Limited Ambiguity Chapter 13

Chapter 13

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So, finding the RN3 model too slow to mine data, he built a faster one to complete his work and get some sleep?

Professor Fu was somewhat amused, yet found it oddly… sensible.

It seemed laziness wasn’t the only driving force of human progress, but also drowsiness.

He pondered for a few seconds before speaking, “Qi Yan, I’m not sure if you’re aware of the significance of the new model you’ve constructed.

“Those of you present here, who have been studying professional courses for a year, are well aware that the foundation of artificial intelligence lies in gathering various raw data. However, these raw data are not only massive in quantity but they also lack fixed formats and vary in quality, which poses difficulties for data mining.

“Therefore, a key aspect of artificial intelligence is the efficiency of data mining. The higher the efficiency, the faster artificial intelligence processes information and reacts, appearing more ‘intelligent.’ That’s why I urge you to continuously practice data mining.”

He turned back to Qi Yan. “And I must tell you, because of your model, the entire field of artificial intelligence can take a small step forward again.”

In the classroom, someone gasped.

After listening to Professor Fu’s words, Qi Yan himself didn’t show any emotional reaction like surprise or pride. He simply nodded and said, “I understand.”

Professor Fu admired Qi Yan’s ability to control his emotions. “I suggest you apply for a patent for this new processing model. Its application scope is very broad, so I’m sure many people will be interested. The patent fees you’ll receive will be enough to guarantee your basic living needs in the future.”

The sum of money was enticing enough to tempt countless individuals, let alone a newly matured student.

Qi Yan, however, shook his head. “I don’t want to apply for a patent.”

“Then what do you want?”

Professor Fu momentarily entertained a suspicion but found it improbable.

Without hesitation, Qi Yan replied, “I want to open-source it.”

Professor Fu’s expression became complex. “Are you sure?”

Open-sourcing entails the model’s architect making all its information available to the entire Starnet, meaning anyone can access and utilize the model for free, without purchasing it.

“I’m sure. You mentioned that it’s application scope is very broad, so it means it can be useful in various contexts. Open-sourcing ensures that anyone who needs it can use the model.”

Professor Fu was momentarily stunned before smiling and sighing. “I’ve been narrow-minded.”

Qi Yan: “No, you’re just safeguarding my interests as your student.”

Professor Fu’s smiled warmly. “If you want to open-source it, we can host it on Turan’s dedicated page. Additionally, you’ll need to give this model a name.”

Qi Yan barely pondered before stating, “PVC93 model.”

Professor Fu smiled. “Using an improved version of PVC as the foundational structure, completed in the early hours of September third, hence the name?”

Qi Yan nodded. “Yes.”

Throughout Qi Yan and Professor Fu’s conversation, the classroom remained remarkably quiet.

Each individual listened intently to their dialogue, striving to recall what the PVC logic construction method entailed, to comprehend the significance of data mining in artificial intelligence, and the distant concepts of patent applications and open-sourcing.

With Qi Yan’s confirmation of the name, almost everyone foresaw that once Qi Yan released this new model onto the network, the PVC93 model would swiftly supersede the RN3 model, becoming the primary tool for data mining.

Yet, just ten minutes ago, Qi Yan had been under scrutiny, accused of submitting plagiarized work.

At this realization, many eyes turned towards Laurent, who had remained silent all throughout.

Laurent maintained his expression, but beneath the desk, his hands were clenched into fists.

He hailed from a remote planet in the Kepler Region, where he had always been the brightest among his peers. In his eyes, whether fellow students or the locals, they were all intellectually inferior mediocrities, destined to languish on their backwater planet for life!

Only he was exceptional. Not only did he make his way to the capital star, but he also secured admission to Turan Academy. Yet, even at Turan, he discovered that there were still many who couldn’t match his intellect.

Therefore, he was all too aware of the educational standards on remote planets. Even if Qi Yan’s answer wasn’t stolen, it could only have been bought with money.

Moreover, he had heard from someone that Qi Yan’s admission to Turan was secured through a substantial donation from his family.

It would be so easy to push an incompetent person like Qi Yan to the brink, to watch him lose face like a trapped beast, and even expel him from Turan!

Yet, despite his best efforts to comprehend the model Qi Yan crafted and the words he spoke, Laurent still couldn’t understand a thing.

At the podium, Professor Fu inquired, “You haven’t attended first-year classes, so how do you know all this?”

Qi Yan: “I taught myself.”

He had never set foot in a formal school. He had always been self-taught.

Professor Fu nodded, then turned his gaze towards Laurent. “Laurent, now that Qi Yan has proven that there are no issues with his submitted final results, you need to apologize to him for your hasty accusations.”

Laurent froze in place.

In that moment, all eyes in the classroom turned towards him, their gazes piercing.

It seemed like an eternity before Laurent slowly rose from his seat, straightening his back, and fixing his gaze upon Qi Yan. His lips moved, but no sound escaped them.

Publicly apologizing to Qi Yan was tantamount to humiliation!

Yet Professor Fu watched, as did everyone else.

Finally, Laurent spoke, his voice slightly hoarse, “I’m sorry.”

With that, he briskly exited the classroom.

At that moment, while everyone else was in class, Laurent stood in an empty corner, opening his personal terminal. There were already replies to the messages he had sent earlier.

“So quickly resolved? I’ll add an extra thirty percent to the agreed-upon fee.”

Adding thirty percent would amount to six hundred and fifty thousand star coins.

Laurent typed another message: “There was a complication midway.”

The response came swiftly from the other end: “Wasn’t successful?”

“No.”

Laurent typed another line, “It’s challenging to expel him from Turan. Fifty thousand isn’t enough.”

After a brief pause, the reply came: “How much do you need?”

Laurent’s lips curved into a smirk. “Add one million.”

Though one million was no small sum, he was confident that the person on the other end would agree.

Contacting him through an unregistered communication channel on the first day of school, offering to pay for his help in expelling Qi Yan from Turan by any means necessary— this person must have harbored an intense dislike towards Qi Yan.

His family was from a remote planet, incapable of providing him with a lavish lifestyle or financial support. He didn’t want anyone to know where he came from, so he needed a substantial amount of money to sustain his life and reputation. The more, the better.

True to his expectations, a few minutes later, there was a response from the other end: “Are you sure you can tarnish Qi Yan’s reputation and make him leave Turan?”

Laurent: “Of course.”

“Alright, deal.”

In the classroom, Qi Yan returned to his seat, while Professor Fu was discussing the upgrade issues with the RN3 model. Xia Zhiyang, unable to contain his curiosity, scrutinized Qi Yan from head to toe several times, wanting to say countless things. Finally, he blurted out dryly, “We agreed to stick together as the three academic underdogs, but you’ve left the pack and embarked on the path of the academic excellence radiating with golden brilliance!”

Xia Zhiyang’s smile was radiant, brimming with joy, almost on the verge of dancing with excitement. “You don’t know, just now when you were talking to Professor Fu up there, we couldn’t understand a thing, but it felt incredibly impressive!”

Chen Mingxuan joked, “Need any sidekicks? Both Xia Zhiyang and I are available!”

Qi Yan paused for a moment. “In the future, if there’s anything you don’t understand, feel free to ask me.”

Xia Zhiyang and Chen Mingxuan exchanged a glance, feeling that their dark days at Turan had been illuminated by blinding brightness.

After class, the Academic Management Department received notification from Professor Fu and came to escort Qi Yan to the office for registration. Subsequently, they uploaded detailed information about the PVC93 model to Turan’s dedicated page.

Emerging from the office building, the clouds that had previously obscured the sun dispersed, leaving Qi Yan feeling a bit uncomfortable under its intense ray.

Lu Fenghan, noticing his furrowed brow, pointed to a slightly secluded path. “Shall we take that route? There’s shade from the trees, so it’s not as sunny.”

Qi Yan had no objections.

Lu Fenghan couldn’t help but smile—unable to tolerate the sun, unable to tolerate the heat, he couldn’t help but wonder if come winter, Qi Yan would hibernate all day, wrapped in a cozy blanket on a plush sofa.

He had been subconsciously observing Qi Yan all along. The more he observed, the more astonished he became—

It was astounding that such a person existed in the world, so delicate that one would question how he survived the first eighteen years, yet everything about him seemed perfectly natural and fitting.

Recalling the events of the class just now, Lu Fenghan asked, “Why did you choose to open-source?”

Qi Yan thought earnestly for a moment before answering, “I told Professor Fu one reason, but another reason is that someone once told me that despite the advancement of information nowadays, it’s still difficult to access resources, especially academic ones, in many remote planets.”

Qi Yan rarely spoke at such length, his pace slow, “Researchers on Leto have a mature system and the best modeling tools, so they can quickly achieve results. But people on remote planets are just as smart and have invested a lot of time and energy. However, because they lack good models and tools, it takes them much, much longer to solve problems.

“A person’s lifetime is too short. So I thought, by open-sourcing the PVC93 model, allowing those in need to use it, perhaps it could save a bit of time for a very few people.”

As Lu Fenghan listened to Qi Yan earnestly sharing his thoughts, he couldn’t help but feel a softening in his heart.

He also felt that Qi Yan’s eyes were exceptionally pure and clear.

At that moment, a voice drifted intermittently on the wind.

Lu Fenghan, with exceptional hearing, caught a crucial keyword. He grasped Qi Yan’s slender shoulder, turned, and pushed him behind a sturdy tree trunk, concealing their figures.

At the same time, he raised a finger to his lips, his voice low, “Shh—be quiet for now.”

As he spoke, his gaze scanned the nearby area like a hawk.

Perhaps fearing any movement might give them away, Qi Yan pressed closely against Lu Fenghan, almost as if he were held in the other’s embrace.

The warmth of the hand resting on his shoulder was palpable, giving Qi Yan a sensation of being pleasantly burned.

Gradually, the voice grew louder.

“…I’ve completed the analysis of the driving data from the hovercar involved in the accident. I can clearly conclude that the autonomous driving system installed in the hovercar showed signs of intrusion three days before the accident occurred.”

“…Yes, I’m certain this was a deliberate murder! The target is the owner, Dison…”

Qi Yan cautiously glanced in the direction of the voice, then quickly retreated. Leaning forward, he whispered to Lu Fenghan’s ear, “The person on the phone is named Tilia, thirty-nine years old, a teacher at Turan, specializing in fully automated control systems. Her lab is in Building C-71, Room 917.”

Lu Fenghan turned his head slightly, meeting Qi Yan’s eyes with a smile. “How did you know?”

“Her research just had a breakthrough a few days ago. Just now, when they were registering the model I created in the Academic Management office, I saw Tilia’s photo and personal information.”

Lu Fenghan followed up, “In less than three seconds?”

“But I saw.”

“So you remembered?”

“I remembered.”

It seemed the other party said something. Tilia remained silent for a while to listen. “So, you want me to completely delete the data analysis results I obtained? I don’t know all the hidden details, I only know this person was deliberately murdered!”

The call ended.

Tilia ran her fingers through her brown hair, seeming to exhale, then emerged from the secluded corner, walking briskly away.

Qi Yan asked Lu Fenghan. “Do you know someone named ‘Dison’?”

He heard Tilia mention that name.

“Barely acquainted.”

Lu Fenghan was recalling the information Vincent had given him yesterday.

Vincent’s former superior, Dison, had been transferred back to Leto three months ago. A month ago, he died in a hovercar accident.

Tilia was in charge of the data analysis for this accident, or perhaps she obtained the data from somewhere, and concluded that someone had hacked into the autonomous driving system.

“Lu Fenghan, it hurts.”

Lu Fenghan snapped out of his reverie, realizing his hand was still gripping Qi Yan’s shoulder, perhaps a bit too firmly.

He had caused the Little Delicate pain.

It was then that he noticed they were standing too close.

Lu Fenghan took a half step back.

A leaf slowly drifted down onto Qi Yan’s shoulder.

Brushed by the edge of the leaf, Qi Yan tilted his head. “Feels a bit itchy.”

“Don’t move.” Lu Fenghan reached out and removed the leaf. As he withdrew his hand, his fingertips inadvertently brushed against the delicate skin of Qi Yan’s neck.

In that moment, as if instinctively trying to conceal something, Lu Fenghan let his hand with the leaf fall to his side, his fingers unconsciously twiddling. He lowered his gaze to Qi Yan, chuckling softly. “You’re good at being spoiled, aren’t you?”

***

Well, you’re good at spoiling him, aren’t you? ¬‿¬

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