Qiu Mingrui was in a headache recently.
He never expected that he, an expert in nuclear engineering, would become the spiritual leader in the minds of the people of Guanghan City.
Although he was very happy to see that his paper had such a huge influence, he never thought that his paper would become “pop science”.
What he also didn’t expect was that this paper would cause such a huge wave in public opinion!
What’s more, the first author of that paper wasn’t his own name. He just put his name as the corresponding author in a very low-key manner.
As a result, several local media in Guanghan City had not only forced him to oppose Lu Zhou, but they also directly promoted him as the savior of the people of Guanghan City, a knight who was devoted to the people and truly dared to tell the truth.
Although it was a long-established tradition to put titles on others, this title was too heavy, Qiu Mingrui felt that he could not bear it.
Even if he opposed Lu Zhou’s opinions, he did not think that his academic achievements could be compared with Academician Lu. In other words, he and Lu Zhou were on opposite sides, where the two sides were completely unequal in terms of ability and influence.
Lu Zhou himself once said that he never believed in authority in his life, and people shouldn’t blindly believe him either. Qiu Mingrui was only not optimistic about the pulsed magnetic field.
From the beginning to the end, he believed that this was just an academic debate, but the voices of unstoppable fools were always the loudest, and they were keen to discuss politics regardless of occasions.
As soon as there were such people, his paper would naturally become politically colored.
Realizing that the matter had become serious and feeling that he was being roasted alive, Qiu Mingrui immediately contacted the Southwestern Institute of Physics publisher office and applied for the withdrawal of the paper.
The Southwestern Institute of Physics cooperated quite well. Obviously, they realized that the controversial paper might cause trouble for themselves, so after receiving the request of the corresponding author, they quickly withdrew the paper.
Seeing that the paper was withdrawn, Qiu Mingrui was finally relieved. After publishing a clarification statement on his personal homepage, he felt that this incident had passed.
However, what he didn’t expect was that he was still too naive.
From the moment his thesis became the fuse that ignited the fire, the direction of the matter had gone beyond his control.
It could even be said that the retracted paper did not calm the anger of the residents of Guanghan City, but instead, it had become a new fuse to intensify the conflict.
Almost on the second day after the Progress in Controllable Fusion Research issued the retraction statement, the public opinion was suddenly turned and pointed at him.
What Qiu Mingrui did not expect was that the residents of Guanghan City, who had been touting him a few days ago, had now begun to criticize him.
Maybe the people who scolded him were not the same as those who commended him. However, the behaviors of the extremists were often the most obvious.
Qiu Mingrui watched on the sidelines. He watched as those people who pushed him to the top in the first place threw him back down on the ground.
The comments under the news said he was an “unscrupulous academician”, “no morals”, “only going after power”, and “has been bought out by East Asia Energy”. He was dumbfounded.
Although he believed that his level was indeed not as good as Academician Lu, he did not degenerate to the point of being bought out by Academician Lu.
He was certainly not this kind of profit-seeking person.
However, he couldn’t do anything.
Most people were unreasonable, and most of the logic they talked about was just to find a reasonable explanation for their brain damage. They didn’t know what science was, or what scientific development was. They didn’t understand people’s words; they were mostly lemmings.
But if someone wanted to argue with this kind of rascal, no matter how reasonable one’s argument was, there would be no winner in the end.
Then there were rumors that he met Lu Zhou on the moon and that his research team had received a “donation” of 10 million credits.
Upon hearing these rumors, Qiu Mingrui didn’t know whether to cry or laugh.
If he did accept the money, it would be fine; it would comfort his injured heart.
But the problem was that no one gave him money at all!
Just when he was in a dilemma and didn’t know what to do, he suddenly received a transfer reminder from the bank, reminding him that he had received a large transfer of 1 million credits.
After receiving this news, Qiu Mingrui almost got a heart attack. He quickly checked the sender’s account and planned to return the money. However, the bank told him that the payment account was registered on Mars, and refunds could not be returned.
Qiu Mingrui felt like he was sitting on pins and needles.
After he spent a day filled with anxiety, he suddenly received a mysterious anonymous call the next day…
“Hello, Academician Qiu Mingrui, I don’t know if you are in a good mood today.”
Looking at the blurry video window, Qiu Mingrui frowned and said, “I’m feeling terrible… Who are you? I haven’t heard your voice before. Where did you get my number?”
“There are no impermeable walls in this world, especially in the information age. We not only know your phone number, but we also have your bank account number and home address.”
A drop of cold sweat appeared on his forehead. Qiu Mingrui said calmly, “Who are you guys and what do you want to do! Are those one million credits—”
“That’s a deposit.” The voice interrupted Academician Qiu Mingrui’s words, smiled, and continued, “As for who we are, it doesn’t matter. As long as you are willing to do something for me, then there will also be nine more million credits in your account.”
Qiu Mingrui gulped and said with difficulty, “What thing…”
“Continue with what you did at the beginning.” The voice continued slowly, “Aren’t you opposed to second-generation controllable fusion technology? Then continue to oppose it. Whether it is for the money or for the residents of Guanghan City, we hope you can stand your ground.”
A trace of struggle flashed in his eyes, but soon, the look of struggle disappeared.
Qiu Mingrui took a deep breath and said, “Sorry, I’m just a scholar. Your commission is beyond the scope of my ability. I don’t mind discussing it with you if it is an academic matter, but please don’t let me participate in this. What is your account number? I will refund you the money now. I don’t want to participate in this matter…”
When he said this, Qiu Mingrui’s voice had a trace of pleading.
However, after hearing his words, the person on the other end of the phone just smiled faintly and said in a slow tone, “It’s okay. If you don’t want to join, it’s fine.
“You don’t need to return the money to me. Regard it as a gift.
“But I hope you can stay awake and know what to say and what not to say. If I hear our conversation today from elsewhere, I will let you know the cost of not keeping your promises.”
Are they…
Paying me money to keep quiet?
Qiu Mingrui opened his mouth. He was just about to say something.
However, the call ended…
…
Inside a small apartment in the suburbs of Shanghai.
A man took off a virtual reality helmet and placed it on the table next to him.
Looking at his face alone, there was nothing worth mentioning. However, if there were employees of East Asia Energy or people in the financial industry standing here, they would be astonished.
There was only one reason.
It was hard to imagine that Morinaga, the manager of SoftBank and one of the managing directors of East Asia Energy, would actually live in a place that was almost indistinguishable from low-rent housing.
But Morinaga didn’t really live here; it was just his base for operations.
Every time he needed to act as the head of the foundation, he would come here and start his scheme with an anonymous identity and address.
And there were many such bases for operations.
So far, his work had been going very smoothly, and everything was moving in the direction he expected.
Although he did not succeed in moving the chess piece that was Academician Qiu, this did not affect anything. After all, by now, the anger of the residents of Guanghan City had been completely ignited, and if this trend continued, Guanghan City might become independent from Earth.
The people between the two were already in a state of long-term separation. Even in this age, where interstellar voyages were commonplace, many Pan-Asian citizens living on Earth had never left their home planet before, and the same was true for those who were born on the moon. Their parents had been there since they were alive.
Sacrificing oneself for prosperity on Earth was unacceptable to most lunar people.
“It seems that the legendary man standing on the pinnacle of the human mind is nothing more than that.
“It’s a pity.”
Morinaga got up from the chair and walked to the clothes hanger next to him. He took off his coat, left the apartment, and locked the door.
The moment he left his base of operations, he had completed a role switch and successfully become Morinaga, the SoftBank manager and managing director of East Asia Energy.
However, the moment he walked into the garage and sat in his own car, a trace of alertness suddenly rose in his heart.
“Is it just an illusion?”
Why do I feel like…
Someone is watching me…
It’s better to be safe than sorry.
Morinaga started the car quickly. When he set the destination on the smart navigation map, he chose the longer path instead.
However, what he didn’t know was that his gut feeling was not wrong.
But it was too late for him.
