Chapter 59: Ambers of the Long Night (15)
The boy lying on the hospital bed looked pale and frail, but his eyes were bright — like a blade of grass that had weathered storms yet refused to yield, radiating an unyielding vitality.
For a moment, Zhen Ding felt a pang of guilt for ever suspecting they were putting on an act. After all, for someone so young to have mastered so many fields of study was beyond belief. If such a person really existed, he should’ve long been recognized as a prodigy, raised under top-tier care, and destined to be a national treasure.
Then again, perhaps his condition was truly incurable — so severe that even the super-intelligent system had written him off as someone whose body would never recover. And in this world, after all, the system didn’t waste resources on those deemed “useless.”
Zhen Ding steadied his thoughts and unconsciously softened his gaze. Taking the boy’s fragile condition into account, he avoided any overly complex questions, asking only about the unfinished section on the research board.
Tang Mobai quietly exhaled in relief — thankfully, it was one he’d memorized. Without needing a system prompt, he answered smoothly and naturally. Fletcher’s question, too, was about one of his unfinished ideas, and Tang Mobai replied fluently to each one.
When they were done, before the two professors could continue, Tang Mobai took the initiative:
“I’ve read your paper, Dr. Zhen. I was fascinated by the curve reconstruction method of ultra-weak fiber Bragg gratings you mentioned in Optoelectronic Fiber Sensing. But after reading it, I had a few questions. May I ask?”
Zhen Ding blinked, surprised. He hadn’t expected the young man to have read his work — but his entry point was sharp, professional, and genuinely curious. “Go ahead.”
“You wrote that ultra-weak FBGs not only inherit the advantages of traditional FBG sensors but also exceed them in multiplexing and mechanical performance. However, I noticed your reconstruction algorithm relies on slope iteration and coordinate transformation for planar curves, as well as orthogonal and tri-core curvature reconstruction for spatial curves. Don’t you worry about the resulting error margins?”
Ultra-weak fiber optics existed in the real world too — a hot topic in imaging and detection — but certain technical issues remained unresolved. If breakthroughs could be made, it would mark a leap forward in surveillance and recognition technologies. In C-Nation, surveillance density already exceeded any other nation — one of the reasons the crime rate was among the world’s lowest. Yet even with that, under the looming threat of Lost Paradise, people still felt unsafe. If demons could appear anywhere at any time, then domestic surveillance systems had to evolve even faster.
Zhen Ding hesitated, clearly taken aback. The boy’s insight was precise — this wasn’t idle talk but deep study. “Of course I accounted for that,” he replied carefully after a pause. “I built a GFRP-UWFBG optical simulation model in ANSYS to simulate and calibrate the temperature and strain characteristics of the fiber cable…”
Tang Mobai nodded thoughtfully, then followed up with further detailed questions about the data. His familiarity with the subject was so thorough that Zhen Ding almost forgot he was speaking to a bedridden youth — it felt more like an exchange between peers at a research conference.
Before Zhen Ding had finished thinking, Tang Mobai had already turned to Fletcher, “Professor Fletcher, I’ve admired your work for a long time — especially your paper on graphene materials. The way you proposed using proton currents to perform logic operations by switching between conductive and insulating states was ingenious! But I also had a few questions about…”
Like Zhen Ding, Fletcher soon realized just how sharp Tang Mobai’s mind was. There was nothing “amateur” about him — quite the opposite, his observations were so incisive that Fletcher felt humbled. Without noticing, his tone shifted from that of an examiner to that of an equal.
Meanwhile, the audience in the livestream was stunned.
[Wait— what the hell, he’s that good??]
[Can we report this as cheating?? Seriously, this is too much.]
[Even those flirty “lust route” players don’t get this kind of VIP treatment! This guy’s being spoon-fed by actual geniuses! I’m jealous.]
[Hey, remember— he did help take down the Merchant Association. Maybe that’s why he’s got that kind of backing.]
[Right, stop acting like he’s just leeching off someone.]
[He literally risked his life to clear the revival match and brought alchemy to the upper zones. You think some random newbie would dare to do that without a plan? That was all part of the big guy’s strategy!]
[Yeah, remember the bomb incident? The sudden “fasting state” upgrade overnight? Definitely coordinated.]
[Feels like an internal rebellion against the Merchant Association’s monopoly…]
[I don’t care about the politics — aren’t he and the big boss kind of perfect together?]
[Exactly. The boss can’t come down from Hell’s upper levels, but still protects him in secret. Meanwhile, the streamer keeps choosing to fight anyway. It’s so romantic.]
[Oh no, I’m actually shipping them now.]
[It’s mutual devotion!!]
[I’m crying.]
When Tang Mobai hit his ten-bullet-comment limit, Fletcher was just about to continue when the boy suddenly bent over, coughing violently. Seth instantly moved to pat his back, alarmed, “Hey— breathe, breathe! Don’t push yourself! Everyone, out!”
The abrupt interruption left the scholars stunned, but seeing Tang Mobai’s severe coughing, they quickly filed out. Zhen Ding frowned at the closed door, guilt in his eyes, “It’s my fault — I got carried away and forgot about his condition.”
“You’re not alone,” Fletcher sighed. “I did too.” He turned apologetically to Yan Wuzhen and the others. “I’m truly sorry.”
After that discussion, all doubt about Tang Mobai’s brilliance was gone. A true polymath — not just broadly knowledgeable, but profoundly skilled. His depth of understanding made it hard to believe he worked alone. If they hadn’t seen it with their own eyes, they’d have thought he had a full research team behind him.
To have such insight without ever entering a proper lab — it was beyond genius. By the end, Fletcher almost saw him as something inhuman: a creature born for science.
Honestly, when the coughing fit forced them to stop, Fletcher felt a flicker of relief. The world, it seemed, still had a sense of balance — heaven gave him brilliance, but took away his health.
Even so, regret lingered. Such talent… wasted by fate.
“I meant what I said earlier,” Fletcher added earnestly. “With his ability, he could graduate under me in no time. I can arrange for him to stay on as a lecturer — fast-track to associate professor after his first major paper. I’ll personally handle all his medical care, hire an assistant and a doctor for daily support.”
Yan Wuzhen kept a straight face — neither agreeing nor rejecting. “His condition’s not good. That’s enough for today. Whatever you have to say, come back tomorrow.”
Seeing that they wouldn’t budge, Fletcher and Zhen Ding left their contact info and departed reluctantly. “We’ll be back tomorrow.”
Only after they’d seen the professors leave the hotel grounds did Yan Wuzhen and Emmanuel reopen the door. Seth was still gently patting Tang Mobai’s back.
“That’s enough. They’re gone,” Yan Wuzhen said dryly. “You can stop pretending now.”
At that, Tang Mobai finally stopped coughing, grabbed the water Seth handed over, and chugged it down. “I almost choked myself to death acting like that. Exhausting.”
Emmanuel, who had long suspected something, finally asked, “So… it wasn’t you answering those questions, was it?”
“Nope.”
Yan Wuzhen sensed something was off, but it was too late. Tang Mobai lifted his head, not the least bit embarrassed — instead, his face glowed with pride. The pale makeup was streaked by water, his cheeks now flushed by the sunset filtering through the window. He looked radiant.
“It was my lover,” he said, voice brimming with excitement. “They were helping me through the livestream — giving me hints, supporting me. That’s how I pulled it off.”
Bright, proud, and utterly lovestruck — like someone desperate to tell the whole world how amazing their partner was.
“Pretty awesome, right? They’re incredible!”
At that moment, Emmanuel could clearly hear his own heartbeat thundering in his chest.
Thank you for reading 🙂 I hope you all liked my translations. If you enjoyed my work, please consider buying me a Ko-Fi 😉
