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

Chapter 234 After Returning
It was already early March. Winter had passed and early spring had arrived. A damp atmosphere permeated the air, and a faint sense of vitality was hidden among the dense forests and flowers, just waiting for the first rumble of spring thunder.

After dropping off Suffer in front of the girls' dormitory, Li Xiaoen parked the car in the parking lot and walked back. Whether intentionally or unintentionally, he felt that many students' eyes had shifted to him.

Was it because his previous act of pulling Victoria away was too conspicuous?
He couldn't help but think to himself, but ignored it and quickened his pace back to his dormitory.

It was nine o'clock at night. The lights were on in the living room on the first floor of the dormitory. Li Xiaoen pushed the door open and entered. To his surprise, the door was unlocked.

The door opened, and Daniel and his companion's shouts immediately reached his ears.

"Michael, you son of a bitch, can't you walk a little faster?"

Daniel roared, "How many times have you killed me?"

"Shut up, you idiot!"

Michael retorted sarcastically, "You're running so far ahead, and you keep getting hit by so many traps and attacks. Are you blind? If I hadn't been collecting items to revive you from behind, would you even be making a sound?"

"Why didn't you say that I was the one who helped you step into the trap, which is how you got safe?"

The two argued fiercely, neither willing to back down, until Malcolm patted them on the shoulder. Only then did they turn around and look at Sean Lee standing at the door, and were momentarily stunned.

"Hey guys..."

Li Xiaoen smiled and raised his hand, "Judging from your appearance, you've recovered quite well."

"Sean!"

They cried out in surprise, immediately dropping their controllers and getting up to greet her with smiles. "How are you? What happened between you and that pretty girl?"

"For now, it's neither good nor bad."

After a moment's hesitation, Li Xiaoen smiled and replied without saying much. He put his arms around their shoulders and walked towards the living room. "Thank you so much for everything the other morning."

As he spoke, he went into the living room, hugged Malcolm who was standing there smiling and looking over, and then sat back down on the sofa.

"Don't worry, I'll make up for all the damage that morning, including the instruments. How are your injuries?"

"no, I'm fine……"

Upon hearing this, Daniel and Michael exchanged a glance and burst into laughter, waving their hands enthusiastically and gesturing to the game console on the ground with amusement. "Sean, guess whose money we used to buy this new game console?"

"..."

Li Xiaoen narrowed his eyes as he glanced back and forth between his two friends from the West Coast, who seemed to be birds of a feather.

"It's not... your medical expenses, is it?"

"Ding ding ding ding..."

The two men laughed and lifted their thighs, "Sean, you were right!"

“That bodyguard dared to injure us at school. Afterwards, when we went to the hospital, they paid our medical expenses and even compensated us a lot of money.”

This outcome seemed to please them greatly, and excitement shone in their eyes. "As for you, brother, there's no need for that..."

"We were even thinking about whether we should deliberately find some rich people, deliberately provoke and obstruct them, and make them fight back so that they can pay for the medical expenses."

"Stop, stop..."

Li Xiaoen quickly raised his hand, his expression now extremely strange. Could there really be cases of staged accidents in this "free country," especially involving two Princeton students?

“Many people here have guns, I advise you not to.”

Li Xiaoen spoke helplessly, giving the two a warning look, "Besides, what's wrong with you two Princeton students that you would have such thoughts?"

"Or to put it another way, what if we saw someone like you being bullied, and we stepped in to help?"

Daniel and his companion hesitated for a moment upon hearing this, then gave a sheepish smile.

"Oh, yes."

Suddenly remembering something, Daniel quickly added, "Sean, do you know you're trending online again?"

"what?"

Suddenly remembering how he had inexplicably attracted a lot of attention on the way back, Li Xiaoen raised an eyebrow. "Is it because of what happened that morning?"

"of course."

Michael nodded in agreement, a meaningful smile on his face. "The process of us helping you was filmed and posted online, which gave us a little bit of fame, haha..."

Why can't I see it online?

A sense of doubt crept into his mind, but then he remembered the arduous journey he and Victoria had taken, including a long period without cell phone signal. Li Xiaoen shook his head, dismissing the thought, and sat down on the floor, picking up the controller. "Come on, it's my turn to play. I'll show you..."

"Hey……"

Startled for a moment, Daniel reached for the other controller, but Michael had already snatched it away. He panicked, "Sean, I'm not dead yet..."

"I just got back, I'll go first."

Li Xiaoen laughed twice, "One person, one life..."

……

The next day, Friday.

As if he already knew about this, Daniel got up very early and came out of his room just as Daniel opened his door. The two had a quick breakfast and walked together on the way to the teaching area, attracting the attention of many students.

"Sometimes I feel that if you could focus your energy on studying, you wouldn't have to be so flustered during every test."

After being drawn to Daniel's flamboyant expression several times, Lee Shawn finally couldn't help but mutter a complaint.

“This is different, Sean…”

Daniel waved his hand meaningfully, without explaining anything, and then raised his hand to toss his shoulder-length hair.

His expression instantly turned disgusted. Li Xiaoen narrowed his eyes and silently moved to the side to distance himself from the other person.

“Hey, Sean…”

Upon seeing this, Daniel quickly called out.

"I'm going to the lab in this field. Goodbye."

Li Xiaoen waved goodbye, which made him stop following. He turned around and walked away with a brisk pace.

"That son of a bitch Sean, he probably wasn't lying, was he?"

Watching Li Xiaoen's retreating figure, Daniel couldn't help but mutter to himself, as if he had just sensed the young man's disdainful gaze.

He glanced around and saw that many students were still looking at him, so he put the question of whether it was obviously fake out of his mind.

This morning, he only had his major courses to attend. In other words, he was exempt from those courses and could come and go as he pleased. Even so, Li Xiaoen still arrived at Professor Sedgewick's lab before the first class of the morning. As expected, as soon as he stepped into the lab, several heads immediately rose from their workstations, their eyes following him closely until he sat down.

It had only been a few days since he last came to the lab. Li Xiaoen opened his computer to check the experimental progress of each student's sub-project in the cloud lab, and nothing surprised him.

[Advanced Learning Domain Halo: Unlocked]

Li Xiaoen's mind stirred, and in an instant, his thoughts became clear and unobstructed. He then bestowed his blessing upon all the students in the laboratory, and immediately, a chorus of exclamations arose from all directions.

After all, it's a high-end product. The halo effect alone can increase thinking ability by 40%, which is higher than what everyone enjoys at the beginner level.

With a thought to himself, Li Xiaoen quickly scanned the progress and status of everyone's projects on the cloud, and then opened the long-lost hacker enthusiast group.

Yesterday, after returning home, he played games with Daniel and a few other friends for a while. By the time he came to his senses, it was already midnight, and he only had time to go online to check now.

During his trip with Victoria, he occasionally went up to check on things. Even without his support, the group helped each other and searched for information online, but they were still able to complete the original plan on time—albeit according to the framework he had initially simulated.

After posting in the group, Li Xiaoen was immediately bombarded with inquiries and questions.

While picking up his part of the task again, Shawn Lee replied to their messages briefly until the end of the first class, when Professor Sedgewick, who had just arrived at the lab, stopped him.

"How are you feeling?"

Inside the office, Professor Sedgewick brought a cup of coffee and placed it in front of Sean Lee. After drinking it, he sat down at the desk and looked at the young man with a strange expression. "So, will you have time to devote to our project from now on?"

"Yes, please don't worry."

Sean Lee nodded and took a deep breath. "However, Professor Sedgewick, I may not be able to devote all my energy to the lab projects in the future."

Where do you intend to invest your money?

"I want to start my own business."

"puff……"

Professor Sedgewick spat out the coffee he had just drunk and turned to Sean Lee with a shocked look. "Sean, you're not kidding me, are you?"

"No, I'm serious."

Having dodged the sprayed coffee by quickly kicking backward, Li Xiaoen stood up and nodded solemnly to the professor.

“What the f**k…”

Unable to contain himself, Professor Sedgewick slammed his coffee cup onto the table, staring at the young man with a mixture of disbelief and amusement. He took a deep breath. "Sean, we all know how talented you are, but aren't you being a little too hasty?"

"Last semester you asked me to sponsor your part-time job at Apple, and I agreed. Now, just a few months later, you're telling me you want to start your own business?"

As Professor Sedgewick spoke, he suddenly chuckled in exasperation, raised his hand to touch the coffee on his chin and beard, and looked earnestly at his precious student.

"Sean, you're still young, only nineteen, a freshman in college. There's really no need to rush. Building a solid foundation, achieving success in this field, and establishing a reputation will undoubtedly be a better choice for you."

"Thank you for your affirmation, Professor."

Li Xiaoen nodded and said nothing more.

"Alright alright……"

Professor Sedgewick waved his hand dismissively, "Could you tell me your startup idea?"

"Model training, machine learning, and machine learning that has been extrapolated to its ultimate form."

"..."

Upon hearing this, Professor Sedgewick's expression turned serious, and he fell into deep thought.

"Is it based on the research and development of the project I gave you?"

After a long silence, Professor Sedgewick looked up and asked again.

"Yes, Professor."

"Okay, okay, now that you mention it, I'm really looking forward to your results."

Nodding helplessly, Professor Sedgewick finally smiled as he thought about it. "Set up the initial base and procedures for your business at the school. If you need anything, just let me know. It will make things much easier for you."

"I came here today because I also wanted to talk to you about this."

It would be mutually beneficial to link him, and even his startup, with Princeton's connections, and Sean Lee had no objection, nodding with a smile.

Moreover, he now receives more from the school and from his teachers, so he naturally has a desire to reciprocate.

"Let's decide on this. I'll have the teacher in the school's career services office send you an email. You just need to fill in the information and reply. I'll handle the rest of the process for you."

Having made his decision, Professor Sedgewick stopped hesitating. Before Li Xiaoen could even thank him, he gestured with his chin and asked, "You said you'd also be keeping an eye on the lab's overall projects. Are you sure you can manage...?"

After a brief chat about the lab's projects and the progress of his previous intelligent driving model training hardware implementation, Professor Sedgewick impatiently stopped him, and Li Xiaoen was unable to help him tidy up the table and was kicked out of the office.

Well, even though he agreed to help him, the professor still harbored some resentment.

Li Xiaoen shrugged helplessly, but still found it somewhat amusing.

Back in the lab, I talked with Haskel, who had personally come to visit, about the lab's projects and the tasks assigned in the hacker group. Then it was lunchtime, and school was over.

Ignoring the stares from the crowds along the way, Li Xiaoen politely declined several girls who excitedly approached him asking for his contact information. As usual, he had lunch in the cafeteria, went back to his dormitory for a nap, and then followed the school signs to a building near a corner of the campus—a laboratory building focused on hardware.

The hardware lab building was similar to their software lab, with a Gothic exterior and a clean, elegant interior painted white. Li Xiaoen went upstairs, walked through the corridor and looked into the labs, and saw a significant difference between them and their software lab.

In their software lab, the cubicles were divided into sections, with the only office supplies being a single computer. As for hardware, their tables were large and cluttered, covered with various circuit boards and testing equipment. Near the corner, there was even a large workbench, and a faint smell of burning could still be detected.

After passing several laboratories, Li Xiaoen arrived at the laboratory that Professor Sedgewick had mentioned, near the middle staircase, with a sign that read EE-EQuad-3-303. He raised his hand and knocked on the door.

"Please come in."

A slightly deep, middle-aged woman's voice came from inside.

Li Xiaoen hesitated for a moment before pushing the door open and entering.

The layout of the laboratory was similar to the other hardware laboratories he had just seen. Li Xiaoen's gaze unconsciously drifted to the girl who was sitting up straight on the table and looking over at him.

The loose, thin white lab coat concealed her figure, but anyone could see her stunning beauty in her barely visible face.

"You are...Sean?"

It was that same somewhat deep female voice. Li Xiaoen turned his head and saw a petite middle-aged woman with neat short hair and a slightly androgynous style.

"Hello, I'm Sean Lee. Professor Sedgewick asked me to come."

Li Xiaoen nodded and answered with a smile.

(End of this chapter)