I Play Dungeons in the Police Station

Chapter 492 - 290: Trending Online

"This... I’m afraid that’s not possible. I rarely come to the Capital City, and I don’t have a place to stay..."

"That’s not a problem. As long as you come, I can arrange a 120 square meter apartment for you in the faculty residence area of Peking University. Additionally, we’re willing to grant you a special research fund of ten million per year without any intervention in its usage. You can research whatever topics you wish. Moreover, your annual salary will not be less than five million, and you only need to teach one class per month at the university."

Principal Gong offered Li Xiang a very generous package, which can be said to be the best employment terms offered by Peking University in recent years.

And indeed, these terms were very appealing to Li Xiang.

After a brief moment of thought, he realized Principal Gong’s intentions.

In truth, it was a roundabout way of binding Li Xiang to ensure Peking University’s absolute dominance in the field of computer science.

A sought-after talent like himself—there wasn’t a university that wouldn’t want to compete for him.

"Deal."

"Haha, congratulations to Principal Gong. Peking University has gained another top professor."

After congratulating Principal Gong, Academician Ma turned to congratulate Li Xiang: "Congratulations, Professor Li. I’m envious of the package you’ve got, haha~"

With Li Xiang successfully joining Peking University, Principal Gong immediately took out the employment agreement from a drawer. Clearly, he had come fully prepared. As soon as Li Xiang agreed, he presented the employment agreement, seemingly worried that if he waited too long, Li Xiang might change his mind.

It was a necessary precaution because, to his knowledge, Tsinghua University was also making moves. His good personal relationship with Academician Ma enabled him to intercept this opportunity first.

"Professor Li, take a look. If there’s no issue with the agreement, please sign here."

The sudden action made Li Xiang feel as if he was signing away his life. The eagerness of Peking University’s principal to recruit him was beyond his expectations.

However, since he had agreed, he might as well go along with it.

Before signing the contract, he carefully reviewed it, not out of concern for any trickery from Peking University, but simply because of his cautious nature, which wouldn’t allow him to casually put his name on paper.

Once you sign, you bear the responsibility.

"The contract looks fine. I’m happy to join the Peking University family."

With Li Xiang’s signature, Principal Gong felt a sense of relief.

"We at Peking University are also very pleased to have you join us. Follow me, and I’ll take you on a tour of our Artificial Intelligence Research Institute. From now on, you will be a special consultant for this project, and all faculty and students in the project will follow your lead."

Principal Gong took Li Xiang on a tour of their Artificial Intelligence Research Institute, and it wasn’t until the evening that they dined at Peking University’s cafeteria.

Because Li Xiang was walking around with the principal, students who saw them restrained themselves a bit, but they still pointed and whispered, their eyes mainly on Li Xiang, and some secretly took photos.

After dinner, Xu Xinghao was already waiting in his car at Peking University’s gate. Under the gazes of many Peking University students, Li Xiang left the campus.

Today’s events seemed too surreal for Li Xiang. Not only had he attended a seminar full of academicians, but he also became a key speaker. In the afternoon, he was unexpectedly hired by Peking University and given the title of professor. He not only gained an apartment in the Capital City but also an annual salary of five million. If he includes the additional ten million research funds he can freely manage, it totals fifteen million.

Although he’s not short on money now, seeing such a large sum, he couldn’t help but be drawn to it.

After all, he was once poor and frightened of poverty.

Refusing money would be foolish.

Most importantly, he became famous.

More famous than his girlfriend, Lin Feifei. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say he became wildly popular.

Among the top ten hot search topics on Weibo, three were about him.

It was Lin Feifei who called to inform him.

Lin Feifei’s studio always kept an eye on trending topics. When Li Xiang suddenly appeared on the hot search, Lin Feifei promptly found out and informed him.

Initially, Lin Feifei considered spending money to remove the hot search topics about Li Xiang since she knew he didn’t want to be too well-known. However, after negotiation, they discovered that Li Xiang’s popularity was too high, and the cost of removal was too great. For every topic removed, ten more would appear—there was no way to keep up.

So they decided to let it develop naturally until it topped the hot search list.

Sitting in the car on the way back to the hotel, Li Xiang took out his phone and started checking.

Top hot search: The mysterious developer of Artificial Intelligence "Xiaomu" appears at Peking University.

Upon clicking, the content read:

The mysterious developer of Artificial Intelligence "Xiaomu," Li Xiang, appeared at Peking University and toured the Artificial Intelligence Research Institute with Principal Gong and Academician Ma. Li Xiang is suspected of joining Peking University as an honorary professor...

The comments were mostly welcoming.

Students from other universities even commented, inviting Li Xiang to visit their schools.

Li Xiang strongly suspects that this hot search was hyped by Peking University to leverage his fame to boost their own reputation.

The third hot search: The real identity of Artificial Intelligence pioneer Li Xiang is actually a police officer.

Li Xiang clicked the link to find an introduction to his police experience, detailing his journey from auxiliary police officer to formal police officer, and mentioning his development of digital skull reconstruction software and optimization of facial recognition technology.

Upon seeing this, Li Xiang breathed a sigh of relief, grateful that no confidential tasks had been leaked.

At this point, the comments had also changed:

"Amazing, my Xiang."

"I didn’t expect you to be this kind of Xiang."

"A criminal’s nemesis—learn new skills so criminals have nowhere to hide."

While everyone thought Li Xiang was a programmer, they suddenly discovered he was also a police officer. This stark contrast caused the popularity of this Weibo post to continue rising.

The eighth hot search: Li Xiang’s fake degree, research results plagiarized from abroad—I’m here to bust the myth.

Seeing this hot search, Li Xiang immediately knew it was a smear post about him. Upon clicking, he found that it was posted by someone claiming to be his classmate.

The person even posted their university graduation photo to lend credibility to their words.

"Don’t be fooled by Li Xiang. We were in the same class at Jinghai Light Industry University, and during college, he was lazy and performed poorly—always playing games. How could he have developed Artificial Intelligence? I remember after graduation, he stayed in Jinghai as an auxiliary police officer. He must have stolen technology from abroad to be specially recruited by the police. He actually has no skills at all."

The article detailed Li Xiang’s situation extensively, and although mostly accurate, it falsely claimed he stole foreign technology when, in reality, he had acquired alien technology.

This also made Li Xiang realize that the person must indeed be a university classmate with firsthand knowledge—but who would be targeting him?

Li Xiang glanced at the comments. Several people claimed to be his classmates; some were genuine, but most were not, merely trying to ride the trend.

However, the majority of comments were criticizing the blog user:

"After kneeling for so long, some people can’t stand up. Xiaomu is number one in the world. Plagiarism? Could you plagiarize a third-place result to first place?"

"It’s so hard to admit someone else’s excellence?"

"Li Xiang is the backbone of our nation, a pillar, and I won’t let you defame him. If anyone attacks him, I’ll attack back. Bring it on!"

Seeing that people were criticizing the blog user, Li Xiang felt reassured. Nevertheless, he was very interested in knowing who the blog user was.

So he sent a text message to Zhou Jian, asking him to trace the IP address of the user.

Being in the Capital City, it wasn’t convenient for him to investigate.

Zhou Jian was very efficient. Even though it was already nighttime, upon receiving Li Xiang’s text, he immediately put on his coat and left home.

Zhou Jian’s wife asked bewilderedly, "It’s the middle of the night, and you’re not sleeping. Where are you going?"

"Our captain asked me to check on something. I’ll head to the office."

For things that Li Xiang requested, Zhou Jian naturally treated them as top priority. He didn’t realize that Li Xiang wasn’t in such a hurry; he texted him to check during the day, only sending the message now to avoid forgetting amidst tomorrow’s busy tasks.

But Zhou Jian unexpectedly acted immediately upon receiving the text.