1189 Last Step
Inst.i.tute of Information Engineering at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
When Academician Gao saw the gray-haired old man walking toward him, he quickly walked up and asked, “Old Xue, did you ask what was going on?”
A while ago, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology suddenly suspended the entire quantum encryption algorithm project.
Almost everyone involved in the project was confused and didn’t know what happened.
As the leader and the most prestigious scholar in the project, Academician Xue was naturally selected to discuss with the State Administration for National Defense and find out what was going on.
Over the past few days, Gao Junfa had been trying to find out what was going on, and he finally ran into Academician Xue.
It seemed like Academician Xue had an answer.
However, judging by Academician Xue’s face, it wasn’t a good answer.
Academician Xue Jinhui saw Academician Gao approach him. He wanted to hide, but there was no place to hide. He had no choice but to cough and explain.
“The matter is very complicated… Basically, you just need to know that the quantum encryption algorithm has been solved.”
It was solved?
Academician Gao Junfa was shocked, and his eyes were wide open, similar to how Academician Xue first reacted to the news.
“It was solved? How is that possible!”
“At first, I was just as surprised as you are.” Academician Xue Jinhui said after a moment of silence, “But this is in fact true, I saw it with my own eyes.”
Seeing how the old man didn’t appear to be lying, Academician Gao Junfa quickly said, “You saw the algorithm?”
Academician Xue Jinhui nodded.
“Yes.”
“Tell me! What kind of encryption algorithm is it? Who made it?”
Academician Xue coughed and said, “I can’t answer those questions right now.”
Academician Gao was anxious, and he began to play the friends.h.i.+p card.
“You don’t trust me?”
“It’s not about trust, it’s about principle.” Academician Xue sighed and said, “Don’t worry, the algorithm will definitely be implemented… You’ll be able to see the code within a month or two at most.”
Academician Gao still wanted to say something, but seeing how Academician Xue wasn’t budging, he decided not to ask any more questions.
He knew that Academician Xue had probably signed a confidentiality agreement.
Academician Gao shook his head after a long sigh.
“The new generation is replacing us… Oh well, I’ll just wait.”
After Academician Gao left, Academician Xue didn’t dare to stay around for long, in fear of being stopped and questioned by other colleagues. He quickly returned to his office.
He told his a.s.sistant to make him a cup of tea. After taking a sip, he wanted to read some papers, but he felt like he was missing something.
In the end, he couldn’t restrain his curiosity. He asked his a.s.sistant to book him a high-speed rail ticket to Jinling, in the name of presenting a lecture at Jin Ling University.
Jin Ling University obviously wanted a top cryptography expert like him to visit the school, so they arranged everything for him.
After the lecture, Academician Xue declined the invitation from the dean of the information engineering department to have a meal. He walked around Jin Ling University, finally finding his way to Academician Lu’s office in the mathematics building.
When he arrived at the office, there weren’t many people inside. There was only a girl, who was probably an a.s.sistant, sitting near the door.
Academician Xue looked through the window and knocked on the door. He then asked in a friendly tone, “Excuse me, is Academician Lu here?”
Zhao Huan put down her pen and looked at this strange old man. She remembered that Lu Zhou didn’t have an appointment today.
However, this wasn’t the first time something like this had happened, so she responded.
“Academician Lu has been at the Jinling Inst.i.tute for Advanced Study over the past few days, may I ask what are you here for? I can call him and ask when he’s coming back—”
When Academician Xue saw the girl reaching for the phone, he quickly stopped her.
“Oh, there’s no need for that. The Inst.i.tute for Advanced Study, right? I’ll go there myself.”
Zhao Huan looked at the strange old man walk away. She pondered for a second before writing an email to Professor Lu.
Apparently, Lu Zhou was working on a national project at the Inst.i.tute for Advanced Study. She obviously didn’t know what the project was.
She just knew that it was very important.
…
Even though Lu Zhou wasn’t at Jin Ling University, Academician Xue wasn’t discouraged.
Since he came all the way to Jinling, he didn’t want to go back home empty-handed, not until he met the creator of the genius encryption algorithm.
He finally arrived at the Jinling Inst.i.tute for Advanced Study. After he explained his intentions to the guard, he registered his information and was soon let inside. A security officer walked him to the Inst.i.tute of Semiconductors.
Academician Xue was walking behind the security officer. He had a feeling that Academician Lu was already informed of his visit.
He finally arrived at the laboratory. He hesitated for a second before reaching out.
However, just when he was about to knock on the door, the door opened by itself.
A young man wearing a lab coat and messy hair appeared behind the door.
Even though this was Academician Xue’s first time meeting Lu Zhou, as a member of the academic community, he instantly recognized Lu Zhou. Before Academician Xue could speak, Lu Zhou spoke first.
“You’re Academician Xue from the Inst.i.tute of Information Engineering?”
“Sure am.” Academician Xue nodded and said, “My apologies for interrupting your research. I’m just curious about your quantum encryption algorithm, so I came without an invitation…”
“You didn’t interrupt anything.” Lu Zhou smiled and looked at the old man standing at the door. He stepped aside and made an inviting gesture as he said, “Director Li told me about you, come on in.”
“Director Li?” Academician Xue looked at Lu Zhou and said, “How does he know I would come here?”
“He didn’t say you’re coming, but after hearing about what happened, I had a feeling you would be here.” Lu Zhou smiled and said, “It just so happens there are some things I want to discuss with you… Come with me, I’m at the last step of the experiment.”