Aging Was a Sad Subject

The lecture ended in failure.

The physics community was usually forgiving when it came to a problem of this magnitude. If he could reasonably patch the flaw in his paper, no one would write it off at once. But for him personally, it was still a heavy blow.

After all, unless a paper had been out for a long time or was riddled with obvious holes, even the most distinguished scholars would struggle to spot an error in its reasoning during a lecture. That was especially true of scholars who did not work primarily in the field.

Revising a paper and holding long debates with reviewers—those troublesome matters usually came during the journal review process.

Yet his work had suffered such a crushing defeat at the lecture stage.

It left him dejected, and he could not shake the feeling that he had been humiliated...

"Damn it!"

Professor Brian flung his manuscript onto the floor. His fists clenched, but in the end, afraid he might hurt himself, he stopped short of pounding the desk.

The office fell silent at the sight of his fury. No one dared make a sound.

The old man normally looked like a gracious gentleman, but that did not mean he always behaved like one. Anyone who spent enough time around him learned that he was not nearly as broad-minded as he appeared.

Especially when he was angry. If someone provoked him and still worked at the University of Oxford, that person could forget about having an easy time of it.

His chest rose and fell. After a long while, Professor Brian finally calmed down a little.

The assistant standing beside him studied his expression. When the moment seemed right, he hesitated, then offered some reassurance.

"It isn't a fatal error. We may not be able to