As soon as Zhao Min finished speaking, someone immediately challenged her, "A regular janitor with top-notch programming skills in the country? Do you believe that yourself?"

"Exactly! There must be some inside story! You're defending him—couldn't you be related to him?"

Zhao Min couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of it all. What's going on here? She felt that trying to explain things to some people was just a waste of time.

"I'm a professor in the Electronics Engineering Department here at the school. I've personally witnessed his exceptional programming abilities. Isn't that convincing enough?"

"Think about it—would the school openly announce something like this if there were any shady dealings?"

"I think it's more likely that you're all just upset because you believe Zhang Zhipeng, who used to be below you, is now being promoted over you, and you can't handle it!"

"I'm not going to argue with you! Just wait and see! Teacher Zhang Zhipeng will definitely achieve great things in the future!"

After saying this, Zhao Min turned and left.

Deep down, Zhao Min had great admiration for Zhang Zhipeng.

She had studied computer science and worked hard throughout her four years as an undergraduate. But even so, her programming skills could only be considered average.

Yet, Zhang Zhipeng, who was self-taught, could program such excellent small software and even use assembly language to modify WPS Office to make it more user-friendly. He could only be described as a prodigy.

The people who had distorted themselves with jealousy were truly malicious and ridiculous.

However, Zhao Min realized that there actually weren't that many people making snide remarks.

Especially those who had heard of Zhang Zhipeng's programming talent—they had nothing but praise.

None of the professors in the Electronics Engineering Department were sarcastic about Zhang Zhipeng because they were well aware of their own limitations.

The rumors and discussions around the school quickly reached the ears of the principal's secretary, Qian Yizhou.

He shook his head with a bitter smile, thinking that the principal's handling of this situation was a bit unwise.

There was really no need to make such a high-profile announcement of Zhang Zhipeng's special researcher status. You could have just given him some bonuses and let him participate in research quietly!

Now it's causing a stir, and someone might even file a complaint.

Isn't this a case of shooting yourself in the foot?

After hesitating for a moment, Qian Yizhou decided to share some of the faculty and staff's discussions with Dong Haoming.

After hearing this, Dong Haoming smiled and said, "No matter what you do, there will always be people who criticize and spread rumors."

"That's just human nature!"

"You can't stop people from talking, so let them say whatever they want! After all, what we're doing can withstand scrutiny, right?"

"Don't pay attention to those trivial comments—focus on the big picture!"

That afternoon, Zhang Zhipeng stayed in his small office.

He was almost entirely unaware of the heated discussions about him going on outside.

He was fully engrossed in designing his CPU based on the x86 architecture.

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As he designed, he continually gained experience and insight, which led him to make revisions.

By almost 5 p.m., Zhang Zhipeng finally completed the design of his first CPU based on the x86 architecture.

This CPU had a process size of 0.25 microns, or 250 nanometers. This process was considerably more advanced than even the most cutting-edge chip processes in the United States.

It's important to understand that current chip technology had only recently reached the nanometer scale.

The design was complete.

However, the critical issue was figuring out how to physically produce this CPU.

What puzzled Zhang Zhipeng was that he hadn't yet received any advanced photolithography machine technology from the system.

The technology he currently possessed was for a type of small projection photolithography machine.

The development of photolithography machines has always been a gradual process, starting with contact lithography machines, then evolving to projection lithography, and later, new models focusing more on light sources were invented.

This projection photolithography machine was already considered one of the more advanced types.

Of course, besides the photolithography machine, Zhang Zhipeng had also acquired technologies for other supporting equipment, raw materials, and auxiliary materials.

This indicated that Zhang Zhipeng would have to figure everything out himself.

Perhaps through continuous experimentation and research, he would grow rapidly.

Zhang Zhipeng then reassembled the disassembled 286 computer.

The CPU of this computer had been thoroughly tested and researched by him, but fortunately, it hadn't sustained any significant damage.

Zhang Zhipeng carefully cleaned it up and reinstalled it.

After booting up the computer and running a quick test, he found that it was still barely functional.

However, the computer's configuration was so poor that Zhang Zhipeng couldn't be bothered to use it.

Setting the computer aside, Zhang Zhipeng began writing down the various materials he needed on a piece of paper.

These materials were for manufacturing a chip.

After creating the design, he now had to produce a CPU sample for testing, and then continue refining it.

As he was writing the list, there was a soft knock on the door.

Zhang Zhipeng quickly got up to open it.

As a newcomer, he naturally didn't dare to put on airs.

Standing outside the door was Tian Hongtao.

Tian Hongtao entered Zhang Zhipeng's office with a smile, holding a letter of appointment.

"Zhipeng, it's past 5 o'clock, and it's getting a bit dark. Why haven't you turned on the light?"

Tian Hongtao helped Zhang Zhipeng turn on the light.

Zhang Zhipeng smiled and said, "I've been busy and didn't get the chance."

Tian Hongtao opened the letter of appointment and read it aloud: "Comrade Zhang Zhipeng: Due to your outstanding abilities in computer programming, which are exactly what our school urgently needs, the school has decided to specially appoint you as a special research fellow, with the same benefits as other research fellows!"

"This letter serves as proof!"

After reading it, Tian Hongtao handed the letter to Zhang Zhipeng with both hands and said, "Zhipeng, you've overtaken me now. I haven't even graduated with my PhD, and you're already enjoying the benefits of a research fellow."

Zhang Zhipeng smiled and said, "This is just them giving me some motivation, hoping that I'll work hard."

"When Dr. Tian graduates, you'll be directly appointed as an associate professor. That's the real deal!"

Tian Hongtao said, "In any case, the professor thinks highly of you."

"The process to recruit you as his master's student is also underway."

"In short, he hopes you can truly help solve our country's problems and get the avionics system for the third-generation fighter jets up and running as soon as possible."

Zhang Zhipeng nodded and said, "I'll definitely repay the professor's trust."

"But right now, I have some materials I need to request. Should I submit the request directly to Professor Zheng, or how should I proceed?"

Tian Hongtao patted his chest and said, "From now on, whatever support you need, just come to me!"

"The professor said that I'm now your assistant."

Zhang Zhipeng laughed and said, "I can't possibly let Dr. Tian be my assistant. That would be such a waste of talent."

Tian Hongtao laughed and said, "I'm just meant for grunt work! If I don't help you, would you rather have the professor running around for you? That would be even worse!"

Hearing this, Zhang Zhipeng no longer held back. He said, "Alright then, I'll finish the list and have Dr. Tian help me submit the request."

"The materials I'm requesting this time might be a bit much."

He returned to his desk and continued writing his materials list.