Super God-Level Top Student

"I can talk to this person you mentioned," Satya Nadella said cautiously after a moment of thinking.

No commitment was made because he could sense that Kevin Scott was caught in a kind of fervor. Simply put, he was brainwashed. From his perspective, people who excel in technology are often somewhat naive.

Convincing them is purely about demonstrating sufficiently strong professional skills. But as the company's president, he needs to consider the possibilities of collaboration comprehensively. If in the era when the United States was leading the world everywhere with rampant technological advancement it only took technology to succeed.

Then as development has reached this scale, any decision requires consideration from multiple directions regarding potential impacts. International large companies, in fact, often aren't too different from celebrities, and sometimes attract even more attention.

Every decision of the company will be scrutinized and deduced under the magnifying glass of countless people. When it comes to matters directly tied to money, everyone is very attentive.

Unearthing celebrity gossip enables tabloids to make big money.

Accurate judgment of policy trends set by these international large companies earns even more money in the capital market.

For a leader like Satya Nadella, all he can do is to be sufficiently cautious.

Yet he also must admit that Kevin Scott's words just now indeed made his heart race. Although he cares more about the benefits that can be gained recently, he also feels tempted if cloud computing is truly set to replace local computing.

Satya Nadella has never hidden his optimism about cloud computing. His job was to lead Microsoft, which perfectly missed the opportunities in search and mobile internet, to find a new path for the future.

Artificial intelligence and cloud services are the important directions he is betting on, now that the other party can provide technology in both directions, there indeed exists a basis for collaboration.

...

Kevin Scott's expression turned a bit bitter upon hearing those words. He felt that Satya Nadella hadn't grasped the situation.

The other party didn't seem to be eager to collaborate with Microsoft.

"Satya, how should I say this? The other party's collaboration goals aren't solely focused on us, if..."

Kevin Scott's words were cut off halfway: "Okay, Kevin, stop emphasizing those. If Microsoft is not on the other party's shortlist, then he wouldn't have said so much to you.

I believe he must have shown something real to convince you. But what of it? We also have our advantages. Even from a pure business perspective, no important decision can change owing to personal likes and dislikes.

So if the other party truly wants to overcome challenges together with Microsoft for a deep collaboration, they would definitely be willing to have a more formal and serious conversation with me."

Kevin Scott nodded and said helplessly: "Certainly, sir, I trust your judgment. But what I actually want to say is, the other party seems quite sensitive regarding the attitude of collaboration partners. If possible, I hope you could appear more attentive."

Satya Nadella was somewhat surprised, thought for a moment, and said: "Face value?"

"Probably something like that, Mr. Nadella."

"Even when the other party is unwilling to reveal their true identity?"

"In fact, those aren't important. How to put it? Maybe you could understand that while I'm negotiating collaboration, I directly gave the other party some of the latest results from the Microsoft Systems Laboratory. Although I didn't disclose my identity, simply with those materials, it's enough for them to trust that I at least hold a high position in this project."

This answer truly left Satya Nadella a bit dumbfounded.

He really couldn't understand why if it is just a simple collaboration, there is a need for this layer of mysterious veil. Obviously, this isn't very normal. Unless...

"Therefore I have always suspected, actually Xilin Mathematics Research Institute truly has no intention of collaborating with us. It's merely someone inside who, for unknown reasons, wants to facilitate this collaboration. That's where the problem lies. Just like I said earlier, the other party merely expressed willingness to give us a chance."

Kevin Scott spread his hands and said.

Satya Nadella pursed his lips as things began to get interesting.

"Then I all the more need to talk with this mysterious gentleman or lady."

"Should I directly give your email to the other party?"

"Alright!"

...

The world map, under Huaxia, lies countless islands, and vast expanses of ocean.

If you pull the view to high altitude, you would see several large ships of various kinds scattered across the calm sea with intervals of tens of nautical miles. They form a defense around a central position super large ship capable of aircraft takeoff and landing, with the Stars and Stripes fluttering on board.

Compared with these large ships, one is floating no more than five kilometers away from the super large ship, appearing indistinguishable from a stingray from afar, it was just a tiny black dot on an A5 white paper erroneously printed.

Yet despite this, its presence seems still to have triggered some alertness.

"MH-60R-03-017, monitoring an unidentified signal source at latitude N27°55'48.17 longitude E101°51'15.36, please proceed to investigate, reply upon receipt."

"017 received, monitoring an unidentified signal source at latitude N27°55'48.17 longitude E101°51'15.36, heading to investigate now."

"Well then, go check out what it is, best take a few pictures."