Chapter 152

~10 min read 1,945 words

Protagonist:

Chen Yi

Zhu Guangliang's tone left Chen Yi utterly astonished.

As for the content, it was rather unremarkable by comparison.

Spending 10 million US dollars to hire Song Yuan — a person with such boldness swaying a senior official is not inconceivable.

He replied "Understood" over the phone, and Chen Yi continued reading, occasionally writing a name or two on the blank paper before him.

Before long, the names filled an entire page.

But in the subsequent deliberation, he rejected the vast majority of them.

Clearly, finding the person who hired Song Yuan among those in the know would not be easy.

"Ten out of ten it's Song Yuan. Supposedly some big shot put in a good word for him — what do you think?" Chen Yi suddenly asked Liu Xinyu, and repeated Zhu Guangliang's report.

"Song Yuan's client base has been cultivated for at least 30 years." Liu Xinyu said, adding: "Let me think."

Song Yuan's wretched outcome made her slightly uncomfortable.

A dignified Intelligence Officer, who had roamed Southeast Asia for decades, someone who made her nervous beyond measure, was actually interrogated without the slightest resistance by an Operation Team that wasn't even elite, and now had to rely on official power to escape.

When did the Organization fall behind?

Liu Xinyu had never felt she was on the lagging side.

Historically, captured Organization members were few and far between; high-ranking members captured were even fewer...

Thinking here, her mind suddenly cleared, and she said: "Could it be the Organization learned of his situation and tried to rescue him? In that case, it might not be Song Yuan's connections, but the Organization's Senior Management's connections."

"Right now it's... less than 8 hours. That means they would have had to get the news at least 4 hours ago, then sway a senior official?" Chen Yi glanced at his watch, somewhat hesitant.

The higher the level, the slower the decision-making. Because the issues to consider are simply too many, plus the time for information transmission — whether the "Human Development Research Society" has such a thorough and efficient system is genuinely doubtful.

To go a step further, this kind of thorough efficiency is even more astonishing than their ability to sway high-level officials.

Liu Xinyu shrugged, uncertain.

When she made this gesture, her chest would thrust forward abruptly, making one's whole body tingle with pleasure.

Jin Douna arched her back in dissatisfaction, stood up, and passed between the two of them.

Chen Yi smiled, and lowered his head to read.

Heaven wants rain, mother wants to marry — Zhu Guangliang will naturally bear the brunt. As long as we pry open Song Yuan's mouth, any high-level figures are just passing clouds.

The next day.

At first light, Chen Yi went downstairs and woke the little lizard, asking: "Can you transform into something else now?"

"Apollo is omnipotent!" the little lizard roared.

"How long?"

The chameleon yawned: "Depends on the size. What do you want me to turn into?"

"Something that can monitor Jin Douna and Liu Xinyu, see if they secretly reconcile." Chen Yi shrugged: "Don't get discovered. After transforming, can you still turn back into a car?"

"Of course, but I'll need to replenish a lot of metal." The Raptor shook its body, slowly reverting to lizard form.

Fortunately it was the morning parking lot, otherwise it would have scared people to death.

The little lizard crawled onto Chen Yi's hand, tilted its head up, and said: "I can turn into underwear, hide inside their clothes..."

Chen Yi flatly refused: "Either turn into a mosquito."

"Flying is too tiring, and easy to get swatted." The chameleon shook its head: "If turning into an animal, my current form is better."

He was still quite nostalgic for enjoying gentleness among girls as a chameleon.

"Something portable." Chen Yi reconsidered: "Turn into a key then. Here."

He tossed out a key ring, which had the dormitory door key — if the two girls left, they'd definitely have to take the keys.

The little lizard sniffed, and soon grimaced: "There's rubber on it."

"Eat it." Chen Yi commanded very roughly.

Under the Summoning Ring's compulsion, the little lizard had no choice but to swallow the key ring, muttering as it transformed: "I have two legs, two arms, one head, but six keys — what do I use for the remaining one?"

Chen Yi picked it up, silently tossed it back into the dormitory, then woke Liu Xinyu and Jin Douna, saying: "I'm going out. You two stay in the dormitory, keep your phones on at all times. Don't do anything that makes me suspicious."

Finished speaking, he casually took the other key from the bowl by the door.

Called a taxi, but still had to wait.

Chen Yi stood in the cold wind before the dormitory building, enjoying the puzzled gazes cast his way from time to time.

His turn-head rate at Jiangning University was certainly no less than a peerless beauty's.

Campus celebrities are like small-town celebrities — small stakes, little privacy, always tested and suspected by people in various ways.

"Still need a car of my own." Chen Yi grew impatient waiting, and sighed inwardly.

Han He arrived panting on a bicycle at the foot of H Building.

"Thank heavens, you're still here. Was really afraid you'd gone to class."

His tone carried a hint of having survived a disaster.

Chen Yi nodded lacklusterly.

Han He said unabashedly: "I studied the paper outline you wrote yesterday, spent a day and night on it, looked up a lot of related materials. I can only say it's brilliant to the extreme, and absolutely represents the mainstream thought of world economic academia. I can already imagine the enormous sensation this article will bring."

"There won't be an enormous sensation," Chen Yi shrugged: "You also know it's mainstream world thought."

Han He remained excited: "Being published in an important overseas journal — for me that is an enormous sensation."

For any student, it should be so.

Even in today's world where good opportunities to stay on as faculty are as scarce as diamonds, a PhD student who can publish in high-level overseas journals remains a powerful contender for those pitifully few slots. The reason those returnee PhDs can get schools to hire them by breaking the rules is, most of the time, also thanks to journal papers with completely different levels of influence.

"I believe that if the two of us cooperate, we'll definitely have the best performance."

Han He could see Chen Yi's lack of interest, so he pressed on: "You be second author. If the professor doesn't put his name on it, you'll be first author."

If Chen Yi were second author, the paper would be of even less value to Han He.

But he didn't care.

The way he looked at Student Chen now was completely different from how he looked at him yesterday.

Independently completing a patched-together paper is inferior to being an assistant on a valuable project.

Whether it's a research institute or a multinational corporation, when they evaluate researchers, they place more importance on the significance of the project.

A so-called paper can be understood as an argumentative essay written for one's research. Therefore it conforms to the three elements of an argumentative essay: thesis, evidence, and argumentation.

A good paper should have all three elements at standard level or above, while an outstanding paper reaches an excellent level in at least one of the three elements on top of that.

The reason Chen Yi attracted Professor Lei's attention in class was because his thesis had considerable value.

And through subsequent study, the paper outline he wrote for the professor and Han He was naturally even more outstanding.

In comparison, Student Han, who buried his head in hard study, appeared overly conservative in terms of innovation.

Of course, he also knew where his own shortcomings lay, which was precisely why he came to block Chen Yi early. In his view, if he could further refine the thesis based on the argumentation and evidence, he would definitely get a super powerful paper.

In a three-year master's career, being able to complete such a paper is almost equivalent to a guaranteed PhD admission.

Compared to those girls and sissies with no way out, just strolling along the recommended-grad-school path, sacrificing a bit of face for this is clearly well worth it.

In fact, Han He himself isn't someone who cares about face.

Chen Yi was busy trying to confirm Song Yuan's problem, and said somewhat anxiously: "We're in the same project group, so of course we should research together, but right now I'm busy going to handle some matters."

The taxi had already appeared at the intersection ahead; he pointed at himself and then started waving.

"Finish the thesis first. Look at the supplements and improvements I made to this part last night." Han He hurriedly grabbed him and said: "Time is tight; what we need to do is a mainstream paper, we absolutely must seize every minute and second. And I know there are many people researching the labor market — if we get scooped, it'll be disastrous."

People who do research are even busier than people who do business.

Businessmen often say money can never be fully earned.

But academia really can be finished. Science proceeds step by step — when X-rays were invented, everyone knew to use them to photograph things; when the periodic law was published, everyone knew to go discover new elements; when you spend a long time studying predecessors' papers, repeating those still-unconfirmed experiments, it inevitably consumes massive energy and money. At that point, if you can't snatch a valuable result before others, you'll not only face enormous real-world pressure, but also burn dry your last bit of intelligence.

Han He is already 25; he doesn't want to reach 40, when his thinking slows, and still have zero achievements.

Chen Yi understood him somewhat, but watching the taxi arrive, he said with difficulty: "I really do have a very important matter today."

"We'll talk in the car." Han He said this and ducked inside himself.

Chen Yi had no choice but to get in and took the materials from his hand.

The driver turned his head and asked: "Where to?"

"The Military Region." Chen Yi didn't even lift his head.

The white Fukang started up.

Han He was slightly puzzled but held back from asking.

All the way to the sentry post outside Jiangning Military Region, Chen Yi made a phone call and then said: "Drive in."

The driver hesitated a moment, then stepped on the accelerator.

At the barrier, the guards carefully compared the driving permit and vehicle plate number, and matched Chen Yi's photo, then saluted and let them pass.

The Fukang drove all the way toward the core area of the Military Region.