I Studied Abroad in the Modern Times

Vol 2 Chapter 172 Jiushan Computational Platform

Tang Lingwu led the way ahead.

Her steps were light, and even from behind, one could tell she was in a great mood—clearly, the arrival of her parents had put her in high spirits.

Seeing his daughter like this, Tang Lingwu’s father gradually relaxed as well, even showing a natural smile in front of Zheng Fa.

“We’re intruding this time...”

He turned to Zheng Fa and said.

“Uncle Tang, you’re welcome to come anytime,” Zheng Fa saw that he was still a bit reserved and responded generously.

Previously, Tang Lingwu hadn’t allowed her parents to visit mainly due to confidentiality.

But now that external cooperation was underway, and Team Leader Yang practically wanted to camp on the mountain, her parents naturally didn’t count as an issue anymore.

Just a few days ago, Old Bai’s daughter had been transferred to the capital and came for a visit too.

Zheng Fa even felt that Team Leader Yang and the others cared more about secrecy than he did...

“Really?”

Tang Lingwu’s father froze for a moment and asked.

Zheng Fa smiled and nodded, “Speaking of which, this retirement home was actually built with help from Aunt Ye.”

Hearing his sincere tone, Tang Lingwu’s father felt even more at ease.

“Alright then, in the future I’ll...”

Just then, Old Hou suddenly walked back from the field, seemingly heading to the lab, and with a smile on his face said, “Guests, huh?”

These days, Old Hou had been staying at the retirement home. While doing experiments, he was also recuperating a bit.

He was essentially the first client of the retirement home.

The effect had been good—Old Hou’s previously sallow face now had a bit of color.

“Old Hou?”

Seeing him, Tang Lingwu’s father was momentarily stunned. He’d had a brief encounter with Old Hou before but hadn’t expected to see him here.

“You are?”

Old Hou looked at Zheng Fa. Zheng Fa said, “These are Tang Lingwu’s parents.”

“Oh, pleasure to meet you!” As soon as Old Hou heard this, he reached out to shake Tang Lingwu’s father’s hand warmly.

Tang Lingwu’s father dazedly shook hands with Old Hou, only feeling that his own name seemed to carry less weight here than his daughter’s...

As they were chatting, Team Leader Yang hurried in from outside.

“Director Yang...”

Tang Lingwu’s father’s eyes narrowed slightly, a hint of surprise in his tone.

He seemed to know Team Leader Yang, and even a bit about his special status, so his expression turned somewhat reserved again.

Team Leader Yang glanced at him and seemed to recognize him too, “Mr. Tang, right?”

“Yes, yes, you know me?”

“I do. Lingwu’s a good kid.” Team Leader Yang said with a smile.

Tang Lingwu’s father blinked, feeling a bit strange.

He’d worked hard for half his life—how did he end up living off his daughter’s status?

...

Tang Lingwu’s father was tactful enough to read the room. From Team Leader Yang’s expression, he could tell he was here to talk to Zheng Fa, so after a few words, he followed Tang Lingwu away.

Watching him leave the room, Team Leader Yang finally spoke:

“The higher-ups are suggesting that for agricultural cooperation, we establish a grain company.”

“The retirement home provides the seeds, and the state provides the funding.”

Zheng Fa frowned slightly, “Why?”

He found it a bit troublesome.

Honestly, as long as he could control the spiritual energy, the seeds were already under his control.

Whether there was a company or not didn’t really affect him.

On the other hand, he cared far more about breeding techniques than the seeds themselves.

“It’s mainly for confidentiality... It’s foreseeable that the retirement home will produce more and greater results in the future. Rather than trying to keep everything under wraps, it’s better to adopt a new identity.”

“What identity?”

“A research institute,” Team Leader Yang said, “Start by putting up a sign for an agricultural research institute.”

“On one hand, this label makes external cooperation easier,” Team Leader Yang had a somewhat helpless expression, “otherwise... people think we’re nuts.”

Zheng Fa nodded.

“On the other hand, it’s to prevent leaks,” Team Leader Yang sighed, “Not every scholar is trustworthy. Things have gotten a bit active these past few days, and quite a few people have jumped out... I know you don’t care, Mr. Zheng, but it's still bothersome if it affects you.”

Fair enough.

Zheng Fa had indeed sensed some strange presences with his divine sense recently.

But they’d all been stopped at the foot of the mountain.

“The higher-ups want to give the retirement home a new cover. It won’t affect you, but it’ll save a lot of trouble.”

“That’s fine too.”

Honestly, Zheng Fa didn’t care much.

“The idea is that shares and profits all go to the retirement home,” Team Leader Yang smiled at him, “A high-quality, controllable grain supply is more valuable to us.”

Got it—they were offering a benefit...

“Mr. Zheng, you can appoint someone you trust to manage or oversee it.”

Zheng Fa thought for a moment and looked outside.

Tang Lingwu was whispering with her parents.

Even Old Bai had work now.

Letting Tang Lingwu idle seemed a bit unfair...

...

“Me?” Tang Lingwu pointed at her own nose, “I’m in charge?”

Zheng Fa nodded.

At the retirement home, these were the people he trusted the most.

And Tang Lingwu had family roots in this field.

Beside them, Tang Lingwu’s father’s facial muscles twitched.

He was a seasoned businessman and fully understood the nature of this so-called grain company—it was clearly going to be a monopoly.

A state-backed black technology monopoly.

He could see its future even with his eyes closed...

Who would’ve thought Zheng Fa would hand it to his daughter so casually?

As Zheng Fa was talking with Tang Lingwu, Old Hou walked over holding a USB drive, with Teacher Tian following behind.

“All done?”

Seeing Old Hou, Zheng Fa’s face immediately lit up with a smile.

“Yes, the genetic test results are out! Under spiritual energy environments, genetic recombination isn’t disrupted... in other words, for ordinary plants, spiritual energy acts more like a special fertilizer—it doesn’t alter genetic traits.”

Zheng Fa gave a slight nod.

That wasn’t surprising—in fact, it was a good thing—

At the very least, modern breeding methods still work in a spiritual energy environment.

“What about spiritual plants?”

Old Hou shook his head and said, “No difference. From the genetic perspective, the genes of spiritual plants haven’t changed. But spiritual plants are heritable... passed on through the mother.”

Zheng Fa was stunned.

“Mitochondria?”

“Yes! It’s very similar to mitochondrial inheritance,” Teacher Tian confirmed.

Zheng Fa, extremely intrigued, asked several more questions, and even Old Bai came running in after hearing the news, surrounding Old Hou with a barrage of questions.

For a while, the room was bustling with excitement.

Everyone had forgotten about what Team Leader Yang had mentioned earlier.

Tang Lingwu’s father looked at Zheng Fa, who was animatedly discussing and full of passion, then glanced at his obedient and attentive daughter.

He couldn’t help but turn to meet Team Leader Yang’s eyes, and both of them saw a hint of confusion in each other’s expressions—

This fortune from the heavens, around here, it’s like nobody gives a d*mn...

...

Jiushan Realm.

Senior Sister Zhang flipped through several books Zheng Fa had brought, while Senior Sister Yuan peeked curiously from the side.

Topology in Basic Yuan Talismans

Introduction to Thunder Techniques

Introduction to Agronomy in Spiritual Energy Environments

These were all textbooks written recently by the folks at the retirement home—though they were only first drafts, some not even finished.

Zheng Fa had brought them now as preparation to start classes for the Jiushan Sect disciples.

Senior Sister Zhang flipped through the first book thoroughly.

After a long while, she finally sighed softly, “This Zhenren Bai writes textbooks with such clarity… I can’t compare…”

It’s fine, she’s been Nascent Soul for a while, and you’re still catching up...

Seeing that she approved of the books, Zheng Fa spoke up again, “Senior Sister Zhang, take a look at these.”

This time, he didn’t take out books, but rather a jade slip.

Inside the jade slip was the data Team Leader Yang had previously given him on how artificial intelligence circuits are built—why use a jade slip? Mainly because drawing it all out would take way too much effort.

Senior Sister Zhang accepted it and closed her eyes for a long while. When she opened them again, she looked at Zheng Fa with an odd expression.

“Senior Sister?”

“Junior Brother... are you sure you’re not some powerful figure reincarnated?”

Senior Sister Yuan immediately turned her gaze to Zheng Fa, sizing him up as if trying to figure out who he really was...

“...”

“Never mind Zhenren Bai, but this…” Senior Sister Zhang sighed, “Even if you gave me tens of thousands of years, I probably couldn’t design a spiritual energy circuit this refined.”

It was obvious the jade slip had deeply shaken her—she even had an expression of reverence, as if gazing up at a towering mountain.

And no wonder—it could be said this was one of the peak achievements of modern civilization.

“Master once lamented that our Jiushan Sect lacks a Soul Formation inheritance...” she looked at the jade slip and said, “But now... I feel like I have some ideas about Soul Formation...”

“But the things in this jade slip... they surpass any Soul Formation legacy.”

Senior Sister Yuan was dumbfounded just listening to her.

“Is it really that amazing?”

Senior Sister Zhang chuckled and suddenly traced a spiritual energy circuit in the air.

Zheng Fa immediately recognized it—those circuits in the jade slip, he had memorized all of them, so he knew exactly what this was:

Essentially, simulating artificial intelligence with circuits begins with building computing units. To put it simply... it’s basically chip design—

In simpler terms, this circuit could almost be seen as a kind of chip architecture.

“This circuit shows up often in the True Form Talisman of Mountains and Rivers...”

Senior Sister Zhang said softly.

Zheng Fa’s eyes slowly widened.

“Senior Sister Zhang, are you saying…”

“This circuit, I never quite understood it before... I was just imitating its use.” Senior Sister Zhang said softly, “But I didn’t expect the jade slip you gave me would be based on this.”

True Form Talisman of Mountains and Rivers...

The Jiushan Ancestor had already perished...

Which meant the operating system was gone, but the hardware was left behind?

“Senior Sister Zhang, are you saying...” Zheng Fa’s eyes lit up, “We can use the True Form Talisman of Mountains and Rivers for large-scale computation?”

That talisman now sounded like a high-powered computer.

Or rather, a natural computational platform!

If this idea could really be realized, Zheng Fa even felt the development of the Jiushan Realm would go far more smoothly than he had imagined!