Eagle vs. Ant!

@Huaji Technology V: In research into the optimization of game-search algorithms, our research and development team has independently verified and conducted engineering tests on the core theorem in student Qi Hao's paper.

Preliminary results show that the efficiency bound estimate provided by this inequality has significant practical value in large-scale game tree scenarios. In tests on our internal platform, a pruning strategy based on this theory improved average search efficiency by approximately 7% compared with conventional methods based on probabilistic assumptions.

We believe this research makes a genuine academic contribution and holds promise for engineering applications!

@Just Looking Not Talking: Hua... Huaji? The Huaji that makes communications equipment?

@Communications Industry Laborer: You might not know the scale of Huaji's technical research and development. This company spends tens of billions on R&D every year and has tens of thousands of R&D personnel. When its official technology account says it independently verified a theory, that means it really committed resources to reproducing and testing the result.

@Minister of Shock: Wait... I've already been shocked several times today, and now this? A freshman's paper got endorsements from an editor and a professor at a prestigious American university, and now even Huaji says it's useful?

@Professional Skeptic: ...Right now, the only thing I'm questioning is why I didn't study math properly back then.

Meanwhile, as if he thought the matter wasn't big enough already, Huaji's CEO reposted the Weibo post with a message: I just read Professor Alexei's letter, and it struck a deep chord with me.

There was one line in Professor Alexei's letter that was particularly well put: mathematics needs no laboratory and no expensive equipment. It needs only a pen, a sheet of paper, and a mind capable of wandering freely through the abstract world.

From the day Huaji was founded, we have firmly believed that core technologies can only be developed through our own efforts. The foundation of core technology is basic science, and the foundation of basic science is talent.

Student Qi Hao's paper has shown me a possibility: young people in Huaguo are already capable of making original contributions at the most fundamental level of mathematical theory that are recognized by international scholars. This makes me very happy!

@Rongcheng Radio and Television University V, if it's convenient, could you introduce us? I would very much like to meet this student and speak with him in person. I have a few questions about the paper that I'd like to ask him.

Within a minute of the Weibo post going up, the number of comments climbed from zero to over a thousand.

Ten minutes later, the topic #Huaji CEO Wants to Meet Freshman# shot straight to the top of the trending list!

The weight carried by the name of Huaji's CEO could not simply be measured in money or fame. In the public's general perception, the man at the helm of this tech giant was not only a successful entrepreneur, but also someone who had long been active at the forefront of technology.

Such a figure actually wanted to ask Qi Hao for advice, and people surfing the internet all gathered to watch.

The online trolls who had been jumping the highest and shouting the loudest were undergoing a complete reshaping of their worldview.

By the internet's unwritten rules, trolls dared to act without restraint because, subconsciously, they felt everyone occupied the same flat world. Separated by a screen, no one could do anything to anyone else.

When Lin Lan stepped forward, for example, they had trolled her just the same.

But when Huaji and the American professor appeared, Qi Hao seemed to have been pulled into a place they couldn't reach even by looking up in their everyday lives. That insurmountable gulf between social strata left the trolls feeling defeated.

They suddenly realized that, from beginning to end, Qi Hao had never flown into a rage out of humiliation and come forward to refute them.

At this moment, the most nervous person of all was the one who had first posted on Tieba questioning Qi Hao's paper.

Yang Guang slumped in his dormitory chair, his hands icy cold. Cold sweat had long since soaked the faded T-shirt on his back until it was translucent.

He stared wide-eyed at the replies refreshing frantically on his screen. The posts that had supported his righteous exposure of fraud had long since vanished without a trace. In their place came an overwhelming flood of mockery, merciless onlookers, and the ruthless trampling of the "tour groups" posting "I was here," a specialty of Tieba's regulars.

In this era when Tieba culture and early Weibo existed side by side, being nailed to the pillar of shame in a university Tieba forum as a rumor-monger jealous of talent and a petty academic meant more than simply dying a social death online. It meant his future academic prospects in the field were utterly ruined.

Seeing Huaji's official account, a professor from a prestigious American university, and a publisher's editor all throwing their full support behind Qi Hao, he wanted to delete the post and flee. To his despair, he discovered that because the post had become so popular, the forum moderator, whose survival instinct was extraordinarily strong, had taken the suffocating step of "locking and featuring" it. Even his own permission as the original poster to delete it had been temporarily revoked.

The only solution now was to apologize.

Yang Guang regretted that, because his grasp of history was inadequate and he didn't understand the special historical circumstances behind the absence of Soviet literature from Western databases, he had concluded that the reference was fabricated simply because he couldn't find it on Google Scholar and other standard sites!

He regretted that, because his submissions to Discrete Mathematics had been rejected three times, the sour bile of jealousy had gone straight to his head when he saw a first-year student publish in the journal so easily, and he had posted an accusation against Qi Hao.

As a doctoral student in mathematics who had been unable to produce research results, he was afraid of being swept onto the beach by the waves behind him, and afraid his graduation would be delayed.

After turning it over and over in his mind, he knew there was no hiding from it. So he opened Weibo and resigned himself to typing.

"I am the person who posted the questions and reported student Qi Hao's paper. First of all, I offer student Qi Hao my solemn apology..."

Wang Jun turned around from his computer. "Brother Hao! The guy who first posted to go after you has apologized!"

"Just say the word, Brother Hao. Want me to go give him a piece of my mind? I came up with what to say ages ago! I'll curse that son of a turtle until he quits the human race overnight!"

"No need."

"Huh? You're just going to let it go?" Wang Jun was unwilling to accept it. "He nearly ruined your reputation! If people hadn't spoken up for you..."

"The paper has been published, and the results are there for everyone to see. Every step of the theorem's proof is correct. Editor Lin Lan knows it, Professor Alexei can understand it, and Huaji's R&D team can verify it. People who really understand the field naturally know how much this paper is worth."

"As for those people online who can't understand the paper but shout the loudest, if it weren't for the internet, you'd never encounter them in real life. Petty people like that aren't worth mentioning."

"But do help me send him a reply." Qi Hao had a good temper, but that didn't mean he had no temper at all.

"What should I say?"

"Just tell him I've received his apology and won't pursue the matter, but I hope that before he makes a judgment, he'll first think clearly about one question."

"What question?"

"If the label you're about to slap on someone is wrong, what price will the victim have to pay?"

Seeing that reply on his Weibo screen, Yang Guang's heart, which had nearly leaped into his throat, finally dropped heavily back into his stomach. He slumped limply in his chair with relief and took out a cigarette.

"Hmph, he really is a freshman who hasn't seen much of the world. A few flattering words, and he really thinks he's some sage dispensing medicine to save the world." Yang Guang blew out a puff of white smoke, contempt and relief at having survived the ordeal showing in his eyes.

It seemed he hadn't paid much of a price at all.

But what he hadn't expected was that Qi Hao, as the person directly involved, might let the matter go out of grace and breadth of mind, just as an eagle soaring above the nine heavens disdained to crush an ant. But to the fans and spectators who had gathered of their own accord, anything short of nailing the culprit who had nearly destroyed the future star of Huaguo's mathematics community to the pillar of shame was an outright desecration of justice!

Almost at the same moment Yang Guang stubbed out his cigarette, several bold, red-highlighted posts on the mathematics Tieba forum were being pushed onto the front page at an astonishing speed.

"An in-depth exposé: just how shoddy are the papers of the academic judge who falsely accused Qi Hao?"

"Shocking! Academic judge rejected by DM three times!"

In less than an hour, Yang Guang's papers were laid bare before the entire internet.

When Yang Guang saw his papers dug up, and that some people even wanted to contact his university and supervisor, he finally panicked.

He hurriedly picked up his phone and dialed 110. "Hello, police? I want to report a crime!!"

CEO Lan of Huaji looked away from his computer screen and turned to Engineer Tian, who was standing before him.

"Engineer Tian, everything was handled the way you said. Qi Hao should be all right now."

"That's good. Qi Hao is a young man with potential. We can't let a few small matters hurt him."

"Engineer Tian, you seem to think highly of him. Will you recruit him into the institute?"

"About that, I've already made arrangements..."