Chapter 199 - 144: Zhiyu’s Identity Exposed
However, his phone rang again.
Jiang He frowned, inwardly cursing that kid Chen Hao for not listening.
But when he picked up his phone, the caller ID wasn’t Chen Hao.
It was... Minister Lin.
Jiang He was a little puzzled.
Minister Lin was usually swamped with official duties.
When he needed to contact him, he usually had an assistant make the call. He rarely used his personal number.
Unless something major had happened.
’Did something happen again?’
Jiang He didn’t dare to hesitate and immediately answered the call.
"Minister Lin."
"Jiang He."
Jiang He immediately sensed something odd in the minister’s tone.
"Minister, has something happened?" Jiang He asked tentatively.
On the other end of the line, Lin Zhenhua was silent for a few seconds.
In fact, just half an hour ago, the provincial department had held a high-level, closed-door debriefing.
One of the meeting’s key objectives was to find the mysterious individual who had released the new rescue protocol during the initial stages of the outbreak.
That protocol had directly lowered the mortality rate for severe cases in Yangcheng.
A monumental contribution!
Once the state apparatus was in motion, finding someone was a trivial matter.
They questioned Professor Wang Xiaoqing of the School of Basic Medical Sciences, who was the first to implement the protocol.
Professor Wang frankly admitted that the protocol originated from a titan of academia on the Dingxiang Garden forum, with the username "Zhiyu."
And so, the special commissioner on site instructed the cyber-surveillance department to trace Zhiyu’s identity.
The state’s original intention was to find this senior academician and award him a national-level medal of merit or something of the sort.
In less than ten minutes, the cyber-surveillance department’s report was delivered to the conference room.
After cross-referencing multiple layers of IP and internal network data, the user of the physical device was ultimately identified as:
A student in Room 402, Southern Medical University.
An investigation of the dorm room revealed its four occupants:
Chen Hao, Jiang He, Li Zijian, and Wang Bo.
When Lin Zhenhua saw Jiang He’s name among them, he was completely floored.
And that’s what led to this phone call...
"Jiang He," Lin Zhenhua said, trying his best to keep his voice steady. "I’m going to ask you something, and I want you to answer truthfully."
"Go ahead."
"Do you have an account on the Dingxiang Garden forum... called... Zhiyu?"
Jiang He froze for a moment when he heard the question.
Then, he quickly put the pieces together.
Wang Xiaoqing needed an endorsement to push the protocol, so of course she would mention Zhiyu.
With the matter blowing up this big, the state got involved. Uncovering an identity was effortless for them.
’My cover’s blown.’
But Jiang He wasn’t flustered.
’So what if the higher-ups found out? It’s no big deal.’
On the contrary, being discovered by the government at this juncture was all upside and no downside for him.
This would make the state invest even more resources and trust in his upcoming SAP and miRNA projects.
Having figured this out, Jiang He said softly,
"Yes, I am Zhiyu."
On the other end of the line, even though Lin Zhenhua had already seen the cyber-surveillance report, hearing Jiang He admit it with his own ears still made him suck in a sharp breath.
"It’s really you?" Lin Zhenhua said in disbelief. "You’re just a student. Where did you get so many new protocols and ideas?"
Jiang He already had his explanation ready. "I’ve loved reading ever since I was a kid. In college, I’d spend my free time reading foreign journals and cutting-edge literature, just tinkering with ideas on my own. As for why I used an alt account on the forum... I was mostly afraid that people would dismiss my theories because of my age."
After hearing this, Lin Zhenhua laughed in exasperation. "Dismiss you? You’re more than recognized now! You have no idea. The provincial department just had its debriefing, and when Professor Wang Xiaoqing was giving her report, she was calling you ’Elder Zhi’ left and right, treating you like some reclusive, titan-level senior academician!"
Jiang He gave a tactical cough. "Uh... actually, I knew about that."
Lin Zhenhua asked, "You knew?"
"Yeah, Professor Wang has called me that online quite a few times."
"You kid... you really hid this well..."
Lin Zhenhua took a deep breath, his head suddenly starting to ache. "But now that we’ve confirmed it’s really you, things have gotten complicated."
Jiang He asked, "Complicated? How so?"
"The state has prepared a medal of merit, and... well... the award ceremony... uh... are you coming?"