Chapter 235 - 176: On a Mission?

Chapter 235: Chapter 176: On a Mission?

The headline of the X Vision News report was: [Young Huaxia Mathematician Chen Lin Makes Major Breakthrough at International Congress of Mathematicians]

The article began with three full paragraphs detailing the background and significance of the International Congress of Mathematicians being held in the Imperial Capital.

Then, the focus of the article shifted squarely to Chen Lin.

[Chen Lin, a 20-year-old student from the Yannan University Department of Mathematics, delivered a presentation at the conference titled "Differential Geometry, Manifold Boundaries, and Hallucination Control in Generative Models." In the presence of several of the world’s top mathematicians, he derived a brand-new artificial intelligence algorithm on the spot.]

[The algorithm is believed to be capable of fundamentally solving the "model hallucination" problem that has plagued the artificial intelligence industry for years, marking a milestone for the entire AI sector.]

[After his presentation, several internationally renowned mathematicians gave high praise to Chen Lin’s achievement...]

Following that, the article featured an embedded video.

The video contained clips of titans like Schultz, Faltins, and Deligne evaluating Chen Lin, either in person or online.

In particular, Deligne’s line, "I sincerely wish you, Mr. Chen Lin, the best, and I hope you will also make progress on the proof of the Riemann Hypothesis in the future," was edited into its own segment, subtitled, and placed at the very end of the video.

The entire report was well over a thousand words long.

What was even more surprising was that within those thousand-plus words, the space dedicated to the congress itself and the space dedicated to Chen Lin’s personal performance were split almost fifty-fifty!

In some paragraphs, Chen Lin’s part was even more prominent.

This style of reporting was extremely rare for official state media.

So, as soon as these reports were published, the comment sections under the official media accounts on major platforms exploded, with the comment count skyrocketing within minutes.

Aside from the usual comments like "Congratulations," "So proud," and "Chen Lin is awesome," many users keenly noted something unusual about the coverage this time.

[Did anyone else notice that the length of the official media report is kind of abnormally long this time?]

[Yeah! I noticed that too! The last time with the solid-state battery news, it was also a major story, but the focus was clearly on the battery itself. Chen Lin was just mentioned as a participant. But this time, he takes up almost half the article!]

[It’s not just the length. Did you guys see that the state media even included a video of several foreign professors praising Chen Lin? That’s the kind of treatment usually reserved for reports on national-level scientific achievements, right?]

[I feel like the official media is trying to build hype for Chen Lin.]

This comment immediately sparked even more discussion among users.

[Build hype? Hype for what?]

[No idea, but there has to be a reason. The state media never does things without a purpose.]

[Could they be pushing for Chen Lin to win some award? Like the National Science and Technology Progress Award or something?]

[That’s possible! And did you notice how unusually fast the state media reported on it? Chen Lin finished his derivation yesterday afternoon, and the report came out this morning. How long has it been? Not even half a day!]

[Exactly! Normally, state media waits until everything has settled, after verification and approval, before publishing a report. But this time was way too fast, wasn’t it?]

[They’re in such a rush. They must have been given a directive!]

Someone immediately replied under that comment:

[A directive? What kind of directive?]

[I don’t know, but you can check who gave the closing speech at the congress’s closing ceremony yesterday.]

[Who?]

[Vice Minister Xie from the Ministry of Education!]

[Holy crap! A Vice Minister showed up in person and even gave a speech? That’s some high-level treatment!]

[So yeah, this state media report definitely came from a directive from above. As for what the directive is, we don’t know, and we wouldn’t dare to ask.]

[Got it, got it. Basically, the government places a lot of importance on Chen Lin and wants to promote him heavily.]

[In that case, doesn’t that mean Chen Lin’s future is limitless?]

[No kidding. The guy made this kind of achievement at 20. Of course his future is limitless!]

However, while most users were rationally analyzing and speculating about the government’s intentions, some discussions started to go off the rails.

[I seriously suspect the government is paving the way for Chen Lin to enter the system in the future!]

[Possible! Maybe in a few years, Chen Lin will be transferred to some important department to hold a key position!]

[Dude above me, your imagination is running a little wild... but now that I think about it, it’s not impossible. The government would definitely prioritize cultivating a talent of Chen Lin’s caliber.]

[Right, right! I read a report once that said the country has special development programs for top scientists. Someone like Chen Lin is definitely on that list!]

[So will Chen Lin become an academician in the future?]

[Of course he’ll be an academician! I bet he’ll be selected as one in ten years, max!]

[Ten years? I think five is enough!]

As the discussion grew more and more absurd, some users even started debating fantastical scenarios like "Will Chen Lin become a minister of something in the future?" or "Will the country send Chen Lin to participate in international negotiations?"

The social media managers for the state media account finally couldn’t take it anymore.

And so, around ten o’clock on Saturday morning, sharp-eyed users suddenly discovered that the most outrageous comments in the thread had quietly disappeared.

However, despite the deletion of some of the more absurd comments, the overall atmosphere in the state media account’s comment section remained enthusiastic and positive.

「...」

While the internet was being swept by a new wave of frantic discussion about him, Chen Lin, the man at the center of it all, was fast asleep in his cozy little rented apartment.

He was completely unaware that at this very moment, he had become the hottest topic on the entire Chinese internet.

Last night, he had been up writing his paper until after two in the morning, finally finishing the main framework of his first draft.

Although many details still needed polishing, the core content was essentially complete.

After shutting down his computer and taking a shower, Chen Lin dove into his soft bed and was out in a second.

He slept straight through until eleven on Saturday morning.

"Ugh..."

Chen Lin groggily woke from his slumber, fumbled for his phone on the nightstand, and glanced at the time.

11:03 AM.

He yawned and was about to doze off again when he suddenly remembered something. He unlocked his phone and opened WeChat.

Just as he expected.

unread messages packed his entire chat list.

Chen Lin skillfully scrolled past the group chats and people he didn’t know well, his eyes locking onto a small group chat with three members.

[Our Loving Family]

The group showed 4 unread messages.

Chen Lin tapped on it.

The first message was from his mom, Lin Xiaoqi, sent at 9:30 in the morning.

She had first shared a Douyin link, followed immediately by a message tagging Chen Lin.

Lin Xiaoqi: [@Chen Lin Son, you’re in the news again? What is it this time?]

Chen Lin couldn’t help but smile at his mom’s message.

’She must have watched the video and figured it was something good, but she probably doesn’t understand the specifics.’

’The main thing is, if relatives ask about it later—especially my aunts—she’ll lose face if she can’t explain what’s going on, since she prides herself on being well-informed.’

He scrolled down and saw that his mom had sent several more messages in a row.

Lin Xiaoqi: [Son, are you still not up? It’s almost ten!]

Lin Xiaoqi: [Never mind, never mind. You definitely stayed up late again. Get some more sleep. Remember to eat breakfast when you get up. No, wait, if you get up now it’ll be time for lunch.]

Lin Xiaoqi: [Oh, right, are you up for some kind of award this time? I saw a lot of people online talking about it.]

Just as Chen Lin was about to type a reply, a new message popped up in the group.

It was from his dad, Chen Xian.

But unlike his mom’s long-winded and chatty messages, Chen Xian’s was concise to the extreme.

A single thumbs-up emoji.