game trailblazer

Chapter 158
After bidding farewell to Xishanju, which was just starting, it was almost noon. Zhang Lexing brought Wang Mengyao and the members of the two project teams of "Legend of Sword and Fairy" and "Legend of Black Stone" to Xifeng Restaurant for dinner.Although everyone had to work in the afternoon, everyone did not drink at the banquet, but stimulated by the good news of the Spring Festival holiday, everyone was in a very good mood, and even during the period before the holiday, everyone's work efficiency was greatly improved .

After dinner, Zhang Lexing encouraged the members of the two project teams of "Legend of Sword and Fairy" and "Legend of Black Stone", and then left Shenzhen and returned to Hong Kong.After a short rest, Zhang Lexing took a flight to San Francisco the next day and left Hong Kong.Zhang Lexing’s flight took off from Hong Kong Kai Tak Airport at 1:24 on January 11th. When the plane landed at San Francisco International Airport, the local time was only 45:1 on January 24th. Although Zhang Lexing was not the first I experienced such a thing once, but staring at the date and time on the electronic signage at the airport, there is always a feeling of traveling through time and space.

After returning to his own residence in San Jose, Zhang Lexing ignored the fatigue of the journey and called Chen Zishan first. Perhaps because of the unfortunate timing, the voice of the answering machine came out of the phone: "Hi, I It's Susan, I'm not at home now, if you have anything to do, please leave a message after hearing the beep...beep..."

"Zishan, I'm Lexing. I just came back today. The trip went smoothly. Well, I'm fine. I'll call back in the evening." Zhang Lexing had no choice but to say a few words before hanging up the phone.

It is already late at night according to Hong Kong time. Fortunately, Zhang Lexing has already slept on the plane, so he doesn't feel too tired.It was nearly two hours before noon, Zhang Lexing didn't want to spend the day in such a boring way, so he arranged a car and came to the headquarters office building of VisualSystem Group.

When Zhang Lexing gently pushed open the door of Yang Xinxin's office, she was sitting at her desk looking at some materials, when she heard someone coming in, she raised her head and looked towards the door.

"Brother, didn't you just come back, why didn't you rest at home." Yang Xinxin asked with concern.

"I've already rested on the plane, so I don't feel tired. It's not interesting to be alone at home, so I came to have a look." After speaking, Zhang Lexing came to the sofa and sat down.

"Well, everything is fine, there is no problem. The 'Baiji' operating system you are more concerned about has completed the final beta test. Since this year is 95, the official name is determined to be 'KylinWindows95'. According to the plan, it will be released in 3 A press conference will be held on June 6, and the relevant marketing actions will start one month in advance..."

"Sister Xin, how did you arrange the press conference?"

"Everything has been arranged. The press conference will be broadcast live via satellite. The only pity is that it is not our own satellite. The site of the press conference is located in the San Jose campus under construction. About 12 acres of land have been cleared. Place, the venue will be officially set up next month. At that time, the most famous talk show host in the United States, Jay Leno of NBC, will be invited to be the host of the press conference. The specific situation has been reported , there is a copy in your office, if you are interested, you can go and have a look."

"Sister Xin, you have really worked hard during this time."

"It's nothing, I'm used to it. By the way, did you read the information I gave you last time?"

"What information?" Zhang Lexing's mind was at a loss, and he couldn't think of any information at all.

"It's just seven or eight days ago, I personally delivered the information about how to learn to drive to your home." Yang Xinxin shook her head for a while, and said disappointedly: "Needless to say, you will definitely not even read it afterwards."

Zhang Lexing smiled embarrassedly, and said: "I have to rush to Hong Kong, I don't have time."

"Okay, brother should have time now that he's back."

"Well... Of course there is time, but isn't this new operating system going to market soon, I..."

Before Zhang Le finished speaking, she was interrupted by Yang Xinxin, who said with displeasure: "Okay, I will find someone to handle the release of the operating system, you don't have to worry too much, hurry up Time to get a driver's license."

"But I've never driven a car before. I'm afraid it's not easy to get a driver's license." Zhang Lexing still seemed very guilty.

"Well, the test for a driver's license is actually very simple. It's just a written test and a road test. Go to the San Jose service office of the California Department of Motor Vehicles and pay 12 dollars, and then you can take the test at any time. It doesn't matter how many times you take the test, as long as you take the written test. After passing the road test within one year, you can get an official driver's license. Go try it, it will be much more convenient to have a driver's license."

After Yang Xinxin's persuasion, and Zhang Lexing's consideration before, Zhang Lexing came to the San Jose branch of the California Department of Motor Vehicles in the afternoon.This is a very ordinary two-story building. Apart from the house number on the side facing the street, Zhang Lexing did not find any other obvious signs. He checked the address on the notepad in his hand three times, and it was indeed the same as the house number of the small building. Only then did Zhang Lexing confirm that he had found the right place.

Walking into this small building, Zhang Lexing followed the signs to quickly find the place in charge of reception, handed over his ID, filled out a registration form, and paid $12 for the exam fee, and then he took it from a fat black lady. Received two test papers.

"You find a place to fill out the test paper, and then hand it over to the place where the paper is graded." The black lady pointed in the direction with her hand.

Holding his test paper, Zhang Lexing found a chair against the wall and sat down, then used a book as a cushion to start answering the questions.There are a total of 36 legal questions and 12 sign recognition questions in the written test. There are three answers below each question. You only need to tick the correct answer and it will be OK. 7 or less to pass" and the end of the test paper reads "You agree not to cheat on the exam (you should know the meaning of cheating); if cheating occurs, you agree to accept a fine of $2, or 1000 month in prison, or , agreed to accept a fine of $1 and a one-month jail sentence. Please sign your name", but in fact no one came to invigilate the exam, it was entirely personal self-consciousness, and Zhang Lexing had long been used to it.

The questions are actually very simple. Zhang Lexing had listened to Yang Xinxin’s experience before coming here. Although he hadn’t really read the book on traffic laws, Zhang Lexing completed all the questions in less than an hour, and then spent more than ten minutes to check. Once, take the test paper and send it to the judge.

A small RB was in charge of grading the papers. After taking the two test papers from Zhang Lexing, he began to check the answers based on the answers, and put a cross on anything that was wrong.Standing by the counter, Zhang Lexing watched the RB person draw all the way on the test paper, and at the same time secretly counted in his heart. In the end, he got 6 wrong questions about the regulations and 1 wrong question about the identification. It seemed that his written test was wrong this time. Cleared.

"Sorry," the RB person behind the counter raised his head and said coldly, "You failed the exam."

"What!" Zhang Lexing couldn't believe it at all, and counted the crosses on the test paper again. The number was correct, so he asked: "I have clearly met the requirements, why can't I pass?"

The RB people picked up the pen and brushed the words "The legal questions can be passed if there are less than 5 wrong questions" on the test paper.

Zhang Lexing was furious: "How can you do this?"

"If there is something wrong, you can complain to my superior," the RB staff replied without changing expression, "I am just implementing the latest regulations of the California government."

Zhang Lexing naturally refused to give up so easily, so he borrowed a phone to call his personal lawyer, Jamie Rhodes, and explained the situation just now in detail, but unfortunately, Jamie Rhodes also There is no way, because he checked through a friend, and the California government has indeed issued such a new regulation, and in order not to waste the printed test papers, the staff is allowed to add new regulations manually, which means that the RB person’s approach is not Disgusting, but permissible.

In desperation, Zhang Lexing had no choice but to reschedule the date of the next test. In order to better prepare himself, Zhang Lexing scheduled the test date for three days later, and asked for a copy of "1994 California Driver's Handbook" from RB. ", I plan to study hard.

Back at the residence, Zhang Lexing noticed a stack of documents on a square table next to the door as soon as he entered the door. He picked it up and saw that it was the document about the driving school that Yang Xinxin mentioned in the morning, but he has not passed the written test yet. When it was not needed, Zhang Lexing put it on the square table casually.

Throwing the "1994 California Driver's Manual" brought from outside on the sofa in the living room, Zhang Lexing went to the kitchen to get himself a glass of juice, then returned to the living room, put the cup containing the juice on the coffee table, took Started reading the 1994 California Driver's Handbook.

After some research, Zhang Lexing discovered that the traffic regulations were quite different from his own imagination.for example:
"Students are king", California law stipulates that any vehicle must stop when the red light at the rear of the school bus is flashing, even if it is carefully bypassing the side, otherwise it may be fined $1000 and the driver's license will be revoked for one year. Severe punishment.

"Life is sacred", the "Manual" specifically pointed out that when encountering animals, one must slow down and follow the instructions of the animal owner.It is illegal to startle an animal in any way, never try to move an injured animal, never let an injured animal die, etc.

"Environment first", do not throw objects out of the car window, otherwise you will be subject to three penalties at the same time, the first is a fine of 1000 US dollars, the second is to pick up the thrown object, and the third is to be recorded in the driving record.

"Trucks First," reads the Handbook: "98 percent of manufactured goods and 99 percent of agricultural products in California are hauled by large trucks, and most truck drivers are careful -- they ..." and the "Manual" warns that trucks carrying 8 pounds (about 36 tons) of goods cannot stop at once, so if an accident occurs, the responsibility lies with the small vehicle.

"Slow travel is useless", "curiosity is guilty". The "Manual" specifically reminds that the driving speed should not be too slow. If the police considers that driving is too slow, he will send a ticket, because the slow speed affects the traffic on the road.After a car accident, never go to the scene of a car accident out of curiosity, or you could be arrested for it.

……

Since then, whenever he has time, Zhang Lexing will pick up the "1994 California Driver's Handbook" and study it carefully, or read other reference books. After a few days of hard study, Zhang Lexing feels that he can be called an expert in California traffic laws So I went to take the written test again with great ambition.This time it went very smoothly. I finished writing and handing in the test paper less than an hour after I got the test paper. The little RB person who checked the test paper was still the last time. The final result was that 3 legal questions were wrong, but the identification questions were all correct, so Zhang Lexing After getting my temporary driver's license, the next step is the road test.

The road test required driving a real car, and Zhang Lexing was always a little uneasy about it.After returning to the residence with the temporary driver's license, Zhang Lexing took a look at the information about the driving school from the square table, and then chose a "Bay Area Driving School" from it, and called it according to the contact number above.After paying the tuition fee of 685 US dollars, Zhang Lexing made an appointment for an evening class, once a week, four hours each time, a total of 24 hours, and the first class started tonight.

That night, Zhang Lexing came to the driving school in the Bay Area not far from his residence.The teacher is a fat old man with white hair, and most of the students in the audience, except Zhang Lexing, are students aged 16 to 20. It is said that the driver’s license can be used as an ID card, and it can also be credited, so it is so popular among students. welcome.The fat old man on the stage briefly explained some precautions, and then waved his hand, announcing that the next time would be a simulated driving lesson, so everyone walked outside under his leadership.

Following the crowd to the classroom where the simulated driving class was held, Zhang Lexing found that he was actually sitting in front of the computer and using a steering wheel-like controller to operate the car on the screen, just like playing a game.With the help of the fat old man, everyone entered the driving simulation software and drove around in the virtual city.

Zhang Lexing held the steering wheel and carefully controlled the car. This was different from the racing games he had played before. It was not for speed, but for driving to different destinations under the premise of obeying the traffic rules.The picture of this "game" is not very good, and the steering wheel does not have force feedback, but the system design is still very perfect, allowing students to understand many problems that can be encountered in real driving during the process of playing.While Zhang Lexing was "playing", he always couldn't help but think of a game called "Unlimited Driving", although the two are completely incomparable.

In the next few weeks, just like the first time, I spent every simulated driving class in front of the computer until the fifth week. Before the get out of class ended, the fat old man asked everyone to make a travel plan and include the following : First, the car you plan to buy (brand, model, color, power, price, insurance, etc. a series of information about your car); second, the city you will travel (including location, time, distance, distance etc.); third, some emergencies that you may encounter during the journey, and solutions; fourth, the consumption you need during the journey (including hotel accommodation, food, and some unpredictable expenses, etc.).

To put it simply, it is necessary to consider all aspects of this travel plan, and to draw a map to completely mark the route traveled by.The fat old man also specially confessed to everyone that it must be completed before coming to class next week.

If this task is put forward more than ten years later, it will not be too difficult to complete, because there are Google maps, Google search, and even a lot of reference materials on the Internet, but these are not yet available.Fortunately, there is still a place called "Library" these days. Combining with the experience of going to Palm Springs last time, Zhang Lexing consulted a lot of books such as travel guides, coupled with a hand-marked map after copying, a book full of pictures and texts The Palm Springs seven-day tour travel plan was finally successfully released.

Next, it's time to get on a real car and experience real driving, so Zhang Lexing's first test came...

(End of this chapter)