From top student in college to scientific research powerhouse

Chapter 32 Twenty million? You're really ruthless!

It was evening, on the road on campus.

The students walked towards the classroom in twos and threes; they were all attending evening elective classes.

Students who chose the "Atomic and Molecular Physics" course couldn't help but talk about the course's teaching assistant.

For nearly a week, Zhang Minghao has been a "prominent figure on the Jiangzhou University campus" because of the "fast-track admission" issue, which has made him the subject of online media reports.

Jiangzhou University issued a statement explaining the situation, but this does not affect his continued status as a "celebrity".

Now, students aren't talking about the news, but rather the content of announcements released by the university.

The most crucial point is that comment—

Zhang Minghao has outstanding academic performance and remarkable scientific research abilities.

"Isn't that a huge exaggeration?"

"Extremely outstanding results—how outstanding does it have to be to earn such a praise?"

“Outstanding research talent… A doctoral student, isn’t he just starting out in research? Saying he has research talent is a bit too early.”

"This teaching assistant is definitely not an ordinary person!"

Students who learned a few bits of information immediately shared it with their colleagues. "I heard from a senior doctoral student that Zhang Minghao is only 23 years old, very young."

"Didn't you say you'd been pursuing your PhD at Donggang University for a little over a year? You're only twenty-three?"

"real or fake?"

"Starting a PhD at 21? I'm 21 too, and I'm only a junior in college..."

In classrooms.

A large group of students crowded around the podium, and a gentle male voice said, "Don't rush, everyone, one at a time."

"This classmate, what is your name?"

"Zhang Shuyuan".

"Hey, family! Look at the camera, come on! Don't smile, you can keep a straight face."

"OK!"

"Next……"

The students at the back finally squeezed to the front and realized that it was the 'legendary teaching assistant' taking photos of the students one by one.

State your name first, then take a photo.

"It looks like a sign-in session, taking a photo to sign in? What does that mean?"

"Do we have to go back and compare each photo one by one to see if it's really him?"

"That's too cruel!"

Many students who were planning to skip class suddenly felt a chill run down their spines.

Zhang Minghao took the photos very quickly, basically without wasting any time.

However, there were too many students.

He took more than seventy photos in total, but then realized it was almost time for class, so he could only wave regretfully and say, "Go back and sit down, class is about to start."

"We'll take the photos after class..."

Make sure to finish filming after class.

It's not just for roll call; by collecting students' photos, they can sign in themselves in the next class.

The effort you put in now is for an easier future.

The other students who hadn't taken photos felt disheartened. "Taking photos after class? They really won't let a single one escape?"

"I was planning to go back and try to reach the King rank after the roll call!"

"This teaching assistant is so heartless, looks like we're in for a tough day..."

Xue Kun stood at the door for a long time.

After the students left, he couldn't help but walk over and ask, "What were you doing just now?"

Zhang Minghao said, "I wrote a small software program specifically for roll call, using facial recognition."

"——??"

Xue Kun thought he had misheard. "You wrote the facial recognition software yourself?"

"A small program, no complex analysis required."

Zhang Minghao explained, "My initial idea was to build a database and compare two hundred data points one by one, but later I realized that it didn't have to be that complicated."

"It can be compared one-to-one. Students can give their names, and their personal data can be retrieved for direct comparison. The algorithm is simpler and the recognition accuracy is higher."

At first, Xue Kun thought it was unreliable, but after listening more carefully, he immediately understood, "One-to-one comparison?"

"Correct."

"It's just a roll call, there's no need to verify identities in detail, so there's no need to be too clear about it."

"Students just come to sign in and have their facial data compared."

"Of course, there are huge loopholes."

"But for students, finding someone similar to themselves to attend class in their place is too costly, isn't it?"

Xue Kun immediately understood.

By simply extracting facial information and having students provide their names and compare them to their own data, the computational workload becomes very small.

The loopholes are significant, but it's just a matter of naming names.

At the same time, it also has advantages.

Facial recognition systems built with complex algorithms can be fooled by certain combinations of colors and shapes.

The algorithm is simple, and because it involves one-to-one comparison, it can extract special facial features.

For example, moles, spots, head shape, or even the shape of glasses, etc.

While it's true that looking alike can get you away with something, it's just a matter of taking attendance. For a student to find someone who looks like them to attend class in their place is simply too costly.

"That's an interesting idea!"

Xue Kun smiled and gave a brief comment before formally beginning his presentation to the audience.

He didn't say anything more, but he took it to heart. He set aside half an hour after class specifically for Zhang Minghao to take photos of the students.

Zhang Minghao took photos of each person one by one.

He smiled throughout and spoke in a gentle tone, but the students' feelings were completely different.

That was practically the devil's smile!
"It was just a roll call, but he took photos of everyone. It's impossible for someone to take the roll call for them..."

"too frightening!"

……

The small application for taking attendance in class was completed without much effort.

The next step is to make some corrections and improvements; the actual testing will have to wait until next week's class.

Two days later, the startup team arrived.

They sent a professional team; Shi Yaokun was the technical team leader and one of the negotiation leaders, but the final decision-maker was Manager Gao Yuan.

The negotiations took place in the conference room on the second floor of the Applied Electromagnetism Laboratory.

On the school's side, there were Wang Guiyuan, the administrative director, and Tan Yanming, the dean of the School of Physics.

Zhu Bingkun, Xue Kun, and others were present.

Zhao Jianyang, the dean of the School of Mathematics, also came to check on the situation after hearing the news.

In reality, only Zhang Minghao can make decisions on the school's side; others can only watch or say a few words in support of Zhang Minghao.

A group of people sat down.

Shi Yaokun looked at the other side with complicated feelings. The reason they arrived so late was also related to online public opinion.

When Zhang Minghao was embroiled in controversy, some people thought he would be expelled from Jiangzhou University.

Inviting him to join the startup at that time would be like sending charcoal in snowy weather.

Pity.

Ugh!
"The people at Jiangzhou University aren't stupid either..."

Shi Yaokun muttered a complaint to himself, then adjusted his mindset and began to talk about the project and cooperation methods.

This is a real discussion about cooperation. Once we reach an agreement, we will sign a contract directly. The details of the discussion will be very clear.

He mentioned the amount of data that needed to be calculated.

"103 experiments, 2171 data sets. We hope to complete the analysis and calculation of all data sets within six months."

Everyone looked at Zhang Minghao.

Zhang Minghao turned to Zhao Jianyang and asked, "Dean Zhao, how many professors and doctoral students in the School of Mathematical Sciences are willing to participate in this project?"

Zhao Jianyang never expected that he would be involved.

He paused for a moment, then rubbed his hands together sheepishly. "It depends on the price."

"The more money there is, the more people will be willing to participate in the project."

"What about it?"

"I've asked around, and even if they're just helping out, they can find twenty or thirty doctoral and master's supervisors, but the help can't be for too long..."

Zhao Jianyang didn't give a specific number of people, but Zhang Minghao could already make a rough estimate.

"Six months is a bit tight, but no problem."

After he finished speaking, he asked directly, "But, Director Shi, you also know how difficult it is. More than two thousand sets of data is no joke. How much are you planning to invest?"

Shi Yaokun was about to speak.

Gao Yuan held up his hand and said a number, "Five million!"

The other people listened with shining eyes.

They all knew it was a project worth over a million, but they didn't know the specifics. The other party immediately asked for five million.

What a big deal!

Five million, six months, one hundred people participate, and each person can get fifty thousand.

Zhang Minghao's reaction was different.

He scoffed and said to Gao Yuan, "Manager Gao, you don't understand math, do you?"

Gao Yuan's face immediately darkened.

Zhang Minghao continued, "You can ask Director Shi how long it takes you to get just one set of data?"

"Can a team of five finish this in one day?"

"To do this research, the annual salary should be at least 500,000, right?"

"Leaving aside the time cost, the salary cost alone is over ten thousand."

Gao Yuan and Shi Yaokun exchanged a glance. They were well aware of the difficulty of the research; their group of more than a dozen people had only completed one set of data in a day.

Five million was just a test.

The other party was just a doctoral student, a young man, but obviously not someone who could be easily fooled.

Gao Yuan remained silent.

Shi Yaokun asked, "Then how much funding do you think is appropriate?"

Zhang Minghao held up two fingers.

Compared to the previous five million, what his actions signify is crystal clear.

The others were immediately stunned.

Zhu Bingkun gasped in surprise and gave Xue Kun a big thumbs up, "Your student really dares to speak up!"

On the other side, Zhao Jianyang spat out a mouthful of tea.

Young man, you're really ruthless. Do you even know how much 20 million is?
The Outstanding Young Scientists Fund, which provides funding for five years, only costs a few million yuan, and it is already considered one of the most prestigious projects.

Your school-enterprise cooperation project, completed in just six months...

Twenty million?
　The National Day holiday is coming soon! Wishing everyone a happy holiday and a wonderful long break. By the way, please give me your guaranteed monthly votes...

　　
　
(End of this chapter)