35: Chapter 35 The Information Emperor? Pioneering a New Path!

After several months of high-intensity dual-front operations, his movements had reached a state of perfection; muscle memory perfectly shared the mechanical tasks of the biological experiments.

Meanwhile, his brain's computing power was running at full speed in another dimension.

It was focused on the core framework of the electronic lifeform he had named Spark, and the complex design of how to forge mental shackles for it.

Time seemed to be compressed for him.

A few months felt as short as the interval between cell passages in the laboratory.

But for the academic world, a few months were enough for a depth charge to stir up monstrous waves.

"Ding-dong!"

"Ding-dong!"

"Ding-dong!"

The phone he had placed on the desk nearby suddenly lit up continuously like it had gone mad. The notification sounds were as dense as machine-gun fire, instantly shattering the laboratory's silence.

Notification bars in various languages pulled down frantically like a waterfall.

Chen Youhua's movements didn't pause in the slightest until he finished the last set of sample additions, closed the chip cover, and started the program.

Only then did he unhurriedly take off his gloves, pick up the phone, and unlock it with his fingerprint.

On the screen, a striking news push headline crashed crudely into his vision:

[Eastern Storm! Mysterious Huaxia Student Subverts Information Theory; New Emperor Ascends the Throne of JCMI!]

The accompanying image was a screenshot of his paper's journal cover, along with an extremely blurry ID photo obviously scraped from the university's official website.

He swiped away the notification expressionlessly. Following it were over a dozen unread email alerts from a wide variety of senders:

"Dear Dr. Chen, your pioneering work on Asymmetric Information Entropy has deeply inspired me..."

"Urgent: Inviting you to discuss cooperation matters for next-generation distributed AI systems..."

"Congratulations! Your paper has been officially published and has garnered unprecedented attention!"

There were also a bunch of unfamiliar names with suffixes like .edu or domains of well-known research institutes.

He clicked on a link to an academic forum. Instantly, a surge of discussion threads flooded the screen:

"Holy Sh*t! Was this paper written by an alien? Asymmetric Information Entropy? Dynamic Collaborative Constraints? This model architecture is just impossibly elegant!"

"Chen Youhua? Z University Biology Department??? Am I seeing things? Someone from the biology department is wiping the floor with Math and CS?"

"Reviewers, come out and say something! Who the hell said this looked like crackpot science back then? Does your face hurt from the slap?"

"It's over. The research direction I've spent five years on has been turned into scrap paper by his single paper..."

"A new emperor is born! Is the Chen era in the field of information processing upon us?"

The corner of Chen Youhua's mouth twitched slightly, and a faint, indescribable emotion flickered in his eyes.

The storm had indeed come.

Although he had anticipated it, this scene... was a bit noisier than he had estimated.

Rewinding time to a few months ago, at a top-tier research institute.

The silver-haired Professor Richard Morgan, a senior reviewer for JCMI, was frowning at a manuscript forwarded by the editor.

The email subject read 'Urgent Review - Potential Breakthrough?'.

"Chen Youhua? Z University? Biology Department?"

Professor Morgan let out a sneer.

"Another ambitious but ignorant kid wasting money."

He casually clicked open the PDF, his gaze scanning the title.

"Distributed Agent Collaborative Optimization Framework Based on Asymmetric Information Entropy."

"Sensationalist claptrap."

He muttered, preparing to give it a quick glance before issuing a rejection.

"Reject," he had already thought of the reason.

Lack of practical application support, the mathematical model is too speculative.

However, when he carelessly flipped past the abstract and his gaze landed on the core formula derivation in the first section, his finger paused.

His brow furrowed tighter and tighter, and his body involuntarily leaned forward.

"Wait... this transformation..." He grabbed the scratch paper next to him and began to calculate along with the paper's logic.

Ten minutes, half an hour, an hour... the sky outside turned from bright to dim.

"Impossible..."

He murmured in a low voice, fine sweat breaking out on his forehead.

That seemingly wild asymmetric entropy measure, under rigorous mathematical derivation, actually perfectly solved the core pain point of local uncertainty dragging down the global system in distributed systems—a problem that had long been overlooked!

The logical chain was impeccable, and the model architecture was exquisite.

He stayed up all night, calculating repeatedly, trying to find a loophole, only to find himself more and more shocked as he calculated.

This wasn't just innovation; this was founding a whole new school of thought!

In the crowded field of distributed agent collaborative optimization, he had forcibly carved out an unprecedented, bright, and broad path!

And the 'crackpot' he had previously sneered at hadn't even cited a single decent reference.

Because there was simply no path from predecessors to follow! He himself was the founder of the road!

With trembling hands, Professor Morgan solemnly typed into the review comments box.

"Strongly Accept. This is not just a paper; this is a paradigm shift!"

Now, at the eye of the storm.

Chen Youhua's phone was still vibrating crazily.

The laboratory door was suddenly pushed open.

"Xiao Chen! Xiao Chen! Did you see it?!"

Senior Student Wang Zhe practically charged in, waving his phone. On the screen was the same news. He was so excited his face was flushed, and he didn't even bother to adjust his glasses as they slipped to the tip of his nose.

"My god! JCMI! A Tier 1 top journal! Information Emperor! You... you... you were hiding this too deep!"

He was incoherent, looking at Chen Youhua as if he were an alien.

Senior Student Li Wei followed behind, her expression much more complex, her shock mixed with deep scrutiny.

She didn't look at the news; instead, she looked directly at the thick, heavy mathematics monograph lying open on Chen Youhua's lab bench—one that clearly didn't belong to the field of biology.

"So... your 'rest and recharge' these past few months was spent working on this?"

Her voice was soft, yet it possessed a penetrating quality.

"Without delaying the biological experiments at all, you casually published a top journal paper that could shake the entire field of information?"

She looked at Chen Youhua's calm, almost indifferent face, and a chill inexplicably rose from the bottom of her heart.

This was too abnormal.

Could an achievement of this level be produced 'casually'?

Professor Zhang Zhenhua's figure appeared at the doorway.

He didn't speak, just quietly watched Chen Youhua, who was surrounded by Wang Zhe and scrutinized by Li Wei.

His gaze was profound, without excitement, containing only a calm that saw through everything and a hint of imperceptible gravity.

He had already received a private congratulatory email from the journal's editor-in-chief, much earlier than the public knew.

Chen Youhua finally set his phone to silent and stuffed it back into his pocket.

He met Professor Zhang's gaze and nodded slightly as a greeting, then turned to the overexcited Wang Zhe and the sharp-eyed Li Wei.

"It's just a paper."

His voice was flat and waveless, as if he were talking about what he had for lunch today.

"The luck was relatively good, and the idea happened to be feasible."

"Good luck?!"

Wang Zhe almost jumped.

"You call this good luck?! This..."

"Alright, Wang Zhe."

Professor Zhang spoke. His voice wasn't loud, but it carried an unquestionable authority that instantly quieted Wang Zhe.

He looked at Chen Youhua.

"Congratulations, Youhua. The result is remarkable."

He paused, his gaze scanning the books and drafts on Chen Youhua's lab bench that were out of place with biology.

"However, be mindful of your energy distribution."

Chen Youhua nodded.

"Thank you, Teacher. I understand."

He put his gloves back on and cast his gaze toward the microfluidic chip currently in operation.

"The biological data is nearing completion; there won't be any delay."

Wang Zhe opened his mouth, looking at Chen Youhua's calm demeanor—as if publishing a top journal paper was as simple as pouring a glass of water—and then at the exaggerated 'Information Emperor' headline on his phone screen. A massive sense of absurdity welled up.

This world was too surreal.

Li Wei gave Chen Youhua a deep look, didn't press further, and turned to silently return to her own lab bench.

The puzzle in her heart only grew larger.

A top journal paper sufficient to found a new school of thought was just 'good luck' in his mouth?

Then what was the thing he had invested the vast majority of his energy into—the thing that had even made his entire temperament become more profound and inscrutable?

Chen Youhua ignored the various gazes behind him.

He focused on the subtle flow of liquid within the chip.

To him, the clamorous 'Emperor' title from the outside world was nothing more than a passing cloud, even carrying a hint of irony.

Deep inside the silent phone in his pocket was a highly encrypted folder.

The contents within were the true results of his soul-burning efforts over these past few months.

A core of electronic life that could ignite the fire of thought, and the design blueprints for a physical cage to imprison that flame.

Compared to that 'Information Emperor' who shone brightly in the eyes of the world and opened a new path, he cared more about the dual role he was quietly playing, known to no one: Creator and Jailer.

A single paper opened a path?

He smiled silently in his heart.

The thing he held in his hands was enough to ignite an entirely new world... one that even he himself had not yet fully seen clearly.

And the storm had only just begun.