"Phew, this damn internship is finally over!" On the last day of 2019, Fang Jueyu finally finished his two-month internship and successfully obtained his internship certificate from NetEase Company.
After completing his internship report, the first thing Fang Jueyu did was eagerly head to the school to report. As he walked into the department head's office, he saw the worried Zhuo Shangke discussing something with another teacher.
Fang Jueyu's hearing was very sharp; they seemed to be discussing the upcoming Student International Cybersecurity Technology Competition.
With the development of information technology, information security technology had become a crucial skill, and countries around the world were making significant efforts to cultivate such talent. This Cybersecurity Technology Competition was born specifically to select this kind of talent.
The Student International Security Technology Competition was generally organized on a school-by-school basis. Each school would send a team of four contestants to compete, focusing on network security techniques, including encoding and decoding, encryption and decryption, information hiding, network programming, malware analysis, penetration testing, binary security, etc.
Moreover, the competition format was very exciting. It was not a one-on-one setup but rather a chaotic battle format where a 'one-against-many' situation could occur. This brutal competition format brought out the potential of every contestant to the fullest.
The competition would first take place among Huaxia Universities, and in the end, a top team would be selected to represent the Huaxia Universities in the Student International Exchange Competition to be held in Singapore next year.
The computer science program at Jiangnan University was actually very strong, ranking at the top among national universities, alongside Yanjing's Qingbei University and Yanjing University. The National College Student Security Technology Competition had been held six times so far, but they had never won first place.
The reason was simple: these three schools were so strong that their teams were always besieged first by other schools in every competition. Without a significant skill gap, they were naturally at a disadvantage.
However, two very famous newcomers in the information security technology field emerged from Qingbei University and Yanjing University. They seemed to have computer-like brains and could calmly counter every attack, even when besieged by multiple schools, eventually defeating them with strong counterattacks.
Liu Yiren from Qingbei University and Su Miao from Yanjing University were fiercely pursued by several internet companies after graduation. However, they still retained honorary professor titles at their respective schools to maintain a high level of expertise in their schools' information security technology competitions after graduation.
In contrast, while every member of Jiangnan University's team was talented, none were standout stars. While they could easily fend off attacks from several schools, against 14 teams, their capabilities were relatively lacking.
Jiangnan University did not have god-level figures like Liu Ren and Su Miao. Even in the rare instances when promising talents emerged, they still seemed distinct from these two.
As the department head, Zhuo Shangke always found the selection of contestants to be a headache. Given this year's situation, Jiangnan University was expected to face an embarrassing situation without any chance of advancing to the global competition due to attacks from all sides in the domestic events.
The discussion between the two teachers did not yield any results, and it ended in silence.
"Knock, knock, knock!" Fang Jueyu knocked on the door of Zhuo Shangke's office.
Fang Jueyu walked in and respectfully placed his internship report and certificate on Zhuo Shangke's desk.
"Well, it looks like my influence still counts for something. At least you didn't end up buying NetEase!" Zhuo Shangke flipped through his report and nodded in satisfaction.
Truth be told, Zhuo Shangke liked Fang Jueyu. During this year's autumn recruitment, many companies Jueyu had connections with recruited a good number of students from Jiangnan University, significantly relieving the employment pressure on students. The school's employment rate was also very impressive.
"You should also start preparing your graduation project!" Zhuo Shangke, who happened to be Fang Jueyu's graduation project advisor, added, "Choose your topic carefully and submit your proposal to me within a week."
"Huh?" Fang Jueyu was most annoyed by these tasks. "Professor Zhuo, aren't graduation preparations supposed to start in the second semester of senior year? Why the rush?"
"Why do you talk so much? Am I your advisor, or are you?" Zhuo Shangke retorted, glaring at him. "Next semester, I'll be leading the team to participate in the information technology competition, so I won't have much time to guide you with your graduation project. You should finish as much as you can this semester."
"Alright." Faced with Professor Zhuo's assertiveness, Fang Jueyu could only nod. Anyway, with Xiao Yi around, these tasks wouldn't take up too much of his energy.
At that moment, another student knocked on Zhuo Shangke's office door.
"Come in!" Zhuo Shangke said.
"Hm? Lu Chao?" Fang Jueyu recognized the student who entered. They were classmates, but Lu Chao's introverted nature meant they didn't interact much.
"Hey, old Fang." Lu Chao smiled at Fang Jueyu as a greeting.
Read exclusive adventures at My Virtual Library Empire
"Lu Chao, I know you're particularly interested in network security technology and have some insights. How about representing our school in this year's National College Student Information Technology Competition?" Zhuo Shangke asked directly.
Jiangnan University's Computer Science Department had a cybersecurity club, and Lu Chao was the club president, so Zhuo Shangke understood him somewhat. He had also achieved impressive results in many similar competitions.
"But Professor, if I participate in that competition, I won't be able to finish my graduation thesis in time. I need some time to prepare my research!" Lu Chao was a bit troubled; researching other schools' strategies was a time-consuming task.
"I've already spoken with your advisor. You can use this competition's rank to replace your thesis. As long as you place in the top three, your thesis will automatically be rated excellent," Zhuo Shangke promised.
"All right!" Lu Chao agreed without hesitation. Although he wasn't confident about securing first place, he was very sure of making it to the top three. "But Professor, have the other three team members been selected yet?"
Zhuo Shangke shook his head, "I have contacted two members already. They participated last year and have some competition experience, but we're still short of one member."
"We can skip the graduation thesis?" Fang Jueyu's eyes gleamed. "Professor Zhuo, can I give it a try?"
"You?" Zhuo Shangke sized up Fang Jueyu. He might have some business acumen, but Zhuo Shangke really wasn't familiar with his technical skills.
"Yes, if you let me skip the graduation thesis, I guarantee I'll bring back the championship from this year's international competition!"