Suspicion of Waterlogging

Chen Yang planned to borrow a laboratory from Xiake University for Du Ke's research to facilitate Du Ke's future paper publications. However, it was clear that Du Ke wasn't satisfied with simply borrowing a lab, nor did he intend to use Xiake University's facilities.

The reason was simple: if he borrowed a lab from Xiake University, disputes would inevitably arise over the copyright and patent ownership of his papers.

He intended to complete the electron flow theory independently and develop the electron flow battery on his own. He wanted to keep the copyright firmly in his hands, so he would never give anyone a chance to interfere with the research process. This wasn't about trust; after all, the electron flow battery represented a market worth trillions, and such immense profits would surely attract a host of envious eyes. At that point, all sorts of demons and monsters would emerge with their schemes.

"Then, after you've written your paper, send it to me to read first," Chen Yang didn't insist on Du Ke using Xiake University's laboratory.

"Okay, but it'll have to wait a couple of days. I have to go 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, and he had no interest in sightseeing historical sites. He went straight to the exhibition. Thanks to online promotion, this exhibition of retired military equipment attracted a large crowd of military enthusiasts, with people lining up to take photos in front of every piece of equipment. Du Ke, however, was only there to get a feel for them.

From large armored vehicles to small bullets, he replicated anything he could.

The main attraction, the HQ-7 anti-aircraft missile, along with its launcher vehicle, was precisely within the scope of his replication. This meant that the current materialization energy limit of his Mind Armor was sufficient to perfectly replicate the HQ-7 anti-aircraft missile. In reality, even if he couldn't replicate the missile vehicle, he could replicate other weapon platforms and then transplant the HQ-7 onto them, completing the modification.

With the Mind Armor, anything that has ever appeared, except for living beings, can be replicated and improved.

"This is great!"

"It would be even more perfect if they displayed some active-duty equipment. Heh, I might even be able to replicate a nuclear warhead." Du Ke's confidence soared, believing that with the HQ-7 missile, dealing with the Red-headed Bald Monkeys would be much easier.

If a Vulcan Cannon couldn't penetrate rock armor, would a missile be unable to?

Keep in mind that this time he had also replicated various types of shells, including armor-piercing rounds. Even without the HQ-7, he could materialize tanks to attack: "I am an army unto myself!"

"Hey, hey, hey, I'm talking to you. Stop touching things. Don't you know these pieces of equipment were just retired, and the fuses haven't even been removed?" A security guard approached, pointing at Du Ke and telling him to move his hands.

Du Ke didn't argue. In fact, they had all been removed; the guard was just trying to scare him.

He just smiled and turned away, then walked to the next piece of equipment. While the guard wasn't looking, he reached out his hand again and began replicating. As soon as the guard looked over, he had already finished replicating and, without waiting for the guard's reprimand, voluntarily moved away. For three consecutive days, he had "handled" every retired piece of equipment in the exhibition hall.

Only then did he leave Chang'an, satisfied, and return to Luzhou.

Next, he sent his compiled fifth paper, "Methodology for Proton and Electron Stripping Under Normal Conditions," to Tao Xun and Chen Yang, asking them to help translate and revise it.

He could offer them a co-first author position.

He would not give up the corresponding author or the first author positions. However, Dean Chen Yang had already moved from the front lines of research to education and wasn't particularly interested in a co-first author position, so he had no intention of listing himself as such. As for Professor Tao Xun, in order to get promoted to professor, he had shamelessly asked to be a co-first author on all of Du Ke's papers. In reality, translating and revising into English was sufficient to warrant a co-first author credit.

Many researchers, to ensure their papers were published smoothly, even hired others to write their English papers for them and then listed them as co-first authors.

After all, being able to write a good paper was a skill in itself.

It was only because Du Ke's papers were full of novel ideas and touched upon an entirely new field of condensed matter physics that they weren't immediately rejected by the editorial board, despite his writing skills. Top journals like Science not only required a good research direction but also demanded that papers be written humorously and engagingly, even to the point of being suitable for popular science reading.

After submitting the paper, Du Ke buried himself in experiments. He had recently reached a critical stage in his research on the blue cocoon, not only cracking the core secret of electron flow but also discovering a material suitable for electron flow batteries on the cocoon.

Whether it was the Long-Haired Bomb or the blue cocoon, both were special materials capable of containing such immense energy. The Long-Haired Bomb used its cellular structure to form chains and lock in energy, while the blue cocoon had dead cells piled up to form a cuticle, creating a special chain. He could completely reference the structure of the cocoon's cuticle to design a material for the electron flow battery.

This would allow him to begin verifying the practical application of the electron flow battery.

"In other words, it's not far from the first electron flow battery transitioning from theory to reality," Du Ke immersed himself in his research with great anticipation.

Meanwhile, Dean Chen Yang returned to his office after an event and carefully began reading Du Ke's fifth paper.

To be honest, he didn't have high expectations for this paper, feeling that Du Ke was just going through the motions. After all, Du Ke's first three papers were introductory to a theory, and the fourth was a review that had already covered the preliminary content of electron flow theory. Therefore, it would be very difficult for the fifth paper to offer substantial new content, making it highly likely to be a case of "old wine in a new bottle," rehashing previous material.

This was very common in academia.

In previous years, Chinese researchers had excessively "watered down" their papers in various SCI journals, writing papers for the sake of writing papers, leading to a severe lack of paper citations. They ranked only 198th among 239 countries and regions worldwide, which was quite embarrassing.

Of course.

Everyone had to make a living. Many master's and doctoral degrees required paper publications, and professional title evaluations and career advancements all depended on papers. Without "watering down," where would there be so many research projects to boost one's reputation? This trend existed in academic circles worldwide; it was just a matter of severity. After all, even Einstein, when he was just starting out, "watered down" his work to make a living.

However, Chen Yang had high hopes for Du Ke.

He didn't want Du Ke to develop the bad habit of "watering down" papers, so he began reading Du Ke's fifth paper with the intention of finding flaws and then giving Du Ke a good talking-to.

However.

After reading only the abstract, he couldn't help but exclaim, "Tsk! Stripping electrons and protons under normal conditions? He found a method? No way, if he really found it..."

He didn't say anything further, feeling it was unlikely. He decided to read the main body of the paper first.