Chapter 76: Chapter 76: All or Nothing
If he were really killed in his sleep, would Chu Bamboo, groggy and half-conscious, choose to reset or wake up in the Real World—
In other words, if that step wasn’t necessary—if he just woke up—it meant he had made it through the night safely!
’Zhang Hai is as reliable as ever,’ Chu Bamboo mused. ’So, just how powerful is he?’
’Third Realm, at a minimum? On par with that infant demon? Or maybe even higher?’
As he jogged, Chu Bamboo’s gaze drifted to the side.
Someone was gradually falling into pace beside him—a fellow runner.
"Coach Yuan Qiang," Chu Bamboo said, choosing not to speed up and lose him. "You went to the trouble of finding my apartment, figuring out my running schedule, and then deliberately showing up at this exact time to ’coincidentally’ run into me. That must have been quite an effort, wouldn’t you say?"
Coach Yuan Qiang, mid-jog: "..."
No, seriously. He’d had the words "What a coincidence!" right on the tip of his tongue, and Chu Bamboo had just choked them back down his throat.
"Alright, I’ll say this one last time," Chu Bamboo said, his voice even. "You have a choice. You can test me once every six months. As long as I demonstrate the abilities of a track and field champion, you leave me alone."
"And if you don’t like that, I can just do other sports instead. I’m confident I can win a championship in any of them, anyway."
Coach Yuan Qiang: "...?"
’What is he even saying? Does he think winning a championship is as easy as eating and drinking?’
’I really ought to give him a piece of my mind... ’
"Hm?" Chu Bamboo raised an eyebrow.
"Uh... then, then it’s settled!" Yuan Qiang’s expression shifted in an instant as he forced a brilliant smile onto his face. He wanted to cry but had no tears. There was nothing he could do; he held none of the cards!
He swallowed nervously and tested the waters. "Alright, we’ll do it your way... But six months, well, that’s a long time. For an athlete to go six months without training is just... How about we test you once a month to start? If you pass the first month, we’ll make it two months, then three, until we eventually get to once every six months!"
"That’s fine." Chu Bamboo sensed he had pushed the coach to his limit. After a moment’s thought, he agreed. Sparing a little time once a month was acceptable. "Anything else?"
"Of course, of course," Yuan Qiang said with an awkward laugh, racking his brain to force a new topic. "Also, the results from your last physical came back. You really... don’t have any issues at all?"
At this, Yuan Qiang’s composure clearly started to crack. He had always believed Chu Bamboo was using performance-enhancing drugs to achieve that level. The results made him feel like a total clown.
He just couldn’t wrap his head around it. How could someone like this possibly exist?
To be able to effortlessly reach the peak of human potential without any real training—sure, Chu Bamboo went for morning runs, but in the coach’s eyes, that was just fooling around.
’Damn it, how can the world be so unfair?’
SIGH! Just as Yuan Qiang sighed and was about to say more, Chu Bamboo suddenly accelerated, instantly leaving him in the dust like a stallion breaking free of its reins.
Staring blankly at Chu Bamboo’s retreating figure, Yuan Qiang gradually slowed to a stop. He took a couple of breaths, and after a moment of silence, a relieved smile spread across his face.
"He’s right, though. Since when has this world ever been fair?"
It was just like those champion athletes—even without training, they were leagues better than any ordinary person who had.
’There’s just no explaining talent.’
...
Time for Professor Chen’s class again.
Chu Bamboo stared wordlessly at Lin Xia, who looked dazed, as if he hadn’t slept all night.
And yet, despite looking exhausted, Lin Xia would switch his screen to the stock market app every three minutes, glance at it for a second, and then switch to something else...
Chu Bamboo: "..."
’This is what happens when you get into stock trading. He’s completely lost his mind!’
"Wait a second." Chu Bamboo recalled the stock app he’d just glimpsed and realized something was off. His brow furrowed as he whispered, "You’ve only been doing this for a day, right? Where did you get that much capital?"
"Oh! There’s a new policy. You can get a no-fee loan of five hundred thousand," Lin Xia replied without looking up. He had clearly thrown all caution to the wind.
"You’ve already been right several times, so I trust you. It’ll be fine... And if it’s not, even if you really don’t help me out, I’ll just consider it trading my credit score for cash."
He paused for a moment. Though he was still trying to keep his voice down, it was now laced with fervor. "All or nothing!"
Chu Bamboo: "..."
’How did I never realize my best friend was such a degenerate gambler?’
"Barring any surprises, it’s going to hit the limit up today!" Lin Xia counted on his fingers. "With my principal, the loan, and my previous winnings, I’ve got a total of seven hundred thousand in there now!"
"If you need money, just ask. But I suggest you wait until the end of the month. After this doubles, I can give you six hundred thousand. If it really doubles twice, I’ll be able to pull out one million two hundred thousand!"
"It’s fine, I’m not in a hurry," Chu Bamboo said, his lips forming a thin line. Looking at Lin Xia with his dark circles and bloodshot eyes... what more could he possibly say?
Finally, class was over.
"Chu Bamboo, could you come here for a moment?" Professor Chen called out after gathering his teaching materials.
"Go do your thing, don’t wait for me," Chu Bamboo muttered to Lin Xia before quickly catching up to Professor Chen.
...
「In the office.」
"This is that junior of yours," Professor Chen said with a smile to a sturdy, six-foot-tall man with thick brows and large eyes, gesturing toward Chu Bamboo.
"And this is your senior, Zhao Shao," Professor Chen said, turning to introduce the sturdy man to Chu Bamboo. "And I should add, I’ve just been confirmed as Zhao Shao’s doctoral advisor. He’s skipping his master’s and going straight for a PhD with me."
"Hello, Senior," Chu Bamboo said, sizing him up for a moment before nodding.
Zhao Shao was tall and built. Even though Chu Bamboo knew his records said he was from Zhejiang Province, one look at him made Chu Bamboo suspect he was actually a man from Shandong.
Zhao Shao was remarkably frank. He stepped forward, grabbed Chu Bamboo’s hand, and spoke with candor and sincerity.
"I heard from my boss—AHEM, I mean, the professor—that you’re our school’s new sports star! Who knows, maybe you’ll be a world champion one day."
Zhao Shao rambled on, giving a first glimpse of his talkative nature. "Seriously, when I first heard about you, I thought the professor was pulling my leg! He had to tell me several times before I was half-convinced... But now that I see you in person, I’m a believer! A golden dragon is not meant for a small pond, right? Some people, you just look at them and know they’re going to be amazing!"
"I never would have imagined... Our school really produces some talented people... No, we’re about to produce a true dragon! When you make it big in the future, Junior, you’ve gotta take me with you!"
Chu Bamboo, not at all stage-struck, calmly replied, "Senior Zhao, you’re no ordinary person yourself."
’Even though he hasn’t even graduated yet, he’s already accomplished so much—the Purple Mountain Talent Program, for instance, and an honorary professorship at some university.’
’Hmm, based on the fact that he dies in ’28, even if he doesn’t have those honors yet... they’re probably in the review process now?’
After just a brief exchange, Chu Bamboo realized that Zhao Shao’s emotional intelligence was remarkably high. Talking with him was incredibly pleasant. ’No wonder he becomes such a great swindler in the future!’
Professor Chen was a little baffled. From what he knew of Chu Bamboo, the boy was supposed to be incredibly proud, someone who wouldn’t even give the university president the time of day. So why was his attitude toward Zhao Shao so warm?
’Could it be because they’re the same age... well, more or less the same age?’
"By the way," Chu Bamboo asked nonchalantly, "what has Senior been researching lately?"
"Research, of course! Machine learning algorithms, natural language processing, and..." The question had clearly struck a chord with Zhao Shao. He began gesticulating wildly, rambling on and quickly descending into a tirade of classic corporate buzzwords.
Things like "synergize," "deconstruct," "refocus," "quantify," "close the loop"...
Chu Bamboo: "..."
Taking a deep breath, Chu Bamboo asked with a smile, "Could I visit your company for a tour? I’m really curious about this field!"
Zhao Shao froze for a second. He narrowed his eyes, studying Chu Bamboo for a long moment before glancing at Professor Chen. Seeing the professor nod, he made his decision. "Fine! My company just got a startup grant from the university, and the office is right near campus... Let’s go!"
...
The office space Zhao Shao’s company was renting was quite large. In fact, compared to the number of people he employed, the space was excessively large.
After just a few probing questions, Chu Bamboo realized that Zhao Shao’s funding was likely running low. After all, a company in a healthy growth cycle would be constantly hiring, but Zhao Shao clearly had no plans for major expansion.
’This means one of two things: either he’s out of money, or his current results aren’t good enough to pull off a massive scam—AHEM, fundraising round. Makes sense. He goes bankrupt before ’28, after all.’
"So, this is the deep learning algorithm you’re currently working on?" Chu Bamboo asked, looking around. ’It seems a little similar to what I memorized... but not by much.’
"That’s right! AI in the Divine Continent is developing at an incredible pace right now. All the big players are constantly open-sourcing their models." Zhao Shao seemed full of vigor. "This gives new companies like ours tremendous support! I’ve already figured it out—the next step in AI’s evolution is to become more anthropomorphic, more human-like... even to become human!"
"Of course, this is a bit of a sensitive topic... Thanks to countless movies and TV shows, people always assume that once an artificial intelligence becomes aware of the world and of humanity, it will try to destroy us. But I think teaching an AI is just like raising a child."
"If you’re always on guard, worried it’s going to destroy the world, and constantly shackling it, you’ll actually cause it to destroy the world in the end..."
"But if you use love and affection to slowly nurture an AI... if you treat it like a human child and allow its fundamental digital programming to build a value system like that of a normal human being..."
