Chapter 38: The Little Lodger of the Knight-Errant

Shen Jiang arrived with the mindset of "I just have to see what kind of skills this kid actually has." She stood with her arms crossed, watching coldly as Shang Lu busied himself, her gaze suspicious. This young woman simply doubted that someone in his early twenties could accomplish anything earth-shattering—though she didn't know how he had managed to convince the leaders of Base 151 and the Anti-Advent Joint Command Center, she was determined that he wouldn't pass her inspection so easily.

"Supervisor."

"Hmm? I'm here. What are your orders, leader?" Shang Lu was holding a laptop, which was connected to the control panel of the MEG-BCI system via a data cable. He was lowering his head to calibrate the parameters. In its bare-bones state, the MEG-BCI system could barely output three words a minute; at this speed, it wouldn't even be powered up by the time the Angels reached Chengdu, let alone be capable of fighting them.

"As far as I know, the development of the MEG-BCI system has completely stalled. It has hit insurmountable obstacles, and everyone is at a loss. Do you actually have a way to solve this?" Shen Jiang began her interrogation.

"Uh-huh," Shang Lu replied without looking up. "Done your homework?"

"I consulted with industry insiders and checked some literature," Shen Jiang said, leaning against the door of the shielded room, sounding quite confident. "Supervisor, I must remind you that the mainstream academic community is explicitly opposed to what you are trying to do. Even the top experts unanimously agree that it is impossible to succeed."

"Of course, which is why I chose a different technical path." Shang Lu tapped the keyboard and scratched his cheekbones, speaking casually. "A universal MEG-BCI system for giant mech operation is impossible, but it is possible to create an algorithm tailored to a specific individual. The advantage of the MEG system lies in its spatial and temporal resolution. Its performance is balanced; the temporal resolution can be controlled within the millisecond range, and the spatial resolution within the millimeter range. Aside from iEEG and EGoG, which cause bodily harm, MEG is the best route we can choose. It is the only non-invasive brain-computer interface with the potential to break the Rabin-Shang number. We can start by using traditional FBCSP to generate spatiotemporal features, and for classification, we can use binary non-linear SVM. Of course, when performing motor imagery tests, we could also use a multilayer perceptron ANN... Leader, are you listening?"

Shen Jiang blinked, a faint sheen of sweat appearing on her forehead.

"I... I recall a restricted internal report that stated very clearly that the MEG-BCI system is completely unsuitable for giant mech combat, so I advise you not to waste your effort. If you don't believe me, I can tell you the title: 'On the Construction of MEG-BCI Systems Under Current Technical Conditions...'"

"It's titled 'Feasibility Analysis of Constructing a Giant Mech Control System Using MEG-BCI Under Current Technical Conditions,'" Shang Lu interrupted, still not looking up, his tone nonchalant. "I believe it, because I wrote that paper, published under the name of the RCBI group."

Shen Jiang choked.

"The hell? You... you wrote it?"

Shang Lu rolled his eyes. Why did someone always pop up to tell him it was impossible whenever he mentioned building a non-invasive brain-computer interface? Was there anyone else in the world who knew better than he did whether this could succeed?

"Then... what about 'The Dilemma of MEG-BCI Systems Under the Rabin-Shang Number Framework'?"

"The full title is 'Developmental Dilemma of MEG-BCI Systems Under the Rabin-Shang Number Judgment Framework.'"

"'Functional Analysis of Non-Invasive Brain-Computer System Modules'?"

"I'm truly impressed that you've memorized the titles of these papers. Leader, you have a great memory. For someone preparing to pick a fight, you are truly a model of the contrarian, insisting on having logic and evidence. But you didn't expect that most of the relevant papers you read were written by me, did you? You say the mainstream academic community is opposed to my work, but I am the mainstream academic community." Shang Lu took his phone out of his pocket to make a call. "Hello? It's me. Bai Shu, are you guys in the office? You can send the data over now."

Shen Jiang’s face gradually turned red. The arms she had originally crossed to pose were now tucked behind her back, fidgeting awkwardly.

"But... you're only twenty-four?"

"Aren't you only twenty-eight?" Shang Lu countered.

Shen Jiang choked again. What was going on? What was this kid’s astrological sign? Was he born to be her bane? She had to win one back.

Shen Jiang took a deep breath, composed her expression, and moved her hands back to the front, striving to maintain her dignity as a leader.

"Supervisor!"

"Yes? What are your orders, leader?"

"Come over here and talk to me." Shen Jiang remained stern.

Shang Lu set down his work, walked around the console, and stood in front of Shen Jiang.

"Look me in the eyes and answer the question." Shen Jiang wanted her gaze to be more imposing and lethal. She recalled the eyes of eagles and tigers, striving to make her look like these fierce beasts. At the same time, she lifted her chin slightly, pressed her lips together, and put on a cold, frosty poker face, acting like an old-school investigator.

Shang Lu met her gaze for a second, then his eyes flickered to the sides.

"Don't you dare evade, Supervisor. Answer me honestly..." Shen Jiang was still holding it together.

"Your ears are red," Shang Lu said.

Shen Jiang choked once more. She had choked more times today than in the past twenty years combined; she was practically becoming the "Little Choker."

Half a second later, the girl broke. She couldn't hold it anymore. She quickly raised both hands to cover her ears, turned around, and bumped her head against the door panel, letting out a frustrated, howling, "Ah—!"

Someone knocked outside the door. It was 1047's voice: "Shen Jiang, is something wrong?"

"Nothing! Get lost!" Shen Jiang snapped.

The noise outside ceased immediately.

After a long while, Shen Jiang calmed down. She leaned her head against the door and asked, "Supervisor, tell me the truth. What is your background? I'm only going to ask you this once."

"Are you curious?" Shang Lu's voice sounded from behind her.

"Yes, I'm curious," Shen Jiang said. "At twenty-something years old, you can make everyone give you the green light, and you can see through the problems in my brain at a glance. Being this capable, anyone would be curious and surprised."

"Not necessarily. Wang Xiangbing wasn't curious," Shang Lu said, still a bit resentful. "As for my background, it's simple: I'm a technician from the Chengdu Institute of Computer Science who came here to provide support. You can check it anywhere."

"Just that simple?"

"Just that simple." Shang Lu thought for a moment. "If you insist that there's something special, I suppose I have a little bit of talent."

He pinched his thumb and index finger together.

"Just a little bit."

Shen Jiang turned her head and saw Shang Lu step back and pat the heavy armchair. "Come on, it's calibrated. Sit down and see if it fits your head."

"Do I put my head inside? It looks a bit small..."

"It's fine. If it doesn't fit, we can just shave your head down a bit."