Shock

Xi'an Jiaotong University had stepped up to endorse that ghost catcher?

What kind of bizarre turn was this?!

If this had not been his genuine fan group, Xue Chuan would not even have bothered responding. He would have flatly called it impossible and exposed it as a fake.

But he knew how much these people trusted him. Even if a few had betrayed him, there was no way so many would all say the same thing.

After replying, "Please remain calm," he sat back down at his computer and reopened his battlefield.

He found Xi'an Jiaotong University's Official Weibo and looked at their pinned post. It was fucking real!

"Goldbach Conjecture proven by a scholar from our country! Fields Medal for next year secured in advance! Let us congratulate Master Yi, who fully deserves the title of Master!"

Although this Weibo account did not have many followers and could not compare to Xue Chuan's at all, Xue Chuan knew perfectly well how much weight it carried.

The foundations of China's 985 universities generally surpassed their international rankings.

Although those who had studied abroad were still rather sought-after, recruiting organizations had gradually realized the quality of these returnees who had gone overseas to gild themselves. Many of them really were not as useful as graduates from domestic 985 universities.

Xue Chuan had gone after plenty of people in academia, but everyone he targeted—even professors from certain universities—would only respond in a personal capacity. University institutions themselves had never entered the fray.

This time, Xue Chuan felt an unprecedented pressure.

The Goldbach Conjecture had been proven?

The next Fields Medal?

Don't fucking joke around!

Were they out of their minds?

Had whoever ran the Official Weibo been bought off?

That was the most likely possibility Xue Chuan could think of.

In any case, it was far more likely than the implications of that post!

Combined with the awful feeling of having punched cotton before, malice immediately rose in Xue Chuan's heart. He sat down at his computer and began typing out a lengthy tirade.

"As a renowned domestic university, shouldn't you be more cautious with official announcements? You've directly declared the Fields Medal secured? You've directly declared the Goldbach Conjecture proven? Has this received international recognition?"

Xi'an Jiaotong University's announcement had only just begun to spread. After all, not many people followed university Weibo accounts, and it had only started receiving a few reposts and comments.

But the moment Xue Chuan personally entered the fray, it instantly exploded.

What?

A university institution had officially announced it?

Still, weren't those words far too absolute?

The first to charge forward were Xue Chuan's "followers."

"The Fields Medal is the Nobel Prize of mathematics!"

"Did you hand out the Fields Medal? How laughable!"

"You're talking way too big."

"Don't tell us later that your account was hacked!"

"This is a top domestic university? The gap really is enormous!"

Thanks to Xue Chuan's explanations, his fans already knew what the Fields Medal was, and they began relentlessly attacking Xi'an Jiaotong University's arrogance.

But faced with this criticism, the institution that normally would not respond directly chose this time to fire back as quickly as possible.

A large number of professors and associate professors from Xi'an Jiaotong University's mathematics department opened Weibo accounts, each explaining the situation and the verification process.

Many of them even uploaded their handwritten verification papers.

"When we first received the news, we did not believe it either. But mathematics does not lie."

"After sixteen teachers from our mathematics department spent the entire night verifying it, we can proudly announce that the Goldbach Conjecture has been proven by one of our countrymen!"

"Why do we dare state with absolute certainty that he will be the next recipient of the Fields Medal? Because if the Fields Medal Committee wants to prove us wrong, we would welcome it wholeheartedly!"

"We also saw the original post. It was rejected instantly. This is indeed academic discrimination!"

"Our compatriot—our compatriot who proved the Goldbach Conjecture, our compatriot who can receive the Fields Medal—had his academic achievement returned without even being read when he submitted it. If that is not academic discrimination, what is?!"

"Embarrassing? It certainly is embarrassing, but it is the entire journal Science, and even the entire Western academic world controlled by others, that should be embarrassed."

"This brings glory to our country!"

Six professors and ten associate professors had each taken to Weibo to endorse him, while the university's Official Weibo strongly backed him.

This sudden display completely stunned Xue Chuan.

Only then did he vaguely begin to feel that something was wrong.

No way, had it really been proven?

But I really can't understand it!

Yet for Xue Chuan, stubbornness and double standards had always been his defining traits. He immediately continued to reply and argue forcefully.

"These are only your one-sided claims. It has not received international recognition at all, so it is invalid."

He then edited another post, quoting Wang Yi's earlier statement—the one that had felt like punching cotton.

"Look at what he said! He promotes feudal superstition. He says he catches ghosts, okay?"

But Zhu Biao, a relatively young associate professor, quickly tagged Xue Chuan directly.

"Master Yi looks quite young. Young people bragging online has got you this worked up? He says he catches ghosts, and I believe him. He must be using mathematics to catch ghosts scientifically."

Then an elderly professor made another post.

"I have already called many professors in this field. We still cannot confirm this person's identity, but his workplace is indeed listed as blank. He may not currently hold a position."

Just as the situation intensified and everything was overwhelmingly unfavorable to Xue Chuan, a repost account suddenly released a screenshot.

It was a screenshot from the Other side of the ocean, an official announcement made during the middle of the night there.

Several professors from the mathematics department of the University of Pennsylvania's School of Arts and Sciences had preliminarily passed the verification. The Goldbach Conjecture proof on Mote had passed their calculations.

They were now inviting colleagues to help confirm it.

They also officially released a statement.

"Regardless of whether the Goldbach Conjecture has truly been proven, can a paper with such clean, concise formatting and layout really fail the initial review? Was it merely because they saw the author's name and exposed his ethnicity? Racial discrimination in academia truly exists."

Only a few minutes later, the official journal Science issued a public letter of apology—a public apology to Master Yi personally!

Judging by the timing, the University of Pennsylvania had likely given them advance notice.

It had let them prepare themselves mentally.

For something like this, apologizing immediately was the best way to minimize losses.

And it was easy to imagine that, because Political Correctness was involved, this storm had only just begun.

For now, they could only try to stop the bleeding as early as possible.

Only then did Wang Yi, who had finished building part of the underlying framework, find time to take a look at Weibo.

After seeing the commotion on both Mote and Weibo, he tagged Xue Chuan again on Weibo and posted a screenshot of the apology letter from Science that he had received separately in his email.

"Mr. Xue Chuan, does this count as the international recognition you wanted? If not, that's fine. I can wait. I believe more voices will speak up soon."

There was another sentence after that.

"PS: Mathematics catches ghosts, science catches ghosts. Everyone, please believe in my abilities. Leave a comment if you have related questions. I've got things to do, so I'm off now. Respect~"

Two updates complete...

Normally speaking, the verification process should have been more rigorous and would not have been this fast. The "assist" had already accelerated things ahead of schedule~

For example, with that recently rumored conjecture proof, regardless of the result, all sides would need quite a bit of time to confirm it. The reason this story could produce results so quickly had a great deal to do with it being "correct."