4: A high school student's plan begins with an email.

Seeing the shocking red title and hearing Wang Peng's teasing question, Lu Chen's heart skipped half a beat.

Immediately, an indescribable surge of immense joy erupted from his heart like lava, instantly sweeping through his entire body!

It worked!

The fish finally took the bait!

And judging by the situation, it wasn't a small fish that took the bait, but a deep-sea whale!

He forcefully suppressed the impulse to howl at the sky, lightly tapped the screen, and replied to Wang Peng with two words.

"Coincidence."

After sending it, he tossed the phone aside and ignored it.

He knew Wang Peng would definitely press him and demand details. But right now, he didn't have time to explain.

Because the real show had just begun.

A high schooler's plan, starting with a single email, stirred up the entire scientific community in Xia Guo, and even the world!

...Meanwhile.

Xia Guo, Jinghai City, National Academy of Sciences Physics Institute.

This building, which housed Xia Guo's most brilliant physics minds, was currently gripped by unprecedented frenzy and anxiety.

The security level had been raised three times in twenty-four hours, reaching the highest classification.

All researchers, regardless of rank, had been recalled. They were forbidden from going out or engaging in any non-essential communication with the outside world.

In the largest conference room on the top floor, smoke billowed, making it hard to keep one's eyes open.

More than a dozen major figures who could cause an industry earthquake just by stamping their feet in the domestic physics community were currently gathered around a huge oval conference table, like a group of anxious prisoners.

In front of each person was a thick stack of printed papers.

The first page of the paper was the one Lu Chen had sent—[One Direction].

"Verification! Still verifying! The computing power of all supercomputing centers has been requisitioned! But it's not working! This theoretical model is too advanced! None of our existing models can fully deconstruct it!"

A middle-aged scholar wearing gold-rimmed glasses roared hoarsely, his eyes bloodshot.

In front of him were seven or eight empty coffee cups.

"Old Liu, calm down!"

Sitting in the main seat was a white-haired, vigorous elder. He was the great master of condensed matter physics in Xia Guo, Academician Zhang Jingtong.

Although Academician Zhang told others to calm down, his slightly trembling hand holding a cigarette exposed the turmoil raging inside him.

Three whole days!

Since his student, the postdoctoral researcher responsible for screening the public mailbox, dug out this "delusional paper" from the junk mail pile and handed it to him just in case, he hadn't slept a wink!

At first glance, he thought it was absurd.

At second glance, he was shocked.

At third glance, his blood was boiling!

This paper was like a bolt of lightning piercing the night, pointing the way to the temple for all scientists struggling in the field of room-temperature superconductivity, using a method he had never imagined—one that was utterly unbelievable yet perfectly self-consistent in theory!

Following the ecstasy came immense doubt and anxiety.

"What about the sender?" Academician Zhang pressed his cigarette butt hard into the overflowing ashtray and asked in a deep voice, "Have you found them?"

Sitting across from him, a man of steady temperament wearing black casual clothes shook his head. He was not a scientist, but a top expert from the National Information Security Department.

"Elder Zhang, we used every method available." His voice carried a hint of frustration. "The sender's IP jumped more than a dozen times and finally pointed to a public space satellite network belonging to the Western Alliance. The trail ends there."

"In other words, the sender is a top hacker who erased all traces from the start?"

"You could say that."

The conference room fell into a dead silence.

Everyone felt a profound sense of powerlessness.

They were like a group of explorers standing at the door of a treasure vault, who had personally seen the dazzling golden light capable of illuminating the entire world streaming through the crack, only to realize they didn't have the key!

"Could it be... a smoke screen intentionally released by the Western Alliance?" A young researcher cautiously put forth his hypothesis. "Trying to lead our research in the wrong direction?"

"Impossible!"

Academician Zhang Jingtong immediately and definitively rejected the idea.

"The logic of this paper is too perfect! The new coupling method involving the 'Quantum Spin Hall Effect' and 'Topological Insulator' mentioned inside is simply genius! No, it's a prodigy! It's an idea only a god could conceive! This is absolutely not a smoke screen!"

He paused, picked up the printout on the table, and pointed to a specific spot.

"And look here, there's a noticeable computational flaw. This flaw doesn't look fabricated; it looks more like a mark left by an unparalleled genius who jotted it down carelessly during a burst of inspiration. This actually proves its authenticity!"

Upon hearing this, everyone nodded in agreement.

They had studied physics their whole lives; they could tell if something was genuine at a glance.

This paper was a fragment of truth!

"So what do we do now?"

"That's right, if we can't find the person, having only the theoretical direction means it will likely take us ten or twenty years to figure it out ourselves!"

"Ten or twenty years? By the time we figure it out, they'll have already placed the finished product right on our doorstep!"

Anxiety spread through the conference room once again.

Academician Zhang Jingtong closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

When he opened them again, an unprecedented look of determination flashed in his cloudy eyes.

"This matter is no longer something our Physics Institute can handle."

His voice was soft, yet it sounded like a bombshell going off in everyone's ears.

"I will report immediately to the highest authority! We must utilize all national resources to conduct a thorough search across the entire network, and even the whole country! We must find this anonymous genius, even if we have to dig three feet into the ground!"

"I have a premonition."

Academician Zhang slowly stood up, his gaze sweeping over everyone present, his voice ringing with power.

"Whoever finds this person first will control the next era!"

...Inside the rental apartment.

Lu Chen did not know that the outside world had been thrown into chaos because of his email.

He didn't even have time to go to the black internet cafe to check his email again, because a more severe and urgent problem was right in front of him.

He was hungry.

Extremely hungry.

He hadn't eaten a proper meal in two days to save money.

Now that the plan succeeded and his mind relaxed, the suppressed hunger surged like a tide, threatening to overwhelm his sanity.

He felt the thirty-odd yuan left in his pocket, swallowed, and decided to splurge.

He was going downstairs to eat a bowl of six-yuan... Egg Noodles.

And add an extra egg!

Just as he pulled open the door, ready to enjoy his "victory feast," his phone rang again.

It was Wang Peng again.

Lu Chen answered the call with some reluctance, planning to say a couple of words and hang up.

However, Wang Peng's voice came through the phone, unprecedentedly shaky and panicked.

"Chen Zi... you, quickly check our school's forum!"

"Someone... seems to be looking for you!"