Chapter 234 - 176: On a Mission?

Chapter 234: Chapter 176: On a Mission?

To put it simply, the internet was once again swept up in a firestorm of discussion about Chen Lin.

And this time, the hype was far more intense than his first viral moment—when his JAMS paper and a shout-out tweet from the super-rich Jask made him famous—or his second, for his contributions to solid-state battery research.

After all, no matter how you looked at it, the first two times had a certain "professional" barrier to entry.

The JAMS paper?

The average person couldn’t understand it at all.

Solid-state batteries?

It sounded impressive, but most people could only grasp its true significance through media explanations.

But this time was different.

This time, there was video!

There were visuals!

There was that heart-pounding footage of him performing calculations live, with the entire audience erupting in cheers!

Plus, with all the fan edits and remixes from various content creators and bloggers, complete with epic background music to build the atmosphere, even ordinary netizens who didn’t know the first thing about math could feel it. They could see it in the flushed, excited faces of the foreign professors and hear it in the thunderous, unending applause. It was obvious that this time, Chen Lin had absolutely blown everyone’s minds!

And so, on all major social media platforms, discussions about Chen Lin completely exploded, branching out in all directions.

Some people were discussing his mathematical abilities.

[A friend of mine in the math department told me that Chen Lin’s achievements have already surpassed many tenured professors. If he applied for a Full Professor position at a top university in Europe or America, they’d be fighting over him.]

Others were discussing his potential future accomplishments.

[I’ll make a bold prediction: Chen Lin will win the Fields Medal next year, the Turing Award within ten years, and the Abel Prize within thirty. The grand slam of the mathematics world is right around the corner!]

[I actually think that with his ability to cross disciplines, he might make top-tier achievements in both mathematics and computer science in the future. He could even become a dual-field academician!]

And still others were discussing his net worth.

[Can any experts here calculate what Chen Lin is worth right now?]

[I have a friend in the VC circle who said several investment firms are already asking about Yanhai Company. Someone is willing to invest at a valuation of 20 million Dollars.]

[20 million Dollars? That’s over a hundred million RMB! What’s Chen Lin’s stake again?]

[I think it’s over 45%, right? Doesn’t that mean his paper wealth from company shares alone is close to 50 million?]

[Holy shit, 20 years old and worth tens of millions... This guy’s life is totally on easy mode!]

However, beyond all this "serious" discussion, there was another topic whose popularity was in no way inferior to the others—

The gossip about Chen Lin and Shen Yan!

This topic originated from a post on a certain forum by a netizen claiming to have "personally attended the math conference."

[Chen Lin and Shen Yan attended the math conference together! And I witnessed all of their interactions!]

The original poster vividly described in the post:

[I was sitting in the middle section, toward the back, with a pretty good view. While Chen Lin was on stage doing his calculations, I noticed a long-haired girl in front of me who looked really familiar. Then I remembered—it was Shen Yan, from the video of that competition that made Chen Lin famous! The one where he stood up for her!]

[And guess what happened after Chen Lin finished his calculations and came off the stage? He walked right over and sat down next to her!]

[The best part was, as Chen Lin walked from the stage to his seat, Shen Yan’s eyes followed him the entire way. The adoration and appreciation in her gaze... even I, as a bystander, thought it was sweet!]

[And get this, before the closing ceremony was even over, the two of them slipped out through a side door! I was wondering why at the time, but then it hit me—they were obviously going off to have some private time together!]

[So I strongly suspect that something is definitely going on between Chen Lin and Shen Yan!]

The moment this post was published, the comments section instantly blew up.

The female netizens, in particular, were all as excited as if their favorite ship had just come true.

[AHHHH! The love between two academic gods! I’m so here for it!]

[Isn’t this a real-life campus romance novel? The male lead is a math genius, the female lead is the campus belle of the math department, they bond over their studies, and end up together... It’s too sweet!]

[To be honest, I think Chen Lin and Shen Yan are a great match. One’s a math genius, the other is the math department’s campus belle. A perfect pair of talent and beauty, a match made in heaven!]

Of course, some more rational netizens tried to pour cold water on the excitement.

[Can you guys please not get carried away? Maybe they’re just normal classmates?]

[Yeah, they’re both in the math department. It’s perfectly normal for them to attend a math conference together, right?]

However, these voices of reason were quickly drowned out by the overwhelming number of "shippers."

[I said it when the video from the competition came out—there was definitely something between these two! I knew I was right!]

[Waiting for Chen Lin and Shen Yan to make it official! When they do, I’m definitely going to spam the comments with congratulations!]

Thus, with the female netizens fanning the flames, the "Chen Lin & Shen Yan" CP was forcefully pushed into viral stardom on all major social media platforms.

In short, from the early hours to the morning of this Saturday, the entire Chinese internet had descended into a carnival-like state of nationwide discussion about Chen Lin.

...

And while the netizens’ discussions were reaching a fever pitch, it was 9:00 AM on Saturday, November 1st.

After brewing for several hours, all sorts of news had already spread across the entire internet.

「Just then, the official media made their move.」

XX Daily, XX News Agency, X-View News, and several other major state-run media outlets, at almost the exact same time, published lengthy reports on their official accounts across all platforms about Chen Lin’s performance at the math conference.