Chapter 57: Spearheading Future Technological Directions

"I'm sorry, I've caused you so much trouble!"

As soon as she got into the car after leaving New York's Grand Central Terminal, Hedy Lamarr took the initiative to apologize. Outside the car window, the flashbulbs were still flickering incessantly.

Her apology was prompted not only by the reporters swarming them outside the station, but also by the news itself—he had become her rumored boyfriend, and she had supposedly abandoned her acting career for him. Their relationship had now become the talk of the town.

The moment the two of them had emerged from the station, they were immediately mobbed by reporters.

"It's no trouble at all."

As the car pulled away, Li Yi'an glanced at the woman beside him and said, "I suppose I should feel honored. After all, the newspapers say I've charmed the most beautiful woman in the world into coming home with me. They all think I'm a terribly lucky guy."

Hedy Lamarr let out a long sigh at his words.

"That's how the outside world sees it. It seems everyone thinks that a woman's most important asset is her pretty face rather than her inner intellect."

After a poignant sigh that instantly tugged at the heartstrings, Hedy Lamarr looked at the man driving the car and said, "Still, you are different from all of them. Thank you."

"Don't thank me. I just did what any capitalist would be willing to do. To be honest, I should be thanking you instead."

He glanced in the rearview mirror at Hedy Lamarr, who was leaning against the car window looking desolate, and asked, "We've arrived in New York. Where are you heading? Shall I drop you off?"

"I don't know..."

Hedy Lamarr shook her head and said, "Whenever I came to New York in the past, my studio manager arranged everything for me. Now..."

Looking at the New York cityscape outside the window, Hedy Lamarr murmured.

"I don't know where I should go now, I don't know what the future holds, and I don't even know about tomorrow..."

Li Yi'an simply looked at her through the rearview mirror without speaking. Such feelings were only human; after all, she had practically given up everything.

"But I don't regret it, because I know this is perhaps my only chance to prove that I am more than just a pretty face."

Glancing in the rearview mirror again, Li Yi'an could clearly see the firm expression on the woman's face, her charming eyes filled with unwavering resolve.

Yet, somehow, she looked even more alluring!

Looking at the woman's breathtaking beauty, Li Yi'an couldn't help but blurt out, "Why don't you stay at my place for now?"

The moment the words left his mouth, he felt a twinge of regret. After all, a single man and a single woman living under the same roof were bound to invite complications.

...

What does it feel like to cohabit with a great beauty?

Actually, it feels like nothing at all, since they were sharing a roof but not a bed. At most, it was simply pleasing to the eye. Besides, Li Yi'an was a man who had long transcended base desires. At least during the initial stage of his entrepreneurial journey, he always kept his focus squarely on the task at hand.

Take right now, for instance. To push forward with his venture, the moment he returned to New York, he plunged straight into the company to begin setting up the radio laboratory.

Although American corporations had practically scooped up all available radio talent, there were still a few slipped through the net—such as Zhou Hongzhang, Cheng Shian, and several other Chinese students abroad. Because they were foreigners, they were barred from engaging in classified research after graduation and could only participate in ordinary fundamental studies. This gave the Leap Radio Laboratory an opportunity to recruit them.

Upon entering the laboratory, just like everyone else, Zhou Hongzhang and Cheng Shian were utterly astonished to find a Hollywood superstar inside the research facility. But very soon, as Hedy Lamarr explained her inventions, the sheer amazement in their eyes turned into profound admiration.

"Frequency hopping technology is different from traditional communication methods. It utilizes 88 channels, and signal interference will only affect a single channel... You can think of it as a player piano. After all, by drawing inspiration from the practice of 'playing an automated piano using pre-encoded punched paper tape,' we achieve frequency hopping..."

As Hedy Lamarr explained her design concept to the assistants, Li Yi'an stood nearby. Initially acting merely as an onlooker, he found himself completely baffled as the explanation involved a great deal of technical jargon that he simply couldn't comprehend.

Feeling somewhat bored, he picked up a book lying nearby—a radio textbook—and casually flipped through it. Although the contents were equally abstruse and difficult to understand, a light screen suddenly flashed into view.

[An unmastered new skill has been discovered. Would you like to learn the skill "Radio Science"?]

Just by holding the book, he could acquire a skill!

Filled with surprise, Li Yi'an hastily selected "Yes," and the knowledge of this skill instantly flooded into his mind.

Once he exited the system again, the theories that had sounded so obscure and incomprehensible just moments ago were now crystal clear.

"...The specific implementation method is to install drums with identical codes into the torpedo receiver and the ship-based transmitter. When the two operate simultaneously, they synchronously adjust the transmission and reception frequencies according to the pre-arranged code. In this way, the enemy cannot detect or jam the remote-controlled torpedo signals."

Through Hedy's explanation, Li Yi'an finally understood why the Navy had rejected her invention. Aside from issues of trust, another reason was probably that the associated mechanical components were too bulky to fit inside a torpedo.

However, at this moment, Li Yi'an's attention was no longer on Hedy's invention. He was completely immersed in the world of radio. For someone with a liberal arts background, this was an entirely new universe. He even walked into another room where the tables were laden with various electronic devices—over a dozen radios and the U.S. military's newest radio sets. But the most eye-catching of all was a wooden-cased electronic device sitting on the table, measuring a full fifty centimeters wide and seventy centimeters high.

In the upper center of the massive wooden case, a palm-sized gray-white glass screen clearly revealed its identity—this was a television set!

A television produced in 1943!

"Such a huge television, yet the screen is only seven inches..."

Televisions had already been invented and introduced to the market before World War II. In fact, television sets were the only "electronic products" in the entire United States that did not require ration coupons to purchase. However, very few people could afford one, as a single television cost two hundred dollars.

At the time, an ordinary American GI's monthly salary was only fifty dollars!

Actually, it wasn't exorbitantly expensive either. After all, there was a time when people in his homeland willingly spent several years' worth of salary to buy a single television set.

All of this proved one thing: the market's widespread recognition and demand for televisions.

"Two hundred dollars..."

Looking at the television before him, a strange and brilliant light flashed in Li Yi'an's eyes.

"Though a bit expensive, you are the future!"