Chapter 196 - 147: Became a Billionaire Just Like That?
However, amidst all the discussions, the loudest and most celebratory faction was another group—a "Justice Alliance Army" spontaneously formed by countless online onlookers.
Their objective was clear and their execution swift. Like digital-age archaeologists, they precisely unearthed the Official Account article from ten days ago titled "Behind the Halo: A Threefold Reflection on the Chen Lin Phenomenon," as well as the few bloggers who had reposted it on Weibo to stir up trouble.
The comment section of that Official Account, named "Secret Garden," had completely devolved into a sea of revelry.
[I’m here! I came to observe and learn! Is the author still around? (dog emoji)]
[What about that ’top domestic university math professor who wishes to remain anonymous’? Come on out and show yourself! Let’s see what kind of hotshot you are, daring to slap the faces of both the Science and Technology University and Yannan University! (smirk)]
[Stop hating for no reason. The professor just didn’t want to reveal his name, he never said he was still alive. (sarcastic dog emoji)]
As for "Big Spitting Mushroom" and the other Weibo bloggers who had reposted and fanned the flames, they were completely dogpiled by netizens.
Beneath their latest Weibo post, the number of comments surpassed the ten-thousand mark in just a few hours. Clicking on it revealed what could only be described as a massive festival of mockery.
[@Big Spitting Mushroom, come out and take your beating! Didn’t you say before that we should look at this rationally and listen to the other side? Well, the official announcement is out now. Is that rational enough for you? Is this voice loud enough for you?]
[LMAO, and you were still here doing damage control for Yang Han, saying she was exercising ’the most precious right to question.’ Now the Science and Technology University and Yannan University have come out to ’question’ you. Do you dare respond? I’m asking you, do you dare?!]
[The most disgusting part was forcibly turning this into a gender issue, spouting nonsense about ’the systematic suppression of female academic voices.’ Well, now two top universities have issued a joint announcement. Does this count as ’systematically slapping your face’? Does your face hurt, sis?]
[Stop flaming him, stop flaming him! Our dear Mushroom has already gotten so scared he’s scrambling to prove his patriotism overnight! (sarcastic dog emoji)]
Under the overwhelming wave of condemnation and merciless mockery from netizens, the article’s author and the trouble-making bloggers all unanimously chose to play dead. Some deleted comments, others closed their comment sections, vanishing as if they had never existed.
「The next day, at 8:50 AM.」
Chen Lin, for a rare change, sauntered into the company office before nine o’clock.
The moment he pushed the door open, he was amused by the harmonious yet bizarre scene before him.
The vast office was utterly silent.
Sun Yu, Huang Yiyi, Yunqing, and even Shen Yan, who usually wasn’t interested in outside information, were all, as if by prior arrangement, in various postures at their respective desks, four people with four phones, engrossed in scrolling through something.
Chen Lin tiptoed to his seat. He didn’t rush to turn on his computer, but instead pulled out his phone and joined the slacker squad.
He had seen the joint announcement from Yannan University and the Science and Technology University the moment it was released yesterday afternoon.
But at that time, the volume of netizen comments hadn’t fully fermented yet, and from 7:30 to 10:30 PM, he had his unshakeable routine of mathematical research.
After finishing his research, the fatigue from consuming Spiritual Power arrived as expected. He was practically dead to the world the moment his head hit the pillow and slept straight through till morning.
So, he had forcefully suppressed his curiosity, refraining from looking at the online comments for the entire night and morning.
It was like saving the best part of a meal for last when he was a kid. He wanted to save up this feeling of utter and complete satisfaction to savor all at once this morning.
Opening Weibo, he saw that the related topics had already completely exploded, their popularity frighteningly high.
Chen Lin first skimmed through the comments praising him.
The over-the-top praise, like "Chen Shen is a god," "a cheat code from the state," and "a human-shaped research cheat," was certainly nice to see, but overall, he felt calm and unruffled.
After all, he’d heard similar things so often over the past half-month that his ears were starting to grow calluses.
The real joy came from watching the drama.
With practiced ease, he navigated to the Official Account named "Secret Garden" and opened the "Behind the Halo" article.
The comment section had long since been conquered. The timestamp on the latest comment conspicuously read "1 minute ago." Clearly, the battle was still raging.
As Chen Lin read the comments, some sharp and others just goofy, the corners of his mouth curved higher and higher.
Next, he moved on to the Weibo pages of "Big Spitting Mushroom" and the other bloggers who had started the whole thing. The scene there could only be described as a grand public execution.
"Pfft."
Chen Lin finally couldn’t hold it in, letting out a soft laugh.
At that moment, he felt an indescribable sense of relief, so comfortable that it felt like every pore in his body, from head to toe, was sighing in contentment.
’This is what it means to have a clear and satisfied mind!’
He exited Weibo, completely satisfied, and casually opened the system interface. He wanted to see if the Little Financial Planner’s valuation of Yanhai Company had recovered from the 140 million it had dropped to a few days ago.
However, when he saw the number on the panel clearly, he froze.
[Personal Net Worth: 104,357,821.96 yuan]
Chen Lin’s brain calculated the result in a second. ’The Little Financial Planner’s valuation for Yanhai Company shot up to two hundred million?!’
’And my personal net worth has officially broken a hundred million?!’
Chen Lin stared at the long string of numbers, blinked, and for a moment felt an unreal, dreamlike sensation.
’I’m... a hundred-millionaire now?’
He forced himself to calm down, took a deep breath, and began to review the events.
The Little Financial Planner’s valuation for the company had undergone two epic surges.
The first was because Jask posted on his social media, essentially giving him and the company a free, world-class ad campaign fueled by his unparalleled global reach.
The second time was this time.
The Science and Technology University and Yannan University, two renowned domestic universities, issued a major joint announcement. Several of the most influential state media outlets immediately followed up with prominent, exhaustive reports. And he happened to be the key figure who had made a major contribution to it all.
Chen Lin quickly figured out the pattern.
’To make the company’s valuation skyrocket, two conditions needed to be met.’
’First, one must be involved in a cutting-edge tech field that has the world’s attention, like artificial intelligence or new energy.’
’Second, and more crucially, you need people or institutions with enough weight and influence to build up hype and publicity for you.’
’Thinking about it this way, the upcoming mathematics conference he was attending, despite its extremely high prestige, probably didn’t fall into the category he’d just summarized.’
’After all, this whole math thing was just too niche, too aloof.’
Take the "p-adic geometry" mentioned in Schultz’s email, for example. Chen Lin estimated that if he and Schultz were really on stage having a deep discussion about it, you probably couldn’t even assemble a hundred people from the world’s seven-billion-plus population who would understand them.
Even if the two of them made some major breakthroughs on the spot, the vast majority of ordinary people who saw the related news would just say, "Oh, that’s amazing," without really understanding it, and then go right back to scrolling through their short videos, doing whatever they were doing before.
’Expecting this kind of purely theoretical academic exchange to trigger another massive surge in his company’s valuation was clearly unrealistic.’