Rebirth 08: Equipment God

Chapter 397 Returning to the Research Institute

The peaceful campus atmosphere and the youthful energy of the students are quickly helping Zhai Da get back into the swing of things.

Back when I was in school, I never felt there was any peace or tranquility here. Even adults often used terms like "ivory tower" to describe schools. Back then, Zhai Da from my previous life had also cried out:
Bullshit! How could you possibly know how much we've suffered!
Being suppressed by teachers, subjected to shady dealings at school, having to navigate complicated relationships with classmates, and even being manipulated by capital! Do you know how painful this is?!

I'm just waiting to become an adult.
I still want to go back.
So, as someone who has truly "returned," Zhai Da, despite his increasingly brilliant career, is still willing to spend time enjoying campus life.

But I knew in my heart that it was almost over.

Undergraduate studies may not be his final destination, but life during his master's/doctoral studies will be quite different. This semester, he will complete all his undergraduate credits and finish his graduation project.

After school in the afternoon, Zhai Da took Lu Wei home and then drove the [Mechanical Core], which he hadn't touched in a long time, to the research institute.

After parking, Zhai Da took a long box from the trunk and walked into the factory.

As winter approaches, the place is a bit more desolate than usual, but the heating is on, and it's warm as spring as soon as you step inside. Especially when you see the lush canopy of the old elm tree, you get a feeling of stepping from winter into spring.

Since it was already closing time at the craft brewery, people were leaving in twos and threes, and many greeted Zhai Da warmly when they saw him.

With the increasing demand for equipment, the first floor has been fully utilized. Except for the relatively quiet area around "Execution of Old Elm", the whole place is filled with equipment.

Of course, under Xu Xuejun's management, the place is not chaotic, just very busy and operating at full capacity.

But when you get to the second floor, the style is completely different.

The indoor town is lined up one after another, with a bright color scheme dominated by white, and staff members rushing to and fro.

If the first floor has a solid factory style, then the second floor has a fast-paced technological style.

Today, the research institute has more than 80 permanent staff members, as well as more than 40 permanent technical personnel dispatched by various mobile phone manufacturers.

For example, when Zhai Da walked in, he could clearly hear Korean voices. Looking up, he saw a Korean woman feeding birds with snacks on the rooftop of the second-floor attic.

Zhai Da had a sudden thought and secretly used telekinesis to poke Xiao Hei's back from a distance. Xiao Hei was startled and turned around, then immediately pounced down with joy, standing on Zhai Da's shoulder and rubbing its head against Zhai Da's sideburns.

When the show was filmed, Xiao Hei participated in the first stop in Shanghai, but it was really inconvenient to take him with him on the subsequent international trips. The procedures were complicated, and there were also risks involved in pet shipping.

I'd actually met that Korean woman, Zhai Da, before. She was the garlic-peeling translator who dined with Lee Jae-yong.

They were probably sent here to make contact because of their language advantage and because they were close to Lee Jae-yong.

The Korean woman immediately stood up straight and bowed deeply from afar.

Zhai Da continued walking inwards, and many people stopped to greet him along the way.

I observed the water quality at Genno-tan, chatted with some veteran employees who were passing by, and checked on the Samsung expatriate employees who were showing off their fruits in the lounge area.

Zhai Da made a deliberate tour around, informally letting everyone know that he had returned.

Some business owners don't care whether they live or die, or even if they go abroad to manufacture cars.

However, in some companies, the presence of the boss in the office does indeed give people a sense of security.

Of course, after scanning the images, it's time to start one-on-one communication.

First stop: Cheng Mo's office.

The programming genius codenamed "Turing" still maintains his "high-class Sigma man" demeanor, aloof and efficient.

Upon seeing Zhai Da enter, Cheng Mo immediately said, "President, welcome back."

"This trip will last quite a while, but thankfully you're here to keep things in order."

Cheng Mo smiled and said, "If it were a regular company, I might not be able to handle it, but as a Hongtu project team with technology as its core driving force and technical personnel making up 95% of the team, I'm glad I did a good job."

Having anticipated this, Cheng Mo turned the screen towards Zhai Da:

"Although we've been communicating via email, I'd still like to formally report to you that, based on the flurry of new device releases from multiple manufacturers, Hongtu has now activated 711 million devices, primarily in China. The number of apps in the app store has officially surpassed 1000, including 187 high-quality apps and 67 enterprise-level apps."

"The system has undergone three minor version iterations, fixing 17 vulnerabilities, and the developer tools have been expanded by 30%."

Zhai Da listened patiently and did not interrupt Cheng Mo's report, which was an acknowledgment and encouragement of his work results.

However, he was not surprised by the rapid development of the Hongtu project team.

All the necessary assistance has been provided, and all the necessary paths have been planned.

Taking off is the right thing to do.

Even that's still not enough. Let's wait for Samsung; their shipments are truly massive, 200 million units a year, a powerful weapon for penetrating the global market. For something this important, let's just tolerate those Koreans messing with our watermelons. A small act of impatience can ruin a big plan.
Zhai Da stayed with Cheng Mo for a full hour. At seven o'clock, he checked his watch and said to him, "I'll be coming here often during this period. Let's call it a day for today. I'll be sitting in on the silicon carbide project team's meeting later."

Cheng Mo readily agreed: "I'm not entirely an outsider now. Qi Lin came to see me several times while you were away, hoping I could help with the programming of the inverter and electric drive."

"Oh? How so?"

Cheng Mo pushed up his glasses, a gesture that, to him, was basically equivalent to: Get out of the way, I'm about to show off!

I took some time to work on it, and it's not bad.

Just as Zhai Da was about to leave, Cheng Mo suddenly blurted out, "By the way, Chairman, how exactly did you do that magic trick that spanned the Sumida River?"

Zhai Da was taken aback before realizing what the other person meant: "You've already seen it?"

"Although the show hasn't aired yet, there are already quite a few clips. I can figure out the other magic tricks, but I don't understand the water-walking trick. There were boats passing by when you walked, so it couldn't have been a glass road."

Zhai Da smiled and said, "The answer is simple."

“What I’m standing on isn’t a glass road, it’s a ‘ship,’ an invisible ship.”

Zhai Da went out and glanced at the largest conference room in the distance.

Because of the floor-to-ceiling windows and the fact that it's on the second floor indoors, you can clearly see that there are already people inside, waiting for him to go to the meeting.

"Strawberry Candy" Sun Ting and "Fortune Teller" Ge Qiaoqiao are gathered together, seemingly discussing a certain crafting issue.

Qi Lin and Xu Xuejun, the old men from the "airship," were drawing on the blackboard, seemingly debating a design.

Yes, Xu Xuejun was also summoned by Zhai Da.

A very strong lineup is eager to share its progress over the past month with the head coach, ready to continue its conquests and make a name for itself!
However, before going there, he had someone he wanted to meet alone to talk about some things that he couldn't tell others for the time being.

Zhai Da walked into his office, but three minutes later, someone knocked on the door.

"Please come in!"

"President, you wanted to see me?"

When Lu Tao came in, he saw Zhai Da fiddling with something strange.

An old-fashioned trumpet
Zhai Da seemed to have just wiped it clean, and then put it to his lips and blew on it.

"Whoa~!!!"

It's neither a tune nor in tune.

It's like a monkey falling into the sea, or like an elephant in heat.

Lu Tao had a puzzled expression on his face.

Zhai Da remained calm. His poor musical talent had already been proven, but as long as the horn sounded, that was enough.

After Zhai Da finished playing the instrument, he carefully placed it on the cabinet in his office. There was a special display case for his collection, and this item would be kept there from now on. From then on, the research institute had a second collective buff besides the "Execution of Old Yu".

"Sit down, I need to talk to you about something."

Among all the members of "π", Lu Tao was discovered the earliest, but he has appeared in public relatively few times.

It's not just because his social anxiety hasn't been cured, but mainly because when he's shining brightly, no one else is watching him on the construction site.

They are the type who quietly accomplish great things.

In fact, as the designer, supervisor, and construction manager of the "inverted device" and the "research institute," he was the one who laid the foundation for everything. Without his achievements, the research institute would not have progressed so smoothly.

“I had heard before I came back that the research institute now has 120 permanent staff, and sometimes even more. It seems that it is not far from your original design of ‘150 people for comfort and 200 people for the limit’.”

Lu Tao nodded, but there was nothing he could do about it.

The initial design did not adopt the extreme approach of "cubicle" layout, but instead pursued a superior environment. Given the limited total area, it was already an efficient use of the available space.

It can only be said that the research institute's development speed has exceeded everyone's expectations, including Zhai Da's.

Zhai Da said, "This time I plan to plan ahead. After all, many things in construction are measured in 'years,' and we can't wait until this place is really packed with people before we start preparing. It seems like we're not far from being packed with people."

"Instead of renting another place, perhaps we could try planning to build one from scratch."

　Carvin today.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)