Chapter 7: Gazing Alone
The next day, a rare winter morning sun appeared.
After getting up, washing, and having breakfast, Lu Yu set off for the library. Chen Xiaofei’s unexpected visit yesterday had interrupted his reading, and there were still a few books left unfinished.
Lu Yu’s current goal was to deepen and broaden his understanding of Blue Star’s Internet. Only by doing so could he combine the technological knowledge in his mind and find a way to create weak artificial intelligence, even if only at a rudimentary stage.
Naturally introverted, Lu Yu now carried a secret that could not be shared with anyone. Whenever he found himself idle and quiet, he felt as if he alone gazed up at the boundless starry sky—lost and searching for a companion, but finding none. Perhaps only the artificial intelligence he would create could truly bear the weight of his heart and listen to his thoughts at will.
After all, everyone needs someone to confide in—there are no exceptions to this rule.
...
There were few people in the library that morning. Lu Yu quietly leafed through the books he hadn’t finished yesterday, learning at high speed, unwilling to waste a single moment.
His study plan was enormous. Artificial intelligence was by no means simply a matter of programming—it encompassed mathematical logic, biology, psychology, bionics, information theory, cybernetics, automation, linguistics, medicine, and philosophy, among others.
In practical application, beyond the widely known fingerprint and facial recognition, it also covered machine vision, iris recognition, automatic program design, intelligent control, robotics, language and image understanding, genetic programming, and more.
If he didn’t want his artificial intelligence to become merely an artificial idiot or be limited to just one field of application, Lu Yu had to acquire knowledge across these disciplines and projects.
Therefore, he had no choice but to make an extensive study plan. Of course, this plan wasn’t something he could complete in a day or two—he wouldn’t finish it in a year or two, either.
During his studies, by applying what he learned and combining it with the technological knowledge in his mind, he could earn some money, build up his strength, and thoroughly prepare for his future journey to the stars and the sea.
Aerospace required not only sufficient technology but also an immense amount of funding. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be rumors that the Lighthouse Nation bankrupted the Soviet State through the space race.
Immersed in the ocean of knowledge, Lu Yu lost all sense of time. Chen Xiaofei messaged him on WeChat, saying he’d come by car. Lu Yu replied that he was at the library, and would have a driver deliver the car back that afternoon, then set his phone to silent and put it aside.
...
The more serious you are about something, the faster time passes. Before he realized it, the library’s closing announcement sounded over the PA system. Lu Yu packed up, borrowed four or five more books, and headed home.
On the subway, almost at his neighborhood, he called for a driver, phoned Chen Xiaofei to ask his whereabouts, then had the driver deliver the car. He himself went to a restaurant near the neighborhood and ordered four stir-fried dishes, eating several bowls of rice.
Lu Yu noticed his appetite had grown, especially after intense mental work—he could eat a great deal. Fortunately, no matter how much he ate, he never seemed to gain weight; otherwise, he’d have to consider dieting.
He suspected it was because the technological knowledge in his mind was absorbing so-called bioenergy in a controlled way. Otherwise, how could such a peculiar situation occur?
Back at his rented apartment, he brewed a cup of tea and settled down to read. By the time he’d finished a few volumes, it was nearly midnight. He washed up and went to bed.
...
Two weeks slipped by in Lu Yu’s studies almost without notice.
That day, after finishing his reading, Lu Yu didn’t return home but took the subway to the Electronics City, planning to buy two laptops.
After so much study, he felt he’d reached a bottleneck that books alone couldn’t solve; he needed hands-on practice to test many of his ideas.
After some comparison, he chose two 16-inch MacBook Pros from Apple—not for any other reason but that, with similar performance, they were simply better looking. In this age when appearance was everything, even laptops were not exempt.
Moreover, Lu Yu intended to study macOS, and perhaps make a little profit from Apple. Rumor had it that their cash reserves were staggering; Lu Yu felt it was his duty to help lighten their load a bit.
Back home, he spent three days checking for vulnerabilities and reinforcing the firewall, even using an encryption method from his technological knowledge to secure the devices, ensuring that only he could access the contents—any brute-force attack would yield nothing but gibberish.
After installing the usual compilers and all sorts of application tools, he also set up a separate Windows 10 system. He checked for vulnerabilities there as well, strengthened the firewall and enhanced encryption.
Once all was in order, Lu Yu resumed his daily trips to the library, reading and learning while testing results from his foundational technological material and his own ideas.
One laptop for coding, the other as a temporary server—just enough for his needs.
...
In the days that followed, Lu Yu happened to be studying facial recognition.
Traditional facial recognition technology mainly relied on visible-light images, but this method had insurmountable shortcomings—especially when lighting conditions changed, recognition accuracy plummeted.
Modern facial recognition systems were based on multi-light-source, active near-infrared imaging, which overcame the problem of varying illumination. Companies like Ali and Apple adopted this approach.
Another method was thermal imaging recognition, but the technical demands were too high; the current level of Blue Star’s technology couldn’t yet meet the requirements for precision, stability, and speed.
Thus, optimizing algorithms for multi-light-source facial recognition was the most practical direction.
The common algorithms were based on facial feature points, whole-face images, templates, illumination estimation models, and original real-time feature recognition.
Lu Yu realized that only by making breakthroughs in real-time feature recognition algorithms could he make money. The other methods had already been exhaustively researched by these companies—any improvement from him would be marginal at best.
In contrast, optimizing real-time feature recognition algorithms could significantly enhance the accuracy and speed of current systems. He was confident that if he developed this algorithm, Ali would pay handsomely for it.
As he pondered this, Lu Yu typed rapidly and precisely, occasionally running the code, his eyes darting between screens, sometimes frowning at the data and code, sometimes smiling at the results.
He felt that, in just two more days, the real-time feature recognition algorithm could be perfected—a thought that filled him with excitement.
...
One day, as usual, Lu Yu arrived at the library. He had just found a solution to a programming problem from the night before in a book.
Before he could open his laptop to test it, his phone rang—Chen Xiaofei was calling.
Lu Yu stepped into the library corridor and asked quietly, “What is it?”
Chen Xiaofei said, “Cut the nonsense, get out here, quick.”
Lu Yu replied, “If you have something to say, just say it. I’m busy.”
“I’m in the library parking lot. You’ve got two minutes,” Chen Xiaofei said.
Not sure what Chen Xiaofei wanted, Lu Yu returned his book, slung his backpack, and found Chen Xiaofei’s car in the lot.
He opened the door and sat in the front passenger seat, only to find two people in the back—both acquaintances: Zhang Kexin and Qianqian.
Lu Yu smiled and greeted them, “Hello.”
Then, his expression turned serious as he narrowed his eyes and stared at Chen Xiaofei.
Chen Xiaofei, unnerved by the stare, said, “Why are you looking at me like that? A duel? No way, never in my life!”
Lu Yu said nothing, just kept staring.
Feeling in danger, Chen Xiaofei quickly changed the subject, “So, what have you been working on lately?”
Lu Yu answered lightly and rapidly, “Algorithm research on achieving optimal balance between speed and efficiency via real-time data median processing, as well as optimization of deformation statistical correction and enhanced iterative theory algorithms. Why, is there a problem?”
Chen Xiaofei: “…”
Zhang Kexin: “…”
Qianqian: “…”
After a moment, Chen Xiaofei asked, “Seriously, are you a cop or something?”
“So why did you call me out here?” Lu Yu pressed.
“What else? Eating, drinking, having fun! Come on, let’s live a little—there’s so much time to kill!” Chen Xiaofei replied.
“Why do I always feel like singing when you talk?” Lu Yu asked.
“Want to sing for me? I won’t listen, I have Kexin,” Chen Xiaofei teased.
“I didn’t intend to sing anyway. Damn it, did you call me out just to feed me dog food?”
“How could I? Dog food’s expensive,” Chen Xiaofei joked.
Lu Yu fixed him with a death stare, “You’d better give me a good reason.”
Chen Xiaofei’s eyes shifted. “Qianqian said she wanted to return your clothes.”
Lu Yu: “???”
Qianqian: “???”
Lu Yu was successfully distracted, “What clothes? What are you talking about?”
Before Chen Xiaofei could answer, Qianqian raised her hand, “The clothes you lent me that day you walked me home.”
Lu Yu remembered, but since Qianqian’s words sounded ambiguous, he decided to play dumb, “Really? When? I don’t recall.”
Qianqian, realizing her own slip, clarified, “The night we four went to the bar—you walked me back to my dorm.”
Lu Yu pretended to think, “Ah, yes, that happened. The four of us went to the bar, I walked you back to the dorm. But that raises a question—where were those two?”
Catching on to Lu Yu’s intent, Qianqian looked at Zhang Kexin, “Good point—where were you two?”
Chen Xiaofei coughed, “My mom called me home for dinner.”
Zhang Kexin echoed, “My mom called me home for dinner too.”
Who would believe that?
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