Chapter 514: Aftershocks

May 19, 2009, 3 p. m., Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport.

Li Yaozong had just stepped out of the arrivals hall when he saw Fang Wenshan standing among the greeting crowd, holding a sign that read "Welcome President Li home."

Next to the sign stood two more people: Zhou Ye and Wang Bo.

Li Yaozong walked over.

"Why did the three of you all come?"

Fang Wenshan took the briefcase from his hand.

"President Li, what you said in Beijing has gone viral across the whole internet now."

On the way back to Wanxiang Dasha, Fang Wenshan kept reporting.

"The video of your speech yesterday was uploaded to Phoenix Chat at 8 a. m. this morning, and it has already been played 37 million times."

Li Yaozong looked out the car window.

"What about the comments?"

"Polarized," Fang Wenshan said. "Some say you're visionary; others say you're overpromising."

Zhou Ye turned his head from the passenger seat.

"President Li, the part where you talked about AI, our department discussed all morning. Some are excited, some are worried."

Li Yaozong looked at him.

"What are they worried about?"

"Worried about being replaced," Zhou Ye said. "You said AI will do many things in the future, and some think they might lose their jobs."

Li Yaozong was silent for two seconds.

"What did you tell them?"

Zhou Ye smiled.

"I said, you meant having AI help us work, not replace us."

Li Yaozong nodded.

"That's right."

When the car arrived at Wanxiang Dasha, it was already 4 p. m.

Li Yaozong stepped into the lobby and saw a crowd gathered in front of the information wall.

A huge printed sheet was pasted on the wall, showing a photo of him speaking in Beijing, with several lines written in red pen beside it:

"In the next ten years, Wanxiang will continue to invest in R&D, at no less than ten billion per year."

"AI, new energy, automation, connectivity."

"Talent is the primary resource."

Some were taking photos, others were discussing.

When they saw Li Yaozong enter, the crowd automatically cleared a path.

Li Yaozong walked over and glanced at the sheet.

"Who put this up?"

A young man beside him raised his hand.

"President Li, it was me. I thought your talk was excellent and wanted everyone to see it."

Li Yaozong looked at him.

"What's your name?"

"Zhang Mingyuan, from the R&D Center, working on AI algorithms."

Li Yaozong nodded.

"Do a good job."

The elevator rose to the 38th floor; the doors opened, and seven or eight people stood in the corridor.

Chen Feng, Zhao Ming, He Xiao, Liu Yang, Zhang Lei, Lin Jiawen… almost the entire core team had arrived.

Li Yaozong looked at them.

"What are you all doing here?"

Chen Feng spoke first.

"President Li, we'd like to discuss what you talked about."

Li Yaozong smiled.

"Come in and say it."

In the conference room, a dozen or so people sat in a circle.

Li Yaozong sat at the head seat, with a freshly brewed cup of Longjing Tea Tea tea before him.

"What would you like to talk about?"

He Xiao was the first to speak.

"President Li, the part where you spoke about autonomous driving, I've thought a lot about it."

Li Yaozong looked at him.

"What did you think?"

He Xiao stood up, walked to the whiteboard, and picked up a marker.

He drew the outline of a car, then added a few squares beside it.

"We now have cars, chips, systems, and sensors. Combined, they can theoretically enable autonomous driving."

He drew several lines between the squares.

"But the question is, who will build it? How will they build it? When can it be realized?"

He looked at Li Yaozong.

"Director Li, I want to start a project."

Li Yaozong said nothing.

Chen Feng interjected from the side.

"On the chip side, I can cooperate. Autonomous driving needs stronger computing power; our current Phoenix Chip No. 1 isn't enough, we need to make No. 2 and No. 3."

Zhao Ming continued.

"The system side also needs to be changed. We have to develop a dedicated vehicle-mounted system, different from the phone's."

Liu Yang raised his hand.

"Screens are also needed. Vehicle screens require high standards: sufficient brightness, wide viewing angle, and must withstand high temperatures."

Zhang Lei nodded.

"Batteries as well. Electric cars need larger batteries and faster charging."

Li Yaozong listened to each of them speak, without interrupting.

After everyone finished speaking, he finally spoke.

"He Xiao."

He Xiao looked at him.

"For this project, you lead. Determine how many people, how much budget, how much time, and write a proposal."

He Xiao nodded.

"I'll give it to you by next Monday."

After He Xiao sat down, Zhou Ye stood up.

"Director Li, regarding the AI part you mentioned, I also want to say something."

Li Yaozong gestured for him to speak.

Zhou Ye walked to the whiteboard and, beside the car drawn by He Xiao, drew a camera.

"Current videos are shot by people. In the future, they may be shot by AI."

He drew a big question mark next to the camera.

"For example, you input a text like 'A person running in Shenzhen Bay at sunset,' and AI automatically generates a video. From script to visuals to soundtrack, everything is done by AI."

He looked at Li Yaozong.

"If this can be achieved, the barrier to video creation will drop to zero. Everyone will become a creator."

Li Yaozong looked at him.

"Can it be done?"

Zhou Ye thought for a moment.

"Not now. But what about five years later?"

He paused.

"Director Li, I want to form a team to study this specifically."

Li Yaozong nodded.

"Fine. Submit your budget."

Wang Bo stood up.

"Director Li, regarding the connectivity part you mentioned, I have two things to say."

Li Yaozong looked at him.

"Speak."

Wang Bo walked to the whiteboard and drew a large circle outside those squares.

"You said that in the future, people with people, people with things, and things with things will all be connected. This circle is called the Internet of Things."

He drew several small dots inside the circle.

"We now have phones, cars, home appliances, and factory equipment. If these can be linked, what would that look like?"

He looked at Li Yaozong.

"For example, after work you drive home, the car automatically sets your preferred temperature, the home air conditioner turns on in advance, and the refrigerator tells you the milk is almost finished."

He paused.

"These aren't science fiction. Technologically they can all be realized."

Li Yaozong nodded.

"What is needed?"

Wang Bo thought for a moment.

"We need a unified platform to connect all devices. We need standards so equipment from different manufacturers can communicate. We also need security to prevent hacker intrusion."

He looked at Li Yaozong.

"Director Li, I want to lead this."

Li Yaozong did not hesitate.

"Do it."

The meeting lasted two hours.

When it adjourned, it was already 6:30 p. m.

Li Yaozong was the last to leave the conference room.

Chen Feng waited for him at the door.

"Director Li, there's something I want to discuss with you privately."

Li Yaozong looked at him.

"Let's go to my office."

In the office, Chen Feng sat down.

"Li, about the chips, I'd like to adjust the plan."

Li Yaozong looked at him.

"How to adjust?"

Chen Feng took a sheet of paper from his bag and spread it on the desk.

A timeline was drawn on it.

"Our original plan had Fenghuang Chip No. 2 releasing next year and No. 3 the year after."

He drew an arrow on the timeline.

"But if we want autonomous driving, we need AI; the current computing power is far insufficient. We must move it forward."

Li Yaozong looked at the diagram.

"How much earlier?"

Chen Feng thought for a moment.

"Chip No. 2 should be advanced by six months, No. 3 by a year. As for No. 4, we need to start thinking about it right now."

Li Yaozong was silent for a few seconds.

"What about the budget?"

"It will exceed," Chen Feng said, "but it's worth the overrun."

Li Yaozong nodded.

"Then let it exceed."

After Chen Feng left, Li Yaozong sat alone in the office.

Outside the window, Shenzhen's night deepened. In the distance, Fenghuang Mountain vanished into darkness, and the lights of the Nanshan R&D Center had already begun to glow.

He recalled the words spoken by those people at the afternoon meeting.

He Xiao's autonomous driving. Zhou Ye's AI video. Wang Bo's Internet of Things. Chen Feng's chip plan.

Each of them was something whose results would only be seen five or ten years later.

But no one hesitated.

Everyone rushed to say, "I'll do it."

He stood up and walked to the window.

He stood there for a long time.

His phone rang.

It was Fang Wenshan.

"Li, I have something to report to you,"

"Go ahead."

"This afternoon, three media outlets contacted us, wanting to do in‑depth interviews. They're all about what you spoke about in Beijing."

Li Yaozong thought for a moment.

"Take one first. Put the others on the back burner."

"Alright."

He hung up, and Li Yaozong stood for a while longer.

Then he turned around and walked back to his desk.

He turned on the computer and began drafting a new document.

The title was:

"Wanxiang Group Future Ten-Year Technology Plan (Draft)"

He wrote very slowly.

Word by word.

Outside, the night deepened.

In the office, only the sound of keyboard clicks filled the air.

At nine p. m., Li Yaozong left the office.

The elevator descended to the first floor, the doors opened, and a few colleagues working overtime stood outside. Seeing Li Yaozong, they nodded and stepped aside.

Li Yaozong walked out and stood on the steps at the doorway.

The May night breeze was pleasant, carrying the warm hint of the approaching summer.

In the distance, the lights of the Nanshan R&D Center shone brighter than they did in daylight.

He knew that beneath those lights, countless people were working overtime.

Some were writing code, some were drawing schematics, some were adjusting equipment.

Some were thinking about autonomous driving, some about AI video, some about the Internet of Things.

Some were contemplating China five or ten years from now.

He stood for a while, then walked toward the parking lot.

Before getting into his car, he glanced back at Wanxiang Dasha.

The thirty‑eighth floor was brightly lit.

He started the car and merged into the traffic on Shen Nan Avenue.

Behind him, the city's night was only just beginning.

At eight o'clock the next morning, Li Yaozong walked into the office.

A thick document lay on the desk.

It had been delivered by He Xiao.

The title was:

"Wanshang Automotive Autonomous Driving Project Initiation Plan"

He opened it and looked.

On the first page, project goal: achieve highway autonomous driving within five years, and full‑scenario driverless operation within ten years.

On the second page, technical route: sensor fusion, high‑precision maps, AI decision‑making, vehicle‑infrastructure collaboration.

On the third page, team plan: start with fifty people, expand to three hundred within three years.

On the fourth page, budget: eighty million in the first year, 150 million in the second, 250 million in the third.

The last page, signed: He Xiao.

Li Yaozong finished reading and picked up a pen.

He signed two characters on the last page:

"Agree."

At ten o'clock in the morning, Zhou Ye knocked and entered.

He also held a document in his hand.

"Director Li, the AI video project proposal."

Li Yaozong took it and looked.

Title: "Fenghuang AI Video Research Project Initiation Plan"

Project goal: generate short videos from text within three years, and achieve AI‑assisted editing within five years.

Team plan: start with twenty people, all algorithm engineers.

Budget: thirty million in the first year.

Li Yaozong finished reading and signed.

Zhou Ye took the document, turned, and left.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, Wang Bo also arrived.

His proposal was even thicker.

"Wanshang IoT Platform Project Initiation Plan"

Project goal: connect phones, cars, and home appliances within three years, and build an open IoT ecosystem within five years.

Team plan: start with eighty people, covering software, hardware, standards, and security.

Budget: 120 million in the first year.

Li Yaozong flipped through and saw the last few pages.

They were the security plan.

Wang Bo explained beside him.

"The IoT's biggest fear is security. If hackers breach it, the consequences are severe. So we incorporated security from the start."

Li Yaozong nodded.

"That approach is correct."

He signed.

Wang Bo took the document, turned, and was about to leave.

"Wang Bo." Li Yaozong called him.

Wang Bo turned back.

"Can your platform connect equipment from other manufacturers?"

Wang Bo nodded.

"Yes. As long as the other side is willing and the standards are unified."

Li Yaozong thought for a moment.

"Then proceed in that direction. Don't only think about Wanshang's own products."

Wang Bo was momentarily stunned.

"You mean not making it closed?"

"Right." Li Yaozong said, "Openness is what allows it to grow."

Wang Bo nodded.

"Understood."

At six o'clock in the evening, Li Yaozong stood by the window.

On the desk lay three signed proposals.

Autonomous driving. AI video. IoT platform.

Three seeds.

He didn't know when these seeds would sprout, bloom, or bear fruit.

But he knew that if he didn't plant them now, they would never exist.

Outside the window, the setting sun painted Fenghuang Mountain a golden‑red hue.

In the distance, the lights of Nanshan R&D Center had already begun to turn on.

He stared for a long time.

Then he turned and walked out of the office.

Tomorrow, even more people will come looking for him.

There will also be more plans.

There will also be more seeds.

All he has to do is sign his own name.

Then, wait.