Scholar’s Advanced Technological System

by Stayrr

After suffering from a heat stroke while working under the scorching heat of summer, Lu Zhou, a hardworking but poor university student, somehow becomes the owner of an advanced technological system. With the cheat given by the system, his university life changes overnight. A Master’s degree? Easy. PhD? Not a problem. From a nobody, he quickly becomes a huge celebrity in the wor

30. 941

Read Scholar's Advanced Technological System - Chapter 941 - Most Creative Poster online free - Novelfull

941 Most Creative Poster

After making Luo Wenxuan take over the afternoon press conference, Lu Zhou realized how much more free time he had.

He sat in his hotel room and thought about what to do to kill time. He suddenly remembered that there was an invitation letter he had yet to respond to.

He remembered the words Professor Krugman said in the email. He hesitated for a while and finally sighed.

"Whatever, I have time to kill anyway, I'll just go check it out."

He was actually quite curious if the Lu Bewley model was as nutty as Krugman said it was.

The location for the conference was at a five-star hotel, and the invitation also included dinner and lunch vouchers. Even though Lu Zhou wasn't interested in economics, he was interested in free food.

Lu Zhou got up and changed into his casual clothes. He called Wang Peng and asked him to get the car ready downstairs. He then took the elevator down and went outside.

Lu Zhou said, "Xinrui Hotel… A five-star hotel that was built recently. It's quite far though."

Lu Zhou was sitting in the backseat as he took out the invitation letter and read the address to Wang Peng.

Wang Peng reached out and tapped on the GPS navigation screen.

"Xinrui Hotel? It doesn't seem to be that far, only a thirty-minute drive."

Lu Zhou's eyes felt droopy as he said, "I'm not in a hurry."

"Is this another meeting?"

"Kind of, but I'm mainly going there for the food."

"Okay then…"

…

Just like Wang Peng had estimated, after a thirty-minute drive, they arrived at the entrance of the Xinrui Hotel.

The worker standing at the entrance of the hotel took a look at Lu Zhou's invitation letter. He then invited the two into the hotel.

Lu Zhou walked through the hotel lobby and looked at the decor and the people in the lobby.

He realized there wasn't a single tourist here.

No wonder academia costs so much money, these economists are so extravagant with their conferences.

Not only is this a five-star hotel, but they seemed to have rented out the whole place for the conference.

Mathematics conferences, on the other hand, were often hosted in small meeting rooms. Even top conferences such as the ICM wouldn't be hosted in such a luxurious venue.

Lu Zhou still remembered the last International Congress of Mathematicians conference in Rio de Janeiro. Even though the hotel wasn't horrible, it was nowhere near a five-star resort.

No wonder mathematicians look down on economists. These economists use mathematical tools to create theories and attend these extravagant conferences!

Lu Zhou speculated that the reason this venue was held in such an extravagant place was that the conference organizer was sponsored by famous universities such as Aurora University and Kai University.

The local government and universities were happy to spend money to attract international scholars.

Just like the saying goes.

He who pays the piper calls the tune.

If this were before, international scholars would never come to a domestic conference like this.

But the academia environment had changed since then.

With the rise of China's economy, more and more scholars and economists had become interested in China's economic models. They were willing to research existing problems in the Chinese economy, as well as study what kind of impact China's economy would have on the world…

From an objective point of view, being able to attract international scholars was a good thing.

After Lu Zhou went into the venue, he immediately went to the souvenirs booth and happily collected some free notebooks and pens from large investment banks.

These pens were not available for purchase, and rarely would people sell them. Thus, they were quite a collectible item.

Lu Zhou had always had the habit of collecting gifts from academic conferences. For him, this was a way of tracking his academic progress.

He hadn't been attending as many conferences over the past few years.

Holding the free metal pen made Lu Zhou feel nostalgic.

Next to the souvenirs booth was the poster booth area.

Just like mathematics conferences, advanced topics were discussed in conference halls, while the poster area gave a chance for all scholars to show off their results.

Compared to giving a talk or a report, the barrier of entry for a poster booth was much lower. It was like a street vendor setting up shop next to a high-end mall. Most of the people here were master's and PhD students. Anyone with a loud voice and an eye-catching poster would receive quite a lot of attention.

Even though an academic poster was inferior to other academic communication methods, this was still a very useful way to show off one's work.

Lu Zhou looked around the dazzling poster stalls. He realized that even though he recognized the individual words and symbols on the posters, he didn't understand what the poster was actually trying to say.

He was starting to get confused when he suddenly noticed a familiar-looking headline on a poster.

"… Lu Bewley model?"

Even though the poster was poorly done, the title was written there clearly.

A tall, skinny man standing in front of the poster noticed Lu Zhou, and he raised his eyebrows and asked, "You're in this research area?"

Lu Zhou heard the young man and smiled.

"Sort of."

"What a coincidence." The young man smiled and reached out his hand as he said, "I'm Wisl, PhD student at Princeton, researching macroeconomics… More specifically, I'm researching economics models that are built using mathematical models. The Lu Bewley model is my research project!"

He had been standing here with his poster since the morning, but no one was interested in his poster.

He finally found someone who seemed to be interested in his poster, so he didn't want Lu Zhou to leave.

However, Lu Zhou didn't plan on leaving anyway.

The reason why he attended this conference was to find out if the Lu Bewley model was as significant as Krugman had claimed.

"Is the Lu Bewley model important?"

Even though Lu Zhou felt a little narcissistic asking this question, he couldn't help but feel curious.

Lu Zhou was embarrassed to ask this question, but Wisl took that as Lu Zhou doubting the importance of this model. He stood up straight and began to explain.

"Of course! It's one of the most important economics models in recent years! You're in this research area, you should know about the Bewley model, right? The Lu Bewley model is a strong version of the Bewley model… Are you really in this research area? It sounds like you're a layman."

Lu Zhou looked at Wisl's skeptical eyes and spoke.

"Of course, are you doubting me?"

"No, no." Wisl waved his hand and said, "Actually, it's fine if you don't understand, since this is quite a cutting-edge research field. If you plan on learning about the Lu Bewley model, you should check out lecture hall 1."

Lu Zhou: "Lecture hall 1?"

"That's right. Professor Joseph Eugene Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize laureate, is speaking there. Surely you have heard about his Dixit-Stiglitz Model. He's a theoretical researcher in symmetric information economics, but he also has profound insights regarding mathematical economics."

For some reason, there was a hint of envy in Wisl's voice, as if he wanted to attend the lecture instead of standing at his poster booth.

"Just go if you want to." Lu Zhou looked around the empty poster booth and said, "There's no one here anyway."

"I can't do that!" Wisl said, "If no one guards the poster booth, someone will take my poster away. That means I'll be disqualified for the poster creativity award."

"I'm sorry but… You plan on winning an award with this poster?" Lu Zhou looked at the horribly-drawn poster with his mouth wide open.

This looks more like an abstract art painting.

But for an academic poster…

It would be better if he just took a piece of blank paper and wrote a summary line by line.

However, Wisl wasn't amused, and he stubbornly spoke, "What if I do win? You never know."

Lu Zhou shook his head.

"Good luck then… I'm going to lecture hall 1."

"Go ahead, you might not be able to get a seat… Oh yeah, I didn't catch your name?" Wisl said to Lu Zhou, who was walking away from the poster booth.

Without looking back, Lu Zhou smiled and spoke.

"I'm Lu Zhou."

Wisl: "…???"

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When Lu Zhou arrived at lecture hall 1, the report had already begun.

An old man with glasses stood in front of a projector curtain while slowly talking about things Lu Zhou didn't understand.

However, even though he didn't understand what was going on, the other scholars were quietly listening.

This reminded Lu Zhou of his own report. Whenever he did a report, the audience always listened attentively.

Looks like this speaker is an expert.

Lu Zhou didn't stand around for long, he found a seat on the last row and sat down.

Actually, Wisl was sort of exaggerating. Even though there were many people in the lecture hall, he was still able to find a seat.

There were some people sitting on the floor at the front of the lecture hall, and these were often younger people who wore thick glasses. They came to the report with the intent of asking questions.

After Lu Zhou sat down, he looked around and took out his phone. He pulled up the thesis he and Xiao Tong collaborated on and used the rest of his attention listening to Professor Joseph's lecture.

He had mostly forgotten about the theoretical part of the Lu Bewley model. Even though this model seemed to be important in the economics community, it was insignificant to him.

He read the paper again and refreshed his knowledge of the mathematical model he built.

For most people, reading a paper while listening to a lecture was a difficult thing.

However, Lu Zhou was good at multi-tasking and he was used to this.

Back when he was a Princeton professor, he would multi-task and focus on three separate things at once.

Professor Joseph slowly spoke on stage. When he saw a flash of light coming from the back row, he frowned.

The light from Lu Zhou's phone wasn't particularly bright, and it was barely noticeable.

However, everyone else in the lecture hall was looking at Joseph, except one person, who was looking at his phone. Even though Lu Zhou was sitting in the back row, Joseph easily noticed him.

Using one's phone during a report wasn't uncommon, but Joseph had always been against this behavior. He felt like his research result was being disrespected.

However, Joseph only frowned and ignored the disrespectful audience member.

If this were his lecture, he would definitely kick the person out of his lecture hall. However, this was an academic report. He wasn't going to waste the time of other scholars over such a small matter…

Lu Zhou didn't realize a big name economist was annoyed at him.

If only Joseph knew Lu Zhou wasn't playing on his phone, he was reading the thesis!

However, Lu Zhou wouldn't have cared what Joseph thought regardless.

First of all, he wasn't in the economics field; secondly, there were hundreds of people that disliked him, so who cared about one more…

Lu Zhou finished reading the thesis—both the mathematical and the theoretical part.

Lu Zhou put away his phone. He was interested in what evaluation Professor Joseph was going to give his mathematical model. However, the old man's words completely shocked him.

"We all know that a fairly novel mathematical model was recently added to the field of economics. Its creator is the well known Fields Medalist Professor Lu Zhou. His new model improved the Bewley model, reducing the amount of tedious calculations, and making the model calculations more accurate…

"I'm not denying that this mathematical model is beautiful."

Professor Joseph looked around the lecture hall and said, "I'm a supporter of the New trade theory, and I often use mathematical tools to help buttress my economics theories. However, I have to mention that mathematics is only a tool for economics. After all, this is a macroeconomics conference, not an accounting and finance conference."

The audience chuckled.

Most people liked the old man's joke.

New economists were beginning to rely more and more on computers and mathematical tools. The Nobel Prize in Economics had almost become a mathematics prize.

For some old-fashioned economists, the integration of mathematics was simply stupid.

Professor Joseph paused for a second and spoke.

"Economics is about studying human economic activity, that is, creating, transforming, and trading value. This is not some mathematical game. We're economists, not accountants.

"Even though this report is based on the Lu Bewley model, I am going to disappoint many people." Professor Joseph looked at Krugman, who was sitting in the front row. He paused for a few seconds and said, "I will focus the report on the shortcomings of the Lu Bewley model.

"In my opinion, these shortcomings are fatal!"

Suddenly, whispers were heard in the lecture hall.

After hearing Joseph's speech, Lu Zhou's expression returned to normal.

He was a mathematician, a complete layman in the field of economics. If there really were fatal flaws, he would just have to accept it.

Not to mention that Professor Joseph was criticizing the economic value of the Lu Bewley model, not the mathematical value.

Therefore, Lu Zhou didn't really care.

He can say whatever he wants.

Lu Zhou leaned back on his chair and overheard a conversation from two young people, likely PhD students.

"Didn't Professor Krugman discuss the Lu Bewley model in his latest paper? It seems like he disagrees with Joseph?"

"Of course! Krugman is a supporter of mathematical economics, and he thinks that a beautiful economics model has to have a mathematical foundation… But Krugman doesn't have good mathematical abilities himself."

"Looks like this report is going to be interesting then."

"Yeah, yeah, Professor Krugman is here as well, right?! Joseph is probably doing this report as a response to Krugman's thesis."

"Too bad, Professor Krugman isn't as influential as Professor Joseph!"

Lu Zhou heard the conversation and raised his eyebrows.

Krugman is also in the lecture hall?

Joseph is doing this report for him?

I don't really know how economics debates work, but I have a feeling this is going to get interesting…

Professor Krugman had a stiff expression on his face.

Professor Joseph's words undoubtedly embarrassed him.

Xiao Tong couldn't help but say, "Professor, does the Lu Bewley model… really have fatal flaws?"

"It's hard to say." Krugman shook his head and said, "I don't think there are any flaws… But Joseph is quite the expert in mathematical economics models. Maybe he found problems I haven't found yet."

Professor Angus nodded and agreed with his old friend Krugman.

"We should just wait and see what happens. Maybe it's not that bad."

Professor Krugman had a solemn expression.

"Yeah, let's be patient."

Professor Joseph continued to speak, and he used a marker to write down the important parts on a whiteboard.

"As we all know, the Bewley model overcomes the flaws of the stochastic dynamic general equilibrium framework. It has gradually become the mainstream method of macroeconomic research. The Lu Bewley model has made improvements, such as the use of the 'endogenous grid method'. This reduces the cumbersome operations…

"However, this also reduced the rigor of the Bewley model."

[F (x, y, z) = ag3, 1 bg3, 2 cg3, 3 … where x, y, z0 …]

[…]

He continued to write down lines of calculations on the whiteboard.

Professor Joseph turned around and faced the lecture hall.

"If the KPR utility function is applied to equation 3, we can see there are obvious problems with the model.

"Just like I said, the Lu Bewley model has a major flaw, so a revision should be made.

"My report is over. If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask away."

The lecture hall was dead silent.

One could hear a pin drop on the ground.

Professor Joseph glanced at Krugman, who was staring at the whiteboard with a muddled look on his face.

I knew it.

Krugman couldn't keep up with my explanation at all.

He didn't have anything against Krugman; he was just dissatisfied with the flaws in the Lu Bewley model.

He thought Krugman would at least say something, but Krugman didn't even ask a question.

Joseph looked disappointed.

Not even one person is going to argue with me?!

He was about to walk off stage when he saw someone in the back row raise their hand.

"I have a question."

The voice traveled from the back of the lecture hall…

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Lu Zhou didn't really understand Professor Joseph's explanation.

However, he was vaguely familiar with the equations on the whiteboard.

Even though it only took him an hour to complete this model, that didn't mean the model was worthless.

"… I'm not denying your argument, every discipline should have its own research habits, and mathematics is not the king of research." Lu Zhou coughed and pointed at the whiteboard. He said, "But in regard to the formula on line 3… That's not how you use it."

The venue became more and more lively!

A lot of people looked at the back row, wondering who the arrogant person was.

"Someone is questioning Professor Joseph's mathematics ability?!"

"Even Professor Krugman didn't say anything…"

"Who is this guy, he looks quite young, probably a student?"

"Wait a second, I feel like… This person looks familiar."

"…"

"Please tell me what the problem is. Otherwise, don't waste my time," Professor Joseph said. He realized the person who asked the question was the person playing on his phone just a while ago. He said, "Or do you think you know the Lu Bewley model better than I do?"

Lu Zhou nodded and said, "Yeah, in terms of the mathematics part."

The audience was in an uproar.

Professor Joseph frowned and spoke.

"Oh? Enlighten me then, who are you? What university are you from?"

Faced with this irrelevant question, Lu Zhou couldn't help but frown.

Do you really not recognize me?

This is the second time today someone has asked me this question.

We're from different races, but my handsomeness is universal, right?

He sighed and spoke.

"Lu Zhou, Jin Ling University.

"Or you can call me Professor Lu."

The lecture hall suddenly went quiet.

Lu-Lu Zhou?!

Joseph and all of the other scholars in the lecture hall were stunned.

The economists looked at the young scholar standing up.

A lot of people thought they recognized Lu Zhou, but they weren't sure.

After all, no one would have expected Lu Zhou to appear in a macroeconomics conference.

No one had ever seen Lu Zhou at an economics conference before.

No wonder no one was able to recognize him!

On the other side of the venue, a girl in her twenties had her eyes wide open.

Brother?!

When Xiao Tong heard the familiar voice coming from the back row, her eyes nearly popped out of her socket!

Professor Krugman was sitting next to her, and he was even more excited.

"He came! I knew it!"

He immediately looked at Professor Angus, who was sitting next to him.

Professor Angus coughed and got out of his seat.

"I'm going to the men's room…"

Professor Krugman smiled.

"That's fine, but don't forget about our bet!"

Professor Angus angrily said, "I know, you selfish man… It's just some gold coins, you're going to get cavities if you eat too much chocolate."

"Haha, I'm just honoring the bet… Are you really going to the toilet?" Professor Krugman looked at the whiteboard and said, "I think… the show is about to begin."

Professor Angus hesitated for a second and sat back down.

"I guess I can hold it for a while…

"Let's see what happens."

…

Lu Zhou didn't expect to get himself into this situation.

After he pointed out the calculation problem on the whiteboard, Professor Joseph still didn't give up. Joseph even invited Lu Zhou to walk on stage and point out the problem.

Lu Zhou didn't want to go on stage.

However, as a scholar, when he found out that someone else had used his theory incorrectly, it was his responsibility to point out the error and correct it.

After all, there was no one else in this world that understood the Lu Bewley model better than him.

I want to be humble, but I can't…

Lu Zhou sighed and picked up the marker. He then cleared his throat and spoke.

"I'm only going to write this once, so pay attention."

Professor Joseph was expressionless as he stared at the whiteboard.

However, Lu Zhou didn't feel pressured by his gaze at all.

After thinking for five seconds, the marker in his hand began to dance on the whiteboard. Soon after, lines of calculations appeared on the whiteboard.

As Professor Joseph looked at the calculations on the whiteboard, his pupils contracted and expanded. He was in disbelief.

He wasn't surprised at Lu Zhou's calculations.

Although, the calculations were impressive.

What surprised him was that Lu Zhou didn't pause for a second while writing down the equations! Lu Zhou didn't stop and think at all!

That's right, he didn't stop for even half a second.

It was almost like the entire model was in Lu Zhou's mind, like Lu Zhou had a blueprint of each piece of the puzzle in his head.

A drop of sweat slipped down Joseph's forehead.

Joseph, who was so confident just a second ago, began doubting himself…

When Lu Zhou wrote down the last line of the equation on the whiteboard, the venue was completely silent.

Not only did he conquer Professor Joseph, but he also completely conquered all of the economists sitting here.

Compared to Professor Joseph's writing, every step of Lu Zhou's calculation was written meticulously. Lu Zhou even circled the problems in Professor Joseph's calculations.

Professor Joseph's shoulders trembled as he looked at the whiteboard.

"I can't believe this…

"These calculations should have taken hours…

"How did you do it?!"

Lu Zhou smiled and put down the marker.

"Am I correct?"

Even though Joseph didn't want to admit defeat, the result was obvious.

Professor Joseph went silent and reluctantly nodded.

"I admit… I made a mistake in the Lu Bewley model, so you're correct."

There was a commotion in the lecture hall.

Professor Joseph admitted he was wrong?!

Most people couldn't believe what was happening.

After seeing Lu Zhou appear in the lecture hall, most people thought that Professor Joseph might lose. After all, Joseph wasn't nearly as strong as economist Professor Nash. Joseph was a long way from being a Fields Medalist.

However, they didn't expect Joseph to give up without even debating…

"Do you know which part you were wrong?"

"I do…"

Joseph felt a little humiliated.

However, realizing one's mistake…

There was nothing shameful about that.

Lu Zhou looked at Professor Joseph and nodded.

Not bad, at least he can admit he's wrong.

He thought that perhaps the old gentleman would try to steer the argument and try to argue from the perspective of an economist.

However, it seemed like Joseph wasn't that kind of person.

Seeking the truth was a valuable trait.

Especially for a scholar.

"Then I'll leave it to you to correct the mistakes. I don't really know much about this stuff." Lu Zhou turned around and began to walk off stage.

Professor Joseph stepped forward and stopped him.

"Wait a second, you still haven't told me how you did this in such a short amount of time—"

"Oh… Because this isn't that difficult at all."

Lu Zhou turned around and spoke.

"I only spent an hour creating the Lu Bewley model.

"So fixing a mistake shouldn't take that long."

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An hour?!

Professor Joseph's pupils expanded, he looked like he just saw a ghost.

It took him several years of intense research to complete the Dixit-Stiglitz Mode with his collaborator, Dixit. He proposed the model in his thesis "Monopolistic Competition and Optimum Product Diversity". This thesis shocked the entire economics community. This indirectly gave birth to the "New trade theory" and won him a Nobel Prize in Economics in 2001!

No one knew about mathematical economics more than him!

Joseph was well aware of how difficult it was to develop a mathematical model that could be used to analyze economic models…

However, Lu Zhou was now telling him that the Lu Bewley model only took him an hour?!

This is ridiculous!

Even if he used the Bewley model as a foundation, it is nearly impossible to improve this sophisticated model in an hour!

In one hour…

It would take most people days just to understand the Bewley Model.

"You have to be kidding…" Professor Joseph said as he stared at the whiteboard.

He was obviously speaking to Lu Zhou.

However, his words didn't reach Lu Zhou's ears.

Because his words were masked by the audience's exclaims.

And the man who was writing equations on stage…

He was long gone.

…

Outside of the lecture hall.

Lu Zhou closed the door behind him and heard a commotion behind him.

The commotion was quite loud, and he could hear it through the walls.

"Is it really so surprising?"

I'm not lying, it really only took one hour.

Lu Zhou realized that he didn't want to stay here for any longer. He tried to walk away from the lecture hall.

However, a young lady with short black hair and who was carrying a notebook in her hand chased after him.

"God Lu! Can you be my mentor?!" the girl excitedly said while using her body to block Lu Zhou's path.

Lu Zhou looked at the girl and spoke with a headache.

"You're studying economics, right? I don't know a lot about economics, you should find someone else—"

The young lady stepped forward and spoke.

"I was deeply moved by your performance on stage! You've opened my eyes! I-I want to study mathematics with you!"

Lu Zhou: "…?!"

What is this chick talking about…

Lu Zhou knew that more people were going to chase after him, so this was his chance to escape. He took a deep breath and spoke.

"I'm sorry, you seem like a good person."

Lady: "???"

Lu Zhou quickly walked past her, toward the direction of the elevator.

He went for an hour run every morning, so he could easily outrun some wannabe economics student.

"Wait a second, God Lu, don't leave!"

Lu Zhou closed the elevator door and smirked.

"Too slow."

The elevator door closed.

The elevator began to go up.

The people in the elevator looked at each other.

What is going on?

…

Even though Lu Zhou didn't check in at the hotel, he could access the hotel elevator using his conference invitation card.

Lu Zhou went to the executive lounge and showed the front desk his invitation card. He took a seat by the window, behind a bookshelf.

"Do you want to drink something?"

"A cup of coffee… and some paper."

"Is A4 paper fine?"

"Sure."

"Okay."

The waitress turned around and walked away.

Lu Zhou took out his phone and looked at the time.

It was two o'clock in the afternoon. It would be a while before the hotel buffet would be ready.

Lu Zhou looked at his phone and muttered to himself, "Should be enough, right?"

The waitress came back with a stack of papers.

"Here's the A4 paper you wanted, but the coffee will take a while."

Lu Zhou nodded and said, "That's fine, I'm not in a rush."

He now had some paper and a pen.

Lu Zhou took out his souvenir pen from his pocket. He pondered for a while and began writing.

He actually didn't understand the report in total just then.

Even though he had never done any research in economics, combining the information provided by Xiao Tong, as well as the content explained by Professor Joseph, he was able to obtain a rough understanding of the economics side of the Lu Bewley model.

After learning about the economics side of the Lu Bewley model, he realized that Professor Joseph wasn't entirely incorrect.

One could make the case that Joseph was half-correct.

This type of situation was very common in applied mathematics research.

Some things were obvious for Lu Zhou, but for scholars outside of mathematics research, these things were not obvious at all.

"… Professor Krugman's hypothesis is true, there is room for improvement on the Lu Bewley model, both in the mathematical side and the economics side."

Lu Zhou recalled the information he heard in the report. He treated this as a mathematical modeling problem and began to write on the paper.

Soon after, a fully written A4 paper was in front of him.

Lu Zhou looked at the paper and gathered his thoughts. He gradually smiled.

"It's not anything interesting, but since I'm already here, I might as well finish…"

…

When someone entered a state of concentration, time often passed by quickly.

Without Lu Zhou realizing, the sky began to gradually turn dark.

Lu Zhou's phone on the table vibrated.

Xiao Ai: [Master, you have mail (๑•̀ᄇ•́) و]

Lu Zhou put down his pen and looked at the sky outside the window. "Is it from Professor Krugman?"

Xiao Ai: [Master, you're correct! Good guess! (・・ *)]

Lu Zhou: "What did he say in the email?"

Xiao Ai: [He asked if you have time to get dinner together. ]

Lu Zhou tidied up the dozen or so A4 papers in his hand. He looked at the half-completed page, contemplated for a second, and spoke.

"Write a reply to him.

"Tell him I can do dinner at seven o'clock."

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[I can do dinner at seven o'clock. (ᐛ」)]

When Krugman read this email, he wasn't sure what the emoticon meant.

"It's five minutes to seven." Professor Angus looked at his watch and said, "Are you sure he meant seven o'clock at night?"

Professor Krugman smiled bitterly and shook his head.

"Honestly speaking, I'm not sure, I'm not even sure if he's talking about today or tomorrow."

"You should clarify with him!"

Professor Angus sighed and spoke.

"I'm going to get a bite… I can't just wait here forever. I suggest you get something to eat as well. The food service is ending in an hour. It's not good to go to bed on an empty stomach."

Professor Angus picked up a dinner plate and was about to grab his food. Suddenly, someone walked through the door.

Professor Krugman's eyes lit up when he saw the familiar face… He stood up and enthusiastically walked over.

"Haha, welcome! Professor Lu, it's nice to meet you!"

Professor Angus put down his plate and walked over as well.

"You're finally here!"

"I'm not late, am I?" Lu Zhou looked at his watch and said, "Close, I'm right on time."

Professor Krugman patted Lu Zhou on the shoulder and said, "It's fine, we're happy to wait for you. Let's eat and talk, I'm starving."

Lu Zhou said, "You haven't eaten yet?"

Professor Angus said, "We were waiting for you."

Lu Zhou awkwardly smiled and spoke.

"… You should've eaten first, I don't really mind."

Professor Angus and Professor Krugman became silent and looked at each other.

So what you're saying is…

F*ck sake!

Why didn't you tell us earlier?!

…

The three men carried their plates full of food and sat by the window.

Professor Krugman looked at the empty seat next to Lu Zhou and remembered something, so he took out his phone from his pocket.

"I have to make a call."

Lu Zhou nodded. He was starving, so he reached for the knife and began to crack open the lobster on his plate.

After a while, Professor Krugman returned from his phone call.

Lu Zhou's sister Xiao Tong was walking next to him, the one who flew to Princeton just a few days ago…

"Hi… brother."

Xiao Tong awkwardly waved and sat next to Lu Zhou.

Lu Zhou wasn't surprised, so he smiled and asked, "How's it going? Are you settling in well at Princeton?"

"It's fine…" Xiao Tong scratched her head and said, "Aren't you surprised I'm in Shanghai?"

Lu Zhou smirked.

"Professor Krugman is here, so I'm guessing he probably brought you as well. Let me guess, when you guys landed, did he ask you to call me and ask me to come?"

Xiao Tong's eyes were wide open.

"What? How did you know?"

"Wait a second, you didn't call him?" Krugman looked at Xiao Tong and awkwardly said, "Just to be clear, I didn't ask her to call you to come. I just asked her to call her family and tell them that she's safe."

Lu Zhou: "What's the difference?"

"Okay then." Krugman shrugged and said, "I apologize, I was trying to get you to come, but I swear I wasn't being malicious."

Professor Angus, who was sitting next to Professor Krugman, said, "Professor Krugman is doing this out of kindness. He wants you to witness the impact your research has made on the economics field… Actually, I'm sure you've seen that the Lu Bewley model is now one of the most popular concepts in economics. I wouldn't be surprised if the Nobel Prize Committee considers you for an economics prize."

"It's too early to talk about that, they still owe me a physics prize for the electrostrong interaction. They should give me that first."

Lu Zhou smiled and turned his face to Xiao Tong, who was looking a little anxious.

"How come you didn't tell me you are in Shanghai?"

Xiao Tong sighed and spoke.

"Okay, I'll be honest… I thought you were going to laugh at me."

Lu Zhou said, "That's not being honest, come on now."

Xiao Tong was shocked. Lu Zhou paused for a second and continued, "Actually, you don't have to worry about causing me trouble."

Xiao Tong blinked and spoke.

"What… are you saying?"

Xiao Tong had a flash of astonishment and consternation in her eyes.

It was as if she was caught in a lie.

Lu Zhou said, "Because isn't that what this is about?"

Lu Zhou smiled and sighed.

"Actually, people always want something from me, and I'm responsible for a lot of things. Things like the ILHCRC ceremony, these are all quite troublesome for me…"

In fact, he knew what Xiao Tong was thinking.

On one hand, she wanted to rely on her brother, but on the other hand, she wanted to be independent. She didn't just want to be Lu Zhou's sister; she wanted to be a strong, mature person…

Lu Zhou totally sympathized with his sister.

After all, Lu Zhou was the same; he never wanted to ask anyone else for favors…

Lu Zhou paused for a second and looked at his sister.

"… You're my sister, I'll do anything for you."

Xiao Tong's eyes began to water.

"… Brother."

Lu Zhou looked at Xiao Tong and rubbed her head.

"Don't hide things from me in the future! Remember what I told you when you were doing your undergrad?"

Xiao Tong sniffed and began to choke up.

"What? It's been so long, how am I supposed to remember…"

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "I told you that we're going to win a Nobel Prize in Mathematics."

Professor Angus suddenly said, "There's no mathematics Nobel Prize, only economics!"

"That's right, I agree with Professor Angus," Professor Krugman said as he shook his head. He calmed down and said, "Of course, even though there is no mathematics award, that doesn't mean a mathematician can't win a Nobel Prize… If you continue to do research on the Lu Bewley model, you're going to win a Nobel prize eventually."

Lu Zhou said, "Haha, you're right, there is no mathematics Nobel Prize… I was just kidding."

Lu Zhou looked at Xiao Tong and spoke with a serious look on his face.

"After I left the afternoon report, I thought for a long time.

"My mathematical model was confusing to such a great scholar like Joseph. Even though Joseph was wrong, that must mean there's something wrong with my model as well.

"Thus, I made some improvements to the Lu Bewley model."

Lu Zhou took out the stack of folded A4 papers from his pocket and placed it in Xiao Tong's hands. He said, "These are the draft papers for the improved Lu Bewley model."

Lu Zhou said to Krugman, "Even though it is not as useful as you described, from a mathematical perspective, it is more rigorous and operable."

Professor Krugman and Professor Angus were totally confused. Lu Zhou smiled at Xiao Tong, who was holding the stack of A4 papers, and said, "This time, your brother took more than an hour."

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After handing over the dozen or so pages to Xiao Tong, Lu Zhou left swiftly.

Professor Krugman looked at the stack of A4 papers in Xiao Tong's hand. He hesitated for a while before speaking, "This is a gift from your brother, how you're going to use it, that is up to you.

"You can choose to publish it in your name, or you can do something else with it. I don't want my opinions to influence you, even though I recommend doing the former… After all, your brother doesn't care about his achievements in economics. He wants to help you… Of course, the decision is yours."

Although the academic community had severe penalties for fraud and plagiarism, it wouldn't go as far as to find out who completed the research.

This was similar to unethical supervisors who stole their students' research results. Most people turned a blind eye to these types of things.

Vice versa, if a generous supervisor was willing to donate their research to a student, the academic community would assume that the supervisor had given up ownership of their research.

After all, there were so many scientific researchers in the world; the community didn't have time to verify the origin of each research result.

Rules with loopholes were better than having no rules.

Therefore, if Xiao Tong wanted to publish this as her own paper, regardless of whether or not she had the ability to write a paper like this, as long as Lu Zhou didn't say anything, the academic community would trust that this was Xiao Tong's own work.

Xiao Tong looked at the paper in her hand for a long time. She sighed and looked determined.

"I made up my mind!

"I didn't go into academia to win some Nobel Prize. This is tempting, but… I want to make my own achievements.

"If I received recognition because of the thesis I collaborated on with my brother, I would be happy… But otherwise, it would feel wrong."

She wasn't against the idea of working on a research project with her brother. However, blatantly receiving all of the credit for something she didn't do, wasn't what she wanted.

She wanted to become a scholar that was worthy of being "Professor Lu's co-author". She didn't want to take other people's research results as her own…

She looked down on people who did that.

She knew that she was still very weak, whereas Lu Zhou was strong enough to the point where even scholars like Professor Krugman were intimidated by him…

But she was still young, and she still had unlimited potential!

Xiao Tong looked at her supervisor Professor Krugman and spoke seriously.

"I want to publish this in my brother's name… Can I do that?"

"Certainly can't submit it to a journal, but since we're at an international macroeconomics conference, there are other ways to publish the research, but…" Professor Krugman looked at Xiao Tong with a serious expression and said, "Have you thought about it carefully? This is a result worthy of a Nobel Prize, so I suggest you think this through."

Xiao Tong nodded without hesitating.

"I'm certain."

Even though Professor Krugman was a little sympathetic, he had a look of approval in his eyes.

"I've seen a lot of young and promising scholars in my lifetime, a lot of successful ones, but scholars who have your morals… It's one in a million.

"Maybe one day I should visit your parents and ask them how they educated such an excellent kid. I'm sure they are good people."

"You'll be disappointed. They're just normal people." Xiao Tong smiled brightly and said, "But I love them."

Professor Krugman smiled and said, "A person's value isn't determined by their achievements, but by their heart. You're still young, you'll realize this as you grow older. You should go take some rest, Professor Angus and I are going to finish eating. You don't have to sit here with us old men."

Xiao Tong nodded and left.

Only two people were left.

Professor Angus looked at Professor Krugman. He then poked Krugman's elbow and comforted him.

"That's a good student you have there."

"Yeah…" Professor Krugman nodded and sighed. He said, "Not tempted by a Nobel Prize level research… If I didn't have a Nobel Prize myself, I'm afraid I would have given in to the temptation.

"But this really would have helped her career."

Angus raised his eyebrows. "I'm surprised."

Krugman: "Surprised?"

"Yeah, I can't believe you actually think about things from the perspective of your students. I've heard a lot of rumors about you, the bad kind."

"What kind of rumors?" Krugman said, "Don't think that everyone in my office is my student. It's easy to become my students."

He only accepted some of the "students" in his office to fulfill teaching quotas.

Rumors?

They can say whatever they want.

Who cares?

…

On the way back, Lu Zhou realized that his approach might have been a little inappropriate.

However, he realized that Xiao Tong and him were the same type of people, so he had nothing to worry about.

Improving the Lu Bewley model was his responsibility as a scholar. He gave it to Xiao Tong in hopes of her completing the thesis, but it was also because Xiao Tong was his sister…

Of course, he knew that he was spoiling his sister.

This was a Nobel Prize level research in a field that he didn't care about. Even though he was always a rule-following scholar, there was a part of him that wished Xiao Tong could publish this as her own research…

Lu Zhou returned to his hotel and threw the invitation letter on the desk. He was about to sit at his desk and get some work done, but his stomach began to grumble.

Lu Zhou realized that he didn't eat a lot at the buffet at all…

"Sigh, I was too busy humble bragging, I didn't even finish eating… What a shame."

Lu Zhou looked at the clock on the wall.

It was already half-past nine.

If he went to bed immediately, he wouldn't have to eat. However, it was too early to sleep.

Whatever, f*ck it.

I never gain weight anyway.

Lu Zhou was about to call for room service when his phone suddenly began to rang.

He took out his phone from his pocket and saw it was Chen Yushan calling.

Lu Zhou picked up the phone and spoke.

"Hello?"

Chen Yushan cautiously asked, "Hey, are you free tomorrow?"

Lu Zhou thought about it and said, "I think so, why?"

"Wait at the hotel tomorrow morning! I'll pick you up, you said you would come!"

Before Lu Zhou could reply, Chen Yushan immediately hung up the phone.

When Lu Zhou heard the beeping sound from the phone, he was muddled.

"…?"

Why did she hang up?

So I wouldn't have a chance to refuse?

I wasn't going to refuse regardless!

Lu Zhou was perplexed.

I always keep my word!

But then again, thank god she called me.

I totally forgot about the summit…

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The next day, lecture hall 1.

Professor Krugman walked on stage in a suit. He was holding a stack of papers in his hand.

This seminar was supposed to be done by Xiao Tong, but because she had no experience talking at large conferences, she wouldn't have been able to convey her brother's research results correctly to the economics community.

Actually, it didn't matter who did the report.

Because she had already made up her mind.

Professor Krugman looked at the quiet audience. He then cleared his throat and spoke.

"I'm sure many of you here today had the chance to witness the report yesterday.

"Professor Joseph made a comprehensive analysis of the Lu Bewley model, and even though there were some misunderstandings, those misunderstandings were corrected.

"I have nothing to add in regard to the Lu Bewley model. In fact, I shouldn't be the one standing here; instead, it should've been Professor Lu."

There was a commotion in the crowd.

"What is Professor Krugman talking about?"

"Did Professor Lu do something again?"

"If I recall correctly, this report should be about the application of the Lu Bewley model in macroeconomics."

"Looks like Professor Krugman made a last-minute change and gave up on the paper he was originally planning to publish… Is he planning on presenting Professor Lu's new research?"

Professor Krugman looked at the noisy crowd and cleared his throat, signaling the audience to stop talking.

When the lecture hall became quiet again, he spoke in a clear voice.

"Yesterday afternoon, Professor Lu made some adjustments to his research, and he left us with an improved version of the Lu Bewley model.

"Some people might be doubtful of what he was able to achieve in just one short afternoon. In fact, I was also suspicious…

"Until I read his paper."

A lot of people in the lecture hall looked shocked.

Except for those who were in the lecture hall yesterday, because they knew that Lu Zhou was able to create the Lu Bewley model in just one hour.

Professor Krugman paused for a second and looked at Professor Joseph, who was sitting in the front row. He then looked at the audience and spoke.

"I am about to show you the improved version of the Lu Bewley model.

"Please listen carefully."

…

With his back turned toward the audience, Professor Krugman wrote on the whiteboard with a marker in his hand. He wrote down a detailed summary of the Lu Bewley model to the best of his abilities.

Even though the formulas on the whiteboard were only the tip of the iceberg, many mathematically inclined scholars sitting here could clearly see the improvements Lu Zhou made to the Lu Bewley model.

This was a kind of academic intuition.

It was something accumulated from years of researching macroeconomics.

Professor Joseph was one of them.

He was listening and watching carefully, and he was both surprised and relieved.

He finally believed that Lu Zhou wasn't kidding.

The fact that Lu Zhou was able to do this all in one afternoon proved that his mathematical abilities were far beyond anyone else…

And it wasn't just his mathematics ability.

His ability to apply mathematics to other fields was also unparalleled!

I'm afraid that even John Nash wouldn't have been able to do something like this…

"Mathematics is changing science…" Professor Joseph said as he stared at the formulas on the whiteboard. He smiled and said, "He's the apex predator of scholars…

"He's actually quite humble for how strong he is."

He's not just changing science.

He's redefining science!

He's redefining everyone's understanding of mathematical economics…

Professor Krugman, who was standing on stage, stopped writing.

He looked at the paper in his hand and compared it with the content on the whiteboard. After making sure there were no mistakes, he turned around and faced the audience.

"Does anyone have any questions?"

The audience was dead silent, and no one raised their hand.

Professor Krugman looked at the silent audience and was convinced he made himself very clear.

"Okay then…"

He was about to put down the marker, but someone suddenly raised their hand.

"Wait a second."

Everyone turned their attention toward the young scholar, who blushed with embarrassment as he spoke.

"I don't have a question, but regarding this model… What is its name? It should be different from the original Lu Bewley model, right?"

This was quite a crucial question.

There was a lot of discussion going on in the lecture hall.

Professor Krugman paused for a second.

Lu Zhou didn't give this model a name…

Just like how the original Lu Bewley model was named by other scholars, not Lu Zhou himself.

It seems like Professor Lu isn't enthusiastic about naming economics research results after himself.

Professor Krugman smiled and thought carefully for a while. He cleared his throat and spoke.

"Should we add Joseph to it? After all, Professor Lu himself admitted that he was inspired by Professor Joseph's report—"

Halfway through his sentence, he was interrupted.

"I don't deserve it."

Professor Joseph, who was sitting in the front row of the lecture hall, suddenly stood up and said, "Also, I don't want to be cited as a counterexample of being wrong, I don't deserve to receive credit for this model."

"Oh, that's not what I meant." Professor Krugman hastily said, "This is just to differentiate between the two models."

The old man stared at the whiteboard for a while.

Finally, he spoke.

"I think we can all see that the improved Lu Bewley model has deviated from the framework of the Bewley model.

"This new model is a more flexible, operable economics model.

"Therefore, I propose for it to have a completely new name… The L-Z model."

There was a commotion in the crowd.

The scholars sitting in the lecture hall nodded their heads in agreement.

Some scholars weren't sure of this name, so they began to think about something.

Professor Angus nodded with approval.

Angus said, "It seems like yesterday's event made a huge impact on Joseph… I'm not in the position to make a judgment, but I think Joseph deserves to be commemorated."

Wisl, who was sitting next to Professor Angus, was totally confused.

He couldn't help but ask out of curiosity, "Professor Angus… What happened yesterday?"

"You weren't here?" Professor Angus said, "Oh yeah, you weren't able to come."

Wisl gulped and said, "What happened?"

"Nothing, it's just unfortunate that you missed out on an exciting macroeconomics seminar."

Professor Angus looked at the regretful PhD student as he smiled and said, "It was probably the most exciting seminar of the year."

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948 Shocking the Economics World!

The macroeconomics conference wasn't over yet, neither was Professor Krugman's report. However, Lu Zhou's paper already caused a sensation in the economics world!

Phd students had begun discussing this on Facebook and other economics forums.

[Who is at the Shanghai conference?! Please live stream Professor Krugman's report!]

[L-Z model? F*ck sake! It took me two months to learn the Lu Bewley model, now you're telling me the Lu Bewley model is outdated?!]

[I'm at the report right now, everyone in the lecture hall has gone crazy! Not only will the L-Z model become the most popular research field in macroeconomics, but apparently, the Chinese guy Lu Zhou created the model in one afternoon…]

[Jesus! Some people could achieve more in an afternoon than others could achieve in a week… This world is too cruel.]

One impressive research result wasn't anything special, plenty of great economics research were being done every day. However, being able to create such an impressive research result in one afternoon was a bit scary…

Everyone that heard the news was in disbelief.

One afternoon…

Is he even human?

Of course, other people began discussing this model from a macroeconomics perspective.

The more they dove into the model, the more they began to doubt themselves.

Just like Professor Joseph said at the conference, even though the Lu Bewley model was built on the basis of the Bewley model, it was completely different from the Bewley model.

Not just that, but the L-Z model was more applicable in many cases compared to the Lu Bewley model. From the income savings model to fixed assets and social welfare, the L-Z model was applicable to a range of macroeconomics topics.

In theory, it was applicable!

These applications would have never been done with the Bewley model.

Of course, there were also shortcomings of the L-Z model. Because the flexibility of the model had increased, its difficulty also increased. Anyone that wanted to master this model would have to have a deep understanding of functional analysis and partial differential equations, as well as an economics background.

However, its shortcomings were well worth its functionality.

A famous economics professor at Stanford published a tweet after reading the paper.

[If the Nobel Prize committee considers this for a Nobel Prize, I wouldn't be surprised at all. It is obvious which area of macroeconomics will become popular over the next decade. I am certain that the greatest achievements in macroeconomics over the next decade will be tied to the L-Z model.]

After he published the tweet, he received a ton of likes and retweets from his peers in his field.

Within a day, the L-Z model had shocked the entire economics field.

Right after Professor Krugman's report, a video of his report was uploaded to YouTube.

The video spread like a virus, and its link was being shared on Twitter, Facebook, and other social media platforms.

Lu Zhou had no idea what kind of impact his thesis was making. He didn't even know that the Lu Bewley model was renamed to the L-Z model.

He definitely wouldn't have agreed to this name.

The reason was simple; it was because the L-Z name was already used in other fields!

How are these guys so lazy?

Can't they come up with a more creative name?

Lu Zhou would have preferred a cooler sounding name. Of course, he wasn't arrogant enough to name the model himself, but he would have gladly let others name it for him.

A Maybach parked at the Sheraton hotel entrance.

Lu Zhou yawned as he walked out of the hotel.

Because of the formal occasion, the clothes he wore were much more formal than yesterday. He put on the most expensive suit he packed for the trip.

An expensive car, a beautiful girl… and a handsome guy. Lu Zhou was bound to receive attention.

Lu Zhou, who was still feeling a little sleepy, was surrounded by envious eyes of tourists walking into the hotel. He couldn't help but smirk.

A soft pale hand pushed open the front passenger door of the Maybach as the driver said, "Come on, hurry up."

"What's the hurry…" Lu Zhou walked next to the car and asked, "Where's Mrs. Yang?"

"Oh, my auntie? She's already there. She doesn't want to hang with us young folks." Chen Yushan raised her eyebrows and said, "Hurry up, I'll drive you there."

Lu Zhou was about to get in the car, but he realized a serious problem.

"Wait a second, are you sure about driving? Should I ask my driver…"

Chen Yushan suddenly furrowed her eyebrows.

"Are you doubting my driving skills?"

"No…"

Lu Zhou sweated and looked at Wang Peng as a cry for help.

Wang Peng paused for a second and made eye contact with Lu Zhou.

"Ms. Chen can drive. You'll have more space… I'll follow you guys from behind."

Lu Zhou: "???"

It's a four-seater Maybach, there's plenty of space.

There's only three of us…

Lu Zhou reluctantly sat in the passenger seat.

As Chen Yushan smiled proudly, Lu Zhou coughed and warned her for the sake of his safety.

"I believe in your driving skills, but… Just drive slow."

"Shut up, just put on your seatbelt!" Chen Yushan turned on the engine and stepped on the gas pedal. "Sit tight!"

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Actually, Lu Zhou didn't have to worry at all.

It was impossible to drive fast in a big, traffic-ridden city like Shanghai.

Chen Yushan was feeling a little down because of the traffic, Lu Zhou comforted her and secretly felt relieved.

What surprised him was that he always had the impression that Chen Yushan was a reserved and smart girl. He had never seen the masculine side of her before.

Lu Zhou: "You like cars?"

Chen Yushan contemplated for a bit and answered, "Kind of, but I'm not that into it. Thanks to Star Sky Technology and you, I'm earning more money than I can spend. Forget about buying cars, I can retire if I want to."

She was obviously kidding.

Lu Zhou smiled and spoke.

"You're not projecting, are you? Are you planning on retiring?"

"Of course not." Chen Yushan smiled and said, "I don't work to earn money. Do you do research for academic prizes? Are you going to retire if you win another Nobel Prize?"

Lu Zhou said, "For me, the Nobel Prize is just the beginning, it's not the end-goal."

Chen Yushan: "What happens after the ILHC is built?"

Lu Zhou felt like Chen Yushan was serious, maybe she expected some kind of answer.

However, Lu Zhou had no idea what would happen in the future.

He pondered for a while before answering, "Maybe I'll use the collider to discover something new, I don't know what, but my intuition is always accurate."

"Oh, really?" Chen Yushan smirked and said, "People always want more… We're here."

A uniquely-shaped building caught their attention.

Nearby was the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, which was across from the Bund International Architecture Exhibition. Two huge glass spheres, one big and one small, were sitting on top of a milky white building.

As Lu Zhou looked at the fleet of luxury cars parked in front of the Shanghai International Convention Center, he couldn't help but speak.

"Quite the venue."

This was much more impressive than the ILHCRC unveiling ceremony.

Chen Yushan: "Of course, giant companies and investment banks from all over the world are coming here. If you want people to work with you, you have to show them strength. Not to mention that this conference is backed by the AIIB and Shanghai Cooperation Organisation."

"AIIB and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation?"

"Correct! Apparently, the higher-ups plan on building a new economic region along the transregional power grid in Southeast Asia, thus expanding the market share of Chinese companies."

"So kind of like Silk Road?"

He didn't know a lot about politics.

"Sort of, but there are small differences. Even though we're dominating in the field of controllable fusion and aerospace, we still have to catch up in other areas… Give me a second, let me park the car."

Chen Yushan successfully parked the car in an empty parking space. She couldn't help but flauntingly smirk at Lu Zhou.

Lu Zhou looked at her and didn't know what to say.

There are no cars on either side of the parking space, even I could've parked it…

However, Lu Zhou didn't want to piss her off. He followed her and began walking into the conference center…

…

It was obvious that this summit was sponsored by AIIB and Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.

This summit was unlike any other summit.

Hundreds of people were walking into the conference center, and this was quite an eye-opening experience for Lu Zhou.

The huge convention center made it easy to accommodate all of the participants. Various sample pieces were scattered across the building, including small collider models sent from the Institute of Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. It was like a miniaturized version of the World's Fair.

Contracts on the magnitude of tens of billions of yuan were being negotiated here. These decisions were going to impact the future of the world.

The macroeconomics conference he participated in paled in comparison to this summit.

Lu Zhou and Chen Yushan went their separate ways and planned on meeting up later. An old man in a suit with neatly combed hair walked up to him.

"You're Academician Lu, right? Nice to meet you."

"I am…" Lu Zhou shook hands with the old man and said, "Who are you?"

"AIIB president, Gong Weiqi." The old man handed him a card and said, "This is my business card, just call me Mr. Gong."

President of AIIB!

Lu Zhou took the business card and looked surprised.

He was surprised that Mr. Gong was able to recognize him since he didn't expect the summit organizer to greet him personally.

Lu Zhou composed himself and put away the business card. He smiled at the old man and spoke.

"Unfortunately, I don't have a business card."

The old man smiled and said, "That's fine, Academician Lu, you're a scholar, not a businessman. You don't need a business card for others to remember you. You're the representative of the Chinese academic community. Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to attend this summit! Apologies for not sending you an invitation letter in advance, hope you can forgive us."

"No, it's fine, I just came here to look around."

Lu Zhou was a little embarrassed by the old man's enthusiasm.

He's too polite.

Lu Zhou felt like most of the executives that worked at banks were good at talking with people.

Lu Zhou wondered how Mr. Gong would react if he spoke his mind.

Of course, Lu Zhou would never say that kind of stuff.

After some small talk, President Gong offered to give Lu Zhou a tour of the conference.

Lu Zhou obviously wasn't going to refuse a free tour guide.

Lu Zhou politely accepted President Gong's offer.

The two walked while Lu Zhou asked some questions about the summit as well as the conference center. President Gong answered his questions one by one.

Lu Zhou suddenly noticed an Oriental Pearl TV Tower model standing there.

The tower was about 5 meters tall, made fully from metal.

A few excited Europeans were standing in front of the tower. They fiddled with some kind of measurement instrument and took photos.

"That's the… Oriental Pearl TV Tower?"

Lu Zhou looked at the sign next to the model, then glanced at the staff member standing next to the tower.

Shenyang Machine Tool?

What does the Shenyang Machine Tool have to do with the Oriental Pearl TV Tower?

President Gong knew what Lu Zhou was thinking, so he smiled and spoke.

"Correct, but this isn't just a normal model of the Oriental Pearl TV Tower. It was built precisely to scale, using the latest high-precision five-axis machine tool from Shenyang Machine Tool. Apparently, the processing accuracy is within 0.01μm. I don't know if that is true, but they're the top of the industry!"

Lu Zhou: "And those people are?"

President Gong: "Siemens engineers. A lot of European and North American companies are attending this conference. These internationally renowned industry giants have sent their representatives all the way here."

Lu Zhou: "…"

When Lu Zhou heard the words Siemens, he had an awkward look on his face.

He still remembered that in order to build the space shuttle, Xiao Ai secretly bought two Siemens high-precision five-axis machine tools from Europe…

When the machine tools arrived at the port of Haizhou, the customs staff were horrified, and they immediately reported it to their superiors. After that, somehow Chief Engineer Yang from Shenyang Machine Tool heard about the news and was able to snatch a machine tool for himself.

It seemed like the machine tool was being put to good use.

Shenyang Machine Tool probably reverse-engineered Siemens' high-precision five-axis machine tool and even presented the finished product at the conference center, shocking the Siemens engineers.

The surface finish of the non-ferrous metals on the tower reached a precision rating of Ra0.005μm. Even Mikroturn's top machine tools could barely reach this accuracy.

When did the Chinese machine tools become this nutty?!

This is insane!

The Siemens engineers looked shocked, and Lu Zhou suddenly felt quite bad for them.

They probably didn't realize this tower was created using their own machine tool.

The only thing that Shenyang Machine Tool changed was the control system, which was created by Star Sky Technology to maximize the performance of the machine tool…

Lu Zhou sighed and looked away.

"I guess the student is surpassing the master."

Who cares!

I'm not the one who did the reverse engineering, so it's not my fault.

If Yang Zhongquan isn't embarrassed, why would I be?

President Gong nodded and spoke.

"Yeah, Academician Lu, you're right, our industry is—"

"Let's go somewhere else."

President Gong nodded and spoke.

"Oh, okay…"

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A silver-white egg-shaped capsule was sitting at a booth in the exhibition hall.

This was the X-2 life support system from Space-X, built and improved on the foundation of the original life support system.

After the failure of the Ares program, the cooperation between Space-X and Blue Origin ended. After Amazon threw a bunch of resources into Blue Origin, Musk found a Japanese aerospace technology company based in Tanegashima as a new partner. Thus, the X-2 machine designed for lunar missions was born.

There was no doubt that this was a wise decision.

Because of the failure of the Ares program, it was impossible to initiate a new colonizing mission on Mars in the near future.

Even if the United States Congress agreed, the "New Virginia" incident investigation committee members would protest and cause them trouble.

Therefore, China was the only customer that would pay for technology from Space-X, because China was the only country that wanted to send people to the Moon.

The High-tech Innovation and Investment Summit did not exclude American companies. After receiving an exhibition permit, Musk told his people from Space-X to bring this silver "egg" over, and he even gave it a cute name—Rice Ball—in hopes of winning over the Chinese.

The demonstration unit of the X-2 life support system had limited functionality and was 50% smaller than its true size. However, it was more than enough to use as a display item. People could even open the hatch and climb in to experience what it would be like to sleep on an astronaut's bed.

Unfortunately, this silver egg didn't attract a lot of attention. No one seemed to be interested, no one was climbing inside the egg.

After all, the failure of the Ares program only occurred last year, in which the Chinese had to rescue the colonists and the world even faced a possible bacteria pandemic. Space-X undoubtedly had advanced technology…

But people felt like it was lacking in safety.

That was people's impression of Space-X.

People subconsciously looked down on companies that had past failures.

Elon stood next to his booth, casually talking to some reporters that were interviewing him. Elon looked at the unamused investors walking past his booth. He then casually spoke to the white guy standing next to him.

"You know what? Bobby, my biggest regret in life is not trying harder to convince Professor Lu to stay in Los Angeles when he was at the Los Angeles materials science conference a few years ago…"

Bobby was one of the senior executives at Tesla.

Even though he had nothing to do with Space-X, Musk appointed him as the General Manager of the China region. He was responsible for the Tesla factory in Shanghai, as well as any other Chinese related Space-X projects.

Bobby listened to his boss and glanced at him.

"Was Professor Lu already… researching aerospace back then?"

Elon shook his head and said, "Not yet, he was researching lithium positive electrode materials made of nanospheres. Which was exactly what Tesla needed… or what the entire world needed. That's why I approached him and gave him an offer."

Bobby said, "What was the offered salary?"

Elon smiled and shook his head. "His value can't be measured by salary alone. I could tell something was special about him. I invited him to be my partner, to conquer the automotive industry together… Unfortunately, he rejected my offer."

Bobby knew what Elon meant.

After all, Professor Lu had become the poster child of the electric vehicle industry. Professor Lu obviously didn't want to give up his control and have to work with a partner…

After all, Professor Lu had all of the patents.

Bobby looked at his boss and said, "There's not much we can do. He knows his worth; he's not like those geeky nerds."

"But I think anything is possible." Elon shrugged and said, "Back then, he was just a Princeton professor, maybe he knew the value of his patents, but I don't think he had that kind of insight. If only I offered more Tesla or Space-X shares to him… We could've been the ones having companies begging to work with us."

"I don't like the word beg, we're not begging here… We're just doing normal business operations," Bobby said. "Working with China is beneficial for both sides."

Musk said, "I know, but sometimes, I think what if I could travel back to ten years ago—"

Before he could finish, a familiar voice interrupted him.

"Interesting idea, but you should step out of fantasy land. Even if you give me all of the Space-X shares, I would still refuse."

Elon turned around and squinted his eyes.

"Lu Zhou?"

The person standing next to Lu Zhou was President Gong, which Elon also recognized.

"Hi, Mr. Musk, we meet again…" Lu Zhou smiled and reached out his right hand.

Elon smiled and shook Lu Zhou's hand.

"Yeah, it's been a while. I've always wanted to visit you and tell you that you're a respectable opponent."

"Same here." Lu Zhou looked at the white egg behind Elon and said, "To be honest, your impulsive plans to colonize Mars was quite shocking. We never would have anticipated having to send our astronauts millions of kilometers away on a rescue mission."

Elon had an awkward expression on his face.

"Did you come here just to say that?"

Lu Zhou: "No, I was just passing by."

Elon: "…"

Lu Zhou didn't look like he was joking.

Like he said, he was just passing by.

Being disrespected like this annoyed Elon.

Did he really come all the way here…

Just to insult me?

What a weird kid.

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951 Elon"s Plans

Lu Zhou just planned on walking around the exhibition hall, he didn't expect to bump into his old opponent.

After leaving Elon's booth, Lu Zhou looked at President Gong.

"So Space-X is also at the Summit?"

President Gong smiled and said, "Of course, the Asian market is open to the entire world, we do not discriminate. This is why we are working with more than 90 companies from all over the world."

He suddenly remembered something and spoke.

"I heard that Elon has been doing a lot in Shanghai recently."

Even though Lu Zhou wasn't interested in business matters, he was curious about what the so-called real-life Iron Man was doing.

"Like what?"

President Gong: "They acquired a North American electric vehicle charging station company named EVgo. After the restructuring of EVgo, they moved the headquarters and factory from North America to Shanghai. They plan on rolling out their own electric charging stations in Shanghai. Apparently, the Shanghai authorities are quite happy that the EVgo headquarters and factory are in Shanghai, thus they are receiving support from relevant state departments."

Even though China held a battery standardization conference a few years ago, that didn't mean there was no market share available for charging station companies to take.

After all, the cost of directly replacing a battery was more expensive than charging the battery. And only some gas stations were doing battery replacements. Although battery replacement services were more convenient on long road trips, its functionality in the city was quite limited.

Due to the improvement of charging technology and expanding coverage of charging stations, users could charge at various parking lots that covered residential and commercial areas. This was even more convenient than swapping out a battery!

Elon's plans were apparent.

Lu Zhou gradually realized something.

"… He plans on putting Tesla chargers across Shanghai?"

"Correct." President Gong nodded and said, "More precisely, he plans on building Tesla and another alternative energy vehicle compatible charging stations and selling the electricity produced by our nuclear power plant back to us."

Jesus f*ck, what a creative business idea!

Lu Zhou said, "Would the state agree?"

President Gong smiled and said, "There's nothing illegal about this. Of course, we can break the rules of the game and think outside the box as well, but that might not be a good thing for us."

Lu Zhou contemplated for a while and shook his head.

"Thinking about this hurts my brain…"

I guess academia is more suitable for me!

Even though academia wasn't perfect, the problems were more black and white. All Lu Zhou had to do was focus on academic problems and let other people handle the business side.

But now, he felt like he had almost reached the ceiling of academia.

From the Lunar Orbit Committee to the ILHCRC, it felt like it was becoming more and more difficult to avoid the business side of things.

If he left the business side and only focused on the academic side, a lot of projects wouldn't have been possible.

"Haha, it is quite troublesome, but normal people like me still need something to do. After all, we can't all study nuclear fusion and mathematical conjectures!"

President Gong smiled and changed the topic of conversation.

"Forget about this, Academician Lu, if you're interested, you should go to the High-tech Industry Development Conference later. The state plans on investing 50 billion yuan to support the development of high tech industries. We could use some suggestions from academicians like you."

Lu Zhou shook his head and spoke.

"I've been to enough conferences over the past few days, so no, thanks."

Honestly, he only came here for Chen Yushan.

He was so sick of dealing with the business side of things.

President Gong smiled and said, "Okay then, if you just want to walk around, there are some entrepreneurs who are giving pitches to investors, which you might be interested in."

Lu Zhou: "I'll check it out then."

President Gong smiled and said, "It's getting late, I still have to prepare for a meeting, see you later then."

…

Near the Space-X booth, Bobby curiously Elon asked, "What were you going to say, about going back ten years ago?"

He was curious about what his boss had to say.

Elon looked at Lu Zhou walking away and said, "I would try my best to convince him to work for me, or lobby Congress and let those idiots realize that this person is in control of the future of the United States… Or I'll find a way to get my hands on the fusion and lithium-sulfur battery technology."

Bobby replied, "And go to prison for corporate espionage?"

Elon shrugged and said, "It's just a fantasy."

Bobby sighed and spoke.

"… Okay then."

Space-X was Elon's baby.

Even if Space-X didn't make any money, it was still Elon's most treasured company.

However, despite his efforts into building this company, Space-X was still being defeated by China's aerospace industry.

This kind of defeat would demoralize anyone.

Elon watched Lu Zhou disappear in the crowd. He then turned toward Bobby and whispered in his ear.

Elon looked around and quietly spoke.

"Listen, I don't care what the White House thinks, but we're a business, and making money from other countries is the best thing we can do to help America.

"After the Pangu reactor was built, it is clear that China plans on accelerating the urbanization process. I've discussed this with some of my Chinese politician friends, and there are signs that Beijing wants to build a giant urban city that covers the whole area of Shanghai, Jiangsu Province, Zhejiang Province, and Anhui Province. It will be called the Yangtze River Delta City Group.

"If they succeed, it will become one of mankind's greatest achievements."

Bobby held his breath and spoke.

"That… is scary…"

"This is an opportunity for us, and as long as we provide a service for alternative energy, we'll be able to benefit from this." Elon patted Bobby's shoulder and said, "You got this, I need you to represent Tesla and overtake all of Shanghai's electric charging stations…

"We need a market share of over 80%."

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Lu Zhou walked through the entire exhibition hall.

There was still some time before he had to meet up with Chen Yushan. He remembered the startup pitches President Gong mentioned, so he began walking to the conference room.

The presentations were held in a moderately sized lecture hall on the side of the conference center. Compared to the lively exhibition hall, the lecture hall was more professional and had a serious atmosphere.

When Lu Zhou walked into the conference room, he saw that 80% of the seats were taken. Most of the seats had a sign placed on a table in front of them, stating the name and company of the participant.

Lu Zhou looked around and saw that most of the people sitting here were large investment banks and venture capital executives, and there were also some angel investors.

Not everyone was allowed to pitch their project here.

The projects being presented here were much more sophisticated than the projects pitched to random investors in small meeting rooms.

All of the presenters here were from famous universities; an achievement such as winning a gold medal from the national mathematical modeling competition was nothing out of the ordinary.

Basically, all of the projects had the brains and talent, they just needed money!

Of course, even though these projects were the cherry-picked ones, that didn't mean they were all going to be successful. Even if they received fundings from large international banks such as Softbank, not everyone's company could become Uber.

Lu Zhou didn't care about watching the next unicorn being funded, he was just here for the fun.

He sat down in the venue and took in the ambiance. He suddenly realized that this was similar to the academic conferences he had participated in. One person would present their PowerPoint, the audience would critique it, then the next person would walk onto the stage. However, there was something that felt different.

Lu Zhou felt like he was out of place.

While he was wondering why he felt out of place, a man in a suit sitting next to him was staring at him.

There was nothing weird about this. The man just felt that Lu Zhou looked familiar.

Lu Zhou noticed him and smiled.

"Can I help you?"

The man smiled and reached out his hand.

"Xiang Hongchuan, partner at Zhujiang Venture Capital, you are?"

Lu Zhou shook his hand.

"Just a university professor."

This was an effective tactic.

Lu Zhou could clearly notice that after telling the man he was just a university professor, the man's smile disappeared. The man made some small talk and ended the conversation.

From the man's perspective, Lu Zhou was just a professor coming here to support their student's pitch.

Lu Zhou was glad this guy didn't disturb him any longer. He started to watch the performance on stage.

Correct, this was just entertainment for Lu Zhou.

These students were quite impressive, like President Gong said, the pitches were quite interesting.

Some guy took a drone on stage, and he was very straightforward as he talked about the future market prospects of civilian drones, and how his biggest competitor was DJI.

It was rare for a startup to have a real demonstrable product. Unfortunately, he didn't clearly explain how he planned on taking the market share from DJI, nor did he make a good impression on the venture capital executives.

After the five-minute presentation, the venture capital investors asked some questions, which the presenter wasn't able to answer clearly.

Lu Zhou looked at the depressed young man and couldn't help but think of the Campus Assistant startup he made when he was in university.

Even to this day, plenty of Jin Ling University students were using the timetable software he made.

Should I support this young entrepreneur's dream?

However, the university student on stage didn't give Lu Zhou a chance. He couldn't stand being embarrassed on stage, so he quickly walked away.

…

Twenty minutes went by.

This was Lu Zhou's fifth PowerPoint.

He watched a young guy in his twenties walk on stage with his PowerPoint projected on the curtain behind him.

"Allow me to introduce myself, I am Li Tinghui. I graduated with an electrical engineering degree from Aurora University. I did my master's in electric vehicle charging station design. The idea is to design a convenient and fast charging station. Then I was inspired when I was doing my internship at…"

He only had five minutes of allocated presentation time, yet he spent a minute talking about himself. The investors began to feel impatient.

The guy on stage finally began to talk about his idea, which was a "wireless charging station".

Unfortunately, he missed his chance.

When it came to the venture capital world, they didn't care about the origin story of the entrepreneur. They only cared about the market prospects and potential competitors of the product… More importantly, profitability.

The guy spent a minute talking about nonsense, so his project was doomed from the beginning.

It was obvious that Li Tinghui was a novice in the entrepreneurial field.

As expected, because he used too much time introducing himself, he didn't have time to explain his project in detail at all. He skimmed through most of his 40-page PowerPoint.

But then again, it was his fault for making such a long PowerPoint for a 5-minute presentation.

It wasn't like the investors cared about the charging station design drawings anyway. Not to mention that this guy was only a master's student, once he received funding, they would hire a professional engineering team to design the product.

Was it possible for an entrepreneur to receive funding, purely due to their technology, not their business plan?

It was!

But one would at least have to be in the Changjiang Scholars Program or a professor at a famous university.

Moreover, they would also have to have the relevant technology patents and special support policies from the state.

The partner from Zhujiang Venture Capital, who was sitting next to Lu Zhou, shook his head and whispered to his colleague.

Lu Zhou was the only person who was interested in the PowerPoint, and he even paid attention to the design blueprints on the PowerPoint.

Being able to design a product like this as a master's student was quite impressive. However, Lu Zhou could see some mistakes in the blueprints.

It was true that wireless charging would be a convenient technology.

After all, people would be interested in not having to plug and unplug the charging cable. If they could integrate this technology into parking spaces, it would be perfect.

However…

How does he plan on convincing other electric vehicle companies to implement a wireless charging compatible battery?

Is he going to make a battery himself?

That is ridiculous…

Wait a minute…

Lu Zhou's eyebrows furrowed when he suddenly realized that Zhongshan New Materials, which was owned by Star Sky Technology, had begun producing lithium-sulfur batteries themselves.

He remembered Liu Wanshan from Zhongshan New Materials telling him this when they went hiking.

The staff member standing next to the podium notified Li Tinghui that his time was up.

Li Tinghui ended his speech with, "Our company will use the funding to purchase experimental equipment, and we're looking at 5 million yuan from the first round of investment."

Actually, his original financing goal was 10 million.

However, he knew in his mind that 10 million wasn't possible.

The PowerPoint presentation was over. Now was the time for the Qu0026A session.

Just like he expected, not a single question was being asked.

Li Tinghui had an awkward and bitter expression on his face.

He knew he was going to fail, but he didn't expect the investors to not ask a single question.

The staff member standing nearby knew that the investors weren't interested.

However, the staff member still asked, "Is anyone interested in investing?"

Like he expected, no one spoke.

The staff member gave a look of encouragement to Li Tinghui and was about to ask him to get off the stage. However, a clear voice came from the back row.

"I'm investing."

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The entire conference room was quiet.

Including the person on stage.

"… Your project is interesting, yeah, I think it's good."

Everyone in the conference room was staring at Lu Zhou. Lu Zhou was about to explain why he thought the project was good, but he didn't know what to say.

After a couple of seconds, he cursed in his mind and said, "I think your PowerPoint is interesting, but 5 million is not going to be enough." Lu Zhou then added, "I'll invest 10 million just for starters."

10 million!

There was a huge commotion in the conference room.

For those investors, 10 million wasn't a lot of money, but it wasn't insignificant either.

What confused them the most was how this project was even worth 10 million in the first place?

However, Lu Zhou sat back down without explaining anything. The guy on stage was muddled.

Is this guy going to invest without asking any questions?

Shouldn't he at least ask about the company's current operations?

That will give me a chance to go through my PowerPoint again…

However, Lu Zhou didn't ask any questions.

Li Tinghui couldn't help but wonder if this guy was screwing with him…

10 million for this project?

Whose dumb*ss kid is this?

General Manager Zhang from Changjiang Capital was sitting in the front row. Seeing how someone was willing to invest in this piece of crap, he frowned and looked toward the back.

He then realized that the guy standing up in the back row looked familiar.

Who is that?

He looked at his assistant, who was sitting next to him.

"Xiao Yang, take a look at that guy, I feel like… he looks familiar."

The assistant looked at Lu Zhou for a while. He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and looked surprised.

He obviously felt that Lu Zhou looked familiar as well, but he couldn't recognize him.

However, an image suddenly flashed through his mind, and his eyes widened as he spoke.

"Zhang, Mr. Zhang…"

Manager Zhang immediately said, "You know who that is?"

"He's Lu Zhou! Academician Lu!"

Manager Zhang's hand immediately went up in the air.

"Changjiang Capital is investing!"

However, his reaction was too slow.

He wasn't the only one who recognized Lu Zhou.

"That's Lu Zhou?!"

"F*ck, what is he doing here? I didn't know he's attending this summit? I just heard that the female CEO from Star Sky Technology is coming… Why is Academician Lu here?"

"Charging station… Nuclear fusion… I think I know what is going on."

"Star Sky Technology plans on developing electric chargers! Oh my god, how did I not know about this?"

Three other hands were up in the air.

"Haitian Venture Capital is willing to invest 5 million! 10 million is not going to be enough, you should be targeting China Guodian Corporation! We will help you complete your series A financing! But we want more equity!"

"Manager Yang, if 10 million is not enough, what is 5 million going to do? We're willing to invest 10 million! We just want equity, you'll have total control over the business operations! We can help you finance your series A as well!"

"Yifang Venture Capital is willing to invest 15 million!"

"I want to invest as well!"

The conference room was in chaos.

A second ago, these investment companies thought this project was a piece of garbage. But now, they were fighting over the opportunity to invest.

The host was dumbfounded.

None of the investors were asking questions; instead, they were presenting ideas to the young entrepreneur. Everything from taking the company to public to initial product production.

This was the first time the host had seen something like this.

Not only was the host dumbfounded, but Li Tinghui was also muddled.

At first, no one was planning on investing; no one even asked about the business plan. He was ready to accept failure, but now, the situation had totally changed?!

All of this happened because the person in the back row wanted to invest 10 million.

In the midst of the noisy investors, he was able to finally recognize the man sitting in the back row…

Honestly speaking, Li Tinghui didn't know a lot about Lu Zhou, so he didn't pay attention to the news.

However, he heard his supervisor talk about Lu Zhou a couple of years ago…

Back then, the Pangu reactor hadn't been built yet, and majoring in electrical engineering wasn't nearly as popular. His supervisor was just a normal electrical engineering professor. However, an invitation sent from the Academy of Engineering invited his supervisor on a secret mission to Haizhou…

His supervisor helped build the first controllable nuclear fusion reactor.

Li Tinghui wasn't the only person who was shocked.

The person who was surprised the most was Lu Zhou.

The f*ck, I thought you idiots didn't want to invest?

Why are you trying to steal this from me?

This was the first time Lu Zhou experienced something like this outside of academic conferences…

Actually, this had nothing to do with the technology of the company.

After all, he couldn't come up with a single reason on why this was a good investment. He just thought the kid reminded him of himself, so he decided to throw in some money.

Zhongshan New Materials, which was controlled by Star Sky Technology, had its own battery production business anyway. Zhongshan New Materials worked with many electric vehicle companies and batteries that were downstream in the supply chain. He might even be able to compete against Elon Musk in the Yangtze River Delta City group charging station market.

Xiang Hongchuan, the partner from Zhujiang Venture Capital who was sitting next to Lu Zhou, finally realized what was happening. He politely smiled at Lu Zhou.

There was no chance for a small player like him to grab a piece of the pie.

"Um… Academician Lu, 10 million is quite a big investment, and it's risky. Maybe you should think about diversifying?

"We happen to have some funds, maybe… think about it?"

Lu Zhou: "…"

Should I tell this guy to go f*ck himself?

I guess I'll keep my mouth shut for the sake of my reputation…

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What shocked Lu Zhou wasn't this guy's fake and two-faced personality.

But rather…

Do I look like I need help funding a measly 10 f*cking million?

"Come on, man, think about it. Zhujiang Venture Capital and Shanghai Electric Power Company have worked together before. We're a worthy teammate! We'll get rich together!"

Lu Zhou was amused.

What does the Shanghai Electric Power Company have to do with this?

I own part of the f*cking East Asia Energy.

"Xiang Hongchuan."

"Yeah!" the man said with a smile on his face.

Lu Zhou sighed and said, "Since you're so eager to be on this project, how about I'll let you invest the entire 10 million?"

Xiang Hongchuan's smile disappeared, and he quickly spoke apologetically.

"Oh, sorry, sorry! I misspoke, it's all yours, we'll just wait for the next presenter…"

Investing the entire 10 million on our own?

Forget about it, without Lu Zhou's investment, this project is a piece of garbage.

I wouldn't even invest a million dollars into this project on my own…

Xiang Hongchuan saw Lu Zhou getting annoyed, and he started to get scared.

The big investors in the front row were still fighting over this project. If Lu Zhou lost interest in this project because of him, the big investors would hate Xiang Hongchuan forever.

The opportunity was right in front of Xiang Hongchuan, yet there was nothing he could do. He felt like there were ants crawling all over his body.

However, he suddenly had an idea. He quietly took out his phone and sent a text to his investment assistant.

[Pay attention to public charging station companies in Shanghai, as well as Zhongshan New Materials…

[Buy as much stock as you can!]

…

With more than a dozen companies giving their offers, Li Tinghui contemplated for a bit and chose Lu Zhou in the end.

Honestly speaking, Lu Zhou's offer was the weakest. All he said was "I'm investing". However, Li Tinghui clearly knew that before Lu Zhou gave out his offer, none of the venture capital companies wanted to give him funding.

The actions of these sleazy businessmen made it easy for him to choose Lu Zhou's offer.

After politely declining the financing offers from other companies, Li Tinghui and Lu Zhou signed a letter of intent, settling the matter.

Lu Zhou said that someone from Star Sky Technology would take care of the equity ratios.

Even though the letter of intent wasn't legally binding, Li Tinghui was confident that Lu Zhou wouldn't bail on him.

After all, Lu Zhou was a world-famous academician, and there was no reason for Lu Zhou to hurt Li Tinghui. Also, even if Lu Zhou did bail on him, he would have bragging rights…

He could easily say something like, "I worked with Professor Lu on an electrical engineer project… but it didn't work out."

Just by saying that, he would earn the respect of everyone in the room.

After signing the letter of intent, Lu Zhou was getting bored of the investment pitches. He looked at his watch and saw that he had to meet with Chen Yushan in around ten minutes. Thus, he walked out of the conference room.

Li Tinghui was following Lu Zhou. Lu Zhou suddenly remembered something and spoke.

"Alibaba offered a pretty good financing plan, why didn't you choose them?"

Li Tinghui awkwardly smiled and spoke.

"Because you're my idol, you're the reason I was able to finish my master's! It is an honor working with you, I don't care about the money!"

Lu Zhou: "…"

Bullsh*t!

You didn't even recognize me, now you're claiming to be my superfan?

Lu Zhou thought for a second and spoke.

"You should end your angel round of financing, I advise you to keep your shares. No matter what price other companies are willing to pay, do not sell, especially not to Elon Musk.

"Of course, I'm not asking you to work for free. When it's the right time for series A, it'll be fine to sell some shares, but only to domestic companies. If Elon wants to buy your shares, he'll have to wait for you to go public."

Lu Zhou wasn't usually interested in going public since Star Sky Technology's main business model relied on patents, which didn't need to expand its business by going public. However, it was wise for companies that Star Sky Technology invested in to go public.

Therefore, even though going public wasn't the goal, if the right opportunity came, Lu Zhou wouldn't stop it from going public. It was smart to bring in more partners for this charging station company, as long as they avoided foreign investment.

Li Tinghui nodded like a child and said, "Don't worry! I will never sell out before going public! At most, I'll dilute the stock for financing!"

Lu Zhou nodded.

"That's up to you."

Li Tinghui, who was walking next to Lu Zhou, suddenly realized something strange, so he curiously asked, "Um, Academician Lu, why are you so against… Elon Musk?"

Lu Zhou was too lazy to explain in detail.

"Because he's a terrible guy."

Li Tinghui: "…?"

Lu Zhou suddenly remembered something and spoke.

"Oh yeah, what is your company's name?"

It was like Lu Zhou dropped a bombshell on Li Tinghui.

You're investing 10 million, and you don't know my company's name…

Of course, he didn't say this out loud. He awkwardly smiled and spoke.

"It's called Beep Beep Charging, like the beeping of charging sound."

"Beep Beep Charging?" Lu Zhou cringed and said, "Okay, it's not bad."

Li Tinghui: "Yeah, that's not important, it's just the company's name. If you don't think it's good, we can change it—"

"No, it's fine, the name is good." Lu Zhou waved his hand and said, "Just keep using it."

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Oriental Pearl TV Tower.

At the revolving restaurant on the top floor.

With a waitress following them, two people walked into the restaurant and sat down by the window.

After being at the summit all day, Lu Zhou was starving. He stood up and immediately went to the buffet area.

The food here was quite good for a buffet. It wasn't as good as five-star hotels, but it was decent.

The only thing that Lu Zhou disliked was that the drinks here were charged separately, and the only free drink was water.

The hell is this?

Are they afraid of guests drinking too much and puking in the toilets?

Even though Lu Zhou didn't really care about the money, this still triggered him a little.

After grabbing his food, Lu Zhou walked through the crowd and sat back down. He began shoving his mouth with rice as he looked at the Shanghai skyline.

After chewing for a while, he gave this restaurant an evaluation.

"Ten out of ten for views, four out of ten for food."

Chen Yushan looked at Lu Zhou's serious face and smiled.

"We're here for the view, not the food. It's about the ambiance."

She gently spooned a bite of ice cream into her mouth. Her eyes suddenly lit up when she tasted the sweetness.

"Wow! The ice cream here is amazing!"

Lu Zhou looked at the ice cream and said, "It's just normal ice cream."

He noticed the ice cream when he was getting his food. It didn't look particularly desirable. He even wondered if the restaurant wanted the guests to melt the ice cream and use that as a drink since the restaurant was too cheap to offer real drinks…

Chen Yushan pouted and disagreed.

"No! It's great, do you want some? I'll feed it to you."

"What?"

Before Lu Zhou could react, a plastic spoon flew into his mouth…

Honestly speaking, the sweet and cold sensation in his mouth felt pretty good, but he was too shocked to appreciate the taste…

Chen Yushan mischievously smiled and said, "How is it? It's great, right?"

Lu Zhou covered his mouth and looked to be in pain as he said, "You stabbed my teeth."

"Oh, sorry… I'll rub it for you."

Chen Yushan was about to reach over, but Lu Zhou quickly stopped her.

"No, no, it's fine."

Even though his tooth was slightly aching, that didn't affect Lu Zhou's dining experience. His mouth felt a little painful at first, but he soon felt better.

Watching the night view outside while eating was quite enjoyable.

When Lu Zhou was halfway done with his meal, he still felt bitter about this buffet not serving drinks.

"The food here is average, it just went from a four to a three."

Seeing how Lu Zhou was still being serious, Chen Yushan said, "Okay, okay, stop talking about the food, this is just a tourist attraction… Speaking of which, why are you only eating the fried rice?"

"I'm not, I always eat fried rice at buffets." Lu Zhou began to talk about his buffet research findings. "Ok, basically, if a buffet has good fried rice, it is a good buffet."

Chen Yushan said, "What kind of logic is that?"

"It's science, it's like that saying, 'you're only as good as your worst work', and fried rice is usually the worst dish… The food here isn't as good as Xinrui or Sheraton."

"Xinrui?" Chen Yushan blinked and said, "When did you go to Xinrui? I've never heard you talk about it."

Lu Zhou wiped his mouth with a napkin and said, "Oh yeah, I went there yesterday for this macroeconomics conference."

Chen Yushan's eyes widened as she asked, "You're doing research in economics?"

Lu Zhou: "Actually, I'm not doing research, Xiao Tong is. She just needs some help in mathematics."

But then again, isn't Krugman supposed to help Xiao Tong himself?

Whatever, it only took me a couple of hours anyway.

"Oh, Xiao Tong…" Chen Yushan looked outside the window and said, "I wonder if she's doing well in Princeton. It's quite lonely there."

Lu Zhou said, "She's doing great, she's like me, able to thrive in any environment. She's not that kind of spoiled basic girl."

Chen Yushan smiled and said, "Oh… I thought that with a brother like you, she would be quite spoiled by you."

Lu Zhou sighed and said, "She used to be. I used to pick her up in the rain, but now, she's all grown up…"

"Does that make you sad?"

"Not really, just nostalgic."

Lu Zhou suddenly remembered something, so he spoke.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you, I went to watch the startup pitches this afternoon. I saw a pretty good project, so I invested in it."

Chen Yushan: "What project?"

Lu Zhou: "It's called Beep Beep Charging, it does electric vehicle charging stations."

"Pft…" Chen Yushan couldn't help but chuckle. "What kind of name is that?"

"It's supposed to be a wireless charging station, you know what this means, right?"

"Sounds interesting, how much did you invest?"

"It was just an angel round, not much, just 10 million."

"Not much…" Chen Yushan sighed and said, "Next time, at least tell me before you make a big investment."

Big investment? How is this big?

Lu Zhou was confused.

Chen Yushan sighed and said, "Regardless of how well Star Sky Technology is doing, 10 million is still quite a big number. We're a business, not a charity. How do you know they're not going to waste your money?"

Lu Zhou: "Don't worry, the kid looked quite reliable."

Chen Yushan sighed and said, "It's not about being reliable. Charging stations is part of my plan, but it's not suitable for a startup. I would've preferred to acquire a more mature business, then we could help expand more easily… But startups have their advantages, it's more flexible…"

When it came to talking about business, it was like Chen Yushan turned into a completely different person. She tapped her finger on the table and looked like she was the leader of a country.

But then again, she was the CEO of a huge company…

Chen Yushan suddenly realized something and spoke.

"Oh yeah, what was the wireless charging station about?"

Lu Zhou: "According to the founder, he plans on building charging stations directly into car parking spaces… Basically, it means the car parking space will be one big wireless charger."

Chen Yushan: "Does that mean the battery will have to be modified?"

Lu Zhou thought about it and said, "Or you could put a receiver in the battery."

Chen Yushan: "Sounds interesting… Is it feasible?"

Lu Zhou: "I think it's quite easy to do, but that's just my opinion… I'll ask some people from the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study. I think there are some experts in this area."

Chen Yushan: "Okay then, as long as you think it'll work. I'll send someone for the financing negotiations. But we have to invest in electricity, whether it's buying startups or acquiring mature businesses. And not just charging stations, everything else as well!"

Lu Zhou: "Everything else?"

"Yeah!" Chen Yushan confidently said, "Whoever masters electricity will master the future!"

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Chapter 956 A Couple Billion?

The ILHCRC unveiling ceremony and the department meetings were over. However, Luo Wenxuan was forced to stay in Shanghai and attend a certain number of meetings each month. Lu Zhou's work with the ILHCRC was finally over, for now.

As for the High-Tech Innovation and Investment Summit…

He was just there to look around, he didn't expect to invest in anything. The financing side of Beep Beep Charging would be taken over by Star Sky Technology. Lu Zhou was too lazy to care about the business side, so he handed it over to Chen Yushan.

His fifth day in Shanghai.

On the first Monday in March, Lu Zhou checked out of his hotel room and went outside the hotel entrance while holding his computer bag.

The rest of his luggage was already in the car, thanks to Wang Peng.

When he opened the car door, his phone in his pocket began to ring.

"Give me a second."

Lu Zhou threw the computer bag in the car and took out his phone. He answered the call and heard Chen Yushan's voice.

"I saw your friends' news feed, you plan on going back to Jinling?"

Chen Yushan obviously didn't expect him to leave so soon.

"Yeah, I'm already in the car, I'm getting on the train in two hours."

"Why are you in such a rush?" Chen Yushan said in a saddened voice. She continued, "You're always stuck indoors, I was going to take you shopping."

Lu Zhou: "There's nothing to shop for, I feel like every big city is the same. Plus I can't just waste my time in Shanghai, I have a lot to do when I get back."

Even though he was done with the ILHCRC, he still had a lot of scientific research to do.

He especially had to research Riemann's hypothesis, it was already March, only five months left until the International Congress of Mathematicians in St. Petersburg.

Even though he had seen some success from his research, he didn't know how far he was from the finish line.

This type of situation was quite unusual for him. Normally, once he found a possible proof pathway, he would enter a positive feedback loop and solve the problem soon after.

If everything went well and there was nothing else he needed to do in Jinling, he planned on going on a research retreat.

The kind of retreat that was measured in months.

"What do you mean!" Chen Yushan was annoyed at Lu Zhou's attitude, and she angrily said, "Does Jinling have a Disney World? No! Does Jinling have an Expo Exhibition Center? No! There's so much to do at The Bund."

Disney World…

Lu Zhou didn't know what to say.

"Disney… is for kids."

The other end of the phone went silent.

After a couple of seconds, she sighed.

"Oh my god, you haven't changed at all."

Lu Zhou didn't know what she meant.

"… What do you mean?"

"You're the kind of person who goes on a movie date and buys two different movie tickets!"

After that, she hung up the phone.

Lu Zhou: "…"

Did I say something wrong?

But she doesn't sound too angry…

Lu Zhou shook his head and put his phone back into his pocket.

Screw it, who cares.

…

While Lu Zhou was returning to Jinling from Shanghai, the Shanghai financial world was going through a volatile time.

News broke out that Academician Lu invested 10 million into a startup at the high-tech summit. The startup specialized in wireless vehicle charging stations.

Then it was reported that all of the major investment banks and venture capital funds were fighting at the scene, trying to invest as well.

After all, Star Sky Technology wasn't public, so investors couldn't invest in it. However, investors saw an opportunity.

Even though Star Sky Technology wasn't public, the other venture capital companies at the summit were public!

This charging station company, backed by Star Sky Technology, was bound to receive more financing eventually. And who were they going to get funded by? The investment and venture capital funds!

In their eyes, Beep Beep Charging was definitely going public eventually!

As long as Star Sky Technology wanted to take this company public, the China Securities Regulatory Commission would bend over backward for them!

The only difference was whether they were going to invest in Beep Beep Charging in the form of A-shares or H-shares!

While the discussion was brewing, Zhujiang Industrial, the parent company of Zhujiang Venture Capital, suddenly released an announcement through the CSRC, stating that it had no plans on entering the charging station industry, and it was not involved in the financing of Beep Beep Charging, nor did it conduct any form of insider trading…

As soon as this announcement came out, the investors instantly froze.

Most people didn't care about this company, but this announcement was a little suspicious.

If you're really not involved, why would you make that announcement?

No one is talking about you anyway…

Unless…

You guys are guilty! Maybe I should invest in Zhujiang Industrial, since they're financing a company that is backed by Lu Zhou himself!

At nine-thirty in the morning, the stock market opened. The Zhujiang Industrial stock price rose to crazy high amounts, hitting the daily limit.

The investors who were watching the market realized what was going on. They didn't want to be left out, so they began entering crazy high bids.

And it wasn't just Zhujiang Industrial, any venture capital company that went to the summit had their stock prices rise to the moon.

In addition to these venture capital companies, many people had invested in Zhongshan New Materials, which was controlled by Star Sky Technology.

This showed that investors were illogical creatures, despite every reason for them not to be.

Regardless of whether or not there was conclusive evidence, the trades pushed the price of Zhongshan New Materials to its daily trading limit.

Liu Wanshan, who just woke up, had no idea why his market cap had increased by hundreds of millions of yuan. After asking around, he realized this was all because of Lu Zhou.

This crazy volatile investing period lasted for a full week.

People joked that Professor Lu raised his hand and was able to create billions of market cap value out of thin air.

Even though this wasn't Lu Zhou's personal doings, he still left behind a legend in the financial industry…

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957 Win a Gold Medal First!

The news of Star Sky Technology investing in Beep Beep Charging affected more than just the financial industry, the electric energy and charging station industry also caught wind of the news.

Almost as soon as the stock price for several venture capital companies rose to the sky, Bobby found Elon, who was representing Space-X at the summit.

"Sir, Star Sky Technology seems to have acquired a charging station company called Beep Beep Charging. They plan on competing against us."

Elon: "…"

As he squeezed the glass in his hand tightly, he could feel his blood pressure going up.

F*ck sake!

Does this f*cking guy want to go to war with me?

First lithium-sulfur batteries, then aerospace, I mean, he has a total monopoly on lunar transfer orbit launches.

Now he plans on competing with me on charging stations for the Yangtze River Delta City group?

Is this guy obsessed with me?

Elon took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down. He let go of the glass in his hand and slowly said, "I don't care… Just follow our plan.

"Tesla's brand image means we'll have an advantage. Star Sky Technology has the rights to the patents, which is quite annoying, but charging stations are different from lithium-sulfur batteries. This is our playground, not theirs!"

Elon knew that Star Sky Technology was a powerful company, and the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study had good research and development capabilities. However, that didn't mean he was going to lose to them in the field of electric vehicle charging stations!

Charging stations didn't require any highly advanced technology; there were only two relevant factors—area coverage and compatibility! There was no reason for them to lose the battle.

Why do I feel like Elon is always overly optimistic?

Bobby agreed with Elon, but he still said truthfully, "True, but according to my investigation, they're planning on integrating wireless charging stations… Maybe they're not a concern, but I have to say we should pay attention to them."

"Wireless charging stations?"

Elon sneered and had a disapproving look on his face.

"Lu Zhou is an excellent scholar, but I have to say he has no idea what he is doing. Even if wireless charging technology catches up in charging speed, it will require the battery manufacturers' cooperation. This means they'll have to change the entire electric vehicle supply chain! What a joke."

Do you know how many car manufacturers there are?

How many battery manufacturers?

Charging stations are just an accessory for new electric vehicles, so a good charging station company should install more interfaces to be compatible with different car manufacturers.

But you want other car manufacturers to comply with your standards?

Not to mention that you're not even in the automobile industry? Why would anyone listen to you?

Forget about foreign cars, Tesla will never cooperate with you!

Elon slowly smirked.

Good!

If Lu Zhou wants to go to war on charging stations, then we'll go to war… I'm confident I'll teach him a lesson.

…

If Lu Zhou was next to Elon, he wouldn't know whether to laugh or cry, because Elon totally misinterpreted his plan.

However, Elon's idea irritated him. After all, letting a foreign guy come to China and sell China's electricity back to the Chinese people was a little unacceptable…

But honestly, Lu Zhou never viewed Elon as a serious opponent.

Lu Zhou was on the high-speed rail back to Jinling, and he used this free time to go through his notes on Riemann's hypothesis. Suddenly, he received an email on his computer.

The email sender's address was unfamiliar, but the content was oddly familiar…

[Sir! I passed the first selection round, I'm in the national reserve team!]

Without looking at the name, Lu Zhou already knew this email was from Li Mo. He guessed that Li Mo probably found his email from the Jin Ling University website.

He would often receive emails from students that asked to study a master's or PhD under him.

Lu Zhou looked at the email and smiled.

Getting in the national reserve team is nothing to brag about, the second round of selection hasn't even begun. Only six people make it to the international stage.

And a gold medal…

Is not easy.

Anyone in the national reserve team, regardless of whether they made the IMO team, would easily be able to get into Yan University or Shuimu University.

For most people, this was quite an impressive achievement.

However, having said that, this type of achievement was nothing worthy to be bragged about. Mathematics was about patience and tenacity, and arrogance was its worst enemy.

If this guy can stay humble, he might be able to make something of himself.

Lu Zhou put down his pen and began typing a reply on his laptop.

[Come brag to me when you have a gold medal!]

This kid needs a better character!

Ten minutes later, the business class crew members reminded the passengers that their trip would soon come to an end. Lu Zhou put away his computer and notes on Riemann's hypothesis, then got off the train with Wang Peng.

After getting into the car, Wang Peng suddenly received a phone call. After hanging up, he turned toward Lu Zhou, who was sitting in the backseat, and said, "The higher-ups want me to ask you if you're going to the International Congress of Mathematicians?"

Lu Zhou: "I haven't decided, why?"

Wang Peng said, "Normally speaking, when an important person attends an international event, we have to coordinate with the security department of the foreign country and make sure the security is foolproof."

Lu Zhou said, "Is it that serious?"

Even though he knew he was an important figure, he didn't expect the state to prepare security months in advance just for him to attend an academic conference.

Wang Peng shook his head and said, "This is serious, so we have to take all necessary preventative measures. After all, you know how the current international situation is. It's better to be safe than sorry."

Lu Zhou looked at the notes in his hand and contemplated it for a while.

"If I do end up going, how soon do I need to tell you?"

"At least a week in advance, but I suggest two months."

Lu Zhou nodded.

"Okay, I'll give you an answer by June."

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It had been two days since Lu Zhou returned from Shanghai.

At his Zhongshan International mansion.

Lu Zhou was in his study room on the second floor. He was reading his research draft papers when he suddenly saw a video call pop up on his laptop.

When Lu Zhou noticed that Xiao Tong was the one calling, he clicked with his mouse and accepted the call.

Soon after, an excited and bubbly face appeared on his screen.

"Brother, you're popping off!"

Lu Zhou didn't know what was so exciting, so he paused for a second and spoke.

"I… What?"

Xiao Tong: "Remember that thesis you gave me a few days ago? Professor Krugman did a report for you. Now the entire economics world is researching your L-Z model! Your model is trending on Twitter!"

Lu Zhou: "L… Z?"

Xiao Tong excitedly said, "Yeah! Professor Joseph named it himself!"

Lu Zhou: "…"

F*ck sake!

These economists really are horrible at naming things.

I wasn't expecting this…

Lu Zhou coughed and said, "This is what you're excited about?"

"What is that supposed to mean? This is amazing! Also," Xiao Tong crossed her legs and said with a mysterious face, "apparently, someone sent a recommendation letter to the Nobel committee, so you might win a Nobel Prize in economics!"

Seeing how ecstatic Xiao Tong was, Lu Zhou smiled and said, "Lil Sis, you should focus on your own studies… I would rather win a Nobel Prize in Physics than one in economics. But then again, it's not that easy winning two Nobel Prizes."

Xiao Tong pouted and said, "Oh, sorry, I'm sorry for caring about you."

Lu Zhou said, "Okay, fine, go do your own thing. I'm busy, I don't have so much free time like you."

Xiao Tong frowned and said, "I don't have any free time! I'm busy as well! I just got back to Princeton, and Professor Krugman gave me a bunch of tasks! I have to read two papers a day and write a bunch of notes… I've been in school for less than two weeks! This is horrible!"

Lu Zhou was amused, and he said, "I'll introduce you to some of my students. After looking at their workload, you'll never complain again."

Your supervisor assigning you tasks means they're interested in teaching you. Would you prefer him to assign you brainless and repetitive work?

It seemed like Professor Krugman was quite serious about educating and cultivating Xiao Tong. Lu Zhou would never forget that.

After some small talk, Lu Zhou hung up the video call and placed his attention back onto his thesis.

As he looked at the densely packed equations, he felt a headache and sighed heavily.

"I won't be able to finish before June…

"Sigh, if only Riemann's hypothesis is as simple as the L-Z model."

I was looking forward to the conference at St. Petersburg.

Lu Zhou already chose to do a 60-minute report on Riemann's hypothesis. If he wasn't able to present any meaningful research for his report, the mathematics community would still respect him, but he wouldn't be able to respect himself.

Lu Zhou shook his head and placed his attention back on solving this century-old mathematics problem…

…

While Lu Zhou was busy researching mathematics, Li Tinghui, who was all the way in Star Sky Technology's Shanghai office, received the first financing contract of his life.

However, he didn't love the contract…

He finished reading the contract from beginning to end. He reluctantly looked at the female CEO sitting across from him.

"Sixty percent… Isn't that a bit high?"

Very few startups would give up sixty percent of the equity in their angel financing round, even thirty percent was unusually high.

Signing this contract meant that he would lose his majority shareholder status and give control of his company to Star Sky Technology. Not just that, but this would hugely impact his future financing rounds.

No venture capital firm would invest in a startup whose founders had lost control of their own company. Unless Star Sky Technology had no plans on future financing rounds.

Chen Yushan gave a curt reply to Li Tinghui's question.

"I think this is the most appropriate arrangement. We will not negotiate."

Li Tinghui said, "But Beep Beep Charging has an independent research and development team…"

Chen Yushan took a sip of tea and spoke.

"Oh, really? How does it compare to the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study?"

Li Tinghui was intimidated by the CEO, so he had nothing to say.

Chen Yushan tapped her finger on the desk and spoke.

"I don't agree with Academician Lu's opinion. He's not a good businessman. In my opinion, this is straight-up a charity."

The guy looked around nervously as she continued, "We can do the research and development on wireless charging station technology ourselves. Our relationship with the Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang states are good. We can totally do this on our own."

Chen Yushan smiled and said in a serious way, "What do you think? Want to come work for Star Sky Technology for half a million yuan a year?"

Chen Yushan's charming smile was layered with a hint of devilish gaze.

Li Tinghui knew that this wasn't charity; however, he didn't expect her proposal to be so aggressive.

"Oh, Ms. Chen…"

Li Tinghui took a deep breath and hesitated before finally signing his name.

He had no other choice.

Even though the sacrifice was huge.

The resources from Star Sky Technology were too good to refuse.

Whether it was their connections with the state or their research and development power, like Ms. Chen said, Star Sky Technology could easily create their own wireless charging company themselves.

I knew it…

I'm in no position to negotiate.

As Chen Yushan watched Li Tinghui sign his name, she nodded with approval.

"Good, the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study will set up an independent research institute on wireless charging stations. Arrange for your research team to move to Jinling. As for the people that don't want to reallocate, fire them.

"As for you, I need you to stay in Shanghai. Move your management team from the small suburban office to the city center."

"But—"

Before he could finish, Chen Yushan said, "This is your problem, I'm only responsible for giving you the necessary resources. Moving your offices next to ours is beneficial for you."

This woman is the devil…

Li Tinghui sighed heavily and nodded. He carefully put away the contract and left the office.

He hoped that his decision was correct.

He hoped that he wouldn't regret this someday…

Chen Yushan smiled and shook his head.

He's too naive.

Star Sky Technology had the capabilities to start a charging station division, but being capable didn't mean they were willing.

If Li Tinghui did his homework, he would've found out that Star Sky Technology's main business model was patent management. They had more important things to take care of such as the space shuttle assembly center; they didn't have time to deploy some wireless charging stations in the Yangtze River Delta city group.

Therefore, acquiring a charging station company was their best option.

This was the same reason why Star Sky Technology didn't produce electric cars or lithium-sulfur batteries. Why would they take on unnecessary risk when they could just sit back and collect patent fees?

She totally lied about "disagreeing with Academician Lu", and "can start a wireless charging station company on our own".

Of course, even if Li Tinghui realized this, he had no other option.

After all, the resources of Star Sky Technology was precisely what he needed. On the other hand, Star Sky Technology didn't need them.

"Sigh, I want to go back to the head office… The traffic and air qualities here are much worse than Jinling."

Chen Yushan tidied up the documents on the conference table and stretched her arms. She then rested her head on the table.

She sighed and quietly whispered, "That b*stard, he didn't even call me when he arrived.

"He's probably on another retreat again.

"He's going to live with mathematics for the rest of his life!"

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In fact, Chen Yushan was wrong this time.

After Lu Zhou returned to Jinling, he did plan on going on another retreat, and he didn't want to leave his house until he solved Riemann's hypothesis. However, he had too much responsibility.

Yang Xu, the director of the Institute of Computational Materials, called him for help.

He called about the lithium-air battery project, which was established a couple of years ago.

Lu Zhou was quite surprised. Up until the end of last year, the reports from the Institute of Computational Materials showed that they had been making significant progress in the research of lithium-air batteries.

However, it seemed like everything was going downhill this year?

Wang Peng drove Lu Zhou to the Institute for Advanced Study, and the second Lu Zhou stepped into the laboratory, Yang Xu grabbed his arm and cried for help.

"Please help me! I can't… do this anymore!"

"Shut up, speak properly. I'm here. It's not like you're on your deathbed, tell me what's wrong, I'll see if I can help…"

Lu Zhou was shocked at Yang Xu's mental state.

After becoming the director of the Institute of Computational Materials, he had led many successful projects and solved many materials science research problems.

It wasn't unusual for a guy like him, who was at the cutting-edge of scientific research, to encounter difficult problems, but this time felt different…

Honestly, Lu Zhou was curious as to what kind of problem could torment this guy to this level.

Yang Xu: "Remember that porous silicon molecular exchange membrane I mentioned in the research progress report a while back?"

Lu Zhou thought back to the report and nodded.

"I think so."

Yang Xu sighed and said, "Well, according to our experimental analysis, we found that when this kind of porous silicon material is placed under a certain pressure difference, the gas molecules on the high-pressure side slowly transport molecules of a specific diameter to the low-pressure side. Our project team immediately followed up on this research and made an exchange membrane capable of screening gas molecules in the 3.4-3.5A diameter range."

Lu Zhou: "Isn't that a good thing?"

The diameter of the oxygen molecule was 3.46A, which happened to be within this range. Even though argon gas molecules had a diameter of 3.4A, which was also within the screening range, argon was rarely found in nature, so it didn't have a significant effect.

"It's not good at all." Yang Xu frowned and shook his head. He then said, "The upper and lower boundaries of the screening range aren't fixed; they change with pressure… Do you see what I'm trying to say?"

Lu Zhou had an expression of realization.

"Oh, I see, I see where the problem is."

Basically, this porous silicon-based molecular exchange membrane was like a flexible fishing net. When the fishing net expanded, so did the fishing net holes…

Therefore, the only solution was to maintain constant air pressure on both sides, to ensure only oxygen molecules could pass through the membrane…

But that was obviously impossible.

Yang Xu made it clear that the screening range changed linearly with the pressure difference between the two sides.

Forget about the technical costs of maintaining air pressure to such a precise level, from a safety point of view, it was dangerous to allow a redox reaction to happen in unstable oxygen levels.

Lithium metal was no joke, it could spontaneously explode at any time!

If there was any amount of contamination, they would have a bomb on their hands.

"We've been stuck here for half a year." Yang Xu shook his head and said, "We tried everything we could."

Lu Zhou thought for a second and said, "Do you have any simulations? Let me see."

"Follow me."

Yang Xu walked next to a computer and clicked the mouse. Soon after, a three-dimensional composition image of a silicon-based molecular exchange membrane with a porous network structure was presented on the screen in front of Lu Zhou.

Yang Xu pointed at the picture on the screen and spoke.

"We've tried to increase the surface pressure on one side of the exchange membrane, which causes molecules of a certain diameter to pass through the molecular exchange membrane at a constant rate…"

Yang Xu clicked on the mouse again.

Green and red dots appeared on the sides of the molecular exchange membrane, and they began to gather toward the surface of the membrane.

"… When the surface pressure of the membrane reaches level A, oxygen molecules begin to move through the molecular exchange membrane, to the lithium-air battery gas exchange chamber. But when the surface pressure continues to increase, which increases the pressure difference, nitrogen will also start to pass through the exchange membrane…

"However, while the pressure difference changes from A to B, a significant amount of nitrogen molecules have already slowly penetrated through the membrane."

The red dots on the screen, which represented nitrogen molecules, had gone through the exchange membrane, making contact with the lithium anode.

Lu Zhou looked at Yang Xu's software demonstration and had a dignified look on his face.

After the demonstration, Yang Xu sighed and sat in the computer chair.

"We have found solutions for water molecules, carbon dioxide, and even carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide molecules. But nitrogen… is too tricky. They're like a bunch of flies, they're impossible to catch."

Even though nitrogen could be used as a protective gas in most situations, such as the food industry, it wasn't applicable to lithium-air batteries. Mainly because the nitrogen would react with lithium, forming Li3N.

If the nitrogen gas penetrated into the circulation system of the lithium-air battery, the entire battery would be destroyed within a few cycles.

The reason why lithium-air batteries were so difficult to produce was that lithium was highly reactive. The amount of impurities that needed to be eliminated was extremely high.

Back in the day, IBM's famous Almaden laboratory tried to research lithium-air batteries. They even used some kind of distributed computing technology, positioning each oxygen atom precisely into the lithium anode…

The final result was obvious. They failed miserably.

Even the wealthy and powerful IBM had to cut off this money-burning project.

Even though the Institute of Computational Materials had found some amount of success with their research, if they couldn't get rid of the impurities in the gas, their research would become totally useless.

Before asking Lu Zhou for help, Yang Xu and his lithium-air battery project team were stuck at this bottleneck for half a year. They hadn't been able to make any progress.

Yang Xu knew that if he couldn't solve this problem himself, no one else in the Institute for Advanced Study could, except the father of computational materials science—Professor Lu.

However, even though Lu Zhou was confident in his own abilities, he wasn't able to find a solution.

He pondered for a long time and said, "I'll take a look. If I find anything, I'll tell you."

Seeing how even Lu Zhou wasn't able to think of a solution, Yang Xu gradually lost hope.

"… Thank you."

Worse came to worst, he would have to give up on this technical route and begin researching other directions.

Lu Zhou didn't realize how hopeless Yang Xu was, so he awkwardly smiled and spoke.

"You're welcome…"

This research project could be worth billions, or even trillions!

I'm not interested in money, but this research project is valuable. It's worth a try…

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960 Clues on the Debris!

Lu Zhou returned to his Zhongshan International mansion, carrying the hopes of the lithium-air battery research team on his shoulders.

However, when he was about to show off his talents, he realized a serious problem…

This thing was not easy to solve.

In fact, it was much more difficult than he had originally thought.

Lu Zhou looked at the computer on his desk while staring at the model he retrieved from the institute database. His right hand held a pen motionlessly.

After a while, he sighed and put down the pen.

"Gas molecular exchange membrane…

"This is some high-tech stuff."

This technology would be valuable even if it wasn't applied to lithium-air batteries and only used to purify gas. So far, the most advanced gas purification technology was pressure swing adsorption, but its extraction efficiency and purity were far from perfect…

Lu Zhou stood up and walked next to his bookshelf. He gently pulled a book sitting on the left side of the second row.

After a click sound, the drawer underneath the bookshelf moved slightly. Lu Zhou opened the drawer and took out a metal tube, which was around the size of a double-A battery.

Precisely speaking, this metal tube was destroyed by an unknown object.

The middle section of the metal tube was broken, and the battery was slightly bent. Other than the positive sign and negative sign markings, no other information could be seen on the battery.

As Lu Zhou gently rubbed the battery with his thumb, he had a thoughtful expression on his face.

"The answer should be inside this thing…"

This was his first debris.

The data scanned from the scanner gun was stored together with Xiao Ai inside the high-tech quantum computer.

However, even with the help of the scanner gun, it was quite difficult to completely restore the original state of the debris.

So far, the only technology he had recovered from this battery was the polymer material that solved the lithium dendrites problem, nothing related to the lithium-air battery.

In his opinion, if he himself couldn't solve the problem of lithium-air batteries, no one in the world could either.

"If only the molecular exchange membrane is still intact, even just a little bit…" Lu Zhou said as he stared at the broken battery.

Even if a little bit of the membrane survived, he could use the scanner gun to retrieve its composition. He might not be able to copy the design, but at least it would give him a point of reference.

But the problem was that…

"Wait a second…"

Lu Zhou stared at the battery, and suddenly, a light bulb went off in his head.

He immediately sat down at his computer and spoke.

"Xiao Ai, retrieve the scan information for Debris No.1 from the database!"

[Okay, Master! (๑•̀ᄇ•́)و]

A three-dimensional model soon appeared on Lu Zhou's computer screen.

He stared at the scanned image of Debris No.1 on his screen. Despite having seen this model many times in the past, he still couldn't help but feel amazed.

Because of his increased engineering level, he found a new level of appreciation for the advanced engineering design that went into this battery.

"This is incredible."

As Lu Zhou stared at the delicate structure between the gas exchange chamber and the anode material, he couldn't help but sigh.

A layer of molecular exchange membrane was placed between the gas exchange chamber and the gas inlet. The gas exchange chamber was filled with a high concentration of oxygen, and a layer of polymer material was then used to completely cover the lithium anode. Using a special method, pure oxygen molecules were transported to the negative electrode…

Star Sky Technology could recreate part of this design.

Of course, that was assuming they could find a solution to the molecular exchange membrane. Otherwise, no matter how clever their design was, the lithium-air battery would be useless.

Xiao Ai: [Master? 0.0]

"Nothing, I'm just surprised…"

Lu Zhou composed himself and said, "Xiao Ai, retrieve the material composition data for the negative electrode and gas exchange chamber!"

Xiao Ai: [Okay! Done! (๑•̀ᄇ•́) و]

Already?

Even though the data was already inside the database, Xiao Ai's speed of retrieval still surprised Lu Zhou a little.

However, now was not the time to think about that.

Lu Zhou stared at the chart in front of him and used his mouse to mark locations on the 3-D battery image. He carefully searched for locations of where the gas exchange membrane might have existed.

As expected, he found a suspicious clue.

"Interesting… There are no traces of silicon at all.

"The excessive trace of carbon residue should belong to the carbon nanospheres… Wait, not necessarily!" Lu Zhou thought about the carbon residue of the Debris No.3 Hall-effect thruster and said, "I understand now!"

Xiao Ai: [What? (ー〃)]

Lu Zhou took a deep breath and tried to contain his excitement. "Silicon is extremely stable, it's unlikely that there are no traces left behind in the debris. If there is no residue of silicon, that means… The molecular exchange membrane used on Debris No.1 wasn't a silicon-based substance at all!

"If we replace the silicon with carbon, it should fix the problem!"

Lu Zhou's mind was racing a million miles a minute. He took a piece of draft paper and grabbed a pen.

However, he suddenly noticed the Riemann zeta function he wrote on the draft paper.

Lu Zhou furrowed his eyebrows and clenched his jaws.

F*ck this, who cares!

I'll solve this first!

I swear, this is the last thing I'll solve before I devote myself entirely to Riemann's hypothesis!

Once this is over, no one is getting any help from me!

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Read Scholar's Advanced Technological System - Chapter 961 - All With Carbon! online free - Novelfull

Chapter 961 All With Carbon!

Computational materials science didn't just come out of thin air.

Even Lu Zhou couldn't calculate what material should be used for the lithium-air battery molecular exchange membrane with just a pen and paper.

The correct procedure for solving computational materials science problems was to find a feasible pathway through experimentation, then establish a mathematical model. After that, he could use a powerful computer to calculate the nanoscopic interactions of the molecules.

Fortunately, Yang Xu had collected plenty of data.

Having the experimental data and Debris No.1 meant that Lu Zhou already had 30% of the answer.

Therefore, he had quite an advantage compared to other people.

Lu Zhou placed all of his attention on the problem. He meticulously looked through the experimental data and converted the data into the language of mathematics. Using his knowledge of computational materials science, he gradually placed the puzzle pieces together.

Everything was going smoothly.

It was as easy as breathing for him.

Even though he hadn't done any research in materials science ever since the controllable fusion engineering project, he wasn't rusty at all.

After all, he was the one that made the Theoretical Model of the Electrochemical Interface Structure, which swept the entire theoretical chemistry and materials science fields.

And it was precisely this theory that won him the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Therefore, if he couldn't solve this, no one else could.

The tip of his pen danced on the draft paper, producing rows of neatly written equations.

[By using the Hartree equation…]

[…]

Lu Zhou was in the zone. He was inside a flow state where he was shielded from the outside world.

His pen was like a blade, cutting through the weeds of science…

"There's no need to explain the wave function for each particle movement.

"We just have to find the spatial wave function for the 3 variable particle density…

"If we can calculate all the particle systems, we can predict the physical property of the material!

"I haven't felt this happy in a while!"

Lu Zhou felt a wave of relief in his heart as he wrote down the last character and put down his pen.

I finally did it.

The sun was starting to rise outside his window.

Lu Zhou looked at the sunrise and took a breath of fresh air.

As the fresh morning breeze blew through his window, every pore in his body was soaked in ecstasy.

He stretched his back and felt a wave of tiredness in his brain. He pinched his eyebrows, then took out a bottle of Energy Medicine from the system space and drank it.

The cold liquid ran down his throat, and he felt his brain being rejuvenated.

His dark, heavy eye bags that accumulated from him staying up all night gradually went away.

"This thing is amazing."

Lu Zhou looked at the small bottle in his hand and spoke.

"If only I could produce more…"

I wonder if I'll live long enough to see that happen.

Lu Zhou looked at the stack of papers, which were densely filled with calculations. He carefully read everything and made sure there were no problems.

The mathematical model was done.

And it was done using pen and paper.

And for the calculations, it was nothing a quantum computer couldn't solve!

"Xiao Ai."

A string of bubbles popped up on the lower right corner.

[Xiao Ai is here, Master.]

"Help me with something."

Lu Zhou tidied up the stack of draft papers and looked at the lines of equations. A smile slowly appeared on his face.

"I have some data and a model here.

"Analyze it for me."

…

Jinling Institute for Advanced Study.

Institute of Computational Materials.

A group of people gathered around a piece of experimental equipment with a serious look on their faces.

A second ago, they were adjusting the pore size of the porous silicon-based molecular exchange membrane. However, neither the computer simulations nor the experiment test results met their expectations.

It seemed like the research on lithium-air batteries was in a dead end.

No matter how close they were to cracking the case, if they couldn't get rid of the nitrogen penetration problem, their research would be worthless…

Qian Zhongming, who was standing next to Yang Xu, broke the silence and said, "Maybe our thinking is wrong."

As Yang Xu stared at him, Qian Zhongming continued, "Adjusting the pore size might increase the permeability of oxygen molecules, but it doesn't help with the nitrogen molecules penetrating the membrane, maybe…"

He paused for a second and continued, "Maybe the idea of using a porous silicon-based molecular exchange membrane is wrong. It's infeasible."

The laboratory was dead silent.

This meant that the work they had done for the past two years was for nothing…

Yang Xu clenched his fist.

After a while, he took a deep breath and spoke.

"I'll try again, if it doesn't work…"

Even though every single cell in his body wanted to continue, he knew he couldn't stay on this research pathway forever. He was an institute director; he couldn't blindly allow his men to die on this pathway.

Maybe the team should take a vacation, relax a little, and think about how to write the ending report.

If this project is still alive, we should think about what other pathways we could pursue…

Suddenly, a voice came from the laboratory entrance.

"There's no need, Mr. Qian is correct."

Everyone watched Lu Zhou walk into the laboratory. He placed a USB on the table and spoke in a relaxed tone.

"At least, he's half correct."

Yang Xu looked at the USB and asked, "What is this?"

"It's a molecular exchange membrane model, using a new material…"

Lu Zhou coughed and said, "Basically, I need you to replace all of the silicon in the membrane with carbon!"

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Chapter 962 Finally Put It to Use!

All to…

Carbon?!

Yang Xu froze.

Qian Zhongming and Liu Bo also froze.

All of the researchers in the laboratory looked at Lu Zhou; they were in shock.

After a couple of seconds, Yang Xu broke the silence.

"Change it to… carbon?"

Yang Xu smiled and shook his head. "That's impossible, we've tried it already. We even used a more flexible carbon-based material in the beginning. But we found out that carbon isn't as stable as silicon."

He paused for a second and casually joked, "I mean, we're trying to build a lithium-air battery here, not a lithium bomb."

However, no one in the laboratory laughed, including Yang Xu.

Everyone was feeling a bit down.

After all, this meant that their efforts over the past two years were for nothing.

"Because you didn't use the right method…" Lu Zhou looked around and said, "Do you guys have a blackboard here?"

Yang Xu said, "We have a whiteboard… It's behind you, what are you doing?"

Without explaining anything, Lu Zhou smiled and spoke.

"Whiteboard works."

He turned around and faced the whiteboard. He picked up a marker, pondered for a few seconds, and began writing.

[Ethylene-propylene copolymer, 3,4-polyisoprene, polysulfone cross-linked block copolymer CBGC and its chemical modification CBGC-M…]

As the researchers in the laboratory looked at the organic compound names being written on the whiteboard, they felt totally confused.

Qian Zhongming leaned over and whispered to Liu Bo, "What is… Academician Lu doing?"

"This looks familiar…" Qian Zhongming was also confused. He frowned and said, "Maybe it's the modified PDMS formula? But it doesn't seem like it…"

The modified PDMS polymer wasn't nearly as long; it was just two compounds combined together.

But it seemed like Lu Zhou was writing more than five compounds on the whiteboard…

Yang Xu stared at the long list of names on the whiteboard and also didn't understand what was going on.

He knew what the compounds were.

He even had them in the laboratory.

But he didn't know why Lu Zhou was writing them on the whiteboard.

When Lu Zhou stopped writing, Yang Xu couldn't help but ask, "What's this…"

"Mix these organic substances in a ratio to form a film." Lu Zhou threw the marker on the table and said, "Remember to use cold rolling."

Yang Xu stared at the long list of names on the whiteboard in disbelief.

He wasn't doubtful of Academician Lu's scientific research abilities.

It was just that…

Everything he thought he knew about computational materials science, was thrown out of the window.

"This is ridiculous, what could you possibly get from mixing all of these together? How are you going to control the dispersion? What about the stability between the compounds?"

Mixing these compounds would create a totally chaotic system!

Honestly…

How the hell did he come up with this list?

How does he plan on calculating the mixing ratios?

Not just that, but the mixing order and mixing method will also produce entirely different results.

Yang Xu looked at Lu Zhou, who was grinning from ear to ear. He took a deep breath and said, "It's not that I don't believe you, I just… How about this, I'll get my guys to model it."

"There's no need for that, I already did it." Lu Zhou pointed toward the USB and said, "The model is in there, and it's written on our own computational materials software. It should be compatible."

Yang Xu glanced at the USB. He didn't believe that Lu Zhou could finish such a huge amount of workload in such a short amount of time. He nodded suspiciously and said, "I'll try."

Yang Xu picked up the USB and plugged it into the computer. He opened the folder and began to run the model.

All of the researchers in the laboratory gathered around the computer as they nervously waited for the results of the calculations.

Lu Zhou, on the other hand, had already run the model on his quantum computer numerous times. Thus, he stood there totally relaxed.

Yang Xu looked at Lu Zhou and hesitated for a bit before asking, "Can I ask you something?"

Lu Zhou said, "What?"

Yang Xu: "… Did you create this model yesterday?"

Lu Zhou: "You could say so."

I didn't sleep all night, so technically I worked on it today.

Yang Xu looked like he just saw a ghost. Suddenly, the computer fans began to slow down.

The simulation was finished!

Everyone leaned toward the computer screen.

The second the results were presented on the screen, the researchers froze.

According to the simulation calculations, when the surface air pressure on one side of this carbon-based membrane reached point A, oxygen molecules began to move from one side to the other side.

After a simulation time of 24 hours, the purity of oxygen in the gas exchange chamber reached 98%! With a simulation time of 72 hours, this number fluctuated slightly within the range of 0.1%, but it stayed close to 98%.

From this aspect alone, the carbon-based molecular exchange membrane was already superior to the silicon-based molecular exchange membrane.

Their concerns regarding the chemical stability of carbon were also totally unnecessary. Basically, this polymer material, which was similar to the modified PDMS film, had extremely strong corrosion resistance properties…

As Yang Xu stared at the results on the screen, he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Soon after, he calmed down and spoke.

"You're correct.

"This kind of carbon mixture is much more effective than the porous silicon-based material we developed earlier, especially for the case of oxygen molecule screening.

"But the problem is that we can't guarantee that the gas entering the chamber is fully oxygen—"

Before he could finish, Lu Zhou interrupted him, "Why do we have to guarantee that the gas chamber has to be 100% oxygen?"

Lu Zhou smiled at Yang Xu. He suddenly took out a small test tube from his pocket and spoke.

"I made this stuff when I was still in Princeton.

"It's been so many years, but I can finally put it to use."

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Chapter 963 Oxygen Transporter

The most difficult part of the lithium-sulfur battery technology was the shuttle effect.

The shuttle effect occurred during the battery charging and discharging process, where the polysulfide (Li2Sx) intermediate produced by the positive electrode dissolved into the electrolyte before diffusing through the separator to the negative electrode, and finally contacting the metal lithium.

Lu Zhou was able to achieve lithium-sulfur battery technology, inventing the technology, and registering the patents before ExxonMobil could. He had a huge disagreement with Professor Stanley over lithium-sulfur battery technology.

Professor Stanley, who was backed by ExxonMobil, used subterfuge to poach an assistant from the Sarrot Institute, stealing Professor Sarrot's caged carbon molecules model.

But there was an up-side to all this.

Professor Stanley eventually somehow helped Lu Zhou complete the "Analyze carbon nanospheres under the modified PDMS film" mission, thus helping him reach level 4 materials science. This indirectly led him to winning the Nobel Prize…

Many years had passed, but Lu Zhou had yet to thank this professor.

The black powder in the test tube was Professor Stanley's caged carbon molecules, which was the same as the carbon nanospheres found on Debris No.1.

Yang Xu: "What is this…"

"A type of caged carbon molecules used to transport oxygen molecules, although I prefer to call it carbon nanospheres."

Lu Zhou placed the test tube in Yang Xu's hands and said, "Don't forget that in addition to the gas exchange chamber and the external diaphragm, our lithium anode material also has a layer of modified PDMS film on top of it. When the concentration of oxygen molecules on both sides of the film reaches a certain value, they'll transport oxygen molecules from one side to the other like little ants."

Basically, it added two layers of security to the oxygen and nitrogen separation system. The first layer was the oxygen screening membrane, which was a mixture of the organic substances listed on the whiteboard by Lu Zhou. This membrane could sustain a 98% pure oxygen environment!

As for the second layer of security, that was the modified PDMS film on the lithium anode material!

After adding the hollow carbon spheres, the modified PDMS film on the surface of the lithium anode would transport oxygen molecules to the lithium anode surface.

"… We can even control the rate of lithium oxidation by modifying the number of carbon nanospheres on the PDMS film, indirectly controlling the performance of the battery."

When Yang Xu heard Lu Zhou's words, he was filled with shock.

This thing is that strong?

Even though he wanted to ask Lu Zhou, he was a researcher who had a sample right in front of him. Asking a question would be rather moronic.

Without hesitating, he brought the test tube to an experimental device.

Inside the device was a battery mold and protective gas operation box, which were used to assemble and test batteries.

Testing Lu Zhou's invention was easy; he didn't even need to use a complete lithium-air battery.

He only needed to make a lithium metal sheet covered with modified PDMS material and mixed with the carbon nanospheres. Then, he would have to expose it to a series of gas environments such as pure oxygen, pure carbon dioxide, pure nitrogen, etc. He would instantly know what kind of oxygen pass-through properties it had.

After some complicated preparation and waiting, the experiment was finally done.

In a normal air environment, the reaction wasn't obvious. There was some amount of oxidation on the surface, which was confirmed to be lithium oxide!

In the nitrogen and carbon dioxide environments, the lithium didn't react at all!

As for the pure oxygen environment…

Like Lu Zhou said, the entire lithium anode went through huge changes.

Yang Xu was so surprised he didn't know what to say. Lu Zhou smiled and said, "If you observed these reactions under a microscope, you would be even more shocked."

Yang Xu gulped and said, "So… you completed this experiment… a long time ago?"

Lu Zhou: "I told you, I did this experiment when I was still teaching at Princeton, I just never published it."

Of course, there were still many differences between this carbon nanosphere and the original ones made by Professor Stanley.

By using computational chemistry methods, Lu Zhou adjusted the positions of several large π bonds on the surface, thus increasing its oxygen transportation properties.

However, the methods for preparing the carbon nanospheres stayed the same.

"This is amazing…"

"This oxygen polymer material transporter is incredible!"

Lu Zhou looked at Yang Xu and said nostalgically, "It is incredible. Actually, I've always wondered about the mechanism of this transportation process. I even created two sets of theories, but I just can't prove which one is correct."

Yang Xu: "How… did you do it?"

Lu Zhou laughed awkwardly and smiled.

"Long story short, an old friend helped me with the caged carbon molecules synthesis, then I found some small improvements on the π bonds."

Of course, the most important part was having the Debris No.1.

Without the Debris, it would have taken him years to find a hollow carbon sphere that was compatible with oxygen molecules.

Yang Xu: "No problems with the patent?"

Lu Zhou immediately said, "No problems, my friend sold it to me for a very cheap price."

This happened a long time ago.

Not long after the lithium-sulfur batteries came out, ExxonMobil's patents became worthless. Even Professor Stanley himself didn't know that his invention could be applied to lithium-air batteries. Thus, Star Sky Technology was able to buy the patent from him for a very cheap price.

Of course, back then, the patent was under his name, not Star Sky Technology.

Even though it didn't cost a lot to buy the patent, the process was quite cumbersome.

Yang Xu said emotionally, "Your friend is such a nice person."

Lu Zhou smiled heartily.

"Yeah, I agree, he's very nice."

…

Now that the problem with filtering oxygen molecules using the membrane was solved, coupled with the carbon nanospheres, there was no doubt that lithium-air batteries would soon come to life.

After giving Chen Yushan a call and telling her to handle the upcoming patents, Lu Zhou left the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study.

He came to the institute during the early mornings, and it was already night time when he left.

Using the quantum computer to run a simulation was easy, as he just had to put the model into the computer. Experimenting with the carbon nanospheres took quite a long time, especially since he had to cover the lithium metal with a sheet of modified PDMS film.

Lu Zhou sat in Wang Peng's car. He hadn't slept for more than 30 hours, and he was about to take a short nap when Director Li suddenly called him.

Before Lu Zhou could say hello, the other side spoke aggressively.

"I read your report! Is it true? The carbon-based—" Director Li suddenly realized it wasn't safe to speak about these things over the phone, so he said, "Wait, I'll come to your house."

Lu Zhou yawned and asked, "Where are you now?"

"I'm in Beijing! I'm flying over!"

Lu Zhou: "…?"

Before he could respond, Director Li had ended the call.

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Chapter 964 One More Thing

Director Li wasn't kidding with him.

This old man came to his house the next morning.

Lu Zhou stood at his doorstep and saw Director Li holding a plastic bag in his hand. He paused for a second before asking, "You didn't bring me breakfast all the way from Beijing, right?"

"Of course not, I'm not flying with this. It's still hot! I saw a street food place near the neighborhood, so I bought some…" Director Li walked into the house and put on a pair of slippers. He then looked at the fireplace in the living room and said, "Oh, new furniture?"

Lu Zhou: "You came here to talk about my furniture?"

"Of course not." Director Li smiled. He then put on a serious expression and said, "I read the report on the carbon-based chip. The team led by Professor Wu Tianqun successfully created a hundred-thousand-carbon-nanotube transistor chip… Is that true?"

"When have I ever joked about this stuff?" Lu Zhou smiled and looked at the takeaway bag. "I'm pretty hungry, let's eat while we talk."

"Oh, sure, let's eat!"

Director Li knew that Lu Zhou hadn't eaten yet, so he bought two servings of soup dumplings and an extra bowl of noodles.

A bowl of soup dumplings, a cup of soy milk, and a bowl of noodles. For most average adults, that was quite a lot of food.

Director Li watched Lu Zhou almost finish eating his bowl of noodles and dumplings. He then asked with his eyes widened, "Why are you eating so much?"

Lu Zhou smiled awkwardly and said, "I've been overworking myself recently. I don't normally eat this much."

Director Li said, "Should I call my driver and ask him to get more food?"

"No, thanks." Lu Zhou wiped his mouth with a tissue and said, "I only need to be half full, let's talk business."

Director Li looked at the two empty bowls and thought.

Only half full…

Sigh, it must be good to be young.

They were planning on eating while talking, but Lu Zhou ate too fast, so now, Director Li was the only one eating while Lu Zhou was the one talking.

After hearing some questions from Director Li, Lu Zhou immediately realized how serious the Communist Party of China viewed this "scientific breakthrough".

It seemed like this was on their top priority list.

Lu Zhou went into his study room and brought back a scientific calculator.

As Director Li looked at the ordinary calculator that was used by high school students across the country, he didn't know what Lu Zhou wanted to do.

Lu Zhou saw the confusion in Director Li's eyes, so he began explaining.

"The processor in this is a carbon-based chip."

Director Li's face changed, and he looked at the calculator in shock.

It was almost like the calculator had turned into gold.

Or something even more valuable than gold…

Lu Zhou looked at Director Li and spoke.

"The chip is here, but the technology is not mature yet, so we used an experimental chip… It's called the X-1 chip, with around 150nm in processor size. There are only a couple hundred thousand carbon nano transistors in it. It's very hard to take this to market. The only up-side is that the carbon-based semiconductor can be prepared by the same chemical process as the SG-1 superconducting material, which is the 'chemical vapor deposition etching' method. We are the world leaders in this method."

Lu Zhou paused for a second before adding, "To my knowledge, most of the world's SG-1 superconducting material is exported by China."

Director Li gestured with his hand and spoke with excitement.

"Don't worry about taking it to market! As long as you can make the product, we'll take it to market!"

No market demand?

Maybe?

But China could artificially create demand!

Since this thing had a chance to overtake the semiconductor field, Director Li was going to write a report to the relevant state departments. He would arrange for the carbon-based chip scientific calculators to be mandatory in all high schools.

There was no way there wouldn't be enough demand for this technology in the trillion-dollar tech industry.

After all, this was Academician Lu's invention!

As Director Li carefully held the calculator in his hand, he looked at it like it was a precious piece of antique. After a while, he took a deep breath and looked at Lu Zhou.

"Can I have this?"

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "Sure, I have more. But I advise you to be careful, and make sure others don't get their hands on it."

Director Li carefully put away the calculator. He had a serious look on his face as he exclaimed, "Don't worry, I'll protect it with my life!"

That's not necessary, it's just a calculator…

It doesn't matter too much since it's almost impossible to reverse engineer.

Seeing how excited Director Li was, Lu Zhou didn't know what to say.

Lu Zhou: "Right now, our research team is working on 75nm transistors, and we've made good progress. If we can achieve more than 30 million transistors per square millimeter and decrease the transistor size to 15nm, carbon-based chips will be superior to silicon-based chips. Achieving the same amount of performance in silicon-based chips would take more than 100 million transistors per square millimeter…"

After hearing Lu Zhou's explanation, Director Li nodded and spoke seriously.

"Actually, after we received your report, we had a meeting in Beijing. We invited some academicians from the Institute of Semiconductors at the Chinese Academy of Sciences to evaluate your report. We understood the theoretical side of your report, but we weren't sure how close you guys were from making a real carbon-based chip. Even the academicians couldn't make a conclusion."

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "What about now?"

"After seeing this thing in my hand, I understand now."

Director Li tapped on the calculator and continued in a solemn tone, "Actually, there's another reason why I came to Jinling…"

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965 Dragon One

Before coming to Jinling, Director Li actually didn't have high hopes for the carbon-based processor from the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study.

After all, the Institute of Semiconductors of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and countless industry companies were also working on carbon chips research.

After reading Professor Lu's report, the academicians from the Chinese Academy of Sciences expressed that they thought there might be a breakthrough in the integration of carbon-based transistors on integrated circuits. They didn't expect them to have actually made a working processor.

While the world was still trying to figure out how to integrate carbon-based transistors into circuits, the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study already made a working carbon-based processor calculator…

Director Li wouldn't have believed it if he didn't see it with his own eyes.

But now, there was no doubt in his mind.

He had a serious look on his face as he spoke.

"Right now, the international situation seems to be calm on the surface, but ever since the establishment of our lunar research station, other countries have made unfriendly moves. You know about the Biosphere A incident last year, right?"

Lu Zhou nodded, expressing his understanding.

Director Li: "That was the tip of the iceberg."

Lu Zhou: "Then what's under the tip of the iceberg?"

Director Li: "According to reliable sources, the United States is scheming to be our competitor in the semiconductor industry."

Lu Zhou paused for a second before asking with a strange look on his face, "Do they not want a nuclear core for the California controllable fusion power plant?"

If this were a few years ago, the United States might have easily been able to beat China in the field of computer technology.

However, the year was 2022, and controllable fusion energy had been around for three years…

"Controllable fusion is our trump card, it's our pair of hidden aces. The only reason we're at the position we're at today is because we have this card."

Director Li unscrewed his vacuum flask and filled it with tea. He took a sip and said, "However, the Americans have other means beside executive orders. For example, they can manipulate the market behavior by increasing the upstream cost of the semiconductor industry chain. That will increase our costs and weaken our industry.

"Therefore, we have to act preemptively!"

"I kind of understand." Lu Zhou nodded and said, "So… what you're saying is?"

"Things like this are supposed to be decided by the market, but sometimes, we can't just leave the market by itself." Director Li put on a serious face and placed a document on the table.

"Look at it yourself, please."

Lu Zhou was a little suspicious at the word "please".

It was rare for the old man to be so polite to him.

Unless there was something the old man wanted from him.

Lu Zhou looked at the document and felt a headache.

Just yesterday, he made up his mind about devoting himself to Riemann's hypothesis, but now, there was trouble at his doorstep again.

However, Lu Zhou saw how sincere the old man was, so he sighed and picked up the document.

When he read the title, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Dragon One?"

"Yes." Director Li nodded and said, "Please read the document first!"

Lu Zhou leaned back on his chair and began reading.

He rarely touched on anything outside of research since that was usually handled by Chen Yushan. However, the content of the document wasn't complicated, so even he could understand.

Basically, this was a "tripartite agreement", led by the State Administration for National Defense.

The three parties were Huawei, Star Sky Technology, and the Institute of Semiconductors of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The specific project was regarding Huawei HiSilicon's latest development plan—the Dragon One series of processors.

Unlike Kirin and their other processors series, the Dragon One series of chips would use the latest carbon-based semiconductor technology. The goal was to overtake the semiconductor field and achieve autonomy in the entire production chain. This way, China would no longer be dependent on international processor giants and create their own carbon-based processor industry chain.

The document stipulated the respective research and development responsibilities of each organization, as well as the patent ownership and respective fund allocations.

The Institute of Semiconductors and Star Sky Technology were the two elephants of the industry, carrying Huawei on their backs. Together, they planned on creating the Dragon One carbon-based processors as soon as possible.

Huawei obviously benefited from working with two top research institutes. As for the Chinese Academy of Sciences, they were a public organization, so they were not concerned with profits.

As for Star Sky Technology, their benefits were listed in the document. This included profit sharing of the Dragon One series of chips, as well as some one-time scientific research payments.

"Interesting proposal." Lu Zhou placed the document on the table and contemplated for a second before saying, "I'll take this to my CEO… I'll give you a reply in a week?"

"No problem! Take as long as you want, if there's anything you want to change, feel free to tell me. We'll try to make adjustments. Or we can all grab dinner and discuss it together."

"Well, there's not much to discuss. I'm just a scholar, I'd rather be in a laboratory than a restaurant." Lu Zhou smiled and said, "But since this involves business cooperation, I have to consult my CEO."

After all, this wasn't just a couple of million yuan, this was a billion-dollar project that would impact the entire industry.

Making expedient decisions was not a good idea.

"Take your time then." Director Li put away the scientific calculator and stood up with a smile. He then said, "That's all I have for today, I'll let you rest."

"You're going?" Lu Zhou said. He thought Director Li would at least stay for lunch, so he couldn't help but ask, "Back to Beijing already?"

"Not yet, I still have to go to Hubei first." Director Li smiled and said, "You just gave us a huge surprise. All of the state departments involved in the semiconductor industry are going to get really busy. I have a lot of work to do, so I can't stay for any longer."

Lu Zhou nodded.

"Take it easy then."

Director Li began to walk out of the house. When he saw the stack of papers on the coffee table, he said, "Actually, I'm quite curious, what have you been researching lately?"

"Oh…" Lu Zhou looked at the stack of papers on the coffee table and said, "Just some design plans on lithium-air batteries, nothing huge."

"Oh, lithium-air batteries, okay then…"

Director Li was almost out of the door when he suddenly stopped.

A second later, he turned back.

"Wait a second? What did you say?"

Lu Zhou was a little shocked.

"Yeah, lithium-air batteries, why?"

Why?!!

Director Li: "???"

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Chapter 966 3D Chess

An hour went by.

When Director Li walked out of the mansion, he was a little fazed.

He got in his car and sat in the back seat. While looking at the lush green trees on the sidewalk, he said, "I'm getting old."

The driver in front of him paused for a second and spoke.

"Oh no, you're not, you're only in your early sixties, you still have decades ahead of you."

Director Li smiled and sighed.

"No, I'm not young anymore. I can't even hold a conversation with you young folks anymore. I have maybe five more years before my old heart gives out."

The driver kept on driving and didn't respond.

The driver felt like Director Li had some misunderstandings regarding young people.

He wanted to ask what this was about, but he remembered that Director Li had just come out of Professor Lu's house, meaning the Director probably talked about sensitive topics. Thus, the driver decided to keep his mouth shut.

Director Li took out his phone and called Director Lu from the energy bureau.

"Hey? Old Lu, let me tell you something, this trip to Jinling was worth it!"

"…"

…

In fact, it was quite difficult for lithium-air batteries to completely replace lithium-sulfur batteries. After all, keeping a constant pressure for the oxygen molecule filtering membrane would require the battery to be in constant motion.

Therefore, automobiles were undoubtedly an excellent application. The front grill could be used to supply oxygen to the lithium-air battery.

However, if someone wanted to place a lithium-air battery in their cell phone, it would be quite difficult to add a "front grill".

Lithium-sulfur batteries were more focused on the materials, whereas lithium-air batteries were more focused on its mechanism, such as using clever design to maximize its energy density.

This meant that, the larger the battery, the more space designers could use to place components and increase the energy density.

An extreme example would be the IBM "Battery-500" project, where they wanted to use distributed computing technology to ensure that each oxygen molecule entering the reaction system was accurately matched into a lithium slot…

Of course, achieving this kind of technology was almost impossible. At least in the near future.

After Director Li finally left, Lu Zhou put away the draft papers on his coffee table.

These were all ideas that came to his mind when he was researching the structure of Debris No. 1, so they were far from being mature designs.

However, even though they were just spur-of-the-moment designs, with his level 6 engineering and his experience in large engineering scientific research projects, the designs were quite sophisticated.

After finding out that the lithium-air battery wasn't a mature technology, Director Li finally gave up.

However, before leaving, he expressed that when the technology became mature, the State Administration for National Defense could help with the patent approval process.

Normally, patent approval procedures could take years, but Director Li could complete it in a matter of weeks.

Star Sky Technology had always had this kind of patent privilege.

Lu Zhou took out his phone and called Chen Yushan.

Soon after, a familiar voice traveled through the phone.

"Hello? Calling me again? Aren't you on a retreat?"

"I wish I was…" Lu Zhou sighed and cleared his throat. "Director Li came to see me."

Chen Yushan said, "What did he want this time?"

"It's about the Dragon One chip."

Lu Zhou spent around five minutes talking about the tri-party agreement and the Dragon One processor plans.

He also talked about some parts of the contract that he was unsure about.

After hearing Lu Zhou's words, Chen Yushan leaned back on her chair and contemplated for a second before saying, "It's quite a good contract, and the patent is only regarding the chip itself?"

Lu Zhou: "Kind of, I can send a copy to your email."

"Okay, it's better to email me the contract first." Chen Yushan paused for a second and said, "Also, we should specify that the carbon transistor chip integration technology is independent. After all, we were the ones that invented this technology, so we can't just let them take advantage of us."

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "Sure, whatever you think is best. I also talked with Director Li about the lithium-air battery breakthrough, so let's try to register the patent as soon as possible."

The other end of the phone went silent.

Lu Zhou didn't know why Chen Yushan was being so quiet.

After a while, Lu Zhou asked, "What's wrong?"

She finally responded, "Lithium-air battery breakthrough?"

"Yeah," Lu Zhou nodded and said, "have I not told you about this?"

Chen Yushan: "When did you tell me?"

Lu Zhou finally realized that he only brought the model to Yang Xu yesterday, so he didn't have a chance to tell her yet.

Lu Zhou smiled awkwardly and said, "Oh right, my fault."

"No, it's fine, I'm just surprised… Let me think, if we can play this card well, it might be very effective…"

Chen Yushan began to contemplate.

Lu Zhou was wondering if he should hang up the phone and give her time to think, but she suddenly said, "Oh yeah, didn't you tell me that lithium-air batteries can be used in cars?"

Lu Zhou nodded and said, "Not just cars, but it's definitely the most suitable application. The larger the battery is, the higher its energy density. Also, because of the nature of the oxygen molecular membrane, it's better to be used in moving vehicles."

It was almost like Chen Yushan just hit the lottery as she said excitedly, "Got it! I'll handle this! Oh yeah, publish some papers about the lithium-air battery. You don't have to make it too detailed, just tell the world that we've made research progress on lithium-air batteries."

What do you mean just publish some papers…

Writing papers isn't easy at all. I can't just write some substandard paper; I'm a Nobel Prize level scholar, my reputation is on the line.

Lu Zhou sighed after hearing Chen Yushan's words. "What do you plan on doing then?"

Chen Yushan smirked and sat up straight as she said with a confident tone, "I plan on playing 4D chess!"

Lu Zhou: "…?"

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Chapter 967 Just Write I

Play 4D chess…

Can't she speak normally?

It was getting late, and the sun was coming down.

Lu Zhou sat in front of his desk as he stared at his computer screen with a headache. He stared at the blinking text cursor and suddenly shook his head.

He had to publish a thesis that wouldn't disclose any "industry secrets", or even any specific academic information. However, that thesis had to show the world that the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study had made a major breakthrough in lithium-air batteries…

Also, he had to make his paper as impactful as possible…

How the f*ck am I supposed to "just write this"?

Lu Zhou had been in academia for many years, but this was the first time he faced a situation like this.

He scratched his head and wanted to give up. Suddenly, the test tube on the corner of his desk caught his eye.

Inspiration flowed through his brain like a tsunami.

He stood up from his chair and exclaimed, "I got it!"

Since he couldn't write about specific lithium-air battery technical details, it was better to focus on the mathematical model. He could simply publish a computational materials science paper and avoid talking about the lithium-air battery.

His eyes began to lit up, and his hands began to move across the keyboard. He typed a title line on the previously blank document.

[Research on the transportation of oxygen molecules in caged carbon molecules and modified PDMS materials, and its application prospects in the field of lithium-air batteries]

When Lu Zhou read the title, he couldn't help but praise himself, "I'm a genius!"

The patent application for the caged carbon molecules had already been completed. Even though he adjusted several large π bonds on the caged carbon molecules, he still had the patent rights.

He already completed the experiment and had all of the data, so even one of his students could easily write this thesis.

Lu Zhou spent a couple of hours writing and formatting the paper.

After he converted it to PDF format, he attached the file into an email and looked at his email list. He clicked with his mouse and thought about where to submit this paper.

Nature?

Science?

Neither of them sounds good.

This kind of boring result is going to take a long time to get published. The most important thing is to make this as impactful and sensational as possible.

Lu Zhou made up his mind.

Since it's such a bad paper, I'm not going to submit it to Nature.

After some consideration, Lu Zhou sent the email to the JACS editorial department.

Even though JACS wasn't as famous as Nature and Science, it still had a high impact factor in the materials science and chemistry fields. It was one of the top journals in its respective field.

The paper Lu Zhou wrote on the "Theoretical Model of Electrochemical Interface Structure", which won him the Nobel Prize, was submitted to JACS.

Because he reviewed some papers for the journal, he had a good relationship with the editorial department. Thus, his paper wouldn't take long to get approved.

After all of that, Lu Zhou stretched his back and went to bed.

…

The other side of the world, America.

Someone in the editorial department of JACS exclaimed, "Jesus, Kanov, guess what I just received in my mailbox? Professor Lu's paper!"

Kanov looked at Agris, the editor-in-chief, and was shocked.

"Wait a second, what did you say? Professor Lu's paper? He's back to materials science?"

Agris smiled and said, "What do you mean back, he never left materials science. Have you forgotten who the founder of the theoretical model of computational materials and electrochemical interfaces is? Who the 2018 Nobel Prize winner was!"

The JACS journal had published many Nobel Prize level papers; however, Agris personally reviewed and approved the 2018 Nobel Prize in Chemistry paper!

That achievement alone was enough for him to brag for the rest of his life.

Kanov quietly muttered, "But he doesn't seem to think so."

"That doesn't matter! What matters is what we think! Forget about this, let me have a look first," Agris said as he printed out the paper and began to read.

Kanov saw that Agris had a weird look on his face. He hesitated for a moment before asking the editor-in-chief, "What's in the paper?"

"Oxygen molecule transportation using caged carbon molecules in modified PDMS material… Jesus, it's about lithium-air batteries!" Agris took a deep breath and turned the page as he said, "I've heard rumors that the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study is researching lithium-air batteries and that their project leader is Yang Xu!"

Kanov knew of Yang Xu. He had an emotional look on his face.

"The author of this paper is Lu Zhou…"

"Yeah." Agris gulped and pinched the manuscript with his hand as he said, "Kanov, do you know what this means? This means they might have been successful!"

Kanov didn't know why Agris kept answering his own questions.

However, he realized why his editor-in-chief was making such a big deal out of this.

Based on his past experience, when it came to popular academic research projects, after the research team made a breakthrough, they often restrained from immediately publishing their results.

Even if they did publish, it was because they were forced to "present their results". Often times, they would publish trivial research that couldn't inspire their competitors.

Yang Xu, for example, hadn't published a single paper in the past year. However, everyone knew that his research team was making good progress.

Now that Lu Zhou suddenly published this paper…

Not to mention that the paper was about a huge breakthrough.

There was only one possibility, which was that the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study had already obtained a patent for this technology, and might have even matured the technology!

This was the only explanation as to why they were willing to publish such a revealing thesis.

There was no question regarding if this paper would get published.

The problem was finding the right reviewer.

Agris looked at Kanov and asked, "Who else is in this research area?"

Kanov thought for a second and said, "Professor Jeff Dahn from Dalhousie University in Canada. He's a pioneer in the industrial application of LiNixMnyCozO2 and did good research on lithium batteries. He has published countless Science papers… I think he's a good choice."

Agris contemplated for a second and said, "It might be difficult. He's working on an IBM project, so he might not have the free time. We have to find an expert, but not a competitor."

"That's going to be difficult."

Kanov scratched his head, and a name suddenly appeared in his mind. His eyes lit up as he said, "I know someone! He's the perfect choice!"

Agris asked, "Who?"

"Professor Stanley Whittingham from Binghamton University! He's published this paper on titanium sulfide cathodes. I think he's no longer doing experiments, but I still remember how shocked I was when I first read his paper…"

Agris began to look impatient, so Kanov quickly added, "I noticed that Professor Lu referenced a result from Professor Stanley's caged carbon molecules.

"He's the perfect reviewer for this thesis!"

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Chapter 968 Approve It!

Even though Kanov's ideas were hard to execute, there was no one on Earth better than Professor Stanley to review this thesis.

After all, in a way, this was like letting the author review his own thesis…

Binghamton University.

Inside a chemistry laboratory.

Professor Stanley had just returned from giving a lecture. He threw his notebook on the sofa and whistled to himself as he sat down at his desk.

After his failure a few years ago, ExxonMobil lost the opportunity to enter the lithium-sulfur battery market and also lost their trust in him.

This was a huge blow to his self-esteem, which caused his depression for quite some time.

However, after some time, he gradually came out of that man's shadow.

He didn't react at all when he watched Lu Zhou on television, presenting one result after another.

It wasn't like he was the only person who was defeated by Lu Zhou…

Materials science was a field that had an element of luck involved. Some people might never achieve their desired experiment results, while others succeeded by happenstance.

Even the 2008 Nobel Prize laureate in chemistry, Martin Chalfie, said, "Sometimes if an experiment is unsuccessful, try throwing the sample on the ground or in the sea, do anything you can think of. Eventually, someone will work."

Professor Lu was obviously favored by gods, so Professor Stanley wanted to stay as far away from him as possible.

Professor Stanley was about to call his assistant to make him another cup of coffee when his assistant suddenly spoke.

"Professor, you have a review invitation from JACS."

Review invitation from JACS?

Interesting.

Professor Stanley said casually, "Print out the paper, let me check it out."

"Okay, professor!"

Professor Stanley suddenly remembered that he forgot to ask for another cup of coffee.

Sigh, I'm getting old, my memory is deteriorating.

Whatever, I'll make it myself.

Professor Stanley sighed and shook his head. He stood up and went to the coffee machine.

When he sat back down at his desk, his student brought over the freshly printed paper.

Professor Stanley drank his coffee as he read the paper title. He couldn't help but sneer.

Lithium-air battery?

Which idiot is it this time?

However, when he looked at the author's name, his eyebrows began to twitch.

Lu Zhou!

"Not this again…"

Professor Stanley took another sip of coffee and pretended like he didn't read the author's name. He began to read the abstract.

However, he couldn't concentrate.

He was halfway through reading the first line of the abstract when he suddenly spat out the coffee from his mouth.

"This despicable thief! Liar! Shameless!"

Professor Stanley ignored the coffee spills on his clothes and stood up.

Everyone in the office was stunned, and they tried not to make eye contact with the grumpy professor.

As Professor Stanley stared at the paper in his hands, his eyes were filled with rage. He wanted to tear the paper to shreds.

Caged carbon molecules!

That was mine!

He would never forget what happened six years ago, where his academic career was demolished by these damn carbon nanospheres!

"When the oxygen purity of one side of the modified PDMS film reaches 96.7%, the carbon nanospheres embedded in the modified PDMS film act as transporters, moving the remaining oxygen molecules…

"This is quite a peculiar phenomenon. The oxygen concentration decreases nonlinearly as the thickness of the modified PDMS material decreases. I think there are two possibilities for this phenomenon… F*ck sake, this little sh*t…"

Professor Stanley's face was as red as a tomato. It was like something was stuck in his throat, stopping him from breathing.

His assistant immediately stepped forward and gave him a glass of water.

He drank the glass of water and was finally able to breathe.

"Thanks…"

He sat back down and squeezed the paper in his hand. His eyes were filled with regret.

I was finessed.

I'm not the only one.

ExxonMobil is also about to be played.

Even though he was finessed by this as*hole six years ago, he didn't expect this "double agent" to play him again six years later…

"Damn it, I should have known…"

Professor Stanley grabbed his hair and looked broken.

Why didn't I try to add the caged carbon molecules to a polymer material, and try to find out its oxygen environment characteristics?

I've done similar experiments before, I'm a master in materials science!

However, reality was often disappointing.

No one would have expected that the modified PDMS film could be used in lithium-air batteries…

Despite Stanley calling Lu Zhou a "thief", he decided to ignore the fact that the model for the material was "stolen" from the Sarrot laboratory…

The students in the office looked at each other; they didn't dare to speak.

Six years ago, most of them were still in their undergraduate studies; some were even in high school…

The assistant looked at his boss and spoke.

"Then… are we rejecting?"

"No…" Professor Stanley scrunched the paper into a ball and threw it in the waste bin. "Approve it!"

Assistant: "…?"

Students: "???"

Approved?!

Look at how furious you are, why are you approving?

The assistant looked at his angry boss, unsure if the professor was kidding or not. The assistant then sat down at his desk and began writing a response to JACS.

Normally, the paper review process took longer, but seeing how the reviewer already finished reading the paper…

The assistant would just respond with some generic review comments.

Professor Stanley looked at his assistant and started to calm down. He quietly muttered to himself, "A research result like this… Even if the Nobel Committee isn't interested in materials science, the American Materials Research Society award committee will take this seriously."

Even though the property of the caged carbon molecules in the modified PDMS film wasn't discovered by him, if it could really be used for lithium-air batteries…

It would benefit Stanley in some way.

But I'm still so f*cking angry!

I can't accept this.

After taking a dozen breaths trying to calm down, Professor Stanley made a decision.

Since this shameful dog is going to use my research as a reference, I'll give him a taste of his own medicine…

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Chapter 969 Decision

Shanghai suburbs.

In a twenty-story office building conference room packed with cardboard boxes, a Caucasian man with a large nose sat at the conference table, across from Li Tinghui. They seemed to be quietly waiting for something.

The clock on the wall hit the hour mark, making a click sound.

It was almost like this sound interrupted Li Tinghui's train of thought, startling him.

He took a deep breath and placed the contract on the table.

"Apologies, but I can't accept your proposal."

This was an acquisition contract, not for Beep Beep Charging, but for himself.

Bobby's offer was quite attractive.

He did his best to sell 60% of his shares to Star Sky Technology for 10 million yuan, but now Tesla was willing to buy the remaining 40% for 10 million.

And if he agreed, this 10 million yuan would go into his own pocket.

Of course, this meant that he was completely out of the game and would lose total control of Beep Beep Charging. The promising charging station startup he founded would turn into a pissing contest between Star Sky Technology and Tesla.

"It's okay, I expected this," the Caucasian man said. He stood up and smiled casually as he said, "I hope you think this through seriously, after all…"

He paused for a second and continued, "You're facing a giant with tens of billions of dollars of assets, even if you're back by Star Sky Technology, you're not a competitor."

Bobby smirked with a disdainful smile.

Elon personally told him to talk with the founder of Beep Beep Charging and try to acquire the remaining 40%.

However, Bobby didn't take Elon's words seriously.

Tesla was the leader in electric vehicles; its brand name was implanted deeply in the alternative energy vehicle industry. It was like the Apple of cars, with an army of loyal supporters.

Now that Tesla had acquired EVgo and mastered its "ultra-fast high power charging station" technology, the first batch of charging stations had gone into production at the Shanghai factory, and they would be deployed at the end of next month.

Wireless charging?

It was a creative idea, but this gimmick stood no chance against the all-mighty Tesla.

By the time they took their product to market, Tesla would have already dominated the Shanghai charging station field.

After they left, the Chief Technology Officer, Wang Qiang, walked next to Li Tinghui and looked at the Tesla Roadster driving off on the streets below.

"CEO Li, those guys were from Tesla?"

Wang Qiang wasn't the only one curious.

The employees in the office also secretly looked over, hoping to hear something interesting.

Faced with his subordinates questioning his decision making, Li Tinghui nodded and said, "Yeah, Tesla's China General Manager, Bobby."

There was a quiet exclaim in the office.

Wang Qiang couldn't help but said, "Our company is becoming more and more nutty. First, we're financed by Star Sky Technology, and now, Tesla wants to invest… Did they talk about the term sheet?"

Li Tinghui was emotionless as he nodded and said, "Kind of…"

He obviously wasn't going to tell them that Bobby wanted to buy him out.

That would defeat morale.

"Then CEO Li, did you agree?"

Li Tinghui looked at his partner's face. He didn't know why, but he suddenly remembered Bobby's face.

Bobby looked at him as if he were an ant.

Li Tinghui felt a burning sensation in his chest. He looked at his co-workers and suddenly spoke.

"No."

The office went quiet.

Chief Technology Officer Wang Qiang had his mouth wide open.

No?!

This is Tesla!

The electric vehicles giant!

He didn't know why his CEO would refuse the offer, refuse to receive help from Tesla.

Li Tinghui looked at the surprised employees and knew what they were speaking. He spoke calmly.

"Tesla didn't come to us with an offer, they came with a gun.

"Some of you might know this already, but listen carefully, Tesla has acquired EVgo and wants to penetrate the Chinese charging station market. Tesla is our competitor. Tesla is not our friend. Receiving financing from them means capitulating to them!

"Our goal is to become the largest charging station company in China, or even in the world! Not just some subsidiary of Tesla!

"We won't bow down to those Americans!

"You want their help? Keep on dreaming! The second they acquire us, they're going to break us down and pave the way for EVgo to control the Yangtze River Delta city group area. They're going to sell our own energy back to our citizens!"

Li Tinghui didn't care if his employees understood him.

Those were his true thoughts.

The office was dead silent.

Some people were confused, some people were shocked…

Someone applauded.

Then, like dominos, thunderous applause filled the entire office.

Li Tinghui took a deep breath and nodded.

"Thank you.

"It's an honor to work with you all."

…

Whether it was because of ambition or blind optimism, Li Tinghui wasn't worried at all. In fact, he was more relaxed than he had ever been.

His competitor was EVgo, a subsidiary of Tesla.

It was foreseeable that all Tesla electric vehicles would only be compatible with EVgo chargers.

However, now was not the time to worry about this. There was something else more important.

One was the relocation of his office.

The other was to negotiate with shopping malls, residential areas, and other parking lots in Shanghai regarding obtaining exclusive wireless charging station locations…

Office building, cafeteria.

Li Tinghui was sitting in a secluded corner, listening to the news on TV.

The CTV channel suddenly began to talk about a recent breakthrough in the lithium-air battery, with Professor Lu's new paper in JACS making the news.

Lithium-air battery?

Li Tinghui looked at hte TV screen in shock.

That is some high-tech stuff…

Lithium-sulfur battery was just invented, and now it's about to be obsolete?

He ate some rice and chewed while thinking.

Even though he wasn't in the materials science field, as an electrical engineer, he still knew a little bit about materials science.

If there really was a breakthrough in lithium-air batteries, that meant that the driving range of electric vehicles would increase to a whole nother level. This would decrease the desirability of battery swapping.

After all, not only did the user have to pay for electricity, but they also had to pay for external costs such as battery removal and replacement. Only long-distance travelers had the motive to exchange money for their time.

For most civilians running to the grocery store, the lithium-sulfur batteries had plenty of juice. They could easily charge their batteries at night.

This was undoubtedly good news for Beep Beep Charging.

After the lithium-air battery news segment, the news anchor began to talk about iron ore prices continuing to rise. According to trustworthy sources, due to the increase in Asia's infrastructure market, the prices of raw materials had increased.

Li Tinghui wasn't very concerned with the futures market, so he placed his attention back to eating.

He didn't realize what kind of impact the lithium-air batteries would have on the charging station market…

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Chapter 970 This Is Horrifying!

Ever since the lithium-sulfur battery breakthrough, various disputes and debates in the battery industry had disappeared. Both the academic community and the industry quietly adopted the new technology.

A bunch of aluminum ion battery projects had been cut off. Instead, companies had redirected their research and development to improve the "modified PDMS materials and HCS-2 materials". These research projects were focused on increasing the energy density and safety of lithium-sulfur batteries.

The reason for this was because lithium was the king of batteries. It was simply impossible for any other periodic element to have a higher energy density than lithium, due to lithium's position on the periodic table.

Lithium batteries had always been the apex predator of batteries, while the lithium-air battery was considered the holy grail of lithium batteries.

Trying to surpass it through changing materials alone was impossible. It would have to be something that wasn't considered a chemical battery. For example, instead of using the electrochemical energy, the battery would instead use some kind of fusion energy…

However, while everyone believed that the lithium-sulfur batteries would dominate the battery industry for at least the next fifty years…

A paper published in JACS in the middle of March broke the silence!

At the parking lot of a kindergarten in Jinling, two parents stood beside their cars smoking. Because they were both car enthusiasts, they started to talk about the news.

"Did you hear the news?"

"What news?"

"The Jinling Institute for Advanced Study invented this lithium-air battery! Apparently, it's double the capacity of lithium-sulfur batteries."

The bald parent was stunned. He spoke with his eyes wide open.

"No way?! They're all made from lithium, can they really double the capacity? I think it'll add at most a hundred or two hundred kilometers to the range."

The tall parent pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and spoke.

"Who knows, I'm not an expert. But think about it… it might be possible. I mean, lithium-air batteries use air as the positive electrode, right?"

"… Yeah, why?"

"Think about it, if the air is used as the positive electrode, that means the weight of the battery will be reduced, right? Reducing weight means the energy density will increase! I think this makes sense!"

The bald parent finally understood.

However, he suddenly frowned and slapped his thigh.

"F*ck, why the f*ck did I buy the new Tesla Model-S then!"

The skinny owner was startled.

"Oh sh*t, I didn't know you were a baller!"

"Not a baller." The bald owner flicked his cigarette and said, "I missed out huge this time."

The skinner owner gloated and began comforting his bald friend.

"Haha, it will take a while before the technology is implemented. Just enjoy your car, maybe you'll be able to swap out the battery. Also, why are you worrying, even these car manufacturers are not worrying. Haha, thank god I didn't buy a new car, I'll wait a bit and see what happens!"

Similar speculations on the battery were going on in many places.

The CTV news report was just the beginning.

The minute Professor Lu and his lithium-air battery appeared on the news, numerous reports and articles began popping up.

[Invention of lithium-air battery! The energy industry is going through a revolution?]

[Scientific genius! Another invention was made by Professor Lu?]

[One small battery is going to change the world!]

[The US Dollar is in jeopardy, we must stop China from manipulating the oil prices again!]

[…]

The only thing that could defeat lithium batteries, was lithium batteries.

Lithium-air batteries were no longer "science fiction".

Oil prices didn't become volatile due to this event… at least not as volatile as when the lithium-sulfur batteries were invented. However, the ExxonMobil CEO shouted in his office building in Texas.

"F*ck!"

Woods slammed his fist on the table and swept the documents off his desk. His blood was boiling.

"This shameless thief! Liar!"

His chest was shaking violently, so he took a deep breath and tried to calm down. He then glared at his secretary who was sitting at a desk nearby.

"Find the file! I want to know in the next five minutes, which company owns the patent to the caged carbon molecules!"

Lithium-air batteries would mainly impact the lithium-sulfur batteries industry, increasing the market competitiveness of electric vehicles in the long term. However, oil prices wouldn't be affected in the short term.

However…

This patent was originally theirs!

Now, this patent contained a key material in lithium-air battery technology! It was almost like throwing away rubbish that contained a diamond inside. Woods felt like he couldn't breathe.

The only thing he hoped was that he still had time to buy back the patent before Star Sky Technology and Lu Zhou could react…

However…

Reality was often cruel.

His secretary's trembling voice made him lose all hope.

"The patent was bought by a foreign trade company registered in California around three years ago…"

Woods cursed in his heart and suddenly had a thought.

However, he didn't want to believe himself.

He didn't want to imagine what would happen if…

Woods clenched his fist and said to his secretary, "Find the patent number! I want to know who owns the patent now."

He swore that once he found out which company owned the patent, he would do everything he could to acquire it and amend his mistake! He knew he could do this, especially with ExxonMobil's resources.

He only needed a shareholder to sell-out and put himself on the board of directors of that company, then make a deal the shareholders couldn't refuse.

It would be perfect if the company was a public company, then he would have more room to maneuver.

"I'm searching…"

The secretary suddenly froze.

The secretary had a bitter expression on his face as he knew his answer would drive his boss crazy.

"The company that owns the patent is…

"Star Sky Technology."

Star Sky Technology…

Woods relaxed his shoulders and smiled calmly.

He finally understood what was going on.

This started from the experiment six years ago, where the tides changed when the assistant leaked the model to Professor Stanley.

Not only did Professor Lu deliberately leak information, but he also used ExxonMobil's resources and Professor Stanley to research key lithium-air battery technologies. They were even fooled into throwing away crucial patents that didn't apply to lithium-sulfur batteries…

The more he thought about it, the more terrified he was. A beat of sweat dripped down Woods' forehead.

That guy…

Was six years ahead of me.

Is he even human?

His plan… is horrifying…

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Chapter 971 I Know Who Did the Work

"Achoo!"

Lu Zhou rubbed his nose and muttered to himself, "Xiao Ai, why am I sneezing all the time, I don't feel like I'm sick."

He had been sneezing more and more frequently these days.

Strange thing was that he didn't show any signs of a cold.

It felt like someone was talking about him behind his back again…

A string of bubbles appeared on the lower right corner of his computer screen.

Xiao Ai: [Master, Master, I know, someone must be talking about how handsome you are.]

Lu Zhou saw the text and awkwardly smiled.

This little thing…

Even though its intelligence hadn't increased after the upgrade, it had gotten better at compliments.

Which was exactly what Lu Zhou liked.

Lu Zhou was about to continue working on his research project when he suddenly received a phone call.

He picked up the phone and spoke.

"Hello?"

"Hello? Academician Lu, it's me, Old Lu, do you still remember me?"

Emm…

Old Lu?

Lu Zhou paused for a second.

Honestly, he didn't remember who that was.

Seeing how Lu Zhou didn't speak, the other end of the phone suddenly felt awkward.

"Um. you didn't… forget about me, right?"

"Of course not…"

Lu Zhou frowned and thought for a while. Suddenly, a name popped up in his head, and his eyes lit up as he said, "Director Lu?"

Director Lu Kaimin from the Energy Bureau!

These two had interacted before on the controllable nuclear fusion project and the lithium-sulfur battery project.

Ever since the controllable nuclear fusion project ended, the Energy Bureau shifted their focus from renewable energy to nuclear fusion energy. Lu Zhou left the nuclear fusion field, so the two had rarely interacted in recent years.

Instead, the State Administration for National Defense took over the renewable energy industry, which resulted in Lu Zhou working more often with them.

Lu Zhou smiled and asked, "Director Lu, why are you calling me, do you need something?"

Director Lu smiled and said, "Oh, nothing, nothing, just wondering, where are you right now?"

Lu Zhou twisted the pen in his hand and said, "I'm in Jinling… at the Jin University mathematics department office, why?"

Director Lu was overjoyed, and he said, "Nothing, just wait there, I'll be there in the afternoon! The plane is about to take off, talk to you later."

Lu Zhou: "…"

Even though Director Lu told him he was coming, Lu Zhou still didn't expect him to arrive this fast.

The day after the JACS paper was published, this old director came all the way to Jinling to see his friend.

Jin Ling University, mathematics department building.

The grinning old man walked into the office and spoke charismatically.

"Academician Lu, long time no see, how have you been?"

"Yeah, it's been a while." Lu Zhou put down his pen and said, "Did Director Li persuade you to come here?"

"What do you mean persuade? No, nothing to do with him! I just saw your JACS paper, so…" Director Li said. He wasn't sure how to explain himself, so he said, "Forget about that… Did you guys really make a lithium-air battery?"

Lu Zhou thought for a second before saying, "Some of the technologies have been invented, and the rest is about solving the design problems."

Once they had finished researching the materials, designing the product was easy. Not to mention that he still had Debris No.1 as a reference model, so he could easily make a copy and achieve similar energy densities.

As Director Lu sat down on the sofa, Lu Zhou looked at Assistant Zhao and spoke.

"Zhao Huan, pour Director Lu a cup of tea."

"Okay, professor!"

Zhao Huan stood up and walked to the cupboard. She took out a teapot and poured some into a porcelain cup. She then placed the cup on the table and spoke.

"Director Lu, please enjoy."

"Oh, thank you."

The old director took a sip and spoke dramatically.

"This is amazing tea!"

Lu Zhou: "Want to take some home?"

Director Lu waved his hand and said, "No thanks, I know where you got this from, we have a ton at home."

Lu Zhou: "…"

Then why did you pretend like it was your first time drinking it!

Honestly speaking, Lu Zhou couldn't taste the difference between good tea and bad tea. Rarely did he drink tea.

Every holiday, people would give him a bunch of gifts. He would send back some of them, and as for the rest, he would try to give away.

Lu Zhou knew that Director Lu had something to say, so he looked at Assistant Zhao and spoke.

"Zhao Huan, bring this to the teaching affairs department for me."

"Okay, professor!"

Assistant Zhao took the documents from Lu Zhou's desk and left.

Lu Zhou looked at He Changwen, the only other person left in the office.

"He Changwen, you should—"

Before Lu Zhou could finish, the PhD student kept his laptop and stood up.

"Okay, professor, I'll go to the library."

Lu Zhou smiled with satisfaction.

Quite a smart kid.

Saved me from having to make up an excuse.

Lu Zhou and Director Lu were the only two left in the office.

Seeing how there was no one else in the room, Director Lu relaxed and said, "I was scared to speak in front of your students."

Lu Zhou smiled and said, "Well, you can speak now."

"Remember how Director Li brought back a calculator of yours? Apparently, the second he landed in Beijing, he took the calculator to Chang'an Avenue. There was quite a commotion! I was there in person, and apparently, the old academician that inspected the calculator nearly passed out."

Lu Zhou was a little worried.

"Is everyone okay?"

"They're fine." Director Lu smiled and said, "There was a medical team on standby."

Director Lu continued to speak emotionally, "Honestly, we didn't expect you to be this crazy, you already produced a carbon processor. The lithium-air batteries have plagued the energy industry for decades, but now, you solved that as well."

Lu Zhou shook his head and said, "It wasn't solved by me alone. Whether it was the carbon processor or the lithium-air battery, it was a team effort."

Director Lu obviously thought Lu Zhou was being too humble.

The old man waved his hand and said, "Okay, fine, stop humble bragging. I know who did the real work here."

Lu Zhou looked confused and didn't respond.

Director Lu took another sip of tea and spoke enthusiastically.

"So, about the lithium-air batteries, I want to know… its energy density."

Lu Zhou contemplated for a second and gave a conservative answer.

"Energy density… it's difficult to estimate. But theoretically, it should be at least 1.5 times that of lithium-sulfur batteries."

Director Lu's eyes suddenly lit up. He rested his hands on his knees and spoke solemnly.

"I have another question, Academician Lu!"

Seeing how Director Lu was so serious, Lu Zhou put on a serious face as well and spoke.

"Go ahead."

However…

Director Lu's question was a bit unexpected.

Or rather, Lu Zhou didn't expect him to ask the question so directly…

"Can we use lithium-air batteries… on tanks?!"

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Chapter 972 Have to Help Us

Using it on tanks…

Faced with Director Lu's solemn and earnest face, Lu Zhou finally knew why this old man was here.

In fact, research on electrical tanks was nothing novel.

"Dr. Porsche" had done similar research in the 1930s.

The VK4501P tank had a PorscheType101/1 air-cooled engine, where the power generated by the engine was stored in a battery, which was used to drive the two 275kW motors.

However, due to the limitation of technology back then, the electric tanks didn't provide a huge advantage on the battlefield. Only the "differential steering system" technology from the tank was retained.

With the continuous advancement of science and technology, the concept of electric tanks had been widely talked about in the military industry.

Lu Zhou speculated that Director Lu wasn't only asking about tanks.

What Director Lu really wanted to know was if the dividends from controllable nuclear fusion could overflow to the military industry…

"You would have to ask a military expert for that." Lu Zhou thought for a second and said, "But in my opinion, whether it is lithium-sulfur batteries or lithium-air batteries, they all have limited application in the military field."

Director Lu was a little worried, so he immediately asked, "Why?"

"Safety." Lu Zhou sighed and said, "Chemical batteries use redox reaction to convert chemical potential energy to electrical energy. Since there's a redox reaction going on, there will be stability issues. Lithium can spontaneously ignite in the air. If hit by something like a shell, it wouldn't just be engine oil leakage, it would one hundred percent result in an internal explosion."

Surely someone told him about this before.

Like Lu Zhou had expected, Director Lu didn't look surprised.

"Oh, I see."

Director Lu had a look of sadness on his face.

Obviously, Beijing already held a technical meeting regarding this topic, and judging by his reaction, he was on the supportive side of lithium-air battery application in military fields. However, it seemed like it was already shown to be technically infeasible.

The old man stared at the teacup on the coffee table for a long time. He raised his head and asked reluctantly, "Is there no room for improvement? For example, make a battery that is more stable and still has a high energy density?"

"That's not something that can be done with a chemical battery…"

Lu Zhou shook his head and paused for a second before he spoke again.

"Actually… I don't know a lot about the military. However, from what I understand, even though it is not reliable to use lithium-air batteries for front-line units such as tanks, if you used it on non-combat units such as transport vehicles and trucks, or even logistics helicopters, it might be possible."

An electric engine had the advantage of lower noise and better control.

There were many other advantages of having a fully electric logistics system, especially under the premise of having access to electrical facilities.

Director Lu began to think, while Lu Zhou smiled and spoke, "Actually I'm a liberal, I haven't done a lot of research on weapons. But if the military needs my advice, all I can say is to focus on other places instead of chemical batteries."

Director Lu immediately asked, "Like what?"

Lu Zhou said, "Like controllable fusion technology. I've already made a miniaturized controllable fusion battery. Even though there are many cost restrictions, in a decade or so, the fusion battery might achieve the level of results you desire."

Miniaturization of controllable fusion technology had already been used in spacecraft such as Starlight and Magpie Bridge. Apparently, the newest generation of nuclear submarines was also using fusion batteries.

Lu Zhou remembered seeing a large order from the Chinese Navy regarding fusion batteries.

Wanting to apply this technology to land units would require a reduction in cost and battery size, but who knew what could happen in the future?

As long as they continued down this research path, this technology would continue to improve.

…

No matter how much Lu Zhou talked about fusion batteries, the Director of the Energy Bureau and the electric vehicle industry were still going crazy over the lithium-air batteries.

Several Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers had summoned engineers to study Lu Zhou's paper. They were able to deduce that the lithium-air batteries wouldn't have a huge effect on them; they only had to add a front air intake grill.

In short, the electric vehicle manufacturers were relieved.

However, even though they had a chance to breathe, this wasn't over.

Due to the new uncertainties in the electric vehicle industry, BYD and other companies had postponed releasing their latest cars. They had begun designing new vehicles that contained an air intake grill that would fit the standards of lithium-air batteries.

Even though fewer consumers were purchasing cars, due to the continued decline in electricity prices and the steady progress of domestic oil prices, the overall impact wasn't huge for them.

However, while the car manufactures were relieved, the car battery manufacturers were having a breakdown.

The boss, who finally made up his mind to upgrade the production line to lithium-sulfur batteries, had aged ten years overnight.

The electric vehicle industry was becoming more and more prosperous, but their products were outdated…

Zhongshan New Materials warehouse.

Liu Wanshan looked at the mountain of lithium-sulfur battery stock while smoking a cigarette.

Standing next to the boss was the secretary. The secretary wanted to complain but didn't know who to complain about…

"Is Star Sky Technology… planning on shutting us down?"

Liu Wanshan tapped the cigarette and sighed.

"This is a disaster."

Even though the stock price of Zhongshan New Materials soared a while ago, their sales had plummeted.

Some small factories even breached their contracts and refused to buy more batteries. Hence, the large amount of stock in his warehouse.

The only positive side was that they weren't the only ones faced with this situation; the entire battery industry was upside down. Going further up the supply chain, the lithium material industry was also a mess

This wouldn't be lethal for them.

However, it would definitely hurt.

The secretary standing next to Liu Wanshan spoke.

"Boss, what do we… do now?"

Liu Wanshan took a drag and contemplated for a second before speaking.

"Turn off the battery production line temporarily, transfer some workers to the mobile battery production line. For the modified PDMS materials and HCS-2 materials production, urge downstream manufacturers to pay for them as soon as possible. We need the cash flow. When the lithium-air batteries come out, we will go full force ahead. In any case, we have to maintain cash flow and survive!"

The secretary nodded.

"Okay, I'll do that right now."

Liu Wanshan looked at the pile of stock in the warehouse and felt a headache.

He walked out of the factory and threw his cigarette in a trash can. He looked back at the warehouse again.

Those batteries are worth tens of millions!

Liu Wanshan was unwilling to give up.

"No, I have to talk with Professor Lu.

"Star Sky Technology owns a part of us, they have to help us!"

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Chapter 973 Professor Stanley"s Break

Even though lithium-air batteries had yet to exist, its news had already blinded people's eyes. When an earthquake like this hit the industry, it was bound to affect the academic community.

Some people were amazed, some were unconvinced.

Some people were overjoyed, others were furious.

This affected billions of scientific research funding and countless people's ability to complete their graduation thesis.

After all, most of the projects related to lithium-ion batteries had been cut. Even professors in this field were having a difficult time, much less their students…

At the North American materials science conference held in downtown Boston, Massachusetts.

Materials science experts from all over the world gathered here.

The main topic of this conference was going to be the latest research on molybdenum disulfide monolayer material, which was funded by Microsoft, Intel, and other companies. This material was favored by the academic community to be the future semiconductor material.

However, clearly something more significant had happened.

Lithium-air batteries overshadowed everything else.

During the first report at the conference, Professor Stanley walked on stage wearing a tuxedo. He announced the advent of the lithium-air battery era with a passionate tone, and how amazing his caged carbon molecule was…

This year's materials science conference went wild.

Most people thought this guy was being a pretentious prick.

Even though no one threw their shoe on stage, the entire report was in chaos.

Most research competitors were furious, and they placed all of their anger on Professor Stanley.

For example, Dr. Curtis from the Argonne National Laboratory.

In collaboration with Professor Amin Salehi Khojin from the University of Illinois, Chicago, they successfully created a method that achieved a 700-cycle lithium-air battery.

After the lithium dendrites problem was solved, they were able to increase this number to 900. Now, this number was in the 1000s.

If it weren't for the caged carbon molecules, they could have been the ones on stage presenting!

Even Professor Curtis, who was normally calm and collected, was boiling with rage. Curtis asked numerous questions during the Qu0026A session, in hopes of finding a problem with Stanley's caged carbon molecules.

Of course, Curtis knew that nothing would come of this…

The evening banquet was held in a five-star hotel next to the venue.

Professor Stanley was wearing a tuxedo, and his hair was shiny and slicked backward. He smiled arrogantly toward his peers and exchanged business cards with industry leaders.

The report went wonderfully for him.

Because Lu Zhou didn't personally come to the conference, as the inventor of the material, he was the center of attention.

Even though other scholars were unhappy at him, why should he care?

They were his enemies.

His priority was to network with these powerful industry leaders. They were the ones that could fund his research. All his peers did was laugh at him when he failed.

Actually, Professor Stanley had an epiphany.

He thought about it carefully and realized that other than humiliating him, Lu Zhou didn't do anything malicious.

The patent?

That was ExxonMobil's property anyway. He was the one who signed the research and development agreement.

Ruining his relationship with ExxonMobil?

His reputation in the industry?

He had indeed suffered quite a lot over the past six years, but now he was the center of attention among major companies.

So, why should he hold any grudges against Lu Zhou?

Stanley listened to people's compliments and watched as those that once abandoned him crawled back to him. He couldn't describe how happy he was.

The dean of the chemistry department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was an old professor who used to work with him in the battery field. The professor firmly shook his hand and said enthusiastically, "Congratulations, Professor Stanley! After lithium-air batteries enter the market, the Nobel Prize Committee will definitely consider you and Professor Lu for an award… Why don't you come to MIT? I think we can provide the resources and environment for your next project! I promise you'll be satisfied."

When Professor Stanley heard the name Professor Lu, his eyebrows twitched.

However, he wasn't new in the academic community.

Even though there was a twinge in his heart, he was able to control his emotions and speak gently with his old friend.

"Thanks… but Binghamton University has already promised to make me the head of the chemistry department… I don't plan on moving in the short term."

Even though the MIT professor was a little disappointed, he had nothing else to offer Stanley. It wasn't like he could give his job title to Stanley.

The MIT professor nodded and spoke.

"I understand. I mean, for us scholars, a stable environment is more important than anything… If you ever want to come to MIT, be sure to contact me."

Stanley nodded lightly.

"I definitely will."

Normally, he wouldn't speak this casually to the head of chemistry at MIT; after all, this person was also a board member of the American Chemical Society.

However, he was at the same level as this professor, or even a level higher.

While Professor Stanley was indulging in the attention, someone quickly walked into the banquet hall and found him.

Stanley saw the person and spoke with surprise.

"Woods? My dear friend, what… happened to you?"

Long gone was the sharp and bright person Stanley once knew; instead, the person standing in front of him looked aged and decrepit.

"Something happened." Woods took a deep breath and looked into Professor Stanley's eyes as he said, "Listen, we had some misunderstandings before, we cut off your research project, but now—"

"Stop right there," Professor Stanley said. "Just tell me, what do you want?"

"ExxonMobil wants you to come back," Woods said sincerely. "You are the inventor of the caged carbon molecules. We all know that this honor should belong to you, not that Chinese guy. We need a similar compound, something that won't conflict with their patent…"

After hearing Woods, Professor Stanley went silent for a while and sighed.

"Just give up, Woods, I know you don't want to, but he is not our enemy."

Woods froze for a second before he spoke anxiously.

"We're just going to watch them rise to the top? Control the future of our energy industry? The nuclear power plant in California is about to be built, the lithium-air battery will crush the market! Everyone wants cleaner and cheaper energy. But think about how many jobs will be lost if oil prices plummet! If we don't have the patent for lithium-air batteries, we have no room to fight back!"

Countless jobs lost…

Isn't that what you greedy capitalists want?

Of course, Stanley would never say this out loud.

Professor Stanley paused for a second and looked at Woods.

"Listen, I know what you're feeling right now, but what can we do? The patent clearly states the terms, unless you can convince Lu Zhou to sell you the patent… My advice is to forget about it.

"Also, I don't know if you've noticed, but I've been doing very well over the past six years. A few days ago, I was angry, and I wanted to strangle that little sh*t, but now…

"My eyes are open."

In reality, Stanley was scared.

He didn't know if Lu Zhou planned all of these six years ahead, but he did know that his academic career was nearly ruined because of Lu Zhou.

Now that he had finally risen again, mostly due to Lu Zhou's research, he never wanted to go against Lu Zhou again.

After all, he wasn't young anymore.

He didn't have any more time to waste in his career!

Professor Stanley shrugged and stared at Woods.

"As for the jobs lost, that's Congress' problem, not ours."

Woods watched Stanley pat his shoulder and walk away. Stanley turned around and began chatting with the big names in the industry.

Woods stood there motionlessly for a while.

Suddenly, he looked down at the floor.

He muttered to himself, "Congress…

"That is Congress' problem…

"He's right!"

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Chapter 974 Nuttier Than Lithium-Sulfur batteries

A lot of people had been visiting Lu Zhou recently.

First was the director of the State Administration for National Defense, then was a high-ranked official from the Energy Bureau. After that, Luo Wenxuan and Chen Yang asked him to help with the "quantum mechanical system of the random Hermitian matrix corresponding to the Riemann function" and the "Hodge conjecture". Lu Zhou just wanted to focus on his own research project, but he couldn't just refuse to help others either.

He was supposed to be working on the significance of the Riemann zeta function with Luo Wenxuan together, so he had to contribute, at least a little.

As for Chen Yang's research project, Chen Yang needed help with the hyperelliptic curve analysis method. Also, Lu Zhou was the one that said to ask him for help, thus making it even harder for him to refuse to help Chen Yang…

On the last Monday in March, Lu Zhou yawned as he walked out of the house. He was planning on going to the Jin University mathematics department building, but he saw a chubby man at his front gate, holding a gift bag with a smile on his face.

Lu Zhou paused for a second and spoke.

"CEO Liu? What are you…"

"It's the holidays, I brought some gifts!"

Liu Wanshan walked through the front gate and said, "You scientists are working too hard, staying in the laboratory all day, I'm worried about your health. So I got some mountain herbs from Changbai Mountain. Add it to your soups, it's good for cleansing toxins!"

Lu Zhou: "…"

Holidays…

Lu Zhou thought about it and realized that the only holidays coming up was Tomb-Sweeping Day and April Fool's Day.

However, this was not the time to care about details.

Lu Zhou knew the CEO had good intentions, so he accepted CEO Liu's gift and invited the CEO into his home.

Lu Zhou looked at the beautifully packaged ginseng, feng, and tuber fleece flower. He was a little baffled.

I'm perfectly healthy, why do I need all this stuff?

"You're too kind."

Lu Zhou poured Liu Wanshan a cup of tea as they sat down on the sofa. He then said, "I have to go to the university, so let's skip the small talk. I know you like to get straight to the point."

Liu Wanshan smiled awkwardly.

"I guess you know why I'm here, okay then."

This normally composed and calm CEO spoke in an aggrieved tone.

"Remember how the alternative energy market was booming? I was thinking about how it's a shame we're only selling lithium material as it was a wasted opportunity. So I bought a small factory and also began assembling and producing lithium-sulfur batteries."

Lu Zhou nodded and said, "What's wrong with that?"

"The problem is your thesis." Liu Wanshan patted his leg and sighed as he said, "When your thesis came out, especially when CTV reported it, the alternative energy industry plummeted to the floor.

"A few weeks ago, we were doing fine, and we had more orders than we could handle. We even had to hire new people. However, now, we don't have a single order! Not just that, but people are forfeiting their deposits and refusing to buy from us! Now we have a mountain of battery stock. We don't make cars, what are we supposed to do!"

Lu Zhou frowned and said, "It would take months before lithium-air batteries are mass-producible. Also, this should be a good thing for the alternative energy industry."

"I'm not afraid of new technology, it's just that everyone wants to sit around and wait for this new technology to come out." Liu Wanshan sighed and said, "It's obviously good for electric vehicle companies, but for us small factories, this is a disaster."

You think you're a small factory?!

Lu Zhou looked at Liu Wanshan and couldn't help but think.

You're the CEO of a public company, can you man up?

However, I guess I did forget about this side of things.

Lu Zhou just wrote the paper according to Chen Yushan's instructions. He didn't expect the media and industry to overinterpret his thesis.

Lithium-air batteries do exist, but I didn't say that in my paper!

Liu Wanshan looked at Lu Zhou and asked politely, "I'm not asking for anything ridiculous, but since you do own shares in Zhongshan New Materials, you should think about the factory workers… Maybe publish something that says that lithium-air battery technology will take a long time to produce, just give us some room to breathe."

Liu Wanshan thought that writing a paper was a piece of cake for Lu Zhou.

Lu Zhou could even ask his students to write one for him.

However, Lu Zhou didn't think this way. He thought about the idea of writing another paper and instantly had a headache.

"I admit this is my fault; I didn't prepare well," Lu Zhou said. He coughed and continued, "But I won't write a paper like that, the most important trait in academia is seeking the truth. It's okay if I don't tell the full truth, but I won't speak anything but the truth!"

Not to mention that Chen Yushan told him that she was playing "4D chess".

Lu Zhou was curious about what kind of plan she had in mind.

Seeing how Academician Lu had no intention to help at all, Liu Wanshan was full of disappointment.

Of course, he didn't entirely blame Lu Zhou for not helping. First of all, he was in no position to blame Lu Zhou, and secondly, he understood Lu Zhou's reasons.

After all, Lu Zhou was the representative of China's academic community. That was more valuable than any company's profits.

Liu Wanshan got up and was planning on saying goodbye, but Lu Zhou suddenly spoke.

"Oh yeah, I nearly forgot, send some engineers from the factory to the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study."

Liu Wanshan paused for a second and said, "Engineer?"

Lu Zhou nodded and said, "Yeah, I plan on integrating wireless charging technology with lithium-air batteries. You guys have experience in car battery production, and we have the lithium-air battery technology. We should work together."

Lu Zhou smiled.

"That depends on if you're interested in producing something nuttier than lithium-sulfur batteries."

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Chapter 975 Terrifying Connections

Life was always full of ups and downs.

Who would have guessed that the shy kid talking to him at the Purple Mountain Hotel became a world-renowned university student?

Who would have guessed that a company making mixed carbon cement material would transform into an industry giant in the alternative energy field?

Liu Wanshan would have never imagined it. He thought that it would be amazing to reach the billion yuan mark, he never would have imagined earning billions in just a few years' time; he might even end up on Forbes soon…

He thought that the reason he stood here today was because of his tenacity and his willingness to seize opportunities.

Working with Professor Lu was an inflection point in his life.

Now that lithium-air batteries had become a reality, the era of printing money with lithium-sulfur batteries was over; the entire industry was being turned upside down…

Liu Wanshan felt like he was at another turning point in his life.

And this time, he hoped that he made the right decision…

High-tech zone area, Zhongshan New Materials factory.

Just a few days ago, Liu Wanshan was still worried about his overstocked inventory, but ever since he returned from Professor Lu's house, he had been as happy as a clam.

The assistant didn't know what was going on, so he walked up to CEO Liu and asked, "Hey, boss, what's the good news?"

Liu Wanshan smiled and said, "Go gather the senior engineers at the plant."

The assistant was confused, and he asked, "For what?"

Liu Wanshan smiled and said, "To help the Institute for Advanced Study! What else? Call Professor Li Rongen, he should be interested… Forget about it, I'll call him myself."

The assistant looked at the boss and said, "But those guys are the backbone of our factory, and we need them to adjust the production line. If we send them away… What's going to happen to our factory?"

"Why are you in such a worry! Why would we need to adjust the production line, you don't even know what we're producing! From now on, shut off all electric vehicle lithium-sulfur batteries production and only focus on small-sized batteries!"

Seeing how the boss didn't seem to be joking, the assistant began to sweat.

"But—"

"No buts, just do what I say!" Liu Wanshan laughed and said, "Once our engineers come back from the Institute for Advanced Study, you'll realize how wise my decision is!"

…

Zhongshan New Materials urgently dispatched a team of engineers to the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study. Beep Beep Charging, on the other hand, finally finished the relocation of their research and development team. They moved from Shanghai to the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study.

The process wasn't smooth; in fact, they paid quite a price.

First of all, not everyone was happy to move for their job. And because of the recent changes in the company's structure, people's expectations of the company's future had been disrupted. In the end, only five technicians were willing to follow Wang Qiang and to move to Jinling.

A week ago, there were a dozen technicians…

In addition to the loss of talent, what disappointed Wang Qiang the most, the Chief Technology Officer of Beep Beep Charging, was that these people didn't receive the best hospitality at the Institute for Advanced Study…

One could even make the case that they were being mistreated.

What bothered him the most was that they had to move from Shanghai to Jinling because of Star Sky Technology, but now, the people at Star Sky were treating them coldly…

He almost wanted to resign!

"Did you bring the designs?"

Wang Qiang looked at the grumpy old man and nodded.

"I did."

The old man frowned.

"Let me see."

Wang Qiang took out the blueprint and handed it over.

The old man casually glanced at the blueprint designs.

Wang Qiang was expecting a comprehensive evaluation, but the old man snorted and spoke.

"What the hell is this?"

Wang Qiang nearly fainted.

Wang Qiang's colleagues couldn't stand this anymore, and a man with a bald cut stepped forward and spoke furiously.

"We spent months with our supervisor on this design! Let's see your design then!"

"Brother Zhao, it's fine."

"Get off me!"

The old man looked at the young engineer and spoke with a smile.

"Who is your supervisor?"

Wang Qiang paused for a second and said, "Professor Liu Zhongpei, an electrical engineering professor from Aurora University!"

Even though Liu Zhongpei wasn't an academician, nor was he in the Changjiang Scholars Program, he was still well known in his respective field and had participated in many scientific research projects.

For example, his supervisor worked on the Haizhou demonstration reactor project.

However, after hearing this name, the old man…

Didn't react at all.

"Liu Zhongpei?" The old man frowned and thought for a second. He then shook his head and said, "Don't know him."

No wonder these students created this garbage. I don't even know who their supervisor is.

Of course, the old man didn't say this out loud.

If he did, the student engineers might have punched him in the face.

However, even though the old man didn't say anything, his face told the whole story.

The researcher named Zhao couldn't stand this anymore.

"Who are you then?!"

"Me?" The old man raised his eyebrows and said, "Professor Lu asked me to help you, and he didn't tell you who I am?"

Wang Qiang froze.

So did the researcher named Zhao.

The other young researchers looked at one another.

When they first came to the Institute for Advanced Study, they were told to find Professor Wang, but they didn't know who this Wang person was…

No one had ever mentioned it to them.

The old man wasn't angry at the fact that the students didn't recognize him. Instead, he smiled and said, "Don't you millennials love using your phone? I'm Wang Zengguang, go find me on Baidu."

He shook his head and walked away.

Wang Qiang took out his phone and searched up the name. Someone behind him exclaimed, "Wang, Academician Wang Zengguang!"

Academician?

Wang Qiang looked at the researcher and spoke.

"You found him?"

The researcher nodded and handed over his phone.

Wang Qiang looked at the phone and instantly froze.

Academician Wang Zengguang!

The chief engineer of the China National Nuclear Corporation!

Leader in the domestic nuclear and electrical engineering industry! Worked on Pangu, ferrofluid electric energy, and other fusion reactor projects!

Wang Qiang finally remembered who this person was.

Wang Qiang knew this old man looked familiar; that was the reason he took the criticism so quietly.

But now, he finally realized why the old man looked familiar…

Back when Wang Qiang was still in school…

Wang Qiang remembered his supervisor talking about someone else other than Lu Zhou, who was a god in the field of nuclear engineering.

It turned out that his supervisor's idol was Academician Wang. Academician Wang's ferrofluid electric energy generator was even taught in textbooks around the country…

Wang Qiang was shocked.

He finally realized why CEO Li was so confident that Star Sky Technology could guide them to success, that he even refused help from Tesla.

I can't believe Lu Zhou was able to get this guy to help us…

There's no way we won't succeed!

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Jin University, mathematics department building.

The phone was ringing, and Academician Wang was the one calling.

The second the phone was connected, a hearty voice came through the phone.

"Old Lu, those guys you brought aren't the best!"

When Lu Zhou heard "Old Lu", he nearly spat out the water in his mouth.

Lu Zhou snorted and felt his eyes tearing up. He coughed for a while before saying, "Can you not call me old? I'm at least a generation younger than you!"

Even though I'm approaching my thirties, I'm still in my twenties! I look older than I am, but still…

This is ridiculous!

"Hahaha!" Academician Wang Zengguang smiled and said, "You're the one asking me for help, I came here all the way from Beijing. What, I can't give you a nickname?"

Lu Zhou: "…"

Lu Zhou was speechless.

Most people would never be able to ask this nuclear industry legend for help. Regardless of what nickname he was calling him, Academician Wang was still doing Lu Zhou a favor.

Seeing how Lu Zhou wasn't responding, Academician Wang Zengguang smiled and spoke.

"I took a look at your charging project. The technology and designs are a mess, but it is interesting. I am a little confused, why are you connecting wireless charging technology with lithium-air batteries? I think there's no reason to connect these two together since they work fine independently."

Lu Zhou: "Actually… I'm not sure. I'm just a scholar, I don't understand a lot of things outside of academia. But my CEO told me about it and I thought it was interesting, so I asked you for help."

Academician Wang Zengguang said, "Oh? What did your CEO say?"

Lu Zhou smiled.

"To be the one that sets the standards!"

Even though lithium-air batteries had nothing to do with wireless charging, if Star Sky Technology had control of both of these technologies, they could combine the technologies together and require both of them to be used at the same time.

Hence, other companies would have two options, either pay a high price for refusing to follow the standards or compromise with Star Sky Technology and cater to their established rules.

This might not be beneficial in the short term, but when Star Sky Technology became the standard for the entire electric vehicle industry…

Even if there were companies that wanted to go against the tide, it would be too late to do so.

By that time, they would have to face the pressure from Star Sky Technology's patents…

The other end of the phone went silent.

Suddenly, he laughed.

"Standards setter? Sounds interesting." Academician Wang smiled and said, "Okay then, I have nothing better to do, I'll help you! Oh yeah, I have high standards. If some of those noob researchers end up quitting, don't blame me."

"Of course not!" Lu Zhou smiled and said nonchalantly, "They can quit if they want, they're all replaceable. As long as one person remains and we train them into an academic leader, it will be worth it."

After that, they made some small talk and ended the phone call.

Just after Academician Wang hung up the phone, his office door opened. A middle-aged researcher wearing glasses walked in with a document.

"This is the revised plan," Yao Hong said as he placed the document on the table. He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and said, "I made them re-do the important parts."

After taking a glance at the revised plan, Academician Wang nodded with satisfaction.

"Not bad."

My students are amazing, this plan is much better.

Yao Hong looked at Academician Wang and suddenly said, "Professor."

Academician Wang looked at his student and put down the revised plan.

"What's wrong?"

Yao Hong hesitated for a bit before speaking his truest thoughts.

"Should we… really help them?

"Star Sky Technology is a private company, and Beep Beep Charging… We're helping them for free."

Academician Wang looked at his student and spoke with a smile.

"So you're saying we're abusing the public trust?"

Yao Hong nodded.

"Even though we're not using state funding and laboratories, but research and development is also part of social resources—"

Academician Wang interrupted his student and said, "You can't blindly follow rules, a scholar should be flexible."

"But—"

"If you think we're abusing social resources, have you thought about what they have done for society? Who created controllable nuclear fusion energy? Star Sky Technology is a private company, but do you see Professor Lu holding any nuclear fusion patents?"

After listening to his supervisor's words, Yao Hong was speechless.

However, he didn't want to give up, so he added, "But… nuclear fusion technology was the result of everyone's efforts, so the patent shouldn't belong to him alone."

"Oh, really now?" Academician Wang smiled and shook his head. He said, "If he didn't come back to China and stayed at the Max Planck Society, you don't think he could've created a nuclear fusion reactor in Germany? You're saying that we could've solved nuclear fusion alone?"

"But…" Yao Hong awkwardly said, "He's Chinese, China is his home."

"Yeah, it's his home."

Academician Wang nodded and spoke nostalgically, "This is our home, we all want this place to be better. That's why he gave up his opportunities and came back here. He traveled with his research team all over the country and didn't complain one bit. So, do you really think we're doing him the favor here?"

Academician Wang stopped talking.

He looked at his student and smiled.

"Also, I'm interested in his plans.

"One day, we'll become the standard setters of the world. We'll be the kings of electricity. Every country will have to act according to our rules.

"Hopefully, that day will come soon…"

Academician Wang reached out and gently patted his student on the shoulder as he spoke in a solemn tone.

"So, stop trying to create enemies!

"We're on the same team!"

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Chapter 977 Not the Same Family

It often took years before a product could go from research and development to production.

That was normally the case.

However, when it came to the China National Nuclear Corporation, it often took much less time.

Not just because of Wang Zengguang's own experience and strength, but also because of his networks in the electrical engineering field.

Even if he encountered a problem he couldn't solve, he could easily find an expert to help him solve the problem.

Of course, even though he was more than capable, most of the design work was still done by Beep Beep Charging's team.

This was Lu Zhou's request.

"… Not bad, just follow the design." Academician Wang looked at the new design and handed the blueprints back to Wang Qiang.

It was almost like a weight had been lifted off Wang Qiang's shoulders, and he sighed in relief.

The past month was hell for him and his research and development team.

Not just because of the lack of manpower, but also because they had to deal with the expert from the China National Nuclear Corporation.

Academician Wang's student, Yao, often criticized and nitpicked their work, making them do the same thing over and over again…

Even though he wanted to give up, he thought about how much he had given up by moving all the way from Shanghai and decided to persevere.

Academician Wang looked at Wang Qiang and smiled.

"Nicely done. To tell you the truth, I thought you guys were going to quit. I was going to get some people from the China National Nuclear Corporation and give the project to Academician Lu."

Wang Qiang held the designs in his hand tightly. He then took a deep breath and asked, "Can I ask a question?"

Academician Wang took a sip of tea and spoke to the young man standing in front of his desk.

"Go ahead."

"Since the China National Nuclear Corporation is so powerful… Why aren't the people from there doing this project? If you think we're incapable, why not fire us? You can easily find someone better."

Wang Qiang knew his question was a little strange.

Because there was no reason for the China National Nuclear Corporation to help Star Sky Technology.

However, Chief Engineer Academician Wang was willing to guide them on this project.

After hearing Wang Qiang's question, Wang Zengguang smiled.

"A month ago, I asked Academician Lu a question over the phone. I'm a perfectionist. I was afraid my standards would force you guys to quit. Guess what Academician Lu said?"

Wang Qiang thought for a long time and shook his head.

"I don't know."

Academician Wang smiled and said, "He said, you guys can quit if you want, someone else will take your place! But if one of you guys stays behind, it will be worth it!"

Academician Wang looked at Wang Qiang and spoke.

"So I was surprised to see all five of you still working here. This is more important than wireless charging stations.

"As the leader of this project, I hope you will remember that technology is always relative, and there will be one day where a piece of technology becomes outdated, but…" Academician Wang reached out and gently poked Wang Qiang's forehead before saying, "Only knowledge and creativity last forever."

Technology is always relative…

Wang Qiang finally understood why Academician Lu didn't care about losing manpower, and why Academician Lu insisted on them working on the project personally.

The ones that quit just weren't meant to be.

The technology could always be improved.

The important part wasn't their abilities, but it was their determination to become better and cultivate their courage to complete an almost impossible task.

Academician Lu could easily receive help from the China National Nuclear Corporation, and the entire nuclear energy industry in China would be more than happy to help him with the charging station project.

However, Lu Zhou didn't only care about technology.

What he wanted was a scientific research team that could continuously develop new and creative technologies!

Just like how he cultivated talents for the controllable nuclear fusion and aerospace industry, even though he left the ion thruster and nuclear fusion field, the technology was still being improved.

Academician Wang looked at the young man and nodded.

He knew that the young man understood his words, so he stood up and smiled.

"Okay, the first-generation design of the wireless charging stations is in your hand. I won't bother you guys anymore. I'll call Academician Lu tonight and go back to Beijing tomorrow. I have one piece of advice, which is to continue trying your best, whether it's this charging station project or something else, your future is limitless!"

"Thank you." Wang Qiang went silent for a while and suddenly said, "Can I call you teacher?"

Academician Wang smiled and spoke.

"If you want to. I've taught you guys many things, so it wouldn't be inappropriate. Oh yeah, what do you plan on calling this thing?"

Wang Qiang paused for a second and spoke.

"BB… BB charging."

"BB?" Academician Wang looked at him in disbelief as he said, "I know your company is called BB, but you're calling the product BB as well?"

Wang Qiang: "Yeah… Is there a problem?"

Academician Wang opened his mouth and asked, "Did Academician Lu come up with this name?"

"No…" Wang Qiang scratched his head and said, "CEO Li… Beep Beep Charging CEO Li Tinghui came up with the name. Apparently, Academician Lu was going to change the name, but he didn't end up changing it. Is there a problem with this name?"

"Nothing, I was just wondering… You guys are on your own now, I have to go."

Academician Wang looked at his student and signaled him to follow him. They then walked to the door of the office.

The old academician was about to leave the office when he suddenly sighed and spoke.

"It takes one to know one.

"I guess Old Lu just likes people who are horrible at naming things!"

Yao Hong, who was next to Academician Wang, nearly tripped on the floor.

Academician Wang laughed and spoke.

"Take it easy."

Yao Hong looked at his supervisor and spoke.

"Oh, okay…"

I guess naming abilities and academic abilities are inversely related…

No wonder I'm not as smart as Professor Lu…

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Chapter 978 Product Creation!

Entrepreneurship was a very difficult thing.

Especially if someone wanted to expand their business, not only did that require extraordinary vision and ten times the passion of one's competitors, but one would also have to work twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week…

Even though Li Tinghui was prepared for the tough times, he didn't expect it would be this torturous…

Within a month, Lu Zhou wanted him to sign contracts with all of the major shopping malls in Shanghai. The only feeling he felt was despair.

He hadn't had a single good night of sleep in March; he was out all day, negotiating with shopping mall executives.

Even though he was backed by Star Sky Technology, which meant Chen Yushan could arrange the meetings for him, he still had to be the one on the battlefield.

After all, they were only a subsidiary of Star Sky Technology, it would be great if they succeeded, but if they didn't…

Neither Academician Lu nor Chen Yushan would really care.

Fortunately, he was still surviving.

The day after Tomb-Sweeping Day.

Li Tinghui was asleep at his office, and he felt like he was close to being put in a tomb himself.

If it weren't for the ringing sound of the office telephone, he would have never woken up.

"Hello…?" Li Tinghui rubbed his eyes and cleared his throat. He said, "This is Beep Beep Charging—"

"CEO Li!" Wang Qiang, the Chief Technology Officer, said, "Our product design is finished!"

"Finished?!"

It was almost like Li Tinghui was hit with a defibrillator, and he instantly became energized.

"The product is finished? Really? How long until production? Can it be done by the end of the month?"

Wang Qiang took a deep breath and said, "I don't know how long until production, but it should be done before the end of the month! I talked with the engineers from Zhongshan New Materials that are visiting the Institute for Advanced Study. They told us that this is a done deal!

"Also, I heard they're also working with Star Sky Technology on lithium-air batteries, and if they produce the charging stations for us, they'll also help us with the lithium-air battery compatibility issues!"

"Perfect!"

Li Tinghui stood up from his chair excitedly and walked around. However, because of the telephone cord, he could only walk in a small circle.

The charging station design is complete!

This is the best news I've heard all month!

His Chief Technology Officer was telling him that not only was the design work finished, but the production line was about to begin!

Li Tinghui swore that if he had the money, he would give everyone in his team 10,000 yuan in bonuses…

He took a deep breath and calmed down, speaking in a serious tone.

"I'll deal with the cooperation side tomorrow… No, I'll go to Jinling this afternoon! I'll try to get this done as soon as possible. We should start delivering equipment by the end of the month!"

Wang Qiang was astonished, and he said, "The negotiations with the malls… are finished?"

He heard that CEO Li had been trying to sign deals with major shopping malls even before financing with Star Sky Technology. Apparently, CEO Li tried to convince them to install stations at their charging stations. However, CEO Li wasn't able to close any deals.

After all, most shopping malls already had their own charging stations. Even though they weren't wireless, they were good enough. Having wireless charging stations sounded pretty cool, but how many cars were wireless charging compatible anyway?

If this were Tesla or BYD, the malls might have been more interested. But this was a non-name startup, so no one believed in their "wireless charger"!

Li Tinghui had a smug smile on his face; gone was his fatigue, replaced by confidence and enthusiasm.

"Over 80% of large and medium-sized shopping malls in Shanghai have expressed interest in cooperating with us for one year or more than half a year. If the market feedback is good, they will consider outsourcing more parking spaces for our chargers. There are already 20 small businesses in rural areas that are also interested!

"All we need to do now is to produce the chargers!"

He spoke with momentum.

"Winning this fight depends on satisfying our customers!

"We can't let them down!"

…

When the days got busy, time always flew by quickly.

The last Saturday in April.

May was right around the corner, and major shopping malls in Shanghai were preparing for various promotional events. Even though the national week-long holiday was still a few days away, people had begun overflowing the malls.

People from the Yangpu District and other rural areas drove to the Wujiaochang shopping mall.

The parking garage in this large shopping mall had a row of gold-painted parking lots, attracting attention from customers.

"Beep Beep Charging exclusive charging spot, wireless charging… Scan QR code to charge? What is this?"

"Can this charge any car?"

"Forget about it, of course it can't charge gasoline cars. I think the electric car has to have a special battery receiver."

"F*ck sake! What's the point, so I have to spend thousands of yuan just to charge wirelessly?!"

"Not necessarily, you can just charge it normally with a cable. However, it seems like they're claiming that wireless charging is faster."

While the two car owners were talking, another car owner walked out of their car and couldn't help but join in on the conversation.

"It's not about the charging speed, you're not keeping up with the times! The entire venture capital world went crazy a while ago! Professor Lu invested in some wireless charging station company. It's called Beep Beep Charging! They plan on bundling wireless charging together with lithium-air batteries! Any lithium-air battery will have a wireless charging receiver!"

People around them who were taking photos also overheard the conversation…

They were shocked.

Scan the QR code to charge!

Not a big deal…

Register to get a 100 yuan coupon!

Not a big deal either…

Only one dime of service fee!

That wasn't a huge deal either; after all, civilian, commercial, and industrial electricity prices were getting cheaper and cheaper.

But combining lithium-air batteries and wireless charging together…

That was a big deal.

Regardless of whether it was a rumor or not, people began posting this story to their WeChat friends' news feed!

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Chapter 979 Card up the Sleeve

The first-day launch of Beep Beep Charging was quite popular.

Lithium-air batteries sounded like something out of a science fiction movie; even though not everyone was driving electric vehicles, most people were curious.

All kinds of gossip and stories had spread around on social media.

The national holiday brought the popularity of Beep Beep Charging to a whole new peak!

Even owners of gasoline cars were interested in this novel technology; some people even registered an account just to post it on social media.

Registering an account was free anyway.

Regardless, the marketing campaign was very successful. Both Li Tinghui and the mall didn't expect the "lithium-air battery wireless charging" combination to be this popular. The shopping mall even saw a surge in customer traffic.

Li Tinghui looked at the increasing user registrations and felt relieved.

Regardless of whether the future follow-up would go as smoothly…

At least this phase was over!

Actually, wireless charging wasn't super high-tech stuff.

Wireless charging technology had already been extensively researched and developed internationally.

For example, when Audi developed their new electric vehicles, they designed a solution to reduce transmission efficiency loss. Their solution was to use a liftable wireless charging system and move the transmission coil closer to the bottom of the electric car, thereby improving the power transmission efficiency.

This could be traced back to 2014, when South Korea planned on building a 12-km long "wireless charging road". However, due to its high maintenance cost, this project was never completed.

Beep Beep Charging, on the other hand, had a three-step strategy. The first was to occupy more than 80% of the shopping malls and residential parking lots in Shanghai. The second step was to extend throughout large-sized commercial districts in the Yangtze River Delta city group, eventually expanding throughout the country.

As for the third step, which was the ultimate form of this technology, was a wireless charging road. Which meant a 50% coverage of the entire Yangtze River Delta highway network.

Of course, they had to take it one step at a time.

However, it seemed like this startup was getting quite scary…

Jinling Institute for Advanced Study.

Carbon-based semiconductor laboratory.

A group of people wearing white coats were busy working in front of a piece of experimental equipment.

After several months of hard work, by cooperating with Shenyang Machine Tool and Baosheng Group, they were finally able to create this "chemical vapor deposition etching" machine.

This machine was like the lithography machine in the field of carbon-based semiconductors. It was able to preliminary process raw materials and "stick" the carbon nano transistors onto a double-layered graphene material at a specific angle.

A few months ago, the carbon-based semiconductor laboratory was only able to achieve transistors with a width of 150nm, but now, this number had been reduced to 80nm.

Other than high processor performance electronics such as computers and mobile devices, 80nm based chips were applicable in many places.

The smaller the transistor size, the better. However, most fields didn't require that much processing power.

For example, surveillance and networking equipment…

Of course, this semiconductor laboratory wasn't planning on making security camera processors. Nor did they have anything to do with the latest "Dragon One" series of chips. Instead, they were related to the latest wireless charging technology.

When a sound of gas emission was heard, the researchers surrounding the experimental equipment gasped.

As they looked at the data presented on the computer, Professor Wu Tianqun had a look of ecstasy on his face.

"We did it!"

Lu Zhou, who was standing nearby, asked, "It's done?"

"Yeah!" Professor Wu Tianqun nodded and replied confidently, "It could've been better! I'll show it to you later!"

Lu Zhou didn't have to wait for long.

Soon after, a thumbnail-sized processor was removed from the equipment.

Lu Zhou looked at the chip stored in a brown-tinted glass cover. He looked both shocked and relieved.

This was the second chip produced by the carbon-based semiconductor laboratory.

The first one was used on the calculator; there was nothing special about it. As for this one, it would be used in wireless charging receiver and transmitter devices, hence it was considered high tech.

Everyone knew that because of problems related to electromagnetic conversion, wireless charging technology could roughly be divided into two parts—receiving and transmitting. Specifically, the magnetic materials, the chips, the coil module, scheme design, etc.

The coil module and magnetic material were easy to deal with. They weren't considered high tech, nor did they have any patent barriers. However, the chips were different.

Almost all of the technical difficulty was concentrated in the design of the receiver chip and system integration.

So far, the main customers of these technologies were mobile phones. However, electric vehicles were also soon going to be a customer of this technology.

In fact, other than developing chips in-house, Beep Beep Charging had many international chip manufacturers to choose from. Actually, the first batch of charging station chips was produced by international manufacturers.

However, Huawei's HiSilicon, which Star Sky Technology owned a part of, had shifted from "pure research and development" to "research and development production". Hence, it would be a waste to not use the carbon-based chips.

When the time came, they would replace all of the internationally produced chips with their own chips.

As Professor Wu Tianqun looked at the chip in Lu Zhou's hand, he spoke like an excited child.

"Oh my god, after two months, we finally did it! We should give this a good name!"

In fact, Professor Wu didn't want Lu Zhou's input at all; he was just too emotional.

Unfortunately, Lu Zhou began to think about it seriously.

A good name?

Sounds difficult…

Lu Zhou thought for a long time. Professor Wu Tianqun was about to take the chip away and put it in storage before Lu Zhou spoke.

"We'll call it… BB system."

Wu Tianqun: "…?"

Researchers: "… ???"

Lu Zhou: "?"

Suddenly…

The atmosphere became awkward.

Lu Zhou didn't know why these noob researchers were staring at him.

Emmmm…

Is something wrong with this name?

Just when Lu Zhou began to wonder if this was a good name, Professor Wu Tianqun broke the silence.

"Um… This name won't work. First of all, it doesn't sound nice. Also, this is different from the Beep Beep charging stations; people will mix the two together!"

"You're right," Lu Zhou said. Seeing how so many people disagreed with his name, he said, "So what do you think we should name it?"

Wu Tianqun spoke firmly.

"Thor!"

"Thor?"

"Yeah!" Wu Tianqun nodded and explained, "God of thunder, shocking the entire world! This name is perfect!"

"Makes sense…" Lu Zhou contemplated for a while before he nodded reluctantly. "Thor it is!"

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Chapter 980 Exclusive Agreemen

Even though Lu Zhou didn't think the name "Thor" was particularly good, seeing how the noob researchers in the laboratory seemed to like the name, he reluctantly agreed.

It would take a while before the system was actually deployed, so they could still change the name at a later date.

As for when they were going to deploy the technology…

They would at least wait until the Dragon series of chips were born.

The continued rise in the popularity of Beep Beep Charging attracted the attention of EVgo, which was also trying to expand into the Shanghai market.

The Tesla China division did not implement an aggressive marketing strategy; instead, they directly went to negotiate with major shopping malls, signing favorable contracts with them.

Just like Bobby had expected, almost none of the malls rejected the opportunity of having Tesla-branded charging stations in their parking lots, just like how no mall would reject having a Louis Vuitton store.

Having such a well-known brand would increase customer flow.

What Bobby didn't expect was that inside the parking lot of a Yida Plaza mall parking lot, no one was gathering around the Tesla-Evgo charging stations. Instead, all of the attention was on the Beep Beep Charging stations…

Even though this didn't make him feel frustrated or worried, he still reported this to his superior, Elon Musk.

"It seems like we have an absolute advantage in the Shanghai business district areas, but Beep Beep Charging is also expanding…" Bobby paused for a second and said, "Star Sky Technology is following our footsteps. If they continue to grow, they will catch up to us in six months in terms of coverage.

"My suggestion is to sign an exclusive agreement with large and medium-sized shopping malls, for them to cooperate with us on charging stations. We should not allow other companies to obtain parking lot spaces for their charging stations!"

After hearing Bobby's words, Elon smiled and spoke.

"We're not going to do that."

Bobby paused for a second.

"Why?"

Elon smiled and spoke casually.

"I'm sure you already know that the company in charge of Beep Beep Charging is well versed in internet marketing. If an American company like us signed an exclusive agreement with a Chinese shopping mall, our name would be plastered all over the Internet. The mall would be pressured to cancel our contract.

"Because if they don't cancel their contracts, the state would intervene."

Bobby frowned and said, "So we're just going to watch them grow like this? I don't like their business model, but if this goes on, it might impact our business—"

"I know, Mr. Bobby," Elon interrupted him and said, "I never said to just leave them alone, we should use other measures."

After hearing Elon's words, Bobby calmed down and listened.

"EVgo has coverage in Shanghai of over 85%, not to mention that Mercedes, Volkswagen, and other car companies plan on signing charging station contracts with us. Our charging stations will be fitted with specific interfaces…"

"EVgo will be the only officially recognized electric vehicle charging station in China!"

Bobby's eyes began to light up.

Oh my…

Elon is a genius!

Regardless of whether or not the EVgo charging stations were smarter than other companies' charging stations, just the Tesla name itself was able to make people subconsciously choose the EVgo brand.

In comparison, the wireless charging feature Beep Beep Charging was offering would be insignificant.

Out of convenience, people would always choose wireless charging, but at the end of the day, they cared more about safety and stability. That was exactly what EVgo offered.

Bobby took a deep breath and said, "I know what to do."

"Good." Elon smiled and said, "We don't have to sign an exclusive agreement with the Chinese."

Obtaining exclusive contracts and suppressing the downstream industry would violate antitrust regulations and free trade laws.

But were there any laws in business?

Elon wasn't going to look down on Beep Beep Charging just because it was a small company, and he would do everything he could to protect his territory…

The reason was simple.

It was because of the man behind the Beep Beep Charging company.

Elon would never forget what happened in the aerospace field…

He would never allow himself to underestimate his opponent again!

"Oh yeah, our goal is the Yangtze River Delta city group, not just Shanghai. Remember what I told you the last time I came to China? The Yangtze River Delta will become the city center of the entire western pacific region."

"An important investor will visit you in three days. If everything goes well, we can get at least a billion USD in funding.

"You got this!"

Bobby nodded solemnly.

"Okay!"

…

Jinling.

Institute for Advanced Study, director's office.

Lu Zhou would often come to his office to discuss important matters.

One was because of its tidiness, the other was because of security.

His Jin University office was messy and chaotic.

Chen Yushan was sitting on the sofa. She took a sip of tea and spoke to Lu Zhou, who was sitting behind his desk.

"Tesla has taken action. Reliable sources say that they are talking with Volkswagen. If they sign a deal, they'll issue a statement and designate EVgo as the officially supported charging station."

Lu Zhou put down his pen and nodded.

"So you guessed it right again."

Chen Yushan: "Not guessing, I knew this was going to happen. Finding outside help is the best solution for them, and there is little risk involved. As long as they have control over the Yangtze River Delta region, they'll never lose money."

The cost of antitrust investigations wasn't negligible.

However, if Tesla could form a monopoly, they would still be able to turn a profit.

Not to mention that the possibility of an antitrust investigation was low…

Even though Lu Zhou didn't know a lot about business, he was still curious as to what Chen Yushan planned on doing.

"Then what do you plan on doing?"

Chen Yushan smirked.

"Didn't I tell you two months ago? I plan on playing 4D chess."

Lu Zhou said, "You're still playing chess?"

Lu Zhou nearly forgot about this.

What kind of chess game takes two months…

"I already finished the chess game."

Chen Yushan smirked and said, "The show is about to begin."

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Chapter 981 The Company Seems to Be in Trouble

A tall skyscraper stood in the middle of Shanghai's CBD.This was Tesla's headquarters in China. It was Tesla's second construction investment in China, behind the super factory.The building overlooked the western Pacific Ocean, like it was a lighthouse, guiding businessmen toward the international market…

Of course, there were many other lighthouses.

Ever since clean energy appeared in Asia, more and more international capital had begun flowing here, trying to take advantage of the energy revolution.

The top floor of the building, inside the boardroom.

Tesla's China General Manager, Bobby, was meeting with an important client from Boston— David Lawrence.

In the United States, Lawrence was a common surname, but the Lawrence surname in Boston had an extraordinary meaning.

The Lawrence family was involved in the financial industry, and the name was frequently mentioned together with their friends, Lowell and Adams.

When North America was still a small colony, these people were the first ones to get rich. They invested in the banking industry and relied on these financial institutions to indirectly give them control over the heavy industrial chain.

After the two industrial revolutions, they were unsatisfied and entered a political alliance with the Kennedy family.

And this gave birth to the Boston Financial Group.

After relying on military arms orders during the Vietnam war, the unbreakable alliance gradually collapsed.

After that, the Boston Financial Group disappeared from people's minds.

However, two centuries of heritage and wealth didn't just disappear out of thin air.

Even though they rarely appeared in the eyes of the public, they influenced the world in secret ways…

Bobby stood by the floor-to-ceiling windows in the conference room, looking at the neon street lights. Bobby smiled and spoke to the man standing next to him.

"As you can see, we are facing the most prosperous land in the west pacific. Do you see that river? More than half of China's wealth flows through that river."

Bobby tried to do his best to please this important guest.

Tesla's expansion in Shanghai and the Yangtze River Delta city group required capital. Even though Chinese banks were happy to lend them money, the interest wasn't cheap.

Therefore, the best option for Tesla was to receive financing from outside the country.

If the Boston Financial Group was interested and invested in EVgo, there was no doubt that EVgo's expansion in China would go smoothly.

Even though these financial giants were often ruthless, they would never turn down an opportunity to make free money together…

"This is a beautiful city, much better than Boston."

Lawrence smiled faintly. He didn't speak like a clueless tourist; instead, he spoke like a wise businessman who was aware of the value of goods standing in front of him.

Bobby glanced at Lawrence's face and spoke.

"Endless energy. We used to think it was just a fantasy, but someone really did it.

"I've worked here for four years, and I've watched this place move forward one step at a time. Even the Americans can't believe that the Chinese are growing vegetables in skyscrapers, building maglev trains, and still remain profitable."

"Growing vegetables in skyscrapers?" Lawrence asked with curiosity.

"Someone is doing that. Apparently, it's called three-dimensional agriculture… You know, Asia goes crazy over fresh, natural food. They don't care if it's expensive." Bobby cleared his throat and said, "What I'm saying is, don't you think it's a waste they're using their resources this way!"

"Yeah…" Lawrence nodded. He looked at the night scene as he said, "Talk about your project, maybe it'll interest me."

Bobby smiled and spoke.

"Of course."

Bobby was about to talk about the plan to Lawrence when a middle-aged man in a suit suddenly knocked on the meeting room door and walked in.

Lawrence looked at his assistant and frowned.

"Is something wrong, Mr. Jonard?"

"I'm sorry to interrupt your meeting, but I have something important for you."

Lawrence glanced at Bobby and smiled.

"Is it related to this gentleman beside me?"

Jonard nodded seriously and handed Lawrence a stack of documents.

Lawrence said, "Oh, it is?"

Lawrence took over the documents from his assistant and looked apologetically at Bobby.

A million thoughts began to race through Bobby's mind.

Even though he wasn't happy, he didn't dare to offend Lawrence. Thus, he could only stand there and watch Lawrence read the documents.

Time quickly passed by.

Lawrence was almost done with the documents.

Bobby was getting impatient when Lawrence frowned. Bobby instantly began to feel nervous.

"It seems like your company is in a bit of trouble."

Bobby looked at Lawrence and spoke.

"What?"

"A Chinese company seems to pose a threat to your core business model." Lawrence smiled and said, "It seems like you're at a disadvantage here."

Disadvantage?!

"You're talking about Beep Beep Charging?" Bobby smiled and said, "No offense, but this is not the case at all. We've already signed with five major car companies, they—"

"I know about the cooperation agreements with the car companies. Also, don't doubt my guy's abilities." Lawrence ripped off two pages from one of the documents and handed it to Bobby. He said, "Since you're being so honest with me, I'll show you something… Usually, we charge half a million dollars per page."

After Bobby took the pages from Lawrence, he began to impatiently read the contents. Bobby wanted to know why Lawrence had changed his mind about financing EVgo.

However, the moment his eyes landed on the page, his heart skipped a beat!

"That as*hole!" Bobby clenched his fist and said, "They're violating free trade laws! This is illegal!"

Bobby noticed that Lawrence was looking at him, so he tried to calm down and forced a smile on his face.

"Lawrence, I hope this doesn't affect our cooperation. If we sue them, the judge will be on our side…"

"Really? The judge will be on your side?" Lawrence shrugged and said, "Of course, I don't want this to affect our cooperation…"

Bobby smiled and extended his right hand. "Then I wish us a happy cooperation. I know a good restaurant nearby, should we—"

"But I have to think about it, weigh the risks and benefits…" Lawrence looked at his watch and said, "As for dinner, I'm going to pass. I have another important meeting…"

After that, he gave the documents back to Jonard and nodded.

Jonard stepped forward and opened the door.

"I hope to hear good news from you the next time we meet," Lawrence said as he began walking out of the door. "See you later."

The conference door closed.

Bobby looked at the closed door in disbelief.

He suddenly turned around and slammed his fist on the conference table.

"F*ck!"

He could feel his blood pressure rising.

Just like Lawrence had said, they were in trouble…

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Chapter 982 Bundling Patents

The public holiday week wasn't over yet.While the public was still talking about Beep Beep Charging and their wireless charging technology, two pieces of news suddenly caught the attention of everyone.The first was on Star Sky Technology.

In the latest press conference, a Star Sky Technology spokesperson acknowledged that they had made a breakthrough in lithium-air batteries and had already completed the production of the first-generation lithium-air batteries.

The news itself wasn't shocking; after Professor Lu's paper came out, most people had expected this to happen sooner or later.

The only unexpected thing was how fast everything was happening.

Immediately after the press conference, Zhongshan New Materials' stock price flew to the sky.

Hundreds of millions of market value came out of thin air…

Of course, even though this was surprising, most people had expected to see this coming. It wasn't sensational.

What was really shocking was the second piece of news.

Which was a rumor that Star Sky Technology was bundling lithium-air batteries and wireless charging technology together, thus wireless charging and lithium-air batteries were inseparable.

The spokesperson of Star Sky Technology said that they believed that better technology meant a higher quality of life, thus wireless charging technology and lithium air batteries should be as one.

This was quite a strong statement, as the market was still deciding whether the technology meant a higher quality of life.

This statement shocked the electric vehicle industry.

Star Sky Technology also made a similar announcement on its website.

Which was the bundling of wireless charging and lithium-air batteries!

Moreover, the wireless charging technology was completely different from the standards set by PMA and A4WP; it was their own proprietary standards.

The electric vehicle industry was already scared of the new lithium-air batteries, but this move by Star Sky Technology was like an earthquake.

Not only did the companies invested in lithium-sulfur batteries had to change to lithium-air batteries, but they also had to comply with new wireless charging standards.

Oh, what's that?

You have your own wireless charging technology?

Good for you?

Star Sky Technology didn't care if you had your own Qi standard or A4WP standard wireless charging technology. From now on, if anyone wanted to use lithium-air batteries, they had to comply with Star Sky's own standards.

For example, they would have to pay an expensive patent fee for lithium-air batteries…

An online forum.

The news had been widely discussed.

Both electric vehicle owners and gasoline car owners were talking about this matter.

[F*ck me, Star Sky Technology is planning on dominating this field!]

[Does anyone here know what it means to bundle wireless charging and lithium-air batteries together?]

[It means that if you want to use the lithium-air battery patents from Star Sky Technology, you have to also purchase a set of wireless charging technology patents! You also have to sign a wireless charging compatibility agreement! Otherwise, Star Sky Technology can collect a certain amount of patent fees, proportional to the vehicle price.]

[F*ck sake, isn't this price gouging?]

[Yeah, but what can we do? Unless we can get around the patent barriers of Star Sky Technology, we have to pay! This is like Qualcomm, you have to pay the price of using their chips.]

[They're doing this to fight against Tesla… EVgo just announced their plans on entering the Chinese market. I see Tesla-branded charging stations all over Shanghai. Apparently, their coverage is 85%! If all lithium-air batteries have to use Star Sky Technology's wireless charging technology, then Tesla's charging stations will become useless.]

[Let's see what happens, Tesla is definitely going to make a move, the Americans won't give up…]

In fact, as the head of the electric vehicle industry, Tesla expressed its disappointment toward this move, and the company hoped that Star Sky Technology would reconsider its decision.

In the latest press conference, Musk was faced with questions one after another. He couldn't help but feel annoyed.

"We are happy to see Star Sky Technology contributing to the electric vehicle industry! Don't be mistaken, I am happy!

"But I hope they can reconsider. If they really want to help the electric vehicle industry, they should dig a pit and bury themselves in it!"

Technological progress was a good thing for society as it meant that people would have more choices. However, this was a threat to certain businesses.

The latest issue of The New York Times quoted Elon's statement at the press conference and his concern about the emergence of lithium-air battery technology.

Fast technological progress was like firing a machine gun; it would eventually overheat. In the long run, it wouldn't necessarily benefit society.

Even though the new technology sounded good, there were potential security risks.

In fact, the first people to get hit were the Chinese local electric vehicle companies and other automobile manufacturers that were planning on entering the electric vehicle field. After the initial surprise, everything returned to normal.

The terms were unfair, but they had no choice.

In fact, this did not directly interfere with their vested interests.

Compared with lithium-sulfur batteries, lithium-air batteries only required an air intake grille, which could easily be done. By making some slight changes, the vehicle range could be increased by 1.5 times, which would give customers another reason to choose electric vehicles instead of gasoline vehicles.

While the cost and risk of upgrading the technology could be passed onto upstream battery companies…

This was something the battery manufacturers and charging station companies should worry about, why should the car manufacturers worry about this?

Some companies such as Toyota, Ford, and Volkswagen expressed their concerns about adopting the Chinese standard, whereas others accepted the new standard quietly.

The only one that was pissed off was EVgo, who was also in the charging station business.

They just signed a cooperation agreement with Volkswagen, Mercedes, and other well-known car manufacturers. But now, their plan was going to fail.

Even if they wanted to upgrade their charging stations, it would be too late.

Not only did they already install a billion USD worth of charging stations in Shanghai, but if they wanted to adopt the new wireless charging standards of Star Sky Technology, they would have to pay Star Sky Technology a hefty patent fee…

This meant that they would have to do a ton of research and development from scratch and waste billions of dollars of money…

The United States authorities noticed Tesla's grievance.

Immediately after the Tesla press conference, the United States Department of Commerce held a meeting and answered reporters' questions.

"Bundling two unrelated patents together is not healthy to the industry, we will keep a close eye on this matter."

There was a hint of caution in their message.

People noticed that the political development of this was going to get interesting…

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983 This Is a Story

The news that lithium-air batteries and wireless charging technology were bundled together caused a storm.

Especially after the US Department of Commerce speech, the news began to spread like wildfire.

The global energy stock market was going through a volatile time. Everyone was waiting for Star Sky Technology to respond, and they were also waiting for the US Department of Commerce to act on their "warning".

However, it was almost like Star Sky Technology was oblivious to what was going on around them because they soon released their "SH standard" according to plan.

The S stood for Star Sky Technology, while the H stood for Huawei, the owners of HiSilicon.

Just like the name implied, Star Sky Technology would be the ones setting the standard, while Huawei would be the ones making the receiving and transmitting chipsets.

Even though these two companies weren't directly in the charging station and electric vehicle industry, they were able to completely monopolize the charging station industry.

It was obvious that Star Sky Technology's practices caused an uproar in the international field, and many domestic people even began whispering about Star Sky Technology's unhealthy business practices and comparing them to Qualcomm.

Lu Zhou happened to hear about these rumors on Weibo, but he didn't think there was anything wrong with what Chen Yushan was doing.

This was nothing more than capitalism.

Survival of the fittest.

If they didn't take the initiative, Tesla and other traditional automobile manufacturers would have reached a cooperation agreement, thus pushing out the Beep Beep Charging and other Chinese companies…

The second weekend in May.

Inside the space shuttle assembly center, eight large mechanical arms unloaded a pile of circular equipment from a logistics vehicle. By using precise positional cameras, all of the equipment was unpacked in a spacecraft special container.

This was the ILHCRC cargo, and it would be sent to the Moon in three days.

A month ago, the lunar tunnel boring machine, which was jointly produced by China Railway Group and China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation, was sent to the Moon Palace via the Magpie Bridge. This equipment was deployed on the lunar hadron collider site.

After a month of construction, with the help of lunar construction personnel, this tunnel boring machine had successfully bored through a collider pipeline, lining the pipeline with titanium alloy material.

After the new supplies arrived at the surface of the Moon, the first stage of the ILHCRC would be complete.

Even though this track was only a hundred meters long, they were making progress one step at a time…

Lu Zhou was standing beside the space shuttle assembly center console. He looked at the mechanical arms and couldn't help but exclaim, "This quantum computer is amazing!"

Ever since the assembly center autonomy system was connected to the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study server, the quantum computer had fully taken over the automation calculation of the space shuttle assembly center.

In fact, they didn't need anyone inside the assembly center. Other than handling new deliveries, everything else was done by automated machines.

A string of text appeared on the console in front of Lu Zhou.

Xiao Ai: [Master, a quantum computer is useless without an artificial intelligence operator. ( ́‸ ')]

Lu Zhou said, "Okay, you're amazing as well."

Xiao Ai: [Haha, thank you, Master.]

Lu Zhou looked at Xiao Ai and sighed.

This silly thing.

It's still far from having a normal IQ.

The string of bubbles disappeared.

Lu Zhou guessed that Xiao Ai saw someone in the security cameras, so he turned around. He saw an acquaintance walking through the factory door.

"Director Li?" Lu Zhou smiled at the old man and said, "What brings you here?"

Director Li: "I heard the first batch of ILHCRC piping equipment is complete. I can't just leave you alone like this, so I came for a visit."

"Just to ask about the ILHCRC? I don't buy it."

"Ah, you got me." Director Li smiled and put on a serious face. "I didn't come here for the collider, I just wanted to ask, what is going on with you?"

Lu Zhou: "About what?"

"Don't play dumb. About the patents, the SH standard. It looks like the United States Department of Commerce has its eyes on you."

Lu Zhou shrugged and said, "People are angry for no reason. We're just thinking of the consumer's perspective, that's why we bundled wireless charging and lithium-air batteries together."

Director Li frowned and said, "I'm actually curious, why did you bundle the two patents together? What's wrong with putting them separately?"

Lu Zhou casually spoke.

"Whether it's Beep Beep Charging or someone else, the new generation of wireless charging technology uses CP7724 chips designed by HiSilicon. This system is completely different from the prevailing standards such as Qi and A4WP.

"However, regardless of what our new system does, there is a fatal weakness, which is that it's difficult to promote. It doesn't matter if the technology itself is good, just like how iNPOFi technology is superior to QI technology. At the end of the day, iNPOFi still lost to the QI market standard. This is only because Apple chose Qi, do you get what I'm saying?"

When a new technology wasn't revolutionary, the market would often take a long time to adjust and accept the new technology.

The emergence of iNPOFi technology undoubtedly threatened the QI wireless charging standard, but they were isolated by the downstream manufacturers of the industrial chain.

The end result was obvious. Even though they had low electromagnetic radiation and high power conversion efficiency, they still lost to Qi.

After hearing Lu Zhou's words, Director Li nodded thoughtfully.

"I understand what you mean… You guys are planning to use lithium-air batteries to force others to accept your standards."

"We're not forcing anyone to use lithium-air batteries." Lu Zhou laughed and said, "Also, why should we adhere to other people's standards, we can walk our own path…"

Lu Zhou didn't think of these words on his own; he didn't really care about business matters.

However, Chen Yushan often used this kind of business talk with him, so he borrowed these words from her.

"I didn't think you had the foresight to consider this…" Director Li nodded and said, "But Tesla and the Americans are not going to give up."

"I'm not worried about Tesla." Lu Zhou said, "Honestly, Tesla is the least of my worries, there are others who we have offended a lot more than Tesla."

Director Li frowned and said, "Who did you piss off?"

"ExxonMobil."

Lu Zhou had a nostalgic look in his eyes.

This would be the perfect time to smoke a cigarette, but Lu Zhou couldn't stand the hot air suffocating his lungs.

"Thank god I'm back in China. If I were still in Princeton, you would have to find me six feet under the ground."

"ExxonMobil is an oil company, right?" Director Li said, "How did you offend them?"

Director Li wasn't worried about ExxonMobil; after all, they were on Chinese soil, and ExxonMobil had no power here.

But what he didn't understand, was what Star Sky Technology had to do with an oil company?

Even though the electric vehicle sector impacted the oil giants, this was nothing in comparison to the rise of nuclear fusion energy, and it wasn't like the oil prices were dropping significantly…

"It's not oil, they also do chemicals. It's a long story."

Director Li said, "Then tell me, we have time."

"Then we'll have to go back to six years ago… or five years ago." Lu Zhou looked at the mechanical robot arm and said, "This is a story about a whistleblower…"

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984 I Want to See the President!

The story between ExxonMobil and Lu Zhou happened a long time ago.

In fact, if it weren't for Lu Zhou's new thesis, this whole debacle would have been over.

However, it turned out that Lu Zhou's thesis was the key to a trillion-dollar market…

The other side of the Pacific Ocean.

A room inside the White House.

Woods walked into the office and slammed his hands on the table. He spoke to the chief of staff of the White House, Kevin.

"I want to see the president!"

Kevin put down his pen and sighed.

"The president is not in the White House, so I'm afraid he can't see you. Neither can I. I'll pass on your request to the president."

ExxonMobil was one of the supporters for their parties, so they had to listen to their request to some extent…

Woods looked at the chief of staff and spoke.

"Listen, the lithium-air battery patent originally belonged to us. They used subterfuge to steal it! China is committing commercial fraud!"

Even though Kevin had been in the political field for many years, he still couldn't help but frown.

Commercial fraud…

The patent transfer is clearly written. Did you sign the contract under duress?

"What do you want me to do? Convince the president to change the law?"

Woods opened his mouth and nothing came out.

Honestly, he didn't know what to do either.

Before coming here, ExxonMobil salesmen went to Star Sky Technology several times, trying to buy the patent off Star Sky Technology for ten times the price they sold it for. However, they weren't able to buy back the caged carbon molecules patent…

Kevin sighed and said, "Maybe you should think this through before coming here again."

Woods sighed and continued to stare at the president's chief of staff. He took a deep breath and spoke.

"Listen, we both know how important lithium-air batteries are. We've already fallen behind China because of lithium-sulfur batteries. If we let them master lithium-air batteries, we'll fall even more behind. Do you know what I mean?

"The patent might only last for 20 years, but they'll be constantly sucking the blood out of us like mosquitoes. We will always be behind by 20 years! This is just like the semiconductor industry!

"We have to do something!"

Kevin frowned.

In his opinion, the ExxonMobil CEO was only venting his frustration at the Chinese companies, but something caught his attention.

It wasn't in America's interest for China to continue leading the alternative energy industry.

Especially since China already had control of nuclear fusion…

While Kevin was thinking about how to report this to the president, the office door opened.

A man in a plaid shirt walked in and spoke.

"I want to see the president!"

Kevin looked at Elon, who was standing at the door.

"You sound just like someone that came into my office half an hour ago… Do you want to discuss this in private?"

Elon stared at Woods and tried to remember who this person was. He took a deep breath and looked at Kevin.

"Listen, I don't care what this gentleman said, I have something very important, let me—"

Kevin: "Let me guess, does it have to do with the alternative energy industry?"

Elon paused for a second and snapped his fingers.

"That's right! Lithium-air batteries! You must know what these Chinese people are doing! They're bundling lithium-air batteries and wireless charging together, forcing us to adhere to their standards, this is…"

Elon struggled for a while before speaking with emotion.

"It's like we're forced to eat their sh*t!"

"Pfft!"

Woods nearly laughed out loud.

It wasn't until the other two people stared at him did he cough and put on a more serious expression.

"I apologize… I sympathize with your experience."

Elon opened his mouth and wanted to speak.

However, Kevin stood up from his chair.

"Okay, gentlemen, today's meeting will have to end here. I have a very important conference to go to; I can't sit here and listen to you two forever."

He paused for a few seconds and spoke.

"I know what you guys want. Star Sky Technology is a threat, am I right?"

Elon and Woods replied.

"That's right, they're a tumor!"

"Yeah, they're shameless thieves!"

"Okay, gentlemen, the White House will take this matter seriously." Kevin nodded and said, "I'll ask the Department of Commerce to investigate the patent acquisition that happened six years ago, as well as the improper use of the patent in the SH standard."

Elon finally sighed with relief.

Even though this wasn't exactly what he wanted, he was satisfied.

As long as the Department of Commerce could try to destroy this monopoly, most of his problems would be solved.

After all, the Department of Commerce was no joke.

Once they set their eyes on someone, they would get to the bottom of it…

Elon had no doubt about that.

…

The meeting was over.

Woods walked out of the White House and got into a black limousine.

Sitting across from him was another man in a suit.

"How did it go?"

Woods wasn't as aggressive as how he was in the White House. Instead, he spoke in a formal tone, as if he was scared of this man.

"The White House recognizes the seriousness of the problem, and they plan on launching an antitrust investigation on Star Sky Technology. I just met Elon… Did you ask him to come?"

"Nope." Lawrence nodded toward the driver and turned his head back to the CEO. He then said, "I didn't tell him to do anything, but he obviously made the right choice."

Woods frowned and said, "You're that confident in Tesla's charging station market in China? Even though the Chinese market is huge, this is related to national security… If they're willing to privatize the charging station market, they might not allow a foreign company to control Shanghai's power industry."

"Mr. Woods, let me ask you something." Lawrence smiled and said, "If the White House changes the president every four years, how are we supposed to ensure that every president is the best candidate?"

Woods frowned.

"We have to investigate the voter support rates of each state, and use—"

"It's not that complicated."

Lawrence shook his head and smiled at the CEO of ExxonMobil.

"We just have to be on both sides."

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985 They Are Dead!

The third week of May.

While the alternative energy industry was going through a thunderstorm, a message from the US Department of Commerce added oil to the fire.

A spokesperson from the Department of Commerce spoke toward a row of cameras at a press conference.

"After a week-long investigation, we have conducted forensics on 16 alternative energy companies around the world and have consulted industry leaders.

"We have enough evidence to suspect that Star Sky Technology is conducting monopolistic behavior.

"In addition, we have noticed that the charging station subsidiary of Star Sky Technology has adopted malicious business methods when competing with Tesla's charging station business in the Yangtze River Delta city group area. They have set up exclusive thresholds that violate free trades and hinder the development of the industry.

"Because of this, we will bring a lawsuit on the legality of the SH standard.

"Considering the fact that the SH standard is one of the pieces of evidence that Star Sky Technology is interfering with the free market, this case will be conducted in conjunction with an antitrust investigation!"

The press conference was in an uproar.

The reporters at the scene rushed forward, like sharks that smelled blood. They desperately took photos, capturing every expression of the spokesperson.

The SH standard is illegal!

The US Department of Commerce is going to launch an antitrust investigation against Star Sky Technology!

As expected, the development of China's new energy industry finally alerted the United States.

Both the White House and the United States Congress could no longer turn a blind eye to this.

It was foreseeable that the entire energy industry would go through a drastic change, due to the actions of the Department of Commerce!

The reporters at the scene could already imagine the newspaper headlines.

The newspapers would be talking about this for the next month!

Shortly after the Department of Commerce press conference, the content of the press conference was released online.

Discussions began to explode on social networks such as Facebook.

In the blink of an eye, whether it was academia or industry, whether it was Wall Street, investment banks, or blue-collar workers, everyone was talking about this.

[I think it's about time the White House makes a move!]

[Those people are erroneously using legal loopholes to achieve their motives! They are destroying capitalism!]

[I think the Qi standard is good, it should be compatible with electric vehicles, so why should I use the SH standard? Can't the Chinese just do things our way?]

[F*ck, why do we have to use your standards! Why don't you get a lithium-air battery patent then!]

[Don't forget, the lithium-air battery patents actually belong to ExxonMobil.]

[Nonsense! I heard the mathematical model used by Professor Stanley was stolen from Professor Lu.]

[That's ridiculous, it sounds like you're in academia as well, do you really believe that?]

It seemed like there were two sides to the debates; one side believed the US Department of Commerce, while the other side believed that the act of suppressing high-tech enterprises in other countries was worse than setting up patent barriers.

Simply put, patent barriers were a common thing; any companies dedicated to research and development would do everything they could to protect their intellectual property rights.

After all, if they couldn't own their technology, why would anyone conduct risky and costly research and development?

Therefore, it was unreasonable to interfere with Star Sky Technology's rights to exercise their patents, on the grounds of affecting industry development.

However, when one enterprise had the strength to influence a country, they were no longer just an enterprise.

In some sense, it was only a matter of time before the United States took action on Star Sky Technology.

Even if the SH standard didn't happen, someone else in the future would have triggered this investigation.

The Americans would never allow another company like Qualcomm to exist; a company that used their patents to monopolize the entire industry.

Putting it bluntly, a third world country like China trying to overtake America in terms of science and technology was a sin in their eyes…

Because of this, there were also people on the neutral side of all this.

The SH standard was just a market move with no political purpose. But the US Department of Commerce investigation would raise the tensions between the two countries…

From the perspective of the Americans, this was not a good thing.

In fact, this was what people were worried about.

Once a conflict began, it would take a war for it to stop.

The day after the Department of Commerce press conference, the Justice Department also expressed that after reviewing the patent acquisition case from six years ago, the company that bought the patents from ExxonMobil, which was a shell company of Star Sky Technology, used questionable business tactics.

Also, the acquisition itself was suspected of contract fraud!

The former ExxonMobil employee that signed the patent transfer admitted that he received a US$500,000 "bribe" from Star Sky Technology.

If this allegation turned out to be true, the patent acquisition from six years ago could be labeled illegal.

And it might be possible for ExxonMobil to retrieve caged carbon molecules patent…

Without having to pay money…

…

ExxonMobil office.

Professor Stanley pushed the door open and walked in. He stared at Woods like he was a monster.

"Are you crazy? You know we stole—secretly borrowed the data from them. I don't know why the Chinese didn't chase after us, but we're the ones that stole that patent!"

"I think a scholar like you should just stay in the laboratory." Woods smiled and said, "Regardless of how we obtained the data, the court is all about evidence. Do you know what I mean, Professor Stanley?"

Woods obviously didn't care.

The only thing he cared about was a success.

However, unlike him, Professor Stanley was a scholar, not a businessman.

He wasn't willing to do anything shameless and disgraceful!

"There is evidence!"

Professor Stanley said to Woods, "You don't get it! People in academia have been talking about the mathematical model used in the caged carbon molecules, and the data processing was almost exactly the same as the 2018 Nobel Prize results! Some people even said that my name should be on the Nobel Prize!"

Woods: "Isn't that a good thing?"

"Not good at all!" Professor Stanley said angrily, "This thing was almost over, but because of the patent, people are digging up this story again!"

Woods frowned and spoke casually.

"I don't know a lot about academia, but you're not guilty, right? People suspect you are, but they don't have any evidence."

"I just want to tell you that, if they bring this to court, you won't be able to win over the jury!"

"This is a lawsuit, there won't be a jury." Woods smiled and looked at Stanley as he said, "Don't worry, my friend… Also, do you want to work here again? Don't tell me you came all the way to talk about this boring stuff."

"I'm too stupid! I shouldn't have come here, you don't understand what I'm talking about!" Stanley continued, "You're going further and further down the wrong path, you're the one being ignorant."

"You're overcomplicating things." Woods shrugged and said, "Do you really think we're going to play a fair game with them? This is the White House, no one on this planet can go against them."

Woods smiled at Professor Stanley.

"It doesn't matter if the patent belongs to them.

"Just know that they are screwed!"

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986 Rules Are Made for Winning

First was the US Department of Commerce investigation, then was the Department of Justice; they were all going after Star Sky Technology.

If a conviction was formed, Star Sky Technology might have to pay a 10 figure fine for the SH standard and lithium-air battery patent bundling agreement.

The United States seemed to have set its eyes on attacking this high-tech Chinese company.

The day after the Department of Justice report came out, the news of the antitrust investigation spread throughout China.

Soon after, heated discussions began to spread.

[F*ck sake, do the Americans want to destroy Star Sky Technology?]

[This is ridiculous! We bought it when it was worthless, now we find out it's valuable, and they're trying to say the sale wasn't legal?]

[It looks like Star Sky Technology is being too flamboyant, they should have been more low-key! If they didn't have their SH standard, this wouldn't have happened!]

[Go f*ck yourself! We developed the technology ourselves, why can't we use our own standards? Also, the SH standard charging station is only in Shanghai? Why does the US have authority here?]

[…]

Compared to the discussion on Facebook, the Weibo discussions were undoubtedly more intense. There were a lot more curse words being thrown around.

People with ulterior motives also joined in on the discussion.

For example, a well-known expert in the financial industry wrote a post around "procedural justice" and "game theory", tackling the problem of how "Star Sky Technology should treat sanctions by the Department of Commerce".

[Actually, this is a problem of Chinese companies unable to adjust to the international market.

[There are many companies with excellent research and development capabilities in our country, but what advanced science and technology needs is good management. Even though many companies have achieved success, they aren't able to penetrate the international market. [They think that they can do whatever they want, just like what they do in China. That idea is naive and ignorant.

[In fact, the United States isn't worried about being surpassed by China. It's quite the contrary. The rise of China's economy is in line with the interest of the United States. However, Chinese companies are not aware of this. If you follow the rules of the game, they will admit defeat and praise you. However, if you don't follow the rules, don't complain when they give you a lesson!]

After this article came out, it immediately spread to other social media platforms.

Some people scolded the article, while others were persuaded.

Regardless of public perception, the author had successfully achieved their goal.

The author's view count exploded…

…

"I saw it, it looks like we're going through an antitrust investigation."

Lu Zhou sat in his Jinling Institute for Advanced Study office. He was talking with Chen Yushan on the phone.

Because the college entrance examination was only a few days ago, Lu Zhou posted on Weibo to his teenage fans, wishing them good luck in the exam.

However, most of his fans were talking about his company being sanctioned.

But because it was getting closer to June, Lu Zhou was spending most of his time on Riemann's hypothesis. He didn't pay attention to Star Sky Technology or Beep Beep Charging.

If it weren't for people on Weibo tagging him, he wouldn't have even known about the Americans' plans.

Chen Yushan didn't seem to be worried.

"Who cares if they're after you, I'll protect you."

Lu Zhou: "…"

"Okay, okay, just kidding." Chen Yushan smiled and said in a serious manner, "Has the state come to look for you? People from Beijing?"

Lu Zhou thought for a second and said, "Does the State Administration for National Defense count?"

Director Li would come to Lu Zhou's office every couple of days.

Chen Yushan smiled and said, "That's good, you can relax now."

Lu Zhou said, "That's it?"

Chen Yushan: "Of course, competition between companies is just market behavior, so the country wouldn't intervene. Whether it's in America or China.

"But this is clearly not the case now, because of the lithium-air battery and SH standard, we have clearly dominated the market. Electric vehicle companies and charging station companies only have two options, either adhere to our standards or give up on lithium-air batteries.

"Obviously, from their perspective, it seems like they have a choice."

They actually didn't have a choice.

Not adhering to the new standards meant they would be eliminated from the market.

Unless the entire industry abandoned lithium-air batteries, consumers would naturally choose lithium-air batteries over lithium-sulfur batteries.

And obviously, the industry wouldn't just abandon the superior lithium-air batteries.

Chinese companies would gladly incorporate lithium-air batteries into their cars.

Lu Zhou nodded and said, "So, we're about to win, but the Americans are upset. They want to smash the chessboard, am I correct?"

Chen Yushan smiled and said, "Bingo! You're correct! Rules are made for winning, rules are broken for winning too."

"Then what do you plan on doing?" Lu Zhou said. Sitting in his chair with his phone pressed against his ear, he said curiously, "We're just a company, we're no match against an entire country."

Chen Yushan: "That's right, but the second the Department of Justice and Department of Commerce smashed the chessboard, the chess players have changed.

"Some departments might pretend to turn a blind eye, but seeing how Director Li came all the way to Jinling, it looks like Beijing is taking this seriously."

Chen Yushan smirked and said, "This isn't about business competition anymore, this is about politics."

Lu Zhou nodded.

"I see, no wonder you said the chess game is over, and the show is about to begin."

"Yeah, our job is over, we just have to wait now." Chen Yushan sighed and said emotionally, "A few years ago, I would have never adopted such a radical strategy, but now, we can."

In fact, when the lithium-sulfur batteries came out, Star Sky Technology had the option to do something similar to this.

Because of the reliability and durability of lithium-sulfur batteries compared to traditional lithium-ion batteries, they had the chance of making companies like Apple and Samsung adhere to their standards.

As long as they cooperated with Huawei or Xiaomi, they had the chance to dominate the market.

However, that was just in theory; if they really did that, it would be suicide.

Just by monopolizing the electric vehicle industry alone, they were able to attract the attention of the White House.

If they tried to do the same on mobile phones and other electronic equipment, the United States would have taken a more drastic approach…

Even Huawei and Xiaomi wouldn't have done such a thing; they would have stayed far away from Star Sky Technology.

"Weak countries don't have diplomacy, strong nations have everything. Just like how Manhattan controls the world's wealth. Is it because of their trading technology? Maybe, but that's not the essence of it.

"Our situation is similar. Business operation is important, but the reason we're winning is not because of our strategy."

Lu Zhou curiously asked, "Then what is it?"

Chen Yushan: "It's because of you."

"… Me?"

"Yeah…" Chen Yushan smiled and said, "We already won, ever since the light that illuminated Haizhou three years ago.

"Just wait and see. Even if we're going against ExxonMobil and Tesla, or even the White House, we will be victorious!"

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987 It"s Begun!

On the last Thursday in May, the sky above Manhattan was covered in a layer of clouds, as if it was about to rain.

In order to avoid the rain, Ben subconsciously began walking faster.

This was Wall Street. If the global financial markets were a human brain, this was the prefrontal cortex.

Ben was a gifted person who graduated from Harvard. He was a successful investment banker working for Goldman Sachs…

He went into the building, up the elevator, and walked into his office with his briefcase.

His colleague was already in his office, waiting for him. His colleague asked, "Did you watch the morning news?"

Ben: "Not yet, did something happen?"

Carell: "No, nothing happened, which is weird. You should know that our Department of Justice announced that they have collected enough evidence to prove that the acquisition from six years ago was illegal. I've been paying attention to the news about Star Sky Technology and China. But I haven't been able to see anything."

Ben placed his briefcase on his desk and sat down.

He opened his computer and shook his head.

"This is unusual, I think this is getting more serious. I can't think of a reason why China would choose to back down. I've always said that it is a bad idea to conduct an antitrust investigation on Star Sky Technology. Now the White House plans on using the Department of Justice to undo a patent acquisition that happened six years ago! This is asinine! They're too naive!"

If this were five years ago, this would have been completely different.

Back then, they could have stepped on Star Sky Technology like an ant.

But with the current international situation, things were different.

Especially because of the failure of the Ares program, as well as the unveiling of the ILHCRC, more and more countries had begun to recognize that China had gradually become the new super-country of the world.

The White House should have realized that the cross-regional nuclear fusion power grid spreading across Southeast Asia had completely eliminated America's influence in the region.

Due to factors such as the successful Mars Rescue, China had won over the international community, and more and more small countries had opened their doors to the cross-regional power grid and the economic growth that came with it.

Therefore, trying to attack a Chinese enterprise was not a good idea.

Of course…

The White House might have had no other choice.

But that was not something Ben cared about.

Carell twisted the pen in his hand and spoke.

"That's something the politicians have to worry about. This is happening, and it is not going to stop. I just want to know what China's countermeasures are?"

He paused for a second and shrugged before saying, "This concerns our operational strategies, as well as whether or not we can have a relaxing weekend."

"It is very difficult to predict China's moves since they're dominating us in at least two industries. In theory, they have at least two options." Ben thought for a second and said, "But I prefer that they give the White House a buffer time and introduce countermeasures next Monday…"

"Which field do you think they're going to act on?"

"I don't know, anything is possible. but I think we should take back our positions and withdraw some funds to balance our risk. Especially in West Cost public utility companies and power companies that we have positions in… As well as ExxonMobil and Tesla. But I don't think we're long them right now, so we should be fine."

Carell snapped his fingers.

"Good idea, I was thinking the same thing."

Ben wondered if Carell really thought of the same idea.

However, Ben didn't really care.

The morning markets stayed relatively calm. Just like the dark clouds outside the window, the calmness made people a little uncomfortable.

Ben was eating his sandwich as he stared at the news page on his computer screen and took a sip of coffee.

"Carell."

"What's up, my friend?"

"Don't you think the morning markets are too stable?"

"You're saying this is the calm before the storm?"

"I think so." Ben looked out the window and said, "We all know it's going to come sooner or later."

Carell said, "Speaking of which, today is Thursday."

Ben looked at his colleague and asked, "Yeah, why?"

"There's a new movie coming out today."

Ben: "…"

I'm talking about the markets, and you're thinking about f*cking movies?

The news continued to play on the computer screen.

After the news segment on a Brazilian iron ore company increasing their production, the news anchor began to talk about Umicore investing 1 billion into Southeast Asia, to fill the demand gap for lithium anode materials.

Ben, who turned his attention back onto the computer, noticed something strange.

Which was that, half of the news was related to China.

Even if it wasn't directly related, it was at least partially related.

For example, the Brazillian iron ore company announced an increase in production because of the booming infrastructure market in Southeast Asian driving up iron ore prices. According to their analysts, the cross-regional power grids played an extremely important role…

As for why there was such a huge demand gap for lithium anode materials, it was obviously because of the lithium-air batteries. Some people were even researching how to create a futures market for the PDMS anode material.

While he was thinking about whether or not the news would affect his investments, the news anchor suddenly received a piece of paper off camera.

When the news anchor read the note, his expression changed instantly.

Even Ben could see that the news anchor was shocked.

This kind of thing happened from time to time on news networks.

Usually, this meant there was a breaking piece of news.

Ben was carefully listening to the news when the words of the news anchor nearly made him fall out of his chair.

"We have breaking news…

"According to our reporters in China, an hour ago, the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection began an investigation into East Asia Energy's nuclear core project in California. According to reliable sources, the project will be suspended for at least a month."

"Sh*t."

Ben stared at the computer screen as a flash of panic appeared in his eyes, and a drop of sweat slipped from his forehead.

He was too ignorant.

He had underestimated China's determination.

China's counterattack was inevitable; even a homeless guy on the street could have predicted that.

He just didn't expect everything to happen so suddenly…

A storm was brewing.

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Chapter 988 Black Thursday!

"Our company is promoting wireless charging stations in the Shanghai market to meet the needs of the people in the Yangtze River Delta city group area…

"For the international markets, the Chinese side encourages Chinese companies to abide by local laws and regulations, to be an enterprise with a sense of international responsibility, that meets the expectations of the local community.

"Our company is doing honest work, and we do not have ulterior motives.

"We will pay close attention to the progress and take necessary measures."

The camera lights flashed at the press conference.

The spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Commerce spoke to a crowd of domestic and foreign reporters.

Their announcement was a declaration of war, a warning for a counterattack.

In fact, the counterattack had already begun before the press conference.

First was East Asia Energy, the fusion energy giant. They cooperated with the Ministry of Environmental Protection and began to investigate their oversea orders and suspended the California nuclear core project indefinitely.

That wasn't it.

Just like the US Department of Commerce's antitrust investigation on Star Sky Technology, this was just the beginning.

As the largest superconducting material company in the world, Baosheng Group, who worked with Star Sky Technology on the SG-1 superconducting material, which provided the superconducting magnet for the Haizhou experimental reactor, announced a suspension of North American orders.

Baosheng Group was a partly state-owned company, thus its performance wasn't entirely based on profits alone.

When it came to the fusion power plant in California, as well as those companies that were closely tied to the fusion power plant, this was even worse than the suspension of the nuclear core project.

There was only one reason.

They wouldn't receive the nuclear core until next year. Even though there were some road bumps in the way, they had an entire year to repair their relationship with China.

But the SG-1 material was different.

This stuff was a key material for the construction of superconducting magnets, which was used to restrain the ferrofluid. Without the SG-1 material, they had to pause construction on the whole project.

Energy and public utility companies had spent loads of money on this fusion power plant, and for every day the project was delayed, it meant millions of dollars in losses.

Then there was aerospace.

The Chinese courts accepted a claim submitted by the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation, which named two US Lunar Gateway construction units of intellectual property infringement.

Logically speaking, China didn't have the right to interfere with America's lunar project, nor did it do so.

More than 90% of the lunar transfer orbit transportations were done by the Magpie Bridge of Star Sky Technology.

Star Sky Technology complied with the relevant departments and suspended cooperation with companies on the space launch mission.

Instantly, the Lunar Gateway project was suspended!

Unfortunately, NASA was hit the hardest by the collateral damage.

In order not to delay the construction, Director Carson had to urgently contact the Houston space launch center and take out the BFR rocket, which was originally going to be used for the follow-up project of the Ares program.

The BFR project had more than enough room to carry a batch of supplies to the lunar transfer orbit.

However, the launch costs would increase by an order of magnitude. Director Carson almost wanted to cry.

China's countermeasures went from controllable fusion to aerospace.

Interestingly enough, almost all of the countermeasures had one thing in common, which was that they were more or less related to Star Sky Technology or Professor Lu…

Wall Street didn't expect this sudden attack.

No one doubted that China would respond, but they didn't expect it to come this strong and suddenly!

Two days ago, investment banks were analyzing China's operational strategies.

They planned on reducing their positions, and if China didn't respond, they even planned on going long on ExxonMobil or Tesla.

However, there was no doubt that right now, everyone on Wall Street was shorting the market.

NYSE was in chaos.

"Jesus! They can't just do this!"

"Suspending orders for environmental reasons! Do these people think we're idiots? Can't they abide by the contract?"

"These Neanderthals! Completely ruthless!"

The aerospace sector had plummeted across the board!

The energy sector was in shambles!

The companies that had doubled in market value due to the California fusion power plant project, had tumbled overnight.

The Wall Street Journal wrote in their latest issue that China shouldn't retaliate in unrelated areas such as aerospace and that it would only escalate the situation.

After the article came out, it was retweeted by countless Americans.

All of the major American media outlets were reporting on this matter. Even the White House was forced to send out a spokesperson, asking the Chinese side to remain calm.

However, the Chinese side obviously didn't buy it.

The bloodbath in the financial markets was just the beginning.

On the Friday after Black Thursday, a riot was brewing on the streets of California.

When they heard that they had wasted tens of billions into the fusion power station because of some idiot in the White House, California went crazy…

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Chapter 989 Give Up

Screwed.

It was totally screwed.

Even though the president had expected the counterattack by the Chinese side, and his advisory team also formulated a response plan, they didn't expect the Chinese to act so quickly!

Even though there was no substantial loss on the surface, Wall Street was already being hit hard.

Even though there weren't any actualized losses, it was enough to give them a headache.

Of course, this wasn't the worst.

Only now did the president realize the level of penetration the Chinese high-tech companies had in all of their industries.

Two national projects worth more than US$10 billion were instantly demolished in an instant…

This was terrifying!

The office door opened, and Kevin walked in with a serious look on his face.

"I just called the California government just now. Local environmental organizations and other organizations are protesting. They want clean and cheap energy… They want us to receive the nuclear core from China this year."

"F*ck them!"

The president slammed his fist on the table. He could feel his throat suffocating with anger.

He took a deep breath and calmed down, and after contemplating it for a while, he spoke in a gentle tone.

"Maybe we should restart the National Ignition Facility… Maybe controllable fusion is not as difficult as we thought…"

Restart the National Ignition Facility…

Kevin had a bitter look on his face.

He knew that the president himself knew how unrealistic that plan was. Not only did this mean they would have to hire tens of thousands of scholars, but they would also have to spend tens of billions. This meant opening a third battlefield on top of the two original super projects.

Even America couldn't handle three super projects at the same time; the huge financial pressure could bankrupt the federal government.

Not to mention, even if they restarted the National Ignition Facility…

Kevin: "What about the SG-1 material? Without that, we can't complete the magnets we need to confine the plasma, unless we can think of another way to optimize the plasma turbulence control scheme. I've consulted with the experts. Not only do we need the nuclear core, but we also need a supply of SG-1 material."

President: "Chips! Restrict the exportation of chips to China! Two can play this game."

Kevin took a deep breath.

"Sir."

The president stared at him.

"What's wrong?"

Kevin: "We can do that, but are you sure?"

The questioning tone from the chief of staff made the president rethink his words.

"I'll think about it…"

Chips…

That was a good idea.

There were more chips being imported into China than gallons of oil.

However, this would be a blow to both sides. After all, China could source their chips from other countries.

Even though America could also convince their allies to suspend chip exportation to Chinese companies…

But…

Would their European allies cooperate, when faced with the temptation of controllable fusion?

Europe was like a retired wealthy man, relying on the retirement fund he saved when he was young. He could still survive for a few decades, but they needed a controllable fusion to survive.

So far, China hadn't released the official documents, so going against China meant they could say goodbye to nuclear fusion…

Even if America bet all of their chips…

Did they really have a chance of winning?

The president couldn't help but feel a touch of sadness.

Ten years ago was different.

No, even two years ago, the situation was much better than now.

At least back then, they had the ability to compete with China, and their international influence allowed them to kick China out of ITER.

But now, they couldn't even take down one Chinese company…

Kevin paused for a second and spoke.

"Sir, we've done enough, think about the long term impacts. This is not the right time to attack Chinese high-tech enterprises. Our super projects still need their support. Before the fusion power plant is built, before the Lunar Gateway program finishes, we should restrain ourselves.

"Also, the electric vehicle market is not our concern. Our demand for electric vehicles is not as high as China's, and Tesla's market value is not comparable to California's economy. What if we just tell Elon to make a sacrifice?"

After all, Elon was the one that moved all of the jobs to Shanghai.

Even though there was nothing wrong with earning money from the Chinese, Elon was taking away the jobs from Americans.

"What about ExxonMobil?" The president paused for a second and said, "Wall Street is dangerous, but these oil giants are not."

The president never paid attention to Tesla's interests.

The reason for the attack against Star Sky Technology was because this company had been on his radar for a long time; he only used the SH standard as an excuse.

However, ExxonMobil was different. ExxonMobil wasn't just a political campaign funder; it also indirectly provided hundreds of thousands of jobs.

Basically, ExxonMobil could easily affect unemployment rates.

And unemployment rates played a huge deal on the elections…

"They're just taking advantage of the situation and trying to make a profit, but they don't matter, plus the CEO of ExxonMobil has to show his board that he's not useless, the useless person is…"

Kevin awkwardly paused for a second and thought of a safe answer. "The useless person is the judge."

The president said, "Isn't it a bit shameless for us to give in like this?"

Kevin sighed and smiled as he said, "It's easy to find an excuse. The investigation from the Department of Commerce can be canceled by the International Trade Commission. We're not compromising, we just… made an error!

"As for the Department of Justice, make their evidence 'incomplete'. If ExxonMobil isn't happy, we can tell them to bring the lawsuit themselves."

The president's eyes suddenly lit up. He looked at his chief of staff and said, "Contact the people from the International Trade Commission.

"You're right, this is not a good time to attack high-tech Chinese companies, we'll go with your plan!"

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Chapter 990 Dismissal

There were two famous streets in America.

One was Wall Street, in Manhattan, New York, the other was K Street, in Washington, DC.

Because of the number of lobbying organizations and think tanks that had their headquarters here, K Street was often referred to as "lobbying street", or even the "fourth US government department".

Lawrence was sitting in an office on the corner of K Street. He nodded with his phone in his hand.

"Did the president say that?

"Okay, I understand."

Lawrence hung up the phone and gave his phone to his assistant, who was standing next to him.

Woods was sitting across from him. He frowned and asked curiously, "Can I ask a question?"

"Go ahead."

"You were on the phone with…"

"Chief of Staff."

Chief of Staff!

Woods had a look of surprise on his face.

Having a phone call with the Chief of Staff wasn't anything extraordinary, ExxonMobil also had this power, but having the Chief of Staff personally report to him…

Woods couldn't help but gulp.

No wonder these blood-sucking vampires can always make the right choice, they have their own exclusive information channel.

He thought back to the Black Thursday financial markets crisis and wondered how much money this guy made from shorting the market…

"What did the White House decide on?"

Lawrence carelessly smiled and replied, "They plan on reconsidering the anti-monopoly investigation on Star Sky Technology since now is not the time to provoke conflict."

Woods paused for a second as his heart skipped a beat.

"But the patent—"

"That didn't belong to you in the first place, forget about it."

Lawrence smiled at this Texas CEO. He was clearly looking down on him.

Instead of lobbying the White House, pressuring the Department of Justice, and bribing witnesses… These barbarians were more inclined to steal wealth off others.

This was like horse racing.

The real winner wasn't the horse that crossed the finish line, it was the bookmaker that won all the chips from having the edge.

"Goddamn it!"

Woods clenched his fist. He tried to maintain his demeanor as he breathed heavily out of his nose.

Lawrence said, "Now that you know what is going to happen, there's no need for me to stay here. Thanks for your hospitality, Mr. Woods."

Lawrence stood up from the couch and nodded toward his assistant, gesturing to him to fetch the car. He looked at Woods and said, "We're interested in the oil field in Paraguay. Our analysts have predicted that if every car on the planet is electric by 2040, the oil business will still be profitable, so I sincerely suggest you take a look at this project…"

Woods looked like he had something to say. Lawrence paused for a second and spoke with a smile.

"Of course, you don't have to mock me. Princeton's history classes didn't teach me any investment skills, but thankfully, I learned about patience."

Woods stood up from the sofa and asked, "Are you going to leave?"

"Yeah." Lawrence nodded and said, "The flight is at 3 o'clock, so it's time for me to go."

"Where are you going?"

"To see an old friend."

Lawrence smiled and spoke.

"Haven't seen him in a long time, but I heard he's doing well."

…

Binghamton University.

Laboratory of the Department of Chemistry.

Professor Stanley sat at his desk, flipping through newspapers. Suddenly, it was like a stone was lifted off his chest, and his entire body relaxed.

His student, a PhD student with glasses, happened to walk into the laboratory. He noticed the professor and asked, "What's wrong, professor?"

"Withdrawn."

"Withdrawn?"

"Nothing, none of your business." Professor Stanley stood up and adjusted his collar as he said, "Which classroom is the afternoon class in?"

"Building A, room 411… You plan on going yourself?"

The PhD student had a look of surprise on his face.

The professor hated giving classes to undergraduate students, explaining elementary concepts from a textbook. Most of the time, Professor Stanley made his students and assistants give the lectures; he would never personally give a lecture. He always said true science could only be discovered in a laboratory.

But now, Stanley wanted to give a lecture…

Pigs were starting to fly!

"Going over rudimentary things can inspire new research… I forgot who said this, probably a famous guy." Professor Stanley then said, "Yeah, so, I'll handle the class this afternoon, you can just help me sort through some papers."

The PhD student nodded.

"Okay, professor, I'll give you the PowerPoint copy."

Professor Stanley snorted and spoke.

"I don't need that, a real teacher only needs a blackboard and a piece of chalk."

Student: "…"

Without explaining anything, Professor Stanley happily picked up the lesson plan on the table and walked out of the door.

As the student watched the door close, he wondered what his boss was doing.

He noticed the newspaper on the table.

He walked up and quietly unfolded the newspaper, turning to the page Professor Stanley was reading.

"The largest intellectual property fraud case in history was withdrawn due to insufficient evidence…"

His eyes widened as he remembered that Professor Stanley once worked on a research project with ExxonMobil.

ExxonMobil choosing to withdraw the lawsuit was bad news, but the look of relief on his supervisor's face…

Suddenly, he thought of a rumor that was circulating in the academic community a while ago.

"Maybe the paper from six years ago was really…"

The student realized he might have discovered an incredible secret. He quickly closed the newspaper and placed it back to its original spot.

All he wanted was to graduate.

He intended to keep this secret forever.

At least, until he graduated…

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Chapter 991 Use Lithium-Air!

The third day after Black Thursday.

The rising sun illuminated Manhattan Island at six o'clock in the morning.

As usual, Ben got off the car with a briefcase. He yawned and began to walk toward his office building when he saw a newspaper stand being surrounded by a crowd of people.

Men in suits and leather shoes gathered around the stand, handing out cash in exchange for a copy.

"What happened…"

Ben walked up and saw a fat man with curly hair walking out of the crowd.

This guy was none other than Carell.

Ben didn't hesitate before walking up and patting his colleague's shoulder.

"Hey, what happened? Why are there so many people around here?"

"I don't know, that's why I tried to buy a copy." Carell unfolded the newspaper and looked down at the headline.

The second his eyes touched the newspaper, Carell froze.

Ben also froze.

"The Department of Commerce withdrew! So did ExxonMobil! This is…" Carell looked at Ben and said, "Ben, my friend, quick, think, what does this mean for us?"

Ben grabbed his hair; his brain was racing a million miles an hour.

"I don't know… This is too sudden, maybe it's a good thing, maybe it's not… Let me think, this is good for the fusion power plant in Cali… F*ck! I thought this antitrust investigation would drag on for at least the end of the year! It's been less than a week and the idiots at Congress already withdrew!"

"There's an email from the company."

"What did they say?" Ben quickly asked.

"Nothing, just telling us to arrive earlier, the manager wants to hold a short meeting…"

"Quick! They're going to discuss this during the meeting!" Ben said as he crammed the newspaper into his briefcase and ran into the office building.

Carell put away his phone and screamed as he tried to catch up.

"Hey! I bought that newspaper!"

What happened near the Goldman Sachs building wasn't an isolated incident.

In fact, almost all of the newspaper stands in Manhattan were swamped by businessmen.

Some people just wanted to know what was going on.

But most people were people working in investment banks.

The International Trade Commission dismissed the antitrust investigation!

ExxonMobil gave up on their lawsuit!

These two news headlines appeared in the Wall Street Journal.

Apparently, the Wall Street Journal editor took a long time to decide which news article to put as the front-page story.

However, it didn't matter.

Because regardless of which story was on the front page, the newspaper was sold out like hotcakes.

People who were lucky enough to grab a copy couldn't believe their eyes. People were mentally preparing themselves, but they didn't expect this anti-monopoly investigation to stop so suddenly!

Soon after, the news spread onto the Internet.

These headlines spread throughout America at the speed of light, and investors were stunned by the news.

This was a huge blow to the conservatives that wanted to give the arrogant Chinese a lesson.

Facebook.

The comment section began to flood.

[This is our darkest time!]

[I'm so disappointed, I won't vote for this coward again.]

[This is the darkest time! This reminds me of Chamberlain, who signed the peace treaty, thinking that it was going to avoid the war. Then look at what happened!]

[Stop talking out of your a*s!]

[Do you know how many times America has protected the freedom of the world?]

[… You look like a quisling to me!]

…

Tesla building in China.

The conference room on the top floor.

Elon Musk looked at the sun rising through the floor-to-ceiling windows. He had just gotten off a red-eye flight.

He suddenly sighed.

"I'm not blaming you, we all know that we didn't lose to Star Sky Technology, nor did we lose to Beep Beep Charging, we didn't even lose to China."

Bobby didn't say anything.

He knew what his boss was thinking about.

Bobby said, "Actually, thinking about it carefully, we made the wrong decision. Ever since they registered their patent for the lithium-air battery, we had no chance of winning. I would have done the same thing as them. Even though I don't think wireless charging is game-changing technology, I would have used another tactic to allow us to become the standard setters."

A patent was only valid for 20 years.

But how long was a standard valid for?

No one knew because standards had inertia; it was difficult to replace and change.

Elon sighed and spoke.

"I know, but… are you willing to accept defeat?"

Bobby shook his head and replied, "No, but there's nothing we can do."

A while ago, the local Shanghai government suddenly became unwelcoming and aggressive toward Tesla.

This type of attitude change was abnormal, so Bobby began thinking.

Then, after Bobby contacted an official from the local government, he learned that this was Beijing's doings.

They crossed the line.

And before they uncrossed this line, the Chinese wouldn't change their attitude.

Bobby didn't know which line they crossed, perhaps it was something they did or something the White House did.

But he knew that Tesla's future in China depended on them uncrossing this line…

However, he didn't have the power to make a decision.

Only the man standing in front of him did.

After a while, Bobby spoke to Elon.

"What do we do now?"

"Nothing…" Elon looked at the sun rising and said nonchalantly, "Damage control.

"Charging station is a good industry. We can make a lot of money here, but it's not our core business model…

"For now, we have to keep Tesla alive in China."

Bobby nodded and spoke.

"I understand, what about the new model? The 2022 model…"

"Use lithium-air batteries," Elon said with a look of pain. He clenched his jaws and said, "Use their SH standard…"

SH standard…

I lost again…

Ahhh!

I'm so f*cking pissed.

Bobby had a sense of admiration in his heart.

Maybe…

This is why Elon is America's greatest entrepreneur…

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Chapter 992 Becoming Famous!

The anti-monopoly investigation stirred up the international community, which was finally terminated by the International Trade Commission.

Three of the six senate members appointed by the president voted yes, while two voted no and one abstained from voting.

After the thunderstorm on Black Friday, the war between the two countries in the fields of controllable fusion and aerospace gradually recovered, while the financial markets went back to its original track.

Some people made a lot of money, some people lost everything.

Regardless, everything was settled, and Star Sky Technology was able to book a win.

The news of Star Sky Technology's victory spread throughout the financial industry, along with a name.

This name wasn't Lu Zhou; everyone had already heard about Lu Zhou at this point.

It was…

The CEO of Star Sky Technology—Chen Yushan.

As one of the top high-tech companies in China, most people in business knew of this female CEO.

Most people knew her as the "Wharton MBA" and "Lu Zhou's classmate".

There were even rumors of her and Academician Lu being "together", and rarely did people talk about her business abilities.

The reason for this was normal.

The main business model of Star Sky Technology was patent control, even the best business plan and strategies would be overshadowed by Academician Lu's research abilities.

Just like how all of Apple's success was attributed to Steve Jobs, and not Tim Cook.

The same worked for Star Sky Technology.

People even criticized her, claiming that anyone in her position would be able to transform Star Sky Technology into a Fortune 500 company, that she was just a puppet for Lu Zhou.

However, this antitrust investigation undoubtedly proved those people wrong.

Even though this was technically a war between the United States and China, not every CEO had the ability to handle the pressure from giants such as Tesla and ExxonMobil.

Even Tim Cook himself might not have been able to do as good of a job as her.

It was obvious that Star Sky Technology had a world-class CEO.

After this battle, no one had any doubts about "CEO Chen's" ability. Even though she was still far from being a legend such as Jack Welch or Marc Lore, she could easily be ranked in the top 50 in the world.

Other than the news about Chen Yushan, the rest of the attention was placed on Tesla.

After the US Department of Commerce terminated the antitrust investigation, Tesla immediately issued an official announcement regarding their demerger with EVgo.

This announcement caught the attention of the Shanghai financial field.

Due to the acquisition made by Star Sky Technology, as well as the SH standard, many Chinese investors had developed an interest in charging station companies.

However, Tesla's decision to part ways with EVgo made these investors doubt themselves. The investors wondered if there was something they didn't know.

However, even if they knew the whole picture, they wouldn't be able to do anything.

After all, it seemed like Star Sky Technology was the only one that could succeed in the charging station field.

"EVgo looks good, I think we should acquire them."

Chen Yushan told Lu Zhou about Tesla's demerger with EVgo.

Lu Zhou frowned and said, "Is Beep Beep Charging not enough?"

To be honest, he quite liked the name.

Even though it sounded less futuristic than EVgo, it was more catchy.

After hearing Lu Zhou's words, Chen Yushan patiently explained.

"I didn't say there's anything wrong with Beep Beep Charging, and acquiring EVgo won't affect Beep Beep Charging. Instead, it will help with the expansion. We can take over EVgo's Shanghai coverage, as well as other resources. Basically, if we don't buy them, someone else will, which could mean trouble.

"Also, even though the Yangtze River Delta city group is our focus, that doesn't mean we should abandon the overseas markets. In terms of charging stations, EVgo can help us penetrate the European and American markets."

Even though Lu Zhou didn't know a lot about business, after hearing Chen Yushan's explanation, he nodded with confidence.

"Okay then, if you think it's a good buy, then buy it… But, will Elon sell it to us this easily? I think he hates me."

Chen Yushan smiled confidently and said, "Don't worry, I'll handle it."

Lu Zhou nodded and realized something important.

"Oh yeah, how much is it going to cost?"

Chen Yushan: "Not much, just a couple hundred million."

Lu Zhou: "… USD?"

Chen Yushan: "Yeah!"

Lu Zhou: "…"

F*ck sake!

I agreed too early.

I knew you have to spend money to make money, but I can't help but think about the money disappearing from my bank account…

It hurts!

After Lu Zhou hung up the phone, he leaned in his chair and looked at the calendar on the wall.

"It's already June…"

Time really flies by.

2022 is almost over…

Lu Zhou remembered he still had to give an answer to Wang Peng.

He had hardly gotten a break this year.

Whether it was ILHCRC or Star Sky Technology, he had barely had the chance to do any research.

Even Chen Yang, whom he poached from Beijing, had begun making some progress on the Hodge conjecture.

He couldn't just remain like this forever.

Lu Zhou was wondering what he should tell Wang Peng when a text bubble suddenly popped up on his computer screen.

Xiao Ai: [Master, you have mail. (๑•̀ᄇ•́) و]

Mail?

Lu Zhou had never seen this email address before.

Even though Xiao Ai could find who the sender was, there was no need for that yet.

Lu Zhou opened the email and raised his eyebrows with interest.

The email was short.

[I just arrived in Jinling, and I know a good restaurant in the city. Are you free to talk and eat?]

What intrigued him wasn't the short email.

It was the name at the bottom of the email.

"David Lawrence?"

Lu Zhou felt this name looked familiar…

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