Heat

Li Vida stared dumbfoundedly at the shifting tide on Weibo and the flood of comments. His mind was completely blank.

You've got to be kidding me!

He really proved it?

You're actually a scientific researcher?!

After buying the songs earlier, Wang Yi had killed the conversation, so Li Vida and the others had hastily wrapped things up after signing the contract.

Li Vida had kept sighing. Heaven had practically handed him a meal, yet he did not cherish it.

He had even given Fang Chuan countless likes, hoping Wang Yi would see reality for what it was and come back to make his debut.

Once the matter blew up, Li Vida had even worried that Wang Yi might not be able to withstand the pressure.

But just as he was hesitating over whether to call Wang Yi and try to persuade him, the turnaround came so quickly and so fiercely that his jaw practically stayed on the floor.

Wasn't this way too outrageous?

Because he had been following the situation, Fang Chuan's explanations had taught him quite a bit. He understood just how incredible this was, but he had never expected it to be true.

It really had been proven!

He really had suffered academic discrimination!

Good heavens...

As Li Vida gradually came to his senses, he happily and swiftly deleted the post he had previously reposted and commented on: "The paper is very well written. Don't write another one."

After deleting it, he thought for a moment before calling Wang Yi.

Wang Yi, who did not spend much time on Weibo and had left right after posting his update, was currently continuing to refine the underlying architecture of his Artificial Intelligence.

He had already created a magical version in another world. Now that he had cutting-edge electronic components, the gaps filled in by Resentful Spirits, and his own familiar programming skills, the problem could undoubtedly be simplified considerably.

The more he worked on the underlying architecture, the more smoothly it went.

Being interrupted by a call naturally irritated him somewhat, but seeing that it was his backer, he answered.

"Teacher Wang Yi, congratulations, congratulations! I truly never expected you to possess such talent. No wonder you looked down on making a debut."

Li Vida began with an enthusiastic round of flattery.

The entertainment industry and the Academic Circle were two completely unrelated worlds. Moreover, most people in the entertainment industry had fairly limited educational backgrounds and academic records. Even many idols who marketed themselves as top students had heavily embellished credentials.

Ninety percent of the extras in Shudian had only high school educations.

There was nothing shameful about working hard to earn money, but it also meant the two circles had no common language.

The gap was too vast. Li Vida could not find much to talk about, and only after spouting empty praise for a while did he explain why he had called.

"Teacher Wang Yi, here's the situation. This matter has caused quite a huge sensation and drawn a great deal of attention. I'd like to take this opportunity to release your song first. What do you think?"

Normally, a singer would be selected before a song was released. Releasing a song by itself first was rare.

But the current traffic was simply too massive. This was a gold mine, and there was every reason to push the song first.

They could just release Jiang Xin's version directly.

Wang Yi was somewhat surprised by the fat man's words. The song was already in his hands, and he could have started promoting it without notifying Wang Yi at all. It would not have been illegal.

The fact that he had specifically informed him showed that he was being fairly proper about it.

But since he had asked, Wang Yi did not hold back.

"I presume you now believe that music is merely my hobby. If you promote it directly, it may very well stir up another wave of attention and disturb me. That puts me in a difficult position."

Wang Yi's words disappointed Li Vida greatly, but after hesitating for a while, he still did not intend to act on his own. He sighed and said, "Teacher Wang Yi is a true scientist. I was being shallow."

"No, you misunderstood. I agree to let you promote it."

Seeing that the other man was not getting the hint, Wang Yi immediately added that line, lest he truly decide not to do it.

The copyright had already been sold. I wasn't doing anything without profit!

"Then what you mean is...?"

"You need to pay more."

Seeing the new after-tax payment of five hundred thousand arrive by text message, Wang Yi smiled in satisfaction.

"Not bad. This little fat guy knows how to behave."

Li Vida could actually have cut Wang Yi out and handled it himself, and Wang Yi would not have had much to say about it.

But in the end, he had insisted on asking first and had really paid more money.

Usually, spending a few hundred thousand to push something onto Weibo's trending list was enough.

Of course, artificially boosted Weibo trends could not compare to the spontaneous attention Wang Yi had generated, but his topic was already trending. The heat was already there.

This time, Li Vida was simply extending goodwill to maintain their relationship.

The other party was indeed making a killing, but the song transaction had already been completed. It was not as if he had stolen it.

If others could make money, that was their ability. Wang Yi would not fuss over such gains and losses.

So, returning the favor, after Li Vida made the official announcement, Wang Yi used the momentum to post another update.

"I should qualify for the scientific researcher label by now. This is my Independent Musician label. I hope everyone likes it."

After posting, he also tagged Li Vida.

This pumped Li Vida up even further. He immediately replied and expressed his thanks through Vida Music's Official Weibo.

This was when Wang Yi's popularity was at its peak, yet he was running ghost-catching ads on one hand and music ads on the other. He was making every bit of that popularity count.

Many goofy netizens who had already found Wang Yi interesting immediately began leaving all sorts of replies.

"I'm honestly speechless."

"Master Yi is nothing like those old pedants I imagined."

"If he hadn't responded with screenshots of the emails, I would have kept thinking someone was impersonating him."

"Replying to the person above: mathematicians tend to achieve results at a young age. Master Yi should be quite young, but I never expected him to compose music too. All I can say is, we don't understand the world of geniuses."

"I have to follow and support him."

"A mathematician's music somehow feels so hilarious."

"Holy shit! Master Yi wrote Lone Brave!"

"No way, the lyricist and composer of Lone Brave are both Yi. It really matches up!"

In an instant, a massive uproar swept across the internet.

Wang Yi's old and new songs could all be traced through their credited names. He had never expected to hide that for long anyway.

As long as his personal information was not widely leaked and his life was not affected, it was fine.

He also casually reminded Li Vida not to reveal his private information.

Whether it was Yi the Independent Musician or Master Yi the scientific researcher, they could spin it however they pleased online. He did not care at all.

However, he had registered his real name with the copyright office. At least on the official level, finding out who he was would be effortless.

Wang Yi did not care about that either. He had never expected to keep it hidden, nor was there any need to!

After all, if he wanted to develop anything in the future, he would inevitably have to deal with them. Having such a title would also make it easier to receive support.

Thanks to the convenience of the industrial chain, along with the policy preferences and subsidies that would certainly be available, there would be no problem if Wang Yi wanted to establish some high-tech company domestically in the future.

Of course, if it was something like a pharmaceutical company, he would still need to go somewhere like Hengguo. To avoid trouble, the parent company would definitely have to remain offshore.

Making money, gathering the world's top resources and talent to explore Truth—this was a very long road...

This proof of the Goldbach Conjecture would definitely draw attention to him.

His Alma Mater and higher-level educational institutions would most likely contact him as well.

What Wang Yi needed to ensure was merely that less of his private information spread online, that he would not be disturbed, and that he would adopt a positive attitude toward the official side.

The three years he had been missing were a solid fact. He had practically vanished from the face of the earth.

Under such circumstances, the most convenient explanation really was that he had been smuggled abroad, then found an opportunity to escape back.

Skynet had not yet achieved comprehensive coverage, and it also had limits on how long data was retained. There was no real need to worry that they would spend a huge amount of time and effort investigating it.

At most, there would be immigration records and train tickets or something similar.

No entry records? He had been smuggled back too. Was it not possible that he had also trained himself into a skilled fighter while he was at it? Even without train or plane tickets, there were still buses that had not yet adopted real-name registration. There were plenty of methods.

He was not some violent criminal. It would not go that far.

Even if they truly did not believe him, there was nothing he could do about it.

Besides, the current spotlight could be considered a kind of protective umbrella.

If they still refused to believe it, they could just assume aliens had abducted him for three years...

First update~

It feels like comments should be enabled soon. I can still see everyone's messages, but they are not displayed. I wonder whether they will show up afterward once comments are opened...