222: Chapter 222 was published in JACS.

Zhao Yang pondered for a moment.

Accepting an exclusive interview with CCTV could also help him save some unnecessary trouble.

"Alright, I agree."

Zhao Yang looked at Li Yan and nodded.

Hearing Zhao Yang agree, Li Yan felt a sense of relief; she had successfully completed the task assigned by the school leadership.

"The interview is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. At that time, the CCTV program team will send a special car to the school to pick you up."

Li Yan said, looking at Zhao Yang.

"Understood."

Zhao Yang nodded, then looked at Li Yan with a slight curl of his lips and said with a smile, "Would you like to come up and sit for a while?"

As soon as these words were spoken, Li Yan's originally calmed emotions were instantly shattered. The intimate hug from the sports equipment store the last time flashed uncontrollably through her mind, and a blush quickly surfaced on her cheeks.

"No... no need! I still have to go to the Academic Affairs Office to submit some forms!"

Li Yan's voice was even a bit stuttered. She quickly hugged the file bag in her hands to her chest, and after hurriedly finishing the specific time and place for the interview, she turned and walked away quickly in her high heels with messy steps; her retreating figure seemed somewhat like she was fleeing in panic.

Zhao Yang watched the direction she left, his lips curling slightly. He always felt that teasing his Counselor was quite interesting.

Returning to the apartment.

Zhao Yang sat by the computer, habitually opened an overseas node, logged into his email, and began clearing the backlog of various academic exchange emails from recently.

His mouse had just clicked on a number theory discussion email from Princeton University.

At this moment, the phone placed on the corner of the table suddenly vibrated and rang.

The caller ID showed Professor Wu Kai from the CATL Beijing R&D Center.

Zhao Yang pressed the answer button.

"Dr. Zhao! Great news!"

"I just received an email. Our laboratory's paper on the in-situ coating mechanism of titanium ions has been officially accepted by JACS (Journal of the American Chemical Society)!!"

Professor Wu Kai's tone was extremely excited.

Zhao Yang could understand very well because JACS is an absolute top journal in the fields of Chemistry and materials science, with an extremely high impact factor and undisputed authority in the global chemical community.

"Congratulations, Professor Wu."

Zhao Yang said with a smile.

"You are the co-first author and one of the corresponding authors of this paper; you should say congratulations to both of us, haha. Oh right, Dr. Zhao, the bonus will be deposited into your account next week!"

Professor Wu Kai spoke excitedly on the phone for a full five minutes before hanging up.

Just as Zhao Yang hung up the phone, the system notification sounded.

"Ding! Detected that the User, as a core contributor, has published a major research achievement in a top international Chemistry journal (JACS)!"

"Ding! Congratulations to the User for obtaining +50,000 Chemistry experience points!"

"Ding! Congratulations to the User for obtaining +10,000 Mathematics experience points!"

Hearing the system broadcast, Zhao Yang called up the attribute panel to take a look.

[Chemistry: LV4 (50,492/200,000)]

[Mathematics: LV5 (61,334/500,000)]

A very nice growth in experience points. The fifty thousand points of Chemistry experience directly pushed his progress bar in LV4 forward by a large chunk. Of course, Mathematics went without saying; it was still too far off.

However, there was still a long way to go before leveling up.

Moreover, he knew very well in his heart that the system experience output that this CATL power battery laboratory could provide him had basically reached its end.

Because the most core paper had already been published. While some follow-up papers should still be produced, the experience rewards judged and given by the system would inevitably be much less.

If he wanted to increase his Chemistry level after this, he should change his experimental direction.

Thinking of this, Zhao Yang sighed in his heart.

He closed the computer, pulled a copy of "Molecular Cell Biology" from the bookshelf, leaned back in his chair, and began reading quietly.

The next afternoon.

A black Buick business van with a CCTV pass parked punctually downstairs at the Beijing Forestry University faculty apartment building.

Zhao Yang, wearing a clean and neat white shirt and dark casual pants and carrying a shoulder bag, got into the car accompanied by the school's security personnel.

The car drove out of the campus, headed east all the way, and finally stopped in the underground garage of the iconic CCTV Headquarters building, commonly known as the "Big Underpants," in the core area of the Yanjing CBD.

Under the guidance of the director, Zhao Yang took the internal elevator directly to a professional live broadcast studio of the News Channel.

The lights in the studio were extremely bright, and three high-definition cameras were aimed at the central sofa area from different angles. The person in charge of this in-depth interview today was a senior male Host from the CCTV News Channel, known for being wise and sharp.

Exactly 3:00 PM.

The live broadcast indicator light turned red.

This special CCTV live program titled "Dialogue with Youth: The Limits of Speed and Depth" officially connected to the national television signal and simultaneously opened a web broadcast on CCTV.com.

"Good afternoon, everyone. I believe everyone is already very familiar with the young man sitting beside me from the news these past few days."

The Host opened with a smile.

"He is not only a young scholar who solved a world-class mathematical problem, but also the 'Flying Man' who ran a domestic best time of 2 hours and 13 minutes in the recently concluded Beijing Suburbs Marathon. Welcome, Student Zhao Yang."

In the studio, everyone clapped in unison.

At this time, the Host smiled and said to Zhao Yang.

"Hello, Student Zhao Yang."

"Hello, Host."

Zhao Yang also greeted the Host.

"Zhao Yang, many viewers are very curious. As a scholar who everyone thinks should be a weak bookworm, you seem quite different from the impression people have of scholars. 2 hours and 13 minutes—this has already exceeded the limits of many professional athletes. I believe many people have the same question as I do: may I ask how you did it?"

The Host asked Zhao Yang curiously with a smile.

"Running is essentially a physical process."

Zhao Yang said with a smile.

"As a scientist, it is easier for me to understand my body, analyze my body, and plan a more targeted exercise program based on the data I've analyzed. In fact, I have strict requirements for myself and have specialized targeted training every day, which has yielded good results. However, this result was indeed beyond my expectations; it was a bit faster than I imagined."

Zhao Yang remained humble.

"According to my previous performance estimates, it should have been around two hours and twenty minutes."

"That's already wonderful!"

The Host said with a smile.

Subsequently, the topic of the interview quickly shifted to the academic field.

"We noticed that a few days ago, news about you turning down an invitation to be a Senior Visiting Scholar at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) sparked huge controversy. Many people feel that you gave up an extremely precious opportunity. Do you have anything you'd like to say in response to this?"

The Host's question was very sharp; he had clearly done quite a bit of homework.

Zhao Yang smiled and said, "I've already responded to this on my personal social media account. I think the key to academic exchange lies in the depth of thought, not the geographic location. Moreover, I believe that the research environment in China is also very excellent, and I prefer to conduct research in my own country."