A Timely Helping Hand

In the president's office of the Shunfeng Group building in Shenzhen, Wang Wei leaned back in his office chair and scrolled through his phone.

It was lunchtime. After every meal, he took half an hour to relax, checking Weibo's trending searches or browsing the day's headlines. After all, companies like theirs that worked closely with the internet had to stay informed about current events and hot topics.

"Jin University undergraduate publishes nine SCI papers... Are undergraduates really this capable now?" Wang Wei said with a smile, shaking his head.

He opened the trending topic and found an article by the well-known science writer Zhu Fangcai at the top.

The moment he saw that name, Wang Wei frowned slightly. His first impression was not good.

Zhu Fangcai was something of a celebrity. He was famous in Weibo circles for picking fights, despite having little real ability himself, earning the nickname Zhu Bigmouth. Wang Wei had never liked such attention-seeking clowns. Especially since this man loved criticizing Hua Nation's education system and, whenever he discussed the subject, always brought up Wang Wei's high school education as evidence for his arguments.

Wang Wei did not mind being a high school graduate. Otherwise, with his wealth, how difficult would it be to donate some money to any university and get himself an honorary doctorate?

Still, having people constantly call him a "high school graduate" was irritating. No one liked having their shortcomings brought up again and again.

Seeing that name, Wang Wei lost all interest in opening the article. He did not even need to read it. It was surely another slanted piece designed to stir up trouble.

Nine undergraduate papers, and he was going to use them to make sweeping claims about Hua Nation's academic world?

Who the hell did he think he was?

Just then, someone knocked on the office door.

"Come in."

The man who entered was Liang Shenghao, the technical director of the company's drone logistics R&D center. A graduate of the California Institute of Technology, he held dual doctorates in logistics management and computer science. Yet he was only a little over thirty.

Recent advances in drone technology had turned drone logistics into a hot topic. As the leading private logistics company in the country, Shunfeng naturally did not want to fall behind the times. It had partnered with Dajiang Drones to launch a drone logistics project and invested five hundred million to build an entirely new R&D center in Shenzhen.

Of course, due to hardware limitations, it remained extremely difficult to achieve drone delivery in the short term.

Wang Wei understood that perfectly. So although the facility was officially called a drone logistics R&D center, there were not many researchers actually working on drone logistics. Most projects focused on intelligent logistics.

That included big-data-driven warehouse site selection and macro-level sales forecasting for merchants, as well as improving automated sorting technology at logistics hubs.

Walking up to the desk, Liang Shenghao placed a computer science journal on it and said with a smile, "President Wang, I found a talent for you."

"Oh?" Wang Wei put down his phone, glanced at the journal, and smiled. "Modern Communications and Geographic Information Technology? Didn't you say last time that computer science journals had too many filler papers, and that you only subscribed to two yourself?"

"I've always subscribed to computer science journals, especially several core publications on Artificial Intelligence research. I just rarely paid attention to domestic journals." Liang Shenghao adjusted his glasses and continued, "Luckily, I happened to see it while browsing the trending searches. Otherwise, these papers might have been buried in a pile of trash."

"You mean..." Wang Wei's expression turned strange.

"That's right. The undergraduate who published nine papers. I read them, and the ideas and several algorithms mentioned in them are quite interesting. It's just that..."

Oh?

An undergraduate was capable enough to interest a PhD he had recruited from overseas?

Wang Wei sat up, intrigued. "It's just that what?"

"It's just that his research is somewhat... ahead of its time." After choosing his words carefully, Liang Shenghao continued, "Drone logistics is still only a concept for now. No company's drones can meet the hard requirements for drone deliveries. Therefore, the world's mainstream logistics companies are still focusing their drone logistics research on hardware."

Wang Wei nodded and asked, "I know that. And?"

"But what his papers discuss is built on the assumption that drone delivery is feasible. For example, one paper proposes constructing logistics 'hives' throughout cities, connecting them with sorting centers, integrating drones into GIS systems so they can automatically find routes without human operation, using cameras to identify delivery addresses, confirming recipients through facial recognition, confirming receipt through gestures, and automatically uploading alarm data if a drone is intercepted..."

Liang Shenghao stopped there.

Tapping a finger lightly against the desk, Wang Wei fell into thought. After a long while, he said, "So he only proposed a concept?"

If it was merely a concept, there was not much to discuss. Anyone who knew how to make a PowerPoint presentation could spout a few ideas under the broad banner of Artificial Intelligence. At most, it showed that he understood the field somewhat.

If that was the extent of his ability, he would not even pass the screening of the HR staff Wang Wei sent out for campus recruitment, much less Wang Wei himself.

"Not just a concept." Liang Shenghao shook his head. "It also involves several algorithms, mainly related to facial recognition and GIS systems. That's where I see his real ability. In particular, several algorithms he wrote for facial recognition have some flaws in my opinion, but they are still quite pioneering. Our research center could take them directly and continue developing them without any issue."

It was not merely an idea. Lu Zhou had implemented parts of it based on that idea, and that made all the difference.

It was like one person saying, "I want to build a house here," while another fenced off the plot and placed two bricks on it. The value created by the two was fundamentally different.

As for how much of the undergraduate's research had already been realized, Wang Wei did not care. All research required a process. The more valuable the project, the more funding it would require.

Wang Wei said nothing. He picked up the journal and flipped to the dog-eared pages.

<Discussion of the Prospects and Framework of Drone Logistics R&D>

<A Pixel Analysis Algorithm Based on Artificial Intelligence>

<An Optimization Algorithm for Artificial Intelligence in Dynamic Image Recognition>

<An Artificial Intelligence-Based Method for Automatically Measuring Human Body Feature Dimensions>

The papers were admittedly a little shallow, but even so, that could not hide their combined value.

Seeing that the president remained silent, Liang Shenghao continued, "It would be a waste for these algorithms to be published as papers in a journal. I suggest we send him an offer and recruit this kind of talent directly into our company, with us funding him to continue his research."

"No rush." Wang Wei waved his hand.

Liang Shenghao frowned. "Are you concerned about his educational background? With all due respect, judging by the abilities he has shown, even graduate students specializing in Artificial Intelligence applications research could not do better than him. And while drone logistics may not be useful to us in the short term, it is only a matter of time before we enter this field. Isn't it better to start building our talent pool now than fight others for people later?"

As a young discipline, computer science differed from other fields. Educational credentials were still important in recruitment, but that rule did not apply to technical experts who had already produced results.

After all, they were special talents. They generally did not appear in the job market, but on the lists maintained by well-known headhunting firms.

"Haha, you don't need to teach me that. I only care about ability, not background. You know that better than anyone." Wang Wei smiled and tossed the journal onto the desk. "There's no need to send that offer yet. Let's hold off for now. We're the only company in the country working on drone logistics at present, so there's no fear of him being poached by competitors."

Liang Shenghao froze for a moment. He was about to say something, but then he understood the president's deeper meaning, and his eyes lit up.

So that was it...

The president really was on another level!

For a hot-blooded young man, being slandered like this and seeing his own research dismissed as worthless would surely leave him feeling deeply aggrieved.

Let that clown Zhu Fangcai keep jumping around for a while, grind down the temperament of that young man named Lu Zhou, and when he was nearly unable to endure it anymore, Shunfeng Group could make a grand entrance and send him an offer with an annual salary of five hundred thousand, affirming the value of his research...

Wouldn't he devote himself to Shunfeng for the rest of his life?

The highest-paying position was always at the next company. That was why so many businesses built corporate cultures, offered employee benefits, and implemented employee stock ownership plans: all to retain talent. One key was making talent optimistic about the company's prospects; another was making them feel emotionally attached to the company.

In a sense, the latter was even more important than the former.

Leaning back in his office chair, Wang Wei said with a smile, "Leave the journal with me. I'll keep this matter in mind. Go take care of your work."

"Understood." Liang Shenghao nodded, turned, and left the office.