Genius Playground

"From now on, that’ll be our main base of operations. You can usually find me there. We’ll discuss things, have classes, work on projects, and all that in there."

Jiang Ran nodded.

He really wasn’t prepared for this sudden leap from vocational college to graduate school and hadn’t yet adjusted to the lifestyle of a grad student.

"What about the other students?"

he asked curiously.

"You’re always joking around, calling me your ’Eldest Disciple,’ but the graduate students who were properly admitted under you are definitely older than me. I should be the one calling them my seniors."

"Speaking of which, when will I get to meet them?"

Zhang Yang paused and turned back.

"What seniors?"

"You know, my seniors."

Jiang Ran was baffled by the question.

"Or juniors, if you insist. I just mean the other students in my group, with the same advisor."

"The ones who were admitted through the regular process should have finished their interviews long ago. Do they also start in September, like me?"

Zhang Yang chuckled.

"What are you thinking, Jiang Ran? You don’t have any seniors or juniors... You’re the only student I have. When the next semester starts, our group will just be the two of us."

?

A question mark materialized over Jiang Ran’s head.

"That can’t be right. What kind of graduate advisor only has one student? Even if this is your first year as an advisor, the university wouldn’t just give you one slot, would they?"

"Is it possible—"

Zhang Yang held up a hand, stopping his Sect’s "Eldest Disciple" from questioning him further.

"Is it possible that the graduate students starting this year applied for the exam last December, interviewed this March, and I was only promoted to graduate advisor this April?"

"The original teaching plan didn’t have me taking on any grad students next semester. You’re just a special case, haha..."

"The students who took the standard entrance exam have already been interviewed and assigned to their advisors. Your sudden appearance was a pleasant surprise, and it was entirely Teacher Gao’s idea—he believes in keeping good things in the family, so he recommended you to me."

"If you really want some juniors, you’ll probably have to wait until next year. The students who apply for grad school this December will be able to choose me as their advisor next year."

Jiang Ran was dumbfounded.

’This!’

’This is wrong!’

’This isn’t at all what I imagined when I came here!’

He never would have predicted this... He was the lone commander of Zhang Yang’s entire "Sect"!

’What kind of Eldest Disciple or Chief Disciple is that?’

’He was the only member in the entire Sect. He could declare himself the king of the world, and Zhang Yang, who was forever a generation above him, wouldn’t have any objections.’

’This is bad, this is bad...’

Jiang Ran couldn’t stop gulping.

This was an unprecedented crisis.

He was very clear, and had no illusions about himself: he was a completely ignorant slacker, a fraud, a hack.

To put it more bluntly, he was an academic thief, completely incapable of being a graduate student or conducting any kind of scientific research.

His original plan, his little scheme, was supposed to go like this—

’As a graduate advisor, Teacher Zhang Yang would surely take on several students.’

’With more people around, it would be easy to coast by unnoticed.’

’Zhang Yang couldn’t possibly focus all his energy on him alone.’

’Besides, with fellow disciples around, he could ask them for help whenever he ran into a problem he didn’t understand or an experiment he couldn’t do.’

’By helping each other and covering for one another, he might just be able to fake his way through and pass by unnoticed.’

But now...

It was all over.

And the situation was even worse than he could have imagined.

Not only had Dean Gao Yan treated him as the genius who proved Goldbach’s Conjecture and enthusiastically recommended him to Zhang Yang as his Eldest Disciple,

but Zhang Yang also had high hopes for him, practically chomping at the bit for him to start on a research topic as soon as school began.

’From now on, the two of them would be staring blankly at each other in the lab every day, and Zhang Yang would be watching him like a hawk with one-on-one instruction... His "genius pig" act would be exposed in minutes!’

[DANGER]

Jiang Ran could almost see the word "DANGER" hanging over his head. He could already picture the naked execution scene when he was exposed as an "academic thief."

He clutched his forehead.

His future suddenly seemed pitch-black.

’The difficulty level of this world-line is way too high! All sorts of challenges and trials are coming one after another, linked together, a relentless wave.’

"Oh, right."

Speaking of the devil, Zhang Yang suddenly asked:

"Did you read the email I sent you a few days ago about the project topics and research directions I’m working on? Any thoughts?"

"Haven’t seen it yet," Jiang Ran answered honestly.

"Come on, you need to show a little more enthusiasm..."

Zhang Yang was clearly a little displeased.

"Teacher Gao and I both know you’re a genius, but you still need to be diligent."

"Ah, forget it. You’re not an outsider, so I’ll just be blunt with you... Do you know why Dean Gao Yan recommended you to me for your graduate studies?"

"I don’t know," Jiang Ran said, feigning ignorance.

’How could he not know?’

’Dean Gao Yan had been so obvious before. Anyone could see he wanted to take Jiang Ran under his wing, as the disciple who’d lock the door after his final disciple.’

Of course, Jiang Ran could see it.

But he didn’t want to go to the Dragon Country Academy of Sciences. His only goal was East Sea University, so he just played dumb.

But Dean Gao Yan hadn’t given up on him. Following the roundabout logic of "If you can’t be my disciple, you can be my grand-disciple," he had recommended Jiang Ran to Zhang Yang as a graduate student.

At the time, he had agreed without a second thought, thinking it was a sweet deal.

Who would have thought he’d end up as a lone commander like this?

’If he had known it would be like this, he should have just found an advisor with lots of students, hidden himself among all the seniors, and coasted by while quietly carrying out his own plans at East Sea University.’

Regret.

Deep regret.

"Teacher Gao recommended you to me as a way of looking out for me, actually."

Teacher Zhang Yang smiled and continued:

"Jiang Ran, even though Teacher Gao didn’t tell me what problem you solved for the Dragon Country Academy of Sciences, you’re the first person in many years to earn such high praise from my teacher."

"So I don’t doubt your academic level or your research abilities in the slightest. Don’t worry, whatever you want to research, I’ll support you."

"To be frank... Teacher Gao gave me such a promising seedling because he wants me, a new graduate advisor, to help you achieve something and make a name for myself in the academic world."

"The Eldest Disciple, the very first student, is always different. It’s a matter of every advisor’s pride."

"Thankfully, Teacher Gao gave me a genius. So my pride, my status in the academic world... it all depends on you, Jiang Ran!"

Jiang Ran could only force a bitter smile.

’Depends on me?’

’Teacher Zhang, you’re setting yourself up to be utterly disgraced and to ruin your reputation before it even begins.’

"Um, Teacher Zhang, I’ll go back and read your email first, then decide on a topic and discuss it with you."

’No other choice. He had to use delaying tactics for now.’

’Luckily, summer break was about to start. He could use the two months to cram and catch up.’

’Even if he was going to fake his way through as an imposter in the orchestra, he at least needed to know what a ’yu’ was.’

Jiang Ran started to make a break for it.

"Then I’ll just—" "Wait a minute!"

Zhang Yang grabbed him, pulled him back to the chair, and sat him down.

"Since you’re already here, don’t bother going back to read the email. I’ll just explain it to you directly. Let’s have a good chat."

"My research interests are quite varied. Broadly speaking, they touch on mathematics, physics, and chemistry. But my strongest and most in-depth field is physics."

"Actually, my personal hope is that you’ll join me on a physics-related project."

"This isn’t to say I’m taking away your personal preference... It’s just that I believe my research project has great potential, and if I can borrow your brain, we can definitely achieve a huge breakthrough."

Jiang Ran nodded immediately.

"Of course!"

’This was actually for the best. He could just follow Teacher Zhang Yang’s lead.’

’What they researched wasn’t important. What was important was not getting exposed!’

’On a project that Zhang Yang was already researching himself, he would obviously take the lead. All Jiang Ran had to do was follow along, learn on the side, and cheer him on.’

Hearing Jiang Ran agree so readily, Zhang Yang was delighted.

"You agree?"

"Yep."

"That’s fantastic!"

Zhang Yang rubbed his hands together.

"Thank you, Jiang Ran! I trust Teacher Gao’s judgment, and I trust his evaluation of you! For my research, your mind is like giving a tiger wings!"

"This research project of mine is pretty cutting-edge. Right now, most of the work on it around the world is purely theoretical and hasn’t reached practical application yet, but I do have some good ideas."

Clearing his throat, Zhang Yang said excitedly:

"The project I’m currently focused on is..."

"[Quantum Tunneling!]"