Chapter 56
With the research on the zero-gravity seat coming to an end and the papers on the Navier-Stokes equations completed and submitted, Ji Zhixing finally had long stretches of free time, which he mostly used to complete the learning tasks within the system.
It took him one month to advance from level one to level two, and four months to advance from level two to level three. Now, twelve months have passed since the level three quest began, and he still hasn't completed it.
After all, there have been so many things happening this past year. Now that I have some free time, I should definitely make the most of it to finish the remaining study tasks and move on to the next stage.
When Ji Zhixing returned to his dormitory from the library, he saw Lin Lang and Xu Dongyang both looking worried in front of their computer screens.
"What happened?" Ji Zhixing asked.
"Take a look," Xu Dongyang said, turning the screen towards Ji Zhixing. "Suddenly, a lot of articles have appeared online claiming to expose the 'zero gravity' scam."
Many websites were displayed on the screen, one after another, and Ji Zhixing moved the mouse to click on them one by one.
"Zero Gravity," "Infrared Rays," "Magnetic Therapy"... Debunking Health Product Scams
The Zero Gravity Scam: Criminals Exaggerate and Deceptively Sell for Profit
"A Guide for Seniors to Avoid Scams: Recognizing 4 Common Health Product Scams—Zero Gravity…"
A True Account of the Crash of a Major Health Product Scam! Unveiling the Legendary "Zero Gravity" Technology
Exposing the Latest Zero Gravity Health Product Scam! Beware if you have elderly family members!
Without exception, these articles all link the concepts of "zero gravity" and "hoax".
Ji Zhixing opened the search bar and entered the three words "zero gravity". The first few pages were all articles exposing various "zero gravity" scams.
Something's not right!
Last year, when he was planning to use a zero-gravity seat as his CUPT competition project, he did some research to avoid competing with other commercial products. He remembers that at that time, the concept of "zero gravity" was basically associated with terms like physics, intelligence, and space.
In just one year, "zero gravity" has been so stigmatized. Is this the media chasing trends, or is it a deliberate design? Ji Zhixing had a guess in his mind.
“I’ve investigated,” Lin Lang said with a stern face. “These articles were all published recently, and many of them are authorized by high-tech chair manufacturing companies.”
Just as expected! Ji Zhixing thought, driven by profit-seeking nature, competition among peers is inevitable given the limited market share. And once the zero-gravity chair hits the market, it will inevitably squeeze out a large share of the market, perhaps even taking away the biggest piece of the pie.
Since winning first prize in the competition, countless companies have paid attention to this project, and many companies that manufacture seats were interested in purchasing the patent rights for the zero-gravity seat.
After they decided to start their own business on this project, those other companies were mostly observing. It wasn't until they actually developed and designed the zero-gravity seat that those other companies couldn't sit still anymore, which is why they targeted the core concept of "zero gravity" before the zero-gravity seat was officially launched on the market.
Xu Dongyang asked, "Should we prioritize our publicity efforts?"
For a company, especially a new company, publicity is of paramount importance! Publicity expenses constitute a very large portion of the total expenditure.
For example, advertising and promotion expenses for movies and TV series often account for 1/4 to 1/2 of the total investment in film and television; among car companies, SAIC Motor took an example, with advertising and promotion expenses reaching 4.743 billion yuan last year.
In this era where even the best products need advertising, there are countless similar products on the market, and without advertising, it's impossible to win over consumers' hearts and wallets.
Therefore, Xu Dongyang is setting up a professional advertising department to be responsible for publicity and promotion.
At this stage, the zero-gravity seat has only just completed its exterior design, and he has only just finished dealing with the Series A funding.
The original plan was to start advertising after the factory was built and production began. However, if competitors are allowed to instill the concept of "zero gravity = scam" in the minds of consumers, it will be very difficult to regain a positive image later!
However, starting the publicity campaign so early will inevitably cost them a lot more in advertising expenses.
Xu Dongyang and Lin Lang were just worrying because they were weighing the cost-effectiveness and return on investment of the current promotion, and the conclusion was far from ideal.
Ji Zhixing had already browsed several articles. Some of these articles only scratched the surface of the criticism of "zero gravity" without explaining any specific principles. Such articles were not worth worrying about.
Some articles clearly showed considerable effort, even mentioning the history and limitations of the "NS equations," and these articles obviously received more clicks. Judging from the comments, they did indeed influence many people's views on the concept of "zero gravity."
But...
Ji Zhixing said, "Let's wait another month or two and see. If all goes well, the media will naturally help us with free publicity."
Judging by the timeline, at least one or two of his eight submitted papers should be published in a month or two. Whichever one it is, it will certainly cause a stir in the academic community.
From an academic perspective, official media outlets like state media will certainly not overlook this positive material. Meanwhile, independent media, always adept at chasing trending topics, will naturally publish numerous news articles on it.
That will be a great opportunity to take advantage of the media and get free publicity, and these rumors will naturally fall apart on their own!
Even if publishing the paper doesn't go smoothly, delaying the publicity campaign by a month or two won't have a significant impact. By then, the production line will probably have just been built.
Lin Lang and Xu Dongyang were also aware of Ji Zhixing's remarkable achievement of publishing numerous papers. Although his paper had been rejected once before, both Lin Lang and Xu Dongyang agreed that the editor was simply blind! Although they couldn't actually understand the content of the papers, after a year or two of subtle influence, they had developed unparalleled confidence in Ji Zhixing! Hearing Ji Zhixing say this, they put aside their worries and waited patiently for the opportunity for free publicity.
Editorial Department of the Yearbook of Mathematics
The typeset editor, Carl, couldn't wait any longer. He had submitted the "Annals of Mathematics," which was to be published this month, to the editor-in-chief's office a week ago, but two days had already passed since the printing deadline, and the editor-in-chief still hadn't sent back the printing permit.
Carl knocked on the editor-in-chief's office door: "Mr. Herbert, perhaps you've forgotten something?"
“No, no, no, Carl, I haven’t succumbed to Alzheimer’s yet,” Herbert said, taking off his glasses. “But be patient, wait a little longer.”
Carl raised an eyebrow, sensing Herbert's suppressed excitement: "Perhaps I know what we're waiting for?"
Herbert sighed from the bottom of his heart: "Waiting for a miracle!"
As a cautious editor, he couldn't utter the words "NS equation" before Louis sent back the peer review comments, lest he cause an unnecessary blunder.
"A miracle? Wow!" Carl thought to himself, what kind of miracle could it be? He couldn't help but recall a familiar experience.
The last time the "Annals of Mathematics" was delayed in printing was nine years ago, when a paper by Chinese-American mathematician Yitang Zhang entitled "Bounded Distances Between Primes" appeared before the academic editors, causing a stir in the entire editorial office.
This paper proves a weakened form of the twin prime conjecture.
The twin prime conjecture is a five-star major conjecture, a puzzle that has captivated mathematicians for over a century. This paper undoubtedly represents a revolutionary step forward in proving this famous conjecture.
At that time, Editor-in-Chief Herbert urgently halted the printing work and waited for external reviewers to evaluate the manuscript.
After receiving the reviewer's comment that "this research is first-rate and the authors have successfully proved a landmark theorem on the distribution of prime numbers," he worked overtime to get this great paper into the journal that month's "Annals of Mathematics" for re-typesetting before restarting the printing and publication process.
And this time... what are they waiting for? Which major mathematical puzzle has been solved? Karl thought to himself as he closed the editor-in-chief's office door.
"Karl! Come back!" Herbert's high-pitched, almost raspy shout came from behind the door.
Startled, Karl turned around and had just grasped the doorknob when the door was violently yanked open. He was thrown forward by the doorknob, bumping into Herbert behind the door and causing him to stumble.
56-year-old Herbert regained his footing before 39-year-old Karl. He gripped Karl's shoulders tightly, his excitement almost rejuvenating: "Louis has sent back the peer review comments—we have obtained the general solution to the Navier-Stokes equations!!"
Herbert's roar spread to every corner of the editorial office.
The doors to the editors' offices were opened one by one.
"Mr. Herbert, were you referring to the Navier-Stokes equations just now?"
"Is this Mr. Lewis from Princeton University?"
"Is it a general solution? Are you sure it's a general solution?!"
...
Editorial Department of the Journal of Mathematics.
"Typesetting and printing? Well, you might remember that the fourth quarter issue was just released last week."
"Doesn't 'Proving the Smoothness of Solutions to Navier-Stokes Equations' deserve a special issue of its own?!"
"What! The smoothness of the solution to the Navier-Stokes equations?!"
...
Editorial office of the Journal of the American Mathematical Society.
"Please, dear editor-in-chief! I'm about to take a vacation, and the next issue's layout work isn't until January!"
"Okay, you can take a vacation if you're willing to miss out on 'Exact Solutions and Applications of the Navier-Stokes Equations at the Microscopic Level'."
"An exact solution?! Let me see it!!"
...
Editorial Department of "New Advances in Mathematics"
Editor-in-Chief Balk has been frantically searching through the submission email address all day, and nothing! He's been searching from last year to this year, and still nothing!
Why isn't it there?!
As one of the four world-class mathematics journals, and the editor-in-chief of New Advances in Mathematics, Balk would naturally keep a close eye on the developments of his colleagues.
He had, of course, heard about the unusual occurrences in the other three journals in the past few days.
The Yearbook of Mathematics delayed delivering the new issue to the printing press by two days and unusually expanded its pages.
After just publishing its last issue of the year, the Journal of Mathematics has temporarily instructed the printing press to print a special edition for a single paper.
The Journal of the American Mathematical Society urgently sent the next quarter's issue to the printing press ahead of schedule.
He inquired at various printing plants and found out that the unusual situation at the three printing plants was all because of the same person's paper, and that the three papers all had a common theme: the Navier-Stokes equation!
This is not an application of the Navier-Stokes equations, nor is it an approximate solution based on various constraints; it verifies the existence and smoothness of solutions to the Navier-Stokes equations! Moreover, it's a general solution! It's an exact solution!
What a magnificent mathematical achievement!
But why did Ji Zhixing, the author of these papers, miss "New Advances in Mathematics" when they were all published in the four top mathematics journals?
His prolific publication of papers reveals just how excited and eager this young man is; he certainly wants the world to see this landmark research as soon as possible.
Of course, this is completely understandable. Even if it were the mathematical master Lewis, after solving the Navier-Stokes equations, he could not have been more composed than him.
But why didn't he choose "Recent Advances in Mathematics," which has the most issues and the fastest updates? That doesn't make sense!
"Does anyone know why?" At the editorial meeting the following day, Balk was still frowning.
The reason why "Advances in Mathematics" is considered a top journal is because it is dedicated to publishing groundbreaking and important results in various fields of mathematics.
The solution to the Navier-Stokes equations is a major event in the global academic community, with three of the four major mathematics journals participating in the effort. However, they were excluded, which has an extremely negative impact on the status, influence, and academic reputation of "New Advances in Mathematics".
Balk tossed and turned all night, unable to sleep. He had only taken the position of editor-in-chief at the beginning of this year, and he absolutely could not allow "New Advances in Mathematics" to regress in his hands.
Faced with the silent editors, Balk asked, "Does any of you know this Mr. Ji Zhixing? Or do you have his contact information?"
“Ji Zhixing?” Mike, the technical editor, read the name aloud. “I feel like I’ve seen this name somewhere before.”
He pressed his forehead, searching his memory, but could only come up with vague and blurry impressions.
Balk leaned forward and reminded him, "He's a university student from China." That was all the information he had gathered from the printing plant.
This sentence made Edmund, who had been idly fiddling with his pen, shudder. The three keywords, "NS equation," "college student," and "China," gave him a less than pleasant association.
No, no, no! He's overthinking it, it's impossible...
Academic editor Alice suggested to Mike, "Could it be that this young man submitted a paper to us before, and it just happened to be assigned to your email address?"
While Mike was still thinking, Barker shook his head, denying the possibility: "No! I've looked through all the manuscripts in the submission email, and that name doesn't exist."
He spent the entire day yesterday checking his emails, and his eyes are still quite uncomfortable.
"Have you read the rejected parts?" Alice asked.
Balk sighed, "Spare me, Alice. Who here is stupid enough to refuse a manuscript that solves the Navier-Stokes equations?"
Snickers echoed through the conference room one after another.
Edmund slung his entire back into the chair, crossing his arms to hide his trembling hands. He exhaled slowly, telling himself: Edmund, calm down! This is just a coincidence! China has so many talented people; isn't it normal for several university students to be researching the Navier-Stokes equations? So, it must be another university student! Another manuscript!
"I remember now! I did read Ji Zhixing's paper!" Mike exclaimed, slapping his forehead. "Just this Monday!"
When he saw the Navier-Stokes equation in the title, he specifically clicked on the contributor's information to see if he was a mathematical master like Lewis, but when he saw that he was just an unknown young man, he didn't pay any attention to it.
Balk's eyes widened, his blond hair practically standing on end: "Did you get his paper approved?"
“Of course!” Mike quickly raised his hands to show his innocence, speaking faster than ever before. “His paper was formatted perfectly, and I sent it to the academic editor’s email on Monday.”
The exact time, "Monday," stung Edmund's already clenched heart. He began nervously fidgeting with his fingers, sweat beading on his forehead and trickling down his neck and into his clothes.
"Then! I'd like to ask, which academic editor here received this paper?" Balk's tone grew louder and louder, filled with barely suppressed anger.
The facts are clear and obvious: Ji Zhixing did indeed submit a manuscript to "New Advances in Mathematics," but it was rejected by some idiot!
Of course, it's also possible that his paper simply lacks sufficient academic value. However, given that the other three top mathematics journals made exceptions for his other three papers, what are the chances that this particular paper is the only one without academic value? Extremely low!
Alice leisurely admired her nails, then scoffed coolly, "What an idiot."
"Who is it!" Balk roared, his raging anger making him look like a furious lion, as if he would pounce on that stupid academic editor and bite his throat the moment he caught him!
Edmund swallowed hard; he was gasping for breath. No! He couldn't admit it! Absolutely not! This was a serious mistake! Serious enough to cost him his respectable job!
Even though Edmund pretended to be nonchalant and even deleted the record from his email immediately after the meeting, Balk still managed to find the paper in the technical editor's email.
He personally reviewed the rejected paper again. Although he didn't have time to verify the calculations carefully, the paper's basic logic was sound. Based on Ji Zhixing's other three papers, it can be preliminarily inferred that this one will also be without major problems.
Upon seeing the assignment log in his email, Balk rushed to Edmund's office.
Edmund was so startled by Balk's sudden entrance that he nearly jumped out of his chair. Just as he was about to say something to cover it up, Balk began to clap.
"Genius!" Balk clapped his hands and walked around Edmund a few steps, laughing angrily. "I only found out today that 'New Advances in Mathematics' hides such a genius, who can even utterly disdain a paper that solves the Navier-Stokes equations!"
Edmund knew that further arguing was useless, so he looked at Balk pleadingly: "I can fix it! Really! I'm sure I can fix it!"
He frantically opened his email recycle bin, restored the paper, and clicked on the author's information: "I'll call Ji Zhixing right now and tell him the paper has been accepted!"
Edmund didn't wait for Balk's agreement before hurriedly making the call; this was his last chance to keep his job!
Ji Zhixing hung up another call, frowning as he said, "Which company sold my phone number? I'm getting so many spam calls."
Lin Lang leaned closer to take a look: "It's the same number, could something really have happened?"
Ji Zhixing dismissed it: "Look, it's an overseas call, it's definitely a scam."
With stricter enforcement in China these days, many fraudulent companies have moved to neighboring small countries or set up their servers overseas.
Xu Dongyang considered a possibility: "Didn't you submit your work to several journals? Could it be a call from an editor?"
“Editors usually send emails, they don’t call directly,” Ji Zhixing said with a laugh. “Besides, I’ve already signed authorization agreements with those seven journals, and the editors of all seven have notified me that they will publish it as soon as possible.”
"Really? That's great!" Lin Lang and Xu Dongyang cheered, partly for Ji Zhixing and partly for Zero Gravity Company.
To have a paper accepted by seven world-class journals in one go—such a feat may not be unprecedented, but it's certainly unparalleled! Moreover, the paper's topic is the Millennium Problem, the Navier-Stokes equations. It's obvious the media will be scrambling to report this news!
Ji Zhixing was also very happy. Compared to the unpleasant experience last time, this time the submissions to seven foreign journals went very smoothly. He originally thought it would take at least three weeks, especially since the review process for the "Annals of Mathematics" was notoriously slow.
He recalled the paper that shocked the academic world nine years ago, proving a weakened form of the twin prime conjecture. It took only three weeks from submission to approval, which is already the fastest record in the more than 140-year history of the Annals of Mathematics.
Generally speaking, the manuscripts published in the Yearbook of Mathematics take an average of 24 months from submission to receipt, and some manuscripts have even undergone a review process that takes as long as 5 and a half years.
Therefore, even with a letter of recommendation, Ji Zhixing was still mentally prepared to wait patiently.
However, to his surprise, he saw "Under-Review" the day after submitting his manuscript, and received "ept" notification four days later, all in less than a week. Other journals were at a similar pace, which delighted him.
After hanging up on several more harassing calls, Ji Zhixing received a new email in his mobile inbox.
He opened it and saw that it was from the email address of the editor-in-chief of "New Advances in Mathematics".
He had a pretty good idea of what the email was about. He opened it, and sure enough, it was an apology for a careless academic editor, covering previous review errors and the recent harassing phone call.
So the phone call just now really was from the editor. Ji Zhixing scrolled down and saw an authorization agreement waiting for his signature.
Even though the editor-in-chief's apology seemed genuinely sincere and stated that the foolish academic editor had been fired, Ji Zhixing still wrote an email to the editor-in-chief rejecting his apology.
He has already submitted the manuscript to "Chinese Science" and is neither able nor willing to authorize it to "New Advances in Mathematics".
A note from the author:
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