Contrary to how most people wrote papers, Lu Zhou could solve any problem with system points, so coming up with the right idea was far more important to him than implementing it.
So the key was choosing a topic.
Lu Zhou's standards for selecting a topic were simple.
Since he was going to be a disruptive force in academia, he would pick whichever field was easiest to pad with fluff! Whichever journal was easiest to get published in!
It was worth mentioning that, as the second most watered-down science and engineering discipline in terms of papers, Information Science made it fairly easy to find journals to pad with fluff.
Just as a new solution to a Mathematics proof problem could become a published paper, a unique algorithm in Information Science could likewise be published as a paper.
He remembered that in 2013, when Elon Musk was interviewed by the founder of Khan Academy, he had joked that "ninety percent of academic papers in IT are worthless" and asked, "How many PhD papers have actually been used by anyone?" He had also received support from nearly a hundred Silicon Valley tech elites.
Of course, there had also been plenty of criticism.
The statement was indeed somewhat biased, but it also reflected certain problems from another angle.
Internet information security and artificial neural networks were still relatively normal, but big data and cloud computing had already become disaster zones. Artificial Intelligence was even more flooded with nonsense, to the point that amateur researchers could chime in with a few words. And this was not limited to China; it was the same overseas. It was a common flaw of all "young disciplines."
With that in mind, after weighing his options, Lu Zhou chose Artificial Intelligence as his general direction.
Of course, Artificial Intelligence was far too broad a field. From video games to automatic variable-frequency toothbrushes, if one insisted on calling it that, it had long since seeped into every aspect of society. It was only a matter of degree.
After thinking for a moment, Lu Zhou typed a line into a Word document.
[Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Geographic Information Systems]
From mobile navigation to autonomous driving, from traffic management to automatic drone pathfinding.
And he had chosen the latter, which happened to fit the currently emerging concept of "drone logistics."
Of course, this direction was still broad, but that was fine. He had to publish nine papers, after all!
This drop of water poured into the ocean of academia would be split into nine portions with a dropper, each one squeezed in to the brim.
So he tapped away at the keyboard and continued writing.
[A Pixel Analysis Algorithm Based on Artificial Intelligence]
[An Optimization Algorithm for Artificial Intelligence Dynamic Image Recognition]
[An Automatic Method for Measuring Human Feature Dimensions Based on Artificial Intelligence Algorithms]
[An Automatic Delivery Address Recognition Algorithm Based on Artificial Intelligence Algorithms]
[A Method Based on Artificial Intelligence...]
He not only needed to come up with titles, but also write abstracts and provide specific descriptions of the topics. After all, the "simple computer" in Red Alert and Iron Man's "JARVIS" both fell under the category of "AI." Lu Zhou did not expect the system to accurately understand the difference between the two.
So, in addition to writing the abstracts, he also had to clearly describe in words the ideas that normally would not appear in the main text of a paper.
By the time he finished all that, the library was nearing closing time.
He packed all the files, along with the topic for his Mathematics paper, into the same folder. Lu Zhou stretched and leaned back in his chair. Recalling the documents he had just drafted, he muttered inwardly.
"System, put a price on my damn papers."
The system was indeed the system. It quickly responded to his question.
[10 questions detected. Total consumption: 210 points. Confirm exchange?]
The average cost was 21 points per question, which meant he would only have 125 points left. But completing the mission guaranteed 800 points, and an S rating came with additional rewards. Either way, he definitely would not lose out!
"Confirm the exchange!"
Lu Zhou closed his eyes. Soon, an electric shock-like sensation crawled up his spine and into his brain, followed by a massive flood of information.
Although his Information Science experience points did not change at all, as he gradually absorbed the information, he felt his understanding of Artificial Intelligence deepen by another level.
Using points for exchanges was also a process of acquiring knowledge, except it was much simpler and more brutal than studying on his own.
Of course, fully digesting this knowledge would probably take quite some time.
But it was already more than enough to write the papers!
Taking a deep breath, Lu Zhou opened his eyes. Fighting spirit flickered in his pupils like flames.
Ten papers.
One month at most.
He would get them all done!
The next day, Lu Zhou barely managed to get up early. After brushing his teeth, washing his face, and getting dressed, he stumbled out of the dormitory half-asleep.
Because he had stayed up late the night before, there were obvious dark circles beneath his eyes. He did not know how many times he yawned on the way from the cafeteria to the teaching building.
"Lu Zhou!"
Chen Yushan, standing some distance away with a shoulder bag slung over her back, greeted him with a smile. Looking at the dark circles under his eyes, she teased, "Oh? Where did this giant panda come from?"
"It escaped from the zoo next door... That joke was too cold. Not funny at all," Lu Zhou said with a yawn.
Chen Yushan was dressed much as usual today, with thick round-framed glasses resting on her nose and long black hair simply tied behind her head. Come to think of it, he had only seen her once wearing light makeup and contact lenses. In an era when even young men had started applying face masks, a girl this "unkempt" was quite an oddity.
Since they happened to be heading the same way, the two walked together.
Chen Yushan asked, "Not going to the library today?"
Lu Zhou thought for a moment. "Maybe in the afternoon. I have Mathematical Modeling Competition training this morning."
"The Mathematical Modeling Competition?" Chen Yushan nodded in realization, then immediately adopted the tone of someone with experience. "That competition carries quite a lot of weight and is very helpful for your future employment. You'd better work hard."
"You participated before?"
"Are you kidding? I got second prize nationally! I carried the whole team with my skills!" Chen Yushan raised her eyebrows proudly and patted her chest. "If there's anything you don't understand, feel free to ask me. Don't be shy!"
"Awesome, awesome, awesome," Lu Zhou replied perfunctorily with a yawn.
It seemed this modeling competition really did not value mathematical ability that much...
This was going to be a little troublesome.
Just as Lu Zhou was thinking that, Chen Yushan, who was walking beside him, suddenly spoke.
"Wait. Stand still."
"Hm?"
Chen Yushan opened the shoulder bag she carried with her and took out a packet of tissues.
Just as Lu Zhou wondered what she was doing, she stepped closer, stared seriously at his face, and suddenly reached out to wipe his cheek.
"Ew, that's disgusting. You really are sloppy, aren't you? You went out without even wiping the eye gunk off properly." Chen Yushan tossed the tissue into a roadside trash can and casually teased him.
What the hell?
Lu Zhou's face instantly turned red, and all his sleepiness vanished.
Not because he was embarrassed.
But because...
I actually walked all this way with a huge glob of eye gunk on my face?
Lu Zhou's expression stiffened as he quietly asked, "It... wasn't that obvious, right?"
Chen Yushan burst into laughter. "All right, all right, it wasn't that obvious. But I suggest you go wash your face again in the restroom before entering the classroom."
Obviously, did she even need to tell him that?
Lu Zhou wished he could rush into the restroom right then, splash water onto his face, and scrub it hard three or five times.
After washing his face, he felt refreshed.
With his face still dripping wet, Lu Zhou arrived at the classroom. When he entered, he found that there was only one person inside.
Lu Zhou found a seat in the first row, sat down, and casually greeted him.
"Morning."
Wang Xiaodong noticed Lu Zhou, but his expression did not change much. He gave a slight nod in greeting, then continued flipping through the reference book in his hands.
Next week, every department would begin its English exams one after another. Only a monster like Lu Zhou, who had memorized an entire Level Four exam prep book and its appended vocabulary list, was completely unruffled at a time like this. After all, the required college English vocabulary and grammar patterns were basically at the Level Four standard. As long as one possessed Level Four vocabulary, even if one could not score especially high, passing with an 80 would not be a problem.
Sitting around doing nothing was boring, and talking to Wang was even more boring. Lu Zhou took out his phone and began going through the materials he had not finished reading yesterday. At the same time, he slowly digested the knowledge he had absorbed into his brain last night in conjunction with those materials.
Fortunately, most Artificial Intelligence programs used C++ for their cores because it offered greater flexibility, while the recently popular Python was at most used to write the outer layer. Google's first-generation Artificial Intelligence learning system, DistBelief, was the best example.
And the only programming language Lu Zhou could be considered to have learned was C++, so understanding this knowledge was not too difficult.
Even if someone asked later how exactly he had written those papers, he could still bluff his way through it.
While the two were each busy with their own affairs, eight o'clock soon arrived. Professor Liu Xiangping, their advisor for the Mathematical Modeling Competition, entered the classroom exactly as the hour bell rang.
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