I'm a scientist, why can't I have faith?

"Is this... really okay?"

Liu Qiang put down the phone and looked at Su Tiangong with a hint of doubt.

"As long as you do what we just discussed, there won't be any problems."

Su Tiangong took a brand-new Rolex watch out of his pocket and handed it to Liu Qiang.

"Please believe that the country will not mistreat its own talented people."

Liu Qiang put the watch on his left wrist with some skepticism.

"It's not as simple as it looks, is it?"

Su Tiangong nodded in satisfaction. Sure enough, choosing him was the right decision. This kid is quite savvy.

"You'd better wear it 24 hours a day, otherwise some things might change."

After Su Tiangong left, Liu Qiang sat in his office for a long time, still finding it hard to believe that such a dramatic reversal had occurred in just a few hours.

I have a feeling of being on a pirate ship, and it just so happens to be a pirate ship with official backing.

He didn't know what Su Tiangong's real purpose was. He only knew that if he completed the transaction according to the conditions, he could get a well-paid job at Yenching University, and those troublesome things would never happen again.

In fact, Liu Qiang's intuition was quite accurate; his rejected application was actually written by Su Tiangong.

Back at the hotel, Su Tiangong did not choose to rest but instead knocked on Song Zhuohua's room door.

"Oh, it's Xiao Su. You've come at the right time. This is the list of winners that I and a few other representatives just decided on. Take a look."

Although there are still a few hours left before the official competition ends, and some teams have not yet completed their submissions, this will not affect the evaluation of the winners.

Those with real talent naturally go without saying and will definitely be at the top. As for those teams with similar skill levels competing for the bottom prizes, those are definitely the ones with resources and connections who rise to the top.

Su Tiangong took the list and immediately noticed that the last few teams had blank entries for the score and time.

Needless to say, he knew that there were many personal relationships involved.

Although he also disapproved of this approach, Su Tiangong did not intend to interfere, since some things were beyond his ability to change alone.

Moreover, without exception, all these teams that relied on personal connections received only common bronze awards, which were of no real value and were merely for show, without affecting the ultimate purpose of the event.

He looked at the list from back to front, and as the rankings improved, more and more convincing names appeared at the top of the list.

Lan Ce, Wei Linfeng, Xia Muyou, Sugiyama Kensuke, Zhang San, Li Si...

Su Tiangong was familiar with most of the names. He had been reviewing the contestants' backgrounds these past few days, and many of the names had left a deep impression on him.

Unfortunately, not all of the outstanding talents of the Great Xia Dynasty can participate in the plan. For example, Lan Ce and Wei Linfeng from the first team are both excellent talents, but they are too old.

By the time the plan officially began, they had already exceeded the maximum age limit of 20, and time waits for no one.

There are two qualified candidates in the first-place team. However, Su Yuran has an academician uncle, and Su Tiangong finds it difficult to figure out whether she is a traditional academic scion or a genius with resources and background. He needs to observe her for a while longer.

On the contrary, another candidate caught his attention more.

Wang Dong's parents were just ordinary wage earners, but he got into Peking University through his own efforts and was the top scorer that year.

Interestingly, Su Tiangong learned from the investigation that this child was unremarkable in the first two years of high school, and all his achievements were obtained in a very short period of time in his senior year.

Although Su Tiangong didn't know what caused Wang Dong's dramatic change, he knew that the ability to rapidly absorb a large amount of knowledge and continuously improve oneself in a short period of time was one of the basic characteristics of a genius.

"He would be a suitable candidate..."

However, Su Tiangong cannot draw a conclusion yet, because he is still unclear about the role the child played in this competition. After all, he has just entered university, and expectations should not be too high. If the child won the award by being a slacker, Su Tiangong would never consider including him in the program.

We'll have to wait until the match is completely over and then carefully review the recordings.

"Thank you for your hard work, Elder Song. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, this should be the result tomorrow."

Su Tiangong put aside his thoughts and handed the list back. He had actually come tonight to say goodbye.

"I'll leave the rest of the work to you tomorrow."

Su Tiangong will be taking an early morning flight back to Yanjing, as the follow-up work is still waiting for him to continue.

Song Zhuohua nodded, then asked, "Have you arranged everything with Liu Qiang? Xiao Su, this is an absolutely risky move of yours."

"Do you know how much pressure your teacher took on for you because of this?"

"If it weren't for his surname being Qian and his willingness to vouch for him, you'd probably be stripped of your responsibility."

Faced with Song Zhuohua's reprimand, Su Tiangong remained neither humble nor arrogant.

"Whether it's a risky move or not, the outcome will tell. I'm sure Mr. Song understands the situation better than I do these past few years. This is a helpless move I made out of necessity."

Seeing the stubbornness of this young man, Song Zhuohua nodded in appreciation.

The person in charge that Lao Qian personally selected seems to be quite good.

After leaving Song Zhuohua's place and returning to his own room, Su Tiangong quickly finished packing his luggage.

With some time to spare before departure, he decided to go to the balcony to take a couple of puffs and relax.

"It's incredibly difficult..."

He knew all about what Song Zhuohua was talking about, and Liu Qiang's move was indeed a risky one.

In fact, there were many other options besides Liu Qiang, but after much consideration, Su Tiangong still chose the most controversial playing style.

Perhaps it's because of the mutual respect between geniuses.

Liu Qiang completed his undergraduate studies at Tsinghua University and went to MIT to study under Kieran Burns immediately after graduation.

Kieran Burns is undoubtedly the leading figure in the field of machine learning today, and has been nominated for the Nobel Prize in recent years. Liu Qiang, who is considered his prized student, is certainly no ordinary person.

He graduated with a doctorate in the United States in less than five years, and top journals such as Nature and Science were already commonplace for him.

Although his teacher was listed as the first author of all these articles, it was clear to everyone that he was the one who contributed the most.

Moreover, his research focuses on controllable AGI, and such talent will be indispensable in the future.

However, this genius repeatedly encountered setbacks after returning to China, simply because he had earned his doctorate in the United States.

Some things, once you make the wrong choice, are simply wrong.

This is why Su Tiangong did not choose to continue his studies at Yenching University.

Otherwise, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to sit in this position now.

Some seemingly righteous pronouncements are sometimes just empty words.