385: Chapter 835 What the heck? A Foundation Establishment Pill?

He paused and instructed, "Pay attention to the instrument list. If there's anything unclear, ask the other Biology professors. Anything that needs special approval should go directly through the special channel; you don't need to come back and ask for my permission. Follow the standard procedures, but don't drag your feet."

Director Sun closed his notebook and hesitantly asked President Wang, "Then how should we handle the announcement?"

"We definitely cannot keep this low-key. Professor Zhao Yang himself has tacitly approved the publicity."

After leaving the administration building at Peking University, Zhao Yang did not immediately return to his villa.

He hadn't been back to his office in a long time; the last time he was here was probably a few months ago when he was discussing the final steps of P vs NP with Terence Tao.

Pushing open the door, he found the office spotless. The items on the desk were exactly as he had left them, and the pothos on the windowsill was growing surprisingly well—someone must have been watering it regularly.

He sat down in his chair, leaned back, relaxed, and opened Weibo.

His notifications were, as always, 999+.

Zhao Yang skipped the private messages and went straight to the comment section of his most recent Weibo post. After scrolling for a few pages, he smiled and decided to post something himself.

"Regarding the SOD-2 drug, we have completed the Phase I clinical validation. There are still Phase II and III trials, as well as larger-scale multi-center clinical trials to come. It will be some time before it officially hits the market, so please don't be anxious.

Additionally, SOD-2 is currently just an internal laboratory model name; it will be changed to a more memorable drug name when it is officially released. I will provide updates on the progress on Weibo."

After the Weibo post went out, the comment section exploded, quickly reaching 999+!

"Marking my spot!"

"First row! First time in the front row!! God Zhao, look at me! Look at me!!!!"

"God Zhao has risen from the dead, ahhhhh!"

"What do you mean risen from the dead? God Zhao just doesn't like posting on Weibo; it's not like he's dead."

"So… when will the drug be on the market? What's the approximate price going to be! God Zhao, can you give us a rough timeline? Give us a rough price? I need to start saving up."

"Don't rush to save money yet. God Zhao said there are still several rounds of clinical trials left. It probably won't be on the market anytime soon."

"Did you guys notice God Zhao said he's going to change the name? Everyone, let's help God Zhao think of a name. Maybe one of ours will get picked."

"Let's call it the 'Foundation Establishment Pill'! I think this name is great. In cultivation novels, it's the basic pill used by Qi Refining cultivators to temper their bodies. After taking it, muscle strength increases significantly, and cultivation efficiency doubles. It's exactly the same effect as this drug."

"Foundation Establishment Pill is too funny. This is a legitimate prescription drug, and you're giving it a web novel name."

Zhao Yang rarely felt like browsing the comment section, but after seeing that comment about the "Foundation Establishment Pill," he couldn't help but laugh.

He flipped through a few more comments and, seeing the netizens' high enthusiasm, simply made a new Weibo post: asking for suggestions for a Chinese name for SOD-2.

Soon, the comment section was filled with netizens offering their ideas. At first, it was quite serious; some suggested "Strong Muscle Factor," "Power Health Source," while others started from the pharmacological mechanism, suggesting names like "Setamine" or "Muscle Guard."

But before long, that overwhelming "Foundation Establishment Pill" was pushed to the top of the hot comments with unstoppable momentum.

"Foundation Establishment Pill! You get stronger once you finish it; isn't this easier to remember than those weird names? It's catchy and popular with the masses."

"The first clinically verified pill in the cultivation world, personally refined by the Nascent Soul stage Great Perfection cultivator, True Person Zhao Yang (dog head emoji)."

"I'm already at the gym doing leg squats, and right now I'm just missing a Foundation Establishment Pill. I have a feeling the fitness circle will become a cultivation circle in the future. Coaches won't be called coaches anymore, they'll be called Protectors. Supplements won't be called supplements, they'll be called pills."

Zhao Yang scrolled to this comment and finally couldn't help but laugh out loud. He replied underneath it: "I will seriously consider the name 'Foundation Establishment Pill'."

With Zhao Yang personally joining the fray, the heat of the topic reached its peak.

Four or five of the top ten trending topics were related to this.

"Holy crap! Is God Zhao actually serious?"

"Hahahaha! Awesome! I want to eat a Foundation Establishment Pill right now!"

"Invincible! True Person Zhao Yang refining the Foundation Establishment Pill, the Heavenly Dao is about to collapse!"

The internet was filled with memes and heat, with many people participating, and Zhao Yang spent quite a while scrolling through it.

He couldn't help it; these netizens were just too funny!

The next morning, the Peking University administration office simultaneously released a work arrangement notice on its official website and official Weibo, with the title: "Regarding the Relevant Arrangements for Professor Zhao Yang's Recruitment of the First Batch of Master's and Doctoral Students."

The news stated that Peking University distinguished professor Zhao Yang would be recruiting a certain number of master's and doctoral students nationwide, mainly involving two academic directions: Biology and Mathematics. The basic requirements for each direction were listed in the attached table. Aspiring applicants must pass the cutoff scores set by the Peking University Graduate School.

Then, they would have to participate in a second round of exams personally overseen by Professor Zhao Yang. The total number of recruits was initially limited to ten, with specific quotas determined by the quality of the candidates. They would select the best, preferring to have fewer rather than accept unqualified candidates.

With the release of the notice, the already heated online public opinion was pushed to an even higher level.

"Oh my god! God Zhao is going to personally mentor students! This is the rhythm of founding a sect!"

"Ten spots, being snatched up by the whole country. The probability of this must be lower than winning the lottery."

"Friendly reminder to all the postgraduate entrance exam candidates: God Zhao writes his own questions and proctors his own exams, which means the paper you face will likely not be in the same dimension as questions written by people with normal intelligence."

"Math direction, Zhao Yang personally writing the questions—just combining these words is already making me unable to understand it. The difficulty must be terrifying..."

"I still have a sliver of hope for the Biology direction. God Zhao said the requirements for Biology are relatively lower. Relatively lower—everyone pay attention to this 'relatively'; that's only relative to the Math direction."

"I'm a Biology student. I just checked the attached table; the minimum requirement for the Biology direction is to be proficient in at least two model organism operation techniques. In vitro cell culture and protein purification are considered basic skills. This is called 'low requirements'? This is already the level of a postdoc in our lab, okay?"

To complete the task and receive sufficiently excellent students, sufficient publicity was needed.

For this reason, Zhao Yang specifically reposted this Weibo post from the administration office and added a caption: "I will personally write the questions and proctor the exams for both directions. The questions won't be too obscure, but they will require you to have solid fundamental skills and the ability to think independently. I don't need people who only know how to rote memorize, nor do I need people with high scores but low ability. What I want are people who can calm their hearts and sit on the cold bench."

"Calm their hearts and sit on the cold bench—waking up at six every morning to run ten kilometers on the track with God Zhao."

"Did you guys forget that God Zhao won first place in the country for running a marathon before? I feel like his lab's team building will just be running a thirty-kilometer cross-country."

"God Zhao owns Spark Technology. Will his students have mysterious experimental drugs to try out? I already want to know which lucky person will become his first disciple."

Just as the heat was soaring, Terence Tao suddenly called Zhao Yang...