Study Monster Cultivation System-Chapter 317 - 316-bit brute force

Unlike most engineers in the institute, Du Songtao was the kind of person who needed to be coddled by everyone, for fear that if he wasn’t serviced well, he might switch to a non-secret position, spend two years during the confidentiality period and then go off to be a partner in private aerospace.

On one hand, he had no ambition for power at all and didn’t squeeze into that circle. Anyone who wanted to be a leader could be one.

On the other hand, his expertise in carrier rockets, aerospace engineering, and especially satellite technology, had boldly reached a leading level across the whole system.

In short, a person who clearly had the ability to become a "scholar faction" leader, yet did not climb to the top, just played house by himself.

As a result, the upper echelons could neither guide him with benefits nor control him with tactics.

What he wanted to do, he had to do on his own, and what he didn’t want to do, couldn’t be imposed on him.

Such people were destined not to become scholar factions, nor did they have the motivation to become Study Demons.

In the end, he became an existence that was intimidating and made one grind their teeth in frustration yet could not be hated—

a "Study Vagabond."

A so-called Study Vagabond is someone arrogant due to their talents, beyond your control.

And Study Vagabonds are categorized into successful ones and failed ones.

Du Songtao, of course, belonged to the successful category. Though rebellious, when it came time for serious work, he would do it and do it extremely well, like that very smart but always mischievous child in class. Teachers would love him yet feel exasperated, ultimately scolding him while awarding him a certificate of excellence.

If one were to forcibly list a counter example, Jie Qifen would likely be categorized as a failed one. Though strong, he couldn’t handle real work, gradually became marginalized, and turned into an expendable character, merely retained for his acceptable Academic Power.

Towards the attitude of Study Vagabonds, Li Zheng two years ago was opposed, believing that they wasted their talent and time and did not study properly.

But today, he had gradually shifted to neutrality. Everyone has their own life and choices, and should not be bound by personal standards of value. As long as they could support themselves, didn’t engage in illegal activities, and didn’t degenerate into criminal scholastics, how they played was their own freedom.

Returning to the present, Du Songtao’s parachuting into Institute No. 17 was also an act full of Study Vagabond style, although limited by time. When 927 moved into the assembly stage, he had to go back. To let go of such a caliber person temporarily, Institute No. 4’s leadership also seemed to have been handled by Study Vagabond methods.

Having gained Zhu Mingyue’s trust, Li Zheng and Lin Yujing naturally became members of the "Du Songtao Parachute Division." Zhu Mingyue, on the surface, was tearfully grateful for the support from the parachutes, acknowledged their talents, and expressed great anticipation.

But in reality, everyone knew that such a specialized field and complex issue were unlikely to be solved by just a few important figures dropping in, especially since none of the three were engine specialists.

This chapt𝒆r is updated by frёewebηovel.cѳm.

Even if someone truly believed in them, thinking they could make a difference, it was still hard to say it out loud.

After all, in a community of engineers often with a decade or more of experience, it took a lot of courage and thick skin to say, "High school students can solve our current problems."

Some even thought Zhao Zhenhua had gone mad, resorting to desperate measures, placing hopes on two children, an act comparable to the irrational deeds of emperors during the final days of an empire.

However, the attitude towards Li Zheng and Lin Yujing was still very accommodating. These two kids were not to blame. Although they had enough credentials, they also did not display arrogance, instead greeting everyone with a bow and addressing them as "teacher," which was quite endearing.

In the end, most people still believed that if there were a solution, it would definitely come from within the team, not these individuals. They were all outstanding, but their presence, aside from proving the madness of a few leaders, would not serve any substantive purpose.

The good news was that Li Zheng had an office now.

Although it was a shared office, it was still quite thrilling; after all, there was a large bookcase, and he could put up many, many columns.

This was also due to Du Songtao’s influence. His rank wasn’t suitable for the common office area, so Zhu Mingyue arranged a large shared office for the paratroopers to land.

At four o’clock, the three arranged their belongings, adjusted their computers, and finally sat down steadily.

Du Songtao monopolized the window, while Li Zheng and Lin Yujing sat side by side on the other side, essentially set up like a mini studio.

After setting everything up, Li Zheng naturally began to dismantle the partition between him and Lin Yujing.

"!" Lin Yujing promptly pressed down on it, "Keep it!"

"Talking over it is so tiring, I’ll have to lean back."

"No, keep it. I want my own space."

"You’ll sleep in separate beds after you get married?"

"Don’t... don’t change the subject, you’re twisting my words."

"Sigh..." Li Zheng turned to Du Songtao, "Give me a hand here."

"You two sort it out yourselves," Du Songtao was leisurely scanning the preliminary fault report with his legs crossed, "It’s getting more like the incident with the God of Fire..."

Li Zheng hastily put down the partition and moved closer to Du Songtao.

"Can you elaborate?"

"It’s like the hydrogen oxygen engines developed in Europe in the 1990s. Both generations, God of Fire 1 and God of Fire 2, experienced numerous mission failures. When Yellow 2 failed the last time, I was just suspecting that the faults were somewhat similar to those of the God of Fire. Now, seeing this information, I’m pretty sure." Du Songtao put down the material and pursed his lips, "I just talked to Zhu Mingyue, and they are indeed referencing the experience of the God of Fire. The problem is the information they’ve let slip is very limited, and it’s hard to tell if it’s authentic or just misleading."

Li Zheng frowned and said, "So, what you’re saying is that the reasons and improvements for the God of Fire’s accidents that were made public might just be a smokescreen, not addressing the core issues."

"Exactly, so we cannot ignore the God of Fire, but we can’t just focus on it either," Du Songtao beckoned, "Come over here, I’ve got to assign some tasks."

"It’s Lin Yujing," Lin Yujing picked up her notebook and, grumbling, dragged her chair to sit across from Du Songtao.

"Eh?" Du Songtao smiled, "You see, our names even rhyme quite well. I’m 37 this year; how about you?"

"Tss!!" Lin Yujing let out a sound filled with hostility.

With resignation, Du Songtao turned to look at Li Zheng: "Is she like this with everyone..."

"Hmm... she probably thinks you are one of her own," Li Zheng also pulled up a chair and nodded, "It means she’s expressing fondness."

"I’ll just have to believe that for now," Du Songtao smiled at Lin Yujing, "Your mother is also someone I greatly admire, chief designer for Yellow 2. She not only had knowledge but courage. Honestly, I couldn’t bear that kind of pressure. If it were me, I would choose jobs that make a big splash and aren’t heavily criticized if they fail."

"Hmm..." Lin Yujing stiffened for a moment, then actually nodded, "I should be too..."

"Beautiful, we’re in this together now," Du Songtao chuckled. "But now the situation is different, I don’t want Qiuzhi-1 to be delayed anymore, plus I want to try my hand at this, so I came here. What about you guys?"

"For studying." Li Zheng nodded immediately.

"For... for..." Lin Yujing scratched her head, somewhat disordered, and finally had no choice but to reply, "Although I’d really like to see Yellow 2 perform a miracle, I was actually dragged here... and didn’t expect myself to really be of any use."

"Your judgment is very correct," Du Songtao said with a satisfied smile. "I don’t expect myself to be of much use either; like Li Zheng, thinking you can do something is just plain silly. However, that doesn’t stop us from trying. Remember our principle? ——Choose the tasks that would be stunning if successful, and won’t be too criticized if not."

"Yes." Lin Yujing nodded convincingly, "Hmm, in this together."

"What about you?" Du Songtao turned to Li Zheng. "Do you accept this attitude?"

"Barely accept it," Li Zheng nodded, "The basic task is to study, do as much as you can on top of that, and if Yellow 2 still hasn’t launched successfully by the end of my internship, I’ll continue to help on a part-time basis."

"Good, so our attitude is unified, next let’s talk about the rules," Du Songtao raised his hand, "First, leave work at six sharp, whoever wants to work overtime moves out of this office."

"Support!" Lin Yujing clapped happily.

"Tsk." Li Zheng simply turned his head.

Du Songtao continued.

"Second, don’t disturb me about work during off hours, but if it’s about having a drink, chatting or going to some party—I’m of course supportive."

"Third, don’t be lazy during work hours, work hard every minute, don’t do stupid things like working all night and then making up sleep during the day. I only want clear minds and abundant inspiration here. If you think you don’t have those, just go home and rest."

"Alright, rules are out of the way, now for the work strategy."

"We’re short on manpower; only tackle the major tasks."

"Focus on researching, uncovering inspirational faults and reliable clues."

"Then leave those findings to others outside, they will naturally work hard on follow-ups."

"We’ll use that time to search for the next inspiration."

"Until we arrive at reliable conclusions and establish effective solutions, we’ll maintain this work cycle."

"You might think this strategy treats outsiders unfairly, but we’re somewhat amateurs here, inspiration and a cross-disciplinary perspective are our strengths. We need to leverage these, not get bogged down in trivial tasks."

"So, starting now, find your inspiration, try to dig something out."

After watching Du Songtao for a long while, the two finally saw him wave his hand again: "I’m done, go ahead."

Li Zheng scratched his head, a bit confused: "Are there no specific instructions?"

"Didn’t I just give them?" Du Songtao tapped his head, "Find inspiration, dig something out. Any of us, whoever has any ideas or discoveries, we discuss anytime, cooperate on research if necessary, or else explore freely."

"Got it," Lin Yujing immediately stood up. "In this together!"

Du Songtao waved with a smile: "Remember, leave at six, don’t make me remind you."

As she spoke, Lin Yujing’s confidence seemed to surpass even that for rocket science, her face all resolute: "I’ll be precise to the second."

Li Zheng shook his head and got up, muttering, "My thinking isn’t driven by inspiration; guess I’ll go back to researching data and algorithms."

"Up to you, just leave at six."

"Is seven okay? Have dinner and then leave."

"No."

"Why are you so strict?"

"Just am."

"It’s just overtime..."

Li Zheng reluctantly returned to his workstation.

He was met there by Lin Yujing’s face full of comfort.

Her face seemed to say—finally, someone who can manage you!

...

Since working with Du Songtao, the pace of work had notably lightened.

There was no pressure, no deadlines; sometimes we would all discuss whenever someone had an inspiration, otherwise, everyone just did their own thing.

After mixing it up like this for two weeks...

Indeed, no progress was made!

In the meantime, Li Zheng had even taken three days off to go to Hengshui and brought back a biology gold medal, ranking seventh nationwide, which was also his worst performance so far in competitions, and the comment section regarding him was filled with feelings of regret.

However, during this process, Li Zheng’s resolve wasn’t weakened by Du Songtao’s work style; he still persisted in utilizing his limited strengths, hoping to find something in the test data using mathematical methods.

If not for the confidentiality requirements, he would have gone seeking advice from people like Jie Qifen with his mathematical models long ago.

During this process, he also tried to collaborate again with people from Institute No. 11, but their focus had shifted long ago, they were too busy with their own tasks to invest more energy into Li Zheng’s projects.

Unlike the lukewarm demeanor of the "parachuted division", opinions within the YF-87 team had already split into two fierce factions.

First, replace materials to strengthen the entire shaft system.

Although the exact cause could not be diagnosed, since the fault was a fracture of the shaft system, strengthening this weak link was naturally a feasible method.

The cost of such a measure was a significant increase in engine weight, reducing the rocket’s effective payload by 5% to 15%, and although it was not certain to solve the problem 100%, this solution had the advantage of being intuitive and quick. It could be implemented before the start of project 927 using the factory’s capacity and completed by the end of the year.

Second, redesign the entire engine set.

As Du Songtao had said, a carrier rocket is a complex and precise engineering feat.

Often, finding and correcting faults could be more costly than redesigning from scratch.

If it could not be thoroughly improved in a short time, it would be best to start over.

This kind of inexplicable low-probability fault was unlikely to occur twice in a row.

It’s like randomly choosing a number between 1 and 100, where 1 to 98 represents a successful launch and 99 and 100 represent a failure.

The first time, unluckily, 99 was drawn.

Then try again, it’s not likely to be unlucky continuously.

The advantage of this plan was that it had a greater possibility of eliminating the problem and also opened up more long-term developmental space for Yellow 2.

The disadvantage was also clear: redesigning the engine would not be possible within a year, and choosing this plan was tantamount to publicly declaring that Yellow 2 would yield to 927.

The large Chinese hydrogen-oxygen engine project really needed long-term planning.

These two plans had naturally made their way to Zhao Zhenhua’s desk.

At this time, Zhao Zhenhua had dyed his hair anew, erasing all signs of white hair.

Yet beneath this mane of dark hair, his face appeared even more aged.

"Ming Yue ah… what hasn’t Institute No. 17 experienced… can’t we overcome this hurdle?" Zhao Zhenhua clutched the report with a distracted gaze, "Reducing such a significant amount of effective payload, does Yellow 2 still hold any meaning? Isn’t the point of switching to hydrogen-oxygen to pursue an extreme load capacity? This is like a person who, in order to run faster, voluntarily reduces his weight, but then you find out his bones have become brittle, so you put two steel plates on his legs. What’s the point?"

"To prove he can still run." Zhu Mingyue nodded gravely, "First get it running, don’t fall down, then hasten to research the issue."

"Then haven’t we become the sinners delaying the development of space travel?" Zhao Zhenhua weakly lifted the report, staring at Zhu Mingyue, "Using such a misleading plan to secure more resources, patching things up, it might indeed temporarily save ourselves, but I cannot say that this thing is stronger than 927."

"Then there’s only the other plan." Zhu Mingyue sighed, "Give up the present and redesign."

"Sigh…" Zhao Zhenhua set down the report, leaned back in his chair, and stared up at the ceiling for a long time, "How are Du Songtao and the others doing with their research?"

"They have proposed several ideas, but lack effective evidence, making it difficult to proceed with the research, and even with solid evidence, it would likely be hard to find a solution in a short time."

"No, this isn’t Li Zheng’s style…" Zhao Zhenhua sat up straight again, "Has Li Zheng made any progress?"

"As far as I know, he’s still focused on data and algorithms, but his capabilities might have reached their limits." Zhu Mingyue shook his head, "He proposed sharing data with the lab at Harbin Institute of Technology to initiate a collaboration, but since it’s a major issue, I haven’t approved it yet."

"Why not?" Zhao Zhenhua glared, "Didn’t I say to cooperate as much as possible?"

"Secretary… I… let me say something a bit offensive…" Zhu Mingyue struggled, "I hope you can be more rational… Given the situation now, continuing to risk leaking secrets by doing these… these things that seem ridiculous to the outside world… is not a wise move."

"Fine, I understand." Zhao Zhenhua raised his arm, "Let him apply, not through your Sixth Institute’s fault processing channel but through the scientific research collaboration channel. Bring it to me, I’ll approve it."

"Secretary ah…" Zhu Mingyue looked as if he’d cry, "People are already talking… saying that you are mentally unwell… to actually send two..."

"Let them talk!" Zhao Zhenhua slammed the table and shouted, "If we could afford top data analysts, would I fucking rely on two high school students?! We can’t cooperate with data analysis companies for this kind of project, so what do you want me to do?! Having someone who can take responsibility and collaborate with Harbin Institute of Technology is already lucky. The times are changing, Ming Yue, we must embrace these new technologies. If we can’t attract top talent ourselves, then people like Li Zheng are our greatest saviors. He’s working on his own without using your resources; what are you afraid of by collaborating with Harbin Institute of Technology?"

"........."

After a long silence, Zhao Zhenhua finally managed to smooth his hair and calm himself down.

"927 has already entered the design stage…"

"Old Liang’s foresight is really fucking sharp, with Shen Tinglan involved, this process won’t take long…"

"Sorry, Ming Yue, installing steel plates can indeed temporarily get through the current predicament, but it amounts to deceiving superiors for self-interest, and if I were to use that plan to fool the leaders, then I would truly be crazy."

"I admit, sending Li Zheng involved a gamble."

"But the stakes I can place aren’t much."

"Let them curse at me, I’ve been owed plenty of scoldings in my life, being scolded a few more years doesn’t matter."

"Understood." Zhu Mingyue nodded, "I’ll help Li Zheng draft a report when I get back."

"Thank you, I’ll take responsibility for this, use the scientific research cooperation channel, and you Sixth Institute need not be involved." Zhao Zhenhua continued, "At this stage, we can’t go down the road of installing steel plates, and it’s too late to start over. We just have to hurry and continue searching for the root of the problem, but of course, that doesn’t mean indefinitely. By December at the latest, the factory will start moving for 927, and if we still haven’t found the root problem by then, you’d have to start over again…"

"It’s... ’we’, shall we start over together." Zhu Mingyue swallowed hard.

"Haha." Zhao Zhenhua laughed, "Don’t worry, by that time, I definitely won’t be here."

...

That night, Li Zheng secretly broke the rules.

He didn’t leave work at 6 pm.

Instead, he tucked himself into a corner of the cafeteria and quietly worked until 9 pm, still exhilarated.

Getting the collaboration with Harbin Institute of Technology approved, working with the leading laboratory in the field of engineering calculations in China, was undoubtedly exhilarating.

For this, he needed to race against the clock to prepare a gift for the meeting, fully expressing his limited achievements during this period to reduce Harbin Institute of Technology’s cost of understanding and quickly delve deeper into research.

During this time, Du Songtao and Lin Yujing were hardly idle either; they were looking for inspiration in the field of mechanical engineering, which was not their expertise. Even if they proposed some ideas, it was hard to follow through.

Of course, they didn’t have the strong sense of purpose that Li Zheng had, as coming here was merely a venture capital investment for them.

Amidst his vigorous typing, a voice came through.

"Hi…"

"I’m leaving…" Li Zheng thought the restaurant was closing, so he just raised his hand, "5 minutes."

"It’s me…" a person flopped down next to him, "Forgotten me already?"

Li Zheng turned his head only to realize it was the buzz-cut guy who had been in line to enter the office earlier.

"Teacher Liu Rui…" Li Zheng paused what he was doing, "What’s up?"

"We’ve got some results over here, but can’t make much of them… I see you’re working on the same thing," Liu Rui said as he pulled out his laptop, "I mainly study data from the latest three test runs, here... look… compiled from 176 suspect frequency curves…"

Li Zheng’s eyes widened.

He had seen these experimental data curves thousands, if not tens of thousands of times.

If you place ten fat orange cats in front of an ordinary person, they might find it hard to tell them apart.

But if someone had raised tens of thousands of orange cats from childhood, that person might be able to identify each one, name them, and describe their familial relationships as if reciting cherished family treasures.

Now, Li Zheng was undoubtedly a super cat raiser.

Although logically indescribable, intuitively, he could sense anomalies in these curves, just like a person can distinguish between patterns, meows, or even scents of their own kittens and feral orange cats.

"Quite interesting…" Li Zheng commented thoughtfully, "How did you pick these curves out? What software? What algorithm?"

"Ah, none of those…" the buzz-cut guy rubbed his head, "Human eyes, manually, picked out one by one…"

"?!?" Li Zheng was shocked.

Even if it was just data from the last three tests, the amount of content was incredibly massive.

To give a not-so-perfect analogy.

Suppose there’s a novel with 1.1 million characters, saved as a TXT file, about 2MB.

Your task is to find the typos.

But you can’t read the text, you can only understand binary 0s and 1s.

So, you break down this TXT file into binary form.

2MB, that’s two megabytes.

16,777,216 bits.

Each bit represents a binary digit, zero or one.

The final form, then, is a sequence totaling 16,777,216 digits long.

What the buzz-cut guy was doing, then, was scanning this super long sequence which would take countless screens to display,

By eye, by hand, and by intuition, picking out places among these 16,777,216 zeros and ones that looked off to him, likely typos.

Everyone knew the root of the malfunction was hidden in this data, but it had no language, couldn’t shout out. Li Zheng’s method was to look for a conversion code between binary and characters to restore the novel as much as possible, thereby finding the typos.

Meanwhile, the buzz-cut guy was engrossed in these zeros and ones, scanning each with his eyes and filtering line by line with his hands.

Savage yet robust.

The horrifying perseverance and determination were almost embarrassing for Li Zheng.

Even if this guy’s intuition was remarkable, he couldn’t possibly hit the mark every time.

That’s why he broadly picked out 176 suspicious curves.

"How long did you work on this…" Li Zheng grabbed the computer, flipping through in astonishment.

"Been working on it since that night, just finished before coming to eat…" Liu Rui asked somewhat shyly, "Do you think it helps?"

"I’m not sure, but…" Li Zheng watched the oscillating curves, feeling as if his mind resonated, "I’ve got fucking inspiration!"

"Then I should have shown it to you earlier." Liu Rui shook his head and sighed, "Actually, I’d share every curve I found with everyone right away, but each time it seemed I was wrong, after researching it always led to nothing, which really wasted time, and then no one took it seriously anymore. Plus, I wasn’t even sure this method was viable, and even if it was, I might have missed the vital one, so I picked out a lot of irrelevant ones…"

"Stop talking…" Li Zheng pushed the computer back, a storm brewing in his mind, "Send it to me, now… These curves make me uneasy, there must be some commonality… The key isn’t in any single one, but in their commonality! Any one, any ten are meaningless, but you chose them, put them together... fuck, send them over!"

"Li Zheng… are you okay…"

"Exceptionally well!" Li Zheng grabbed Liu Rui’s shoulders and roared, "Tonight, you’re mine! Don’t even think about going anywhere!"

At this moment.

It’s hard to say about anything else.

But the restaurant lady was genuinely scared.