299: Chapter 299: We Can't Write Tonight's Paper

National Astronomical Observatory.

The lights in the conference room had just been turned on.

Wang Weiguo, Professor Zhang Qinian, and Zhang Lin had just finished a full day of data organization.

Zhang Lin habitually opened his phone to take a look.

"Oh, the livestream has ended."

Professor Zhang Qinian leaned over to check the time. "It's past eleven already. We were so busy today that we didn't have a spare moment to watch all day."

Wang Weiguo sighed and used the remote to turn on the large screen. "Sigh, I guess there's no way around it. Those folks from Huaqing University must have been glued to the stream again. I'm afraid they'll beat us to tonight's paper too."

Zhang Lin joked with a smile, "Director Wang, you sure are competitive."

"Of course I am." Wang Weiguo fiddled with the settings on the large screen. "But being this busy, there was nothing we could do. Qinian, why don't we see what was discussed tonight? At least we'll have an idea."

Professor Zhang Qinian nodded, and they gathered around. The large screen lit up.

The playback of the recorded stream began.

Ten minutes later.

"Atlantis, Egyptian temples, Antarctica, the underground world?"

Zhang Lin couldn't help but widen his eyes. "Byrd? An Antarctic city?"

Then Professor Zhang Qinian was left somewhat dazed. "Ariani? The USA military fleet was attacked, with 63 dead?"

Another ten minutes later.

Wang Weiguo couldn't help shaking his head. "This... this is just too..."

Zhang Lin remarked with emotion, "Tonight's content really isn't suitable for academic forums. It's all bold speculations and legendary materials, without any professional data to back it up."

Professor Zhang Qinian agreed, "Yeah. Although it sounds shocking, from an academic perspective, there's no hard evidence. Even if we wanted to write a paper, we wouldn't know where to start."

Wang Weiguo sighed, "Even if the Earth is hollow... forget it, he didn't provide much evidence either. I doubt we could write anything. Let's call it a night and go home."

However, he still added with a smile, "But this young Jiang really does give an interesting talk."

...

Huaqing University, Physics Department faculty dormitory.

Ouyang Baili, Professor Wu Ming, Guan Jingming, and Li Mo sat on the floor, staring at the black computer screen as they began their discussion.

Ouyang Baili looked at the other three. "What do you think of tonight's content?"

Professor Wu Ming said, "It's certainly shocking, but as for writing a paper from a physics perspective, I really don't know how to go about it."

Guan Jingming shrugged. "We can't exactly write a paper on 'The Relationship Between the Hollow Earth Theory and Atlantis.' If we published that, our peers would laugh us out of the field."

Li Mo said, "And those pieces of evidence—Byrd's diary, the USA's declassified documents, the Hopi Tribe's legends—they can all be cross-referenced, but their credibility is severely lacking. It's not appropriate for your Physics Department or my Computer Science Department to touch this."

Clearly, tonight's content was indeed unsuitable for publication.

Ouyang Baili thought for a long time before finally picking up his phone, finding a number, and dialing.

"Hello, is this Old Chen from the School of History?"

Professor Chen Runzhi's voice came from the other end. "Ouyang, why are you calling so late? What's up?"

"Did you watch tonight's livestream?"

"I did. Why?"

"I was thinking, tonight's content is something we in the Physics Department really can't write a paper on. Is your History Department interested?"

Professor Chen Runzhi was taken aback for a moment, then burst out laughing. "Hahaha, Ouyang, are you handing this opportunity over to us?"

Ouyang Baili also laughed. "It's not about handing it over; everyone has their own specialty. This content—history and mythology—is much more suited for you guys."

"Alright, I'll look into it."

Professor Chen Runzhi hung up the phone.

In the living room of the University of History's faculty housing in Kyoto.

Professor Chen Runzhi put down his phone, his eyes growing brighter.

Qian Mingyi was napping on the sofa and woke up when he heard Old Chen's call. "What's wrong? Who's calling you this late at night?"

Professor Chen Runzhi held his phone and said, "Ouyang Baili just called. He said their Physics and Computer Science departments won't be writing about tonight's content and asked if we were interested."

Professor Liu Guangyi, who was about to pack up and go home, suddenly leaned in. "He's letting us write it?"

Professor Wang Shouren also perked up. "It seems like it could actually work!"

Professor Chen Runzhi said excitedly, "Think about it. Everything Jiang talked about tonight—the new explanation for Nüwa Mending the Heavens, the underground worlds in global myths, and the Hopi Tribe's legends—aren't these all within the domains of our History and Philosophy departments?"

Qian Mingyi nodded like a chicken pecking at grain. "And Old Liu is in geology; he can explain the Antarctic oases and mammoths. I'm in history, so I can untangle the mythological threads. Old Chen, you're an expert in ancient texts, so you can analyze Plato's original works and the Egyptian temples. And Old Wang is in philosophy; he can interpret it from the perspective of human cognition. Isn't this the perfect division of labor?"

Professor Liu Guangyi stood up immediately. "Let's do it, brothers!"

The four of them looked at each other, all seeing the excitement in one another's eyes.

Professor Chen Runzhi made the decision on the spot, bringing several laptops from the study. "Alright, we'll divide the work. Old Liu, you're in charge of the geology and Antarctica sections. Old Qian, you handle the mythological overview. I'll take care of the textual analysis and historical data. Old Wang, you're responsible for the conclusion, discussing the limitations of human cognition from a philosophical standpoint."

Old Qian asked, "And the title of the paper?"

Professor Chen Runzhi thought for a moment and said, "Let's call it 'Legends of the Underground World and the Unsolved Mysteries of Antarctica: A Preliminary Discussion Based on an Interdisciplinary Perspective.'"

"Great, excellent!" Professor Liu Guangyi gave a thumbs up.

Knowing there was hard work ahead, Old Chen immediately pulled out his phone and ordered 400 yuan worth of barbecue takeout and beer.

They were in their fifties—the prime age for hard work—so a bit of binge eating was no big deal!

...

Gusu District, backstage of the Dougou Platform.

Wang Shulin looked at tonight's broadcast data, unable to stop smiling.

"Manager, the statistics are out." A subordinate from operations ran over excitedly. "Tonight's peak concurrent viewers reached 23 million, and the total donations amounted to 3.28 million, which is more than 50% higher than last time's 2 million!"

Wang Shulin clenched his fist and said excitedly, "Good, fantastic!"

"I reckon the National Research Institute and Huaqing University won't be writing papers tonight because tonight's content is more suited for the general public, unlike those previous professional papers that were so hard to understand."

"Atlantis, Antarctica, the underground world, UFOs, the USA military, Antarctic cities—these are all topics the average person is most interested in!"

He looked at the three operations staff in the office.

"Quick, ramp up the promotion!"

"Trending searches, short videos, and self-media—get us on everything possible!"

"The titles need to be sensational: 'Entrance to the Underground World Discovered in Antarctica?'"

"'The Inside Story of the USA Military's 1947 Bloody Battle with UFOs: Was Nüwa Actually Mending the Earth's Crust?'"

"'Did Nüwa and Her Kind Actually Live in the Ocean?' Make it as eye-catching as possible!"

A junior operations staff member asked hesitantly, "Manager, isn't this a bit too exaggerated?"

Wang Shulin glanced at him. "Exaggerated? Didn't you see what Brother Jiang Zhe talked about? Which of it wasn't exaggerated? Yet in the end, 95% of it turned out to be true. Now get to it!"

"Yes, sir!"

The three operations staff immediately got to work.

Wang Shulin sat back in his chair, watching the hundreds of thousands of bullet chats still scrolling across the black screen. The smile on his face was impossible to suppress.

Manager Liu had said last time that as long as he maintained Jiang Zhe's livestream room well, the next promotion would definitely be his.

Now that they're raking in money hand over fist, can my promotion be far off?

He picked up his phone, found Manager Liu's WeChat, and sent a message.

"Manager Liu, tonight's report: 23 million concurrent viewers, 3.28 million in donations, promotion has been arranged."

Soon, a thumbs-up emoji came back in reply: "Beautifully done. Keep maintaining it well and stay in touch. Remember to prepare a big gift before the end of the year. I noticed Jiang Zhe doesn't have a car. When the time comes, reward Xiaoyu with a sports car in the name of the Xiaoyu Company. Xiaoyu doesn't know how to drive anyway, but he does. You get what I mean, right?"

Wang Shulin promised with a smile, "I understand, I completely understand!"

After hanging up, he looked at one of the operations staff. "Have any other knowledge-based programs appeared on our platform lately? How's the response?"

A junior operations staff member shook his head. "Just some small rooms with a few thousand viewers. There's one by Little Zhao, a broadcaster from Kyoto. He does a paradox-themed stream that isn't very challenging. It doesn't have much heat, but he brings in about three or four thousand yuan a day after the platform's cut. It's incomparable to our Brother Jiang."

"Sigh!"

Wang Shulin remarked with emotion, "As expected, the pioneer Jiang Zhe has cornered the entire market by himself. Others can't even get a sip of the leftovers."

Next, the buzz began to quietly ferment online, and related topics slowly started climbing the trending search lists.

This time, it was evidently even more lively than before, as these were all topics that ordinary people could relate to and were interested in.

At 12:30 AM, the Weibo trending list was dominated by a series of topics related to Jiang Zhe.

[Does the Pyramids' latitude equal the speed of light?]

[Atlantis's Final Location: Antarctica]

[Is the Earth Actually Hollow?]

[Mysterious City Discovered Beneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet?]

[Did Nüwa Mend the Earth's Crust? Did They Live Beneath the Sea?]

[Shocking: USA Military's 1947 Bloody Battle with UFOs Left 63 Dead!]

[The Real Reason Why Antarctic Tourism is Banned Globally!]

Countless night owls staying up late immediately exploded with excitement.

"Holy crap, in the time it took me to take a shower, Brother Jiang completely slaughtered the trending list!"

"As expected, we see Brother Jiang's list dominating every night at this time. Love it."

"An Antarctic underground world? Atlantis in Antarctica? What did I miss!"

"I'm sold on the theory that Nüwa mended the earth's crust. The more I think about it, the more reasonable it seems. After all, Mount Buzhou might have been an underground mountain that connected the surface and the crust!"

"Damn, could underground earthquakes be caused by wars being fought by people in the underground world?"

"To the person above: I suggest you submit your wild idea to Xiaoyu. If Brother Jiang says it himself, the impact will be even greater!"

"Sigh, Brother Jiang doesn't even use Weibo. I have no way of running into him."

"Good lord, the Pyramids' latitude equals the speed of light. I just spent ages checking it on my calculator, and it actually matches!"

"So tourism isn't allowed in Antarctica because there's something down there?"

"..."

As the hype fermented, bloggers from various fields began to jump in to capitalize on the trend.

Some people had even grown accustomed to waiting for this time every night, and even major film and television companies would avoid buying trending spots during this window.

Once they bought a spot, they would be instantly slaughtered by Jiang Zhe!