My IQ has been increasing year by year.

Chapter 141 I Robbed

In early September in Huizhou, the leaves on the trees of the University of Science and Technology of China were curled up by the sun, and cicadas were chirping in the trees, their calls drawn out.

Dormitory 215, boys' dormitory building for gifted children.

The old wooden door, which was originally ajar, was suddenly pushed open from the outside with a whoosh.

A huge snakeskin bag was brought in first, followed by Wang Dayong's face, which was flushed red and covered in sweat.

He was panting heavily, kicked the door shut with his backhand, and struggled to drag the snakeskin bag, which was almost half a person tall, into the house.

With a thud, the burlap sack hit the floor, raising a cloud of fine dust.

"My goodness, I've finally made it here alive!"

Wang Dayong threw the other two bulging plastic bags on his desk and slumped into his chair like a lump of mud.

Chen Zhuo was sitting at his desk reading a book when he heard the noise and turned around.

Seeing Wang Dayong's disheveled appearance, as if he had just crawled out of a refugee camp, Chen Zhuo couldn't help but smile.

"You're back." Chen Zhuo put down his pen. "Was the journey smooth?"

"Smoothly my foot!"

Wang Dayong grabbed a palm-leaf fan from the table and fanned himself frantically.

"A 36-hour green train ride, hard seat! The carriages were so crowded I couldn't even find room to put my feet down."

He fanned himself while complaining non-stop.

"The smell of instant noodles, the smell of sweat, and the smell of someone's bare feet mixed together. I wanted to go to the toilet in the middle of the night, and the corridor was full of people lying all over the place. I had to hop across on one leg and almost died of holding it in halfway."

As Chen Zhuo listened to his complaints, he smiled, stood up, picked up his enamel mug, walked to the thermos, poured half a cup of warm water, and handed it to Wang Dayong.

"Have some water, rest for a bit before you finish cleaning."

Wang Dayong took the teacup, gulped it down in one go, and wiped his mouth haphazardly with the back of his hand.

"It's still more comfortable staying in the dorm."

Wang Dayong breathed a sigh of relief, feeling a bit better.

He stood up, walked to the huge snakeskin bag, and untied the tightly bound nylon rope.

"I brought a lot of good things from home this time."

As Wang Dayong pulled it out, he excitedly showed it to Chen Zhuo.

"Look, these are sausages my mom made herself, they're dried thoroughly, and these are several jars of chili sauce with diced beef in them. My mom said the food in the cafeteria isn't oily enough, so she asked me to bring these over to take better care of you. They're really delicious with rice."

Bottles, jars, and oil paper packets of all sizes quickly piled up into a small mountain on the table.

"Please thank your aunt for me when you get back."

Chen Zhuo said with a smile.

Wang Dayong waved his hand and smiled nonchalantly.

As he was rummaging around, he suddenly stopped and turned to look at Chen Zhuo's desk.

"Oh, Xiao Zhuo."

Wang Dayong looked around.

"Where's that martial arts novel I left for you before the holiday? The one called 'Bloody Battle at Black Wind Stronghold,' where did you put it after you finished reading it?"

Chen Zhuo opened the drawer beside him, took out the old book with a somewhat damaged cover and curled corners, and handed it over.

Wang Dayong quickly took it, flipped through a couple of pages, and his eyes lit up.

"Did you finish watching it in your dorm during summer vacation? What was the ending like?"

Wang Dayong pulled up a chair and sat down, his face full of anticipation.

"Did the male protagonist who wielded a single sword ultimately storm the mountain stronghold alone, kill the one-eyed leader, and rescue the richest man's daughter?"

Chen Zhuo tilted his head slightly as he looked at Wang Dayong, who seemed eager to hear the story.

"no."

Chen Zhuo said in a calm tone.

"what?"

Wang Dayong was stunned, and he stopped fanning himself with his palm leaf fan.

"He didn't cut it? Then where did he go? Did the villain capture him?"

"No, not exactly."

Chen Zhuo looked at the dazzling sunlight outside the window, a faint smile playing on his lips.

"The male protagonist finally climbed the mountain, but the diesel generator at Black Wind Village broke down that day, and no water could be pumped out."

Chen Zhuo said in a very serious tone.

"It was so hot that day that the one-eyed man and the rich girl had no water to drink and died of thirst. The male lead didn't even draw his sword and made a wasted trip."

Wang Dayong stared wide-eyed at Chen Zhuo.

He stood there stunned for a good five or six seconds, his mind seemingly still reeling.

He looked down at the martial arts novel in his hand, which had a cover featuring a great swordsman wielding a knife, and then at Chen Zhuo's calm face.

"no..

"6

Wang Dayong scratched his already messy hair.

"What kind of bizarre pirated book did I buy? The plot is ridiculous! Where did they get diesel generators in ancient times?"

""

Chen Zhuo finally couldn't help but chuckle softly.

He shook his head, not responding to Wang Dayong's words.

"I'll go downstairs to the mailroom to see if there's any mail."

Chen Zhuo closed the drawer, picked up the meal card from the table, and put it in his pocket.

Wang Dayong then realized that he had been tricked.

"You little rascal, you've gone astray, now you're even making fun of me."

Wang Dayong laughed and cursed, then picked up the palm-leaf fan again to fan himself.

"Go ahead, go ahead, perfect timing. Go to the convenience store and bring me back an ice pop, the mung bean kind, it's so hot today."

"OK."

Chen Zhuo responded and pushed open the dormitory door to go out.

At the start of the new semester, the campus was bustling with students.

Red banners welcoming the new year were strung along both sides of the road, and upbeat pop songs were playing from the loudspeakers of the radio station.

Chen Zhuo walked along the edge of the road, trying to stay under the shade of the trees.

The mailroom is located in a small courtyard behind the administration building; it's a fairly large single room.

Upon entering, a row of green wooden mailboxes stood against the wall, each labeled with the department and class name. The room was filled with the smell of newspapers, paste, and ink.

The man in charge of distributing the mail was an elderly man with gray hair. He was wearing reading glasses and using a magnifying glass to examine the stamps on a letter.

"uncle."

Chen Zhuo walked over and handed over his student ID.

"Let me check if there are any packages or letters for me."

The old man looked up, took the student ID, and glanced at it.

"The gifted youth program, Chen Zhuo."

The old man put down his student ID, turned around and walked to a large cardboard box behind him, where he began to rummage through it.

After a while, the old man turned around, holding a thick envelope in his hand, and handed it to Chen Zhuo.

"Here you are, it's an international mail item, with a foreign stamp on it."

The old man pushed a receipt book over from the side and pointed to a blank space.

"Sign here."

Chen Zhuo took the pen and wrote his name neatly.

He picked up the envelope; it felt quite heavy.

The sender's address field in the upper left corner displays the English abbreviation of Rutgers University, New Jersey.

Stepping out of the mailroom, Chen Zhuo came to a tree in the courtyard. There were few people around, and only the occasional bird call could be heard.

Chen Zhuo pulled a brand-new journal out of the envelope.

The cover, printed on coated paper, gleamed slightly and bore the title "Discrete Mathematics," with the words "Autumn Issue" noted beside it.

He held the magazine in one hand and casually flipped through the table of contents with the other.

His eyes swept across the dense English titles, and soon he found the name of his article in the middle, near the front.

The author's name is followed by: C.Zhuo.

He flipped directly to that page.

The layout is very neat. It starts with a short summary, followed by long passages of matrix derivation. There is no fluff; the whole thing consists of calculations of node connectivity and algebraic derivations of fault-tolerant logic.

Five pages, neat and concise.

He looked at it for a while, closed the journal, casually held it in his hand, and turned to walk back.

When he passed by the convenience store, he went in and bought a mung bean popsicle and a bottle of chilled orange soda for himself.

Back in dormitory 215, as soon as I opened the door, that stuffy, hot feeling enveloped me again.

Wang Dayong had almost finished packing his things and was wiping his sweat with a towel.

Chen Zhuo walked over and handed him the icy mung bean popsicle.

"Oh, thanks, Xiao Zhuo."

Wang Dayong's eyes lit up, and he quickly took it, tore open the wrapper in a few strokes, and took a big bite.

Chen Zhuo walked to his desk and put down the iced soda he was holding.

I casually placed the book "Discrete Mathematics" on the table.

"By the way, Xiao Zhuo."

Wang Dayong mumbled something while chewing on an ice pop.

"You had just left when the dorm supervisor started yelling in the hallway that the vice dean of the Physics Department, Mr. Fang, was looking for you and wanted you to go to his office as soon as you got back."

Chen Zhuogang paused for a moment as he pulled out the chair.

He turned his head and glanced at the bottle of soda on the table, which was still a little cold.

"knew.

""

Chen Zhuo sighed.

Empty-handed, he turned and left the dormitory.

Physics Building.

In front of the vice president's office on the third floor.

Chen Zhuo walked over, reached out, and knocked on the door twice, neither too hard nor too softly.

"Enter."

The voice of a sorcerer could be heard coming from inside.

Chen Zhuo pushed open the door and went inside.

In the office, Fang Shi was sitting at the coffee table, holding a teacup in his hand, while Fang Yuanming sat opposite him.

The two elderly people looked very relaxed.

As Chen Zhuo walked in, Fang Yuanming's gaze swept over him, finally settling on his two empty hands.

On the coffee table between them, a newly opened copy of "Discrete Mathematics" was prominently displayed.

"Xiao Zhuo is here, please have a seat."

Fang Yuanming smiled and pointed to the magazine on the coffee table.

"Have you received the sample copy yet? The department just received this autumn issue a couple of days ago."

Fang Yuanming looked at Chen Zhuo's empty hands and couldn't help but make a joke.

"This is your first time publishing an article in a top international journal, and it's your sole authorship. You just received the sample copy, why didn't you hold it and admire it more?"

Chen Zhuo walked over to the single sofa next to him and sat down.

Chen Zhuo smiled at the Taoist priest with a serious expression, as if he were reading a classic text.

"It was just during summer vacation when I suddenly had an idea in that direction, so I wrote it down casually. It wasn't anything very important, so I just left it on my desk in the dorm."

The office suddenly fell silent.

Fang Yuanming's hand, which was holding the teacup, froze in mid-air.

The alchemist froze in his motion as he was about to drink water.

On a whim.

I just wrote it down casually.

unimportant..

The two professors, both over fifty, exchanged a glance.

Just ten minutes ago, Professor Li, a senior professor in the School of Mathematical Sciences, was so anxious that he almost regarded this matrix algorithm as an axe to split mountains and a key to save his life, and he was sweating profusely as he searched for someone everywhere.

Now, in the original author's mouth, it's been described as something he wrote casually.

Fang Yuanming lowered his head, tactically took a sip of tea, and concealed the smile on his lips.

This is what it means to subtly show off.

The Taoist priest put down his teacup and cleared his throat.

He's a shrewd old fox, and of course he knows that he can't mention that Old Li came by now.

If this kid really gets the urge and thinks it would be interesting to go to the math department and discuss graph theory with Old Li, then all that Tai Chi he just did would have been for nothing.

We must strike first.

"Just publish the article."

The Taoist priest suppressed his smile and adopted a serious, elder-like tone.

"Xiao Zhuo, those basic courses in your sophomore year are probably a piece of cake for you. You won't learn anything new by sitting in the classroom listening to those things every day."

Chen Zhuo nodded and listened quietly.

"I currently have a key national project in hand."

The sorcerer got straight to the point.

"We conduct fluid dynamics and stress tests under extreme conditions, which places extremely high demands on computing power and models."

The sorcerer paused for a moment, looking into Chen Zhuo's eyes.

"We're stuck when deriving the model. As soon as the continuity equation is put into the computer, it tends to crash whenever it encounters a nonlinear critical point, and the whole system gets deadlocked."

The alchemist didn't offer any grand promises about scientific progress; instead, he directly presented the real engineering challenges.

"Since you have some free time and your own unique insights into the logic of these underlying algorithms, would you like to come to my lab?"

The alchemist's tone revealed a genuine eagerness to find talented individuals.

"Just consider it a trip to see how real scientific research works. Right now, we might need your inspiration."

The sorcerer picked up his teacup and stated his terms.

"As long as you come, I'll give you the highest level of access to the lab's computer room, and I'll give you the green light to access the physics department's, and even the entire university's, interdisciplinary internal document database."

Chen Zhuo sat on the sofa, quietly pondering.

Go and see real scientific research.

It was incredibly tempting, especially for someone like him who had never done scientific research before.

No matter how beautiful the theoretical derivation is, if it is not put into a real machine to run, it will always just be a bunch of pretty symbols.

Chen Zhuo raised his head and met the Taoist priest's gaze.

"it is good."

Chen Zhuo nodded.

"I'll do as you say."

The huge weight that had been hanging over the alchemist's heart finally settled down.

He let out a long sigh of relief, a contented smile spreading across his face.

"it is good."

The sorcerer readily agreed.

"Tomorrow morning, go directly to the key laboratory on the east side of the third floor. I'll make arrangements with them and get all your access privileges activated."

After the business was finished, the atmosphere in the office completely relaxed.

Fang Shi and Fang Yuanming then casually asked Chen Zhuo a few more questions about his summer vacation at school and how the food in the cafeteria was after the start of the new semester.

Chen Zhuo answered each question gently.

After sitting for about ten minutes, Chen Zhuo felt it was enough and stood up.

"Dean Fang, Professor Fang, you two continue your conversation, I'll head back now."

"Okay, go ahead."

The sorcerer waved his hand, smiling broadly.

Chen Zhuo turned and walked towards the office door.

He walked to the door, reached out and grasped the doorknob, then gently pressed it down.

The door opened a crack.

Chen Zhuo paused for a moment.

He didn't turn around, but just tilted his head slightly, as if he suddenly remembered something before leaving.

"Dean Fang."

"Over there in the old library, in the foreign language periodicals room, there's a girl named Su Wei who works part-time to support herself."

The Taoist priest's hand, holding the teacup, froze in mid-air.

Fang Yuanming also looked up, somewhat surprised, at Chen Zhuo's back.

"She has an exceptional sensitivity to data and a strong logical approach to document archiving."

Chen Zhuo continued, his tone tinged with admiration.

"I think having her there constantly organizing bookshelves and moving books is too inefficient and a waste of the school's search resources."

""

After saying that, Chen Zhuo pushed open the door.

"I'm leaving now."

He stepped out and gently closed the office door behind him.

The office fell silent.

The cicadas outside the window were still chirping tirelessly, and the sun was making the windowsill scorching hot.

Fang Shi and Fang Yuanming sat at the coffee table, staring at each other.

A good five or six seconds passed.

"puff-

'

Fang Yuanming was the first to lose his temper, and almost choked on his tea.

He put down his teacup, pointed to the closed office door, laughed so hard his shoulders shook, and shook his head repeatedly.

"Did I hear that right?"

Fang Yuanming's expression was incredibly interesting, brimming with gossip.

"This kid... was he just giving a female classmate preferential treatment at the door?"

1

The sorcerer also came to his senses.

He leaned back in his chair, looking incredulous, and then couldn't help but burst into laughter.

"Twelve years old!"

The sorcerer held up two fingers and gestured, then laughed and scolded.

"When my grandson was twelve, he was still playing marbles in the compound! This kid, on the other hand, just agreed to join my lab, and now he's using my connections to favor his female classmate?"

Two professors, both over fifty, burst into laughter in their office.

In the eyes of these old-school scholars, Chen Zhuo was usually aloof and quiet.

Although he was impeccable in his dealings with others, gentle and polite, he was so mature when it came to scholarship that he seemed like a little devil, and people always felt that he lacked some of the youthful vivacity that should belong to him.

it's good now.

Suddenly, a female classmate appeared and, for the first time ever, he asked her for help.

"And what's with all this talk about data sensitivity? It's just a waste of search resources."

Fang Yuanming leaned back on the sofa, beaming with joy.

"Listen to these excuses, they come up with one after another, so high and mighty. If this were any of the young teachers in the department, I would criticize them for abusing their power for personal gain."

The sorcerer smiled and sat up straight.

He reached for the black internal telephone on his desk.

"Since this kid has finally asked, let's not worry about what this girl does for a living."

The Taoist priest's tone revealed the indulgence and affection of an elder towards a younger person.

"As an elder, I have to make sure he has the respect he deserves."

Fang Shi picked up the phone and skillfully dialed the librarian's number.

The phone rang twice.

"Feed? Old Zhang, yes, I'm a Taoist priest."

The sorcerer's tone lacked the seriousness he usually displayed when assigning tasks; instead, it carried an irrepressible chuckle.

"Isn't there a student named Su Wei doing a work-study program at your library? Yes, that's her."

As the Taoist priest spoke, he glanced at Fang Yuanming across from him, who was still enjoying his tea.

"Here's the thing, let's get this kid a better job, so she doesn't have to spend all her time outside carrying books and getting covered in dust."

The sorcerer gave detailed instructions.

"Give me an office with a computer, or a private workstation in a computer room, with air conditioning, right? Yes, so I don't get too hot."

Old Zhang on the other end of the phone seemed a little puzzled. How could a student doing part-time work have alarmed the vice dean of the physics department and even asked several questions?

"The compensation will be based on the highest level of allowance for office staff."

The sorcerer made the decision without hesitation, then interrupted Old Zhang's further questioning.

"Alright, Lao Zhang, stop asking questions. We have a favored young master in our compound who specifically asked for special treatment. Just get on with it. If anything goes wrong, I'll take responsibility."

After hanging up the phone, Fang Shi looked at the book "Discrete Mathematics" on the table and let out a long sigh of relief.

That was such a comfortable move.

In exchange for a quiet job in the library, one can acquire a dedicated lab technician willing to work in the lab, and also conveniently fulfill the unspoken desires of one's own junior.

That's a great deal, an absolute steal!

The Taoist priest picked up his teacup and found the tea to be exceptionally fragrant.