Chapter 139: Nobel-Caliber?

"What have you discovered?" Elder Cheng asked carefully. He knew that if Wu Tong was excited enough to specifically call him over, it was unlikely to be anything ordinary.

"I have discovered a special equivalent covalent bonding mechanism that exists between metal elements at the microscopic level. Mastering this mechanism is the key to maximizing the performance of alloys!" Wu Tong stepped aside and invited the three of them into her room.

The small living room was not particularly spacious. When Wu Tong lived there alone, she didn't notice, but with three extra people, it suddenly felt cramped. However, no one cared about that at the moment. Led by Elder Cheng, the three followed Wu Tong to the desk.

At a glance, the desk and the adjacent bookshelf were piled high with stacks of manuscripts, a sight that truly dazzled the three visitors. Wu Tong handed the final manuscript to Elder Cheng.

The first things to catch their eyes were the strings of abstract mathematical formulas; without a sufficient level of mathematical knowledge, one would be instantly overwhelmed.

As a professor of mathematics, Li Yisheng managed to identify some familiar elements within the formulas. "This uses... functions, wave functions, and also..."

Li Yisheng scratched his head. While he could recognize the mathematical principles at a glance, understanding the actual inferences would require him to work through them step by step. His mathematical proficiency was respectable, but it depended on who he was being compared to. Against his own students, he was more than sufficient, but compared to Wu Tong—a prover of three major world-class conjectures—he fell far short.

In particular, just from these initial formulas, Li Yisheng felt a shocking realization: Wu Tong’s mathematical prowess had advanced once again.

It had only been a month. During this time, Wu Tong had spent almost every day in the Materials Science laboratory, rarely showing her face at the School of Mathematics. This had caused Dean Pan and others deep concern, fearing that their department's brightest star might be drifting away. But now, Li Yisheng could return and tell those bigwigs with absolute certainty: do not worry, Wu Tong has never stopped her mathematical progress.

"Wu Tong, why don't you point out something your teacher can actually understand?" Cheng Huanan felt once again that his recent math tutoring had been in vain. What was written here? Aside from the occasional parameters, atomic structures, and unit cell diagrams that looked familiar, those formulas were truly a headache to him.

He sighed; the math he was studying could never seem to keep pace with the complexity of his young protégé's work.

Wu Tong chuckled and pulled out a fresh sheet of drafting paper. Picking up a pen, she sketched the atomic structure of the T4 and T5 alloy unit cells. She explained how the equivalent covalent bonds between metal phases triggered a magical reaction, ultimately resulting in extraordinary materials.

"After completing the T4 and T5 alloys, I kept wondering if there was some reaction we couldn't see, some basis that would give the material a predictable foundation, rather than relying on random guesswork. So, I searched for data, analyzed it, and designed a mathematical model for verification. Eventually, through a series of tests, I discovered this special equivalent covalent bonding mechanism. Why are the hardness and toughness of the alloys so much higher? Think of an ordinary material as a single chopstick that is easily broken; with this special mechanism, it’s like ten chopsticks bound firmly together, leading to a massive improvement in performance."

"According to my theoretical model, both T4 and T5 alloys involve this covalent effect. At the atomic or even more microscopic level, different elements form new bonds to retain superior properties!" Wu Tong explained her research findings from the past month to the three of them.

"It is a pity, however, that I have only confirmed the existence of this mechanism. How to master it to create even more superior materials requires further research."

"I have tried using my new theory to analyze several existing alloys, and all of them verify the existence of this mechanism. Next, I will look for more data to validate my theory. With this, I believe we will have a more precise basis for computational materials science in the future!"

The existence of this reaction—and the fact that the data scales with it—meant one could judge a material's potential for high performance, significantly reducing the error margins in computational materials science.

Hearing this, the three men felt like burying their faces in their hands. To produce such stunning results in less than a month and still call it "a pity"? Did that mean they, who had spent the entire year without any notable achievements, didn't deserve to breathe?

"Let us know if you need any help. This discovery is enough to form a blockbuster paper, a milestone in the progress of chemical materials. You could even aim for *Science* or *Nature*!" Elder Cheng suppressed his excitement, smiling at Wu Tong. Though he struggled with the complex formulas, he was certainly capable of evaluating the significance of the results.

Such a discovery could even be considered Nobel-worthy.

"Can this really be published as a paper?" Wu Tong was somewhat uncertain. This discovery had taken a lot of her time and energy, but she attributed the difficulty to her own shallow understanding of materials; she hadn't realized how groundbreaking it was.

"Of course. This discovery will shake the global chemical materials community. Theoretical work like this has few restrictions. Perfect your data and draft the paper. I will have the higher-ups confirm it, and if it's approved, we will send it out and aim for a top-tier journal!" In all of China, there were very few papers published in the main issues of *Science* or *Nature* each year.

In fact, the materials Wu Tong had developed previously could have also challenged those top journals. However, because those materials were epoch-making for the aerospace industry, they had been classified as major national secrets and designated as strategic reserves as their test data in extreme environments emerged. Naturally, she could not publish them.

"At our university, a paper in *Science* or *Nature* earns a one-million-yuan bonus. Wu Tong, you’re about to strike it rich!" Li Yisheng, having finally calmed his shock, smiled and congratulated her.

According to Article 28 of the Peking University Scholarship Regulations, a bonus of 1 million yuan is awarded for every paper published in the international academic journals *Nature* or *Science*. Based on the Chinese Academy of Sciences' JCR journal divisions, there were also tiered rewards for other publications, ranging from 100,000 yuan for JCR Zone 1 journals to 20,000 yuan for EI-indexed or core Chinese journals.