Super God-Level Top Student
Chapter 939 - 356: Double Rewards Approach

"Edward, how should I put this? How can you still be so lucky at your age?"

Edward Witten, who was still in his Princeton office handling matters before leaving, received a call from Lothar Dugan as soon as the announcement was made.

He was truly at a loss for words.

After all, he genuinely hadn't expected the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences' physics prize committee to pull such a stunt this year.

"Lucky for what? The Nobel? It's not even because of M-theory," Edward Witten replied casually.

"Haha, doesn't matter what it's for, the fact is you've won a Nobel Prize. You've made history; no one before you has ever won both the Fields Medal and the Nobel Prize."

"Then I should thank Qiao Ze. Under normal circumstances, he should have been the first. The Fields Medal in 2026 is sure to go to him. As for me... forget it, don't mention it. I'm not going to the award ceremony."

"Oh? Seriously not going?"

"No. Next March… I don't have the time. Besides, I don't have faith in the Swedish government."

"Alright then, Qiao Ze also said before that he wouldn't attend. So for this year's Nobel Prize banquet, neither of you is going?"

"I won't make decisions for others. But no matter if Qiao Ze attends or not, I definitely won't go. Looks like I can't stay in the office anymore... Oh right, I've already booked my flight for next week. Remember what I've asked you to handle."

"Rest assured, Edward. The instructions from history's number one will absolutely be kept in mind. Especially since you really are history's number one now. Your students will definitely be well taken care of."

"Thank you, Lothar. Once I'm in Huaxia, and Qiao Ze truly solves the Grand Unified Theory problem, I will suggest that he at least publish a paper on innovative mathematical tools in the 'Mathematics Annual.' Based on what I know about Qiao Ze, he probably won't refuse."

"It's a deal! And make sure it happens while I'm still the journal's chief editor."

"It's a deal. Alright, I can't chat anymore, or I really won't make it home."

"Goodbye."

"Goodbye."

After hanging up the phone, Edward Witten began packing his things, but clearly, it was a little too late...

Because the next moment, the door to his office was pushed open.

"Congratulations... "

...

If Edward Witten was only a little surprised, then Yang Xuanqing was utterly stunned when he received the call from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. If the phone number hadn't really been from Sweden and they hadn't merely informed him without asking for bank account details, he might have thought it was a telecom scam.

As a scientist from Huaqing University stationed at CERN, Yang Xuanqing's achievements over the years were much like those of many other scientists working there—at best, decent. The fundamental research at CERN is inherently challenging to yield significant results.

The majority of people spend their days panning for gold in the dirt.

Think about it—on that massive collider, there are billions of sensors, all working simultaneously, producing countless streams of data every second. Even if the system automatically filters out more than 95% of the useless data, the remaining potentially valuable data is still enormous.

Many researchers spend years on that chaotic pile of data and only then produce some astonishing results.

Of course, even more people spend years researching but achieve nothing, living out their lives in anonymity.

After all, CERN has nearly six thousand physicists conducting research there every year.

Yang Xuanqing had thought he would spend his entire life as an extremely ordinary member of those six thousand. The one thing that gave him some comfort, perhaps, was that his work at CERN over the years had nurtured a few competent junior researchers.

But who could've guessed that Lady Luck would suddenly shine on him?

Although there had been that little Crawford Prize hiccup earlier, as of now, the Nobel Prize still attracted immense attention. For many scientists, it remains the ultimate goal of their careers.

In other words, while the Nobel might not always be entirely fair, the achievements of past laureates still stand and are recognized by the academic community. Even with some inherent bias, it remains a generally responsible award.

There was surprise, but there was also genuine awkwardness.

Especially after the call ended. As he sat in a daze for some time, his phone began buzzing with activity, the first call being from the university president himself.

"Congratulations, Professor Yang. It looks like your efforts have finally paid off."

Hearing this, Yang Xuanqing truly felt a wave of secondhand embarrassment.

"Principal Luo, please don't congratulate me. At least 90% of the credit for that paper belongs to Professor Qiao. Professor Witten and I combined probably only contributed 10%..."

"I know, I know. But still, it's a Nobel Prize. No matter what, you're the first person at Huaqing to win it while actively employed here—it's quite a lucky milestone. Besides, you're not the first to benefit from this kind of thing. You probably have no idea how dedicated Qiao Ze was to ensuring his mentor became an academician. What a pity..."

Yang Xuanqing, of course, knew exactly what the president regretted.

But of course, no one was really to blame. If blame were to be assigned, it would have to go to the teachers at Xingcheng High School for being utterly blind.

A rare prodigy of such caliber, and yet they never once mentioned him during high school. This directly caused both of the country's top universities to overlook him.

Now the entire nation knows how Li Jiangao managed to discover Qiao Ze. It turns out his mother had to take Qiao Ze to a hotel to find him. And as luck would have it, Li Jiangao had just swapped rooms with an admissions officer...

In other words, if not for that Group Theory workshop hosted by Central Hua universities, and if Li Jiangao hadn't swapped rooms with that admissions officer, who knows which institution Qiao Ze would belong to now?