173: Chapter 173: Rewarding Supercomputing Power

Back in the large room, Jiang Zhe closed the door behind him, walked over to the floor-to-ceiling window, and drew the black curtains shut.

Sitting on the sofa in the room, a series of notifications appeared before his eyes.

[This supplementary lesson has ended. Evaluating... Evaluation complete. This session had a significant effect, sparking Xiao Yu's imagination about science and the universe!]

[Physics Comprehension +2, Scientific Imagination +3, Knowledge & Experience +2!]

[Money Reward: 600,000 yuan, legally transferred to the relevant bank account!]

[Attribute Point Reward: Free Attribute Points +8]

[Extra Skill Reward: Supercomputing!]

[Supercomputing: Consumes mental energy to perform massive parallel data calculations!]

As the eight attribute points flowed through his entire body, he felt an incredible warmth, his physical constitution ascending to another level.

But his attention fell on the new skill. Somewhat similar to the previous [Flash of Insight], combining these two abilities might yield unexpected results.

At that moment, he closed his eyes. The sounds, light, temperature, airflow from the lawn outside the window, even the faint physiological signals of small animals, seemed to be deconstructed, quantified, transformed into calculable data streams.

After a long while, he opened his eyes and looked around—everything indoors and outdoors that could be calculated with parameters turned into individual parameters imprinted in his mind.

"Consumes mental energy to perform ultra-high-speed calculation and deduction of the environment..."

Jiang Zhe savored the skill, his gaze shifting to the tranquil night scene within the villa area outside the window.

Perfect, the new skill needed practical testing to clarify its limits and consumption.

"Not really sleepy for now," Jiang Zhe opened the French door of the large room, "going out for a walk, might as well test what this Supercomputing can actually do!"

...

In the villa living room, on the sofa.

Xiao Yu was still curled up on the sofa, her beautiful eyes sparkling, sleepiness flown to the far ends of the earth. "Bro knows, he actually knows who the first observer was!"

She quickly pulled out her phone, opened the livestream room, and saw an astonishing seven million concurrent viewers still lingering after the stream ended.

"Family, my brother, my brother, he knows, he knows who the universe's first observer was!!!"

At this moment, the barrage went completely wild.

"Holy hell, I'm dumbfounded. Does he really dare to say that?"

"The first observer... can there even be an answer to that?"

"Counting days like years is nothing, I'm counting seconds like years right now!"

"Could it be that the universe looked at itself—this kind of ultimate nesting doll?"

"I'd accept even a nesting doll, as long as our bro can explain it coherently!"

"Tomorrow... no, the night after tomorrow, I must be watching!"

"Xiao Yu, skip the New Year's Eve show. I watch your stream every day now, treating it like the Spring Festival Gala."

"Exactly, exactly! Can you bear to watch those fragmented New Year's Eve shows? Singers who can't sing, dancers who can't dance. Putting our bro on stage to talk for 2.5 hours would be better than all those singers, dancers, and rappers!"

"Exactly, exactly!"

"..."

Watching everyone's barrage, Xiao Yu was overjoyed. Her ears twitched, noticing her brother had left the house for a stroll. Only then did she dare to speak loudly. "The New Year still needs celebrating, and money still needs earning. Come on, family! Next, I, Steel Rain, will perform a one-finger handstand for you all... wishing everyone a happy New Year!"

...

At this moment, in Qingfeng Temple in the outskirts of the capital.

Zheng Ming was about to close the livestream when he heard the last few sentences Jiang Zhe said.

Full of suspicion, he muttered, "This can be known? A question digging up the universe's ancestral grave. Throughout history, how many sages and great minds didn't even dare to touch its edges. And you really dare to say you know?"

"Watching this type of program for the first time tonight. Quite inspiring, but..." Professor Zhang Qinian shook his head with a stern expression, "It's simply too sensationalist!"

Although he knew Jiang Zhe had ability, but does having ability mean you can do whatever you want?

Doesn't one need to be responsible to the outside world?

Thinking that Xiao Yu might not know she was being secretly broadcast, Professor Zhang Qinian shook his head helplessly. "Xiao Ming, see me out."

"Mm."

...

At this moment, in the physics lounge at Huaqing University.

The screen gradually went black, but the atmosphere here remained.

The students were still discussing in hushed tones, reluctant to leave.

Professor Wu took off his glasses and rubbed his temples. "The first observer... the weight of that topic. He really dares to touch it, and even dares to say he knows?"

Ouyang Baili, however, said excitedly, "Forget that for now. The biggest goldmine tonight was his analogy using the candle's outer/inner flame and the solar corona/photosphere! The core being exactly 36 degrees is what's truly mind-blowing!"

"Never mind whether the sun is nuclear fusion or not, this astonishing viewpoint alone could land a paper in a major journal!"

"Enough to tear open a big gap in 'Science'!"

Slapping his forehead, he remembered Professor Stephen.

But on second thought, better to publish the paper first, then notify Stephen!

Li Mo nodded and chimed in, "Right, and the solar wind acceleration not matching existing models, that's ready-made. The Time Stream theory paired with the sun not being nuclear fusion, plus that final shocking 36-degree analogy... that astonishing temperature comparison is enough for a heavyweight paper. I can already imagine the magnitude of the earthquake that will erupt on academic forums at home and abroad tonight, haha!"

Beside them, Professor Guan Jingming rubbed his plump hands together, his face extremely excited. "Then what are we waiting for? Ouyang, Xiao Li, our usual spot, to your dorm!"

Ouyang Baili, brimming with excitement, threw his arms around Li Mo and Guan Jingming's shoulders. "Let's go, back to my dorm. My dorm is quite spacious. If we get tired, we can just sleep together, no problem—tonight, the three of us must battle for two and a half hours!!!"

"Let's go!!!"

Li Mo and Guan Jingming exclaimed in unison, excitedly walking out of the lounge.

Watching the three of them rush off in a hurry, it caused the physics department students and Professor Wu, who was preparing to leave—seeing their eager, intimate backs heading straight for the dorm—many students' faces flickered with a strange expression.

"They're not even hiding it anymore?"

...

The capital, History Staff Quarters.

Professor Chen Runzhi looked regretful. "New Year's Eve, sigh~ Young people just love to make a fuss about this. Another day of waiting!"

Wang Shouren couldn't help but sigh either. "Exactly, wouldn't it be better if he gave more supplementary lessons? The weight behind the words 'first observer' directly presses down on my heart."

Liu Guangyi was relatively calm. "Waiting a day is fine, gives us time to digest it. We were originally planning to help him write it into a paper, but Huaqing's Ouyang, Guan Jingming, and Li Mo got there first."

At this mention, he couldn't help but glare at Old Chen, Old Qian, and Old Wang. "Didn't you three write papers before too? Why didn't you publish them abroad?"

Upon hearing this, the three exchanged glances and shook their heads awkwardly in turn.

Old Chen sighed. "It's because we were afraid his viewpoints would get him labeled a madman before. Who would have thought that missing this chance means we'll never get another turn!"

Old Liu shot them a disdainful look. "Truly more of a hindrance than a help. A chance to bring glory to the ancestors... to me... and you couldn't grasp it..."

As he finished speaking, the three simultaneously shot him dirty looks. "Bring glory to you... looking for a beating!!!"

Thus, the four old professors started brawling in the living room.

"Hey, Old Wang, don't hit me there, I can still use it!"

...

Gusu District, Dougu Live Streaming Platform Operations Department.

Wang Shulin stared at the freshly updated backend data, his face unmoved.

Data after breaking ten million once had already made it somewhat difficult for him to get excited.

Today's peak concurrent viewers: 10.58 million, stabilized at over 9 million real users with no bot activity. The gift revenue share even reached an astonishing 1.5 million.

Data that should have been exciting, but what Wang Shulin was thinking was: tomorrow night's company annual party without Xiao Yu and Jiang Zhe just felt off.

Listening to his subordinates report more detailed data, Wang Shulin just kept nodding, his face showing no joy, instead he sighed. "What a pity..."

"Bro Wang, this data is unprecedented. What's the pity?" a subordinate asked, puzzled.

"Pity about the company annual party tomorrow." Wang Shulin looked at the neon night scene outside the window. "So many big streamers, partners want to use the annual party to meet, get to know Jiang Zhe and Xiao Yu. If they just came, at least 30 million worth of collaborations would follow. With neither of them coming, this year's annual party just feels like it's missing its anchor, lacks flavor."

"After all, Jiang Zhe is our pillar!"

"The main character didn't come, and instead a bunch of messy, clickbait, attention-seeking people came..."

Upon hearing this, the originally somewhat excited operations staff immediately became dejected.

"Dammit, Bro Wang, you ruined the perfectly good mood, making it all bleak."

"Exactly, exactly."

"..."

As time passed, the content Jiang Zhe discussed was spontaneously shared by countless netizens to various major platforms.

Especially the Time Stream hypothesis, that gravity might not exist; the sun not being nuclear fusion, the sun's interior possibly being 36 degrees.

Instantly, it fermented, fissioned, and exploded on hot searches, Zhihu, and chat groups at an astonishing speed!