America: I came here to study, not to show mercy.

Chapter 154 Tuesday's Discussion
"Martial arts?"

Upon hearing this, Li Xiaoen looked up and fell into deep thought.

He has never taken martial arts skills very seriously. Putting aside the fact that he is always traveling back and forth between New Jersey and New York, there is a very low probability that he will be in danger. Even if there is a conflict involving personal safety, a stun gun or a pistol would undoubtedly be a better choice depending on the situation.

As for those that don't involve security conflicts, the only ones so far have been the two duels with Sophie, which now seem irrelevant.

"I'm quite interested. Does Mr. Henry have any plans?"

Having more skills is never a bad thing, so let the laziness in my heart go to hell. Li Xiaoen nodded in agreement, "If it's not too much trouble for you, I'm honored to have that learning opportunity."

"No trouble."

Henry smiled and waved his hand, "Serafina's fighting skills are very good. When you have time, you can ask her to take you to meet her coach, or you can learn and train with her."

At first, nothing seemed amiss, but upon hearing this, both Victoria and the other girl widened their eyes and looked back and forth between Henry and Serafina.

Before there was any further reaction, Li Xiaoen's words of agreement reached their ears again.

I'll go see her when I have time.

"I can help you, but you'll have to pay tuition!"

While everyone was lost in their own thoughts, Serafina suddenly chimed in, a triumphant smile on her face.

"..."

The private room fell silent. Henry's face darkened, and when he saw the surprised and helpless smiles on Li Xiaoen and the others' faces, he shook his head with amusement.

"You can decide on the specifics; I won't get involved any further."

With the matter temporarily settled, the group chatted idly for a while before finally finishing dinner and driving back to school.

"Sean, now you owe me $999!"

On the way, Serafina, sitting in the back seat, angrily patted Sean Lee in the driver's seat.

"Is the training fee they give you $1000?"

Sean Lee stared straight ahead, then glanced at Victoria in the passenger seat. "Victoria, give Serafina $1000 for me. I'll pay you back later."

"Ha ha……"

With a smile on her lips, Victoria lowered her head and began rummaging through her bag, but Serafina quickly reached out to stop her.

“Victoria, you can’t help him, but you can’t help me.”

Victoria shook her head with a smile, letting Serafina's hand rest on her bag. "There's nothing I can do. Even if I don't help, Sean can still give you $1000 when we get back."

"Yes, Serafina."

Li Xiaoen glanced at Serafina and said leisurely, "I can go back and give it to you. Consider the extra dollar a gift."

"..."

"This……"

Serafina frowned and tilted her head, deep in thought. Whether the young man asked her for money or she asked him for money, she seemed to get angry. She couldn't help but glare at him fiercely before slumping back into her seat.

Victoria shifted her gaze from Serafina and noticed the faint smile on the young man's lips. She couldn't help but roll her eyes and turned to look out the window.

The noisy atmosphere in the carriage quickly cooled down. Li Xiaoen glanced at the girls, and after thinking it over, he obediently shut his mouth.

……

The following day, at 1:45 p.m., after finishing Professor Sedgewick's data structures and algorithms class, Sean Lee and Lucas and a few others followed the professor to the laboratory.

After much anticipation, the bi-weekly discussion meeting finally arrived. As usual, everyone had to review their current research and development results, and almost every student's face unconsciously turned serious.

"Sean, how's your project coming along?"

Following behind Professor Sedgewick, Lucas asked in a low voice.

"It's alright, I shouldn't disappoint the professor."

After a moment's thought, Li Xiaoen nodded and replied, "What about yours? Have you solved that problem you were struggling with before?"

"I figured it out."

Lucas nodded quickly, "Sean, you don't know, yesterday afternoon I suddenly felt my mind was working very fast, and the bug that was troubling me suddenly became clear. It might be what some people call the state of focused concentration that breaks through limits. I was in a really good state at that time."

"Unfortunately, I was unable to replicate that situation later."

"Instead of trying to take shortcuts or rely on luck, it's better to study hard, read and write more, and broaden your knowledge."

Shawn Lee was well aware of the situation Lucas was referring to, and offered a word of advice before entering the lab, where he bumped into Haskell on the podium.

"Professor Sedgewick."

Haskel nodded in greeting.

"Sit back down, let's start the meeting."

Professor Sedgewick nodded and gestured for the students to return to their seats.

He had noticed the changes in Haskel since last week; he was finally paying more attention to the project, coming to the lab every day, leaving early and returning late, which was undoubtedly a big improvement from before.

As for the reason, it was naturally because of the freshman Chinese boy he had recently invited to join him. This made Haskell more enthusiastic, but he didn't really take the research project to heart and instead went to work part-time at Apple.

Professor Sedgewick was filled with emotion, but he didn't say much. Everything depended on the results of today's inspection.

He had seen the prototype model that Li Xiaoen had given him before. Although it was quite impressive, considering that he was only a freshman and not very interested in research, he couldn't help but lower his expectations. He thought he would take this opportunity to have Li Xiaoen go back and work with Haskel on the research today.

The discussion was not too rigid. Professor Sedgewick first gave a general overview of the progress of the previous overall project and introduced other relevant academic circles. Then, one student after another came up to the stage to present their current results.

It's roughly the same as a regular graduate student meeting in China.

Li Xiaoen leaned back in his chair, watching his classmates speak slowly with tense expressions, and thought to himself.

Whenever Professor Sedgewick gets to a key point, he asks questions that startle the students on stage. Or, after he finishes speaking, the audience falls silent as the professor frowns and ponders over the projected data and results. Without exception, the students on stage feel embarrassed and ashamed.

Fortunately, and as expected, apart from a few students whose work was pointed out by the professor as flawed and had fatal oversights, the other students were able to get his approval.

Following the order of the topics, the next one is Haskel.

Upon receiving the signal, Haskel went on stage and projected a specially prepared presentation slide, which even included the execution results for two standard datasets. The slide was meticulously prepared and organized, which surprised everyone in the lab.

It's worth noting that they only hold such a serious discussion and presentation when they first enter the lab—if the results aren't good, they can only make up for it with attitude.

Even so, looking at the obvious comparison of results on the projection, even students from other projects could clearly see how much the results had been improved compared to half a month ago. Even Professor Sedgewick couldn't help but nod repeatedly.

Haskel ignored the strange looks and turned to look at the projection, speaking eloquently.

"Well done."

After Haskel finished, Professor Sedgewick patted him hard on the shoulder.

Nodding in response, Haskel's gaze involuntarily drifted to Sean Lee sitting on one side of the lab, instantly drawing everyone's attention.

Feeling a bit of a headache, Professor Sedgewick patted Haskel on the back to let him go back before calling out to Sean Lee.

"Sean and Haskell are working on the same topic separately, and they only started last week."

As Sean Lee stepped onto the podium, Professor Sedgewick looked down at the class and said, as if to preemptively warn everyone, "We may be a little behind in terms of progress, but this is a good opportunity for everyone to reflect on their current work and see if they have considered the unique innovations Sean has made."

"Professor, I'm catching up."

Knowing the other party's good intentions, Li Xiaoen explained, "It's just that I only packed it in a hurry yesterday, so my course materials may not be very detailed."

"It's alright, go ahead and demonstrate."

Professor Sedgewick nodded nonchalantly. He was already pleasantly surprised by Haskel's achievements and change in attitude, and he wasn't in a hurry for Sean Lee, who was only a freshman.

So, did Professor Sedgewick actually listen to what he said?

Looking at the middle-aged white man with slightly graying hair and beard in front of him, Li Xiaoen pondered for a moment, then, without thinking too much, displayed his results on the projector.

"Good afternoon, everyone."

Based on what his classmates had said before, Li Xiaoen first greeted the class, and then looked back at the slides on the projector, which showed a simplified version of the book.

"This is the preliminary inference model I've built so far. At this stage, it only covers simulated autonomous driving scenarios, including user lighting control and unexpected lane-changing..."

Li Xiaoen flipped through the slides and slowly began to speak. As before, the students below the stage remained silent. However, their gazes were occasionally glanced at Haskel, who had a somber expression on his face. Each of them had their own thoughts.

Although they are not the same topic, it is clear that the design model introduced by Sean Lee covers more information considerations than that of Haskel.

The classroom remained silent until Li Xiaoen finished speaking.

“Professor Sedgewick, why don’t we input Sean’s model into a standard database set and run the task once?”

From the audience, Haskel was the first to speak up, suggesting, "Let's use the medical diagnostic case database. I've run around with it; it'll be quick."

Noticing Professor Sedgewick's gaze as he turned his head, Sean Lee nodded in agreement.

"Of course, I was going to run it anyway."

"That's fine."

Nodding, Sedgewick directly copied Li Xiaon to the computer model and executed the corresponding task...

The computer monitoring logs floated up and covered the screen, a period of time that felt like an eternity to many, until the task summary results appeared on the projector.

The already silent laboratory seemed to slow down, becoming even quieter.

The task was completed in 2 minutes and 11 seconds, with an error rate of less than 7% and an accuracy threshold of more than 94%. Every metric was higher than Haskel's.

"Hahaha...Sean, well done." Professor Sedgewick was the first to react, laughing heartily and patting Sean Lee on the shoulder repeatedly.

It seems that none of the students expected this outcome.

Looking at the students below the stage, their eyes glazed over, Li Xiaoen thought to himself that he didn't have much extra thought. For now, he had passed Professor Sedgewick's test.

After nodding to the professor, Li Xiaoen walked back to his seat.

It was just a brief interlude in the discussion. Later, other students also shared their stories. However, unlike before, no matter what other students mentioned about the major optimizations and progress of the project, their expressions became much calmer.

After the discussion ended, Professor Sedgewick called Li Xiaoen to his office.

"Sean, you did a great job."

Professor Sedgewick first gestured for Sean Lee to sit down before happily returning to his seat, remarking, "I really didn't expect that you could do better than Haskel, even though you didn't put in as much time."

“I’ve said it before, Professor.”

Li Xiaoen shook his head, not taking all the credit for himself. "Haskel's previous model had some reference points, and my model also drew on his ideas to some extent, which is why it was able to be done so quickly."

"Haskel's thinking is good. He himself knows that even if he spends more time than you, he still does a worse job, doesn't he?"

Professor Sedgewick waved his hand dismissively, saying, "The innovation in your thinking is what's more important."

"Sean, in America, excessive modesty will make you look down on."

"is it?"

Li Xiaoen's expression turned strange. He wasn't questioning the professor's words, but rather the conclusion he drew from the professor's modesty—when he was with those young ladies, he was always described as arrogant, smug, and pretentious.

"Young man, since you have the talent and the ability, how can you do justice to this precious youth if you don't act a little wild?"

Professor Sedgewick chuckled, then quickly composed himself. "Sean, have you considered writing a paper about your current human-computer interaction reasoning model? You can define the specific application scenarios yourself. I think your current training model for autonomous driving is quite good."

"What I have achieved so far is just a simple prototype of a system, and its functions are not yet complete."

Li Xiaoen paused for a moment upon hearing this, then frowned slightly and explained.

"It's just a paper. As long as you make some innovative contributions, you can write one."

Professor Sedgewick waved his hand helplessly, "Of course, you can also start by writing down some of the features and optimizations you've implemented so far, and continuously improve the system as you go, writing as you go."

"If the system is eventually perfected and can handle most tasks in the scenario, we can apply for a patent."

"This is algorithmic logic; these abstract concepts can't be patented, right?"

Li Xiaoen quickly asked, as he had some knowledge of these matters.

"What's this?"

Professor Sedgewick chuckled dismissively. "Just implement your system in hardware, won't that solve the problem?"

"I can handle it for you; you just need to focus on your reasoning system."

"..."

"That works, I'll give it a try."

Li Xiaoen nodded. "Professor Sedgewick, I should let you know in advance that because I need to improve the system while writing the paper, I may not be able to guarantee the timeline."

"Hmm...how about before February next year?"

After a moment's hesitation, Professor Sedgewick tentatively asked.

When does the second semester start?

"Ah."

Sedgewick nodded, "There will be an AI discussion between our universities at that time."

"I see."

The professor didn't say anything more, and Li Xiaoen nodded in agreement, "I will complete it, Professor."

"Ha ha……"

Upon hearing this, Professor Sedgewick finally breathed a sigh of relief and nodded repeatedly with a smile. "Sean, I'll introduce you to some old friends. Perhaps they'll be interested in the project collaboration you mentioned earlier regarding the Marceau family's network company."

"Okay, Professor."

Li Xiaoen nodded in agreement, exchanged a few more pleasantries, and then left the office.

The saying goes, "Give me a peach and I'll give you a plum." Most things in the world are about exchanging interests, and even in American society, you can't escape this custom; social niceties are everywhere.

On his way back, Li Xiaoen pondered to himself, casually searching for the next semester's artificial intelligence conference on his phone. He discovered it was a grand event involving top Ivy League universities across the United States and major internet giants, which further solidified his belief in the matter.

If he finishes his paper and produces results before the conference next semester, and then releases it after the conference attracts so much attention, he will be completely tied to Professor Sedgewick, and even Princeton University.

Thinking too much is useless. At least for him right now, professors and universities are huge entities to him, and he still has to rely on their resources for development.

He yawned. The current model was already being trained on the computer in the lab. Seeing that dusk was approaching, Li Xiaoen changed direction and headed towards the gym.

Now, I have to rest for a while before exercising, and then I have to take a shower before I can get into studying and optimizing models. Walking around like this is a waste of time.

Adjusting the order—exercising first, then packing food from the cafeteria to take back to the dorm—would undoubtedly be much more convenient.

By the way, let me ask Apple for a small task first, and find an excuse to come and check in this weekend.

As he walked, Li Xiaoen made a decision in his heart...

Time slipped by in the midst of busy work, and Wednesday arrived in a blur.

After finishing his calculus class, Li Xiaoen hurried to the psychology foundation classroom. He saw a beautiful figure sitting quietly in the corner from afar and walked over to her.

"Sophie, I have good news and bad news. Which do you want to hear first?"

After asking other students who were already seated for directions, Li Xiaoen finally arrived next to Su Feier. He breathed a sigh of relief, turned his head and smiled at the girl next to him, his eyes widening in surprise.

Today, Sophie wore a beige knitted top paired with a navy blue skirt. Her long, slightly wavy blonde hair cascaded down her back, and she appeared to be wearing light makeup, looking even more radiant than usual.

In particular, when he sat down close, he could faintly smell the delicate fragrance of roses emanating from the area.

"Huh? What's wrong?"

Seeing that the girl didn't answer, Li Xiaoen leaned forward and asked again, blinking when he met her light blue eyes.

"Please sit properly and don't block my view, okay?"

She looked away, lowered her gaze, and said softly, pursing her lips.

Li Xiaoen: “???”

What did he do to offend this young lady this time?
Helpless, he sat back down, his initial desire to share the good news gone. Li Xiaoen rested his chin on his hand in bewilderment.

He glanced over and saw Suffer focused on studying, so he decided not to make a fool of himself and took out his notebook to start coding again.

This was a task he received from Apple yesterday. He was already more than capable of being a full-time software engineer, and after a year of focused learning with an advanced learning card, this kind of task was even easier for him now.

The only trouble was that it took time to write the code. He had looked on GitHub before, but found that there weren't many usable modules, and he had to change the related variables one by one and adjust some of the logic. So he simply wrote it himself.

"Don't you think you're being noisy?"

Just as he was getting absorbed in the moment, Suffer finally spoke up, but it was directed at him.

"This is a basic psychology course. Even if you want to do other things, can you please not affect other people?"

Seeing the young man's questioning gaze, Suffer looked up and met his eyes for a moment before turning back to the podium.

"What's wrong with you? This isn't what you wanted to talk about, is it?"

Li Xiaoen was truly baffled and extremely puzzled. "If I have really done something to offend you, you can say so directly. If it is definitely my fault, I will apologize to you."

Sophie simply rolled her eyes at this and didn't reply.

"If you don't say, then it's gone."

Li Xiaoen was also getting impatient. He shrugged and ignored the other person's words, putting his hands back on the keyboard. After receiving a resentful glare from Su Feier, he had no choice but to soften his movements.

This was perhaps the quietest and most well-behaved psychology class he had attended since the start of the semester. Even Avery's occasional glances at him were filled with surprise, until the announcement that get out of class was over rang.

They packed their things and put on their backpacks. The two couldn't help but look at each other. Suffer rolled her eyes and turned to leave in the other direction.

Is this woman really alright?
Li Xiaoen shook his head and sighed, then left the classroom and headed towards his dormitory.

With no classes in the afternoon, he decided to spend half a day in his dorm room finishing his part-time job. After a quick lunch, he was finally able to focus on being a "code monkey" in the undisturbed environment of his dorm room.

It wasn't until a ray of sunset shone through the window that Li Xiaoen suddenly came to his senses, and couldn't help but stand up and stretch.

The chair he was sitting on didn't slide back as usual; it was blocked and wouldn't move an inch onto his lap. Just as he frowned in confusion, he realized what was happening and his hair stood on end. He quickly turned away and dodged.

Behind him was the familiar figure of the girl from that morning. Li Xiaoen was stunned for a moment, then finally breathed a sigh of relief and raised his hand to touch his face.

"Sophie, could you please knock on the door or let me know before you come?"

Startled after sitting for so long at work, Li Xiaoen asked breathlessly, "How long have you been here?"

"You're new here, and you look like a coward."

Sophie rolled her eyes. She was exhausted from a full day of classes and only came here after class just now. She moved her feet and sat back down in the chair the young man had just left, and opened a webpage to carefully browse the news.

Li Xiaoen: “???”

(End of this chapter)