My IQ has been increasing year by year.

June 16th afternoon.

In the underground experimental workshop of the School of Materials Science and Engineering.

Wang Dayong, wearing a blue work uniform whose original color was almost unrecognizable, squatted on the ground.

He was clutching a wad of blackened scraps of gauze in his hand, struggling against the old hydraulic universal tensile testing machine in front of him.

Back in late May, he had already finished the task Professor Liu assigned him: repackaging and running data on civilian titanium alloys. He had also submitted the article and all the data charts. For the past two weeks, he had been incredibly bored.

Xiao Zhuo has been a bit absent-minded these past two days, I don't know what's wrong with her.

After Chu Ge turned eighteen, he seemed to have been stimulated by something, and he even coded while eating.

The next day, Lu Jia prepared a hair loss prevention plan for each of his buddies. After that, he spent all his time working on his pile of mathematical models, saying that after celebrating Chu Ge's birthday, he had thought of something that should be quite interesting.

Dayong couldn't stay in the dormitory, so he came to the underground workshop.

When there was no work to do, he would find work himself.

"Old buddy, your guide rails are way too stiff."

Dayong muttered something and threw the scrap gauze in his hand aside.

He reached into the toolbox on the ground, pulled out a screwdriver, and then grabbed a bottle of MD-40 rust remover whose nozzle was almost completely clogged.

Align it with the slider gap on the base of the stretching machine and press it down.

Dayong used a screwdriver to pry open the crack and pulled out a lump of black mud.

Then I picked up the wad of scrap gauze again, wrapped it around my finger, and wiped along the edge of the guide rail little by little.

After wiping the section clean, he shook the oil can in his hand and dripped a few drops of new oil onto it.

With the lubrication of the engine oil, the metal parts finally showed a bit of their original shine.

Dayong stood up and wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand.

The sleeves of his work clothes were stained with a lot of black oil, and this rubbing left a black mark on his forehead.

Unaware of what was happening, he took two steps back and looked at the bulky machine in front of him.

He stretched out his foot and gently kicked the base of the machine.

"It's alright, it should last another two years without any problem."

The soundproof door to the underground workshop was pushed open.

Da Yong turned his head.

Professor Liu walked in, carrying his ever-present thermos.

The workshop was dimly lit, and Professor Liu walked very slowly.

He stopped in his tracks when he saw Dayong squatting next to the machine with black marks all over his face.

Dayong quickly threw the screwdriver back into the toolbox and vigorously wiped his hands on the thigh of his work clothes.

"professor."

Da Yong shouted, his voice echoing in the empty workshop.

"Is the machine lagging again?"

Professor Liu glanced at the stretching machine.

"There's no problem, it's just that the slider is a bit rusty. I had nothing better to do, so I put some oil on it to remove the rust. Otherwise, when we do a fracture test later, we'll have to factor the friction of the base into the error." Da Yong patted the dust off his hands and took two steps forward.

Professor Liu looked at the black mark on Da Yong's forehead but didn't say anything.

He unscrewed the lid of the thermos in his hand, blew on the tea leaves floating on top, and took a sip of water.

"Wash by hand."

Professor Liu put the lid on the cup, his tone very calm.

"Come to my office."

After saying that, Professor Liu turned and walked out.

Da Yong was stunned for a moment.

"Okay, sure."

He agreed, quickly put the toolbox lid on the ground and kicked it into the corner, then turned and ran towards the handwashing sink in the corner of the workshop.

Third floor.

Professor Liu's office door was open.

Da Yong stood at the door, shouted "Report!", and then went inside.

The office wasn't large. Against one wall was a row of metal cabinets filled with foreign language documents and lab reports, and in front of the window stood a somewhat old wooden desk. The ceiling fan overhead turned slowly, causing a few sheets of paper hidden under books to flutter slightly.

Professor Liu was sitting behind his desk, flipping through a folder.

Professor Liu did not look up when he heard Da Yong enter.

"Close the door."

Da Yong turned around and closed the door.

"Please sit down."

Professor Liu pointed to the chair opposite the desk.

Da Yong walked over, pulled out a chair, and sat down.

He habitually straightened his back, placing his hands on his knees. Although he was wearing greasy work clothes, his posture resembled that of a new recruit awaiting instructions. Professor Liu closed the folder in his hand and put it aside.

He opened the drawer on his right and took out a piece of paper.

Professor Liu tossed it aside casually.

The paper floated in the air for a moment, then landed in the middle of the desk and slid down to Da Yong's face.

"have a look."

Professor Liu picked up his thermos.

Da Yong lowered his head.

It was a printed email.

All in English.

Dayong's English level isn't top-notch, but he has no problem understanding technical terms and everyday emails.

He scanned the rows one by one.

Da Yong paused for a moment when his eyes fell on the sender's suffix in the first line.

Journal of Materials Science

This is the absolute top journal in the global materials science field, a place where everyone involved in materials science dreams of publishing an article. Da Yong's gaze continued downwards.

"Dear Dr. Liu."

Dayong skipped the pleasantries and went straight for the keywords.

A few seconds later, his gaze was fixed on a passage of English text in the middle.

"We are pleased to inform you that your manuscript......"

"Accepted for publication."

Da Yong's eyes slowly widened.

There were no major repairs or minor repairs.

There wasn't even a single word requesting data modification.

Receive directly.

Dayong felt as if a firecracker had exploded in his head.

He swallowed hard, his fingers unconsciously gripping his trouser leg.

His gaze shifted to the bottom of the email, where the article's title and author information were listed.

The first author's position is clearly marked with several letters:

WangDayonga

Pinyin.

The pinyin for "Da Yong".

He stared intently at those letters for a full half minute.

Then, he suddenly raised his head and looked at Professor Liu across the desk.

Da Yong grinned.

He usually has a loud voice, but now that he's excited, his voice is so loud it can barely fill the entire office.

"professor!"

Da Yong grabbed the paper, his fingers trembling slightly.

"This... this is a pass? It passed directly?"

Professor Liu leaned back in his chair, watching Dayong's excited expression, as if he were about to jump up.

He didn't mention how the bespectacled middle-aged man in the Beijing conference room exerted pressure, nor did he mention how Deputy Director Chen used 20 million yuan in funding to exchange for the first authorship. He said nothing at all.

Professor Liu simply nodded indifferently.

"It's approved, not returned, and not a single word has been changed."

Professor Liu's tone was not particularly calm.

"It's estimated to be published next month."

Da Yong held the paper, grinning widely.

He knew all too well the significance of this article.

Those three lines of formula about phenomenological parameters were painstakingly extracted by him over several months, poring over foreign language books in the library until they were worn out.

Although the data shell was replaced with a civilian-grade titanium alloy shell, the core framework was still something he created.

"I'm so awesome in Taiwan..."

Da Yong muttered to himself, his eyes still glued to the paper.

"Now I can finally show off a lot when I get back to my dorm."

Dayong had already started planning how he would brag when he got back to the dorm that night.

This time it's Wang Dayong's turn to show his face in the dormitory.

"Professor, I'll treat you to a meal at a restaurant tonight!"

Da Yong slapped his thigh with boundless enthusiasm.

"Old Li's BBQ stall, order whatever you like!"

Professor Liu looked at Dayong.

Looking at his carefree, silly self who thought he had just published a good article.

Professor Liu reached out and tapped the table twice.

The sound wasn't loud, but it was crisp.

Da Yong's voice stopped abruptly.

He looked into Professor Liu's eyes, and the smile on his face slowly faded a little.

He noticed that Professor Liu wasn't smiling.

"The article is a minor matter."

Professor Liu took a sip of water from his thermos and swallowed it.

"I called you here today not to show you this piece of paper."

Da Yong was stunned.

The English email in his hand was slowly lowered.

"...What's the reason?"

Da Yong looked somewhat bewildered.

Professor Liu did not answer immediately.

He put down his thermos and opened the drawer on the left side of his desk.

Professor Liu took out a file folder from inside.

The document bag was sealed with white string.

At the intersection of the strings, there was a very conspicuous red circular stamp.

Although Dayong was a student, he had seen a lot of classified information at a place like USTC.

He recognized the size of the seal at a glance.

Top secret.

Professor Liu took the file folder out and placed it on his desk.

Instead of pushing it forward, I just placed it beside me.

The wind from the ceiling fan blew, but the file folder remained motionless.

The office suddenly fell silent, with only the chirping of cicadas from the trees outside drifting in intermittently.

Professor Liu crossed his arms and rested them on the table.

"You really think the core formula in your article is just for testing the tensile strength of civilian titanium alloys?"

Professor Liu looked at Dayong.

Da Yong didn't speak. His intuition told him that things were not as simple as he thought.

"Last month, I went to the capital."

Professor Liu's voice was very low, but every word was very clear.

"A meeting was held, a meeting of the military."

Da Yong straightened his back unconsciously and slowed his breathing.

"At the meeting, I submitted the three lines of formulas you derived."

Professor Liu looked into Da Yong's eyes.

"Academician Wang has seen it."

Da Yong's pupils suddenly contracted.

In the fields of materials engineering and aero-engine dynamics, if you haven't even heard of Academician Wang, you might as well not work in this field. He is the cornerstone of China's aero-engine materials industry.

He is a top expert who can directly go into the sea and report project progress to the highest level.

"Academician Wang immediately had someone retrieve the classified file from three years ago showing the failed test run of a certain engine model."

Professor Liu spoke as if he were recounting something that had nothing to do with him.

"I substituted the parameters from your formula and ran it once."

Professor Liu paused for a moment.

"The predicted peak value of the fracture completely overlaps with the data of the actual accident that year, down to two decimal places."

Da Yong sat in the chair.

He felt his throat was dry, and even swallowing was difficult.

He never imagined that what he wrote on the library table with a few pens could actually be connected to those massive, state-of-the-art technologies of a major power. "The article was published in a top journal because the formula itself has revolutionary value, but for security reasons, I had you switch to civilian data," Professor Liu said, looking at Da Yong's somewhat bewildered face.

"Your name is not only printed in foreign journals, but also on the list of certain top-secret files in Beijing."

Da Yong opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but found that he couldn't make a sound at all.

Professor Liu placed his hand on the red-stamped document bag.

Patted it gently.

"This was just delivered through the confidential channel this morning."

Professor Liu looked at Dayong.

"Academician Wang bypassed the university, the department, and even the normal personnel transfer process."

Professor Liu began to speak more slowly, emphasizing each word.

"You have a background in the USTC Junior Class, so the academic system doesn't have as many rigid rules. Academician Wang made arrangements to exempt you from all the usual procedures. You don't need to take the postgraduate entrance exam or apply for postgraduate admission." Da Yong felt a buzzing in his head.

"It's clearly stated in this transfer order."

Professor Liu pushed the file bag forward.

It stopped in the middle of the desk.

"September is the start of the senior year."

Professor Liu stared at Dayong.

"Take this document and take the train directly to Beijing to report to Academician Wang's research institute."

Da Yong froze completely in his chair.

The air in the office seemed to freeze, and even the sound of the ceiling fan seemed extremely jarring.

Da Yong's gaze fell on the file folder; the red stamp was like a ball of fire, stinging his eyes.

"The direction is high-temperature alloy materials for the next generation of core fighter jet engines."

Professor Liu added a final sentence.

"Academician Wang will personally mentor you."

Quiet.

silence.

Da Yong sat there, like a clay sculpture whose soul had been taken away.

He's a man from Northeast China, usually rough and careless, but deep down he's extremely sentimental.

Many images flashed through his mind like a revolving lantern.

A flashback to two days ago at Old Li's barbecue stand, he had his arm around Chu Ge's neck, holding up a green beer bottle, and shouting at the top of his lungs:

"Next year and the year after, we brothers will still be able to walk with our heads held high at USTC!"

His image flashed before his eyes: Chu Ge's red-eyed back as he typed code; Lu Jia's profile as he adjusted his glasses and drew charts; Chen Zhuo's nonchalant smile as he lay in bed flipping through a book. He also flashed back to those days and nights in this underground workshop, when Professor Liu, Zhao Peng, and Zheng Nan patiently taught him how to calibrate the machines and troubleshoot data errors. Da Yong boldly raised his head.

He didn't laugh.

He did not show any ecstatic joy at achieving instant success.

His brows were furrowed tightly, and his eyes were filled with astonishment and instinctive resistance.

"professor."

Da Yong spoke up.

His voice was a little hoarse, and even carried a hint of barely perceptible panic.

"This...this is too sudden."

Da Yong rubbed his knees vigorously with both hands.

"I can't leave."

Professor Liu raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Can't we leave?"

"We can't leave."

Da Yong gritted his teeth, as if desperately searching for an excuse.

"My senior year has just begun, I haven't finished my major courses yet, and..."

Da Yong looked up at Professor Liu.

Da Yong's reasoning was straightforward.

Professor Liu usually entrusts him with handling all the core data in the laboratory.

Now that the results are in, people from Beijing are coming to get him, but he just packs his bags and leaves, leaving his teacher with a mess.

"You still have two key military industrial horizontal testing projects in hand in the second half of the year."

Da Yong's speaking speed increased.

"Those two newly imported pieces of equipment, besides you, I'm the one who knows them best. If I leave, who will monitor the data for you? Who will do the tensile fracture tests for you during the night shift?" "Without me, the lab can't function properly for the horizontal projects."

"Da Yong said, sticking his neck out."

"I won't go to Beijing. I'll stay at USTC and continue my studies as your graduate student."

Professor Liu did not speak immediately.

He looked at Dayong.

Professor Liu slowly picked up the thermos.

I unscrewed the cap and took a big gulp of water.

With a snap.

The thermos was slammed heavily onto the desk.

Tea spilled from the rim of the cup and landed on the book.

Da Yong was startled, and his body jolted violently.

Who do you think you are?

Professor Liu's face darkened completely.

Gone was the usual gentle breeze and fine rain, and the scholar's elegance was gone.

Instead, there was an extremely harsh, even somewhat brutal, coldness.

"Who's going to monitor the data for me?"

Professor Liu pointed at Dayong's nose.

"The School of Materials Science and Engineering at USTC has hundreds of students. If I just shout in the hallway, the line of students wanting to do odd jobs in my lab would stretch from the third floor to the first." "You think just because you've got your hands on a couple of imported pieces of equipment, my lab won't function without you?"

Da Yong was speechless after being scolded.

"Professor, that's not what I meant..."

That's exactly what you mean!

Professor Liu suddenly stood up.

The chair scraped against the floor with a harsh, screeching sound.

Professor Liu pointed in the direction outside the door.

"What do you think my lab is? A royal palace?"

Professor Liu's voice rose eight octaves, echoing throughout the office.

"My dilapidated temple cannot contain such a great Buddha as you!"

Da Yong sat in the chair, too ashamed to lift his head from the scolding.

Professor Liu braced his hands on the desk, staring intently at Dayong.

"The model you proposed is used to solve fatigue fracture in aircraft engines."

Professor Liu's tone softened slightly, but it remained as firm as iron.

"Do you know what Academician Wang is holding in his hand?"

"That is the lifeblood of the nation."

"It's something that allows us to be free from being held hostage by others in the sky, and to not have to depend on others for our opinions."

Professor Liu looked at Dayong's work clothes, which were covered in machine oil.

"You have an innate, incredibly keen intuition for metal. You were born to be near a furnace, exposed to high temperatures, to listen to ear-piercing noise in a workshop." "What are you doing here with me?"

Professor Liu pointed to the ground.

"You're the one who cleans my rusty stretching machine in the underground workshop every day?"

"You spend all day in front of the computer recording those unchallenging civilian data for me?"

Professor Liu slammed his hand on the table.

"Your staying here is a waste!"

Da Yong's shoulders trembled violently.

He lowered his head, his hands clenched tightly together.

Professor Liu took a deep breath.

I calmed my breathing.

He sat back down in his chair.

"September."

Professor Liu pushed the file bag forward.

The file folder slid across the table and stopped beside Dayong.

"Pack your bags and head to the capital."

Professor Liu's voice returned to its usual calm tone, but there was no room for negotiation.

"Go to Academician Wang's place and build major national instruments."

"Stop dawdling around here. Don't talk to me like a woman about loyalty. The loyalty of the nation is much greater than the loyalty of this crappy lab of mine." The office fell silent again.

Da Yong sat with his head down for a long time.

A few minutes later.

Da Yong slowly stood up.

He didn't say anything particularly moving, nor did he bow with tears in his eyes.

He simply stretched out both hands.

He vigorously rubbed the sides of his dirty trouser legs.

Wipe the sweat and any remaining oil from your palms.

Then, he stretched out his hands.

He solemnly picked up the document bag stamped with the top-secret red seal.

The document bag was somewhat rough and felt heavy in my hand.

Dayong pressed the paper bag tightly against his chest.

He looked at Professor Liu behind the desk.

His back was ramrod straight like a gun.

"professor."

Da Yong's voice was not loud, and it lacked its usual boisterousness.

"No matter where we go."

Da Yong gritted his teeth and spoke slowly and deliberately.

"I'm sure I won't bring shame to you or HKUST."

Professor Liu looked at him.

After watching for a while, Professor Liu waved his hand.

"Take the documents and get out."

Professor Liu picked up the thermos on the table and unscrewed the lid.

"Close the door."

Da Yong didn't say anything more.

He turned and strode toward the door.

He opened the door and went outside.

Then he turned around, grasped the doorknob with both hands, and gently and tightly closed the door.

Outside the door, the corridor was dimly lit.

in the door.

Professor Liu sat behind his desk.

He did not drink the water from the thermos.

He looked at the empty chair that Dayong had just sat in.

I watched for a while.

Professor Liu slowly leaned back in his chair and let out a long breath.