Cutting-Edge Technology R&D Center

Chapter 50: Air Quality Purification

“Put it here. Just set it up properly for me,” Wang Hao said to the porters. Since returning to Yanjing from Beihe Province, Wang Hao hadn’t ventured far from home, instead devoting himself entirely to optimizing the array. Within a few days, he had worked out the theoretical framework for the array. The items being moved were all brand-new servers. He couldn’t even be bothered to go out and select the configurations himself, so he simply ordered thirty of them online—an order totaling around 1. 5 million. Because it was such a large order, the shipping and installation were extremely efficient—he placed the order yesterday, and they arrived today. He had already filled an entire room with servers; thirty servers stood neatly arranged in two racks. After connecting all the servers, Wang Hao pulled out his graphics workstation and began typing away. Line after line of code appeared rapidly, and as he typed, the several cameras installed in the room slowly lit up. “Hello, Hao Ge.” A metallic voice suddenly came from the speaker; just moments ago, Wang Hao had been arranging a new body for Longnao. “How’s the new body?” Wang Hao said with a hint of a smile. To him, Xiao Long was no different from his own child—born from nothing, created entirely by his own hands. “Efficiency has increased a hundredfold. It feels better than ever.” Longnao’s metallic voice sounded again. “Alright, as long as it works well.” Wang Hao nodded with a smile. He took in the air all around him—even though he’d already bought several air purifiers, he still felt a bit uncomfortable—and said, “Xiao Long, explain the principle behind air purifiers.” “Air purifiers are all the rage these days. They use carbon-based compounds to capture and trap dust particles, thereby optimizing air quality…” A thoughtful look flashed across Wang Hao’s eyes. He picked up one of the air purifiers he’d bought, took it apart, and examined it. The key was the material. After taking it apart, he furrowed his brow and fell deep in thought. “It’s unlikely we can improve this,” Wang Hao said after thinking for a while, shaking his head—he hadn’t come up with any ideas. “Based on my calculations, unless we develop a new type of carbon fiber to enhance its effectiveness, it’s nearly impossible to achieve significant improvements by modifying existing materials. However, we could use electrolysis to produce carbonated water, then combine it with specialized techniques based on the principles of fermentation to give it the ability to absorb bacteria, thereby purifying the air.” “Carbonated water? Electrolyzed water? Fermentation?” A sudden idea struck Wang Hao. In fact, with many things, once you have a breakthrough, you realize it’s really no big deal at all. The human mind has blind spots; sometimes, when you manage to think through something within that blind spot, a new idea emerges—that is invention; that is innovative thinking. After that, Wang Hao became completely absorbed in his own world, oblivious to the passage of time. It wasn’t until Fang Bing returned from his livestream and snapped the utterly engrossed Wang Hao back to reality that he suddenly realized just how much time had actually passed. “Hao Ge, what have you been doing this whole week? You haven’t even taken a shower?” Fang Bing looked at Wang Hao with a disgusted expression. “Uh, I’ve been busy. I’ll go take a shower first.” Wang Hao blushed; for the past twenty days, he’d been researching air quality optimization based on his own ideas, and especially in the last few days, he’d been working around the clock. “Good thing I got back from my livestream early—otherwise, who knows what might’ve happened to you.” Fang Bing watched Wang Hao head off to take a shower, shook his head, and called out. For the past ten or so days, Fang Bing had been training like crazy. It was only a week ago that he’d gone out for a four-day livestream, and when he returned, he found the house in complete disarray. From their time together over the past ten days or so, Fang Bing had come to realize just how formidable Wang Hao could be when he was fully focused. Even at home, when Wang Hao was deep in thought, he wouldn’t even notice Fang Bing walking right past him. “The air in this room is actually this good?” Fang Bing took a deep breath and suddenly realized the air quality inside was much better than outside. There was none of that oppressive heaviness he constantly felt when breathing outdoors; especially after stepping into the room, he noticed the air was significantly fresher. He took a few deep, greedy breaths as he moved from room to room. Since arriving in Yanjing, he’d had more than enough of the city’s terrible air; breathing in such crisp air suddenly made him feel as if he’d returned to the mountains of Gancheng. “Hao Ge, did you figure it out?” Fang Bing asked Wang Hao, who had just stepped out of the shower, a look of surprise on his face. “What do you think? Not bad, right?” Wang Hao smiled and nodded slightly; the success of his research on air-filtered water had put him in a great mood. “Is this the water?” Fang Bing looked at a bowl of pale blue water and picked it up to examine it closely. “That’s right. Once it turns completely dark blue, it’s time to replace it,” Wang Hao nodded. This was the result of his work over the past twenty-odd days—he’d finally succeeded in developing it just as the new semester was about to begin. Now, inside this room, he no longer had to endure Yanjing’s smog. “This is great—really great,” Fang Bing said, a flicker of excitement in his eyes. He knew what this meant, but he didn’t bring it up—the booming sales of his drones had already made him a fortune, and he was a contented man who wouldn’t ask for more. Just then, Fang Bing’s cell phone rang. He glanced at it and said to Wang Hao “It’s the squad leader calling.” Fang Bing picked it up without thinking, but the moment he answered, he immediately held the phone away from his ear. “Fang Bing, what’s going on with you and Wang Hao? I’ve been trying to call you for four or five days and haven’t been able to get through. Why are you doing these outdoor livestreams for no reason? I was starting to think you and Wang Hao had been kidnapped as soon as you arrived in Yanjing.” The voice was so loud that even though Fang Bing hadn’t put the phone on speaker, Ma Ling’s voice seemed to burst right out of the receiver, making every word perfectly clear to Wang Hao. Come to think of it, that made sense—his phone’s battery must have died long ago. He looked around and finally spotted the phone on the bedside table; sure enough, it was dead. “Class President, how did you know I was doing a livestream?” Fang Bing asked, somewhat surprised. Surely no one in the class knew about the livestream. Fang Bing glanced at Wang Hao, who shook his head slightly, signaling that he hadn’t said a word—which left Fang Bing a bit puzzled. “I called Teacher Zhou to get your dad’s number, and he told me. I said, ‘You’re really something—you became a top streamer right after graduation. You must be making a pretty good income every month, right?’ ” Ma Ling said with a touch of admiration. She truly hadn’t expected that Fang Bing, who had been so unremarkable in class, would start streaming right after graduation. She’d taken a look, and it seemed he was actually quite popular. “Uh, it’s just pocket change. Class President, what did you need me for?” Fang Bing was taken aback—he hadn’t expected Ma Ling to have actually reached out to his father. “The classmates from our class who are in Yanjing are planning to get together there, but we’re only just getting around to letting you know now. Wang Hao—can you get in touch with him?” “He’s right here. When is it?” Fang Bing hesitated for a moment as he looked at Wang Hao, then spoke up. “We originally planned this a week in advance, so you don’t have much time left—it’s the day after tomorrow.” “Okay, we’ll definitely be there.” After all, they were classmates. In Gancheng, that might not seem particularly special, but in a place like Yanjing—where they knew no one—it gave them a sense of having a close friend in a foreign land. Wang Hao felt the same way. After all, his research on air purification had come to a close, and having successfully developed an air-purifying solution harmless to the human body meant he could take a break for the time being.