Chapter 4: Iron Man and Flash

On the stage, Liu Jianwang was actually paying close attention to Zhang Yifu’s side. Seeing him answer this question even faster, he couldn’t help but smile and say, “That student answers these kinds of questions quite stylishly.”

“Haha, that’s normal.” The old professor also shook his head helplessly. “Putting aside professional knowledge, when it comes to armchair theorizing, Zhang Yifu probably wouldn’t lose.”

“Professor Chen, armchair theorizing is also a skill. Now projects are big and numerous. They all need to be designed on paper for a year or more before construction starts.”

“But there still needs to be technical know-how, right? Every technical parameter is calculated through painstaking effort.”

“Yes, yes. But before tackling the technical issues, the correct planning direction needs to be determined first.”

“Without a technical foundation, it’s hard to propose the correct direction.”

“Professor Chen is right, technical skill is still more important.” Seeing the old professor’s stubborn demeanor, Liu Jianwang decided not to argue further. Although he held an important position in the Ministry and his rank was higher than the old professor’s, in terms of knowledge and foundational expertise, the old professor was superior. Many of the students Professor Chen had taught were already on equal footing with Liu Jianwang himself. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say Professor Chen’s former students were all over the system, if not the entire country.

Liu Jianwang was clearly not a very patient man. A few minutes later, he announced the next question.

“The last question is very simple—please predict the general state of the Power System 20 years from now. If possible, list some data. Everyone can let their imaginations run wild, think freely, no pressure.”

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this question. It was simple, a subjective question. They could just answer and think whatever they wanted.

But for Zhang Yifu, it was truly awkward… This wasn’t even cheating anymore… He was the authority on this topic. He looked up at the ceiling, his brain starting to work rapidly, trying to recall the number of Power Plants and the amount of power generation from that era… Although he had a strong intuitive understanding, those specific data points were definitely not something an ordinary Shift Operator would have memorized. He had definitely seen those numbers, but only seen them. There was no way he had them memorized.

It was at this exact moment that his mind went numb, and he felt a familiar kind of jolt.

He knew this feeling all too well. Wasn’t this the same sensation as getting bathed in five hundred thousand volts of electricity? However, this time, the high voltage seemed gentler and was confined only to his brain. What amazed Zhang Yifu was that he actually found it comfortable, and he was still alive.

While he was still shocked and confused, his mind had already connected to something like a “Power Database.” It had everything, whether technical documents or details about Generator hardware. Zhang Yifu felt like an electron, able to wander anywhere along connected power lines. If he wanted, he could even dive into a nuclear reactor in a Nuclear Power plant.

This was truly a magical experience! Even though he was physically in 1990, his thoughts could wander in the 21st century! The only regret was that this wandering was strictly limited to the scope of the Power System. Fortunately, it was as if he possessed a “21st Century Power Encyclopedia.”

This supernatural high voltage had actually brought supernatural abilities.

“So I almost became Flash…” Zhang Yifu mumbled, drooling a little.

Xia Xue turned her head and stared blankly at this weirdo, slightly surprised, and whispered, “You know about Flash?”

Zhang Yifu was instantly pulled back to reality. He shook his head. “It’s normal for me to know. Why do you know?”

“My older sister often sends American magazines back.” Looking at Zhang Yifu, Xia Xue suddenly felt he was a bit different. Nobody at school shared this knowledge or interest with her. She never expected this somewhat ruffian-like guy to know about Flash.

Just then, the old professor on the podium coughed. Xia Xue quickly collected herself and stopped talking.

Zhang Yifu also knew he needed to solve the problem at hand first. So he put aside the endless exploration, prioritized pulling up information about the next century, and started thinking about how to answer.

After testing professional basics and common knowledge, the final question was undoubtedly testing vision and imagination. These kinds of planning concepts spanning decades were only within the purview of high-level Leaders in the Ministry or pioneering field experts. As ordinary students, it was impossible for them to study this, and textbooks certainly wouldn’t have it.

In short, this question tested whether you dared to imagine, dared to guess, and how accurate your guesses were.

Indeed, for people in 1990, it was hard to imagine what things would be like 20 years later. They wouldn’t imagine that 20 years later, the motherland would actually be no less than the United States at that time, and rapidly closing the gap. During this process, it might not be accurate to say the power industry played the most crucial role, but it absolutely contributed immensely.

What tested others was vision and imagination. What tested Zhang Yifu, however, seemed to be only his language expression skills… He kept reminding himself to watch his wording, not to look down on the 1990s predecessors from the height of a “future person.”

[The Chinese Power System as I See It in 20 Years]

[Power Generation: Power supply and economic development always advance together. The growth rate of power generation will flexibly fluctuate around the GDP growth rate. Based on statistical data from recent years, the annual power generation in 20 years should be around 5 trillion kilowatt-hours.]

[Power Plants: Large-capacity Generators will become the trend. Giant plants with millions of kilowatts of capacity will be spread across the country. Meanwhile, with technological development, Coal Consumption will continue to decrease. Thermal Power will still be the main source of electricity, while actively developing Hydropower. Emphasis will also be placed on New Energy like Nuclear Power, Wind Power, and solar energy to achieve sustainable development.]

[Power Grid: A nationwide interconnected grid will form. Ultra-high voltage and extra-high voltage transmission lines will also become widespread. Both in quantity and efficiency, they will catch up with and surpass Europe and America.]

[International Standing: By then, as a major power-generating and power-consuming country, China’s power technology will definitely be internationally leading. Project cooperation with brotherly countries, and even transmitting power to neighboring countries and Europe, will no longer be empty talk.]

[I am honored to be a power industry worker, using my own hands and passion to participate in the development of China’s Power System!]

After writing the last sentence, before Zhang Yifu could even think about whether it was too corny, they had already started collecting the papers.

“Whew…” Zhang Yifu leaned back in his chair, feeling it ended too soon. For the first time, he felt taking an exam was such a satisfying thing. Was this the feeling of being a top student?

“Lucky I finished writing.” Hao Shuai next to him also wiped his sweat and turned to ask, “Yifu, how did you do?”

“Barely managed to fill the page.”

“Can’t be helped. This question was too weird, all about knowledge related to actual work.” Hao Shuai smiled with a slightly proud air. “Luckily, my dad often talks about these things at home. I picked some things up by osmosis, so I had some ideas.”

“Hey, my dad talks about it too.” Zhang Yifu replied casually.

Hao Shuai exclaimed in surprise, “Huh? Isn’t your dad an electric meter maker? He cares about this too?”

“Yeah, right…” Zhang Yifu thought back and realized this generation’s father had a rather rough path. He was originally a Section Chief in the Electric Power Management Bureau, but because he bore responsibility for a serious accident, he was transferred to the Power Supply Bureau to work on electric meter installation.

“Never mind. Anyway, it’s just for reference. It shouldn’t affect our job assignments too much.” Hao Shuai comforted himself.

At this moment, Xia Xue next to them, instead of bowing her head to read a book as usual, finally couldn’t contain her curiosity and asked in a low voice, “How do you know about Flash?”

Zhang Yifu felt this aloof college girl in front of him was almost like a kindergarten little sister. So in this era, even knowledge about comic book heroes could become a point of superiority. He chuckled casually and said, “I also know about Batman, Hulk, Iron Man, and Captain America.”

“I’ve heard of the others. What’s Iron Man?” Hearing this, Xia Xue became even more curious. “Those magazines never mentioned that? What’s it in English?”

“It should be… Iron Man.”

“Really never heard of it…” Xia Xue thought for a moment, then suddenly froze. “Your English is that good?”

Zhang Yifu felt speechless. This was genuinely 21st century kindergarten-level English. After all, in this era, only higher education institutions had English classes. People didn’t prioritize it much either. Only those who wanted to go abroad for things like TOEFL would study desperately on their own. Zhang Yifu suddenly seemed to understand why Xia Xue was so isolated and sharp-tongued—

When a person’s cultural tastes are too far ahead, others can’t understand her, and she can’t understand others. While everyone else was watching “Yearnings” or “Stories from the Editorial Board,” she was already researching Justice League superheroes. How could they even have a conversation?

Soon, the department Director announced the meeting was over. Formal submission of job preferences would be the next day. The graduation ceremony was in three days, and after that, they could report to their assigned workplaces.

Everyone started leaving their seats, chatting about the exam they just took. Xia Xue wanted to keep Zhang Yifu to chat but felt awkward about speaking up. After all, people were still relatively shy back then. And Zhang Yifu didn’t have time to chat with her about Iron Man either. The key now was to hurry back to the dorm with Hao Shuai and get some clarity.