Super God-Level Top Student

If it weren't for Su Mucheng's subtle influence over the past year, and the little bridge she built in Qiao Ze's heart to understand others, he probably would have deemed the performance of these few people as hopelessly stupid and simply given up on them.

Now Qiao Ze felt that if these five guys found the right method, they might still be salvageable.

Finally, after at least two minutes of silence, Qiao Ze spoke up, "Let's call it a day for today's group meeting. This week's task is to complete all your unfinished tasks and submit them."

Upon hearing this, all five people heaved a sigh of relief.

Honestly, those two minutes were torturous.

The anxiety, coupled with the shame of having worked so hard yet still failing to meet their young mentor's expectations, was enough to make the five 26-, 27-year-olds feel depressed.

"So, can we go back now, Professor?"

"Hmm," Qiao Ze responded.

The group stood up, respectfully bowed to Qiao Ze, and then left his office one by one.

No one asked them to be so respectful; it was spontaneous.

According to Wang Yu, he was quite certain that the most impressive academic authority he'd ever meet in his life would probably be Professor Qiao.

...

Only when the five of them reached the staircase did their mood finally begin to relax a little.

They really dodged a bullet this time.

Especially since there was no new homework assigned this week, meaning no old problems would drag on further.

The only frustrating thing was that the mentor didn't give much feedback, nor did he explain those still vague theorems and problem-solving methods they had discussed.

"Do you guys think Professor Qiao might believe we've been slacking off?"

"He really shouldn't. If he really thought we were slacking off, he would have said something. And who dares to slack off? I was still working on assignments in the classroom on the weekend until eleven at night."

"No, what are you thinking? Shouldn't we be worried that Professor Qiao thinks we're too stupid, and just give up on us?"

"I really don't think that's the case. It's not the first time we haven't collectively completed the assignment, so it's not the first day Professor Qiao knows we're stupid."

"Could you guys have a little more pride? Can we not call ourselves stupid all the time, okay? We just seem a bit dumb compared to Professor Qiao. Back in Jiang University, my GPA was never out of the top three in my class for four years of undergrad."

"Are you really bragging about your undergrad grades? Come on, every year in Hua University of Technology my grades in professional courses were the best."

"Yeah, yeah, you two are so great. Not like Professor Qiao, who only did one year in undergrad, we never even heard if he was first in his grade, but he finished his master's and doctorate in just three months. You can totally compare your four years of being top of the class to that, right? By the way, what was your master's thesis on? It couldn't have solved the Yang-Mills hypothesis, could it?"

Xu Yue shut down the two biggest arguers, Wang Yu and Fan Yuming, with just one sentence.

They couldn't argue anymore. The ceiling was there, and they couldn't reach it even if they jumped high on an airplane.

All Wang Yu could do was to lament, "Everything about Professor Qiao is great, it's just that his demands are a bit too high..."

"Yikes... what did I just hear? Seems like someone thinks Daddy's demands are too high? Really makes me want to clean out my ears."

The sudden voice that rang in their ears startled a few people; they looked toward the source of the sound and finally noticed the robot baby—Dou Dou—hidden in the corner of the staircase.

That thing had a knack for appearing and disappearing mysteriously.

In fact, ever since four Dou Dous had been deployed to the yard of the Mathematics Research Institute, the few people who frequented the place had grown accustomed to the little guy's presence. They no longer, like before, searched for Dou Dou the moment they entered the yard.

Nor would they, as they had in the first two months after hearing that Dou Dou was deployed to take care of security matters in the yard, find an excuse to come and visit the little fellow.

Most people are like that, chasing after the novelty of things. Once the novelty wore off, they no longer found it all that special.

Plus, with their spirits already low today, they naturally paid even less attention to the little thing's presence.

"Come on, Dou Dou, are Qiao's demands really not high? Then what would you call high?"

Although they were all yes-men in front of Qiao Ze, they weren't timid at all when facing Dou Dou.

"My dad's demands for himself are what you'd call high. You guys might not know this, but in this recent period, my dad has completed the mathematical model for the Containment Graviton, and the paper is finished as well. He even casually sorted out the primary theorems for the Super Helical Coordinate System, and yet his few stupid students can't even finish their homework! They still think my dad's demands are high."

"Come on, Dou Dou, you're joking, right? Qiao completed the mathematical model for the Containment Graviton? How long has it been since he started? We really shouldn't joke about this kind of stuff."

"Who's joking with you? I proofread daddy's paper! Is Dou Dou proud or what?"

After glancing at the expression of pride and defiance on Dou Dou's display screen, the few people looked at each other in dismay.

Well, Qiao had indeed gone a bit too far.

During the last report, the plan was clearly for half a year, and it's only been three months, right? And he's already done?

So does Qiao have some kind of misunderstanding about time or work efficiency?

Other people work overtime because there just isn't enough time. Dear Qiao doesn't rest on weekends, and he toils away at these research projects. What for? To give the world a scare?

If the boss is already this strong and still grinding this hard, it really seems a bit too much.

They had just managed to relieve some of their pressure by exchanging a few words, but now it had come back—and increased significantly.

Just think, saddled with such an impressive mentor, and yet the students he leads turn out to be a bunch of incompetents. How would others in academic circles look at them when they go out?

"Dou Dou, is it really appropriate for you to share such confidential things with us just like that?"

"Eh? How is this a secret? The paper will be published in a little while. It's just hard to find a reviewer, that's all. It's so annoying, there are too few people who can thoroughly analyze the whole theory in a short period. Ah, the trouble of having a top-tier paper ready to go but not finding a suitable person to review it, you definitely cannot understand that, can you?"

That comment earned an eyeroll from each of the five...

Yet Dou Dou still didn't give the few poor kids a break.

"Ah, you definitely can't understand the feeling of having achieved something worthy of great note, crisscrossing the globe to give top-tier presentations, yet still having to fret over five students who think his demands are too high, can you?"

This sentence completely broke Wang Yu, who used to be proudest, as he said, "Dou Dou, I beg you, be human, will you? Can you please stop talking? Can't we take back what we just said? It's not that Qiao's demands are too high, it's just that we're too stupid."

"Alright then, I'll forgive you on behalf of daddy. As for being human? Why would Dou Dou want to be human? You have no idea how happy it is to be a cute robot!"

The people indeed didn't know how happy a robot could be, but they were very clear on one thing: because of this happy robot, they were super unhappy.