Chapter 36: Switching to Prime Time, Q&A Begins

Inside the lecture hall of Suzhou Media University.

Jiang Zhe's juniors, both male and female, had expressions of utter shock on their faces.

Immediately following that, the sound of discussion echoed throughout the entire hall.

"Holy crap, Senior Jiang is freaking badass!"

"With this idea and this concept, if someone were to write a paper with some equations and publish it in an international journal, the impact would be unimaginable!"

"The Theory of Cosmic Circulation... I actually can't find a way to refute it!"

"..."

Jiang Zhe's reputation rose even higher in the eyes of his juniors!

Previously, Senior Jiang had not only called for environmental protection but also used physics to explain the meaning of human life.

Each of these concepts required an extremely deep understanding of both physics and philosophy to grasp.

Even the top students here felt inferior in front of Jiang Zhe.

On the podium.

Prof. Wei Min and Wei Guo were unable to calm down for a long time.

Wei Guo, the physics professor, kept muttering to himself, "Cosmic circulation... information is indestructible... cosmic reincarnation... it seems the Bootstrap Paradox really can be solved with this set of theories!!"

When he was teaching Jiang Zhe in the past, he had never thought in this direction, simply feeling that this wasn't something a professional should consider.

Suddenly, with Jiang Zhe proposing it like this, he actually felt there was a real possibility of it being realized!

Why hadn't he noticed that Jiang Zhe's brain and thinking were so innovative when he was in school?

Could it be that he had been hiding his brilliance all along?

...

Within the borders of Su City.

The lights of ten thousand homes remained lit, as many people stayed by their televisions watching this scene.

Even the parents of children who usually didn't love science were attracted by Jiang Zhe's novel concepts.

Because Jiang Zhe spoke in such simple and easy-to-understand terms, many elementary school top students were able to understand everything, except for a few specific concepts.

"Daddy, what is the [Black Hole Event Horizon]?"

"Mommy, the big brother said we humans have a lot of information. Where is this information? Why haven't I seen it? Is it in my tummy?"

"Grandpa, weren't you a high school teacher before? What is E=MC squared? And what is the Schrödinger equation?"

"..."

This night, it was as if the children, parents, and grandparents of the entire Su City had strangely bonded together.

The children asked about things Jiang Zhe hadn't mentioned or things they didn't understand, while the parents and grandparents hurriedly used Qiandu Baike to find relevant theoretical explanations for their children to help them understand.

It was just that some things were too obscure and difficult to grasp; even the parents and grandparents found them hard to understand!

But in order not to disappoint the children, they could only decide to enroll them in training classes—let the teachers deal with the headache!

...

At this time, at the Su City SARFT.

Liu Guangyi looked at the two performance reports on the desk before him and fell into deep thought.

He looked at the numbers submitted by his subordinates for Suzhou TV Station: 2.85 million online viewers on TV, and 450,000 online viewers on the internet.

"Such terrifying data?"

"Even if the number of online viewers has decreased—presumably because many people have gone to sleep—even with that many people sleeping, they can still maintain this many people watching online?"

"Why wasn't I more forceful in pulling Jiang Zhe over to my side last time?"

"I regret it!"

Now look at this; Old Zhao from the subsidiary Television Station has gotten a bargain!!!

The key was that the report on the left was the performance of their Bureau, while the one on the right was Jiang Zhe's performance.

Both places started broadcasting at the same time, ten o'clock at night.

The performance on the left was for a graduate they had hired themselves to talk about Jiang Zhe's Grandfather Paradox from the previous episode.

In the end, after nearly two hours, the result was only 50,000 online viewers.

He had originally thought 50,000 online viewers was quite good, after all, the content was copied from Jiang Zhe.

But when he received Jiang Zhe's performance for tonight from his subordinates...

His entire body went numb!

Jiang Zhe's online viewership meant that Jiang Zhe was basically a household name in Su City now.

On average, for every 10 people, 1 or 2 had heard of or even watched Jiang Zhe!

This is only the freaking second broadcast; in the future, isn't he going to completely crush CCTV 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5?

Just thinking about it gave Liu Guangyi goosebumps.

Seeing Liu Guangyi's expression grow darker, a staff member nearby asked fearfully, "Leader, what about us?"

Liu Guangyi sighed, "What else is there to say? Of course we move Jiang Zhe's program to the evening prime time slot."

"But that doesn't follow the rules, Leader. The evening slot is for the National News..."

"You talk about rules, but who watches the National News on a local station at night? We at the Bureau can just broadcast the National News!"

"Yes, yes, yes, I'll go contact Station Manager Zhao Ming right away!"

...

At this point, it was already close to 12 midnight.

The atmosphere in the meeting room was unusually quiet.

Most of the leaders and hosts here were immersed in Jiang Zhe's lecture.

The universe cyclically uses all matter and information within the cosmos, and finally produces a new version of the universe, a new Earth, and a new human race?

Then, wouldn't that actually be a parallel world?

Such thoughts arose in the minds of the hosts and leaders who were not science graduates.

Just then.

Station Manager Zhao Ming returned to the meeting room after finishing a call from the Bureau, his face full of excitement.

Unexpectedly, before the program had even ended, the higher-ups had agreed in advance to move Jiang Zhe's live broadcast time to 8:00 PM—the sub-prime time slot immediately following the National News Broadcast!

Wang Guosheng looked at Old Zhao curiously, "What happened?"

Old Zhao said excitedly, "The higher-ups took the initiative to move Little Jiang's program to 8:00 PM every night!"

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone present gasped in surprise.

One must know that 8:00 PM is the prime time slot, the time right after the National News ends.

At this time, many people would watch commercials for a bit and then see the next program; it was also the peak golden period when residents finished dinner to watch TV or browse their phones!

As long as Jiang Zhe maintained his performance, it was likely only a matter of time before he became a household name nationwide!

A local Television Station crushing all other local stations in the country—only Jiang Zhe could do it!

Xiao Shiyi clapped his hands excitedly, "Beautifully done, my Jiang!"

Wang Lin also revealed a smile, "Unprecedented and unmatched. Not only did he break records in his first two broadcasts, but even his program slot has been adjusted. There's no one else but him."

The other leaders clapped and offered their congratulations, and the scene was soon filled with thunderous applause.

Only one person, the Talk Show Host, Talk Show Host Article, was clapping perfunctorily with an awkward expression.

Looking at the excited expressions of everyone present, he was too embarrassed to ask if he still had to go on stage today.

Who told him to have his program scheduled after Jiang Zhe's?

At this moment, Station Manager Old Zhao looked at Article sitting in the corner, "Little Wen, can your talk show be delayed a bit? Jiang Zhe's Q&A session hasn't ended yet."

Article was stunned for a moment, then responded without any suspense, "Yes, yes, yes."

How would he dare refuse? Ratings and traffic are king.

His talk show would be lucky to have ten thousand viewers.

If he were the station manager, Article would even directly cut the talk show program; it wouldn't matter if Jiang Zhe took up all the time.

Just then, Old Wang's voice came through the intercom.

"Station Manager, I won't even report the online numbers anymore; they're still trending upwards, but haven't reached the peak yet. Speaking of which, Jiang Zhe's time is almost up..."

Before he could finish, Old Zhao immediately replied, "Add more time!"

"Wouldn't that take up Article's time? What about Article's program?"

"Article has already agreed. Take another 20 to 30 minutes; we can let Article compress his time then."

"True, the ratings haven't reached the peak yet. I feel like we can break 3 million online viewers. We'll just have to sacrifice him!"

Article was already on the verge of tears.

He felt that he wasn't far from being unemployed!

...

At this time, Jiang Zhe, who was on the big screen, adjusted his earpiece and received instructions from the backstage producer, who was also the director.

The program crew had decided to temporarily extend the duration to let him finish the three Q&A opportunities and, while he was at it, completely resolve the Bootstrap Paradox!

"Understood."

Facing the camera, Jiang Zhe gave a summary of today's content.

"Since we are over time, let's first summarize what we've talked about today, and then move on to the Q&A session."

"Today's main topic: The Bootstrap Paradox!"

"Everything we did today revolved around [Jiang Zhe Giving the Medicine]."

"No matter how the version of the Bootstrap Paradox changes, the ultimate pursuit must be: the source of the Elixir of Immortality."

"Through the source of the Elixir of Immortality, we have derived various fields of knowledge, including but not limited to biology, physics, Quantum Mechanics, and cosmic conjectures."

"The [Theory of Cosmic Circulation] I just described is actually verifying the phenomena that occur after the universe is potentially annihilated by a disaster."

"Just as you all guessed—[black hole no. 1] will indeed burst forth with all information. After a long period of development, we humans will certainly return at some point in the future."

"Alright, time is short. I'm sure everyone still has many questions. Today, there are still three opportunities for Q&A."

"Please welcome our first lucky viewer!"