Chapter 68 : 66: The Genius's Response (2/10 please subscribe, ask for monthly ticket)
Having finished everything, Qiao Ze quietly sat down in front of Li Jiangao's computer and entered the submission system to start the withdrawal process.
This was one of the more overbearing aspects of the submission rules of renowned journals.
Once an article was submitted, regardless of whether the writerr wanted to withdraw the article, an application had to be submitted before the journal's editorial department decided whether or not to publish it.
And before the editorial department agreed to the author's request, the paper in theory could not be sent directly to similar journals.
Defying the rules could result in withdrawal of the manuscript or being blacklisted by those journals.
Li Jiangao sat behind Qiao Ze without saying a word, watching silently and offering no persuasion.
His mind was in turmoil.
The content of the reply Qiao Ze had just sent to the journal's editorial department still echoed in his mind.
Thanking the reviewer for giving him this opportunity to become more confident?
Li Jiangao wished he could crack open Qiao Ze's head to see what on earth he was thinking?!
It wasn't until Qiao Ze had completed all this and looked towards Li Jiangao, who was sitting aside, that Li Jiangao came back to his senses from the shock of that email.
After exchanging a silent glance, Li Jiangao tentatively asked, "You don't plan on publishing this paper anymore?"
Qiao Ze shook his head and said, "Publish, but we can wait until we've achieved our results and then publish them together."
"This... Qiao Ze, but the manuscript has already..."
Li Jiangao had not finished speaking when the phone on the desk suddenly rang.
Glancing at it and seeing the three characters for Dean Xu, he decided to pick it up first.
"Hello, Jian Gao, where are you?"
Qiao Ze seriously replied, "Uncle Li, haven't you realized that those industry leaders you speak of only follow the rules that benefit them?"
Li Jiangao was stunned; well, the logic had always been that way, but...
"But they are the ones with the power to speak."
"No, Uncle Li, those with the real power to speak have never been them, but rather the countless observers around the world. Most people simply didn't have a channel to know about these things before.
What's reassuring is, with the internet now, when everything is out in the open for everyone to scrutinize and judge their actions under the sunlight, what you see as so-called power to speak is actually worthless."
"You will have no friends if you continue like this, even the whole world could be your enemy!"
"I didn't have a single friend before, and I lived just fine. As for the whole world being my enemy... Uncle Li, you're giving those people too much credit. A bunch of fools doesn't represent the whole world. And even if those fools truly represented the whole world, so what? As long as we're happy, that's all that matters!" Qiao Ze calmly said.
His gaze lacked even a hint of madness, as though he was discussing a trivial matter.
Yet the words spoken bordered on insanity, far beyond the limits of Li Jiangao's imagination.
He finally understood why Qiao Ze had said in that previous email that he always lacked confidence; this situation just provided him an opportunity.
This kid was trying to convince him to join in the madness!
What scared Li Jiangao was the faint feeling that he was indeed somewhat swayed.
Indeed...
If they were to be bound by others' rules, so be it, but when those people choose to disregard the rules whenever they wish, treating them as nothing, and all they could do was compromise.
The world shouldn't be like this.
The only thing Li Jiangao felt relieved about now was that he was listed as the corresponding author for this paper.
It wasn't that he had a large presence in academia, but rather he had the backing of Xilin University of Technology; with the school's endorsement, even if there were truly any thoughts about the paper, they wouldn't use overly harsh methods. At the very least, they couldn't possibly face a situation where an entire paper was plagiarized, leading to an unmanageable mess.
However, it was apparent that Qiao Ze was not well-informed about these rules, as he calmly added, "In short, if everyone follows the rules, then I can also adhere to them. But if someone breaks the rules first, it might as well be that the rules are directly shattered. Being a stickler for tradition has never been, nor should it be, a term of praise, Uncle Li."