Chapter 86

The written test went very smoothly. Although Ji Zhixing handled everything from setting the test paper to grading it by himself, after a long period of study and practice, such a large workload only took up one working day of his time.

However, the interview process took him two whole days, because there were more than 200 people who passed the written test.

After a grueling interview process with 216 candidates, Ji Zhixing felt a long-lost sense of mental exhaustion. He politely declined the principal's invitation to a banquet, but before he could even leave the school gate, he was stopped.

"Mr. Ji! I would like to ask you what your selection criteria are!"

“Of course, it’s ability.” Ji Zhixing recognized him at a glance; this was Luo Bei, the 18th interviewee that afternoon, whom he had eliminated on the spot.

“That’s strange. I studied at the University of Chicago for seven years but failed to get in, while some people who only graduated from third-rate 985 universities in China…” Luo Bei glanced to the side indignantly, “but still have the opportunity to wait for notification.”

Ji Zhixing followed his gaze and glanced to the side, where stood Yi Yan, the last interviewee of the afternoon.

“Educational experience can certainly explain some things, but it doesn’t represent everything,” Ji Zhixing said.

Although the average interview time was only 5 minutes, he was certain that Yi Yan's research ability far surpassed Luo Bei's. The reason Luo Bei was rejected on the spot was because his personality flaws were too obvious. First, he was extremely arrogant. Actually, if that were all, it wouldn't be so bad; he considered himself to have a tolerant heart. But the biggest problem was that Luo Bei's abilities were mediocre, yet he excessively boasted about his "overseas PhD" status. In every three sentences he spoke, two or three would mention his seven years of study abroad, while also taking a dig at domestic universities.

Ji Zhixing had long disliked the prevailing trend in China of praising "foreign PhDs" and belittling "domestic PhDs." Yenching University had quite a few both domestic and foreign PhDs, and after spending some time there, he felt this even more acutely. For example, Yu Zhuli, due to the limitations of his domestic PhD status, only held the position of assistant professor when he joined Yenching University, while a foreign PhD who was recruited at the same time as him, whose abilities were far inferior to his, was directly appointed as an associate professor.

Now that he's the boss, he naturally can't judge people based on whether they have a domestic or foreign degree. Those who passed the first round of interviews included both domestic and foreign graduates; the only reason they passed was because their abilities met his requirements, and it had no direct relation to whether they had a domestic or foreign degree.

Luo Bei left indignantly, but Ji Zhixing didn't take it to heart. He had to rush back to the research institute to inspect the experimental equipment that had just arrived that day.

Yi Yan, who was not far away, watched Ji Zhixing leave, feeling a mix of emotions. After more than a decade of ups and downs in the workplace, he had finally obtained the fairness he wanted.

He and Luo Bei were actually high school classmates, which is why Luo Bei was so dissatisfied. After all, he would show off everything he did abroad on his WeChat Moments almost every day, and regard his classmates in China as losers.

There's no point in arguing with such people, but he couldn't ignore the employer's attitude and treatment. What could he do? The idea that "outsiders are always better at explaining" is deeply ingrained in some places. He had thought he'd spend his life groveling, but after hearing that the Zhixing Research Institute had offered Yu Zhuli a million-yuan annual salary, his resigned heart wavered. And then, he truly received the fairness he had always dreamed of.

Yi Yan felt that even if he didn't make it in the end, it would be worth the long journey.

After another round of interviews, Ji Zhixing considered factors such as major, research experience, personal abilities, and temperament, and selected 10 candidates he believed were the most suitable for the vacuum energy project. He then sent offer letters to each of them. Afterwards, the office handled the onboarding, social security, medical insurance, and housing provident fund transfers.

The onboarding process was quick; the 10 new researchers officially started their jobs on the third day after the acceptance letters were sent out, but that didn’t mean they could start experiments immediately.

Ji Zhixing subdivided the experiment into several fields according to the needs of the experiment, and assigned them to individuals according to their professional expertise. He required everyone to thoroughly study the literature in their respective fields, conduct analysis and summarization, and complete the theoretical accumulation.

At first, everyone except Deng Yi thought the task was quite easy, but gradually, everyone felt the pressure.

"How much did you read last week?" Shan Yan asked, leaning closer to Deng Yi.

Deng glanced at him: "Less than 100,000 words." Now everyone loves to come to him for comfort.

Sure enough, as soon as he said that, his colleagues waiting in the seminar room for the meeting breathed a sigh of relief, thankfully they weren't at the bottom.

In fact, Ji Zhixing did not impose a mandatory requirement on how many papers everyone had to read per week to meet the standard, but he himself could read 3 papers a day and write a 10,000-word analysis report on the side. How could his subordinates have the nerve to read only 1 paper every 3 days?

Therefore, although Ji Zhixing did not wield a whip to hasten death, the power of example was like an invisible whip, urging everyone not to slack off in the slightest.

Deng Zhi was in a similar situation, but compared to his new colleagues, he was much more relaxed and didn't feel too much pressure because of Ji Zhixing's inhuman efficiency. His experience doing research in the same group at Yenching University made him deeply aware that there was an insurmountable gap between him and Ji Zhixing.

When researching photonic chips, Ji Zhixing's data output speed completely outpaced everyone else, even surpassing the speed at which the professors analyzed the data. Collaborating with such a prodigious researcher was exhilarating, but also incredibly exhausting. Everyone's research threshold, including the professors', was raised to an unprecedented level by him.

In the latter half of the experiment, it was entirely him urging the teacher not to slack off and to take the research seriously. Deng Zhi could honestly say that after Ji Zhixing left, the teacher definitely breathed a sigh of relief—his old bones couldn't take it anymore.

Their lab has a tradition where every student, upon graduation, must compile and burn their years' worth of experimental data, literature reviews, and dissertations onto CDs for archiving. Generally, one CD is sufficient for a master's degree, while doctoral students typically require two or three. However, Ji Zhixing burned a whopping 18 CDs…

Therefore, when outsiders wondered why Ji Zhixing could achieve so much at such a young age, Deng Chi felt it was perfectly natural—the astonishing amount of reading led to a qualitative change.

That's why Deng Zhi was so open-minded. He believed that as long as he did his best, that was enough. Taking Ji Zhixing as a role model was just asking for trouble.

However, due to their different experiences, others could not be as composed as Deng Yi, and they all tried to read a few more words before the weekly seminar began.

When Ji Zhixing pushed open the door, he saw this group of people engrossed in their studies. He smiled with satisfaction and said, "Let's start the meeting."

The seminar agenda remained the same: each person would take turns speaking, summarizing what they had learned the previous week, including their reading insights and inspirations.

The first person to speak was Yi Yan.

"My main focus is on finding a nuclear explanation for 'cold fusion,' but most theories suggest that 'cold fusion' doesn't involve analyzing the microstructure of the electrodes and is merely a bulk effect, so I've encountered significant theoretical resistance..."

Ji Zhixing said without hesitation, "Research on 'cold fusion' should focus more on the torsion field mechanism, using the tip effect of the electrodes as a breakthrough to analyze electrochemical anomalies..."

As he spoke, he pulled out a pen and quickly wrote down a few titles of documents: "You can read these next week."

Yi Yan took the paper and returned to his seat, sighing inwardly: "It's happening again." The seminar had been held five or six times already, with everyone studying different areas. But no matter who spoke, Ji Zhixing always provided constructive guidance.

Yi Yan looked ahead and saw Ji Zhixing giving Shan Yan some pointers.

"According to the second law of thermodynamics, because the absolute pressure of a vacuum is close to 0, it will try to fill the empty space. This is where we can interfere with and collect vacuum energy..."

In fact, at the beginning, a few people were still observing the prospects of the project and testing Ji Zhixing's abilities. But after one seminar after another, everyone was convinced of his abilities, and their attitude towards the vacuum energy project changed from initial indifference and skepticism to now being eager to try it out.

Ultimately, animal instincts dictate that humans naturally admire strength. In academia, research ability is paramount and the most revered quality.

By the end of the meeting, all the researchers' loyalty to Ji Zhixing had increased significantly. Even if someone offered them a higher salary to poach them now, it would likely be difficult to sway them to follow Ji Zhixing.

Ji Zhixing, who had never paid much attention to personnel relations, also felt this cohesive force. He thought to himself, "Popular support" is usable, it's time to start the experiment.

In fact, theoretical accumulation and experimental research are two complementary aspects. The reason why he has focused more on theoretical accumulation in the past month or so is that he must ensure that everyone involved in the experimental research has confidence in the project.

At the onboarding meeting, when he announced that his research project was in vacuum energy, he observed everyone's reactions. To be honest, they weren't optimistic.

Often, mindset determines everything. If even the researchers themselves don't believe in the existence of vacuum energy, and don't believe they can find a way to utilize it through their own efforts, then doing any amount of experimentation will be in vain.

Now, after more than a month of study, everyone's mental state is completely different. Therefore, the experiment can begin.

Drawing on his previous experience in Professor Yan's and Professor Gao Xiao's labs, Ji Zhixing divided the work into small groups. He led a group consisting of Yu Zhuli and Deng Yi, while the 10 newcomers were divided into two groups. One group was led by Yi Yan, and the other by Lin Yujing.

He had carefully considered the composition of these two groups. Each group consisted of five people: some with strong practical skills, some with a solid theoretical foundation, some with flexible thinking, some with a steady and measured approach, and some who were lively and optimistic and could enliven the group atmosphere. Such a group of five people formed a relatively stable pentagon, without any obvious weaknesses.

After the groups were divided, Ji Zhixing assigned specific experimental tasks to each group, and the vacuum energy experiment officially began.

A note from the author:

The description of "cold fusion" in this chapter references "An Introduction to the New Energy Potential of Natural Oxygen Nucleus Cold Fission and Cold Fusion".