Chapter 248: Call From Stockholm
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Larter received his wish and got the big news he wanted.
However, it was not about Lu Zhou.
It was about him, and his scandal with the Was.h.i.+ngton Times.
The second day after the report, while he was trying to find Professor Enoch, a recording was posted on the internet.
More precisely, two recordings.
One recording was in the office. It was about him and his colleagues discussing how to create a piece of big news and how to provoke various racial rights organizations. It contained a lot of racist words and their ridicule of rights protection agencies as fools.
As for the second recording, it was in Professor Enoch’s office in Nigeria.
[
…
“Three days at most.”
“This is impossible!”
“$10,000 USD.”
“Deal!”
]
The first recording angered Larter, but after he heard the second recording, he nearly slipped in his own cold sweat.
Not just because his career was in danger.
It was mainly the problem of how this recording was leaked.
The first recording could be leaked because of a mole in the office, but he had no idea how in the h.e.l.l the second recording was leaked.
He was in Africa!
The other side of the Atlantic!
For the sake of confidentiality, he always went on business trips alone. It was impossible for someone to bug professor Enoch’s office in advance. It was impossible for someone to bug Larter as well. He went through airport security and showered before meeting with Enoch…
Maybe…
Someone had been following him along the way.
This was the most logical explanation.
When Bob saw Larter’s pale face, he was about to comfort him but Larter suddenly sprung up from his chair.
“Don’t touch me!”
Bob looked at Larter’s eyes that were filled with horror and asked, “What happened to you?”
No one in the editorial office spoke as everyone was minding their own business.
Larter looked around in a panic. His eyes scanned across the workers’ faces as he tried to find someone looking at him.
Bob wanted to say something, but when he saw the state that Larter was in, he could not find anything to say.
Larter ignored Bob and furiously yanked opened the drawer. He took out all of the doc.u.ments and placed them on the desk. His two hands searched for something that resembled a voice recorder bug.
Finding this bug would at least bring him some comfort.
However, no matter how hard he searched, he could not find the origin of the recording.
As such, the fear in his heart grew stronger and stronger.
Logic told him that it was impossible for an ordinary scholar to have this kind of ability. There must be more people behind it.
He thought of the political influence that Goldbach’s conjecture had, and how neighboring countries had previously expressed dissatisfaction with the news they fabricated.
Larter gave up. His face became paler.
Maybe…
He was “targeted”?
…
Lu Zhou did not pay attention to the follow-up scandals that the Was.h.i.+ngton Times was involved in. He had only heard from Luo Wenxuan that the Was.h.i.+ngton Times would go into a temporary shut-down, and Larter would resign.
Although creating exaggerated news was one thing, once one was exposed to have committed bribery, that was another thing.
This scandal would follow Larter for the rest of his life, leaving a mark on his career.
He could forget about becoming a journalist ever again.
The last week of May, issues regarding Goldbach’s conjecture finally settled. With the release of the newest Annual Mathematics journal, this two and a half century-year-old tower was finally built.
Lu Zhou did not know how many ongoing thesis and dreams he destroyed, but those things did not matter to him.
Inst.i.tute of Higher Education, at a restaurant on the first floor.
In order to save time, Lu Zhou ate lunch here most of the days.
“You did something bad,” said Edward Witten as he sat opposite Lu Zhou. He smiled, “You don’t know how many people have lost the chance of submitting a bulsh*t thesis.”
“Yeah, a bad thing,” said Lu Zhou with a smile.
He definitely did not do as much “bad things” as old man Witten.
In the 1980s, knot theory was very popular. There were different 3-flow types, many different norm groups, many kinks and invariants like Jones polynomial could be constructed… In the end, Witten came up with a topological method of shear flow type, and the entire knot theory family was solved.
Of course, describing it as a “bad thing” was just a joke. The old man also did a lot of “good things”, like creating the M-theory, which had at least saved theoretical physicists 10 years of research.
Edward Witten asked casually, “I know you won’t take a break, so what’s next? What interesting topics do you plan on researching?”
Lu Zhou thought for a second before he answered, “Materials science.”
Witten was stunned. He then asked, “Materials science? What materials science?”
“Precisely speaking, it’s computational materials science,” said Lu Zhou. He paused for a moment before he smiled and said, “While studying at the University of Jin Ling, I partic.i.p.ated in a research project. I think computational materials science has lots of potentials. I think the potentials are flexible and high fidelity, and I think I can do something with it.”
Witten gave a thumbs up and smiled as he said, “I see. Which is saying you want to create your own discipline? This is a challenging idea.”
Lu Zhou smiled and said, “Not exactly creating a new discipline, just doing development that affects this discipline… Maybe just a push in the early stages, or maybe I’ll do a lot more ‘bad things’.”
The two looked at each other and laughed.
Witten cleared his throat and said, “I’m not very familiar with materials science, but if you’re interested in organics materials science, I recommend Professor Paul. J. Chiric, he’s an expert in this field.”
Lu Zhou nodded and said, “Thanks, I’ll consider your suggestion. However, I’ll put this matter aside until I return from China. I worked hard for so long, I need a vacation.”
Witten said in a relaxed tone, “Yeah, you really need to take a break.”
Lu Zhou had already planned which thesis to use to complete the system mission.
He estimated that his patent lawyer should have a result.
This time, after he went back to China and sorted his degree out, he would also be dealing with this matter.
Suddenly, the phone in his pocket started to ring.
Lu Zhou took out his phone and saw that it was from an unknown number.
“Let me take this.”
Witten smiled and said, “Sure, go ahead.”
Lu Zhou picked up the phone and an unfamiliar voice came through.
“h.e.l.lo, Lu Zhou, we are the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.”
Lu Zhou heard this name and went silent for a while. He exchanged a confused look with Witten.
Then…
He was shocked.
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences?!
The f*ck?
Maybe…
This is the legendary…
n.o.bel prize phone call?!