Super God-Level Top Student

Especially the experience of being stationed at CERN, clearly evoked some not-so-pleasant memories for Yang Xuanqing.

In the eyes of many who have never been abroad, the place where CERN is located is indeed paradise on Earth. The holy land for theoretical physicists, birthplace of the World Wide Web, the gateway to science on Earth, and as beautiful as the La Mountain Range.

Fairly speaking, Yang Xuanqing also found the environment there to be quite nice; visiting as a tourist is quite good, but staying there long-term, at least for Huaxia people, is indeed somewhat torturous.

His work and living area was in Merlin, belonging to the border between Switzerland and France; he usually lived in a small town around Geneva and generally went to the R1 cafeteria for meals alone, spending about twenty Swiss francs per meal, mainly consisting of various cold dishes.

Pizza, ham, salad, bread...the food there was the same for ages.

Since Huaxia is not a formal member state of CERN, individuals from Huaxia who come here are mostly for short-term study, earning their PhDs or Post-docs; there are people coming and going, but the fluidity is high, making it difficult to make domestic friends, since just when you get a bit familiar, the person leaves.

And precisely because there are fewer Huaxia people, there are no Chinese restaurants around, making it a luxury to eat a good meal.

As for entertainment...

Let's put it this way; the nearby small town is not much different from a new rural area in Huaxia now. Occasionally, after finishing a day of work, trying to relax a bit, one can find no place to go. The place turns pitch black after dark.

In Huaxia, one can go out on weekends; over there, when he rests on weekends, the shops also rest, solidifying its status as an academic holy land. Because without any work, he simply doesn't know what to do.

For those with family, it's somewhat more bearable; for someone like him without a family, many times he's too lazy to go back to where he's staying in the small town and simply sleeps in the office. Comparing with colleagues back home, sometimes he really feels as if he's living without any enjoyment...

Thus, numerous grievances ultimately turned into a sigh: "Eh... what you said is spot on; it's really not a place for anyone to stay long-term there. There was once I had a whim and wanted to eat some good hotpot lamb but found not a single small restaurant around that served it.

If Xilin can really build our own collider, that would definitely be good; I won't have to stay there long-term anymore. If you ask whether Xilin contacted me, let's just say, Qiao called me just yesterday."

But if you want to know the reliable technical details from me first, I'm really sorry. I'm as clueless as you are; neither Qiao nor Professor Witten have said anything about these to me."

While saying this, Yang Xuanqing had a pleading expression on his face.

"Ah? Professor Qiao called you yesterday; what else could he talk about apart from the collider?" Zhang Qige asked with amazement.

After all, from Yang Xuanqing's words, there's usually no contact between the two sides.

Could it be he wants to bribe Yang Xuanqing for being a member of the project evaluation expert group?

Yang Xuanqing hesitated for a moment before saying, "Talk about the Nobel Prize; he just asked if I had received the prize money from Stockholm and then asked if I planned to claim the prize money."

"Prize money? What prize money?" Zhang Qige was puzzled, unable to make heads or tails.

"Central it's the Nobel Prize money."

"But weren't you all announced refusing to accept the award?" Zhang Qige, still confused, questioned.

"Well, Professor Qiao's intent seems to be that the medallion was refused, but the prize money should be given." Yang Xuanqing patiently explained.

"Hmm..." Zhang Qige probably confirmed that Qiao Ze is indeed as everyone says, his logical thinking is somewhat different from ordinary people.

After all, historically in regard to the Nobel Prize, there have been many scientists who couldn't receive it due to various reasons, yet their names were still preserved, but definitely no prize money.

The rules have always been this way, and gradually everyone got used to it.

Such ideas of separating prize money from the medallions... If it's one's own people, it's indeed worth advocating.

"Did you agree?" Zhang Qige couldn't help but ask.

"If you were in my place, would you agree not? Even without considering this money itself." Yang Xuanqing flippantly tossed the question back.

Though this gentleman is an academician, yet Yang Xuanqing truly doesn't need to act humble now. Academicians in Huaxia are indeed scarce, but obviously outnumber Nobel laureates by far. Even if he's sluggish, he's factually a Nobel laureate officially announced by Stockholm.

If he weren't too concerned with face back then, last month he would have stood on Stockholm's award stage, showcasing his presence to the global audience.

Zhang Qige was rendered speechless by this rebuttal.

Indeed, if it were him, as long as Qiao Ze expressed such intent, the money itself would already become insignificant, and surely he would agree.

Not securing it would result in no losses at all and potentially earn some recognition in front of future talents.

A Nobel laureate at merely twenty-one years of age is unmistakably destined to be the strongest pillar in Huaxia's academic realm in the future.

If successful, even if divided among three, translating to the recent exchange rate, there would be two million in revenue.

The question raised earlier almost treated the Nobel laureate as a fool.

"Haha, I'm just curious, how did Professor Qiao suddenly think of this matter?" Zhang Qige casually laughed it off.

"Well, didn't sleep well last night; perhaps it'd be better to rest a bit." Having lost interest in conversation, Yang Xuanqing tiredly ignored the person beside him, pressed the nearby switch to recline the seat back a bit, and simply shut his eyes, soon followed by slight snoring sounds.

Zhang Qige sighed inwardly, also opting to close his eyes. There's no way to sit idly for hours.

...

Huaxia, Luyun Shipyard.

After last successful hosting of the deep-sea exploration project's descent ceremony and smooth recovery, this once mixed-use shipyard commenced large-scale renovation work.

The specifics really involved constructing a large launch structure.

Now, the launch doesn't require cranes to place the bearer onto predetermined tracks and slide into the sea like testing... for now, there are fixed indoor suspension cabinets and tracks...

After coming off the automated production line, undergoing quality checks, the bearer directly gets sent into the suspension cabinet and follows the tracks to submerge into the sea. Once formal operations commence, the whole process won't need to see daylight...

The daily specifics on how many bearers enter the Earth's seas have also become confidential.

Aside from a few individuals, even for personnel working within the shipyard, they can at best only roughly estimate a figure.

With the first wave of data being released, tasks assigned to the currently launched bearers and explorers have started diverging.

Some are genuinely focused on near Earth sea-bottom geological exploration, with others, equipped with explorers, beginning to undertake near-sea sensing tasks, alongside those tasked for deep-sea exploration, as well as discovering new routes...

Good news is the Earth's four oceans are interconnected.

Based on prior test performance, the intelligence shown by this deep-sea cluster system, passing silently through ocean-linked straits is relatively straightforward.

Whether through the Bering Strait, or Cape of Good Hope, Malacca, it's all the same...

From currently obtained test conclusions, with consistent capacity enhancement, a rough estimate would be about ten years' time to fully unveil Earth's oceanic plate map online. Assisting scientists in creating a complete version of a subsurface world map of the ocean, still in 3D.

Of course, besides this, there are still quite a lot of other things this can accomplish.

But after the completion of the new supercomputing center, the deep-sea exploration command center finished its relocation as well. The whole department vanished from the general map-searchable range. Of course, if one is serious about it, such affairs have really no relation with the ordinary folks earning a monthly salary of three thousand, thus causing no ripples.

Everything was accomplished quietly without notice.

Prior various announcements concerning the deep-sea cluster exploration, upon reaching their time, naturally got taken down from websites.

This is seemingly the temperament of Huaxia, deeply rooted in its core—subdued and dislike for overt display.

But obviously, not everyone can experience such subdued aesthetic.

For instance, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

A query letter directly caused disorientation among many people.

"What does Huaxia mean by this? Didn't they refuse to receive the award? Not attending the awards gala, also questioning why the prize money hasn't been disbursed, what's the meaning of this?"

Honestly, upon seeing this inquiry letter, the current president of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences was equally puzzled as everyone else. After all, truly there has never been talk of refusing the prize but still wanting the money.

Is this really taking the organizer's explanation rights being all-inclusive as a joke?

Especially, while declining the honor leaves one with face unscathed, still desiring the prize money?

How do they think that?!