Genius Playground

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"..."

Dean Gao Yan’s brow was deeply furrowed as he stared at the phone making a racket on his desk.

This was the Dean’s Office at the Dragon Country Academy of Sciences.

「A few minutes ago.」

His final disciple, Zhang Yang, had called him.

He said he wanted to discuss Jiang Ran’s research topic, and that Jiang Ran was right there with him.

That was great news, of course!

He had long been anticipating Jiang Ran’s next goal.

So, he quickly closed his office door, brewed a cup of tea, and prepared to listen respectfully.

But then...

They started off by dropping a bombshell that nearly made him drop his teacup.

Then, gradually, Zhang Yang grew more and more agitated. Jiang Ran joined the fray, and it devolved into the current, intense scene, like two children arguing about the sun.

Over the phone, his two beloved disciples debated endlessly, their words like clashing swords.

He didn’t understand.

It was just a simple graduate research topic. Why were the two of them acting as if their entire lives were on the line?

It was good to be serious, but this was a little over the top.

Zhang Yang desperately praised how great Quantum Tunneling was.

Jiang Ran insisted on how brilliant the Time Travel Machine was.

Their incessant chattering was about to make Gao Yan’s head explode.

Sigh.

’To be honest...’

In Gao Yan’s opinion, both Quantum Tunneling and the Time Travel Machine—

’Were both terrible topics.’

’One had no future, and the other had no foundation.’

’Why did they have to research this stuff?’

’Couldn’t they research something more practical?’

It wasn’t that he thought the two fields were inherently bad. If a genuine breakthrough could be made, it would absolutely be a grand achievement that would change the world, alter human perception, and shatter the limits of physics.

But...

Such things couldn’t be achieved overnight.

Without the emergence of a genius on the level of Einstein, a breakthrough in either of these two fields was absolutely impossible.

It sounded somewhat sad, but it was true.

In the world of science, there was a commonly accepted fact—

The push to civilization from a single Einstein truly surpassed the lifelong efforts of hundreds of brilliant scientists.

Many researchers spent their entire lives just to save some future super-genius an afternoon’s worth of work.

Yet that alone was enough to be proud of.

’Is Zhang Yang an Einstein?’

’No.’

’Is Jiang Ran an Einstein?’

’He might be a Gauss, but he clearly wasn’t on par with Einstein.’

’So...’

’It came back to the same question.’

’Why research these impractical topics?’

But then again...

The two people endlessly arguing over the phone were, on one hand, his final disciple (for now), and on the other, his grand-disciple in whom he had placed great hope.

It was impossible to choose between the palm and the back of his hand.

Now that he was being forced to choose, how could he possibly make a decision?

"Ahem."

He cleared his throat.

"You two, listen to me for a moment."

The other end of the line went silent. Gao Yan picked up the phone and brought it to his lips.

"Actually, about these two topics of yours... hmm... they’re both fine. Or rather, I should say they’re actually complementary."

"I’ve always believed that if a Time Travel Machine could ever be realized, ever be built, then its fundamental theory must be related to Quantum Tunneling."

"Do you two understand? This isn’t a problem where you have to choose one or the other. It’s more like 1+1=2, or perhaps that they are two halves of the same whole, 0.5+0.5=1, heading in the same research direction."

"So I suggest you two stop arguing. Whether it’s Quantum Tunneling or the Time Travel Machine, you can’t avoid one while researching the other. Why not study them together? Merge them into a single, comprehensive project that covers both theory and application?"

"Alright, alright, that’s settled then. I’m quite busy over here. I’m hanging up."

With that, Dean Gao hung up.

He let out a sigh.

"Sigh..."

He closed his eyes, pondering.

’Time Travel Machine.’

’A mind as brilliant as Jiang Ran’s certainly sees far into the future. Just like how he dared to challenge Goldbach’s Conjecture, he’s completely different from the rest.’

"Heh, let them be," he chuckled.

He shook his head with a smile, deciding not to worry about it anymore.

"It’s a good thing for young people to have dreams. What if they actually manage to make it a reality?"

"After all, the laws of the universe were laid out 14 billion years ago, just waiting for someone to discover them."

"And who’s to say that something that doesn’t exist... truly doesn’t exist?"

...

East Sea University, Zhang Yang’s office.

After the call ended, both Jiang Ran and Zhang Yang fell silent.

It was obvious Dean Gao Yan had no intention of playing judge. Instead, he had suggested they combine their two projects.

Thinking about it, Dean Gao’s words actually made a lot of sense.

Perhaps Quantum Tunneling really was the theoretical foundation for a Time Travel Machine.

And a Time Travel Machine was, in turn, a macroscopic experimental model for Quantum Tunneling.

Though their starting points were different, their paths were destined to intersect, eventually twisting together... into a single rope leading to the future, and to the past.

"Hmm..."

Zhang Yang pondered for a moment.

"Jiang Ran, what do you think?"

"I think it could work."

Jiang Ran nodded.

"I trust Dean Gao Yan’s judgment. Why don’t we each stick to our own research for now? If our paths do end up converging someday, we can definitely merge them into a single project."

Zhang Yang smiled slightly.

"That’s what I was thinking, too. Let’s settle on that for now, then!"

"We’ll start by researching our respective topics. In the meantime, I’ll study up on material related to the Time Travel Machine to offer you some help."

"And you, try not to be so averse to the quantum mechanics side of things. Study what needs to be studied, research what needs to be researched. You can consider it helping me out."

...

And just like that, Jiang Ran breathed an inner sigh of relief.

The crisis was finally averted.

The Time Travel Machine was a blank slate in the modern world of scientific research, and that blankness was the perfect camouflage for Jiang Ran to hide himself.

However, while his own crisis had been averted, Teacher Zhang Yang’s had not.