Cutting-Edge Technology R&D Center

Chapter 22: The Grader’s Astonishment

“Xiao Hao, how long did it take you to design this drone?” Mr. Zhang’s gaze shifted from the drone to Wang Hao. Wang Hao hesitated for a moment before replying, “About a day.” Originally, the framework design for this drone had taken only a few hours. What would be an extremely difficult design for others was actually not that hard for Wang Hao. With Level 6 in Physics and Level 5 in Architecture, it was naturally no challenge for Wang Hao to design a structure fully grounded in scientific principles. After all, Level 6 in Physics was on par with researchers at major national R&D institutions, while Level 7 represented a significant threshold. As for his computer skills—the only area where he had reached Level 7—he had yet to encounter anyone with superior technical expertise. He had even gone out of his way to visit hacker hangouts to exchange technical knowledge, and had even hacked into the systems of the hackers he interacted with. Only a handful were able to detect his intrusions, but even if they discovered and counterattacked, they posed little threat in his eyes. Eventually, he lost interest in hacker communities and turned his full attention to researching Longnao. “One day…” Just as Wang Hao had expected, Zhang’s father’s face betrayed a look of disbelief. Yet, even though Wang Hao knew this, he dared not specify a longer timeframe, because over the past twenty-odd days, he had spent every waking moment with Zhang’s father and the others. “Where’s the remote control? Let’s turn on the drone and take a look,” Zhang’s father said softly. “It’s only controlled by a smartphone,” Wang Hao replied honestly. Since it had already been discovered, there was no point in hiding anything; he glanced at Fang Bing. “Here you go, Uncle…” Fang Bing immediately understood what Wang Hao meant. He took out his phone, opened the app, and handed it to Mr. Zhang. Zhang’s father looked at the app’s display, and a look of understanding flashed in his eyes. This drone was indeed more than it seemed. After getting to know Wang Hao over the past twenty-odd days, he knew that Wang Hao’s greatest strength lay in computer science, and seeing the app only confirmed his suspicions. Buzz, buzz, buzz As soon as Mr. Zhang activated the drone, the buzzing sound resumed. Under the curious gazes of Zhang Xin and Zhang Nan, it took flight, circling the living room under Mr. Zhang’s careful control. “What’s this…?” Mr. Zhang looked curiously at the control panel on his phone, which featured two buttons. “One is the auto-tracking program, and the other is for adjusting settings,” Wang Hao said softly. “Can I press them?” Zhang’s father’s curiosity grew even more upon hearing about the auto-follow mode. “Yes.” Upon hearing Wang Hao’s reply, Mr. Zhang immediately pressed the button. Instantly, the drone began moving automatically through the air, slowly circling around Fang Bing. “How does the positioning work…?” A look of confusion crossed Mr. Zhang’s face. “Uncle, it’s this,” Wang Hao said, pulling out an item before he could finish speaking. “This is the audio equipment Hao Ge made for my livestreams; it provides positioning for the drone.” Everyone else watched in surprise; the design was remarkably user-friendly. After a back-and-forth between Fang Bing and his father, Mr. Zhang and the others finally understood. Once they grasped the concept, a bright gleam lit up Zhang Xin’s eyes. “Bro… can you make one for me too?” Zhang Xin sounded as if she’d discovered a brand-new toy. “Bro… I want one, too.” “Sure. Once the materials arrive, I’ll make one for each of you myself.” Wang Hao smiled gently. From what Fang Bing had said earlier, he’d learned that Fang Bing and his son had put all their savings on the line, raising two million yuan. They’d already selected a factory, and the production permits were currently being processed. Mr. Fang stood there for a moment before taking his leave, accompanied by Fang Bing. At that moment, Zhang’s father was utterly stunned. Originally, he had thought Wang Hao had significantly overestimated himself, but after seeing this drone, he realized he had actually underestimated Wang Hao—this young man who had already shown his sharp talents back in high school. “Have you ever thought about doing this yourself?” Mr. Zhang wasn’t criticizing Fang Bing and his father, but everyone knew this drone was bound to be profitable, and once it gained a reputation, the returns would certainly be substantial. “No, it’s too much trouble. It’s not a bad idea to just hand it off to an agent,” Wang Hao shook his head and said casually “Trouble… just hand it off…” Mr. and Mrs. Zhang were both at a loss for words. Here was a project that could clearly make a fortune, yet Wang Hao had casually handed over the licensing rights simply because he found it too much trouble and didn’t want to deal with it. Meanwhile, at a mountain villa in Changnan City, dozens of people had gathered to share amusing anecdotes from their exam-grading sessions. They were all team leaders from various grading groups across Xijiang Province. “You guys have no idea—there was a Chinese language prodigy on this year’s college entrance exam. None of us—more than a dozen graders—could find a single place to deduct points, not even in the essay.” “That’s nothing. We had a perfect-scorer in math too—every single answer was correct.” “We had a perfect scorer in the comprehensive science exam, too…” As they chatted one after another, they marveled at the “genius” who had emerged in their respective subjects. After finishing the grading and handing over the test papers to the designated staff, they needed to enter the scores into the system. They couldn’t help but marvel that a perfect score had actually appeared in the subjects they’d graded for this college entrance exam, and the team leaders gathered here to exchange stories. But when a voice spoke up... everyone present turned to look at the teacher who had spoken. “Do you think… this might be the same person?” one teacher asked hesitantly. “Old Xie, what’s the name of that student in your math section?” The Chinese grading team leader looked taken aback for a moment but quickly asked. “Wang Hao. What’s the name of the student who got a perfect score on the Chinese exam?” The head of the math grading team also looked taken aback as he asked. “His name is also Wang Hao,” the Chinese grading team leader replied. At that moment, a shocking thought crossed his mind, and his gaze fell on the two team leaders in charge of Integrated Science and Foreign Languages. “Wang Hao,” the head of the science comprehensive grading team said with a wry smile, a hint of shock in his eyes. By now, he had a pretty good idea that this was likely the same person. “Wang Hao.” The head of the foreign language grading team also realized this terrifying truth at that moment, muttering to himself—it seemed that Xijiang Province was about to produce a perfect-score top scorer unlike any seen before. For a moment, the courtyard where the head graders and group leaders had gathered fell into an unprecedented silence. Everyone was murmuring the same name... Wang Hao. They knew what kind of storm would erupt once the college entrance exam results were released. This was the first candidate in Xijiang Province—and perhaps even the entire country—to achieve a perfect score. Tomorrow was the day the results would be announced.