A nation's industrial development begins with junior engineers.

The team leader clenched his fist and looked at Dr. Witt, but finally let it fall in dejection.

After grabbing the pile of documents, he shoved them into Dr. Witt's arms. "Investigate! Immediately! Tell me the value of this!"

"okay!"

Dr. Witt took the documents blankly, his fingers trembling slightly. Under the dim light, he forced himself to focus on the dense English terminology and structural diagrams.

Time passed by, and the only sound in the room was the occasional rustling of Victor turning the pages.

The team leader stared intently at Witt's expression, trying to glean something from it.

Dr. Witt looked at it very slowly and carefully.

At first, his eyes were still unfocused and desperate, but as he read on, the numbness on his face was gradually replaced by a kind of focused instinct that belonged to a technician.

His brows furrowed and relaxed at times, his fingers unconsciously traced certain lines of code, and his lips moved slightly, as if he were silently deducing something.

Mulan leisurely used her long legs to hook a haystack and sat comfortably on it.

Well, she even took out a military green water bottle from her bag, unscrewed it, and took a sip of water. However, the appearance of this water bottle made the leader Jack's pupils shrink again.

“(＾u＾)ノ~yo, have you ever seen this kind of kettle?” Mulan shook the kettle at the team leader, Jack.

"I've fought with people carrying these kinds of water bottles!"

"Ok?"

When team leader Victor saw the sudden glint of cold light in Mulan's eyes, he quickly made the classic inverted triangle pose.

“I haven’t touched any of your people! The first thing I did when I met them was this…”

tsk...

Just as Mulan was wondering whether she should beat this guy up to get some interest for her comrade, Dr. Witt suddenly grabbed the team leader, Jack, and hugged him tightly.

"Jack! We're saved!"

"This...this is certainly not all, but...the core syntax is described very clearly, some key design ideas...such as the basic concepts of structures and pointers, function prototypes, the prototype of preprocessor directives...and these example program frameworks..."

God, this line of thinking is too... If all of this were true, and there were complete implementations and library support...

This is definitely not just a patch to the Argos project; it's a completely new and systematic high-level language design!

Its potential... may be even greater than we anticipated!

Despite his trembling voice, Witt's words revealed a professional judgment and an undeniable shock that dispelled most of the team leader's last remaining doubts.

He was certainly aware of Witt's current situation and mindset, but precisely because of this, the technical judgment Witt could make at this moment seemed all the more genuine...

He has nothing left to lose, and there's no need for him to boast about his opponent's technical details.

“So,” Team Leader Jack licked his dry lips, “what do you want? Or rather, what…price do we need to pay for it?”

"Ms. Mulan of China, you have gone to great lengths to orchestrate this grand drama and have paved this seemingly glamorous escape route for me... What do you hope to gain? I do not believe this is merely out of internationalist friendship or the mercy of an adversary."

Mulan put away the water bottle, leaned forward slightly, and placed her hands folded on her knees.

This is a gesture of serious negotiation.

Team leader Jack seemed to sense Mulan's sincerity, and he also tried his best to shake off the grass clippings on his body and sat up straight in a moment of crisis.

"It's very simple..."

"All I need is for you to stop using any official or unofficial power to lobby, pressure, or threaten representatives of European countries to resist our proposal to promote C language as a standard candidate in the IEC. Let technology be discussed in a technical manner, and let the market make its own judgment."

"Furthermore, if possible, no additional, non-technical political barriers or censorship obstacles should be set up for European countries to purchase any computer equipment with systems or software written in C. Of course, this is just a wishful thinking, and I know it is difficult to achieve completely, but at least, let's not deliberately undermine it."

The team leader squinted.

This request... doesn't seem to directly involve the core interests of the bald eagle, and is even somewhat "abstract".

No restrictions on Europeans using it? What kind of condition is that?

"that's it?"

These conditions sound... even a bit "lenient"?

Compared to the potential value of this core C language material and the political capital he could gain from his personal "script," the cost seems insignificant.

At least, it's much better than making him kneel down and apologize in public, or paying a huge financial price.

"That's all." Mulan nodded firmly, then added, seemingly casually:

"By the way, starting tomorrow, we will be publicly displaying two computer prototypes that are actually running and have basic demonstration programs written in C language at the technology exhibition hall next to the IEC conference."

If the team leader has the "free time," he could go and see for himself under the guise of "inspecting the opponent's technological progress." After all, the experience of seeing a piece of written information versus witnessing firsthand how it drives a machine is completely different.

This will also make it easier for you to write a detailed and convincing 'investigation report' after you return home, won't it?

"If possible, we can have another argument at the exhibition!"

Seeing that Mulan was about to leave, Dr. Witt reluctantly handed her the documents in his hand.

Unexpectedly, Mulan waved her hand and said, "You can keep the data; it's the spoils of war that a 'hero' deserves. As for how to polish the script and fill in the details, I think the team leader and Dr. Witt... you two 'comrades-in-arms' who share the same fate now, are definitely more capable than I am."

Team leader Jack remained silent.

He glanced at the documents in Zhuo Weite's hand, then at the Chinese woman in front of him who had manipulated his fate with an international upheaval, and then thought about the script of the "hero who endured humiliation and hardship," as well as the enormous potential of the C programming language revealed in Weite's words just now...

Team leader Jack's shoulders slumped slightly:

"I'll keep the documents. As for the conditions you proposed... in principle, I can do my best. But let me make this clear from the outset: domestic politics are not something I can completely control. I can only guarantee that I won't actively obstruct things within the scope of my authority and influence. As for what the Europeans themselves think, that's not something I can guarantee."

"enough."

Mulan turned around: "It was a pleasure working with you, team leader. I look forward to your... triumphant return."

"Wait! Are you talking about that young man who gave the speech on stage today? Is he the core member you mentioned?"

"No...find the oldest one who can understand you!"

"I believe he or they can cooperate with you well!"

……

Mulan stepped out of the shack, raised her head, and looked up at the Geneva night sky, where a few scattered stars twinkled through the gaps in the clouds.

Her goal was never just to win a verbal battle or to secure a "fair" opportunity for the C programming language to be discussed at the IEC conference table.

Those are just the surface ripples.

Mulan's gaze had already pierced through the crystal chandeliers and heated debates of the Geneva conference, landing on a deeper and more solid barrier.

Unlike many of her colleagues in the delegation who were deeply rooted in China and had an abstract understanding of the "imperialist blockade," she spent more than half of her young life traveling to foreign lands.

Ever since the unsolved case that loomed over the orphanage during her childhood, her mother has almost never allowed her to stay in the country for an extended period.

This unique, even forced, "travel" allowed her to experience, earlier and more personally, the silent yet incredibly real evolution of the world order after World War II than most of her peers.

She had witnessed firsthand the cranes slowly rising from the ruins of London, and the intellectuals in Parisian cafes sipping coffee while debating the pros and cons of “bald eagle-ization.”

She witnessed the roaring machines in the factories during the early days of West Germany's "economic miracle," and also felt the complex emotions of dependence on and reliance on "American aid" among the people of Italy.

She knew better than anyone that those cargo ships crossing the Atlantic, laden with food, coal, machinery, and dollars, were not only bringing reconstruction supplies, but also an invisible yet incredibly resilient network—the Marshall Plan.

The European Recovery Program, which began in 1947 and lasted for four years, totaling over $13 billion, acted like a shot in the arm, rapidly reviving the devastated Western Europe and even surpassing pre-war levels.

But there's no such thing as a free lunch. Economic recovery comes with market opening, monetary system anchoring, subtle adjustments to political leanings, and, more importantly, the unavoidable "American" imprint on technological standards, industrial systems, and even the ideological sphere.

The bald eagle has not only become the largest creditor and trading partner of Western Europe, but has also, to a considerable extent, controlled the economic lifeline and development direction of these countries.

In emerging technology fields that are crucial to the future, especially in some industries that are considered strategic high ground, the United States has built an invisible but almost insurmountable "Atlantic technology barrier" through technology patents, capital exports, academic influence, and even informal "coordination."

No matter how good, efficient, or forward-thinking the C programming language is, on the international standards stage like the IEC, if the bald eagle delegation, which has the most allies and the strongest voice, is determined to oppose it and uses its influence to lobby and pressure its European allies, then the possibility of it being adopted and becoming an international standard is infinitely close to zero.

Limited support from a single Frenchman might cause some ripples, but it is far from enough to counter the powerful network woven from shared security interests, economic dependence, and historical inertia.

Therefore, she orchestrated and exploited this storm.

She wanted to transform the delegation leader, who held the "veto power," from a potential "vetoist" into a stakeholder who had to acquiesce or even indirectly help "smooth things over."

She wants European engineers, scholars, laboratory directors, and shrewd businessmen to be able to see the second-generation rhubarb firsthand in the exhibition hall tomorrow, without any official denigration or obstruction, and to personally experience the efficiency revolution it brings.

She wants to create a "tacitly approved exception zone" within the technological front that Washington is trying to unify.

This is a gateway that allows the C language and the new programming philosophy and technological ecosystem it represents to bypass the non-technical barriers built by political, economic, and historical inertia, and truly reach European engineers, scholars, laboratories, and potential markets.

She wants technology to remain technology, even if it's only temporarily implemented.

Internal strife within the Bald Eagle regime, personal scandals, and political calculations leading to temporary compromises...

In her eyes, these were all pawns that could be cleverly used to pry open that seemingly indestructible boulder—the Bald Eagle's public boycott for political reasons!

What she wanted was not to defeat her opponent, but to create a crack in her opponent's solid defense, even if it was just a tiny one.

Then, let the brilliance of the C language shine through this crack.

"I...I want to let this light in!"

"Let those who can destroy you in!"