737: Chapter 732 How did you know?

The door was ajar, and a fierce argument could be heard from inside.

"Professor Wei, don't make this difficult for me! This is the school's regulation. You must move out before three o'clock this afternoon!" A sharp voice rang out, laced with heavy bureaucratic tone.

"Director Wang! Just give me three more days, only three days! My final set of data is about to come out. This is crucial for me, and crucial for the school!" Another voice pleaded hoarsely, filled with despair and unwillingness.

"Crucial? What's crucial about those money-burning contraptions of yours? Wei Lizhou, I'm telling you, the school has already been more than generous! Look at this place, it's a total mess, like a junkyard! If you don't move today, we will enforce the eviction!"

Shen Yan and Chen Guangke exchanged a look and pushed the door open.

The scene before them made even Chen Guangke, who had witnessed many major events, frown slightly.

The laboratory was as chaotic as if it had been ransacked.

Blueprints and books were scattered all over the floor, piles of unidentifiable parts and semi-finished products towered like mountains, several old servers hummed loudly, and countless wires snaked across the floor like venomous snakes.

A middle-aged man wearing a white lab coat, with hair as messy as a bird's nest and sunken eye sockets, was fiercely guarding a microscope in front of him.

This man was Wei Lizhou.

Opposite him stood two men in suits, both looking extremely impatient. One of them was holding a sealing notice, preparing to affix it to the door.

Seeing people enter, the two men in suits frowned.

"Who are you people? This is a restricted area of the school, no entry for unauthorized personnel!"

Shen Yan ignored them. His gaze fell upon the microscope Wei Lizhou was guarding.

The stage of the microscope seemed to be connected to some kind of micro-current generator, and an old oscilloscope beside it was displaying a waveform that was extremely regular yet infinitely complex.

That waveform faintly matched a basic data model from a blueprint in Shen Yan's mind.

Shen Yan withdrew his gaze and looked at the man referred to as Director Wang.

"How much does he owe the school?"

Director Wang was momentarily stunned, sizing Shen Yan up and down.

The young man before him appeared ordinary, but his bearing prevented the Director from underestimating him.

"You are...?"

"I asked how much he owes.", Shen Yan repeated, his voice not loud, but carrying an irresistible pressure.

The other person next to Director Wang checked the file in his hand and sneered, "Laboratory site occupation fees, equipment depreciation fees, and electricity fees for unauthorized use of the supercomputing center—altogether, it amounts to 3.27 million."

"Furthermore, the school has already appraised and valued this laboratory, along with all the equipment and documents inside, and is preparing to sell them as a package for five million."

He spoke with a hint of showing off, as if mentioning an astronomical figure.

"Very good."

Shen Yan nodded and turned to Chen Guangke.

"Write him a check for ten million."

Chen Guangke didn't hesitate in the slightest and immediately pulled out his checkbook from his coat.

The entire laboratory instantly fell into a dead silence.

The eyes of the two men in suits nearly popped out.

Ten million? For this junkyard?

Wei Lizhou was even more stunned, staring blankly at Shen Yan as if looking at an alien.

"You... who are you?" Director Wang's voice was strained, tinged with a hint of sycophancy.

Shen Yan didn't answer him, but walked straight up to Wei Lizhou.

"Professor Wei, my name is Shen Yan."

His voice was very calm.

"I have read your theory."

Shen Yan's voice was very calm, but those six words struck Wei Lizhou like a thunderbolt.

He suddenly looked up, his bloodshot eyes, strained from long nights of work, fixed tightly on Shen Yan.

Read it? That word was too jarring.

For years, his theory had been treated as a joke in academic circles, denounced as absurd nonsense.

The so-called "read it" simply meant seeing others' wanton mockery and criticism of him in the corners of some industry forums.

Wei Lizhou's lips moved, and his hoarse voice carried a sharp edge of self-mockery.

"What have you read?"

"The industry reports that called me a lunatic, or the abstract of the paper that was directly rejected by a top journal?"

His posture, guarding the microscope, resembled a wounded lone wolf defending its cub.

He didn't believe this young man before him.

He was too young, and too wealthy.

People like this were usually vultures of capital, drawn by the scent of blood, only wanting to tear off the last bit of valuable flesh from him at the lowest price.

He had seen too much of that.

Director Wang next to him grew anxious; he didn't want this ten-million-dollar deal to slip away.

He quickly stepped forward, forcing a smile that looked like a chrysanthemum.

"Professor Wei! This is Boss Shen, the founder of Future Technology! Boss Shen genuinely wants to help you, what is this attitude you're showing!"

He then turned and bowed and scraped before Shen Yan.

"Boss Shen, please don't take offense, Old Wei... he just has this stubborn temper, he's completely single-minded."

Shen Yan ignored Director Wang.

His gaze never left Wei Lizhou.

He could read from the man's eyes a despair born from being betrayed by the world, and the last sliver of adherence to his ideals.

"I'm referring to the paper you published five years ago in 'Cutting-Edge Biophysics'."

Shen Yan spoke slowly.

"The one about the application of the 'Herschel-Quincke' effect in biological electric fields."

"It was later retracted."

Boom!

Wei Lizhou's brain felt like it had been struck hard by a heavy hammer.

He froze completely on the spot.

'Cutting-Edge Biophysics.'

'Herschel-Quincke' Effect.

Retracted.

These few words were like a rusty key jammed into the deepest corner of his memory, a corner he had long sealed off himself, and then violently stirred.

That paper was the cornerstone of all his theories.

It was the proudest, yet most shameful, entry in his academic career.

When published, it caused a brief sensation, but soon, because the theory was too advanced and could not be replicated by any laboratory, it was jointly denounced by academic titans as 'pseudoscience' and ultimately forcibly retracted by the journal.

From then on, he went from being a genius doctoral supervisor to a madman everyone avoided.

This event was the deepest scar in his heart, one he didn't even want to mention himself.

Yet today, it was casually brought up by a complete stranger.

Director Wang and the other man in a suit exchanged glances, completely unable to understand the gibberish Shen Yan was speaking.

Only Chen Guangke showed a flash of realization in his eyes.

He knew Shen Yan was starting the 'mind attack'.

Wei Lizhou's breathing became heavy; he gripped the lab bench to keep himself steady.

"You... how could you know?"

"What I know is far more than you imagine."

Shen Yan took a step forward.

"Your core argument is that biological electrical signals are not simple potential differences, but rather high-frequency vibrations possessing complex encoding at the microscopic level."