What a Great Paper!

Chapter 41: What a Great Paper!

As soon as she remembered that there was no way she could finish the task today, Wang Lili cursed inwardly, "Bima Wen, I'm done with this!"

"Senior, why are you breathing so heavily? What's wrong?" Zhang Yuan asked, awkwardly scratching his head.

It was the middle of the night, she was breathing heavily, and she'd called him out of the blue. Was she looking for a little excitement?

"What... heavy?" Wang Lili finally came to her senses and replied bluntly, "That's enough for now. I'm hanging up!"

Zhang Yuan was a little confused, but couldn't be bothered to think about it. He closed his eyes and soon drifted off to sleep.

After confirming that there was no way to get the task done indirectly, Wang Lili could only email her teacher, saying she wasn't capable enough and "couldn't understand it, sorry." She also cited a few senior students' opinions as backup, showing that she'd already tried her best.

"My impression score is going to hit rock bottom..."

She let out a long sigh.

The next morning, Lin Wenda arrived at his office and made himself a cup of tea.

The first thing he did every day was check his email.

There was all sorts of miscellaneous work to deal with, usually enough to keep him busy until ten. But today, he had received very few emails.

"Huh? Wang Lili couldn't understand the paper?" Lin Wenda was a little surprised. When he saw that it had been sent at two in the morning, he decided not to blame his student.

"Looks like she really couldn't understand it. Interesting..."

Wang Lili wasn't the most brilliant student, but she'd always been reliable.

Since he had relatively little work to deal with, Lin Wenda thought he might as well take a look himself.

He opened the email and read carefully.

At first, his brow furrowed. Then something in the paper seemed to catch his attention, and he continued reading intently.

A fine sheen of sweat appeared on his forehead.

He grew more and more excited, until even his hair stood on end.

This paper was incredibly valuable!

"The kinematics of humanoid robots have been clearly described using a new method!"

"No, this is only a framework, a grand theory. There are still countless details to refine..."

What did this mean?

It meant countless follow-up papers, and the possibility of further advances in related industries!

A groundbreaking paper!

As someone in the field, he knew all too well how valuable it was.

For a brief moment, Lin Wenda was tempted to claim the paper as his own.

The benefits it could bring were simply enormous, especially in terms of prestige!

He could already picture awards pouring in one after another. He'd practically be able to collect them until his hands cramped.

But he quickly suppressed the temptation.

Professor Wang had sent him the paper. If Lin Wenda dared to claim it as his own, Old Wang had enough clout to turn him to dust in an instant. An academician's influence was nothing an ordinary professor could compare to.

Besides, he wasn't shameless enough to commit academic misconduct, even if such scandals were common enough in their circles.

"I'd better keep my feet on the ground. There's no need to steal someone else's work. If I just write some follow-up papers expanding on it, that'll already be an impressive achievement."

"Right, there's still a lot of follow-up work to do!"

As he thought it over, Lin Wenda felt inspiration surging through him like a great river. He could write a paper just like that.

As for the projects on his desk... What were they compared to writing papers?

These weren't filler papers. They were genuinely valuable.

"Knock, knock!" Someone stood outside and tapped on the door, then cleared his throat.

Lin Wenda looked up. It was Lu Junzhe, the dean of the School of Mechanical Engineering.

Professor Lu smiled and asked, "Professor Lin, what are you looking at? You're so engrossed, and even grinning to yourself. I've been standing here for ages..."

Lin Wenda instinctively wanted to hide Zhang Yuan's paper, but after a moment's thought, he picked it up instead.

"Professor Lu, take a look at this paper. It's fascinating!"

An interesting paper?

Lu Junzhe walked over suspiciously and skimmed a few pages.

"A beginner's first paper, right? It's a mess, like an undergraduate thesis."

"It does look a bit like one."

"...Undergraduate theses are mass-produced trash, but there's no helping that."

Then something seemed to catch his attention, and his breathing grew rapid.

A new method!

His eyes grew brighter and brighter.

Its value...

Was immeasurable!

He finished reading the paper, immediately turned around, and hurried off.

"Professor Lu, where are you going?" Lin Wenda asked, baffled.

"Back to write!" Professor Lu said hurriedly. "...Inspiration is the most valuable thing there is. We can't waste it!"

"Wait, what did you come to see me about?"

"..."

Professor Lu remembered why he had come and stopped.

He slapped his forehead. "It's nothing much, really. The annual subject rankings are about to start again. Last year, our school didn't produce any particularly outstanding work, so we might drop in the rankings again. I came to talk it over with you all. If you have any important papers, publish them as soon as possible. We have to hold on to our ranking! Otherwise, everyone's funding will be cut by a level."

Universities competed against one another, and so did their academic disciplines.

Xisha University's mechanical engineering program was one of its flagship disciplines, but in recent years, it hadn't produced any particularly impressive work. It had been hovering around fifteenth or sixteenth nationwide, unable to climb higher. Lu Junzhe couldn't help feeling anxious. As the dean, he was responsible.

How were the rankings determined?

Academic reputation, employer reputation, paper citations, and all sorts of other weighted indexes. In any case, papers were definitely among the most important factors.

Lin Wenda's smile faded. "This paper was written by... Zhang Yuan, Zhang Qiming's son. He's about to board a spaceship, and he's with the Deep Space Foundation. He also wrote it independently, so it can't be counted as our school's achievement."

"Zhang Yuan? I've heard of him." Professor Lu froze. "Like father, like son. What a pity the work didn't come from our school... What a shame."

Lin Wenda laughed heartily. "Old Lu, don't rush. Wouldn't the follow-up work based on this paper be valuable? We could write at least ten worthwhile papers using it as a foundation!"

"...The paper has only just been written. It hasn't been published yet, so no one else has seen it."

"We saw it first, so this is our opportunity. Let's grab it and milk it for all it's worth!"

Lu Junzhe's eyes lit up, and he slapped his thigh. "You're right! It's only a broad framework and can't be applied directly yet. There are plenty of details to explore."

"Just the two of us won't be able to handle all the extensions..."

He quickly called his assistant. "Xiao Yuan, hurry! Get all the professors together. We've got a major project for everyone."