PCJ – Chapter 658 Wonderful Lecture

Wei Chenguang dressed like a professor sat quietly in a corner of the back row. A large number of Meishan Sect personnel had already been deployed inside and outside the auditorium. They looked no different from ordinary people. Unlike typical surveillance agents who needed to frequently glance around, these men only needed their unusually sharp observation skills—far superior to those of ordinary people—to identify individuals coming and going in the crowd.

Not only the Meishan Sect but also the Beijing Public Security Bureau attached great importance to this lecture. Besides the school’s security team checking tickets at the entrance, the Beijing police were also present. It seemed they had received intelligence about the event.

Zhang Jiaohua naturally walked onto the stage together with Huang Zhongfang.

“Colleagues, students, hello everyone. I believe no one is unfamiliar with the gentleman standing beside me—he is one of our school’s most outstanding students, Dr. Zhang Jiaohua. In just one year, he obtained doctoral degrees in two majors from our school, an unprecedented feat in our university’s history. He conquered world-class problems in mathematics and successfully completed the world’s first in vitro cultivation of a mammalian embryo, producing a healthy individual. This is regarded as a miracle worldwide. So far, no one has been able to replicate Dr. Zhang’s experiments, but no one doubts his results because scholars from many countries personally witnessed his experimental process in our research group’s laboratory. Now, please welcome Dr. Zhang Jiaohua to deliver his lecture…”

A warm and prolonged applause broke out, only gradually subsiding when Zhang Jiaohua approached the podium and started his presentation.

Zhang Jiaohua scanned the audience carefully but saw no suspicious individuals hiding in the crowd. It seemed those people had chosen not to attack at this time, or perhaps they had noticed the police presence.

Zhang was not in a hurry; an attack now would cause trouble and threaten students and faculty. This was also the reason why the Meishan Sect had mobilized all its forces—to avoid any harm to the school’s people.

Zhang’s presentation materials were very comprehensive. Naturally, he had a clearer and more forward-looking understanding of biotechnology development than most. Therefore, his lecture was very cutting-edge. For many students, it was very novel. If Zhang hadn’t explained it so clearly, most students wouldn’t have understood. But professionals listened with great interest. For them, this lecture was extremely fruitful and could very well point the way for their future research.

Huang Zhongfang asked the nearby Dr. Liu Ping, “So? Did you gain something?”

Liu Ping quickly nodded, “Gained a lot. Teacher Huang, why didn’t you discuss this with Dr. Zhang earlier? Such valuable material should have been given to our research group first, so we could maintain our lead. It’s a pity. If I had seen this content earlier, I definitely could have produced major breakthroughs.”

“Back then, when Zhang Jiaohua was at school, you should have studied well with him. Isn’t it a bit late to say this now? At that time, those who truly followed Zhang Jiaohua diligently in our group were Ma Nanli, Mei Qing, and three undergraduates from Zhang’s class. Look, now Xia Hui and the other two are already capable of independent research in the lab. Their future is definitely limitless,” Huang Zhongfang said somewhat reproachfully.

Liu Ping lowered his head in shame, “Teacher Huang, we really were wrong. We didn’t realize how capable Dr. Zhang was back then.”

“Well, it’s too late to talk about that now. I’m planning to invite Dr. Zhang to hold several private lectures for our group. You all should be more humble and learn from others without caring about age. Speaking of age, I’m decades older than him, but I still need to learn from him. As academics, we should always treat those who excel as teachers. It’s not shameful to ask when you don’t understand—what’s shameful is pretending to know when you don’t. Enough talk, listen well,” Huang Zhongfang said.

As Zhang Jiaohua spoke, he completely abandoned his notes and even generated many new ideas during the lecture. His talk flowed freely. Time passed unnoticed, but everyone listened intently, paying no attention to the clock. After all, these were students and teachers from a first-class university like Tsinghua; their professional level was high enough to recognize the depth of the lecture.

Originally, the professors and doctors who had come to support now took out notebooks and began seriously recording Zhang Jiaohua’s content. They hadn’t heard such valuable lectures in a long time. Sometimes lectures became more about communication and academic exchange became secondary. But this time, Zhang Jiaohua’s lecture truly benefited them greatly.

Suddenly, Zhang stopped, glanced at his watch, and apologized, “Ah, sorry, I got carried away and lost track of time. We’ve already gone over the scheduled time quite a bit. My apologies. How about we end here for today?”

“No!” Dr. Zhang, hearing this, said, “Listening to your talk is worth more than ten years of study. Today’s lecture truly moved me. I think many of my colleagues here feel the same. If we had heard your lecture a few years ago, our current situation would be very different. But it’s not too late now—I believe those who attend today’s lecture will produce a fountain of results in the coming years or even decades,” said Kong Weiye, who even stood up.

Kong Weiye led one of the two main teams at the Life Sciences Academy alongside Huang Zhongfang. In fact, Kong’s academic achievements had previously been somewhat ahead of Huang’s. His team had more people and slightly better team composition.

However, with Zhang Jiaohua’s arrival, Kong Weiye’s team had fallen far behind. Huang Zhongfang’s team had exploded with research achievements in the past year. Besides Zhang’s milestone achievement, several other world-class results put Kong’s team in the shade.

Previously, Kong Weiye’s group received significantly more project funding than Huang’s, but Huang’s team had recently acquired several major national projects, quickly overtaking and expanding the gap.

At first, Kong didn’t understand why Huang’s team rose so fast, but now he realized it was due to Zhang Jiaohua. Kong regretted not recruiting Zhang into his team—otherwise, the world’s acclaim might belong to him.

But it was useless to regret because back then, his team only took in at least master’s students, and Zhang Jiaohua, still an undergraduate, couldn’t have joined.

University President Xu Qingze also stood up: “Dr. Zhang Jiaohua, time shall not limit today’s lecture. Since everyone still wants more, how about we extend the lecture by a few more hours?”

Zhang Jiaohua was somewhat embarrassed: “I’m young, so a little longer isn’t a problem. But I see there are some older teachers here; I worry about their stamina if we keep going.”

“No problem, no problem. Our health is fine. If we don’t absorb some of your genius ideas, our health will be worse—we won’t sleep for a long time,” an elderly professor stood up.

Everyone laughed at the old professor’s remark.

President Xu didn’t want Zhang to end so soon and said, “Let’s take a fifteen-minute break, then continue for two more hours, how about that?”

As soon as Xu finished speaking, the whole auditorium erupted in applause, showing strong support for the proposal.

Zhang Jiaohua reluctantly agreed, “Alright, let’s take a short break. Then I’ll continue to share some of my immature thoughts with all the experts and scholars.”

Wei Chenguang stood and walked toward the door. Many people were heading to the restroom, which could be a good opportunity if the enemy wanted to strike—they could capture isolated students and replace them to infiltrate the auditorium, then strike at the right time.

However, this possibility was small. Attacking Zhang Jiaohua openly in public was nearly impossible to kidnap him. Still, Wei was cautious and signaled his men to monitor all students attending the lecture.

Sure enough, everything remained normal. After more than two hours, Zhang Jiaohua finished the lecture. Though many were reluctant to leave, President Xu reluctantly announced the end since the lecture couldn’t continue indefinitely.

“I, like all of you, learned a great deal today. Unfortunately, the lecture cannot go on forever. But I hope Dr. Zhang Jiaohua can return often to give us more lectures,” said Xu Qingze.

Zhang Jiaohua left the auditorium and got into a car arranged by Wei Chenguang, heading to a nearby hotel.

“Sect Leader, there’s a traffic accident ahead. We’ll have to take a detour, but that means passing through a relatively remote area. If this accident was planned, this place would be the best spot for foreign forces to strike,” Wei Chenguang said.

“Perfect. Let’s take that route!” Zhang Jiaohua said.

“Sect Leader, we don’t know the enemy’s strength. Should we send a decoy?” Wei Chenguang asked.

“No need. They still can’t harm me,” Zhang Jiaohua didn’t want extra complications. Although his current strength made ordinary firearms no threat, if the enemy used stronger bombs or rocket launchers, his life could be endangered.

But this possibility was very low since weapon control in the country was extremely strict, and foreign forces had little chance to obtain such high-level weapons domestically.

“Gliders are tracking us in the sky,” Zhang Jiaohua suddenly looked up.

Sure enough, several gliders flew overhead. Although they seemed to be advertising, Zhang clearly saw they carried surveillance equipment and circled along the route.

“They must have chosen to attack here,” Wei Chenguang nodded and quickly pulled out an encrypted phone to issue orders, “Enemy spotted. Deploy immediately up ahead. Don’t let any enemy escape! These people are not simple—be very careful.”

Soon, Wei Chenguang’s deployed personnel reported back:

“There are several trucks hidden in the alley ahead, ready to rush out and block the road. It looks like they plan to trap Sect Leader’s car from front and back and then attack. These people are really reckless to make such a big move in Beijing. Their resources are incredible. How can they mobilize so many men and materials?” Kong Fangzhou, head of the Refining Hall, had also been dispatched, showing how short-staffed the Meishan Sect had become.

“Sect Leader, should we avoid the trap and instead lead them into our trap? That way, we can capture as many of their personnel as possible,” Wei Chenguang suggested.

Zhang Jiaohua nodded: “Absolutely. Better to be safe than sorry.”

Zhang Jiaohua’s vehicle drove slowly, giving Meishan Sect’s people enough time to fully scout the terrain. When close to the trap, the car suddenly turned onto a side street. The sudden change caught the ambushing foreign forces off guard, making them think something was wrong with Zhang Jiaohua’s group.

But they were already caught in a bind. Whether they acted or not, their exposed presence meant they could no longer hide. China’s intelligence agencies were not to be underestimated—such a commotion would soon alert them.

“Start the contingency plan!” an ominous-looking foreigner inside a plain Chinese van said without hesitation.

“Mr. Azir, this is risky. They seem to have realized everything. Maybe they’ve reported to the Chinese police. There might already be many police surrounding us. Even if we catch the target, we won’t be able to take him away,” said a blond, blue-eyed man standing nearby.

“Baron, do you think there’ll be a second chance after today? The first batch of agents failed. Our only chance now is that the Chinese can’t imagine how powerful our warriors are. But if we stop now, our operation will still be exposed. There will never be such a chance again,” Azir sneered.

Baron nodded, “I’ll notify our men.”

Because Zhang Jiaohua’s car entered a narrow alley, the large trucks Azir had prepared became useless. However, some vehicles still rushed into the alley, while others blocked the surrounding streets at various points.