May.
Du Ke was still busy. His contract with the modified car shop had expired, and he decisively refused to renew it. He no longer intended to set foot in the modified car industry and would simply discard the identity of Li Changyang.
Boss Xu repeatedly begged him to renew the contract, directly raising his annual salary to five million and increasing his share of modification fees from thirty percent to fifty percent.
But Du Ke still refused.
"Why, Engineer Li? You can name whatever terms you want. I'm sure no one will be more generous than me wherever you go. If someone else is trying to poach you, at least tell me what they're offering. Can't I match it?"
"That's not the reason. I really don't want to do this anymore. I want a different life. I've made plenty of money over the past year. It isn't about money... Goodbye, Boss Xu."
The reasons were actually quite simple.
First, he had earned enough living expenses through car modification technology. With an income of several hundred thousand a month, occasional extra bonuses, and little personal spending, he had saved up more than three million again.
Second, his reputation in car modification was growing louder and louder. Players came from all over the country because of his name, and even media outlets wanted to interview him. He felt that if he continued attracting attention, his identity would be exposed, so he might as well cut ties cleanly.
Third, the incident where he had secretly learned the techniques had wiped away any gratitude he felt toward Boss Xu, so he left without hesitation.
Therefore.
He gave up this job outright and prepared to focus on scientific research.
After all, the electron flow theory had already been thoroughly researched, and the concept for the Long-Haired Battery was becoming increasingly complete. All that remained was to secure investment, find materials, develop the production process, launch it on the market, dominate the battery industry, and reach the peak of life.
That day.
Tao Xun called him. "Little Du, the new issue of the Journal of Chemical Physics has been published. The sample copies should be on their way to you by courier. I originally planned to bring them to you myself, but then I thought you could just browse your own papers on the website. Three papers published together, and the cover even uses your electron-flow mechanics equilibrium diagram. In this issue of the Journal of Chemical Physics, you're stealing all the spotlight."
"Really? Let me take a look."
Du Ke happily went online and opened the Journal of Chemical Physics website. He quickly found his papers displayed prominently on the site. The Journal of Chemical Physics had originally been a Chinese-language journal, but later changed into a fully English publication with Chinese abstracts in order to align with the mainstream academic world—English papers were still the norm, and China's core SCI journals were basically all English-language publications.
As for English, Du Ke was still forcing himself to learn it. He could only barely understand his own papers.
Fortunately, the website had an automatic translation feature. With a casual click, the all-English site became Chinese. Of course, Du Ke did not need that. He opened the three English papers, found his name, "Du Ke," and was immediately overjoyed. Naturally, he had written papers before, or he could not have graduated, but Anhui University did not require publication, so he had never published a paper in any journal.
This was the first time his own paper had been published, and it had even appeared in an SCI journal.
An impact factor of 0.4 meant that the three papers together could earn at least one citation. Do not underestimate that citation. It was a citation for papers in an SCI journal; even one was a gain.
After celebrating for a while.
He suddenly calmed down again. "It's not that big a deal. It's only an SCI journal with an impact factor of 0.4. In recent years, the domestic academic world has been plagued by indiscriminate paper publishing. Aside from a few journals, most have poor reputations, and the Journal of Chemical Physics is no exception. As long as someone is willing to spend money and pull strings, even an undergraduate can easily publish a paper there."
Papers in SCI journals were directly tied to title evaluations and funding applications. This inevitably led some people to rack their brains to exploit loopholes for profit. Paper fraud and plagiarism became commonplace. In order to publish, they would go so far as to give gifts, money, and connections to journal reviewers, polluting the entire academic environment and ruining the reputation of domestic academic journals.
Thus, as Du Ke looked at the journal cover and the mechanics equilibrium diagram he had drawn himself, he felt strangely disappointed.
It was like painstakingly winning over the goddess of your dreams, only to discover that she pooped, farted, ground her teeth, and snored too. The fullness of ideals and the harshness of reality often took turns like that.
Still, he called Xu Weijun. "Little Xu, it's Du Ke."
"Ah, Senior Brother Du. What can I do for you?"
"For the latest issue of the Journal of Chemical Physics, help me order a hundred copies from the editorial department... Yes, yes, they're for gifts... Oh, really? You can also print separate reprints? Fine, I'll order a hundred reprints too. No, make it two hundred. Money isn't an issue; just make sure the quality is good... No need to deliver them. I'll pick them up myself. Didn't I get a vehicle pass? I can drive over quickly."
No matter how exquisite the papers looked online, they were not as appealing as being turned into print and bound into volumes.
Chinese people valued establishing virtue, achievement, and words for posterity. Anyone with a little ambition wanted to write books that would endure through the ages, especially those in academia. Du Ke was still some distance from writing a book, but publishing papers was still worth celebrating. He had to send a copy of the Journal of Chemical Physics to every aunt and uncle. Then he could tell them about being recommended for Graduate Student admission at Xiake University and make his parents proud.
A brand-new BYD Han was parked in the villa garage. It was not one transformed by Mind Armor, but a real BYD Han.
He had originally always transformed vehicles for himself to drive, but one day he happened to encounter traffic police checking for drunk driving. They checked his driver's license and vehicle registration. Fortunately, they only glanced at them and did not verify them carefully. Otherwise, they would have discovered that the registration for Du Ke's car did not match. He had replicated a BYD Han from a 4S dealership, then replicated someone else's license plate and registration, but there was no record of it in the vehicle administration system.
So, for safety's sake, he stopped taking risks and obediently bought a new car to register.
Just like the BYD Han, he also bought a BMW S1000rr and parked it in the garage—this way, whenever Mind Armor transformed into one, there would be a basis for it, and he would not have to fear traffic police inspecting the vehicle.
Professor Tao got him a vehicle access pass for Xiake University. The next day, he went to the editorial department and collected one hundred copies of the Journal of Chemical Physics and two hundred reprints. Reprints were individual copies of papers used as gifts. Everyone in academic circles liked this practice, exchanging paper reprints when they met. It allowed them to discuss academics and show off a little at the same time.
"Little Du, have you finished your fourth paper?" a member of the editorial board asked.
"More or less. I'm still polishing it."
"Are you planning to submit it to P.R.B.?"
"Yes."
"Good luck."
"Thank you, Teacher Li." Du Ke thanked the editorial board member surnamed Li. Since he had already published papers in the Journal of Chemical Physics, he would henceforth be part of this journal's small circle—one of their own.
After leaving the editorial department and returning to the villa, Du Ke immediately made a call. "Hello, Binzi? Where are you living now? Have you found a job yet... Mm, I've just been keeping busy. I'm preparing for graduate school, a Graduate Student at Xiake University... I don't know if it's hard or not. I got in through recommendation. I wrote a few papers and got lucky enough to have them published in the Journal of Chemical Physics... I'll mail you a copy. Deal!"
The call had not even ended. Binzi was his roommate from Anhui University, and they had a good relationship.
"Let's not talk about Cui Ping anymore. It's already been a year. Whether she's doing well or badly has nothing to do with me. I'm doing great now. I'm going to study hard in graduate school and work seriously." Du Ke's tone was calm. Without realizing it, it had been over a year since he acquired Mind Armor. Likewise, he had been single again for over a year after recovering from heartbreak. This past year had been fulfilling and comfortable, and he had not been bound by romantic entanglements at all.
"All right, I won't talk your ear off. When you get the package, read my papers carefully. I permit you to brag about my excellence to your coworkers... All right, hanging up."
With one call and one mailed journal and reprint, he quickly contacted all the friends he knew.
Only then did he drive the BYD Han back to his hometown.
To grow rich and not return home was like walking at night in embroidered clothes.
Du Ke had returned.
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