In his previous life, Wang Qi had heard an urban legend. Supposedly, starting every October, a group of venerable old professors in America and Western Europe would begin suffering from irritability, chest tightness, shortness of breath, and gloomy moods. Depending on their field, this mysterious phenomenon would persist until 11:30 AM Stockholm time on the third of October [Physiology or Medicine], 11:45 AM on the fourth [Physics], 11:45 AM on the fifth [Chemistry], or 11:00 AM on the tenth [Economics and some applied mathematics], before recurring the following year.
The reason was... after all, "venerable and prestigious" was practically synonymous with "advanced in years."
And the Nobel Prize was not awarded to the dead. Even if it had already been decided before the announcement that the prize would be yours, if you happened to die before 11:30 AM Stockholm time on the third, 11:45 AM on the fourth, 11:45 AM on the fifth, or 11:00 AM on the tenth, then... sorry.
Those old professors could not afford to wait several more years.
Of course, this had never actually happened. But by the rules, that was how it worked.
It might have been a joke, but perhaps such a phenomenon truly existed.
A small handful of scholars drove science forward through the purest pursuit of beauty and love. Yet at the same time, that small handful did not mind gathering a little fame and profit along the way.
Or rather, that was simply human nature.
If the circle of "academia," the "research community," were compared to a large online game, then the Nobel Prize would be like an achievement. This achievement could only be farmed in an instance called the "Swedish academic circle." And in this game, rising from level eighty-nine to level ninety required consuming a rare item. The "Sweden"