Deep Space Wandering Fleet

Chapter 73: Chapter 73: The Malice of Spectators

There were still a bunch of messy comments following.

People on the spaceship were generally more rational than Earth people, not easily swayed by trends, so Zhang Yuan wasn’t overwhelmingly criticized.

[…there might be some trickery involved, I suggest the relevant departments clear up the facts, otherwise it will dishearten all the aspiring students!]

[Considering past achievements, Zhang Yuan is pretty awesome. What makes you, Cai Kun, think you are better? Just because your scores in politics and history are a few points higher?]

[Buddy, I was in the same exam room with him, that guy spent half of the exam time sleeping! You scored two points higher than him, is that really something?]

[Grabbing popcorn, watching the show. (watermelon) (watermelon)]

[If that’s really the case, I might as well go back to Earth.]

[Where is the iron fist of justice?]

The issue wasn’t really that big, but it wasn’t small either.

On a smaller scale, it was just some young people not satisfied with their interview results venting online; on a larger scale, if not handled properly, it could affect the government’s credibility and shake the political foundation.

The new civilization was so small; it couldn’t withstand any sand, any bad habits had to be immediately snuffed out.

Ye Kaifu was somewhat gloating at first, but seeing Zhang Yuan’s stoic face, he vaguely started to worry.

He began offering reckless suggestions: “Old Zhang, what are we going to do? Are you really angry? Should we write something in response?”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated on ƝονǤο.ƈᴑ

“Write what? That I swear I didn’t cheat? They will never believe it!”

“So, we just stay silent? The quieter you are, the more they persist!”

Zhang Yuan sighed, “Mediocrity never incites envy. I even find his points fairly reasonable. Given my various backgrounds, I indeed fall under suspicion…”

“…Sigh, actually, Academician Ding does favor some personal connections when selecting students; he wouldn’t have taken any graduate students otherwise. It was Professor Wang Zhong from Earth who convinced him to recruit.”

For a while, they couldn’t think of a particularly good rebuttal.

Suddenly, Li Zhendong said, “I have a suggestion, you should immediately publish a significant research paper, that will shut everyone up.”

Zhang Yuan scratched his head. “That’s not possible, mate! Writing a paper isn’t like laying eggs; I’d honestly need a proper setup, one step at a time, from writing to publishing. Even in the fastest scenario, it would take a month or two. By then, this issue would have long passed, and would be cold news.

“So, you haven’t been writing any papers recently…” Li Zhendong suddenly breathed a sigh of relief.

…

Where there are people, there are societal circles, and where there are societal circles, there are disputes.

Although the spaceship was under semi-militaristic management, freedom of speech was relatively still preserved. Only when some comments seriously affected the unity of civilization and the safety of the spaceship, would one be invited for tea.

Such skepticism was actually still within reasonable bounds.

This was a real test for the rulers’ managerial skills, they needed to foster cohesion in everyone, but could not be too controlling. High-quality talents aren’t soldiers; they need more freedom to be productive.

An hour later, Zhang Yuan was still fretting over what to do when Captain Ma called. He didn’t say much, only dropping a sentence: “Come to the Central Conference Hall in Zone A immediately, I need to see you.”

Zhang Yuan didn’t dare delay and hurried over.

He found the Central Conference Hall packed with people, as if a conference was being held. Many onlookers who heard something also squeezed in.

“Mr. Zhang, this way please.” He was pulled up by a pretty young lady.

“What… what are you looking for me for?”

“You’ll know in a moment,” the young lady cryptically added.

As Zhang Yuan took to the stage, a round of warm applause broke out.

“Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce to you, this is Zhang Yuan, Classmate Zhang. And this is Cai Kun, Classmate Cai.”

The host smiled and continued, “Following Captain Ma’s instructions, I am hosting this public interview. Actually, the spirit of questioning like Classmate Cai’s is very much needed for a civilization!”

“This statement is very correct, the capable rise, the mediocre fall, and the middling give way—we need to be fair in recognition, not showing favoritism, yet also acknowledging the talented despite personal feuds.”

“We don’t need the doctrine of the mean, which waters down everything. You deserve what you score.”

“Now, let’s have these two classmates have an on-site interview, look, they didn’t even have time to dress up, let alone prepare answers. Classmate Cai, how do you feel?”

Classmate Cai seemed a bit nerdy, this number one scorer of the written test, under the gaze of more than a thousand pairs of eyes, suddenly couldn’t speak due to nervousness.

After a while, he finally said, “I think this method of handling is very good. If Zhang Yuan can truly convince me…”

“Zhang Yuan, how about you?”

“I…you are asking for a re-interview?” Zhang Yuan was still dazed.

A wave of laughter echoed from below.

Suddenly called up to the stage, in front of so many people, Zhang Yuan felt humiliated.

Due to cramming the night before, he also sported two huge dark circles, utterly embarrassing himself.

“Yes, a re-interview. Questions will be random.”

Zhang Yuan took a deep breath and glanced at Classmate Cai, who was also sizing him up, showing no discernible emotions.

“Alright, ask whatever questions you have.”

This solution seemed quite good, though a bit sudden.

Anyway, as long as the other party doesn’t cheat, bring it on!

However, to ensure fairness and justice, the interview questions were not asked by the host but chosen randomly from the audience.

The host randomly drew a number.

“233.”

Zhang Yuan and Cai Kun immediately felt the massive ill will from the onlookers.

A male student in the seats stood up: “Hello, I am studying the field of recursive neural networks.”

“… For instance, Hopfield neural networks are a type of discrete neural network and also feedback neural networks, where the output of each node is the input of others. When establishing a neural network, we must consider its stability.”

“Do you have any good suggestions on this? Regarding the stability of neural networks…”

Zhang Yuan was taken aback. Neural network stability, this guy basically just brought up his own research project and asked for help in solving it.

What is this, asking for help in writing his paper?

If I provide a good direction, should I add an author’s name?

Classmate Cai on the stage also looked baffled.

He had not expected the first question to be so tricky. Recursive neural networks? What the hell, he had never studied that!

Though he had undertaken some research projects and achieved some results during his undergraduate studies, it had nothing to do with neural networks, how should he answer?

He was a top student, but only held an undergraduate level…