Chapter 277: Just in Case

Across the ocean, in a secluded private manor.

Elena Caroline was alone in her spacious, luxurious bedroom.

She wore a black silk robe, languidly reclining on an armchair by the window. Her long, fair legs were crossed, outlining a heart-stopping curve.

In her hand, she held a wine glass filled with crimson liquid, her gaze fixed on the massive electronic screen on the wall.

On the screen was the shocking candlestick chart for the tech sector of the USA stock market.

Her phone was on speaker, resting on a small table to the side. Arthur Wayne’s voice, tinged with impatience and authority, emanated from it.

“Elena, even though we got a heads-up this time, letting everyone prepare and even make a considerable profit, it’s only temporary!”

Arthur’s tone was more serious than ever before.

“We must face a grim reality—Wall Street, and indeed the entire financial world of the Beautiful Country, is losing its grip on the direction of global technology at an unprecedented rate!”

“This Chen Lin… he’s like an uncontrollable black swan! From now on, every flap of his wings will set off a storm in the global market!”

Elena gently swirled the wine glass, watching the crimson liquid leave elegant trails on the crystal. A playful smile touched her lips, but she remained silent.

“We have to move faster!” Arthur’s voice grew increasingly urgent. “Make contact with him as soon as possible! Use any means necessary!”

“We must get a man like him firmly under our control!”

Arthur’s voice dropped to a near-growl as he finished:

“Otherwise, the situation will spiral further and further out of our control!”

Only then did Elena slowly raise her glass, taking a delicate sip of the crimson liquid. In a voice that was both lazy and utterly bewitching, she said softly,

“I understand, Arthur.”

“Natasha is already on her way.”

After hanging up, Elena drained the rest of her wine in one gulp. Her emerald eyes gleamed with the excited, dangerous light of a predator.

「December 8th, Monday, 4:00 PM.」

In the open-plan office of Yanhai Company, Chen Lin gave a long stretch, his joints letting out a series of sharp CRACKS.

He had just finished over two hours of mathematical derivations for the day, committing another piece of the inspiration and framework for his brand-new neural network architecture to paper.

Getting up, Chen Lin habitually glanced toward Sun Yu’s desk. He was about to ask him to play a couple rounds of ARAM to unwind, but he saw Sun Yu was wearing headphones, completely absorbed by his screen. His fingers flew across the keyboard, lost in his work.

He was helping Pan Si with the final phase of data cleaning.

Chen Lin smiled, deciding not to disturb him.

‘To be honest, the performance of Sun Yu and the intern, Shen Yan, had genuinely surprised him.’

‘Shen Yan was a given. A top student and campus belle, she was already a top talent in the mathematics department and had even taken a programming elective before. Although her class schedule only allowed her to come to the company three days a week, the efficiency and quality of her work were impeccable.’

‘What was more surprising was Sun Yu. The guy had told him before that he had only learned Matlab in college and had basically zero foundation in Python, learning it on the fly as he worked.’

‘Whenever he got stuck, he would either ask the AI, and if the AI couldn’t solve it, he’d shamelessly go ask Pan Si.’

‘It had only been a short two weeks, but according to Pan Si’s feedback, Sun Yu could now write some decent, simple data-processing scripts. His learning speed was astonishing.’

‘It seemed that interest and pressure were indeed the best teachers.’

‘Pan Si’s data preparation was already in the final stages. The first round of pre-training could officially begin around next week.’

Thinking of this, Chen Lin decided not to disturb everyone’s work after all. He sat back down in his ergonomic chair, put on his headphones, and skillfully opened a certain long-form video app.

On the screen, a burly man with bulging muscles appeared, demonstrating a standard fighting move in slow motion.

‘Ever since that last video conference with “Amy Howard,” who was impersonating Dr. Stanford, he hadn’t encountered any similar harassment. But a certain tension in the back of Chen Lin’s mind had never truly eased.’

‘After that, he had even made a special call to his parents back home, repeatedly warning them that if any strangers came asking for information about him, they should ignore them completely and contact him directly if anything came up.’

‘To be honest, the public security in Huaxia, especially in a major city like Jinmen, was very reassuring.’

‘Chen Lin was watching these combat-training videos mostly as a precaution, just in case.’

‘It wasn’t that he wanted to learn any flashy, complicated moves.’

‘Although he had the boost from the [Little Champion] title, his current physical condition—his strength, speed, and reflexes—was nearly three times that of an average adult male. In theory, he could perform any high-difficulty maneuver.’

‘But Chen Lin knew very well that using complex techniques in a real fight required long-term practice to build muscle memory. He didn’t have that kind of time to spare right now.’

‘Therefore, his learning focus was extremely pragmatic—’

‘Which moves inflict the most damage?’

‘For example, elbow strikes, knee strikes.’

‘Where on the human body should a punch land to incapacitate an opponent the fastest and most directly?’

‘For example, the jaw, the temple, the liver.’

‘Chen Lin’s current strength, speed, and neural reactions were three times that of an average adult male. As long as he mastered this simple, brutal, and vital-point knowledge, he was confident he could protect himself, and even end a fight quickly, even if he found himself facing multiple opponents.’

He had only been watching the training video for five minutes when a call notification suddenly popped up on his phone screen.

The caller was Liang Tianshi.

Chen Lin’s eyebrows shot up in surprise.

He had just spoken with Academician Liang last Friday about the selection for the “Ten Thousand Talents Program” for distinguished individuals.

‘Thinking about it, Chen Lin himself felt it was a bit surreal.’

‘The speed of the selection process was absurdly fast.’

‘Normally, as one of the major talent projects established under Huaxia’s talent development plan, the selection for the “Ten Thousand Talents Program” was known for being strict and lengthy.’

‘Even with recommendation letters from heavyweights like Liang Tianshi, Qiu Chengtong, and Xiang Wentian, going through all the procedures should have dragged on until the first half of next year.’

‘At the very least, after the defense presentation, there was supposed to be a public review period for the whole society.’

‘And the result?’

‘The university sent out the notice for the defense. Chen Lin prepared his materials step-by-step, and following Academician Liang’s suggestion, he submitted “AI Large Model Neural Network Algorithms” as his research project for the application.’

‘And then… there was no “and then.”‘

‘The selection approval document for the “Ten Thousand Talents Program,” a symbol of one of the highest honors for talent in the country, just arrived—inexplicably, without any warning, directly.’

‘It had even skipped the defense and public review stages entirely!’