Huaxia, Yan University.
Li Dong was sitting on his balcony watching the sun when his phone rang.
’Damn, Galileo was a real beast. I only stared for a little while and my vision’s already going dark.’
He thought that having the Dome Observation given to him by Galileo would make him just like Galileo. As it turned out, he was just dreaming.
He rubbed his eyes and answered the phone.
Chang Jin asked from the other end of the line.
"Did you see it?"
He was asking about Richter’s criticism of Li Dong.
"I saw it."
"What do you think?"
"The old man has no manners."
The other end of the line went silent for two seconds.
Then, Chang Jin started laughing.
"Have you been learning German swear words?"
"Not yet."
"But I’m about to start."
Chang Jin sighed.
"Actually, him doing this is a good thing. At least no one will be creating a panic."
Li Dong protested, feeling wronged.
"I’m not trying to create a panic either! I published the paper, but it’s not like I can go around pitching it to everyone one by one..."
"I know. The higher-ups are guiding public opinion on this, but regardless of whether your prediction is correct, we will take preventative measures."
Chang Jin said.
"Besides..."
"I don’t know what’s going on lately, but those international cooperation projects that were so hard to push forward before are now proceeding incredibly smoothly."
"It’s as if they believed your paper outright..."
"Regarding the contingency plan for HVDC interconnector islanding, Europe has already held a round of internal meetings."
"Japan and South Korea have moved up their orbital redundancy backups for low-orbit satellites to August."
"And for the HF communication alternative link, the military side moved even faster than the civilian side."
Li Dong also found it a bit strange. He had indeed intended to use this paper to set some things in motion, but the problem was... it was all going a little too smoothly.
He couldn’t figure it out, so he stopped thinking about it. The outcome was good, and that’s what mattered.
After discussing a few more details with Chang Jin, he hung up, left his place, and headed for the School of Chemistry.
...
The lights were still on in Lu Mingyuan’s lab.
When Li Dong walked in, Lu Mingyuan was sitting at the lab bench, staring at the monitor for the SX-STM.
Li Dong had been dropping by frequently these past few days, so when Lu Mingyuan saw him, he didn’t waste any words.
"What’s the sticking point?"
Li Dong opened his notebook.
"It’s about the probe. I wanted to confirm something with you."
He pointed to a spot on the diagram.
"The SiO? insulation layer on the outside of the coaxial probe—I figured it out. It’s to separate the tunneling current collected by the PtIr core from the outer Au shielding layer. I get that."
"But what I don’t understand is why the outer Au layer must be grounded and can’t be left floating."
"I’ve run through the derivation a few times. If the Au isn’t grounded, the instant the X-rays hit, the photoelectric bombardment will cause a capacitive charging effect on the Au. This potential fluctuation will then pass through the parasitic capacitance of the SiO? and, in turn, modulate the picoampere-level tunneling current in the inner PtIr channel."
"This noise, though small, would have a fatal impact on fine peaks in the NEXAFS spectrum, like the 0.3 pA-level I-V peak."
"I’ve deduced it this far, and I think the logic is sound."
"Teacher Lu, do you think my reasoning is correct?"
Lu Mingyuan nodded.
"Correct."
"Anything else?"
"Also, the part about the chopper."
Li Dong turned a page.
"The X-rays are chopped into ON and OFF cycles. The OFF cycle only measures the conventional tunneling current for STM feedback."
"It’s only during the ON cycle that the X-ray-excited current is read out, with the FPGA in the middle responsible for completely separating the two signals."
"What I want to ask is, how are the chopper’s chopping frequency and the lock-in amplifier’s time constant matched?"
"If the chopper spins too slowly, the STM feedback can’t keep up. If it’s too fast, the lock-in can’t lock onto a signal at the 0.3 pA level."
"Is there a stable range between this pair of parameters?"
Lu Mingyuan took Li Dong’s notebook and drew a frequency axis down the middle.
On the left, he wrote ’feedback bandwidth lower limit,’ and on the right, ’lock-in noise floor.’
The two of them sat there at the lab bench, going back and forth. They started with the effect of exposing 30 to 200 nanometers of the probe tip during coaxial FIB-SEM processing on signal gain, then moved on to the natural vibration-isolation frequency of the vacuum chamber’s air-floating table.
They discussed the adsorption time on the tip surface under a 2 × 10?? Torr ultra-high vacuum, and the suppression of thermal noise by the 30 K liquid helium substrate temperature.
One by one, Li Dong checked off the points in his notebook where he had been stuck.
It took less than half an hour.
Li Dong closed his notebook and stood up.
"Teacher Lu, thanks."
...
「The days began to pass, one by one.」
Public opinion, which had been stirred up by Richter’s statement, slowly calmed down.
The public’s attention was washed away by a succession of celebrity divorces and new viral check-in spots.
The name "Li Dong" was drowned in the vast ocean of the internet.
But the things that had been set in motion, quietly, did not stop.
The GIC real-time monitoring network successively completed a second round of baseline calibrations in four locations: Quebec, PJM, the European Continental Power Grid, and the North China Power Grid.
The contingency plan for HVDC interconnector islanding moved from paper to the simulation lab.
Low-orbit satellite operators quietly adjusted the orbital altitudes of several satellites, raising them slightly.
Alternative nodes for the HF shortwave communication link successively came online south of the 40th parallel north.
The Meridian Project’s secondary operations consecutively ran three full-link drills.
None of these actions made the news.
During this time, after a final round of ethical review, the single-atom iron nanozyme was incorporated into Professor Zhang Lufang’s clinical pathway as part of a small-scale, experimental treatment plan.
Wu Kai didn’t tell Li Dong much about the specifics—how many times it was used, or how many rounds the dosage was split into.
Li Dong didn’t ask either.
He only went to Professor Zhang’s home one evening and sat for twenty minutes.
The old woman’s energy seemed even weaker than last time.
Qi Yu was in the kitchen making congee, and a thin blanket was draped over the old woman’s knees.
Wu Kai sat on a small stool, holding a glass of water.
Li Dong didn’t say much, only telling the old woman to take care of herself.
As Li Dong was leaving, he heard Qi Yu gently close the door behind him.
Walking down the stairs, he reached out to touch the handrail.
It was the only time during that entire period that he had steadied himself on a handrail when he didn’t need to.
...
「Time passed into late June.」
Yan University Main Auditorium.
Li Dong’s doctoral degree ceremony was scheduled for that morning.
According to Yan University tradition, such occasions were usually simple.
A speech from the doctoral advisor, the advisor adjusting the graduate’s robes, the awarding of the degree certificate, and a commemorative photo—that was more or less the entire procedure.
But this year’s ceremony was arranged to be exceptionally different.
In the front row on the stage sat Yan University’s Principal Gong Qi, Shuimu University’s Principal Li Ming, and two vice-ministers from the Ministry of Education and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
In the second row sat Tian Gang, Liu Ruochuan, Professor Penrose, and... Qiu Chengtong.
The auditorium below was packed with nearly a thousand people.
The moment Li Dong was awarded his degree certificate was captured in a photograph and published in the next day’s press release from the Bright Society.
The caption beneath that photo was read aloud by many media outlets during the morning news on the third day.
The Youngest PhD, the Youngest Professor: Twenty-Year-Old Li Dong
The degree presentation ended, but before the host could leave the stage, Shuimu’s Principal Li Ming stood up with a smile.
"Li Dong."
Li Dong was standing at the front of the stage, having just received his doctoral certificate.
Li Ming’s words were brief.
"Shuimu University, following a resolution by the Principal’s Office, has decided to appoint you as a Chair Professor at Shuimu University. The appointment is for a five-year term, with the possibility of renewal."
"Are you willing to accept?"
The people in the auditorium below suddenly fell silent.
Li Dong nodded.
"I am."
Applause erupted.
Immediately after, Yan University’s Principal Gong Qi also stood up.
"Li Dong."
Li Dong turned to face him.
Gong Qi’s words were much the same as Li Ming’s.
Yan University, following a resolution by the Principal’s Office, was appointing Li Dong as a Chair Professor at Yan University, for a five-year, renewable term.
Li Dong nodded again.
"I am."
Two letters of appointment were placed in his hands, one after the other.
The applause from below erupted a second time.
At that moment, Li Dong felt a certain weight in his hands.
At the end of the ceremony, the host read a supplementary notice.
A package of arrangements for Li Dong—including his household registration, housing, and his children’s future education—would be coordinated and handled by a joint human resources office of the two universities.
Regarding housing, Yan University had already reserved a two-bedroom faculty apartment for Li Dong in Blue Banner Camp.
His household registration would be settled in the Capital City’s Dongcheng District.

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