I met my whole family through Baidu Tieba.

Xiao Bonian had known Shen Kang for half a year and was used to Shen Kang's frequent "nonsense," but these two metaphors still made Xiao Bonian both laugh and cry.

"What's so interesting about a 10,000-fold decrease in global computing power? At that point, you'll have to wait for more than ten minutes just to boot up your computer and enter the P system."

Shen Kang nodded. "That's true, it's not fun."

This is indeed a lose-lose situation, and the "decline by ten thousand times" was just a joke he casually made up for a short drama from later generations.

In reality, even if the Ghost/Circuit Breaker were announced immediately, regardless of whether anyone would believe it, even if someone did, it would be far from achieving the desired effect.

Based on past experience, the announcement of Spectre/Meltdown only caused a brief period of chaos among employees at major companies. The forced rollout of patches only resulted in a general 10% to 30% reduction in computer performance, leading to players cursing and complaining about their sluggish computers.

As time went by, more and more patches were added, continuously improving the performance impact of previous patches, and the issue gradually faded away.

A sniper rifle is still the most reliable.

"As for 200-meter caliber sniper rifles..."

Xiao Bonian looked at Shen Kang.

"What would a company CEO like you need a sniper rifle for?"

"..."

Shen Kang was having a hard time keeping up.

He felt that Professor Xiao was a talented person. A casual remark made him feel as if he were possessed by Director Qi, alone with a gun, climbing Lone Eagle Ridge.

He then leaned back in his chair, stretched out his long legs, and looked quite languid.

"I'm a bit timid, so having a gun for self-defense makes me feel safer."

Of course, the guns don't exist yet; they need to be made.

In his previous life, Shen Kang wanted to solve the problem of his input method causing his hand to lag, and also for a good reason, he specifically researched information about ghost/circuit breakers. Otherwise, he wouldn't have had those memories of news reports from 2018.

One of the documents, concerning the cost of this "sniper rifle," left a deep impression on Shen Kang. The reason it was memorable was because he found himself laughing out loud late at night while looking at it.

The author's writing was quite dry at first, but it got much more interesting in the second half.

"I have no idea"

"I won't"

"I dare not"

"I don't understand anything."

"I just said it casually."

Don't take this seriously.

"I'm just a piece of trash"...

Even now, after careful recollection, Shen Kang can still remember a few of the last paragraphs.

"...All of that was made up. I've never been to any secret lab, never assembled any team, and never even touched a high-performance oscilloscope. The most advanced electronics I own, besides a laptop, are a secondhand electric kettle that displays the temperature..."

"...I am an honest and law-abiding person. I never even dared to run a red light when I was a child. In the third grade of elementary school, during a legal education class, the teacher asked us to write a reflection at home. I wrote two pages. From then on, I knew that there are some things I can't do, some things I can't touch, and some thoughts that I can only let pass through my mind for a moment before I quickly threw them away..."

"...I hereby solemnly declare that the above content is entirely based on publicly available academic papers, news articles, and technical documents. Not a single item comes from any so-called 'internal channels' or so-called real project experience..."

"...If anyone actually does what I wrote, that's your own business and has nothing to do with me. I don't know you, I don't know why you're reading these kinds of posts, and I don't know why you think this kind of thing can be manipulated..."

"...I'm just an ordinary person who can't sleep at night. I typed a bunch of words on the keyboard, and after I finished, I even felt like I was crazy..."

"If anyone misunderstands me after this post is published, or if anyone tries to contact me to discuss anything related to a real attack, I will immediately delete the post and request the administrator to ban my account."

"If anyone notices that my account has suddenly stopped updating after this post is published, don't worry, I haven't been investigated. I just feel that the internet is too dangerous, so I've decided to uninstall the forum, return to my normal life, watch TV every day, grow flowers, raise fish, and be a good citizen who is beneficial and harmless to society."

That's all I wanted to say.

Thank you everyone. Finally, I wish you all good health, success at work, happy families, and a bright future.

That was the person Shen Kang had ever seen with the thickest layer of armor, so he had a deep impression of him.

The main content of that person's article was an experimental fantasy: "If we were to develop offensive weapons related to Ghost/Melting from scratch before 2017, how many resources would be needed?"

The specific content is...

Shen Kang frowned.

Damn it.

It's like a huge, beautiful woman with her southern hemisphere exposed is telling you history.

You listened intently for forty minutes, only to find that you remembered nothing except for a mole below the other person's right breast.

You can't even remember her face anymore, let alone whether she was talking about Emperor Taizong of Tang or Zhao Jiu Mei.

Remember the updated address so you don't get lost: ???.、.、.、.、.、.、.、.、.、.、??.?、????.ɡ、????.??、????.?ɡ、???.??ɡ、????ɡ、????.?、???.??ɡ or:

Shen Kang is starting to think that way.

He only remembered that person's final, frantic stacking of armor, and forgot the main content of the text.

Fortunately, after careful recollection, Shen Kang was able to glean some vague information.

The other party seemed to be saying in the post that the basic personnel composition is relatively simple—internal core architects at Intel/AM/AM, or microarchitecture researchers at national laboratories, this level is sufficient.

Then, it seems there are also kernel experts, side-channel experts, and so on. The level doesn't even need to be academician; as long as they are at the level of candidate academician, that's enough.

In terms of the total number of people, about 10 people are enough for Shen Kangji.

Ok.

Then comes funding.

Let's start with a hundred million to try it out.

Ok.

That's roughly the idea.

The R&D cycle is relatively short, probably two or three years.

Overall, it feels quite simple.

Shen Kang nodded.

Of course, I'm still a little bit away from that goal.

As for the exact distance... well, to put it simply, there's no funding, no personnel, no venue, and no equipment available at the moment.

But we already have the concept!

Shen Kang nodded in satisfaction.

This is a good sign.

The analysis in that post was about "starting from scratch," which means they were groping in the dark, hence the need for those resources.

But I have a clear direction!

Isn't this enough to help the family members drive the price down significantly?

The future is still bright.

The problem is personnel; that might not be so easy to manage.

Of course, if you have a clear direction, you might be able to lower your requirements a bit? Forget about being a candidate for academician or working in a national laboratory; maybe going down a slightly lower level will work?

The problem is, even at a slightly lower level, I don't know anyone. I don't have many connections in the research community...

Suddenly, Shen Kang had an idea, looked up, and looked at Xiao Bonian.

What did I just say?

The research community?

People?

Hey, isn't that a coincidence?

……

"What's wrong?"

Xiao Bonian asked, puzzled.

He noticed that Shen Kang started spacing out again while they were chatting.

After staring blankly for a while, she suddenly looked at him with her eyes glowing green, like a hungry wolf that hadn't eaten for half a month.

"It's nothing."

Shen Kang smiled habitually, then paused before suddenly saying, "By the way, Professor Xiao, there's something I haven't had a chance to tell you yet. He Qiuzhu's computer skills have improved remarkably quickly..."

He described to Xiao Bonian what he had discovered that night about He Qiuzhu's computer skills.

Xiao Bonian was quite surprised.

He was still a little skeptical and kept asking Shen Kang a few more technical questions.

Not too long had passed since the incident, and Shen Kang still remembered some of it, so he recounted it roughly from memory. He made some mistakes, such as using the word "C," which Xiao Bonian corrected by pointing out, "Is it CV?"

Then, I was able to describe the whole thing that happened that night relatively smoothly.

Xiao Bonian, who had been struggling with the decision, was completely convinced after hearing the whole story and couldn't help but exclaim, "She was born for this. Her talent for social engineering is too high."

At the same time, I was very happy.

Seeing Shen Kang's business thriving, and Zhou Man also being in business, he had a strange feeling. It wasn't jealousy, nor did he feel excluded; it was just that sometimes, when Zhou Man and Shen Kang were chatting animatedly about projects, funding, and the market at the dinner table, he could only serve them soup and occasionally say, "That's good."

It's not that he doesn't understand; it's just that his world is separated from theirs by a layer.

They respected what he said, but couldn't respond.

He could listen to what they were saying, but he couldn't join in.

In this room, he, a university professor, mostly resembled a gentle chess spectator.

It wasn't a big deal; he was used to it. Only occasionally, after finishing revising a paper in his study at night and going out to get some water, would he see Zhou Man still reading a project proposal in the living room, and he'd wonder if his knowledge was the least valuable thing in this house.

But things are different now.

He Qiuzhu.

That quiet little girl who always ate with her head down and only occasionally said a word or two actually has this kind of talent!

Xiao Bonian was overjoyed.

This joy was even more genuine than his exceptional promotion to "professor" years ago, because this was "one of his own." In this "family," there was finally someone who could stand beside him on the other side of the computer.

Moreover, having a talent for computers is great; you won't have to worry about making a living in the future. After graduating with a bachelor's degree, you can directly pursue your master's and doctoral studies, and who knows, you might even achieve more than you did before!

Xiao Bonian was very happy.

Shen Kang was speechless at his words.

"..."

Now, through constant exposure, he understands what these people mean by "high talent in social engineering"—it means that He Qiuzhu is too beautiful.

Shen Kang thought to himself, "Professor Xiao, your talent in social engineering is top-notch; you should be working on computers. Why did you end up in artificial intelligence? What a waste, what a waste!"

After silently criticizing it, Shen Kang brought the conversation back on track: "Professor Xiao, I don't think this is a big deal."

Xiao Bonian asked, "Which one isn't a problem?"

"It's He Qiuzhu's talent."

Shen Kang put down his water glass and shifted to an even more relaxed sitting posture. "When she first came, she would ask me how to turn on the computer. When I installed a system for her, she stood next to me, staring at me without blinking, like I was some kind of god..."

Shen Kang began to reminisce about the past, his expression filled with nostalgia, revealing a degree of genuine emotion.

"...But now it's all over. She's talking to me about CVs, scanning, and attack chains. At first, I thought she was just talking casually, but then I realized that I had to think for a long time to understand the terms she was using. She's also talking less and less, not because she's not going to talk about it, but because she's afraid I won't understand, so she's simply not talking to me at all."

After hearing this, Xiao Bonian laughed and said, "You're losing face."

"right."

Shen Kang didn't pretend. "I just can't stand it. If it were you, Professor Xiao, could you stand it? Six months ago, she was asking you 'how to change your desktop wallpaper,' and now she's telling you 'the principle behind this loophole is actually very simple,' and even drawing a diagram for you. Do you understand it? You don't, but you pretend to. The consequence of pretending to understand is that next time she tells you something even more difficult."

Xiao Bonian's smile widened, his eyes behind his glasses crinkling: "So? You want to get some treatment?"

"It's beyond repair."

Shen Kang waved his hand, "You know my background. If she were in the software field, I could never catch up. But I want to try a different approach."

"The old lady said, 'You do your thing, I'll do mine.' But for me, it's the other way around. She talks about software, I talk about hardware; she breaks down a system, I talk about architecture. There's bound to be something she doesn't understand, right? As long as I know a little more than her in that area, I can easily steer the conversation away from her when she tries to show off. Once she can't keep up, she'll shut up."

Xiao Bonian was taken aback for a moment, then shook his head and chuckled: "You want to study microarchitecture just to outdo her? Do you even know what that is?"

"That's why I came to find you."

Shen Kang said, "I don't need to know everything, just a tenth or twentyth percent is enough to impress people. I just want to find a few people who have actually worked in this field to talk to me. Preferably from universities, not the kind who just write textbooks. I need people who can actually talk about real things. Is it difficult? Yes, it is. But if you help me look, maybe you'll find some."

Xiao Bonian was both amused and exasperated, yet he also felt that this was indeed something Shen Kang would do.

At the same time, a thought occurred to me.

He recalled his earlier feeling of being unable to get a word in edgewise...

"Do you really want to learn?" Xiao Bonian asked again.

Shen Kang said, "Really. I don't need to become an expert, just enough to be able to keep up with the conversation."

Xiao Bonian nodded, this time without smiling. After thinking for a moment, he said, "If you want to find something to talk about at the microarchitecture level, there are really very few people in China who can mentor you. There are few people working on the kernel, and those working on microarchitecture are mostly in research institutes and chip manufacturers. In universities, those willing to touch this area and also able to mentor students are extremely rare."

"However, it's not entirely without exception..."

When he said "not entirely none," his speech slowed down, as if he were going through a long-unexplored list of names in his mind.

Shen Kang looked up at the top of Xiao Bonian's head.

He seemed to see a "networking scroll" slowly unfolding there, densely covered with one name after another.

Above that, there were a few more words: "The power of connections, activated!"

"...There is one, who did superscalar design in China in his early years, and then went to work for a company. I don't know if he's still doing it now, or even if he's still in China... There are two others, one works on storage systems, and the other on low-power design, which is related to microarchitecture, but neither of them are in Yangcheng..."

Xiao Bonian thought for a while, then shook his head. "You need to let me think about it some more."

Shen Kang thought to himself, this thing seems to be really obscure. Even Xiao Bonian's connections can't take effect immediately. It's terrifying.

But he wasn't in a hurry: "Okay, no rush."

Shen Kang wasn't in a hurry, after all, he didn't even have any funding in sight. Even if the team was complete, he wouldn't have the money to set up a lab or pay the salaries of those big shots.

The reason for laying an ambush with Xiao Bonian first was out of habit; it's better to be prepared than not. That way, when enough funds are available to get started, there won't be a need to find someone at the last minute.

Having a list of candidates means we can at least be more targeted when the time comes, right?

After saying there was no rush, Shen Kang added, "We don't have any candidates yet, that's okay. But Professor Xiao, could you recommend some books on related topics? How about kernel and microarchitecture? I feel like those two things sound intimidating."

I am not yet a qualified "gun manufacturer".

Even if my primary function as the boss is to provide funding and general direction, I can't be completely ignorant, right? At the very least, I should understand the basic principles of the ghost circuit breaker/circuit breaker by combining them with my existing knowledge. I can't be like this now, knowing only a general concept and nothing else, like Xiahou Dun as a pirate—completely clueless.

"Okay. I'll tidy things up later and see what books you can read."

……

Shen Kang has always had excellent sleep quality; he can fall asleep even when everyone else is singing in a karaoke bar.

However, that night, Shen Kang was restless and had difficulty falling asleep.

I don't know what time it was before I finally gradually lost consciousness.

Then I had a dream.

In my dream, there was a very dark sea.

It was pitch black, with no moon in sight.

He stood alone on the sea, with no boat or driftwood beneath his feet, yet he just stood there, the seawater only reaching the soles of his shoes, chilling and tingling.

Then he saw light at the bottom of the sea.

It wasn't lamplight, nor moonlight; it was a dense array of light spots that slowly seeped from very deep rock strata.

He crouched down to look—those dots of light were all code, line by line, like a school of living fish swimming from one end of the earth to the other, silently passing through undersea fiber optic cables, swimming into Wall Street, swimming into the FT, swimming into server rooms that never turn off their lights.

He stretched out his hand and pointed in a direction.

The points of light actually followed his finger and turned a corner, like a school of fish obeying a command.

With another wave of his hand, rows of huge screens suddenly rose from the sea, displaying newspaper headlines, exchange rate curves, and server status lights from various countries.

He still didn't say a word, but those things were waiting for him.

Wherever he went, the waves calmed down, as if the whole world was watching his every move.

Then he heard a sound above him.

It wasn't thunder, nor was it wind; it was a sound thicker than the wind, like tens of thousands of heavy doors slowly opening at the same time.

He looked up and saw countless keys hanging down from the sky—silver, black, and bronze—spinning silently in the darkness.

He knew what those keys could unlock.

He also knew that if he wanted, he could insert one of them into the keyhole of this era and push the door open.

Behind the door lies not just one person's secret, but the negative of the entire world.

He stood there and suddenly felt himself become very tall.

The sea is at his feet, the sky is above him, and light and the key are waiting for him.

He slowly raised his hand, preparing to catch one of them.

Just then, a loud and familiar voice came from beyond the sky.

"Old Shen, are you up yet! Stop fucking sleeping! Let's go online! Same old spot, waiting for you at the internet cafe entrance, early birds included, be there before eight!"

"..."