I might catch a minor illness and never come back

He pushed open the door and walked into the principal's office.

Hao Ping wasn't the only one inside.

Two middle-aged men in Mao suits were also sitting on the sofa.

They exuded an incredibly strong aura of authority.

The moment Chen Zhi walked in, the conversation in the room abruptly stopped.

Hao Ping pointed to the empty sofa opposite them, gesturing for Chen Zhi to sit down.

"Chen Zhi, let me introduce you."

"This is Director Li from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and this is Section Chief Wang from the Ministry of Science and Technology."

In the middle of the night, two powerful figures from the capital were sitting in the office of the president of Peking University, waiting for a college freshman.

What were they planning?

Director Li looked Chen Zhi up and down, his gaze a mix of scrutiny and appreciation.

"Student Chen Zhi, we just watched your entire livestream."

"The level of technology Moss displayed is truly shocking. To be honest, it far exceeds our expectations for the current domestic AI sector."

He paused for a couple of seconds.

"But have you considered the consequences if this level of technology falls into foreign hands?"

Chen Zhi caught on immediately; they were here to lay down the law.

"Director Li, please rest assured."

Chen Zhi sat up straight, crossing his hands over his knees.

"Deep Space Tech's core technology is entirely in our own hands."

"Every line of underlying code is in the underground server room of Science Building No. 1, and all our servers are deployed domestically. There will absolutely be no leaks."

Director Li nodded and leaned back against the sofa.

"That's for the best."

"However, we still hope you can establish deeper cooperation at the national level."

"After all, AI technology of this caliber is no longer just a commercial product; it directly concerns national security."

Chen Zhi understood perfectly. They wanted to bring him into the fold.

"Cooperation is certainly not a problem. It's Deep Space Tech's honor to contribute to the country."

Chen Zhi smiled, then shifted his tone.

"But as for the specifics of the cooperation, that will depend on the terms."

Director Li picked up his teacup.

"What terms do you want?"

"Very simple."

Chen Zhi held up three fingers.

"First, Deep Space Tech's absolute independence cannot be compromised. We are a commercial company, not a state-run research institution."

"Second, the core technical team must be under my sole management. Outsiders cannot interfere with our specific research and development direction."

"Third, if the national team wants to buy shares, they must bid fairly against other capital. There will be no administrative mandates."

The moment these words were spoken, the atmosphere in the office instantly changed.

Section Chief Wang, sitting to the side, slammed his teacup down, producing a dull thud.

"You have quite the appetite."

Section Chief Wang stared at Chen Zhi.

"Do you realize that your Moss just recommended ten stocks to millions of netizens directly during the livestream?"

"The Banking Regulatory Commission and the Securities Regulatory Commission have already called the higher-ups! Suspected market manipulation and illegal stock recommendations—these charges alone are enough to shut down Deep Space Tech by tomorrow!"

"If no one steps up to protect you, do you really think you could sit here peacefully negotiating terms?"

Faced with this level of pressure, any ordinary college student would have been scared weak in the knees.

But Chen Zhi simply leaned back into the sofa and casually rubbed his chest.

"Ouch, I've been staying up late every day for R&D recently, and it seems my heart has developed some issues."

Chen Zhi furrowed his brows, his face contorted in pain.

"Section Chief Wang, you frightened me so much that my angina is acting up."

"If domestic medical facilities can't cure me, I might have to pack up my family and fly to America or Singapore in a few days for a heart bypass or something."

"If the surgery goes poorly, I might never come back. By then, Moss's maintenance and updates will probably grind to a complete halt."

Section Chief Wang was utterly stunned.

He had seen all kinds of troublemakers, but he had never seen someone act like such a blatant scoundrel.

This was a clear threat.

If you dare to shut me down, I'll just take my technology and run overseas!

Hao Ping coughed heavily from the side.

"Chen Zhi, know your limits."

Although Hao Ping was reprimanding him, the protective tone in his voice was incredibly obvious.

Director Li suddenly laughed.

He waved his hand, stopping Section Chief Wang from lashing out.

"You really are an interesting kid. Bold and sharp-minded. No wonder you could create something like Moss."

Director Li took a business card from his breast pocket, placed it on the coffee table, and slid it toward Chen Zhi.

"Alright, we can consider your three conditions."

"But there is one red line you absolutely must not cross."

Director Li dropped his smile, his tone turning deadly serious.

"Moss's core technology must absolutely never be sold to foreign capital."

"Especially the United States."

Chen Zhi nodded without hesitation.

"Deal."

He picked up the business card from the table; it had only a name and a phone number on it.

"This is my private number."

Director Li stood up and straightened his clothes.

"If you ever run into any blind fools causing trouble for you, or if you face any policy hurdles, call me anytime. I'll handle it for you."

Chen Zhi immediately stood up and carefully tucked the business card into his pocket.

"Thank you, Director Li. I won't hesitate to reach out when trouble finds me."

By the time he walked out of the principal's office, it was already 1:00 AM.

The early autumn night breeze blew against his face, and Chen Zhi let out a long, heavy breath.

He had managed to pass tonight's hurdle.

With official backing, the domestic capital and jealous tech giants who wanted to use underhanded tactics against him would have to weigh their own clout carefully.

Meanwhile, on the internet, the storm was continuing to escalate.

According to a message from Dai Damai, the total online discussion volume regarding Moss tonight had already surpassed 300 million.

The most miserable were the internet giants who had just heavily invested in the Metaverse concept.

In 2021, right after Zuckerberg renamed Facebook to Meta, domestic giants followed suit, dumping tens and hundreds of billions into the massive money pit of virtual reality.

But with the release of Moss, the table was completely flipped on the entire tech circle.

Everyone suddenly realized that developing virtual headsets and digital collectibles were nothing but toys in the face of true artificial intelligence.

The boards of directors of major tech giants held emergency meetings overnight to discuss countermeasures.

Countless investors canceled their vacation flights to Sanya overnight, frantically searching for Deep Space Tech's contact information.

As Chen Zhi walked along the small campus path, his mind was busy plotting a much larger chess game.

Currently, Deep Space Tech was in the limelight; money wasn't an issue at all.

As long as he opened the door for financing, people would be fighting to invest even at a valuation of tens of billions.

But his real headache was computing power.

Moss's evolution required massive amounts of data to feed on, which necessitated an incredibly massive computing cluster.

The one thousand A100 graphics cards currently in the server room could at best be considered a starting point.

Compared to the computing clusters of overseas giants, this wasn't even a fraction.

He knew better than anyone that in just a few years, the superpower across the ocean would completely embargo the export of high-end computing chips to China.

In his previous life, the development of domestic AI was constrained at every turn, forcing them to rely on free open-source models simply because they were choked off from computing power chips.

If he wanted Deep Space Tech to truly become a world-changing giant, he absolutely could not repeat the same mistakes.

He had to stockpile enough computing chips before the hammer of sanctions fell.

And to achieve this, relying solely on domestic capital wasn't enough.

He had to bring foreign capital into the game.

Capital knows no borders. As long as Deep Space Tech could bring them ten or a hundred times the profit, these bloodthirsty Wall Street crocodiles would take the initiative to lobby Congress and help clear the obstacles for Deep Space Tech to purchase chips.

This was called binding interests.

Defeating magic with magic.

At this thought, Chen Zhi quickened his pace and headed toward Science Building One.

Pushing open the door to the Deep Space Tech office, he found it brightly lit inside.

The employees were cheering and celebrating tonight's massive success, and the desks were piled high with the barbecue and beer that Dai Damai had just ordered.

Chen Zhi made his way through the crowd and returned to his private office.

Barely two minutes after he sat down, the door was pushed open.

Pei Ningxue walked in, her high heels clicking against the floor.

There was obvious exhaustion in her eyes, but she was in an unusually highly spirited state.

"Mr. Chen, our company's external email has crashed."

Pei Ningxue slapped a stack of printed email lists onto Chen Zhi's desk.

"From the end of the livestream until now, in just two short hours, I've received over three hundred letters of intent for investment."

"Sequoia, Hillhouse, Matrix, SoftBank... Every top-tier venture capital firm you can name is looking for us."

"My personal phone is also blowing up. It's all people using various connections trying to throw money at us."

Chen Zhi didn't even look at the documents.

He grabbed Pei Ningxue's wrist and pulled slightly.

Pei Ningxue let out a gasp as she fell right onto Chen Zhi's lap.

Chen Zhi buried his face in the crook of her neck, taking a deep breath of her natural scent.

Then, he planted a heavy kiss on her moist lips.

"What are you doing!"

Pei Ningxue's cheeks flushed slightly. She struggled symbolically for a moment before leaning softly into Chen Zhi's embrace.

"There are people right outside. Watch your behavior."

She complained with her mouth, but her arms wrapped around Chen Zhi's neck.

"What's there to be afraid of? I'm the boss."

Chen Zhi held her, feeling the warm softness in his arms.

"You're about to become a billionaire, yet you're still so childish."

Pei Ningxue rolled her eyes at him.

"No amount of money is as good as my Ningxue."

Chen Zhi casually threw out a cheesy pickup line.

Upon hearing this, Pei Ningxue's eyes lit up.

She stared straight at Chen Zhi, her tone suddenly becoming incredibly serious.

"Then marry me."

"I can marry you right now, and we can go get our marriage certificate tomorrow. I'll give you children right away, as many as you want."

The office instantly went quiet.

The smile on Chen Zhi's face froze.

He silently shifted his gaze away, pretending to look at the documents on the desk.

"Scumbag."

Pei Ningxue cursed without holding back.

She had long been used to Chen Zhi's evasive attitude of playing dead. Although her heart still felt a bit sour, she wouldn't get as heartbroken as before.

She stood up from Chen Zhi's lap, smoothed out her slightly messy skirt, and instantly switched back into work mode.

"Down to business. With so many investment firms, how do you plan to choose?"

Chen Zhi put away his joking mood and instructed seriously.

"President Pei, turn down all those ordinary domestic capital firms that purely want to come in and take a slice of the pie."

"For this round of financing, we will only accept two types of money."

"First, state-owned capital with a government background."

"Second, financially robust overseas funds."

Pei Ningxue paused for a moment.

"I can understand state-owned capital; it's good to have a big tree to lean on for shade. But why focus on bringing in overseas USD funds? We aren't short of money right now, so why let them come in and share the profits?"

"Because we need a shield."

Chen Zhi stood up, walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, and looked out at the pitch-black night.

"Next, we are going to the international market to buy up A100 graphics cards in massive quantities. If we make too big of a move, it will arouse the vigilance of certain people."

"Letting those Wall Street vampires buy shares is purely so they can bicker with the US Department of Commerce on our behalf at crucial moments."

Pei Ningxue was extremely smart and understood immediately.

"Understood. Binding interests."

She nodded and turned to walk toward the desk.

"I'll go reply to the emails right now and filter out the institutions that meet our criteria."