Fudan Guanghua Building.
The Yuan Tianfan Auditorium was packed with physics competition students and their coaches from all over the country.
A full eight hours had passed since the morning’s exam ended.
But an undercurrent of restless anticipation was visible on the faces of everyone present.
Everyone knew in their hearts that this year’s Huaxuan Cup was completely different from previous years.
For two consecutive rounds, from the semifinals to the finals, Huaxuan Technology had taken real-world, critical engineering problems from within the company, sanitized them, and thrown them onto the exam papers.
Whoever could take the top spot in this competition would essentially be getting a lifetime VIP pass to the core circle of the nation’s top semiconductor R&D.
In the afternoon, the official results had already been posted on the internal network.
There were no specific scores, only the rankings for the first, second, and third-place prizes.
"Did you hear? Third place is Zhou Siyuan from Shanghai Middle School, and second is Qiao Fan from Rongcheng Seventh Middle School."
In the audience, a few students from other provinces were whispering among themselves.
"It’s not surprising that Zhou Siyuan and Qiao Fan won. They’re both already famous in our circles, especially Qiao Fan. He’s been absurdly strong since his first year of high school."
"But..."
The boy’s eyes were filled with confusion.
"Who on earth is the first-place winner? Li Dong?"
"Has anyone here ever heard that name at the national training camp or any of the major winter camps?"
The academic aces around him all shook their heads.
"Never heard of him. The only person I know from Jiangcheng is Qin Yan, who made the national team."
This sort of discussion could be heard throughout the auditorium, but there was no malice in anyone’s words.
After all, to crush Qiao Fan and Zhou Siyuan on an "engineering-grade" physics paper this inhumanly difficult was a clear display of raw talent, worthy of everyone’s respect.
Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, the award ceremony officially began.
When the host announced, "First place, from Jiangcheng Seventh Middle School, Li Dong," Li Dong took a deep breath and slowly walked onto the awards stage.
Standing in the spotlight, looking out at the dense sea of people below, Li Dong himself found it a bit incredible.
He wasn’t nervous at all.
If this had been a few months ago, the version of himself who couldn’t even pass a math test at Jiangcheng Seventh Middle School would probably have had his legs trembling on a stage like this.
But now, he was surprisingly calm inside.
’This... This is probably the confidence that knowledge has given me.’
Li Dong thought to himself.
His mind held the geometry of Gauss, the mechanics of Newton, and the electromagnetic framework of Maxwell.
When a person could transcend time and space to hold dialogues with the greatest minds in human history as an equal, a scene like this was hardly enough to stir his emotions.
The award presenter walked onto the stage.
Surprisingly, the person presenting the awards this time was none other than Lin Wei, the R&D Director and Vice President of Huaxuan Technology!
According to past practice, for a commercial competition aimed at high school students, a department head from public relations or a deputy director from one of the labs would typically be enough to present the awards.
For a tech heavyweight of Lin Wei’s caliber to attend in person was a clear sign of how much importance Huaxuan Technology placed on this year’s contestants.
Lin Wei first walked over to the third-place winner, Zhou Siyuan, and the runner-up, Qiao Fan, and personally placed the medals around their necks.
"Your fundamentals are very solid, and your foundation in fluid dynamics is excellent."
"Once you get to university, the doors to Huaxuan Technology’s labs will always be open to you."
Lin Wei smiled as he extended an olive branch, causing the two top students to bow repeatedly in excitement.
Then, Lin Wei came to stand before Li Dong.
He looked at the composed young man before him, a flash of unconcealed admiration in his eyes.
"Student Li Dong, congratulations."
Lin Wei hung the heavy gold medal around Li Dong’s neck, then extended his hand and gave Li Dong’s a firm shake.
In the moment their hands clasped, Lin Wei lowered his voice.
"Li Dong, on behalf of Huaxuan Technology, and on behalf of the frontline R&D personnel in our domestic semiconductor industry, thank you."
"Regarding what your teacher discussed with me yesterday, I may have rejected the idea of you using this to vie for the Qiu Prize right now."
"But, please understand, every new technology in the industry has a patent confidentiality review period."
"During this special period, for the sake of creating commercial barriers against competitors, it absolutely cannot see the light of day."
"But rest assured, the academic authorship credit will always be yours. You are guaranteed to be the primary author for the core theory."
Listening to Lin Wei’s words, Li Dong maintained his composed, unruffled expression.
He nodded slightly.
"I understand, President Lin."
"The truths of physics are objective. Publishing them a little later won’t change their fundamental nature. The company’s interests deserve to be protected."
Look at that! Now that’s what you call perspective!
Lin Wei looked at Li Dong and nodded in gratification.
This kid was simply born to do great things!
Satisfied, Lin Wei patted Li Dong’s shoulder and took the microphone from the host.
"Dear students, dear teachers."
"This year’s Huaxuan Cup has brought our corporate world an unexpected and pleasant surprise."
"On the exam papers, we saw not just solid formulas, but also crucial ideas that break the mold and can genuinely solve pain points in our company’s production!"
Lin Wei’s voice echoed through the auditorium.
"To commend this innovative spirit that perfectly combines theory with practical engineering, and with special approval from the company’s board of directors..."
"In addition to the original honors and certificates, Huaxuan Technology will grant an additional cash prize of 1,000,000 RMB to the gold medal winner of this competition!"
The moment Lin Wei’s words fell, the entire Yuan Tianfan Auditorium erupted!
One million?!
The teachers and top students in the audience all gasped.
It wasn’t that the amount of the prize money was so earth-shattering.
After all, in research circles, if you could really solve certain critical engineering problems, the bounties offered by some companies could be several times more extravagant.
Everyone’s mind went back to that insane final question on the finals exam.
The 28nm immersion lithography system! Real-time refractive index compensation within 1ms!
If this problem was really solved, then the mature process technology of the domestic semiconductor industry would definitely see a monumental leap forward!
The way everyone in the audience looked at Li Dong completely changed.
"Could it be... he actually provided a feasible compensation method?"
No one knew the answer, because the exam papers were confidential.
But at that moment, everyone present committed one name to memory—Li Dong!
And what about Li Dong himself, standing in the center of the awards stage at this very moment?
Just moments ago, he was thinking ’knowledge is confidence,’ his mind full of physical truths and dialogues across time. But upon hearing the words "one million," his composure completely shattered!
’Confidence?’
’What confidence? It was all gone!’
’Holy shit! One million?’
Li Dong’s brain short-circuited. Maxwell, Newton—they were all smashed to smithereens by the one million that had just fallen from the sky.
One million in cash! In a fifth-tier city like Jiangcheng, that was enough to buy a comfortable three-bedroom apartment downtown outright!
He wouldn’t even need a mortgage!
Li Dong could feel his legs going soft.
So much so that when Lin Wei put down the microphone, turned, and said to him with a smile,
"Student Li Dong, if you ever need my help in the future, whether academically or in your personal life, feel free to call my private number anytime."
Li Dong didn’t hear a single word he said.
He just nodded instinctively, his eyes as vacant as a soulless puppet’s.
And this scene was witnessed by Qiao Fan, who was standing right next to him.
One million in cash dropped right in front of him, and even the experienced, worldly coaches below cried out in surprise.
But what about this Senior Li Dong?
He didn’t even bat an eye! His gaze was ethereal, as if that one million was no different from a hundred bucks to him. Even when Director Lin made him such a significant promise just now, he had merely given a nonchalant nod.
What incredible composure! What a pure, scholarly heart!
Qiao Fan secretly clenched his fists, a burning fighting spirit igniting in his eyes.
’As I thought... ’
’Teacher Su Wan brought me here to show me just how high the sky is and how vast the world is!’
Su Wan: ???
Qiao Fan silently swore an oath in his heart. When he got back, he would redouble his efforts and absolutely not disappoint his teacher’s expectations. One day, on a true academic stage, he would surpass Senior Li Dong fair and square!
Meanwhile, in the audience below.
Su Wan looked at Qiao Fan on the stage, his eyes red and his spirit soaring.
’What’s wrong with little Fan? Why’d he suddenly get so fired up?’

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