In this world, there really is no such thing as hesitation.
The moment a choice appears, an answer is already there.
What’s called hesitation is nothing more than lacking a good excuse for oneself.
Take Li Zheng for example, with a glare of his eyes, he found his excuse for enjoying the benefits meant for the disabled.
In society, if a normal person uses a disability certificate to cheat subsidies, that’s an intentional encroachment of social resources, a kind of immoral and illegal behavior.
But within the system, who really loses out?
If anything, isn’t it me, Li Zheng, who bears the stigma of a "Barrier" alone, all for the sake of a brighter tomorrow through learning?
Having rationalized this far, Li Zheng couldn’t help but respect himself.
The title of Barrier has long ceased to be a humiliating one.
It has become the medal of a great person.
If I am not a Barrier, who is?
[Do you wish to return to free learning immediately?]
No!
Come on, I am the Barrier, lead me on!
More hints popped up subsequently.
[Barrier Guide Mission II——]
[The Demon Emperor’s Methods]
[Scholastic Wealth, the core resource during the specialized learning phase, can be used to illuminate new technology, obtain inspiration.]
[Unlike the Scholastic Wealth of others seen with the Scholar’s Eye, your Scholastic Wealth in the system is akin to currency and does not change dynamically with circumstances, serving merely as a one-time resource.]
[Normally, Scholar’s Wealth is acquired through increased prestige, network expansion, collaborative research, project applications, recruitment, and other means.]
[But for the Demon Emperor, plundering Scholar’s Wealth is the unrivaled method for rapid expansion.]
[Mission Requirement: Please plunder 500 points of Scholar’s Wealth within two weeks.]
[The means at your disposal include, but are not limited to:]
[Usurping others’ resources]
[Lowering others’ prestige]
[Undermining others’ confidence]
[Mission Reward]
[An extra 500 points of Scholar’s Wealth.]
Li Zheng understood the reasoning behind these "three others."
But what does "undermining others’ confidence" mean?
Academic PUA?
That seems somewhat undignified.
But 500 points of Scholar’s Wealth isn’t that difficult to acquire.
This chapt𝓮r is updat𝒆d by ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom.
It seems like putting stockings on a leader and beating up Chu Youhua might do the trick.
Wait, why Chu Youhua?
Why is it that whenever something like this comes up, Chu Youhua is the first person I think of?
That’s not appropriate… Forcing it really isn’t right.
Let’s keep him in reserve for now and wait until I’ve learned about quantum fields. If it turns out he does have issues, then I’ll fleece him.
But if not Chu Youhua, then who?
Knock, knock, knock.
The sudden knocking at the door echoed through the room.
Then, a middle-aged voice that had lost its assertiveness came from outside.
"Li Zheng... Are you there?"
Li Zheng’s eyes flashed.
It was Zhang Shandong.
Perhaps this is fate.
The man had come from far away to seek me out, and Li Zheng initially wanted to get up and welcome him warmly, but upon closer thought, if I were too welcoming, it would be difficult to achieve the "three others" objective.
No, I must keep my composure and maintain an attitude that would not let a blade of grass grow, not leave a single hair behind.
Thus Li Zheng remained seated, picked up the textbook on "Abstract Algebra," and responded coldly, "Enter."
Zhang Shandong then pushed open the door. Gone was his usual confidence; instead, he was timid, seeking cues from Li Zheng’s demeanor, performing far worse than Wu Yue during his first meeting.
Dean Niu must have already read Chang Keqing’s proclamation.
Li Zheng wondered what kind of writing Chang Keqing had used that resulted in Zhang Shandong’s current state.
Li Zheng didn’t even look at him, only glancing out of the corner of his eye.
[Zhang Shandong]
[Academic Power: 387]
[Scholastic Wealth: 3625]
Li Zheng had naturally seen this data before and had not taken it seriously; it wasn’t extraordinary for a Yingpei tutor who managed student research resources to have such figures.
But after a series of maneuvers.
This 3625 had become quite eye-catching.
Funnily enough, the more pretentious someone acts in a meeting, the more abjectly they perform when faced with adversity.
After entering the room, seeing that Li Zheng had not risen, Zhang Shandong did not take a seat either. He tried to maintain a smile, bending slightly, and said, "Hi... I thought you might be sleeping... I hope I’m not disturbing you..."
```
"Sorry to intrude, speak if you have something to say," Li Zheng turned a page.
Zhang Shandong, despite being so offended, didn’t show even a hint of annoyance; he only laughed heartily as he dragged over a chair: "Hey... I called your mobile and got blocked, couldn’t even add you on WeChat... Really sorry about that..."
Li Zheng had expected his blatant lack of respect to provoke a fierce reaction, yet surprisingly, the guy didn’t even fart in response.
In a certain sense, this was the mark of a master.
Facing risks and responsibilities, play Tai Chi.
When lured by benefits, execute sneaky maneuvers.
Faced with a dead end from which he couldn’t escape blame, he simply knelt down.
Such a master...
Um...
It’s better not to keep him around at Yingpei.
After Zhang Shandong sat down on the pulled-up chair and slammed the door shut, he lowered his voice and said, "Li Zheng... I actually heard that you partnered with Dean Zhou, and I wanted to put a stop to what was going on here, but the School of Biological Sciences was too eager. They insisted on collaborating with us at Yingpei, and Wu Yue also seemed receptive... I really had no choice..."
"Bullshit," Li Zheng silently turned another page, "Go over it again."
"......"
This time.
Zhang Shandong finally showed a reaction.
But his shock and indignation lasted only a moment before he quickly returned to his smiling facade.
"This... I’ve always wanted to understand the situation on your side, and discuss it with you, but you blocked me..."
"I can’t hear you," Li Zheng started doodling on a piece of draft paper, "Go over it again."
"...Then... what do you want to hear?"
"Plagiarism, scooping, names."
"It’s not like that, Li Zheng... Really, there’s nothing like that..."
"Then what are you doing?" Li Zheng paused with his pen, turned slowly and said, "If you’ve done nothing wrong, why are you here?"
"..."
"Either explain yourself or get out," Li Zheng pointed at the door, looking up at Zhang Shandong and articulated every word, "Don’t play these tricks used to cajole kids, "plagiarism, scooping, names"."
"I really don’t know anything about that..." Zhang Shandong said anxiously, "Look, at most I’d be a distant fifth author... Would it be worth it for me?"
"Then leave."
"Can I apologize to you..." Zhang Shandong said with a twisted face, "Apologize to the entire group too, visit Dean Zhou to apologize in person, it’s all my fault, whatever you say goes."
"Got it, now leave."
"And that thing... don’t worry, in the future any of your projects will have our full support," Zhang Shandong finished speaking and observed Li Zheng’s expression, not daring to breathe heavily as he tentatively asked, "Are we good now?"
"Not yet," Li Zheng shook his head as he changed the draft paper, "It’s only over when I say it’s over."
"Then what do you actually want from me... do you insist I make a public apology?"
"Heh..." Li Zheng genuinely laughed, "Do you really think you’re that valuable? You? A public apology? Who cares?"
"......" Zhang Shandong was taken aback once more, his composure slipping again.
Each time he lost face, it was like taking a step down; he lowered himself even more without realizing it.
Meanwhile, Scholastic Wealth really started to trickle through as well!
Specially with Li Zheng’s last genuinely amused laugh, Zhang Shandong seemed to accept the fact that he was worthless.
"Three outsiders," the saying goes, do not deceive me.
Zhang Shandong stood rooted to the spot for quite a while, then finally steeled his heart, his whole face sagging with it.
"You really aren’t an ordinary student."
"Not only because of your research abilities, but also your family background; your mother is no ordinary woman, it’s ingrained in you from what you hear and see..."
"That stint in the aerospace system was not in vain."
"I should’ve looked through these files earlier..."
After reflecting, Zhang Shandong sighed deeply.
"Then I’ll tell you everything I know."
At this point, Zhang Shandong’s demeanor completely changed, the ingratiating smile vanished from his face.
It was probably around now that he really started to regard Li Zheng as someone with whom he could have an equal conversation.
He spoke and then turned to open a crack in the door to ensure there was no one in the hall before he continued, with an even quieter voice than before,
"My access to your project’s progress was limited to public information, all stuff that could be inquired about."
"At first, I just noticed that you had a promising start, and I was afraid that my side would mess up the review, I was also coveting your results, so I pushed it through. When Zhou Yi at the Chemical Institute wasn’t persuadable, I turned to the Biology Institute."
"Who knew, before I could even fan the flames, the Biology Institute immediately agreed. Looking back now, I suspect that the details of your work must have leaked out to some extent. Who wouldn’t be envious of major results that could be obtained just by monitoring electron microscopes for a week?"
"To add more, if you didn’t have Dean Zhou’s backing this time, who knows how many tricks would be played? For me, already being rather wary of you, I’d always prefer to discuss things first. Others have seen a freshman like you start a project assertively; there are plenty of people who would jump at the chance to scoop it without giving you a heads up. So when I said Yingpei should be the one to support you, I meant it. If your collaborator wasn’t someone as decent as Dean Zhou, how do you think things would have turned out? Do you think you and your few team members could hold onto it?"
"I know you look down on me, but the stuff above is all true."
"Going back to earlier... the Biology Institute was very enthusiastic, wasn’t it? So we had a private meeting that very day."
"Yes, today’s project initiation meeting wasn’t the first time, there was a private one before that."
"It was in a classroom, I brought Wu Yue and Liu Yuwei with me."
"Both Hu Haibo and I had the same intention, to let you off, to quickly start another topic based on the concept you put forward, essentially rebranding it."
"For Hu Haibo’s side, it was a Yingpei-collaborated project, and two Yingpei students were involved, which would be justified when the Chemical Institute inquired about it."
"For my side, the project got done no matter what, and my name would still be around fifth author, not only providing a result for the institute but I might even be a CNS alumnus in the future."
"For Wu Yue and Liu Yuwei, there’s even less to say; the bulk of the work would be done by Hu Haibo’s side, they’d get authorship for basically following along, it’s unearned honor."
"Each party would get what they needed, it was an immediate consensus. Although nobody explicitly said to bypass you, we all understood."
"What followed was the official project initiation meeting, and you know what happened there."
"In fact, when you questioned whether Hu Haibo had read your paper or not..."
```
"My heart also ’skipped a beat.’"
"Indeed, there is suspicion, which is why I forcefully intervened."
"At that point, I was actually feeling a bit guilty, but I thought I should stand by him."
"After all, I still treated you as a typical freshman at the time."
"That’s about it, I’ve said everything I know."
"Plagiarism, scooping, the names involved, that’s all I’m aware of."
Li Zheng pondered for a long while before nodding his head.
"Alright, you’ve really cleared yourself of blame."
"There’s nothing I can do if you don’t believe me. All I can say is that everything I’ve said is true," Zhang Shandong sighed and lowered his head. "You can criticize me at Dean Niu’s, denounce me, be utterly against me, but when it comes to plagiarism, I really was completely unaware. I haven’t read a single word of your paper. I could even say that I wouldn’t dare look at it even if it were right in front of me. That would be a complete and utter ruin... "
"So you’re pushing all the responsibility onto Hu Haibo?"
"I wouldn’t dare; I’ve just spoken of what I know." Zhang Shandong rose from his chair, wiping the cold sweat from his brow, then smiling with a sense of relief, "If you say it’s not over, then it’s not over. But for me, it’s over. The research project has already been suspended, so I’m going back to write an explanatory report for the Institute director."
Having said this, he didn’t look at Li Zheng’s expression any longer and drifted away all by himself.
Li Zheng was also feeling very dissatisfied.
Perhaps the pressure was too much, and things went south...
But still, it wasn’t all for nothing.
On one hand, a lot of information was obtained.
On the other hand...
[Progress of the Task]
[137/500.]
It’s a pity, is his confidence only worth this much...
Putting down his pen and paper, Science Frontier, which had just disbanded, was regathering in an underground discussion room.
Like Li Zheng, everyone else believed that Zhang Shandong’s tactics stopped here.
Rather than dissecting this person, they were more interested in Chang Keqing’s manifesto.
They directly projected it to read together.
[Dear Dean Niu:]
[I apologize for disturbing you during your travels.]
[However, as Yingpei is in chaos and talented individuals are being affected...]
[Li Zheng, the outstanding competitor and pillar of aviation, whom you already know...]
[...]
[...We scholars are tormented like beans in boiling water, lamenting helplessly, while plagiarists buzz around like flies smelling blood, howling wildly in the hall...]
[Keqing is but a mediocre talent, engaging in reckless and foolish deeds. Even if finished, I could only transfer to another school, hardly worth mentioning.]
[However, individuals like Li Zheng and Mo Nian, for Yingpei, for Ji University, for the nation...]
[If I do not trouble you further, I fear it would chill the sincere hearts of the scholars.]
[Below is a link to the official ’Science’ website, at the very top lies the completed paper.]
[Chang Keqing.]
Shi Yang had read it, and his blood was boiling: "Sister, you’re declaring war!"
"It’s what Li Zheng said, he wanted a ’manifesto,’ and a manifesto is a declaration of war," Chang Keqing was not quite satisfied, "If only there had been more time."
Li Zheng wiped his forehead as he watched.
No wonder Zhang Shandong was so timid...
This manifesto made it seem like Yingpei was about to revolt and start a revolution. Not just Zhang Shandong, but probably Niu Gang himself would have to cut his trip short and return to the country...
"What do you mean ’individuals like Li Zheng and Mo Nian’?" Lin Moming jumped up to question, but realizing she was still quite short even after jumping, she had to stand on a chair to continue her questioning, "I did sooooo much for this paper, you know!"
Shi Yang laughed loudly: "Come on, little sister, I’m at the core of it all and even I wasn’t mentioned?"
"You ’traitor,’ you have the nerve to compare yourself to me?"
"Watch what you say, I already told you it’s not my fault."
"Then… then do you know how much money I spent on this paper?" Lin Moming began gesturing frantically, "Way more than the tuition fees!!!"
"Wait a second..." Shi Yang’s brows tightened as he sensed something was off, "You have to pay to download papers?"
"Hmph! A heck lot of money," Lin Moming boasted.
"That’s not right... our university has subscriptions to all the major libraries, you can download for free."
"Pssh, nonsense!"
"Name any paper, I’ll download it for you right now," Shi Yang said as he took out his phone.
Lin Moming also challenged him, raising her hand: "The Potential and Limitations of Neutrons—that’s the most expensive one, download it for me!"
"Oh..." Shi Yang lowered his head, did some taps on his phone, and in about 40 seconds, presented a paper on his phone screen, "Is this the one?"
"Whoa..." Lin Moming was astonished, "You actually downloaded it, why waste unnecessary money?"
"It’s free..." Shi Yang moved next to Lin Moming and started tapping on his phone, "Look, I’ll download another one... and another, and another, and another..."
"...…" Lin Moming was dumbfounded and looking at Shi Yang with newfound respect, she said, "You... you’re really wealthy, huh..."
Suddenly, Li Zheng also exclaimed in surprise: "Ah, it really is free, I downloaded several too."
Mo Nian also started swiping on his phone, musing, "It’s so convenient, I thought they were only free in the library... "
"Wha... what’s going on?" Lin Moming’s face fell, "Is... is the whole Ji University taking advantage of my foreign exchange?"
"Hmm..." Chang Keqing thought for a moment, then suddenly leaned over to grab Lin Moming’s phone, swiftly unlocked it, and clearly saw the VPN icon in the top right corner, "Do you... always have your VPN turned on?"
"Yeah, it’s exclusively for international students, with a server in the United States; makes downloading papers really fast."
"..."
"..."
After a long silence, Li Zheng said with concern, "You need to use the university’s network to get those free papers… You’re giving up on the campus discount and embracing the expense of American services…"
"I... I am using the school’s network, isn’t it still the school’s network if I use a VPN?"
"You said it yourself, to servers in the United States..."
"Ah." Lin Moming’s face fell, and she slumped back onto the top of the chair, "So you mean... I... I... with this money... I could’ve bought so much more stuff on Taobao… Wuu… Wuuu Wuuu…"
Faced with such a plight, everyone showed more or less sympathy.
The only exception was Chang Keqing.
At that moment, she felt a pinch on her nerves.
"Stop crying for a moment," Chang Keqing said seriously, "Your phone doesn’t have a password?"
"Password?" Lin Moming wiped the corners of her eyes, confused, "Why bother with that? It’s so tiring; my PC doesn’t have a password, either."
"Hm..." Chang Keqing looked around at the others, "My devices all use facial recognition. What about you guys?"
Li Zheng: "12-digit extremely complex password, changed monthly."
Mo Nian: "Both uppercase and lowercase letters."
Shi Yang: "The chemical formula of a non-existent compound."
"So…" Chang Keqing glanced even more sternly at Lin Moming, "Any thoughts?"
"Oh no no no…" Lin Moming, looking at the increasingly cold expressions around her, recalled that noon when Shi Yang was targeted by Aruba, "This this this... no one would be that bad, right... everyone in our dorm is nice…"
"Who are they?"
"Chen Liumiao, Lei Lei, and... ah... and... and Liu Yuwei..."
"Fuck!!!" Shi Yang slammed his hand down, "I always knew there was something off with that one!"
"Hold on a second," Li Zheng leaned in to ask further, "Who is your roommate?"
"Liu... Yuwei..." Lin Moming’s head gradually drooped.
"Our papers are encrypted. Does she know that?"
"I... I clicked ’Remember password’…"
"Has she used your computer?"
"Uh..."
"Spit it out."
"She helped me add a Chinese dual operating system…" Lin Moming said more and more faintly, "Just a few days ago… and it was her initiative… She said that the English operating system is inconvenient at times… I don’t know much about computers... so I just..."
As Lin Moming spoke, she suddenly burst into tears again, looking pitifully at everyone, "Is it me... am I the mole inside…"
"We can’t confirm that yet, the only thing we can confirm is your lack of cybersecurity awareness…" Li Zheng sighed and nodded at Chang Keqing, "Let her vent our frustration."
Crack! Squeak!
That was the sound of Chang Keqing limbering up her fingers.
Lin Moming didn’t even have the chance to scream.
She got grabbed!
Next, a series of abysmal tortures unfolded.
The three men stood side by side watching, and indeed, the process was very effective in relieving stress.
"Sister Chang... that’s too harsh..."
"Even cats aren’t treated like that..."
"Wu fuck... ts-tsk tsk... aiyoo..."
Amid the vigorous rubbing, Chang Keqing’s phone suddenly dinged.
An answer from Niu Gang was displayed directly on the projector.
[Keqing, stay calm. Also, Li Zheng, Mo Nian, and the other students, please stay calm.]
[I am aware of the situation and have already communicated with Dean Zhou and Dean Zhang Shilei.]
[First off, congratulations to you all!]
[I also asked the scholars who visited with me as well as friends from Berlin University to review that paper, and their high praise at times made it hard for me to understand.]
[I always thought Yingpei still had a long way to go in producing practical results in the field of engineering and science, but you guys appeared like miracles from the skies, instantly elevating the level of our research to that of Zhongke!]
[The value of this feat is yet to be fully realized, and more congratulations will be personally conveyed once I return to the country.]
[Additionally, I have moved my return flight to tomorrow morning and asked Teacher Zhang Shandong to cease all work, awaiting a full investigation upon my return.]
[This is not just a problem involving certain teaching staff members, but also my negligence.]
[For the freshmen and sophomores, I empirically believed that they could only engage in practice-oriented projects, so I just encouraged the students to collaborate and expand their thinking, and I didn’t invest enough attention and resources into this, most of the time I’ve been focused on the institute’s officially established projects.]
[Your emergence has excited me.]
[It has also made me reproach myself.]
[At the same time, the disgraceful actions of certain individuals have angered me.]
[Please be assured, students.]
[When I’m back in the country, I will definitely give everyone a satisfactory explanation.]
[If it’s confirmed to involve suspicions of paper plagiarism or malicious pre-emption, whether it’s teachers or students, whether it’s from within or outside the institute.]
[There will be no tolerance!]
Reading such a reply, it wasn’t yet possible to tell if Dean Niu was sincere or merely trying to settle the crowd.
But at least one thing was clear.
He was panicked, truly panicked.
A good declaration!
One must practice more!