Chapter 51: Chapter 51: Leek
"..." Professor Chen laughed, mostly out of exasperation. However, he wasn’t about to make trouble for Chu Bamboo over this.
He knew about Chu Bamboo—
The principal had personally shown up, two of the nation’s top sprint coaches had gathered, and an academic advisor was bustling about.
Besides, the principal hadn’t issued a gag order! This wasn’t some high-end technology, and Chu Bamboo wasn’t some top-tier scientist. To put it bluntly, even if word got out, did they really need to worry about spies and assassins?
Therefore, all sorts of rumors about it were circulating, more or less, among the school’s teachers and professors...
Chu Bamboo’s current level of fame within the school was actually much higher than he had previously thought!
This was the fundamental reason why Lin Xia and Zhou Bai had been caught whispering almost immediately.
Professor Chen had also heard this gossip, so he knew Chu Bamboo had the potential to be a track and field champion. He also knew Chu Bamboo was more stubborn than an ox... he wouldn’t even give the principal any face! From that perspective, the way Chu Bamboo was treating him could be considered downright polite!
"Alright, since no one is familiar with them, we’ll leave it at that... If you’re interested, you can look it up yourself after class!" Professor Chen brought the lecture back on track. "Now, let’s continue with..."
As Professor Chen’s lecture droned on in the background, Chu Bamboo’s thoughts began to drift.
Suddenly, a thought shot through Chu Bamboo’s mind like a bolt of lightning, and his eyes instantly lit up.
’That’s it! AI. I can get into AI...’
Before this, Chu Bamboo had been wrestling with a problem. Nuwa No. 17 required him to continuously raise his own status to increase his Authority, which in turn would unlock more information.
But simply turning to the government for help had already been proven to be a dead end! It would only make the future worse...
He couldn’t even be sure why doing so would make the future worse. He could only speculate that it might have something to do with the Extraterrestrial Civilization!
However, what Professor Chen said about AI had given him a new idea.
’Nuwa’s essence should be artificial intelligence! It’s just been weakened, which is why it only exhibits AI-level intelligence!’
’What if I become a driving force for AI in this era? An indispensable figure in the history of AI research for future generations? What if I’m the one who actually starts building Nuwa! If so, could I leave a backdoor for myself in the future and become Nuwa’s ultimate Authority?’
The more Chu Bamboo thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. He even suspected that the Chu Bamboo from the ruined timeline had probably thought the same thing—
That version of him had clearly been deeply involved in AI, even leaving behind a significant legacy in the field after his death. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been posthumously blamed for the emergence of the Celestial Net a decade after he died!
This time, he would take a small step back. He wouldn’t get directly involved with the Officials, but would keep the technology in his own hands. Combined with his ability to continuously enter dreams and obtain future information, he could advance or retreat as needed. It was a perfect plan!
The only problem was...
’How do I even do AI?’
Chu Bamboo fell into thought. It wasn’t that his university studies were useless, but their utility was certainly limited. This was especially true for his major; while it had some connection to programming, there were still several mountains to climb before he could get to AI!
To tell him to just go and build an AI from scratch right now... heh! In his dreams.
Using an AI was no problem for him. But building one...
’Even if I can travel to the future and ask Nuwa for all its underlying logical data, I’d still need some foundational knowledge to just copy it into the present... but right now, I’ve got nothing.’
’There’s also a long-term route: enroll in the new AI-related courses Professor Chen mentioned! Then study. But one person’s strength is limited...’
’A two-pronged approach would be best. I’ll study some AI knowledge on my own, then start an AI company and recruit a bunch of people who understand it. I can then combine their work with the Nuwa AI programs I’ll bring back from the future... If I do that... the only problem is that it will take time, energy, and money!’
Chu Bamboo narrowed his eyes. Time wasn’t an immediate issue. As for the rest, he glanced at Lin Xia. Lin Xia should be able to make a good amount of money in the short term.
But that money clearly wouldn’t be enough!
Making money by buying stocks was fine in the early stages! But as the amount of capital grew larger, he couldn’t just dump it all into a single stock! If he did that, when it came time to sell, it would just crash the price. Forget making money... he’d be lucky not to lose any!
Besides, if he kept making money so crazily, he’d probably get on the regulators’ radar very quickly...
Finally, even ignoring the regulators, as his funds continued to swell, he would inevitably attract the attention of all sorts of people. Someone might even try to set him up! Even if he could constantly make micro-adjustments via his dreams, the mental effort and risk involved... would be too great!
It was far better to just grab some high-end technology from the future. After all, in this day and age, those who developed high-end tech, engaged in heavy industry, and focused on production were the ones who truly stood at the pinnacle of the entrepreneurial world. Meanwhile, stock traders, among the wealthy in the Divine Continent, had always been in the middle-to-lower rungs of the social ladder, never truly presentable on the Official stage.
’But no matter what, by following the method I gave Lin Xia and constantly compounding the gains, the risk should be manageable until the funds reach the ten-million level!’
Chu Bamboo gently tapped his fingers on the desk. Ten million in funds should be enough for the initial startup capital... probably?
’Oh, right. When I enter my dream tonight, I should check up on Zhao Shao!’ Chu Bamboo mused. Although this person couldn’t compare to the titans of history, he was, at the very least, the first person he’d seen in his research that he had also encountered in the Real World—even if it was just a fleeting glimpse.
...
「Lunchtime.」
This time, it was Lin Xia who treated Chu Bamboo to a meal at a restaurant. "I’m skipping the afternoon classes! I already got permission to be absent. I’m going to collect my prize money in a bit... and then, there’s that stock you told me about!"
Taking a deep breath, Lin Xia gave a wry smile. "You scared me to death! Right after I bought it, the stock shot up, but then it plummeted right before the market closed for lunch! It dropped even lower than when the market first opened this morning... If you hadn’t told me to hold on to this stock for the whole month, I would’ve sold it the moment that happened if I were trading on my own."
"But then again, it will go up this afternoon... right? It will, won’t it? This..."
Chu Bamboo: "..."
Looking at his good bro, who was a nervous wreck, Chu Bamboo opened his mouth, but in the end, just said, "Your mentality... alright, never mind!"
In truth, Chu Bamboo felt that Lin Xia’s mentality didn’t seem suited for making money in the stock market... He was looking at a textbook example of a leek ripe for cutting!
But then again, considering that all the money Lin Xia was using to trade stocks was from a loan... yeah, Chu Bamboo felt it was best not to say anything. After all, he wasn’t the one who took out the loan! Anything he said would probably sound wrong.
