Technology invades the modern world

Chapter 269 I'll go there myself

"No, is this job hiring people or superhumans?"

The next night, it was Li Yiqing's turn to play Genshin Impact in bed, while Xu Xian returned to the dormitory speechless.

He turned on his microphone as soon as he entered the dormitory, seemingly wanting to vent all the anger he had accumulated during the interview that day:

"No, is it even possible for a human to pass this interview?"
Has China's aerospace industry gone completely mad after seeing that Brother Ran has successfully completed the near-lunar orbit test? Are they trying to hire a superhuman for just one million?

Suddenly, a screen full of numbers appears, and you are given only five minutes to complete a standard space orbit calculation. You are not even given a pen or a piece of scratch paper, but are asked to perform a second-order ordinary differential equation in vector form.

If you ask around, you'll find out if this is too difficult. They say it's just the most basic requirement, and they didn't start by making it harder. They originally planned to start with second-order ODEs involving three dependent variables.

Damn it! I'm annoyed by that guy. I want to punch him. He talks about partial differential equations in his head like he does mental arithmetic with an abacus. Mental arithmetic with an abacus is only for addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. If you ask him to do ordinary differential equations with an abacus, he'll just stare at you blankly.

Second-order ODEs are just the starting point, the most basic requirement.

"Why would someone who can calculate second-order ODEs in five minutes need to come to you for a mere one million-dollar annual salary?"

Xu Xian was extremely angry, thinking that if you can't afford to play the fool, then don't try to make a fool of yourself.

Mathematics undergraduates have excellent career prospects. At the graduate level, whether they switch to computer science, finance, or other STEM fields, they are highly sought after by professors. Even large companies love to recruit mathematics undergraduates to train them gradually.

Xu Xian even has classmates who majored in mathematics and then went to Germany to pursue a PhD in philosophy.

"Hahaha, do you know what the second challenge is if you pass the first one?" Li Yiqing asked.

Seohyun was shocked: "Someone passed the first test?"

Li Yiqing nodded and said, "I heard that a junior undergraduate from the class of 19 passed it. The second level is similar to the first level. You have also experienced it. The amount of calculation increases sharply."

The calculation involves a standard two-body problem with three dependent variables, including time, which is also a second-order ODE, but with an additional variable.

ODEs: Ordinary Differential Equations.

Space orbit calculations primarily rely on ODEs.

(The image shows online notes on orbital mechanics and celestial dynamics from the University of Connecticut's Aerospace Engineering program, which includes reference textbooks such as *Fundamentals of Celestial Dynamics*, *Orbital Mechanics for Engineering Students*, *Introduction to Hamiltonian Dynamical Systems and the N-Body Problem*, and *Applied Mathematical Sciences*, Volume 90, etc.)
"I estimate that the next step will be to add vectors, and the next step after that will be to calculate the multibody problem, then include combustion parameters, and even consider disturbance terms. Holy crap, this is not a job opening."

"You're right, they're recruiting humanoid computers!" Li Yiqing couldn't help but complain, "What's gotten into China's aerospace industry?"

This was a rant that had been delayed for a whole day. He had wanted to rant about it yesterday, and if he hadn't missed seeing Seohyun suffer this ordeal, he would have spoken up long ago.

"For someone like Zhao Neng, who is a master of ordinary differential equations at the level of mental arithmetic, one million is enough?"
Isn't this the same principle as offering a million dollars to recruit the fastest runner in all of China? Why wouldn't they do something better than earning money like you?

Before Li Yiqing could finish speaking, Xu Xian interrupted, "She must have been provoked. Have you seen the recent news?"

Li Yiqing nodded and said, "Of course, the biggest news recently is the Apollo moon landing, isn't it?"
The Burning Gods are going to launch a Christmas offensive on Christmas Day.

With the successful completion of this lunar orbit test, everyone believes that there are no obstacles left for China to land on the moon this time, and it is a sure thing, unless the United States can both master the Zentradi technology and dare to shoot down the rocket.

"Burning down Aldrin was a brilliant move. It not only won them over psychologically, but it also effectively eliminated any possibility of the Americans shooting down the rocket, thus undermining their own moon landing achievement. No president would dare take such a risk."

Xu Xian said quietly, "You forgot, for this lunar landing test, all the big names in China's aerospace industry went to Wenchang to observe."

After observing the event in person, they went to Yenching University and held an incredibly abstract job fair.

There must be a point of reference; only someone with a point of reference would conduct such an absurd interview. Think about it, who did they meet in Wenchang that provoked them, leading to this kind of interview?

Li Yiqing said weakly, "You mean that Ran Shen calculated the orbit by hand in five minutes, which stimulated the bigwigs of China's aerospace industry, so they want to recruit a genius who can be compared with Ran Shen?"

Even the God of Burning, his instantaneous calculation ability isn't this outrageous, is it?

Li Yiqing asked uncertainly.

Before, he would have definitely concluded unequivocally that it was impossible for humans to do it.

But Lin Ran, this guy, not only completely solved the twin prime conjecture, but also pushed the manned lunar landing to the brink of completion. These achievements all came about in just two short years.

Therefore, Li Yiqing dared not say the word "impossible" when it came to Lin Ran.

Li Yiqing's words interrupted Xu Xian's recollection. He was still recalling his elliptic partial differential equation, which Ran Ge had solved in a flash via remote video conference. Thinking about that incident, he became even more certain of his judgment:
"That's right, it's 99% Ran Ge. Ran Ge has spurred on the bigwigs of China's aerospace industry."

I'm even sure that Ran Ge's performance on stage was probably even more exaggerated than this.

If the interview difficulty was 100, then Ran Ge performed at least 150. Therefore, the bigwigs of China's aerospace industry think that there is probably only one like Ran Ge in the whole country.

"Then I'll lower the bar, to two-thirds of what Ran Ge offers. It's not too much to ask for two-thirds, is it?"

Xu Xian couldn't have guessed that Lin Ran had scored 1000 points. The Chinese aerospace industry lowered the difficulty to 100 points, and it turned out that even at Yanda University, the best university in China for mathematics, everyone seemed to only be able to achieve 30 points.

The successful lunar orbit test by Apollo Technology and its upcoming lunar landing are a sweet dilemma for Bilibili.

The problem is that we have to spend all 12 billion this year, which is a significant amount of cash flow for any company.

Sweetness comes from the fact that as the possibility of a moon landing increases, the scope of cooperation is becoming increasingly sophisticated.

Just occupying a small space in the moon landing livestream costs at least 100 million yuan; anything less is out of the question.

Of course, this 100 million yuan needs to be shared with Apollo Technology, since this is Apollo Technology's official live stream.

The advertisements for the moon landing documentary were sold even 800 years later, with ads densely packed from the beginning to the end of the film, and even in the middle.

For example, when they interviewed employees of Apollo Technology, and the employees were wearing Nike, Li Ni would contact Nike's marketing department and ask them if they wanted to do an advertisement. If not, the documentary would block out the Nike advertisement.

If you send money, then keep it.

Bilibili has already recouped its costs just from the moon landing project.

In an interview, Chen Rui claimed that this was the most worthwhile business Bilibili had ever made, and also a reward for Bilibili's commitment to building a youth culture community.

Bilibili has been frequently generating buzz on social media, exaggerating how profitable its collaboration with Apollo Technology is, all in order to achieve a good valuation and premium when it goes public in Hong Kong.

That's right, Nasdaq's investigation has stopped, but Apollo Technology is just too popular, so much so that the President and the former President mention the company every few days.

The former president even retweeted a tweet featuring the Apollo TV logo, which has forced Bilibili and its backers to seriously consider that any cooperation with Apollo Technology will inevitably lead to targeting, it's just a matter of sooner or later.

Then why not just go back to Hong Kong stocks?

Bilibili is not the only one experiencing this sweet trouble. As the head of the business department of Apollo Technology, Li Xiaoman is in Shenhai, and technology companies coming to discuss cooperation have already worn down the threshold of the Apollo Technology Building in Kunshan.

So much so that investors jokingly say that during this period, any company whose travel history code doesn't include Kunshan can't be considered a top-tier tech company.

“Mr. Li, Xiaomi has already shown great sincerity with this lunar co-branded product, a one-time licensing fee of 100 million yuan.” Xu Fei is the head of Xiaomi’s marketing department and chief marketing officer.

She felt exhausted because the negotiations were a marathon, and Xiaomi hoped to come out on top.

Li Xiaoman shook his head and said, "If it's just the authorization of the mobile phone, excluding the exclusivity agreement, then 1 million is indeed enough."

But if you sign an exclusivity agreement, and smartphones, tablets, and other electronic products can only be sold to Xiaomi, then 1 million is too little.

I won't say anything else, but I believe Nubia and Black Shark can both afford this amount of money.

Xu Fei frowned and said, "How can they compare to Xiaomi?"

Mr. Li, you also need to consider the empowering effect of the other party in the collaboration on your brand.

Partnering with Xiaomi targets young people both globally and nationwide. Our two companies have a natural foundation for cooperation, as we both follow the path of extreme cost-effectiveness.

Back then, Xiaomi lowered the price of smartphones to 1999 yuan, while your company lowered the threshold for lunar exploration from hundreds of billions of US dollars to one billion RMB. Both of these are manifestations of extreme cost-effectiveness.

Your collaborations with Nubia and Black Shark will not bring you any brand power enhancement beyond money.

Partnering with Xiaomi is a win-win situation. A moon landing has a limited timeframe, but by collaborating with Xiaomi, who continuously releases moon landing-themed products, and leveraging our vast marketing network, the memory of China's first moon landing will be constantly rekindled in everyone's minds.

This is something other manufacturers cannot do.

As the chief brand officer, Xu Fei speaks eloquently and knowledgeably.

Li Xiaoman frowned and said, "Who told you it's a one-time use item?"

We will land on the moon this year, we will have a reusable rocket next year, and we will use a reusable Saturn V rocket to land on the moon the year after. Our corporate image can be more technologically advanced than Huawei's.

Our collaboration is about us empowering Xiaomi, not the other way around.

The smartphone market has countless brands, but when it comes to landing on the moon, SpaceX can't do it, NASA can't do it, and right now only Apollo Technology can.

Li Xiaoman glanced at her watch and said, "I'm sorry, Mr. Xu, I think you might need to think about it some more. I'll go to my next meeting now."

Li Xiaoman got up and left without even glancing at the other person for a moment.

As soon as Li Xiaoman turned around, Xu Fei, who had been maintaining a smile, immediately became unpredictable.

"Baz, how are you feeling right now?"

With only one month left until the final moon landing, astronauts Qian Fei and Zhao Jianguo are both taking their final rest at Tongji Wenchang Hospital.

Two manned space missions in a short period of time are a daunting task for any astronaut, especially the third one that is about to take place.

Only Aldrin was making final preparations.

Although there were no mission requirements for Aldrin in the Apollo program, he did not think so, and he still held himself to the same standards that astronauts had set for him 60 years earlier.

"Professor, thank you so much, so much." Aldrin turned to look at Lin Ran.

Strictly speaking, he has only been in China for about a year.

This year was like a dream for him. The fantastical journey of Pi in the movie was fake, but the fantastical journey to the moon that he was about to experience was real.

At this moment, Aldrin was incredibly grateful to his past self from a year ago for having the courage to gamble with his entire fortune; deep down, he was still the same young man from the 60s who was full of longing and passion for space.

"Professor, with your abilities, you don't need to collaborate with me at all, you don't need to ask me to raise investment, you can easily raise enough funds from the market."

"You gave me this opportunity; my help is insignificant," Aldrin said sincerely.

After getting all the gold coins, you still have to say thank you.

As mentioned earlier, Pony bought a 30% stake from Aldrin for $5000 million.

Aldrin has only $5000 million and a 19% stake in Apollo Technology. He has already had a lawyer in Hong Kong sign a will, leaving all of this to Lin Ran and nothing to his children.

After the will was reported by Hong Kong reporters, Aldrin's children, who live in America, became even more furious, hurling all sorts of curses at him on Twitter.

Lin Ran smiled and said, "Baz, I'll help you, and you help me."

Your opportunity is partly due to my efforts, but also to your dedication to the moon.

Aldrin smiled slightly.
"Yes, it was an incredible opportunity. The moment I first set foot on the moon in 1969 changed my life and the course of history."

Having the opportunity to go back again, especially at my age, I feel both humbled and excited.

Professor, before meeting you, I never imagined I would have this day. But thanks to technological advancements and a renewed interest in space exploration, we have finally arrived at this point, just one step away from landing on the moon.

Aldrin paused, a smile spreading across his face, as he recalled his first moon landing.

He felt a mix of excitement and nervousness, looking forward to the upcoming journey.

“Professor, if I’m not feeling well, then let me die on the moon,” Aldrin emphasized again.

Lin Ran grinned and said, "Okay, Baz, if you really are going to die on the moon, I'll definitely have Qian Fei and Zhao Jianguo find you a suitable spot."

Aldrin laughed: "I'm really looking forward to it."

Professor, personally, being able to set foot on the moon again, to see it with my own eyes, to measure it with my own feet, and to touch it with my own hands, I truly feel that I have no regrets in this life.

After a moment of silence, Aldrin broke it:

"No, I also have a regret: Professor, why didn't you appear sooner?"

"I couldn't see Professor, your grand vision for developing the moon become a reality; that's probably the biggest regret I can think of right now."

Lin Ran's interview with Tim, and his remarks about lunar development, have also gone viral on Twitter.

Not to mention Aldrin, he definitely knew.

On Twitter, Lin Ran's grand vision not only failed to gain recognition, but was instead met with fierce criticism.

From the perspective of foreigners, what gives you, a Chinese company, the right to develop the moon?
The moon belongs to all mankind. It's one thing for you to go there, but you also claim to be adding another exclave of 38 kilometers away to China. Did all mankind agree to that?
Does India, the country with the largest population in the world, agree?
Therefore, the strongest opposition came from Indian netizens.

"Does China want to treat the moon as its 'enclave'? The moon belongs to all of humanity, not to any one country! India will not agree! #MoonForAll #StopChina"

"@isro, let's speed things up! We can't let China dominate the moon; we must prove India can too! #ISRO #LunarRace"

Of course, Indian netizens also know that it would be quite difficult for India to achieve this on its own, hence the comments like:
"China's expansionism is endless; the world must unite to stop it! #GlobalUnity #MoonBelongsToAll"

Indians wanted to stop it, but felt they were outnumbered, so they joined forces with the whole world!
"As an Indian, I am proud of ISRO's achievements, but the lunar base plans and potential claims of the Chinese madman Randolph are worrying. We need to protect the moon from territorial disputes!"

And there's something even funnier:

"Randolph was an Indian student, and his contributions were partly Indian. We should have a stake in Apollo Technologies!"

News of Nilanjan's arrest didn't reach the outside world at all; there were only a few scattered messages in the Stony Brook University Line group, but like ripples, it quickly subsided.

Back at the Wenchang Space Center, Lin Ran said:
"Baz, don't deliberately die on the moon. I'd love to see you back on Earth!"

Aldrin said earnestly, "Don't worry, Professor, I will come back alive."

Two weeks later, at the Wenchang Space Center, Aldrin saw Lin Ran again, but he wasn't quite sure why Lin Ran had come to see him.

Lin Ran's face was grave. "Baz, I have bad news for you."

Aldrin immediately thought of an accident during the moon landing: "What? The Saturn V malfunctioned?"

Lin Ran shook his head: "No, it's not Saturn V, but your original companions, Qian Fei and Zhao Jianguo. Both of them have run into trouble."

For some reason, they were all infected with the virus.

Aldrin stood there, stunned, unable to calm himself down.

An elderly person, especially a 91-year-old, could face unforeseen circumstances if the situation were delayed for another year.

Every year brings its own unexpected events.

Lin Ran continued:

"Of course, I also have good news and a task for you."

Aldrin immediately perked up: "Professor, please speak."

Lin Ran said decisively, "There are still half a month left. I need to familiarize myself with the operation of the Lunar Strike. This time, I won't be the commander in the control center; I'll go there in person!"

　Please vote for me! I'll definitely start writing about the moon landing tomorrow, and I'll finish this major storyline this week!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)