Wu Chen

Biodata

Power Progression

Wu Chen's system tracks personal attributes separately from scientific and engineering skills; progress within a level is expressed as a percentage 1.

Background / History

Education and Original Timeline

Wu Chen repeatedly skipped grades during elementary and middle school, earning a master's degree and becoming a university teaching assistant at twenty-four. He later explained that his doctoral advisor had withheld his graduation while attempting to give his research to another student. He left without the doctorate and also struck the advisor after the advisor insulted China 1 15.

In his original life, Wu Chen became an AI lecturer but remained unable to advance to associate professor. Wang Hongfa stole his academic work, while Wang and Liu Ping obstructed his career until he was forced out under the university's “up or out” policy. Wu Chen repeatedly reported Wang's misconduct but lacked sufficient evidence 1 3.

A student eventually entrusted him with a USB drive containing evidence of Wang's abuse. When Wang drove a Land Rover toward her, Wu Chen pushed her out of its path and was killed. He awakened on July 17, 2008, retaining knowledge from his life through 2025 1.

Rebirth and the SNN Trap

When Wang Hongfa introduced him to Lavrov, Wu Chen concealed his attention-mechanism research and instead presented spiking neural networks as his proposed direction. He subsequently supplied Vengeance No. 1, a camera that performed well under tightly controlled conditions but failed badly under interference, together with a paper containing deliberate pitfalls 1 3.

Wu Chen initially intended to remain close to Wang while quietly gathering evidence. Jiang Nan's willingness to challenge Lavrov encouraged him to become more outspoken: during the pharmaceutical inspection discussions, he openly admitted that their SNN approach could not solve the factory's practical problems 7 8.

Establishing Hazelnut Technology

Wu Chen began monetizing image restoration through Taobao, earning both money and system skill points. His first completed restoration was a portrait that Jiang Nan showed her grandmother shortly before her death; he later recognized it at the memorial service 5.

For Jiangdong Pharmaceutical Factory, he proposed a conventional machine-vision alternative using HOG features and an SVM classifier. After preparing and testing a sample, he declined an industry-funding arrangement and proposed establishing a company. Jiang Nan offered her available 1.7 million yuan, and the two registered Hangcheng Hazelnut Technology Co., Ltd. in Binjiang 9 12 15 18.

The company's early production plans encountered equipment costs and practical difficulties that the system's documentation alone could not eliminate. Wu Chen consulted the workers, researched affordable fixes, and later led an overnight production-line modification. Once the work was complete, he ordered trial production and prioritized Jiangdong Pharmaceutical Factory's order 28 29 42.

Campus Accusations and Counterattack

Yang Yuanjing spread rumors that Wu Chen had an improper relationship with Min Xinrou, then accused him of coercing her sexually through threats to her grades and postgraduate prospects. Wu Chen refused to rely on argument alone, producing camera footage and Jiang Nan's corroborating QQ messages to contradict her account 31 33 35 36.

When Wang Hongfa attempted to minimize the consequences, Wu Chen demanded Yang's expulsion, a public apology, and compensation for Min Xinrou's damaged computer. He also demanded an apology from counselor Zhang Wei for tolerating the bullying. Yang apologized, compensation was promised within three days, and the expulsion request was left for university-level handling 37.

Wu Chen and Jiang Nan subsequently helped Min Xinrou leave her hostile dormitory and settle into a rented room 42.

Academic Recognition and Continuing Dispute

His publications brought recruitment interest from several universities. Chen Beitao conveyed an offer of an associate professorship at Peking University, but Wu Chen chose to remain at Xiaoheshan University of Technology after Xu Jianping offered funding, a laboratory, an apartment, and a route to tenure 39 40.

Xu initially proposed making him a level-8 lecturer, with a promised fast-track promotion to tenured associate professor the following year. By the later interview, Wang Hongfa explicitly acknowledged that Wu Chen was already a lecturer; the supplied events do not establish a completed associate-professor or full-professor promotion 39 40 50.

The accusations nevertheless spread online, accompanied by questions about his computing-architecture research. During an interview with 1818 Golden Eye reporter Shen Jia, Wu Chen first corrected the reported publication count: he had published eight, not seven, top-journal papers. He also rejected the suggestion that matching the ideas of overseas experts was inherently implausible 48 49 50.

Appearance

• Tall and proportionate: Stands 1.84 m tall, with a well-proportioned build and unusually composed bearing for his apparent age 13.
• Youthful face: Looks sufficiently close to university-student age that passersby do not initially identify him as Min Xinrou's teacher 23.
• Lean, defined physique: His musculature is visible beneath a sweat-soaked running shirt 17.
• Improved health after leveling: His first Stamina Potion removes dark circles, smile lines, and his exhausted appearance, while brightening his eyes 10.

Personality

Wu Chen treats teaching as a responsibility rather than an obstacle to research. Even when Wang Hongfa assigns him forty class periods per week, he rebuilds outdated teaching materials instead of reading mechanically from slides. He remains patient with beginners and stays after class to resolve students' programming problems 11 21 31.

He is protective of vulnerable students, but conscious of professional boundaries. His own experience of losing his father helps him sympathize with Min Xinrou, and he offers her free voice-recreation software. When he worries that his kindness might encourage romantic feelings, he deliberately considers how to prevent a teacher–student relationship 23 31 38.

His calm public manner coexists with a calculating approach to enemies. He feigns gratitude toward Wang Hongfa while preparing research traps, gathers evidence before counterattacking, and refuses superficial reconciliation. In business, he listens to technicians' concerns but distinguishes temporary reliance on their skills from accepting permanent resistance to his authority 3 28 35 42.

Wu Chen is patriotic and committed to manufacturing. He regards industry as the foundation of the economy and describes ambitions to produce graphics cards and establish a computing center rather than limiting himself to internet businesses 8 15 43.

Abilities & Skills

Intelligent Manufacturing System

The system converts research, teaching, and technological applications into personal development and redeemable resources 1.

• Skill-point sources: Publishing papers, completing teaching duties, solving engineering problems, monetizing technology, and verifying theories 1.
• Sample generation: Theories he provides can generate purchasable samples and production blueprints 1 16.
• Recorded rewards: One teaching period or verified knowledge point can yield one skill point; technological monetization yields one point per 1,000 yuan 24.
• Direct upgrades: At level 0, one skill point raises an attribute or skill by one percentage point. At level 1, the stated cost rises to 1,000 points per percentage point 24.
• Random draws: Major achievements and certain level breakthroughs grant opportunities to obtain samples, potions, and technical information 9 29 44.
• Practical limits: Samples depend on the theories and hardware available to support them; production documentation can still require equipment beyond his budget 4 28.

Rebirth Knowledge and Research Planning

Wu Chen retains experience from more than a decade of AI research and teaching, allowing him to reconstruct technologies ahead of their original emergence 1 11.

• Plans a staged path through Word2Vec, Seq2Seq, LSTM/GRU, attention, and transfer learning, with the Transformer architecture as an initial major goal 9.
• Must reproduce forgotten details and supply theories not yet available in 2008; memory alone does not provide a finished implementation 9.
• Uses collaborators for unfamiliar theoretical foundations, then studies and integrates their results 17 21.

Artificial Intelligence and Software Development

Engineering and Manufacturing

At engineering level 1, the system integrates his existing theoretical knowledge with practical judgment and muscle memory 30.

• Can judge screw tightness by feel, assess weld quality, and understand the reasoning behind production specifications 30.
• Operates calibration equipment with enough skill to astonish senior technician Zhao Hengrui 42.
• Develops production-line fixes involving positioning, sensor calibration, temperature control, lens alignment, and sealing 29.
• Limit: Level 1 lets him understand and implement the supplied production-line designs, not independently design an equivalent line from scratch 30.

Enhanced Intelligence and Stamina

• Intelligence level 1: Accelerates thought, clarifies theoretical relationships, and lets him complete work far faster than before. His subjective sense of elapsed time can exceed the actual time passed 9 16 47.
• Stamina development: Potions improve his constitution, while regular exercise also produces measurable progress 10 17 44.
• Deep Reading: Possesses a function by this name and intends to test it; its precise effects are not demonstrated in the supplied passages 45 47.

Equipment / Weapons / Items

• Vengeance No. 1 — SNN dynamic-vision camera used to bait Wang Hongfa and Lavrov. Tracks targets well under constant lighting, clean backgrounds, and uniform movement, but has extremely poor adaptability and interference resistance 2 3.
• Qiming No. 1 Youth Edition / Dawn No. 1 — System-generated computing platform. The full Dawn configuration uses a Core 2 Extreme QX9770, four GeForce 9800 GTX+ cards, and 8 GB DDR2 memory; Wu Chen initially redeems a cheaper two-card version before upgrading it 4 5.
• Little Jiang No. 1 — Industrial inspection-camera sample prepared for Jiangdong Pharmaceutical Factory 12 15.
• Little Jiang No. 2 — Follow-up industrial vision product intended for mass production, with applications including automotive inspection, electronic-component positioning, and packaging-character recognition 19 24.
• Production-line calibration equipment — Includes visual positioning, CMOS calibration, temperature-control, lens-alignment, and sealing tools. A camera from this equipment also supplies evidence against Yang Yuanjing's accusation 29 36.
• Complete Pharmaceutical Database — Random-draw reward containing disease-related protein sequences, marketed-drug efficacy data, and unpublished experimental data through 2008. Exists both as an organized mental database and on a 512 TB USB drive secured by his passcode and fingerprint; later updates require skill points 30.
• Small Modular Molten Salt Reactor Theory — Technical data package obtained through a random draw. He cannot yet understand it fully; the system indicates that both physics and engineering must reach at least level 4 45.

Relationships

• Jiang Nan — University colleague, business co-founder, and developing romantic interest. Invests in Hazelnut Technology, assists with factory work, and supports him during the accusations. He publicly says he is pursuing her, but later still describes them as business partners rather than an established couple 15 18 33 42.
• Chen Beitao — Peking University researcher and major collaborator, initially encountered online as “Beibei.” Her theoretical work accelerates his research, while he redirects her away from SNN and supplies new research directions. She also recommends him for an associate professorship 20 21 39.
• Min Xinrou — Student whom he supports after her father's death and protects from bullying and false rumors. He offers voice-recreation software and helps arrange safer accommodation while remaining attentive to teacher–student boundaries 23 37 38 42.
• Wang Hongfa — Dean, principal adversary, and his killer in the original timeline. Wu Chen counters his research theft, career obstruction, and protection of Yang Yuanjing through traps and evidence gathering 1 3 11 36 37.
• Lavrov — Wang Hongfa's research partner and another target of the SNN trap. Wu Chen publicly exposes the proposed inspection system's unresolved practical weaknesses 1 3 7.
• Xu Jianping — University president and institutional patron. Offers resources and a route to tenure to retain Wu Chen, while blocking other universities' recruitment attempts 39 40.
• Jiang Hongyue and Lai Shuxian — Jiang Nan's parents. Jiang Hongyue is a prospective customer and commercial supporter; both parents take an interest in bringing Wu Chen and Jiang Nan together 15 43 44.
• Chen Yongkang — Factory manager who helps identify production difficulties and works with Wu Chen on restarting the line 28 42.
• Zhao Hengrui — Veteran technician who initially challenges Wu Chen's authority. Wu Chen plans to dismiss him after the immediate crisis, though Zhao later witnesses his sharply improved practical skill 28 42.
• Wu Shufen — His Napoleon dwarf cat, frequently teased for being unable to learn a backflip 9 12.

Notable Quotes

“Since he was responsible for the course, he would see that responsibility through to the end!” 11

“I'm here to make money with you, not to be your enemy.” 28

“Yang Yuanjing's future can't be ruined, but Min Xinrou's can?” 37

“I published eight papers in top journals, not seven.” 50