, and Little Niu points out that the account belongs to Boss Han.

Summary of “Boss Han’s Lobbying”

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• Little Niu reveals that the impressive operator solution submitted to the competition came from “NullPointer,” the online handle of Boss Han, the founder of Source Code.
• Fan Xiaotian is stunned by the revelation and doubts that Boss Han personally wrote the code. He speculates that Boss Han may be acting as the public representative for a secret research team or classified national project.
• Fan prepares to report the test results to Jiang Songran, while also discovering that his takeout noodles have gone cold and clumped together.
• The story shifts to Washington, D.C., where Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang visits Senator William Harper to lobby against strict U.S. export controls on advanced AI chips to China.
• Jensen argues that cutting off Chinese customers will hurt American companies and encourage China to build an independent AI hardware and software ecosystem.
• Harper indicates that he might support Jensen’s position, but only in exchange for benefits to his home state, North Dakota.
• Jensen offers Nvidia-funded scholarships, laboratories, and internships for North Dakota State University, followed by potential agricultural-AI pilot programs involving precision farming and data collection.
• In return, Harper proposes a congressional hearing on AI competitiveness and export controls. He insists that Jensen attend personally and bring other major technology companies, such as AMD, Qualcomm, and Intel, to demonstrate broad industry support.
• Harper then asks about notable Chinese AI companies. Jensen identifies Source Intelligence and notes that its newly released large model currently ranks first on the leaderboard, surprising the senator.

2. Character Developments

• Fan Xiaotian: His admiration and surprise deepen after learning that the mysterious programmer is Boss Han. His inability to explain the quality of the code shows how significant the achievement is.
• Little Niu: Acts as the source of crucial information and remains practical and casual, contrasting with Fan’s shock.
• Boss Han: Gains an aura of mystery and extraordinary technical ability. Whether he wrote the code himself becomes an open question, but his reputation as a genius is firmly established.
• Jensen Huang: Is portrayed as a skilled, patient, and pragmatic negotiator. He understands that political support must be purchased through mutually beneficial deals and carefully adjusts his offer when Harper threatens to end the meeting.
• Senator William Harper: Appears politically experienced and transactional. He is willing to support Nvidia’s interests but prioritizes benefits for his constituents and his own political influence.

3. Significant Themes

• Technology and geopolitics: Advanced AI hardware has become central to the rivalry between the United States and China.
• Political lobbying and transactional power: Policy decisions are shown as negotiations in which corporate interests, regional development, political influence, and national security are traded against one another.
• The danger of overrestriction: Jensen argues that excessive export controls may undermine America’s long-term technological advantage by forcing China to develop competing systems.
• Mystery and hidden capability: Boss Han’s unexpected involvement suggests that Source Intelligence may possess deeper technical resources than outsiders realize.
• Competition between ecosystems: The chapter emphasizes that AI hardware is valuable not merely because of its physical capabilities, but because of the software and developer ecosystem built around it.

4. Character Interactions

• Fan Xiaotian and Little Niu: Little Niu casually identifies Boss Han as NullPointer, while Fan reacts with disbelief and begins theorizing about secret research organizations.
• Jensen and Harper: Their polite opening conversation gradually becomes a negotiation. Harper demands concrete benefits for North Dakota, and Jensen responds with education funding and agricultural-AI projects.
• Jensen and U.S. policymakers: Jensen seeks to persuade officials that export restrictions will harm American industry, but recognizes that political arguments must be supported by economic and regional incentives.
• Harper and Jensen over the congressional hearing: Harper agrees to help create a platform for Jensen’s position but insists that Jensen personally lead the effort and recruit other major companies.
• Harper and Source Intelligence: Harper’s surprise at Source Intelligence’s top-ranked model signals that the company may soon become relevant to U.S. political and strategic calculations.

Chapter Summary: “The Blockade Has Already Failed”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Senator William and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang discuss the success of the Chinese AI company Glutinous Rice Ball, which has ranked first in AI performance for more than two weeks.
• William argues that even a temporary Chinese victory proves the U.S. Department of Commerce’s technology blockade has failed to achieve its intended purpose. Jensen agrees that rankings may change, but he recognizes the political significance of the achievement.
• After the meeting, Jensen learns that the Chinese AI company Source Intelligence has acquired a struggling chip-design company. The acquisition suggests that Source Intelligence may be developing its own hardware and AI ecosystem, particularly for inference.
• Jensen becomes concerned because inference requires a lower technological threshold than model training. He orders Nvidia’s teams to urgently investigate and benchmark the company’s graphics card products.
• Meanwhile, Jiang Songran receives an unexpected report from engineer Fan Xiaotian about the L100 fused-attention backward operator. The report claims that the L100’s single-step performance has surpassed Nvidia’s H100.
• Jiang rushes to the office and discovers that employees from the Infrastructure and Model Teams are celebrating the breakthrough. After seeing the benchmark results, he asks Fan to run the test again personally.

Character Developments

• Jensen Huang: Although publicly composed and politically pragmatic, Jensen feels increasingly threatened by Chinese competitors and the possibility that U.S. restrictions are accelerating their independence. He becomes more proactive in ordering investigations and recognizes that Nvidia is racing against time.
• Senator William: He views the Chinese achievement primarily as political evidence that the blockade is ineffective. His friendly treatment of Jensen also reveals his belief that the U.S. government and Nvidia depend on each other.
• Jiang Songran: He demonstrates strong technical judgment by initially questioning the report’s surprising conclusions. At the same time, he shows concern for team management and employee morale, particularly Fan Xiaotian’s mental state. The discovery of the breakthrough brings back his previously absent excitement.
• Fan Xiaotian: His technical ability is validated by the successful optimization of the L100 operator. Despite his usual arrogance, he has produced a result capable of challenging Nvidia’s leading hardware.
• Jiang’s mother: She worries about her son’s health and workload, but is reassured when he tells her the urgent matter is good news.

Significant Themes

• The failure of technological blockades: Restrictions intended to slow China may instead encourage domestic innovation and self-sufficiency.
• The shifting AI race: Leadership in AI is unstable, with rankings changing rapidly and even temporary breakthroughs carrying major strategic and political consequences.
• Competition and adaptation: Nvidia faces threats not only from established rivals but also from Chinese companies building their own hardware ecosystems.
• Innovation under pressure: The L100 breakthrough suggests that constraint and urgency can produce unexpected advances.
• Politics versus technology: Politicians use the China threat for public purposes, while companies like Nvidia must deal with the practical consequences of international policy.

Character Interactions

• William and Jensen maintain a cordial but strategically charged relationship, acknowledging both Nvidia’s dependence on the United States and the United States’ dependence on Nvidia.
• Jensen and his assistant discuss Source Intelligence’s acquisition and coordinate an urgent investigation into its hardware capabilities.
• Jiang and his mother share a brief but emotionally significant exchange, showing her concern and his renewed optimism.
• Jiang reunites with Fan and the celebrating employees, shifting the atmosphere from excitement to careful verification as he asks for another live benchmark run.

Chapter Summary: “Is There Really a National Team?”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Fan Xiaotian demonstrates the newly uploaded GPU adaptation code to Jiang Songran. After independently reviewing and running the test script, Jiang confirms that the L100 GPU outperforms Nvidia’s H100 on the tested operator—an astonishing result.
• Jiang initially assumes Fan Xiaotian wrote the code, but Fan reveals that the adaptation files were submitted through Han Luyi’s account. Since the sophisticated code could not have been written by Han overnight, Fan theorizes that Han is secretly cooperating with a highly classified state laboratory.
• Jiang finds the theory absurd at first but gradually begins to believe that Han is hiding an elite technical team. Fan deletes the submission records to protect the information, while Jiang keeps the matter confidential.
• The team finishes the initial framework for one operator per engineer, a level of productivity that would previously have taken senior engineers a week. However, two more extremely advanced operators appear under Han’s account, deepening Jiang’s suspicion that hidden contributors are duplicating the team’s work.
• Han Luyi, Liu Yu, Zhao Wenyuan, and Jiang travel by high-speed rail from Haicheng toward Zhangjiakou. Liu Yu remains in Beijing afterward to handle preparations for the new research institute, while the others continue to Yunyin’s campus.
• During the journey, the group discusses remote data centers, including Jiang’s experience visiting one in Iceland. They briefly attempt team bonding by playing Honor of Kings, but Han is the only experienced player and ends up carrying the team.
• At Yunyin, they find thousands of newly delivered computing cards being installed. Zhang Biao is coordinating the massive server deployment and expects testing to begin within an hour.

Character Developments

• Jiang Songran shifts from skepticism toward genuine awe regarding the mysterious adaptation code. His technical judgment leads him to suspect that Han is concealing a powerful external team, and he becomes more cautious about protecting the company’s secrets.
• Fan Xiaotian proves both technically perceptive and imaginative. His “secret national laboratory” theory is initially fanciful, but Jiang’s reaction convinces him that he may be correct. He also shows discretion by deleting the submission records.
• Han Luyi continues to conceal the identity of the code’s true author while managing the company’s expansion and packed schedule. His leadership is contrasted with his unexpectedly strong gaming ability.
• Liu Yu demonstrates reliability by handling the research institute’s administrative preparations. He also helps maintain the group’s social atmosphere during the journey.
• Zhang Biao is shown as hardworking and dedicated, having apparently worked through the night to coordinate the server installation.

Significant Themes

• Technological superiority and mystery: The adaptation code’s ability to outperform the H100 establishes the extraordinary level of the unknown team behind it.
• Secrecy and trust: The characters must decide what information can be shared, with Jiang and Fan taking precautions to conceal the submission records.
• National service and ambition: Fan’s excitement at the possibility of a secret state laboratory reflects his desire to contribute to the country through technology.
• The transformation of work through AI: Riding the Wind greatly accelerates ordinary engineers’ productivity, making the team’s progress remarkable even as the hidden team’s output remains far beyond normal limits.
• Corporate responsibility and sacrifice: Han’s relentless scheduling, Liu Yu’s administrative workload, and Zhang Biao’s overnight labor show the demands of building a major technological infrastructure project.
• Teamwork and camaraderie: Technical discussions, travel, jokes, and the failed gaming session provide moments of bonding amid the intense work.

Character Interactions

• Fan carefully guides Jiang through the code, then shares his classified-laboratory theory with him. Jiang’s serious response validates Fan’s suspicions and leads them to agree to protect the information.
• Jiang and Liu Yu discuss data centers, with Jiang sharing his Iceland experience. Han and Zhao join the conversation, and Han lightens the discussion with a joke about volcanic server facilities.
• Han organizes team bonding during the train ride, but his teammates’ lack of gaming experience makes the attempt unsuccessful.
• At Yunyin, Jiang recognizes Zhang Biao’s exhaustion and thanks him personally, reinforcing the mutual respect between the technical team and the staff supporting their infrastructure.

Chapter Summary: “Seventeen Clusters, Seventeen Times the Computing Power”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Zhang Biao has spent months managing the installation of Source Intelligence’s new data center in Zhangjiakou. Under Glutinous Rice Ball’s guidance, he has studied technical concepts nightly and become far more knowledgeable and capable.
• He reports that all 8,192 L100 graphics cards have arrived, with rack installation nearly complete. The operations team is organized into four groups handling racks, power and liquid cooling, networking, and equipment records.
• The data center successfully completes its first power-on test. Power, temperature, cooling, networking, and card self-checks all function normally.
• Jiang Songran begins testing the new computing cluster, first with small groups of eight cards, then progressively larger configurations.
• A 512-card cluster operates successfully, but combining two such clusters causes severe latency and congestion. The test fails because the communication pattern does not match the physical network topology.
• Jiang Songran, Zhao Wenyuan, and Han Luyi independently identify the same core problem: simultaneous reduction operations after the attention layer overload links spanning different rows.
• Han concludes that the current communication protocol has reached its practical limit at roughly 512 cards per cluster. However, the sixteen new clusters, combined with the original one, provide seventeen times Source Intelligence’s former computing power.
• Rather than viewing the limitation as a defeat, Han prioritizes using the new hardware for inference, which requires less VRAM and inter-card communication. This should allow Glutinous Rice Ball’s capabilities to expand significantly.
• Jiang recognizes that Source Intelligence will soon need to solve large-scale inter-GPU communication, a problem usually associated with Nvidia-level systems. He returns to analyzing the test logs, determined to overcome the obstacle.

Character Developments

• Zhang Biao undergoes major professional growth. Once intimidated by Jiang’s advanced knowledge, he actively studies technical concepts and becomes capable of managing a massive, complex data-center installation.
• Jiang Songran remains the primary technical leader during cluster testing. He demonstrates deep practical expertise by interpreting the congestion data and accurately diagnosing the communication bottleneck.
• Han Luyi shows strategic judgment and calm leadership. He does not treat the failed large-cluster test as a disaster, instead recognizing the immediate value of the expanded inference capacity and encouraging the team to proceed incrementally.
• Zhao Wenyuan reinforces the team’s technical strength by independently reaching the same diagnosis as Jiang and Han.
• Glutinous Rice Ball continues to support Zhang Biao’s learning and is positioned to benefit most directly from the expanded computing resources.

Significant Themes

• Growth through learning: Zhang Biao’s transformation illustrates how dedication and practical study can overcome initial feelings of inferiority.
• The limits of rapid technological expansion: Acquiring massive hardware is not enough; software, protocols, topology, and optimization must develop alongside it.
• Collective expertise: Sight can identify problems quickly, but human specialists provide the experience and technical understanding needed to solve them.
• Resilience and incremental progress: The failed 1,024-card test becomes a useful diagnostic step rather than a defeat.
• Ambition versus established limits: Source Intelligence is advancing so quickly that it is encountering problems normally faced only by the world’s most advanced companies.

Character Interactions

• Zhang Biao presents the installation plan to Han Luyi and Jiang Songran, demonstrating his newfound competence.
• Han praises Zhang’s progress, while Zhang’s restrained reaction reveals quiet pride.
• Jiang commands the power-on test and later works alongside Zhao and Han to analyze the failed cluster expansion.
• Han acknowledges the value of Jiang and Zhao’s expertise, recognizing that Sight alone cannot solve every technical challenge.
• Jiang initially feels concerned about the bottleneck but regains confidence through Han’s calm attitude and the team’s shared determination.

Jennifer discovered that the Sili-Lumin L100 accelerator had far greater hardware capability than its poor software results suggested, but Jensen dismissed it as no threat. Meanwhile, Han Luyi’s teams prepared for possible U.S. restrictions, planned to expand computing capacity, and assigned the Source Code team to ready Glutinous Rice Ball’s chatbot before Han Luyi and Zhao Wenyuan hurried to Beijing.

• Jennifer reran and disassembled the L100, then used a low-level matrix multiplication test to find that its software was holding back capable hardware and recommended an in-depth evaluation.
• Jensen reviewed a report that classified the L100 as below Nvidia’s threat threshold and felt reassured after learning it used a familiar foundry and had sold fewer than two thousand cards.
• Han Luyi told Xue Zhaoheng to press TSMC for chip deliveries and prepare to migrate production to domestic foundries if Source Intelligence faced restrictions.
• Jiang Songran reported that integrating the new cluster would raise computing capacity to seventeen times its previous level, while Jiang Yixin reported that Riding the Wind had nearly three million registered users but weak daily retention.
• Han Luyi assigned the Source Code team to polish and launch Glutinous Rice Ball’s chatbot, then ended the meeting and left with Zhao Wenyuan for Beijing.

Chapter Summary: “AI Has Its Own Circles”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Han Luyi and Zhao Wenyuan arrive in Beijing to establish Source Intelligence’s new base there.
• Liu Yu updates them on the company’s progress:
  • A fully furnished office in Zhongguancun has been selected.
  • Housing options for Zhao Wenyuan have been found.
  • Branch-registration procedures are nearly complete, pending Zhao’s in-person identification verification.
• Han Luyi visits He Yunshen, Source Intelligence’s major investor and one of his closest associates.
• During tea, He Yunshen reveals that Source Intelligence’s success has made it a hot topic among investors. Many people are asking about Hongyuan Capital’s allocation and whether the shares are for sale.
• Han announces that Source Intelligence will shift its research and development focus to Beijing, with Zhao Wenyuan stationed there to take charge. He asks He Yunshen to support Zhao.
• He Yunshen discusses Lu Zhengping’s unusually generous Series B offer: 50 billion for 3.5 percent of the company, without conditions. He praises Han for carefully considering the offer rather than accepting immediately.
• He invites Han and Zhao to an AI-industry dinner, explaining that it will include prominent industry figures and specialist investors.
• He reveals that Li Yan, founder and CEO of the major search company Seek Him Technology, will attend. Li is also scheduled to give the next lecture at Shuimu University.
• Zhao becomes nervous at the mention of Li Yan, wondering how the influential entrepreneur will view Source Intelligence’s product, Glutinous Rice Ball.

Character Developments

• Han Luyi demonstrates strategic patience and composure. Despite receiving an enormously valuable financing offer, he took time to investigate Lu Zhengping’s influence and connections before accepting.
• Han also shows strong leadership by deliberately introducing Zhao to Beijing’s business network and preparing him to operate independently.
• Zhao Wenyuan begins transitioning into a more important leadership role, becoming the person responsible for Source Intelligence’s Beijing operations. However, he remains anxious about meeting major figures in the AI industry.
• He Yunshen is shown to be both a supportive investor and a shrewd businessman. He takes pride in having invested in the right companies and actively helps Han and Zhao expand their connections.
• Li Yan does not appear directly, but his reputation is established as an influential technology entrepreneur and an idol to returnee founders like Zhao.

Significant Themes

• Business networks and social circles: Success in the AI industry depends not only on technology but also on access to investors, academics, entrepreneurs, and influential institutions.
• Strategic patience: Han’s refusal to rush into financing reflects the value of maintaining composure and evaluating long-term advantages.
• Power and status in the technology sector: Source Intelligence’s success has elevated Han’s position, placing him in the same social and professional circles as major investors and industry leaders.
• Transition and expansion: Moving R&D to Beijing marks Source Intelligence’s growth from a smaller company into a more influential national player.
• Technology and reputation: The chapter highlights how investors, founders, academics, and even media figures all claim membership in the broad “AI circle,” though their actual influence and expertise vary greatly.

Character Interactions

• Han and Liu Yu: Liu provides practical updates about the Beijing branch and its preparations.
• Han and He Yunshen: Their relationship is warm and familiar, combining friendship, investor-founder trust, teasing, and business strategy.
• Han and Zhao: Han acts as Zhao’s sponsor and mentor, publicly endorsing him to He Yunshen and helping establish his credibility.
• He and Zhao: He welcomes Zhao to Beijing and offers future cooperation, signaling that Zhao is now being accepted into the investor and technology network.
• He and Han: He probes Han about his conflict with Lü Yun while praising his restraint in handling the Series B financing.
• Zhao and Li Yan: They have not yet met, but Zhao’s admiration and anxiety create anticipation for their future encounter.

Summary of “Li Yan’s Direction”

Key Plot Points and Events

• He Yunshen brings Han Luyi and Zhao Wenyuan to an AI-industry dinner held in a commercial complex in Zhongguancun. Unlike He’s usual private gatherings, the venue is designed for networking and is organized by Tong Fei, president of Lightcone Capital.
• The guests include AI entrepreneurs, investors, and representatives connected to Seek Him Technology. Han realizes the gathering is essentially a publicity and ecosystem-building event for Seek Him’s AI strategy.
• Han and Zhao meet several AI application developers, who express strong interest in Source Intelligence’s Glutinous Rice Ball model and ask when its API will become available.
• Li Yan, Seek Him’s senior leader, arrives and receives considerable deference from the attendees. He warmly greets Han and learns that Zhao led the development of Glutinous Rice Ball.
• During dinner, Tong Fei asks Li Yan to explain his view of the future of large models.
• Li argues that model size and leaderboard rankings are less important than practical applications. AI must provide stable performance, affordable costs, and real use cases, while building an ecosystem around itself.
• Li indirectly attacks Glutinous Rice Ball and other recently celebrated models, implying that they are merely “gaming the rankings” and have not been adopted in real production environments.
• He then directly asks Han whether he agrees. Han gives a cautious answer, acknowledging the importance of application scenarios without openly challenging Li.
• Li outlines Seek Him’s intended strategy: combining large and small models, using models selectively, and developing enterprise Agent platforms.
• He predicts that Agents will become the main form of AI application by planning, executing, reflecting, and evolving within an environment.
• Li announces that Seek Him plans to integrate its search, knowledge-graph, cloud-service, and large-model resources into a platform that lets enterprises build AI applications easily.
• He concludes that the fragmented app-based internet was misguided and that the AI era should provide users with one unified entrance through which Agents can handle many tasks.

Character Developments

• Han Luyi remains observant and politically careful. Through Sight, he recognizes the event’s true purpose and accurately interprets Li Yan’s remarks as a calculated attempt to undermine Glutinous Rice Ball and protect Seek Him’s strategic narrative.
• Zhao Wenyuan is visibly nervous because Li Yan was his idol during his student years. His tension increases when Li attacks Glutinous Rice Ball, but he remains professional.
• He Yunshen acts as a bridge between Source Intelligence and Seek Him Technology. His invitation suggests that he wants Han’s company to maintain a cordial relationship with Li Yan, partly because of his former investment and friendship with Li.
• Li Yan is presented as experienced, composed, and strategically forceful. He uses the dinner as a platform to promote Seek Him’s ecosystem while subtly discrediting competitors.
• Tong Fei functions as the event’s social organizer, warmly greeting guests and steering the discussion toward Li Yan’s vision.
• Han Luyi discovers that Li Yan does not know Source Intelligence pioneered practical Agent concepts through Source Code and Riding the Wind, giving Han an informational advantage.

Significant Themes

• Application versus raw model performance: The chapter contrasts impressive benchmarks and public attention with genuine commercial usefulness.
• Corporate strategy and ecosystem competition: AI companies are competing not only through models but through platforms, applications, investment networks, and control over enterprise ecosystems.
• Public diplomacy versus private calculation: Li’s courteous, lecture-like presentation masks a deliberate attack on competitors.
• Information asymmetry: Han’s Sight allows him to see Li’s motives and recognize gaps in Li’s knowledge, while Li underestimates Source Intelligence.
• The future of AI Agents: Agents are presented as a possible next stage of AI, capable of coordinating tasks and replacing the need for many separate applications.
• Power and social hierarchy: The guests’ behavior toward Li reveals his influence and the importance of reputation, investment, and institutional position in the AI industry.

Character Interactions

• Han and Zhao share their unease about the venue and later discuss the changing AI investment landscape.
• Han reassures Zhao when he notices his nervousness about meeting his former idol, Li Yan.
• He Yunshen introduces Han and Zhao to Tong Fei and other AI entrepreneurs, positioning Source Intelligence within the industry network.
• Li Yan personally greets Han and questions Zhao about his role in developing Glutinous Rice Ball, briefly encouraging him as a promising young scientist.
• Li uses Han as the target of his criticism, forcing him to respond publicly without escalating tensions.
• Han and Zhao exchange a knowing glance when Li begins discussing Agents while overlooking Source Intelligence’s pioneering work, confirming that Li is unaware of their role in the field.