Super God-Level Top Student

Li Jiangao subconsciously glanced at the box in the corner of the living room that belonged to Tan Jingrong, and thinking of how Tan had struggled to move it, he suddenly felt a bit overwhelmed.

"How many papers are in there?"

"Not many, just a hundred."

Li Jiangao: "..."

At that moment, Li Jiangao couldn't help but be flooded with the fear that once dominated him in high school, caused by endless assignments.

This guy is seriously playing for keeps!

...

"Tan Jingrong, over here."

As soon as Tan Jingrong had reached the third floor of the cafeteria, he heard Zuo Jie's enthusiastic greeting. Turning towards the voice, he saw that Zuo had already ordered and was sitting at a prime spot right across from the stair entrance, waiting for him.

Tan Jingrong hurriedly quickened his pace, went over, and sat down across from Zuo Jie.

"Why are you so late? A lot going on in the project group, huh?" Zuo Jie asked with a smile plastered on his face.

"Yeah, sort of. Li just came by, so I got held up for a bit," Tan Jingrong honestly replied.

"Li was there today? Did you ask him for me?" Zuo Jie asked earnestly.

...

Indeed, at that moment, Zuo truly regretted his actions.

The story began yesterday.

The senior brother, who hadn't popped up in the chat group for ages, suddenly dropped a bombshell without any preamble: "Tan Jingrong, you're awesome! Your paper made it to an international top-tier journal, and you're even the second author!!!"

This statement instantly shook Zuo Jie.

He knew all too well what level Tan Jingrong was at.

Not to say that he was worse, but at least they were on the same level.

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And this guy managed to be the second author on a top-tier journal paper?

Zuo initially thought the senior brother must have been mistaken.

But before he could express his doubts, the senior brother shared a link in the group chat.

When Zuo clicked on it, he found it was indeed a top-tier publication.

The corresponding author was their advisor, the first author's name was somewhat familiar, and the second author was truly Tan Jingrong; as for the third author, he hadn't heard of them.

Before he could recover from his shock, Tan Jingrong, the damn guy, posted a naive smile in the group and followed up, "Actually, Qiao Ze wrote the paper, the advisor polished it, and I was just helping out."

"Don't be modest, even just helping out and getting the second author position on such a journal is amazing. I might need to cling to your coattails in the future."

"You flatter me, senior brother."

In just a few short exchanges in the group chat, Zuo Jie felt like he was being clawed at the heart.

He quickly messaged Tan Jingrong privately, asking, "Tan Jingrong, what's the deal? You're the second author on a top-tier journal?"

"Uh... it's that project the boss called us in for last time. We got some results from the project, published the paper, and then the advisor recommended giving me the second author spot," Tan Jingrong succinctly explained.

"The project produced results so quickly? Wasn't it just the beginning of the month when we were brought in?"

"Yeah! They really work on the project fast."

As he read the chat replies, Zuo Jie almost couldn't contain himself.

He even started to feel like Li Jiangao was playing favorites.

If it was such a good project, why hadn't it been mentioned at the time?

And then there was that whole 'voluntarily decide' bit.

Zuo Jie even suspected Li Jiangao might have given Tan Jingrong a heads-up beforehand.

In his response, he couldn't help but let some sourness seep through: "Well then, congratulations to you, ah. In just over twenty days to have a top-tier publication, that's quite the score."

"Yeah, thanks. But it should be more than one paper, the research group is preparing four of them," Tan Jingrong responded without thinking too much about it.

In his mind, the papers would eventually get published, and then everyone would know about it.

There was no need to hide anything among fellow disciples.

But when Zuo Jie saw that message, he really felt like he was going to lose it.

If all four papers are published in top journals, wouldn't that be defying the heavens?

If Tan Jingrong is still the second author in all of them, then his credentials...

Almost subconsciously, Zuo Jie typed out a message: "Fuck... Tan Jingrong, you've struck it rich! Is your project team still lacking people? How about you talk to the boss for me? I've just become available recently, and I haven't settled on a topic for my graduation thesis yet. Can I join your project team for some experience?"

"Ah? But it seems we're not short of people right now. Most of the things that needed to be done in the early stages are pretty much finished."

"Just help me ask, okay? Whether it works out is another matter."

"Alright then."

After chatting on WeChat, Zuo Jie felt it wasn't safe enough. That afternoon, he took the initiative to call Tan Jingrong and asked him out for a meal, leading to the scene taking place now.

...

At this moment, faced with Zuo Jie's question, Tan Jingrong felt a bit embarrassed.

He really should have mentioned Zuo Jie to Li Jiangao that afternoon, but who would have thought he wouldn't think it through and would just repeat Qiao Ze's original words, making it awkward for both of them.

Now, all he could do was shake his head and say, "This afternoon, the boss went directly to Qiao... to Qiao Ze. The two of them had some important matters to discuss, and it wasn't appropriate for me to butt in."

"Ah?" Hearing this, Zuo Jie felt somewhat disappointed and half-jokingly said, "Bro Tan, you're not worried about me going there and taking away your second author positions, are you?"

Tan Jingrong immediately shook his head like a rattle-drum: "No, no, I'll be honest with you, even being in the research group makes me feel embarrassed. I haven't done much but have gotten so many second author positions, it feels quite unsettling."

Zuo Jie snickered in his heart, not believing a word, thinking that this guy was just being pretentious. Of course, he had to remain courteous on the surface, even flattering: "Bro Tan, if you put it like that, you're being too modest. Who else knows what I know? Every time I look for you, you say you're busy. How can someone who works so hard say they haven't done much?"

"I really have been busy, but the things I've done don't really involve much skill, anyone could do them... Ah, let's not talk about that. Don't worry, I'll definitely mention it to the boss next time there's a chance," Tan Jingrong shook his head.

Actually, he didn't want to talk much about the project team either, because he genuinely felt his contribution wasn't significant.

Even though Qiao Ze has always been appreciative of his work.

In the project team, no one else had taken the initiative to collect and archive all the data every day and make extremely detailed summaries of all the daily reports every week.

Qiao Ze had the ability but not the leisure to care about it.

Chen Yiwen might be willing to do it, but she lacked the skill in this area.

There's no need to mention Su Mucheng.

Li Jiangao had a bunch of external affairs to handle.

So in a way, Tan Jingrong really was the backbone of the research group.

Although he was indeed replaceable, there weren't many who could settle down and handle these trivial matters thoroughly before the project's success.

"Alright, I'll wait for the good news from Bro Tan. Let's not talk about this anymore, let's eat. Oh, are we drinking something today?"

"No, no, I have to go back to the research group later tonight, and it's not good to have the smell of alcohol on me."

"Then let's just eat, come, let me serve you some rice." Zuo Jie said enthusiastically.

"By the way, what exactly is your project about?"

"Hmm, it's in the papers, haven't you read them?"

"Uh... I've been busy these last few days, I've only glanced over, I think it said..."

The sound of "whoosh" interrupted Zuo Jie's words.

Zuo Jie looked at Tan Jingrong with suspicion.

Tan Jingrong also took out his own phone, and as soon as he unlocked it, he saw a new message in his X-Pay treasure.

After opening it and taking a glance, he was bewildered.

What's going on?

An enterprise X-Pay treasure account named Licheng Software transferred 660,000 to him?

Zuo Jie, who had already leaned in, exclaimed subconsciously: "Fuck, Old Tan, what did you do? Is that 60,000... no, wait, 660,000?"

"I don't know? This... Maybe it's a mistake? I've never even heard of this company!" Tan Jingrong said, baffled.

For an honest person, receiving such a huge sum of money all at once was stupefying.

Luckily, at the next moment, WeChat pinged. He opened it and saw a message from Su Mucheng.

"Bro Tan, the transfer from Licheng Software just now is a bonus from our project team's successful research, a neat 660,000. Please receive it with confidence. We used my dad's company's X-Pay treasure account due to taxes and daily transfer limits. Wishing Bro Tan a smooth academic journey and a soaring future."

"Holy shit! Your research group gives out bonuses of 660,000?"

At this moment, not only was Tan Jingrong stunned, but Zuo Jie was as well.

Seriously, seeing a peer get a bonus of 660,000 made him feel a thousand times worse than if he had lost 660,000 himself.