Professor Wu Kai remained in his office alone, studying Li Dong’s mathematical derivation.
Meanwhile, Li Dong went to coordinate equipment usage with Zhang Yan.
His physics-based approach also required a fair amount of equipment, some of which he didn’t know how to use.
At that moment, Zhang Yan was checking a set of wiring diagrams with Cheng Duo.
When she heard Li Dong say, "Teacher Wu asked me to come find you to coordinate some equipment," she was taken aback for a moment.
"What are you working on?"
"We haven’t even officially started on the machines for the main project."
Li Dong told her the truth.
"Sister Yan, Teacher Wu approved a few days off for me."
"I... want to try and verify something in a certain direction on my own."
Zhang Yan didn’t ask any more questions. ’Since the professor has spoken, I just need to cooperate.’
"Alright, tell me what you need."
Li Dong already had a list prepared in his mind.
For his physics-based approach, the question of whether the dipole matrix elements would align under the three sets of basis vectors could be solved by running a control DFT simulation on the group’s high-performance server.
But he needed the initial values for the calculation to match the real sample, so he first had to scan the oxidation state of the iron-center complex on the group’s small XPS to confirm its valence state.
Then there was the subshell independence of kappa in the WKB approximation.
This was the most crucial part.
He needed to generate a set of tunneling current decay curves at different tip-sample distances and then see if he could resolve three independent exponential decays from the tail end of the curves.
This task would require the low-temperature scanning tunneling microscope—the LT-STM.
Finally, there was the control experiment using X-ray polarization to selectively excite different unoccupied orbitals. For that, he’d have to wait for beamline time on Professor Lu’s XTIP, which he obviously wouldn’t be able to get his hands on in the next couple of days.
But even just the first two tasks would be on a tight schedule.
Li Dong told Zhang Yan everything he needed.
Zhang Yan’s eyes grew brighter the more she listened.
"East God."
"This list... you’ve already figured out a path forward, haven’t you?"
Li Dong smiled.
"Sister Yan... just a little."
Zhang Yan smiled and didn’t press him further.
But she already knew in her heart that Li Dong must have a complete plan. Otherwise, how could he have come up with such a clean, concise list?
She flipped through the equipment sign-up sheet she had on hand.
"The XPS and the DFT cluster are no problem. You can get on both of those today."
"The LT-STM..."
She thought for a moment.
"Ours is custom-built, but the vacuum chamber isn’t fully cooled down yet. It won’t stabilize at its operating temperature until tomorrow morning."
"Today, you should practice the sample transfer procedure for loading it into the chamber."
"Tomorrow, I’ll personally walk you through the parameter calibration."
"The day after tomorrow, you’re on your own."
Li Dong nodded.
"Okay."
"Thanks for your hard work, Sister Yan."
Zhang Yan glanced at him again.
"Also, operating the LT-STM has some prerequisite procedures. You should chew through those today."
She pulled open a drawer, took out a notebook, and handed it to Li Dong.
"These are my own notes from back when I was learning."
"They’re a bit more down-to-earth than the manual."
"Read this first."
Li Dong took it.
He opened it to the title page. The first line of text read:
"It’s not embarrassing to cause a vacuum leak the first time. Just remember to close the valve first."
An hour later, Li Dong left the School of Chemistry. He made a call to Professor Wang to see if he could move the interviews to the afternoon.
Professor Wang said over the phone,
"Sure, no problem. I was planning to meet with them this afternoon anyway. Since you’re free, that works out perfectly."
After hanging up, Li Dong went to his dorm to drop off his bag, then headed to the cafeteria and quickly wolfed down some spicy chicken.
「Afternoon. Second floor of the School of Mathematics.」
A classroom that was perennially used for recruitment interviews.
A small paper sign hung on the door.
[Li Dong Research Group - Student Recruitment Interviews]
When Li Dong pushed the door open and went inside, quite a few people were already seated.
He naturally recognized Wang Zhigang, Liu Ruochuan, and Penrose.
But he wasn’t very familiar with the four professors sitting next to them.
Seeing Li Dong enter, Wang Zhigang stood up with a smile.
"Li Dong’s here."
Li Dong smiled and nodded to the professors, then took the empty seat next to Wang Zhigang.
Only then did Wang Zhigang begin to introduce them to Li Dong in a low voice.
He pointed to the one on the left, across from them.
"This is Professor Zhang Lanjin."
"Old Zhang mainly works on p-adic Langlands and deformation rings. He’s had the office next to mine for almost twenty years."
"I listed his paper on the reconstruction of deformation rings in the ramification ≤ 2 case as a reference for you."
Li Dong nodded toward Zhang Lanjin.
"Hello, Teacher Zhang."
Zhang Lanjin nodded back at Li Dong, acknowledging the greeting.
As someone who worked on deformation rings, his field wasn’t far removed from the study of zero-point correlations.
He was more familiar with Li Dong’s universality paper than just about anyone.
Wang Zhigang then pointed to the professor with glasses next to Zhang Lanjin.
"This is Professor Chen Zhaoming."
"Old Chen works on geometric Langlands and Hecke eigensheaves."
Li Dong nodded toward this Professor Chen.
"Hello, Teacher Chen."
Chen Zhaoming’s lips twitched as he returned the nod.
His smile wasn’t entirely natural. It wasn’t impolite, just polite in a vague, hard-to-define way.
Wang Zhigang continued with the introductions.
"This is Professor Liu Qingyun, my old partner. He works on modular forms and Shimura varieties."
"And this is Professor Zou Yaohui, who works on the trace formula."
Li Dong nodded to each of the two professors in turn.
After introducing the professors, Wang Zhigang’s gaze shifted to the area near the classroom wall.
A dozen or so students were standing there.
Most were doctoral students, with a few master’s students mixed in.
And the most conspicuous person there was an undergraduate, standing in the far corner—none other than Gu Ming from the School of Mathematics.

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