C4 Part1

Parsed with an automated reader. The content accuracy is not guranteed.

When Luo Zhan returned to K University Junior Division’s special laboratory, it was already dark outside.

As he pushed the door open, the INT members who were gathered around the conference table discussing something were stunned.

Standing by the door was Meng Xueyu, who looked at Luo Zhan with an odd expression: “Brother Zhan, didn’t you go to the store, why did you come back only now?”

”Yeah,” Someone beside him said, “We thought you went home early to prepare for the Old Master’s birthday.”

”……”

Luo Zhan didn’t respond, but walked to the couch in the lounge area with a lazy look. He sat down, leaned back into the sofa, and closed his eyes.

”Didn’t go home, went to help the weak1.”

(弱小: it technically means weak but can also mean women and children)

”Weak?” Meng Xueyu showed his uneasiness.

Luo Zhan spoke with his eyes closed, his voice lazy and indifferent, and he was not very serious, “On this rainy day, helped a blind girl cross the street.”

Before Meng Xueyu could speak, someone laughed, “Hey, Brother Zhan, being so compassionate now? But that road was too long. According to the time you took, you should’ve walked half of the East 103rd Highway.”

Luo Zhan frowned, “Didn’t bring my phone, it was raining and couldn’t get a taxi so I walked back.”

Everyone was silent.

After a few seconds, everyone exchanged glances and came together to discuss in a low voice.

”What’s this situation? It’s raining, how can Brother Zhan be so good-tempered after walking back from so far?”

”Normally, he would’ve blown up already. Meng Xueyu, you’re really blessed by heaven today, you lit the fire of the person upstairs2 and came back alive.”

(楼上: internet slang for person who posted right before them, referring to LZ in this context. i think.)

”So Brother Zhan is in a good mood today?”

”It’s not scientific ah, he was definitely irritated when he left.”

”Strange, very strange.”

”……”

Luo Zhan’s ears weren’t faulty, so he could naturally hear the discussion over there, but he didn’t bother to pay attention to it.

In fact, he knew that the strangest thing was not this—there wouldn’t be any taxis on rainy days, but buses wouldn’t be delayed.

The little girl’s “reimbursement” return fare was in his pants pocket but when he got to the bus stop, he took it out, held it in his palm, looked at it twice, and then inexplicably put it back again.

Then he completely didn’t remember that he had brought his wallet and unexpectedly walked the two stops back.

…… It was probably the lack of sleep that made him r*tarded3.

(i personally don’t like this word, if anyone has alternatives, lmk)

Thinking until here, Luo Zhan opened his eyes and sat up, his elbows on his knees. He raised his eyes, frowning at the crowd, “Where’s Tan Yunchang?”

Someone snickered, “Senior Tan knew you were coming back to take care of him and already escaped.”

Luo Zhan’s face was expressionless, “Then who gave him the completed intelligent voice assistant program?”

”……”

A few people suddenly had subtle expressions.

A few members of the INT team that only joined last semester, didn’t know what Luo Zhan was talking about at all and curiously put their heads together.

”What kind of intelligent voice assistant? INT had this kind of project? How come I haven’t seen it since I got here?”

The old member replied with a smile, “That was an early work of INT. Brother Zhan was still young and a bit more talkative than now—the AI’s voice was sourced from him.”

”Ooh?” The new member was obviously surprised, sweeping a glance at Luo Zhan on the couch, and asked in a low voice, “Brother Zhan really agreed?”

”Of course not. Actually, when acquiring the source for the voice, the senior members forced Brother Zhan to recite the《Cihai》4 and someone was daring enough to use Brother Zhan’s nickname to name that AI—at the price of the collective misery of the INT laboratory.”

( 辞海: chinese thesaurus name/ like merriam-webster)

Luo Zhan listened to his own black history with calm eyes then laughed without humor at the end: “Your mother said death, not misery.”

(LZ is cursing at him bc your mother sounds a lot like ‘f-word you’ in chinese. idk if i TL the joke correctly)

”Look,” the old member said as he fled inside shielding his head in a premeditated manner, “This is the repercussions of the《Cihai》, he still hasn’t recovered!”

This person was happy to have a moment of fun. It was a pity that at the door, he hadn’t escaped cleanly, and the back of his head met with the pillow Luo Zhan had casually picked up.

Bang.

Right on target.

KO on the spot.

After the screaming ended, the members looked at each other in a “sympathetic manner”5, coughed a few times, and pressed down their desire to continue gossiping.

(兔死狐悲: idiom that says the fox grieves when the rabbit dies, or sympathy when someone is is in danger/trouble)

They were afraid that Luo Zhan would transfer his powerful ammunition over and promptly put on solemn expressions.

”Brother Zhan, before you came back, we were discussing our next new project, any thoughts?”

”……”

Since entering the K University Junior Division at a record-breaking age, Luo Zhan had shown an extremely terrifying speed of improvement. With the resources of the Luo family, there was almost no need to worry about the source of funding for any project—a treasure that most young teams couldn’t even dream of.

The past two or three years, Luo Zhan had become a core person for INT. Tt was normal for new projects to be approved by him within the team.

Luo Zhan asked, “What’s the preliminary direction right now?”

”There are two main ones. One direction is self-supervised learning, and the other direction is generalization.”

Luo Zhan nodded.

”Then Brother Zhan, which one do we choose?”

”…. generalization.”

Luo Zhan originally wanted to say the former, but just as he opened his mouth, the helpless figure of the blind little girl cowering under the roof of INT that day flashed before his eyes.

So the words made a sharp turn on his lips and the answer changed.

Everyone on the team was evidently surprised as well.

”I thought Brother Zhan would’ve definitely chosen self-supervision. After all, it is now recognized by many cutting-edge researchers as the way of the future.”

”I thought so too. Brother Zhan, why did you choose generalization?”

”For generalization, what are we specifically going to do?”

”……”

Luo Zhan’s eyes were lowered.

Deep down, he was a little annoyed at his own impulsiveness, but his words had already been spoken and he wouldn’t change his mind.

After thinking for a few seconds, Luo Zhan lifted his eyes and lazily leaned back into the sofa, “This is an idea that came to me today when I was helping the weak, for your reference.”

”?”

”Smart home service robot.”

”……”

Everyone fell into thought. Within a few seconds, someone popped his head up with a clever: “Brother Zhan, are you saying…. sweeping robots?”

Luo Zhan glanced over lazily, “Is that brain of yours replaced with the trash can of the sweeper?”

”Hahahaha I’m just kidding.” The man scratched his head, “But now there are smart public services in the research and development field, and also smart home control services, but this smart home service…. seems to have no demand for anything but sweeping the floor and washing the dishes.”

The crowd echoed his thoughts.

”There is.”

The rebuttal that came out of nowhere was not from Luo Zhan.

The INT members turned their heads to look over and saw Meng Xueyu, who seldom spoke, looking at the guy sitting on the sofa with complicated eyes.

As the attention of the crowd was drawn back, Meng Xueyu lowered his head and said vaguely, “I think what Brother Zhan means is to develop a kind of home service robot that’s convenient for people with disabilities.”

also, hi i’m back! it’s was college app cram season for the procrastinators like me :)) uc apps were a doozy—i literally spent hours every day last week only to produce semi-decent essays so i’m praying i get into one uc. just one. pls

have i mentioned that i’m not really fluent in chinese? i mean, i think it’s pretty obvious but to anyone who’s willing to help me check that my translations are accurate, I BEG OF YOU, PLEASE HELP ME!! it would make TL go so much faster.

i say that bc i just realized that 惫懒 means mischievous?? can someone verify bc separately those words mean lazy so that’s how i’ve been describing our ML. it’d be a whole ‘nother story if he no longer had our beloved lazy one.

novel rec of the chapter: though it isn’t technically a novel and more of a one-shot, (or two-shot if we’re being accurate) for those of you who want a good cry, i highly recommend ‘The Probability I Can Kill My Wife Without Being Found Out’. the second part was the one that made tears stream down my face. no summary from me; it’s so short, it takes you absolutely no time to try it out and love it :))

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