Spy-x-War Showdown
Chapter 337 - 325: Try to be a Civilized Person

Chapter 337: Chapter 325: Try to be a Civilized Person

From the moment Tang Guo joined, the Organization of Water began to spend money. Two-thirds of the three million US dollars borrowed by Yang Yi disappeared on the first night after Tang Guo arrived.

Two million US dollars’ worth of Bitcoin was exchanged for a piece of software.

But the money that needed to be spent was indeed necessary.

Tang Guo picked up her bag, then she said loudly, "Ever since we met on the first day, I have been thinking about what is needed to build a cyberintelligence center. I’ve made a list and estimated the costs, please take a look. Once we have our own personal supercomputer, we can get started."

Tang Guo pulled out a list and pushed it towards Yang Yi. After Yang Yi looked at it, he pushed it in front of Mike.

When Mike looked over the list, his expression became very unpleasant.

"A head node, at least twenty compute nodes, Ethernet switches, power distribution units, server racks, cooling systems, a private IP address range, node naming, a suitable location, 50 high-performance processors, a Linux high-performance computing cluster..."

Mike read through part of it, then he put the list down and said in a deep voice, "It will cost a total of 1.2 million US dollars!"

Tang Guo nodded and said, "My goal is to reach a computational capacity of a quadrillion calculations per second. This list is the bare minimum to achieve that goal. Of course, this computational power is only for a personal supercomputer, but for our needs, reaching this level is completely adequate."

Mike took a deep breath and said, "We don’t have 1.2 million US dollars to give you right now, I can give you at most 800,000 US dollars!"

Tang Guo thought for a moment and said, "Then, we can first achieve a computational speed of over five hundred trillion calculations per second, which will be enough for this mission. My design has already left room for future upgrades."

Mike looked at Yang Yi, then gritted his teeth and said softly, "Take the money! When can you put the supercomputer together?"

Tang Guo thought carefully for a moment and said, "One month."

Mike nearly jumped up, he said loudly, "One month? Impossible! We don’t have a month. Three days, I can give you at most three days!"

Tang Guo was shocked and exclaimed, "Three days? You must be joking. How could it be possible in three days? We need to order equipment, we need to assemble, and we need to test. None of this can be done in three days, even if I don’t sleep, don’t eat, and have Black Lightning help, it’s impossible to finish within three days. The ordered hardware wouldn’t even be delivered, plus, we need a special place to house the supercomputer, and we have to consider the power supply issues, with too little time it’s simply not possible!"

Mike took several deep breaths, then he said in a tone of despair, "Is a supercomputer that difficult? Fuck!"

Unable to hold back, Mike cursed. Although Yang Yi was also anxious, he knew that it was unrealistic to expect Tang Guo and Schultz to assemble the supercomputer in three days.

Yang Yi slowly said, "Is there no other way? For example, can we rent computational power from a supercomputer?"

Tang Guo thought for a moment and said, "Rent computational power from a supercomputer? Of course that’s possible, but you didn’t say we could do that. Oxford and Cambridge universities both have their own supercomputers, hmm, and Imperial College also has a supercomputer, and they are right across from us!"

Imperial College was next to Hyde Park, and Yang Yi and his group were also next to Hyde Park, so Tang Guo was absolutely right when she said that the Imperial College was just across the street.

Mike looked much better and then he said quietly, "Can we borrow the computational power of a supercomputer? In that case..."

Tang Guo said softly, "It’s possible, but we need to provide our own software. Additionally, the computational power of supercomputers is in high demand; whether it’s for the university’s own research or rented out, there’s always a long waiting list."

Mike didn’t know how to assemble a supercomputer, but renting one? He knew very well how to do that without any help.

Mike confidently looked at Yang Yi and said in a firm voice, "We’ll use the supercomputer at Imperial College!"

Yang Yi nodded and said, "As long as it’s technically feasible and we can keep to the timeline, renting is of course no problem. After we complete this task, we can then assemble our own supercomputer."

Mike shook his head and said, "No, you don’t understand. I’m talking about using Imperial College’s supercomputer, not about renting it."

After saying this, Mike stood up, he walked out of the restaurant with big strides, and soon returned with Brian.

After bringing Brian in, Mike said in a serious tone, "It’s time to act!"

Brian said gravely, "Alright."

"We need to use the supercomputer at Imperial College, but renting it would cost money, and we would have to wait a long time. Yet, our task must be completed within a month, and my plan is to finish it ideally within a week."

Brian’s expression turned grim, then he said in a deep voice, "Again with computers. If it’s about using computers, why call me here."

Mike said gravely, "I need you to find a way, any way, to let us use the supercomputer as soon as possible!"

Understanding dawned on Brian’s face, he nodded, and after a moment of thought said, "It shouldn’t be too hard. A supercomputer is managed by people. If we find the right person, we can resolve this."

Mike looked towards Tang Guo and asked, "If we can use Imperial College’s supercomputer, how long will it take to complete the other tasks?"

"With the performance of Imperial College’s supercomputer, added to the maximum data transfer speed, I think it would take a few hours to complete the analysis of all the Home Office’s materials. The main constraint is the data transfer speed; otherwise, the computational workload is not an issue."

Mike let out a long sigh of relief, then he looked at Brian and smiled, "You know what to do, right?"

After a moment of contemplation, Brian nodded and said, "I got it. I’ll do some reconnaissance now, and try to have an answer for you by tomorrow morning."

Mike nodded, then he turned to Yang Yi and said, "The supercomputer issue is resolved. What remains is how to get into the Home Office or the Transport Department. I don’t know where the Home Office stores all its information, but the Home Office building is close to us, so it’s easy to find out where to go."

Yang Yi didn’t know what Mike and Brian were planning, and asked curiously, "How do you plan to ’borrow’ Imperial College’s supercomputer?"

"Someone always looks after that damn supercomputer. As long as we find the right person, it’s simple, offer a bribe, make threats, once we find that person, the rest is easy."

After Brian said this flatly, Mike shook his head and said, "You can’t go overboard; we have to work in London for the long term. Being too aggressive isn’t good, so try to investigate subtly."

Yang Yi also agreed, "Exactly, as long as it’s possible to avoid violence, let’s try to be civilized."