Super God-Level Top Student

When Chen Yiwen logged onto the BBS again, sure enough, it was even more bustling, and many people were not content with just watching the excitement; they had actively joined the fray.

"The liberal arts students from the School of Humanities don't understand and are asking, why couldn't the United States possibly have satellites with a resolution of 1mm?"

He was at most ten minutes late when he re-logged into the BBS, and this obviously baiting post had already garnered hundreds of replies.

Quite a crowd began educating the liberal arts students on why attempting such a thing would be foolish given the current state of technology.

Physics majors were laying out formulas, doing calculations, and theoretically discussing how difficult it would be to achieve this goal.

Aerospace engineering majors were on the scene explaining just how troublesome it would be to launch such a huge thing into space.

Materials science students also weighed in, analyzing what material problems would need to be solved first to make this gadget possible.

Mechanical engineering majors offered various unreliable folding solutions.

All these majors were blabbing on about the issue, which was one thing.

Even biology majors joined in on the fun.

"Millimeter-level resolution is so boring. Does the OP dare to think bigger? Let the Americans hurry up and send a nanometer-resolution satellite into orbit, so we don't have to queue up in the electron microscope lab for experiments anymore—we could just place the specimen on the playground and operate! Seriously, if this tech were realized, I'd really be willing to pay for it."

...

Well, if all the above just involved other strangers at school annoying Chen Yiwen, then Zhang Zhou and Gu Zhengliang bursting into the dorm was akin to stabbing him in the heart.

"Damn, Chen Yiwen, it was you who leaked the thing about Qiao Ze suggesting the dean arrange a supplementary exam for the freshmen, right?"

"Isn't that obvious? None of us talked about it, and yesterday this guy was bragging about how a junior girl from the School of Mathematics was utterly impressed with him and even added him on WeChat. It must have been him showing off in front of the junior girl!"

"No way? Chen went through a special confidentiality course over the summer! How could he do such a thing? Isn't that right, Chen?"

There was no blame on Zhang Zhou and Gu Zhengliang for their sarcastic comments that rubbed salt into Chen Yiwen's wounds.

The main thing was that they were really frustrated.

Being knocked down by Qiao Ze didn't really matter, once they accepted that, with Qiao's intelligence being unlike that of normal people, they could always get over that mental barrier.

Not to mention Qiao never intentionally showed off in front of them.

But it was different with Chen Yiwen.

In the dorm, all the showing off that Qiao didn't do seemed to be taken up by Chen Yiwen.

"Get lost, what if it was me? Besides, how is this even related to confidentiality? If Qiao really wanted to keep it a secret, he wouldn't have discussed it in front of Zhang Zhou and Dean Xu."

"Haha, old Chen, you definitely don't think like that. If you were really that cool about it, you wouldn't have been urging everyone in the group to stop watching the spectacle."

"Exactly, in the past whenever there was such a spectacle, you were always the first one to rush in. When have you ever been impartial!"

"I rush for the study rooms the fastest too, don't I? You guys never say... ah, Qiao has returned?"

Out of guilt, Chen Yiwen even used an honorific title.

"Hmm."

...

Yes, right when the three were heatedly arguing, Qiao Ze entered the dorm room.

Although he had heard some of the debate about watching the excitement before he entered the door, he had always been reluctant to join in on such things and naturally wouldn't ask about it proactively.

Actually, Qiao probably understood why Zhang Zhou and Gu Zhengliang really wanted him to stay over in the dorm from time to time, but even then, he wasn't quite sure what to talk about with them.

Because it was difficult to find topics that would involve both of them.

Especially considering that the intelligent paper-assisting system he had been working on was almost complete.

Soon, he wouldn't even need to look for someone to help with finding papers.

What he could do was probably just encourage the two to study hard and practice more problems.

That way, when they successfully got into a postgraduate program in two years, he might lower the requirements and let them study with Li Jian Gao for a master's degree.

More than that, Qiao felt he couldn't offer much help.

Unless during their postgraduate studies they showed a talent for academia.

"Cough, Qiao, about yesterday, I told three freshmen about how you overheard two students from the Materials Science College chatting and then suggested to Dean Xu that we should add an exam to split the classes. Today, after the exam, there was a clash between the School of Mathematics and the Materials Science College, and, um... you're not mad, right?"

Before Zhang Zhou and Gu Zhengliang could react, Chen Yiwen took the initiative to start apologizing.

It was inevitable, this incident had blown up, and Qiao Ze was going to find out sooner or later.

Even if Zhang Zhou and Gu Zhengliang weren't going to badmouth him in front of Qiao Ze, given what Chen Yiwen knew about Qiao, he could figure out what was going on just by imagining it. It would be better for him to admit it early.

"Hmm, why the argument?" Qiao Ze asked.

"It's because the School of Mathematics had a classifying exam, but the Materials Science College didn't. The freshmen in our School of Mathematics definitely feel it's not fair," Zhang Zhou hurriedly explained.

"Life is full of unfair things. You'll get used to it with time," Qiao Ze said, taking his seat and offering a simple comment.

With that one sentence, the other three in the dormitory felt a complicated mixture of emotions.

Especially Zhang Zhou and Gu Zhengliang, who glanced at Chen Yiwen with a pained look in their eyes.

Chen Yiwen, on the other hand, breathed a sigh of relief internally. Seeing Qiao's attitude, he didn't take the matter seriously at all.

He really had been worrying over nothing.

In the past, someone had almost pointed their finger at Qiao's nose and cursed him online, which had infuriated Su Mucheng to the point of steaming. Yet, Qiao hadn't even furrowed his brow.

Of course, Chen couldn't be blamed for overthinking. If Qiao thought he had a big mouth and was unreliable, kicking him out of the Qunzhi Project Team, that would truly be a loss not worth the risk.

Just like that, the once lively dormitory quieted down because of that statement, and the excitement on the BBS instantly had nothing to do with dormitory 408 anymore.

This was probably a charm unique to Qiao Ze. No matter how lively the atmosphere was, he could quickly bring those around him to calm down, while also subconsciously starting to reflect.

"Hey, Qiao, why did you come back at seven today? Where's Mucheng?" Zhang Zhou, probably feeling the atmosphere in the dorm was too stifling, began to make small talk.

Qiao Ze answered, "After dinner, Li said he wanted to talk about some things, so Chengzi went back to the dorm first."

The dormitory fell silent again.

Zhang Zhou gave Gu Zhengliang a look, then both of them shifted their gaze away at the same time.

It was quite bizarre.

Before Qiao Ze came back, they had prepared a bellyful of things to discuss with Qiao, thinking at the very least that they needed to butter him up.

But when Qiao actually appeared, all the words they'd prepared seemed to suddenly disappear.

They just couldn't find the right topic to lighten the mood.

If Li Jiangao knew what was going through the minds of Zhang Zhou and Gu Zhengliang at that moment, he would probably laugh out loud.

Because he too had felt this way more than once, including today.

He had planned to have a long talk with Qiao Ze, but the conversation had ended in less than half an hour.

Li Jian believed that this might have to do with a generational gap, but the awkwardness Zhang Zhou and Gu Zhengliang were feeling at that moment proved that this sense of helplessness and not knowing what to talk about had nothing to do with age differences.

Fortunately, when things got awkward, someone always came to the rescue.

Qiao Ze's phone rang.

"Hello."

"Mhm."

"Okay."
Find more to read at empire

"Hung up."

Gu Zhengliang felt he finally found an entry point for awkward conversation. As soon as Qiao hung up, he asked, "What's up, Qiao Ze?"

"Tomorrow, someone with the last name Cheng from Apple Huaxia will come for the Apple Qiuzhi Scholarship donation signing ceremony," Qiao replied.

"Eh... A scholarship? Does the school need to report even this kind of thing to you now, Qiao?" Zhang Zhou asked in surprise.

"They just want me to go for a dinner tonight," Qiao Ze clarified.

"Oh, I see," Gu Zhengliang nodded with feigned understanding.

...

Elsewhere, in a small private dining room in the Xilin Optoelectronics Institute cafeteria, Xu Dajiang hung up the phone and looked towards the two academicians opposite him, letting out a heavy sigh, "Ah.. Academicians Zhang and Sheng, as you saw, that's the situation.

The school thinks of involving Qiao Ze in everything, and wants me to keep him in line, with no consideration for the actual circumstances. It's really too damn difficult for me!"