Chapter 177: Challenging Authority

Although Martin joined Tianqi Energy Company with a humble mindset, that humility was directed only toward Su Xin.

As for everyone else, and even the entire Tianqi Energy Company, he still harbored no small amount of arrogance in his heart.

Given his reputation, his status, and his honors, he should have been considered a top-tier expert within the entire Tianqi Group.

Yet now, he was only ranked in the third tier.

Such a rank was simply an insult to him, and even more so, a disrespect to the Nobel Prize.

Martin spoke again in a deep voice:

"I came to Tianqi Group mainly in the hope of having the opportunity to discuss technology with Mr. Su Xin, and only secondarily for research."

"To be honest, apart from Mr. Su Xin, the level of most other people in the entire Tianqi Group is not worth mentioning in my eyes; I do not believe that so many people could be ranked higher than me."

"Therefore, I feel that the company's ranking method is flawed, and there may even be corruption involved."

"I have heard that this seems to be a characteristic of you people from Long Country."

"I once saw a similar satirical joke on the internet: in Long Country, having skills and ability is not important; even if a Nobel Prize winner comes, they must politely serve tea to their superiors."

"Now it seems this is not a joke, but the reality of Long Country."

"Perhaps it is because I did not serve tea to the group employees who determined the rankings that I was only rated as Level Eleven?"

As he spoke, Martin shrugged with feigned nonchalance and spread his hands helplessly:

"Sorry, I don't know how to serve tea; I only know how to focus on my own work."

"If you are waiting for me to serve tea before you can fairly re-evaluate my rank, I choose to leave."

Hearing Martin's words, Ding Kuiyong's face turned dark, and he shouted in a deep voice:

"Mr. Martin!"

"If this is your attitude, then I will not ask you to stay; if you want to leave, please do so."

"Even if you are a Nobel Prize winner, you are not allowed to mock the people of Long Country in front of me."

"Furthermore, the Nobel Prize has no practical value at Tianqi Group; that is merely your past honor. Our boss, Su Xin, can cultivate many, many top talents no worse than you. We do not need to beg anyone."

Martin gave a disdainful cold snort:

"Fine, since you think the Nobel Prize is meaningless, I will spread your words and let everyone see the arrogant attitude of Tianqi Group."

"I would like to see if Su Xin is really as capable as you say, and if he can truly cultivate so many top talents who are no worse than Nobel Prize winners."

"Rest assured, you will see."

Ding Kuiyong said coldly: "If there is nothing else, go handle your resignation procedures yourself."

Martin stood up with a start, turned around, and left, his face full of anger.

Since winning the Nobel Prize, when had he ever received such treatment?

Now, not only was he insulted by Tianqi Group with a low rank, but he was also ordered to resign by Ding Kuiyong with an attitude bordering on expulsion.

Although he was the one who said he would leave, the other party's refusal to ask him to stay and their cold, hard attitude amounted to expulsion in his eyes.

This made him furious.

After signing the relevant resignation documents, he posted a statement regarding his resignation on social media, harshly criticizing Tianqi Group's actions and publicly accusing Tianqi Group's ranking system of being corrupt.

To this, Tianqi Group only responded in a lukewarm manner—Tianqi Group has its own evaluation standards; regardless of who anyone is or what honors they have received, if they do not demonstrate sufficient strength, they cannot obtain a corresponding rank.

This incident sparked heated discussion both at home and abroad.

Tianqi Group's attitude toward a Nobel Prize winner drew criticism from many media outlets, who felt that Tianqi Group was bullying others and had developed the common flaw of arrogant large corporations, no longer valuing top talent.

Many former Nobel Prize winners, including the Nobel Prize committee, came forward to condemn Tianqi Group, saying that Tianqi Group was deliberately suppressing them and damaging the reputation of the Nobel Prize.

If it were an ordinary person, it might be one thing; no matter how much one looked down on a Nobel Prize winner, or even said that a Nobel Prize winner's level was not as good as an elementary school student's, no one would pay attention, and it would only invite ridicule.

But Tianqi Group is different.

Today's Tianqi Group has such immense momentum; with the existence of Su Xin, and having gathered many top scientific and technical experts from all fields around the world, it can be said that every move it makes is watched by countless people across the globe.

Especially in the field of scientific research, Tianqi Group possesses extremely strong authority.

Now, Tianqi Group was making a big show of internal ranking adjustments and technical rankings, yet it deliberately placed Nobel Prize winners below some other people.

Although some scientific experts could understand this, feeling that Tianqi Group considers not only ability but also contributions in various aspects—for example, some Nobel Prize winners have not produced results for a long time, so their scores would be relatively low.

Such long periods without results are very normal in the scientific research community.

But understanding is one thing; everyone still expressed condemnation for this kind of ranking by Tianqi Group.

Because in the eyes of many, this was a provocation to the authority of the Nobel Prize.

Some things, ordinary people can say.

Some things, ordinary people can do.

But an enterprise with extremely strong authority and influence in relevant fields cannot act recklessly.

Especially when it comes to rankings.

This is true for rankings in any field.

Ordinary people can discuss and rank things casually in private, but if a large, influential media outlet does it, they should either not rank at all, or they must rank with sufficient evidence and persuasiveness.

Otherwise, they will offend people.

It is like a major media outlet suddenly ranking all actors, placing several big stars who have won multiple Best Actor awards in the back, while ranking several new faces at the front; it would certainly cause protests from many fans.

The same is true for Tianqi Group's ranking.

Many Nobel Prize winners, as well as other top scientists who view the Nobel Prize as a sacred object, came forward one after another to condemn Tianqi Group.

Inside Tianqi Group.

Apart from Martin.

Another Nobel Prize winner who was rated as Level Twelve, Lauren McNeil—who, like Renisi Puerisi, was a top researcher at Tianqi Pharmaceutical Company—although also somewhat dissatisfied with the ranking, did not say anything more.

As for the other high-level technical talents, they also suppressed the dissatisfaction in their hearts, deciding to demonstrate sufficient strength in their upcoming work to strive for a higher rank.

As for the individuals rated as the only two Level Thirteen technical personnel in the group, Leinis and Feng Wenyao were incomparably excited at this moment.

This was more gratifying than an increase in annual salary or various material and honorary rewards.

Being ranked at the highest level among more than forty thousand scientific and technical personnel, and even surpassing two other Nobel Prize winners, represented the group's high recognition for the two of them.

It also meant that the two of them had a better chance of entering Su Xin's field of vision and having the opportunity to communicate with Su Xin about technology in greater depth.

Previously, they had both communicated with Su Xin together with colleagues and had long since deeply realized just how high Su Xin's true level was.

Naturally, they yearned to gain Su Xin's attention.

The topic regarding Tianke Academy and the technical ranking of Tianqi Group sparked heated discussions among countless people on a global scale.

In Long Country, it made countless people even more fanatical.

Because.

Within Tianke Academy, there was not only the conventional Scholar status, but also a Genius Class and a Temporary Class.

The former was used to recruit and cultivate the group's new generation of technical geniuses; as long as they possessed sufficient potential, they could all be admitted exceptionally.

The latter was used to temporarily cultivate special talent, such as the three hundred senior engineers in the field of Lithography Machine that Su Xin was preparing to cultivate.

That's right, the large number of senior engineers currently being recruited by the Tianqi Group subsidiary, Tianqi New Technology, would all be directly selected into the Temporary Class of Tianke Academy.

For this reason, many senior engineers currently employed at other companies requested leave one after another, or resigned outright, to come to Tianjing to participate in the recruitment.

In less than a month.

Three hundred and sixty engineers had successively passed five rounds of interviews and become probationary employees of Tianqi Core Technology Company.