Three Tasks to Screw Over the Host

Mm...

In a sense, the missions that had just appeared this time were truly something else.

Especially the first one.

Mission 1: Research Means Constantly Courting Death.

Description: Blow up a municipal-level research institute.

Requirement: Blow up a municipal-level research institute.

Reward: Subject experience determined by the institute's research contribution (minimum 5,000). Points determined by the direct economic damage caused (minimum 5,000). One lottery chance (85% junk, 15% samples).

"What the hell is all this crap?" Lu Zhou couldn't help complaining.

He finally understood why this lousy system was clearly called the Black Technology System, yet it gave him marathon-running missions.

It was probably training him into peak physical condition just for this sort of thing.

Without any hesitation, Lu Zhou eliminated it from consideration, even though the experience and point rewards looked incredibly tempting.

Mission 2: Unable to Tolerate Even a Grain of Sand.

Description: Corruption is the root cause that hinders academic progress. The waste of research funding in human society means that social resources that should have been devoted to exploring the future are always consumed by meaningless matters. A true warrior of academia cannot tolerate even a grain of sand in his eyes. Academia also needs a disciplinary inspection commission. Go forth, young man!

Requirement: Collect evidence of corruption by any professor or associate professor and above, by any means necessary, and end their academic career.

Reward: Subject experience determined by the total amount embezzled by the target (minimum 3,000). 1,000 points. Obtain a sample (small spherical reconnaissance drone).

Its values were impeccable, but sorry, he still wanted to graduate!

Lu Zhou eliminated this mission without hesitation.

Never mind whether he could gather sufficient evidence. Even if he took a step back and assumed the evidence was ironclad, stirred up a huge scandal, or even filed a real-name report, he still would not be cleaning house for academia. The university needed to save face, and nobody else would be happy to see someone who broke the rules step forward.

As for anonymous reports, they were even more useless.

There had been precedents for this sort of thing.

Besides, Lu Zhou felt that he was not an especially righteous person. There was more rationality than sentiment in his heart; at most, he could be considered someone with a bit of conscience.

Leaving such acts of justice to people with lofty ambitions was better.

Just as he was about to keep reading, Lu Zhou's heart suddenly tightened.

Wait, he had already rejected two missions in a row. Didn't that mean there was only one mission left for him to choose?

Previously, although the three missions that appeared could also be particularly awful, there had at least been ones he could muddle through. He had even had room to pick and choose based on the rewards.

But this time...

Something seemed off.

Please, don't let this be another terrible option!

Swallowing hard, Lu Zhou looked down.

Mission 3: Become a Mudslide in Academia.

Description: Since you don't want to be a pure stream in academia, then become a mudslide! Make the entire academic world tremble beneath your frenzied paper-pumping!

Requirement: Publish 10 SCI papers within two months and have them successfully indexed. Failure to complete 10 SCI papers within the mission period will be deemed failure, and rewards will be canceled. Completing the mission early allows it to end early and improves the evaluation.

Reward: Each paper grants a fixed reward of 100 experience points, assigned to a specific subject according to the paper's focus. 800 points. One lottery chance (90% junk, 9% samples, 1% blueprints).

Lu Zhou: ...

It seemed he had no choice. He selected Mission Three through gritted teeth.

Taking a step back, the worst that could happen was being stuck on the mission for two months. The system had never said there would be punishment for failing a mission. As for the other two, if he left them unfinished, he could only spend 200 points to reset them.

That was 200 points—enough to exchange for a whole lot of papers!

Sometimes he really felt that the system's purpose seemed to be helping him, but in truth, perhaps it just wanted revenge on society.

Generally speaking, aside from certain special fields, a researcher with any integrity at all would already be doing quite well if he published two SCI papers a year.

If someone published fifty or sixty papers in a year, regardless of his field, he was undeniably a massive paper mill.

And if Professor Tang found out that he had published ten SCI papers in two months, the man would probably suffer internal injuries from anger.

No, he absolutely could not let him find out!

After withdrawing from the System Space, Lu Zhou lay on his bed with furrowed brows, worrying over the mission for quite a while.

Publishing one SCI paper had already taken so much effort. Now it wanted him to publish ten in a row—wasn't this just tormenting him?

But as he worried, he suddenly came around.

Thinking it through carefully, accepting this mission might not necessarily be a bad thing.

Eight hundred points were quite tempting, and each paper gave a fixed hundred experience points. Considering that he could determine a paper's subject focus, he could publish Mathematics papers if he wanted Mathematics experience, or computer-related papers if he wanted Information Science experience.

In other words, this was freely allocable experience!

He could publish one Mathematics paper, then nine computer science papers! That way, his Information Science experience would reach exactly 1,000 points and meet the conditions for leveling up! It would reach LV1 alongside Mathematics! A combo!

Furthermore, the system had no strict requirements for the quality of submitted papers this time, and the mission rewards were not tied to a paper's academic value. That meant that no matter how boring his papers were, all that mattered was passing review and being indexed by an SCI journal.

Lu Zhou's eyes immediately lit up.

With a grunt, he sat upright, climbed down the ladder at once, took the computer beside his bed and stuffed it into his backpack, then grabbed a T-shirt and pulled it on.

Liu Rui glanced furtively toward Lu Zhou. Seeing that his mathematical analysis textbook was still on the desk, he asked with feigned concern, "Lu Zhou, aren't you reviewing mathematical analysis? The exam's tomorrow."

As Lu Zhou put on his shoes by the door, he casually replied, "I need to go to the library for something. I'll see how things go and review when I get back."

Putting on a curious expression, Liu Rui pressed further. "What are you going to the library for? Doesn't the dorm have Wi-Fi?"

"The dorm Wi-Fi can't download papers from CNKI. I signed up for a Mathematical Modeling Competition recently, and there are lots of specialized things that Baidu simply can't find."

Of course, Lu Zhou would not say that he was going to research paper topics, so he casually made up an excuse. After all, if Liu Rui found out that he had published an SCI paper while they were all cramming for exams, the guy's mentality would probably become unbalanced again.

He was still quite concerned about his roommate's mental state.

The moment Huang Guangming heard "National Mathematical Modeling Contest," he looked up from his problem set and shouted in surprise, "Holy shit! Zhouzi, you're awesome! If you win prize money, you're treating us to dinner!"

"Heh heh. Call me Brother Lu, and I'll treat you!"

After tossing out those words, Lu Zhou immediately slipped out the door without giving him any chance, leaving only Huang Guangming howling behind him.

"Brother Lu, Brother Lu! Don't go! I called you that already!"

Facing the densely written exercise book, Liu Rui's expression stiffened, his thoughts in turmoil.

Mathematical Modeling Competition!

He had followed this competition before. He had even specifically consulted an upperclassman who had won first prize in the regional division the previous year about its details. Feeling that his own ability was insufficient, he had originally planned to enter in his sophomore year. Yet he had never expected that the dorm's acknowledged poor student had quietly signed up without a word...

Although the possibility was low, what if Lu Zhou won an award in the regional division...

No.

Taking a deep breath, Liu Rui secretly clenched his fist and made up his mind.

There were still three months until September.

Once the mathematical analysis exam was over, I'm signing up too!