72: Chapter 72 The Aura of a Genius Is Borrowed

Jiang Feng followed Qian Li through a door that required triple iris scanning to open.

"This place is whiter than a mental hospital," Jiang Feng muttered to himself. "Staying here too long would make anyone depressed."

Qian Li led him and stopped at the entrance of a meeting room.

Inside the room, apart from a long white table in the center and three chairs, the walls were bare and blindingly white.

A middle-aged man wearing glasses, a white lab coat, and meticulously combed hair was already waiting inside.

When he saw Jiang Feng behind Qian Li, he frowned, displaying an expression like he was looking at a charlatan.

"Consultant Jiang, let me make an introduction." Qian Li broke the silence with a smile. "This is Professor Fang Zhenxue, the chief scientist of our Pangu Project."

He turned to Fang Zhenxue. "Professor Fang, this is the Jiang Feng I mentioned to you, Consultant Jiang."

Fang Zhenxue pushed up the glasses on the bridge of his nose and extended his hand in a very formulaic motion.

"Mr. Jiang, I've heard much about you."

Jiang Feng didn't shake his hand. He walked straight to the center of the room, placed his canvas bag on the table, took out his small folding stool, opened it with a "snap," and sat down.

The corner of Qian Li's mouth twitched.

Fang Zhenxue's expression darkened immediately.

"Mr. Jiang, what is the meaning of this?" Fang Zhenxue lowered his hand, his tone displeased. "We have chairs here."

Jiang Feng leaned back on the small stool and shifted into a comfortable position. "I'm not used to those; my own things are more comfortable to use."

Fang Zhenxue suppressed his anger and turned to look at Qian Li.

Qian Li could only respond with a helpless, bitter smile.

Fang Zhenxue ignored Jiang Feng from then on.

He pulled a resume from a folder at his side and pushed it across the table toward Jiang Feng.

"Mr. Jiang, since you are here to be a consultant, let's get to work."

"This is our top target, Lin Tianyu. Twenty-two years old, a double doctorate from MIT, specializing in quantum computing. Over the past two years, he has published eleven papers in 'Nature' and 'Science'."

Fang Zhenxue's finger tapped on the photo in the resume.

"Everyone says he is a once-in-a-century genius."

Fang Zhenxue looked up and stared at Jiang Feng.

"Take a look, what is his potential?"

"No matter how pretty a resume is written, it's still just paper." Jiang Feng didn't even glance at the resume, leaning lazily against the back of his stool.

"We'll only know if it's a mule or a horse once we take it out for a walk."

Fang Zhenxue's face turned ugly. "Mr. Jiang, we are not a circus."

"But you are choosing a lead horse, aren't you?"

There was a silence in the room.

In the end, Qian Li stepped in to smooth things over.

"Old Fang, let's do as Consultant Jiang suggested."

Fang Zhenxue snorted coldly and pressed a communication button on the table.

"Let Lin Tianyu in."

A few minutes later, the door opened.

A young man wearing a tailored suit walked in. He was tall, thin, and exuded an air of confidence and arrogance.

After entering, he completely ignored Jiang Feng, who was sitting on the small stool.

"Professor Fang." Lin Tianyu spoke directly in fluent English. "Regarding the application model of quantum entanglement in superluminal communication that we discussed last time, I have a new idea."

He walked to the table, picked up a pen, and quickly wrote a long string of complex formulas on the whiteboard nearby.

Fang Zhenxue was immediately drawn in, and he also began to discuss heatedly with Lin Tianyu in English.

The two spoke at an extremely fast pace, with various technical terms constantly popping out of their mouths.

Qian Li stood to the side, his expression somewhat awkward. He wanted to interject, but realized he couldn't understand anything at all.

He kept signaling to Professor Fang, indicating that he should attend to Consultant Jiang.

But Fang Zhenxue was completely immersed in the academic discussion and didn't look at him at all.

Jiang Feng truly didn't understand, and he had no interest in listening.

While the two were holding their high-level discussion, he slowly unzipped his canvas bag and pulled out a stainless steel thermos.

He unscrewed the lid, and a puff of steam carrying the sweet scent of goji berries and red dates wafted out.

Jiang Feng blew at the goji berries floating on the surface of the water, tilted his head back, and took a leisurely sip.

"Hiccup."

A burp rang out abruptly in the meeting room.

Lin Tianyu, who had been spouting enthusiastically in front of the whiteboard, stopped in his tracks.

Fang Zhenxue's voice also came to an abrupt halt.

Both of their heads turned, staring in unison at the young man who was currently screwing the lid back onto his thermos.

Fang Zhenxue suppressed his anger. "Mr. Jiang, after watching for so long, do you have any brilliant insights?"

Jiang Feng put the thermos back into his canvas bag and zipped it up.

He looked up at Lin Tianyu.

"Gazing at Qi and Observing Fortune," activate.

His vision shifted.

Jiang Feng saw a brilliant golden fortune rising above Lin Tianyu's head.

That aura was dazzling, more vigorous than anyone he had seen before.

However, this golden fortune was extremely unstable.

It kept bursting and dissipating in the air, with no foundation whatsoever.

Even more bizarrely, the root of this golden energy was a void.

It didn't grow from Lin Tianyu himself, but was forcibly borrowed from an unknown place.

Jiang Feng withdrew his ability, leaned back on his small stool, and spoke.

"The fortune is magnificent, but the foundation is like duckweed."

Jiang Feng looked at Lin Tianyu and stated his conclusion.

"This genius is not his own."

The arrogance on Lin Tianyu's face froze.

"Nonsense!" Fang Zhenxue was the first to react, flying into a rage.

He pointed at Jiang Feng, his voice trembling. "What is the meaning of this? Are you implying that Dr. Lin's academic achievements are plagiarized? This is a personal attack! Mr. Jiang, you must be responsible for your words!"

Qian Li also felt that Jiang Feng's words this time were too harsh and hurriedly stepped in to smooth things over.

"Consultant Jiang, is there some misunderstanding here?"

Jiang Feng ignored the furious Fang Zhenxue and didn't look at Qian Li, just kept staring at Lin Tianyu.

He didn't argue, just slowly brought up another matter.

"This aura of yours carries a scent of staleness and resentment."

"It was only after your mentor died accidentally three years ago that your research results began to explode."

"Right?"

Lin Tianyu's face turned deathly pale, completely devoid of color.

He subconsciously took half a step back and clenched his fists.

The anger on Fang Zhenxue's face froze.

He remembered something.

Lin Tianyu's mentor, Professor Li Zhenguo, was a titan in the field of quantum physics in the country.

Three years ago, he had indeed died accidentally in a suspicious laboratory leak incident.

After that, his most prized student, Lin Tianyu, began to produce top-tier research results at an incredible speed, shocking the entire academic world.

At the time, everyone said it was the awakening of a genius.

But now...

Jiang Feng didn't give them much time to think.

"I suggest you check all of his mentor's unpublished research manuscripts."

"Especially all records related to that laboratory accident of his."

Qian Li's expression turned grave.

This wasn't just a matter of academic misconduct; it might involve a murder case that had been covered up for three years.

He walked quickly to the internal communicator on the wall and picked up the phone.

"Initiate a level-one background check."

"Target: Lin Tianyu's mentor, Professor Li Zhenguo."