Searching for someone in northern Myanmar, and you call that earning tuition fees?

Li Changfeng felt that his life was racing towards a magical realism.

He had just been rendered speechless by the phrase "exempt from the CET-6 (College English Test Band 6)" when, before he even stepped out of the dormitory building, the encrypted phone in his pocket began vibrating violently like a death knell.

Caller ID: Xishan Line 01

Li Changfeng's hand trembled, and he almost dropped his phone. He scrambled to the corner of the stairs and answered the call in a low voice.

"Reporting, sir!"

On the other end of the phone, instead of the old general's calm voice, came a shrill, trembling roar, almost breathless with urgency: "Li Changfeng! Where is it?! Where is the core?! The 'Ground Listening' module that idiot Ma Jianguo sent back is just an empty shell! The most crucial 'Silver Heart' module is gone!"

"Silver Heart?" Li Changfeng was taken aback.

"It's its data processing and energy hub! As big as a fist, ghostly blue, and it glows! Without it, this thing is just a pile of scrap metal! Did it fall into the desert?!"

Li Changfeng's mind went blank for a moment.

Fist-sized, dark blue, and glowing...

He stiffly turned his head, and through the stairwell window, he could see the window of dormitory 407. The "souvenir" he had just seen on Su Ming's desk flashed through his mind—it still had a piece of medical tape with "Serve the People" stuck to it!

"Reporting to the commander..." Li Changfeng's voice trembled, "The things...are not lost."

"It's not lost? Then where is it?! Tell me!"

"On...on Su Ming's desk. It looks like he just fixed it."

There was a sudden silence on the other end of the phone.

Five full seconds passed before the roar resumed, this time laced with sobs: "What the hell are you standing there for?! Go get it back, you bastards! That thing is leaking energy like crazy, it's a ticking time bomb! Academician Wang from the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, led a team that analyzed it overnight and said the packaging technology is flawed; in another twelve hours, it will be completely unusable! We need to get the core back right away!"

Li Changfeng's vision went black, and he almost lost his balance.

A cutting-edge piece of equipment that baffled the entire top team at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and was deemed to be completely unusable within twelve hours... was repaired by him with a file and a piece of medical tape?

Li Changfeng felt his legs were a little weak.

He hung up the phone, forced a smile that looked more like a grimace, turned around and slowly shuffled back to the entrance of dormitory 407, like a prisoner about to walk into the execution ground.

"Knock knock knock".

This time, his knocking was soft and slow, conveying a sense of humility.

As soon as the door opened, Zhang Hao saw it was him again and asked warily, "Uncle, did you leave your milk tea behind?"

"No, no, no..." Li Changfeng walked past him, his gaze fixed on the desk.

The core of "Earth Listening" lies there quietly.

However, unlike before, its deep blue light had completely stabilized, its luster softened, and it no longer flickered. The "Serve the People" tape was torn off and thrown into the nearby trash can.

The entire device looks... flawless.

"Su... Su Ming," Li Changfeng's throat was dry as he pointed to the core, "can this... be returned to the country?"

Su Ming had just finished a game when he heard this. He looked up and nodded, "Oh, it was something I was supposed to return anyway. It's fixed, you can take it."

"Is it...fixed?"

"Well, the energy loss was due to coil oxidation. I scraped off the oxide layer and re-insulated it with physical insulation," Su Ming said casually.

Li Changfeng's phone was on speakerphone.

On the other end of the phone, Academician Wang and a group of experts from the Chinese Academy of Sciences heard it clearly.

"Nonsense! Utter nonsense!" A deep, yet powerful voice boomed from the receiver: "Physical insulation? Scraping off the oxide layer? Does he think this is a radio repair?! This is a silver-palladium superconducting alloy! Micron-level processing! What did he use to scrape it off? A scalpel?!"

Su Ming pointed to the tool on the table covered in silvery-white powder and casually replied, "A woodworking file."

Li Changfeng's eyes twitched. He spoke into the microphone, his voice weak, and repeated, "Reporting to Academician Wang... it is... it is a woodworking file."

"..."

There was silence on the other end of the phone.

This silence lasted even longer.

It went on for so long that Li Changfeng thought the signal had been lost again.

Suddenly, a chaotic commotion erupted over the phone, with chairs and tables falling to the ground, followed by Academician Wang's heart-wrenching screams: "Quick! Quick! Quick! Get the video feed! I want to see it! I want to see that interface with my own eyes! No! I want to see him! Li Changfeng! You fucking give the phone to that classmate! No! You kidnap that classmate and bring him to Beijing!!"

Li Changfeng hurriedly handed the phone to Su Ming.

Su Ming took the phone, and the old man's tone immediately did a complete 180-degree turn, from roaring to fawning.

"Feed? Is this...is this Su Ming? I'm Wang Changgeng from the Chinese Academy of Sciences...Um...young student, may I ask, which school of microscopic particle physics theory did you follow in your operation just now?"

Su Ming thought about his grandfather's teachings: "Hands must be steady, mind must be calm, and strength must be even."

"Steady hands...calm mind...even force..." Academician Wang murmured to himself on the other end of the phone, as if he had heard some great truth.

"Damn it, the greatest truths are the simplest! The greatest truths are the simplest! Young student! No! Master! Master Su! I have a problem with instability in the confinement field of controlled nuclear fusion that has been troubling us for ten years. When would you be available to be a guest lecturer at our institute? Please!"

Su Ming: "..."

He glanced at his schedule and answered seriously, "I have no classes this Thursday afternoon."

Academician Wang was overjoyed: "Great! I'll send a private jet to pick you up right away!"

Su Ming hung up the phone and shoved the phone and the core into the arms of Li Changfeng, who was completely stunned.

"Take your things. Remember to settle your lecture fee."

After saying that, he put his headphones back on, opened the next game, and muttered, "Haozi, don't just stand there, log in! Come on, let me carry you again."

Li Changfeng and Zhang Hao were left staring at each other in the dormitory, at a loss for what to do.

Watching Su Ming's retreating figure, and then glancing at the priceless "iron lump" in Li Changfeng's arms, Zhang Hao finally couldn't help but whisper, "Brother Li... how much does Su Ming's part-time job cost per month?"

Li Changfeng raised his head in a daze and murmured, "His part-time job? He's paid per session."

"How much can you earn in one go?"

Li Changfeng looked at the core in his hand, then thought about the helicopter wreckage, and uttered a few words with difficulty: "One... one special-class merit."