Textbook War!

In the dorm, Song He sat alone before his computer, grinding through papers for his doctoral degree.

Quantum Biology had progressed far beyond what he had imagined. He had expected it to be desolate, yet he found quite a few papers. There was also less junk in such an obscure field; those who dared conduct research in it were basically all big names, so most of the papers were extremely valuable.

He started by filling in the basics.

Nobel Laureate Roger Penrose had once written a book called "The Emperor's New Mind," in which he mystically claimed that brain cells contained a structure called microtubules. Quantum gravitational effects supposedly occurred inside them at every moment, thereby producing consciousness.

Although Roger Penrose was a Nobel Prize giant, his main field was black holes. His leap into Brain Science had been a spectacular failure, and his theory had been mocked relentlessly by academia, drawing every kind of sharp and vicious ridicule.

After reading several papers, Song He could practically picture scientists hammering at their keyboards with the faces of online trolls, not much different from internet-addicted teenagers fiercely arguing online.

Although Roger's theory was regarded as fringe nonsense, it had successfully inspired some scholars to pursue new directions. For example, a big shot named Matthew Fisher also believed that the brain was very likely a Quantum Computer.

Matthew had an impressive background. He had won the Buckley Prize, the highest award in condensed matter physics. His research went somewhat deeper, suggesting that the nuclear spins of phosphorus atoms were the brain's qubits.

But Matthew immediately lost confidence as well, saying that he might be wrong, though the direction was still worth studying. If it could someday be confirmed that he was wrong, that would still be highly meaningful.

Song He got a headache from reading it. This was hard to judge. Matthew's experiments in this area were rather crude, with the air of a casual side project. But he was a great scientist, so even his farts smelled sweet. He got to say both the positive and negative sides himself.

With no other choice, Song He abandoned the grand theories backed by famous names and searched for solid experiments conducted by unknown researchers.

Before long, he knew he had chosen the right direction, because upgrade notifications began appearing before his eyes!

Biology Progress detected. Master Level 57 has risen to Master Level 58!

"After feeding rats two lithium isotopes, Lithium-6 and Lithium-7, the Lithium-6 group was significantly more active in behaviors such as nest-building and nursing..."

"The smallest possible spin of an atomic nucleus is 1/2. In the brain's electric-field-filled environment, atomic nuclei with a spin of 1/2 are almost unaffected by interference..."

"The interior of the brain is a saline solution using water as its solvent. A large number of free hydrogen ions can cause Lithium-6 to tend toward nuclei with a spin of 1/2..."

Biology Progress detected. Master Level 58 has risen to Master Level 59!

"The complex molecular clusters formed by Posner Molecules are the key to the problem. Within neurons, these clusters alter the transmission of Neurotransmitters, giving rise to thought..."

"The primary cause of long-lived coherence is ground-state vibration, rather than exciton-exciton superposition..."

"Mercury isotopes possess nonzero spin, which affects the nuclear spins of Posner Molecules in the brain..."

Biology Progress detected. Master Level 59 has risen to Master Level 60!

"Classical physics cannot explain the temperature dependence of electron transfer in purple bacteria reaction centers. If nuclear tunneling is introduced..."

"Enzymes rely on electron-proton coupling to control charge transport and catalysis..."

It was burning. His brain was burning!

Besides his Biology level rising, Song He's physics level also jumped from time to time.

It was as though he had plunged headfirst into an abyss. He definitely would not be getting out anytime soon. He had to study steadily, step by step. Although it was extremely difficult, he was still confident that he could prove the Little-Linderholm Conjecture around the time of the college entrance exam!

Mathematics really was more brain-burning than biology. Song He crammed math day and night, visibly growing more haggard by the day. Some classmates even looked worried during class and asked, "Teacher, you don't look well. Are you sick?"

The million-yuan bicycle was soon flown in. Song He's bike was slightly larger than Teacher Xiang's, with a different seat and pedals suited to a different physiological build.

Over the weekend, Song He went cycling with Teacher Xiang and was completely left in the dust. Faced with his teacher's mockery, Song He felt deeply humiliated and decided to train harder. Every day, he did high-knee exercises in the dorm, studying while training his legs. Sooner or later, he would leave Teacher Xiang in the dust!

The school's approval document soon arrived. Comrade Song He had been promoted to Associate Professor!

The promotion ceremony would be held on a later date, but his salary and benefits rose immediately. The title on Song He's work ID changed to "Associate Professor, Brain Science Institute," and his office was moved to a sunny room twice as large!

The students were delighted as well. They swiftly changed what they called Song He from "Teacher Song" to "Professor Song," naturally omitting the word "Associate."

Quite a few students came to pester Song He between classes, hoping to enroll as his graduate students and asking eagerly whether he had any guaranteed-admission spots.

Song He could only spread his hands helplessly and admit that only Full Professors could take guaranteed-admission students. His rank was not high enough for the moment. The students immediately started cursing the school, saying it had only given Teacher Song an Associate Professor position. It was practically blind to talent!

Song He felt that the students were both right and wrong. His achievements did qualify him for Full Professor, but he really was too young. Most of the students cursing up a storm were older than him. Setting aside their professional relationship, he should have been calling them older brother and older sister.

That was right. Starting next semester, Song He could supervise master's students in both Brain Science and Biopharmaceutical, but there was a limit on how many students he could take.

Frontier Technology University's rule this year was that however widely a new textbook sold, that was how many students its author could take on!

The school's measure was easy to understand. University textbooks were an important battleground for demonstrating a school's influence, powerful hard promotion. If a university's textbooks could spread nationwide, it undoubtedly meant that the university was the unquestioned leader in that textbook field, and its standing in the academic world would rise invisibly!

Song He immediately went on the offensive and promoted the new textbooks he had compiled!

The promotional method was simple and brutal: have Chenghuang Company issue an announcement! Chenghuang Company announced that Song He, the chief person in charge of its R&D team, had completed two new university textbooks, "Brain Science" and "Biopharmaceutical." The two sets of textbooks were suitable for undergraduate and master's-level study, covered a broad range of content, were rigorously written, and included a large amount of cutting-edge knowledge.

For this autumn's admissions, Song He would recruit his first batch of master's students as an Associate Professor at Frontier Technology University. Forty percent of the interview questions would come from these two sets of textbooks.

Chenghuang Company's campus recruitment would also use the two new textbooks as its question bank, focusing on assessing students' abilities in the relevant majors. Students interested in joining Chenghuang were welcome to study the two sets of textbooks carefully.

University lecturers were welcome to provide in-depth analyses of the new textbooks and publish explanatory articles or online course videos across the internet. The company would award outstanding lecturers bonuses ranging from 10,000 to 300,000 yuan, along with opportunities to obtain positions in Chenghuang Company's Order Class.

As soon as Chenghuang Company issued its announcement, Neuron Company decisively followed suit, releasing an almost identical announcement declaring that the two new textbooks compiled by Song He would become part of Neuron Company's campus recruitment examination question bank!

Several companies with close strategic partnerships followed one after another. Chenghuang's shareholders and Neuron's shareholders all changed a few words and issued announcements in their companies' names, publicly endorsing and supporting the new textbooks!

A similar tactic had already been used during the previous admissions season. Reusing the same trick this time, Song He felt somewhat uneasy. Would the major universities fall for it?