68: Chapter 68 Nonsense, do you even need to tell me that?

When Chen Jingshan asked that question, the entire office fell into a dead silence.

No one spoke.

Everyone's eyes were fixed squarely on Lin Yuan.

Wei Jiancheng clutched the new hard drives in his hands, his mouth opening and closing repeatedly, caught in the awkward state of wanting to say something but not knowing where to begin.

He had spent more than half his life working on Photolithography Machines; it was the only thing he had done his entire life.

Simply mastering the single field of Photolithography Machines had exhausted all of his energy and talent.

But materials science?

That was a completely different track, another massive mountain, another field that required a lifetime to climb.

Yet, the twenty-year-old young man before him had not only mastered everything from theory to engineering for the Photolithography Machine, but now he had also casually produced a hard drive, claiming to have the preparation technology for the upstream materials as well?

He Yicheng adjusted the glasses on the bridge of his nose, his lips trembling slightly, but no sound came out.

Yang Lin was also stunned in place, his head buzzing, unable to wrap his mind around it for a moment.

Indeed.

This... he knew this too?

How old was Lin Yuan?

Twenty years old.

They had already witnessed his level of mastery in the field of Photolithography Machines.

It had already completely exceeded the scope of what the word "genius" could cover.

But even so, everyone still had a subconscious explanation in the back of their minds to fall back on—that people specialize in different fields, and it was highly probable that Lin Yuan simply possessed a talent in the path of Photolithography Machines that others could never hope to reach.

But now...

High-purity Gallium purification processes?

Monocrystalline Germanium growth formulas?

MO precursor synthesis routes?

Although these things intersected with Photolithography Machines, they were essentially a completely independent branch of knowledge.

Countless materials scientists spent their entire lives' energy and only dared to delve deep into one specific sub-direction.

And he had listed them all in one breath.

Silence permeated the office for several seconds.

Lin Yuan took in everyone's reactions, the corners of his lips twitching slightly.

This scene was exactly what he wanted to see.

He had already firmly established the label of being a genius in the field of Photolithography Machines, but it wasn't enough.

What he needed was not a positioning of "having extraordinary talent in a certain field."

He needed a persona of an all-around, crushing "peerless genius" in the truest sense, one that could not be measured by common sense.

Only by completely establishing this persona would the increasingly outrageous lies to follow—such as the "south heaven gate project"—have better soil to take root in.

After all, the level of public belief in the words of a world-renowned, once-in-a-century prodigy was on a completely different scale than the words of an expert in a single field.

Coincidentally, the full set of technical data he obtained when the second lie became reality covered the entire industrial chain from raw materials to the finished machine, which included the technical data for material preparation.

This was a card the system had placed in his hand; it would be a waste not to play it.

"Dean Chen, look at what you're saying."

Lin Yuan chuckled, his tone relaxed.

"These materials are, after all, essential upstream raw materials for the manufacturing of Photolithography Machines."

"Since I intend to research Photolithography Machines, I naturally cannot avoid mapping out the entire supply chain."

He spread his hands with an air of it being only natural.

"During the research process, I noticed quite a few bottlenecks in the upstream preparation processes, so I just happened to look into them a bit deeper."

Just happened to.

Looked into them a bit deeper.

These words struck the ears of everyone present with the force of a heavy blow.

Wei Jiancheng's mouth twitched twice, a sense of helpless amusement welling up.

Just happened to?

Those high-end preparation processes that had generations of the entire materials science community throwing themselves into battle and consuming countless resources to tackle are just "just happened to" in your mouth?

Your "happening to" is a bit too extensive.

He Yicheng's movement of pushing his glasses froze for a moment, and then he shook his head helplessly.

He had lived for more than half his life and considered himself well-traveled and knowledgeable.

But in front of Lin Yuan, that feeling of "cognition being repeatedly crushed" had gradually evolved from initial shock into a near-numb habituation.

It wasn't that he was no longer shocked.

It was that the shocks were so frequent that his nerves were almost developing calluses.

Yang Lin rubbed his hands and couldn't help but speak up with a hint of emotion.

"Chief Engineer Lin, I've been working on Workpiece Stages for over thirty years. In this one direction alone, I still don't dare say I've mastered it."

He patted his own head, his tone containing both admiration and confusion.

"I don't know how your brain is wired; just how much of your brain capacity has been developed?"

"Just how high must your IQ be to be able to digest so many fields to this extent at this age?"

When he asked this, the others also nodded slightly in agreement.

Indeed, this had already exceeded the scope of what the word "genius" could explain.

Lin Yuan tilted his head, a smile appearing on his young face.

"Probably..."

He deliberately let the word trail off as if in deep thought, then spoke with a straight face.

"Because I am a genius with a superlative IQ and a photographic memory."

At this point, he paused for a beat and held up one finger.

"For example, an IQ of two hundred and fifty?"

The moment he finished speaking.

"Pfft—"

Wei Jiancheng was the first to lose it, nearly choking on his own breath.

He Yicheng's hand slipped while pushing his glasses, nearly knocking the frames crooked.

Yang Lin let out a "Ha!" and doubled over, slapping his thighs twice.

Even Chen Jingshan's usually dignified face couldn't help but twitch twice, a low chuckle escaping from deep in his throat.

Lin Jixian was even more unreserved, laughing loudly as he waved a hand at Lin Yuan.

"My friend, this 'two hundred and fifty' of yours is truly... classic."

The atmosphere relaxed considerably all at once.

Everyone could tell that "two hundred and fifty" was Lin Yuan poking fun at himself.

But the first half of the sentence, "superlative IQ and a photographic memory," was something no one present would take as a joke.

After dealing with Lin Yuan for these few days, these people had seen him refresh their cognitive limits time and again, from theory to engineering, from Photolithography Machines to upstream materials.

A genius?

No, it was even more outrageous than a genius.

A genius is at the top of one field.

But Lin Yuan was crushing multiple fields simultaneously.

The phrase "photographic memory" might not even be an exaggeration.

Otherwise, there was simply no way to explain how a twenty-year-old's brain could hold so many things at once.

As the laughter subsided, no one dwelled on the topic further.

At the same time, Lin Yuan's intent moved silently in the depths of his mind.

That pale blue light screen quietly emerged.

[Current Lie: I am a genius with a superlative IQ and a photographic memory.]

[Lie Level Assessment: Level 2 (Involves the identification of an individual's top-tier physiological traits, no physical conversion required)]

[Current Total confidence: 18.8%]

[Please work hard, Host, to make more people believe your lie!]

Lin Yuan was very satisfied with this result.

Starting at nearly twenty percent, the starting point of this third lie was more than a magnitude higher than when the first two lies were first presented.

This was actually not hard to understand.

With the first two lies, he was facing a brand new, foundationless credit blank slate.

Everyone knew nothing about Lin Yuan, so it naturally required a large amount of endorsement and momentum to drive up the confidence.

But it was different now.

The theoretical breakthrough of the Photolithography Machine, the engineering plans for the three major components, the research on special material preparation processes...

This series of achievements, sufficient to be recorded in history, had already built an extremely solid foundation of trust in the minds of those present.

Upon this foundation, throwing out the claim that "he is a genius"...

Required no additional evidence; with the existing achievements laid out there, the first reaction of the vast majority of people was:

Nonsense, does that even need to be said?