Chen Yang had planned to borrow a laboratory from Xiake University for Du Ke's research, making it easier for Du Ke to publish papers later. But clearly, Du Ke was not satisfied with simply borrowing a lab, nor did he intend to use Xiake University's facilities.
The reason was simple. Once he used Xiake University's laboratory, the ownership of the paper's copyright and any patents would inevitably become a source of dispute.
He intended to complete the electron flow theory independently, and he also intended to develop the electron flow battery independently. He had to keep the copyrights firmly in his own hands, so he would never give anyone else a chance to meddle in the research process. This had nothing to do with trust. After all, the electron flow battery represented a trillion-dollar market. Such immense profits would surely attract countless covetous eyes. When that happened, all sorts of underhanded methods would emerge.
"Once you've finished writing the paper, send it to me first so I can take a look." Chen Yang did not insist that Du Ke use Xiake University's laboratory.
"Sure, but it'll have to wait a couple of days. I'm going to Chang'an on a business trip tomorrow."
Du Ke's purpose in going to Chang'an was to attend the Chang'an Military Equipment Exhibition. It was his first time in the city, but he had no interest in sightseeing or exploring its history and culture. He went straight to the exhibition. Thanks to online promotion, this retired military equipment exhibition had attracted a huge number of military enthusiasts. There were long lines in front of every weapon and piece of equipment as people waited to take pictures. Du Ke was different. He was only there to get his hands on them.
From armored vehicles to guns and bullets, he replicated everything he could.
The centerpiece, the HQ-7 surface-to-air missile and its launcher vehicle, happened to fall within his replication range. In other words, the upper limit of Mind Armor's manifested energy was now enough to perfectly replicate an HQ-7 missile. In fact, it did not matter if he could not replicate the missile vehicle itself. He could replicate another weapons platform, transplant the HQ-7 onto it, and complete the modification.
With Mind Armor, he could replicate and improve anything that had existed, except living beings.
"Perfect!"
"If only there were some active-duty equipment on display too, that would be even better. Heh, maybe I could even replicate a nuclear warhead." Du Ke's confidence surged. With HQ-7 missiles, dealing with the Red-headed Bald Monkey would be much easier.
If the Vulcan Cannon could not penetrate Rock armor, could missiles not do it either?
This time, he had also copied various shells, including armor-piercing rounds. Even without the HQ-7, he could manifest tanks and launch an attack. "I alone am a legion!"
"Hey, you! Stop touching everything. Don't you know these pieces of equipment were only recently retired? Their fuses haven't even been removed!" A security guard walked over, pointed at Du Ke, and told him to move his hand away.
Du Ke did not argue. The fuses had all been removed; the guard was just trying to scare people.
He merely smiled and turned away. Then he walked over to the next exhibit and, while the guard was not paying attention, reached out again and began replicating it. By the time the guard looked over, he had already finished. Without waiting to be reprimanded, he left on his own. For three straight days, he touched every retired piece of equipment in the exhibition hall from top to bottom.
Only then did he leave Chang'an in satisfaction and return to Luzhou.
Next, he sent his completed fifth paper, <Methodological Demonstration of Proton and Electron Separation Under Normal Conditions>, to Tao Xun and Chen Yang, asking them to help translate and revise it.
He could give them second-author credit.
He would not give up corresponding authorship or first authorship. However, Dean Chen Yang had already retired from the front line of scientific research and turned to education, so he did not care much about being second author and had no intention of claiming the position. As for Professor Tao, he had swallowed his pride to become a professor, so he attached himself as second author to every one of Du Ke's papers. In truth, translating them into English and revising them was more than enough to justify second authorship.
Many researchers even hired others to write their English papers for them to ensure publication, then listed those people as co-first authors.
After all, being able to write a good paper was a damn impressive skill in itself.
Du Ke's papers were only able to get by because their ideas were so novel and involved an entirely new field of condensed matter physics. Otherwise, judging by his paper-writing skills alone, the editorial board would probably have passed on them after one read. Top journals like Science not only demanded a strong research direction, but also required papers to be written with humor and flair, to the point that they could even serve as popular science reading.
After sending off the paper, Du Ke buried himself in his experiments. His research into the blue cocoon had recently reached a critical stage. Not only had he cracked the core secret of electron flow, but he had also discovered a material in the cocoon suitable for an electron flow battery.
Whether it was the Long-Haired Bomb or the blue cocoon, anything capable of carrying such immense energy was made of special materials. The Long-Haired Bomb relied on cellular structures to form chains that locked away energy, while the blue cocoon consisted of dead cells piled into a keratinized layer that formed special chains. He could use the structure of the cocoon's keratinized layer as a reference to design a material for an electron flow battery.
This allowed him to begin verifying the practical applications of the electron flow battery.
"In other words, it won't be long before the first electron flow battery goes from theory to reality." Filled with anticipation, Du Ke threw himself into the research.
Meanwhile, after finishing an event, Dean Chen Yang returned to his office and carefully began reading the fifth paper Du Ke had sent him.
To be honest, he did not have high expectations for this paper. He felt that Du Ke was simply going through the motions. After all, Du Ke's first three papers had served as an introduction to a theory, while the fourth had been a review that had already covered the early content of electron flow theory. It would be extremely difficult for a fifth paper to contain anything substantial. Most likely, it would just be old wine in a new bottle, repeatedly padding out the previous material.
This was all too common in academia.
A few years ago, Chinese researchers had padded papers in SCI journals far too severely, writing papers for the sake of writing papers. As a result, their citation numbers were woefully inadequate, ranking only 198th among 239 countries and regions worldwide. It was truly embarrassing.
Of course.
Everyone had to make a living. Many master's and doctoral students needed published papers to graduate. Professional title evaluations and career advancement also required papers to pave the way. Without padding, where would there be enough research projects to build one's reputation? This trend existed throughout academic circles around the world; it was only a matter of degree. Even Einstein had padded papers when he was just starting out in order to make a living.
But Chen Yang had high hopes for Du Ke.
He did not want Du Ke to develop the bad habit of padding papers. So he began reading Du Ke's fifth paper with the intention of picking it apart, prepared to find its flaws and have a serious talk with him.
However.
After reading only the abstract, he could not help clicking his tongue. "Separating electrons and protons under normal conditions? He found a method? No way. If he really found one..."
He did not finish the thought. It still felt too impossible, so he decided to read the main text first.
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