Reborn in 2005, starting with repairing mobile phones

The next morning.

Palo Alto.

When Lin Dong woke up, it was already bright outside the window.

On the bedside table was a brown paper envelope with his name written on it in marker.

Lin Dong opened it; inside was a VIP pass for Stanford Summer Technology Week and a handwritten note:

Forest--

I drank too much last night and can't get up. I left my pass at the front desk; I'll play by myself.

——A

Lin Dong crumpled the sticky note into a ball and threw it into the trash can.

He stood by the window with his pass in hand, looking out at the morning light in Palo Alto.

Cheng Yu. Cheng Chuan. Radio frequency and structure.

If these two people can be taken away, the team will be more than half complete.

We are still missing an embedded engineer.

We need to find more people on the system side.

The chip supply chain will have to keep running—but that's something for when we get back.

Let's take down these two first.

He pushed open the door and went out.

The convention center looks completely different today.

The grand finale of Stanford's Summer Technology Week was held in the largest main exhibition hall of the Engineering School.

Lin Dong was taken aback by the sheer number of people as he approached the entrance. There were at least three or four hundred people moving around inside, and the number of booths was more than double that of the previous two days. Everywhere he looked, there were business representatives in formal attire and scholars wearing name tags.

He took a few steps further in and searched through the crowd.

"Lin Dong".

The sound came from the side and behind.

Lin Dong turned around.

Cheng Yu and Cheng Chuan stood not far away, next to a young woman with long black hair, wearing thin-rimmed glasses, a simple white shirt and khaki pants, and holding a stack of documents in her hand.

Cheng Yu walked over.

"I thought you weren't coming."

"I said I'd come, and I will."

Cheng Yu nodded and stepped aside to introduce, "This is Tina, a student from our lab. She works on embedded systems."

The girl nodded to Lin Dong without saying anything, but her gaze lingered on him for a second, as if she were sizing him up.

Lin Dong nodded as well.

The four people walked into the exhibition hall.

Cheng Chuan is in a slightly better state today than last night, but he still doesn't talk much.

Cheng Yu walked at the very edge, occasionally pointing out to Lin Dong which booth was worth seeing.

Tina followed behind, occasionally glancing down at the documents in her hand, and occasionally looking up, her gaze sweeping across the crowd.

As Cheng Chuan approached a booth related to radio frequency, he suddenly stopped in his tracks.

Lin Dong followed his gaze.

There were four or five people standing next to the booth.

The one at the very front wearing a light blue shirt—it's Dave from last time, the one in the blue shirt.

He was talking to a tall man who wore glasses.

There were two men standing nearby, who looked like he was following along, holding coffee and occasionally chiming in with their comments.

Cheng Chuan's face darkened.

"Hold."

Cheng Yu didn't speak, but simply took half a step forward.

Tina looked up, glanced over there, then at Cheng Chuan and Cheng Yu, before continuing to look down at the documents.

Dave, in his blue shirt, also saw them.

He smiled, said something to the person next to him, and then slowly walked over.

"Yo, Sam."

He glanced at Cheng Chuan, then at Cheng Yu, "and Sam's brother."

He paused, his gaze falling on Lin Dong, then on Tina, and a slight twitch appeared at the corner of his mouth.

"Everyone's here today."

Cheng Chuan didn't say anything.

Cheng Yu didn't say anything either.

Dave, in the blue shirt, took a step forward and moved a little closer.

"Regarding those parameters you gave me last night," he said, looking at Cheng Chuan, "I went back and ran them again."

He paused.

"It still won't work."

Cheng Chuan clenched his fists.

Dave, in the blue shirt, smiled, a smile tinged with pity.

"Sam, you've been in this lab for two years," he said. "How many papers have you published? Any as first author?"

He paused.

"You know, sometimes it's not a problem with the parameters."

The two people next to them laughed.

Cheng Chuan took a step forward.

Cheng Yu raised his hand and stopped him.

Dave, in the blue shirt, looked at Cheng Yu's hand, then at Cheng Chuan, and laughed even harder.

"It's good to have an older brother," he said. "There's always someone to stop you."

He turned around and waved to the tall man with glasses behind him.

"Mark, come here and introduce yourself," he said. "This is the guy I told you about, the one whose parameters wouldn't work."

The guy named Mark looked up and glanced in their direction.

Then he looked down again and continued looking at his phone.

Dave, in his blue shirt, shrugged.

"That's just how he is, he doesn't like to talk."

He said, "But it's okay, I'll say it for you."

He turned to Cheng Chuan.

"Sam, do you know, Mark is a legend in our lab. He went to Princeton and Stanford with full scholarships, has three first-author IEEE papers, and was the project leader for two labs."

He paused.

"He glanced at your parameters and said it wouldn't work."

Cheng Chuan's breathing became heavy.

Cheng Yu tightened his grip on the hand that was blocking him.

As Dave in the blue shirt watched this scene, his smile grew increasingly satisfied.

He was about to say something else—

"Your name is Mark?"

Dave, in the blue shirt, paused for a moment, then turned his head.

Lin Dong stood to his side and slightly behind.

The opportunity is here.

He had been waiting.

Wait until Dave in the blue shirt has shown off enough, wait until Cheng Chuan can't hold back his anger, wait until Cheng Yu can't stop people.

Waiting for an opportunity that would allow him to stand up legitimately.

The time has come.

In front of Cheng Chuan and Cheng Yu, we pinned this clown down.

Let them see that just because they can't get something here doesn't mean they can't get it elsewhere.

Let them see that there are people who can understand what they're saying, and there are people who can trample those who can't understand under their feet.

He took a step forward.

Look at the tall guy with glasses behind him.

Mark looked up.

Their eyes met briefly in mid-air.

Mark didn't say anything.

Lin Dong didn't say anything either.

Dave, in his blue shirt, frowned.

Who are you?

Lin Dong ignored him.

He looked at Mark.

"Your man?" He gestured towards Dave in the blue shirt.

Mark paused for a second.

"...I guess so."

Lin Dong nodded.

"Okay then."

He said, "Do you agree with what he just said?"

Mark looked at him but didn't answer.

Dave, in the blue shirt, changed his expression.

"What do you mean?"

Lin Dong then turned his head and glanced at him.

"What I mean is," he said, "you're saying Sam's parameters aren't working, you're saying he hasn't published a first-author paper in two years, you're saying it's not a parameter problem—"

He paused.

"Do you dare to have a competition?"

Dave, in the blue shirt, paused for a moment.

Then he laughed.

"Compare?"

He looked Lin Dong up and down. "Who are you? Are you also studying radio frequency?"

Lin Dong looked at him.

"Who I am doesn't matter," he said. "What you study won't affect you either."

Dave, in his blue shirt, froze for a moment with a stiff smile.

Doesn't matter?

Does it not matter what I study?

The blue-shirted Dave felt a surge of anger rising within him.

From my undergraduate years to my time in the lab, I've seen crazy people, but I've never seen anyone this crazy.

An Asian face appeared out of nowhere, didn't even give his name, and immediately said "It doesn't matter" and "It won't affect anything".

Who the hell do you think you are?

If you lose, don't go home crying to your mother.

He took a deep breath, and the smile returned to his face.

But beneath that smile, his teeth were already clenched.

"Okay," he said. "Then let's compare radio frequency."

He turned around and called out to those around him.

"Hey! Come and take a look, everyone!"

People around stopped and looked in their direction.

Dave, wearing a blue shirt, spread his arms wide, as if greeting someone.

"Come on, everyone! There's this guy who popped up out of nowhere, wanting to compete with me in radio frequency!"

The crowd began to gather.

Three or five, a dozen or so, twenty or thirty—soon, forty or fifty people surrounded the booth.

Dave, in the blue shirt, glanced around with satisfaction, then looked at Lin Dong.

"Right here."

He said, "Let's have a live competition. Let everyone see."

Lin Dong nodded.

"OK."

A doctoral student wearing a "staff" badge was brought in to act as a referee.

He stood between the two workstations, glancing nervously at both sides.

"Um... are you two ready?"