Genius Chapter 213: Extra- Afterwards (Part 1)

Chapter 213: Extra- Afterwards (Part 1)

Translated by Karai of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Addis

 

The headquarters of the Firmament Group was located in the Capital Planeta district’s central urban area, where skyscrapers for technology lined the commercial zone, and hovercars navigated between them. The R&D tasks scattered across various star systems were reported on every six months, with project leaders bringing their periodic results to the headquarters for a summary report.

“Did you arrive?”

“Yes, but why are you still pulling in investment to wrap up your project?”

“It’s tough. Our type of product isn’t doing well in the market recently, and funding has shrunk by more than half.”

As they spoke, people came and went in the meeting room, with both virtual and in-person meetings running simultaneously. The number of attendees was substantial. After a moment, a man in a suit, accompanied by his assistant, walked away with a solemn expression, nodding respectfully to those around him, decisively making his way through the crowd.

“Isn’t that Mr. Yu?”

“Yes, I heard this year’s conference is entirely under his direction.”

“He practically took over the direct R&D department last year, so it’s about time.”

“Mr. Yu is quite young but accomplished.”

“Engineer Chen, he can be hard to talk to, don’t let his age fool you. He handled that major project last year, and it wasn’t easy.”

“Then we’ll have to give it a try,” said the speaker, who was the head of a fringe project at the Firmament Group, surnamed Chen. He had been overseeing the development of an older project, but in recent years, he hadn’t delivered good results and was now facing the risk of the project being shut down. It turned out that the purpose of this meeting was for him to negotiate with other high-ranking officials in hopes of finding a turnaround opportunity for the project.

However, when the meeting began, he realized that his chances of success were slim.

The direct R&D department was part of the headquarters and was one of the core departments of the Firmament Group, controlling over half of the company’s key projects. Since the group’s heir entered the grassroots for training ten years ago, he had successfully led several major core projects, such as the Celestial Horizon loader and multi-carrier intelligent civil aviation. Though he hadn’t yet taken over the leadership of the Firmament Group, he had become the head of the R&D headquarters.

After the heir took charge, he reformed the direct R&D department, and the group’s high-level management had undergone several rounds of personnel changes. The internal power structure of the Firmament Group was now vastly different from ten years ago. Research targets had shifted more towards the future. Chen listened anxiously during the meeting, hearing that many projects were being halted. When the final evaluation was made, his project was ranked third from the bottom.

After a tense meeting, he realized their situation was even more difficult than he had anticipated. Left with no choice, he sought out Yu Zhen’s assistant after the meeting. The assistant didn’t reject him but instead led him to a lounge area to wait.

“Hello, please wait here for a moment. Mr. Yu is in a video conference,” the assistant said.

After Chen sat down in the lounge area, he noticed a young man sitting across from him. The young man appeared to have just graduated from university, dressed simply and casually, holding a seemingly inexpensive terminal. The screen displayed some outdated data as it flickered.

Chen couldn’t help but glance at the young man. The assistant who had led him in didn’t leave but instead approached the young man and whispered a few words to him.

The young man nodded slightly after listening, saying, “It’s fine, let him finish his work first. I’ll head back to the office soon.”

The assistant replied, “Then I’ll take you back later.”

“No need,” the young man nodded again. “You all carry on with your work.”

The assistant didn’t say anything more and quickly left the lounge.

The young man didn’t seem in a hurry to leave either. He continued to focus on the screen, scrolling with a casual motion.

“Hello,” Chen couldn’t help but speak up after watching for a while. “That’s a V-type terminal, right? An older model? Are you using it to calculate basic data?”

Nowadays, few researchers used V-type terminals for basic calculations. Most would use the latest models, as few people knew that the V-type could provide an extra digit of accuracy. Chen quickly guessed that the young man was likely involved in similar work and felt a sense of familiarity, adding, “The V-type is good for calculations, though the steps are a bit more complicated. You can simplify them.”

The young man’s gaze lingered on Chen for a moment, as if recognizing him. His tone was slightly more relaxed, but still polite as he said, “Professor Chen, I’ve read your paper.”

“The effectiveness of constructing the V-type system—I was deeply inspired by it.”

Chen paused when he heard this, slightly stunned. “That was many years ago.”

He had expected the young man to be just a student with a shallow understanding, but to his surprise, the young man’s perspective was very fresh. It seemed he had conducted deep research on the V-type framework. Several of the data points the young man referenced were even more detailed than what Chen himself had. With nothing pressing to do and unsure how long Mr. Yu would be, Chen decided to move to a different seat and engage the young man in discussion.

“Are you a researcher here at headquarters?” Chen asked.

The young man shook his head. “No, I work at the research institute.”

He then asked, “Professor Chen, are you still working on the V-type data board?”

“Yes… but maybe not in the future,” Chen said with a bitter smile. The project he was working on had received heavy investment, and the company had supported it for many years, but according to the group’s plans, projects with excessive losses were soon to be shut down. Even though he had arranged a meeting with Mr. Yu, he didn’t have much confidence. The project would probably be shut down by next quarter. “The project is stagnating; it’s probably going to be stopped.”

The young man responded, “But recently, Firmament and Capital Research Institute publicly announced a partnership, and doesn’t Capital Research Institute have a V-type project as well?”

“That’s true,” Chen sighed inwardly. But Firmament wouldn’t necessarily support two projects at the same time, especially since their own project had been consistently losing money. “It’s nothing. Let’s not talk about this. You were saying earlier…”

The two of them discussed the topic for about twenty minutes, becoming quite engrossed in their conversation. Chen only snapped out of it when he heard the terminal’s notification sound. He saw the young man take another terminal from his bag, scan the information, and it seemed he was about to leave.

“Are you leaving?” Chen asked.

The young man nodded. “I have something to attend to, but we can discuss this again next time.”

After saying that, he quickly got up, grabbed his bag, and briskly walked toward the door. Before leaving, he added, “Everything will go smoothly.”

“Thank you, take care,” Chen said, bidding farewell to the young man he felt he had just met but already wished he had known earlier. After the young man left, Chen suddenly realized he hadn’t asked for his contact information. He glanced at the electronic board beside him and wondered how he would have the chance to meet again. Lost in thought, he was suddenly interrupted by the assistant who had entered earlier, greeting him warmly. “Hello, this way please.”

As they entered the office, Chen could hear Yu Zhen communicating with someone.

“Why are you leaving so soon? I had Xiao Wu order lunch for you. If there’s something urgent at the research institute, it can wait until after lunch,” Yu Zhen said, looking down at the documents, his attention seemingly focused entirely on the conversation on the other end. His tone was noticeably different from their earlier meeting; he seemed to consider the matter of lunch quite important.

After a while, the communication ended.

Once Yu Zhen hung up, his gaze shifted to Chen.

Chen felt a momentary pressure from the other person, but soon, the pressure was lifted, and Yu Zhen spoke to him in a different tone. “Professor Chen, please have a seat. There’s something I’ve been meaning to discuss with you. Since you’re here for the meeting today, we can talk about the potential project collaboration.”

“Collaboration…?”

Chen felt somewhat dazed. During their conversation, he had initially thought that the project he was responsible for was going to be halted, but instead, he learned that there was another, more favorable option for continuing it. It turned out to be a new collaboration between Capital Research Institute and the Firmament Group, which also included potential cooperation with Chen’s project. The Firmament Group had invested heavily in the v-model, and now with this new partnership, the priority of Chen’s project would change.

After their discussion, Chen walked out of Yu Zhen’s office in a bit of a daze. Just as the young man had said earlier, everything had gone smoothly.

“Deliver it to the Capital Research Institute.”

The assistant, who had come out of the office, nodded politely as he passed Chen, hurrying toward the exit. “Yes, it’s for Mr. Su,” he said.

As the assistant walked away, Chen heard whispers in the break room.

“Assistant Wu is ordering takeout again.”

“Must be for Mr. Su, right? Last time I saw Assistant Wu delivering milk tea and coffee several times.”

“President Yu originally had plans to have lunch with Mr. Su, but the meeting ran too long, so it didn’t happen.”

“Oh, I know. Mr. Su arrived early and sat in the break room for quite a while before leaving. But at this time, they should be having afternoon tea, right?”

“Not to mention, given the situation, President Yu should be finishing work on time this afternoon.”

When Chen heard Mr. Su’s name, he was a bit surprised. He wasn’t very sensitive to office gossip, but he occasionally overheard younger colleagues discussing things. The heir to the Firmament Group was young and talented, and many ladies admired him. His personal life had always been a subject of curiosity. However, Yu Zhen’s career had been flourishing in recent years, while his romantic life had remained quiet. It wasn’t until a few years ago during a financial interview that the host had raised this topic, and Yu Zhen had revealed that he already had a boyfriend, which sparked some discussion.

But Yu Zhen had always protected his relationship with his boyfriend well, and there was little external discussion about their love life. Chen had only occasionally overheard gossip and learned that Yu Zhen’s boyfriend was also a researcher, working at Capital Planet.

He thought about the communication Yu Zhen had been engaged in before their conversation, as well as the hurried assistant, and still had some doubts in his mind.

Someone hurried over. “Leader Chen, there are some agreements that need your confirmation.”

Chen snapped out of his thoughts and quickly went to attend to the matter. There was a lot of handover work for the collaboration, and it couldn’t be completely resolved right away. By the time he understood the situation, it was already after 5 PM. Calculating the time, he decided to head over to Capital First Research Institute to get a better understanding of the situation before making any decisions.

Thinking he could arrive before the research institute closed, he hurried to the hovercar path. Just as he was about to call for a hovercar, he saw a man in a suit coming out of a nearby bubble tea shop, holding two cups of drinks.

Chen paused in surprise. “President Yu? What are you doing here?”

Yu Zhen nodded when he saw him. “I’m bringing drinks for my lover. I forgot to order them in advance.”

He then asked, “Professor Chen, what brings you here?”

“There are some things regarding the collaboration that need to be confirmed in person,” Chen replied.

“I’m planning to head over to the research institute to take a look.”

Yu Zhen’s gaze lingered on his terminal screen.

Chen said, “I’m not very familiar with Capital Planet, so I was planning to call a hovercar.”

Yu Zhen asked, “Did you call for the car?”

Chen paused for a moment. “Not yet.”

Yu Zhen replied, “Then let me take you there.”

Chen glanced at the bubble tea in his hand and quickly said, “There’s no rush, I can go on my own. You’re busy.”

Yu Zhen responded naturally, “It’s no problem, I’m heading that way anyway.”