Zion's words somewhat relieved Nick, but his concerns had not truly vanished.
It was like having a favorite toy that a grown-up took a liking to. Adults would usually say, "Don't worry, I'm not gonna take things from a kid," but every time, they'd end up wanting it for themselves.
Of course, Nick naturally wouldn't believe that Dye and his team would simply take their stuff for free. What he worried about was whether cooperating with Dye's group would lead to a bunch of red tape, preventing this technology from being used in other civilian fields.
He even worried that after partnering up, Nick and his team might face restrictions on certain things in the future, like traveling abroad or collaborating with foreign companies.
Zion looked at the messy room and the worn-out Nick, then smiled at him, saying, "Alright, it looks like you didn't get much sleep last night with all the drama. I'll give you two hours to crash and grab a bite, and then we can talk business."
Bill nodded upon hearing this, stood up, glanced at him, and then walked out. Zion gave him a smile and followed.
At this moment, Tyler and his two buddies from the next room quickly walked in, asking anxiously, "Buddy, are you okay?"
Nick shook his head and said, "Everything that needed to be said has been made clear. There's nothing wrong. Everyone, clean up, and let's go eat. I'm starving."
"Who told you to drink so much last night? You tossed everything you ate!" Zack rolled his eyes.
"Hurry up, someone's still waiting," Nick chuckled and urged them.
Under his urging, everyone began to tidy up. Tyler asked him while cleaning, "You're talking about the two guys who just left, right? I think I've seen them somewhere."
"Of course you've seen them. They were at our press conference before. Zion, the Deputy Director of Atlanta Microelectronics Institute—it seems he's friends with that Bill Dye," Nick replied.
"Holy cow, these are big shots! Why are they here...?" Zack said excitedly.
Tyler smiled broadly and said, "What else could it be? It's gotta be to discuss a partnership."
"Alright, hurry up! I want some pizza pronto!"
...
After eating something, everyone's spirits lifted. Nick was fine; he had slept for a night, and although his voice was a bit raspy, he was in good shape. Tyler and his two buddies, however, had barely slept all night, so they all had dark circles under their eyes and looked pretty beat.
Originally, Nick had told these three guys to get some shut-eye, but unexpectedly, they insisted on coming along to meet Bill and his team.
Their next meeting with Bill's group was in a small conference room on the second floor of the hotel. This time, it wasn't just Bill Dye and Zion; there were also a few young people. After some introductions, Nick and his team learned that these individuals were members of the research project team led by Bill.
The two sides exchanged a few pleasantries and quickly got down to brass tacks. There was a significant age gap between them, so they didn't have much in common. Therefore, discussing their familiar professional fields was more likely to find common ground.
Zion enthusiastically said to Nick, "Nicholas, Bill Dye here is the top expert in cluster arrays in North America. He is currently leading a research team to study drone cluster array technology.
The record of creating a swarm of over a hundred drones, which you mentioned at the press conference, was set by the team he led.
So when we saw the tech you displayed, we were ecstatic.
Doctor Dye attaches great importance to your technology.
So he simultaneously arranged for a comprehensive evaluation of your tech and actively sought relevant funding.
However, we didn't expect your technology to cause such a stir. If we were to pick the top ten research achievements that rocked the tech world this year, I think yours would definitely be among them.
When we saw the evaluation report, we realized the seriousness of the situation. Your technology is no longer just an ordinary project but a research achievement involving cutting-edge fields. It not only has extremely high market value but also involves certain sensitive military applications.
So, on one hand, we requested Miami PD to provide you with appropriate protection to prevent accidents. On the other hand, after receiving approval, we immediately rushed over.
We must strive to keep this technology here in the States and prevent it from leaking.
You know that we are currently facing strong external competition regarding technology and intellectual property rights, so many fields, especially cutting-edge tech, require us to be self-reliant.
Once your tech flows overseas, it means that we will lose our lead in the field involved with your technology, fall behind others, and be squeezed everywhere.
So I hope you can consider the big picture and keep this technology here, contributing to our high-end tech research field."
Nick nodded upon hearing this and said, "Of course, we are willing to keep this technology stateside, but everything still has to follow market rules.
We are also willing to work with Dr. Bill Dye's team, but this partnership should be based on fairness and equality.
In fact, I still have some concerns in this regard. I wonder if our technology will be restricted and affected in other commercial ventures after we partner with Dr. Bill Dye and his team."
Since he was going to state his position, he might as well put all his cards on the table, to see how the other party would respond.
Although he knew cooperation was inevitable, gaining more benefits from it was what he hoped for.
"You kid, you haven't even officially entered the real world yet, why are you so cynical? Can't you have some vision, some ideals and goals? Did you study for nothing?" Bill glared at Nick, highly annoyed.
In his opinion, such a promising talent, yet all he talked about was money and profit—what a waste. If it weren't for the need to keep these young guys on board now, with his personality, he would have chewed them out long ago.
Nick rolled his eyes upon hearing this. He just stated some reasonable demands, so how did he lack ideals and vision?
However, since the other person was highly respected, he couldn't talk back. He could only play dumb and say, "Of course I have ideals, but since we are currently broke, we can only set them aside to pursue some much-needed cash.
As for vision, don't worry, when it comes to major issues of right and wrong, we will never be flaky!"
"Hmph!" Bill snorted, clearly dissatisfied with Nick's smart-aleck reply.
'Working for nothing? For the love of the game? I'm not God damn Sheldon Cooper!'