Rejecting Tsinghua and Peking Universities: I Will Lead Harbin Institute of Technology to World Lead

Forty minutes of waiting felt like an eternity.

In the lounge, the air was so thick it seemed you could wring water out of it. Mr. Shen remained standing, his back ramrod straight, like a silent stone statue; only his slightly trembling fingers betrayed the turmoil within him. Mrs. Shen sat on the sofa, her hands clasped together before her forehead, her lips moving silently, as if in prayer. Xiao Xiao paced back and forth, each step a test of her taut nerves.

Lin Feng stood against the wall, his eyes fixed on his wristwatch.

The second hand ticked away, each tick feeling like a blow to the heart. Zhao Weiguo stood guard at the entrance to the corridor, his posture ramrod straight, his eyes scanning the surroundings warily. The three secret service personnel were nowhere to be seen, but Lin Feng knew that all the entrances and exits on this floor were currently under close surveillance.

Thirty-seven minutes.

Finally, the elevator's arrival announcement came from the end of the corridor.

Everyone came out of the lounge.

The elevator doors opened, and three people stepped out quickly. Leading them was an elderly man in his fifties, dressed in a dark gray Zhongshan suit, carrying a silver medical kit; his steps were hurried yet steady and orderly. Behind him followed two assistants in their thirties, equally solemn-looking.

Lin Feng recognized him—Director Jia Wenhe, one of the core members of the Dawn Project and an authority in the field of oncology in China.

"Mr. Lin." Director Jia approached and extended his hand, his expression serious yet carrying a hint of barely perceptible respect. "Elder Qi entrusted me with full responsibility for this treatment."

"Director Jia, thank you for your help." Lin Feng shook hands with him. "The patient is still in the operating room, and the condition..."

"I've already reviewed the medical records on the way here," Director Jia interrupted him, his tone professional and calm. "Late-stage non-small cell gastric cancer with pleural metastasis. Conventional treatments certainly offer little hope. But our equipment..." He patted his medical kit, "theoretically, can solve the problem."

The voice wasn't loud, but it made Shen's mother, who was standing next to her, tremble violently.

"Please make the arrangements as soon as possible, Director Jia." Lin Feng stepped aside to make way.

Director Jia nodded and headed straight for the operating room with his assistant. At the door, he was stopped by the on-duty doctor—this was standard procedure, and non-surgical team members were not allowed to enter at will.

But Director Jia only showed a document.

The doctor took the package, glanced at the cover, and his expression changed slightly. He immediately picked up the internal phone. Half a minute later, the operating room door opened, and the chief surgeon personally came out to greet him. The two exchanged a few words in hushed tones.

Through the crack in the door, Lin Feng glimpsed the scene inside the operating room—the operating lights were on, the monitor's curves were still fluctuating, and a group of medical staff in green surgical gowns were gathered around the operating table.

The surgeon quickly reviewed the protocol, signed his name on the last page without hesitation, and then the anesthesiologist, head nurse, scrub nurse… all the personnel involved in the surgery signed one by one.

The whole process took less than five minutes.

The door closed again.

The red sign indicating the surgery is still lit, but its meaning has changed completely.

For the next two hours, no one spoke in the corridor.

Mr. Shen finally sat down, his back still ramrod straight. Mrs. Shen stopped praying, her eyes fixed on the operating room door. Xiao Xiao stopped pacing, found a corner to squat down, hugged her knees, and buried her head in them.

Lin Feng glanced at the time.

He understood the mechanism of anti-cancer drugs better than anyone else—it wasn't traditional chemotherapy or targeted therapy, but a smart clearance system based on immune reprogramming. Once the drug entered the body, it activated and modified specific immune cells, giving them the ability to recognize cancer cells, and then, like a precision-guided missile, eliminated all abnormal cells one by one.

Theoretical clearance time: 90 to 120 minutes.

It is now the 117th minute.

The operating room door opened.

First came out was Director Jia's assistant, followed by several surgeons, and finally Director Jia himself.

He took off his mask, revealing little expression on his face, but the weariness in his eyes couldn't hide a hint of relief.

"Dr. Jia..." Mr. Shen was the first to stand up, his voice so hoarse it was almost inaudible.

All eyes were on Director Jia.

Director Jia did not answer directly, but instead looked at the staff member from the Bureau of Secrecy. The latter nodded in acknowledgment—the family members and Xiaoxiao present had all signed the agreement and were entitled to know.

"The treatment is complete." Director Jia's voice was steady and clear. "The cancer cells in the patient's body... have been completely eliminated."

"All of them?" Xiao Xiao suddenly raised her head, tears still streaming down her face.

"All of them," Director Jia repeated, this time with an undeniable certainty. "We monitored real-time data from the main lesions and twelve suspected metastatic sites. From the moment the medication took effect, the number of cancer cells decreased exponentially. The abnormal cell signal at the last pleural metastasis site returned to zero after one hour and forty-seven minutes."

He paused, then added, "The patient's vital signs are currently stable, and all indicators have returned to normal. However, they still need to be transferred to the intensive care unit for 48 hours of observation to ensure there are no adverse drug reactions or other complications."

A brief silence fell over the corridor.

Then, Shen's mother burst into tears—not a desperate cry, but a sob released after being suppressed for too long. She slumped into a chair, covering her face with her hands, her shoulders trembling violently.

Shen's father didn't cry. He stood there, his body swaying slightly, but Lin Feng caught him in time. This farmer, who had never bowed his head to anyone in his life, now had red eyes and trembling lips, but couldn't utter a single word.

The doctors pushed the hospital bed out.

Shen Moran lay quietly on the bed, her face pale, but her breathing steady. The wires of various monitoring instruments extended from under the sheet, and the waveforms on the screens were regular and strong.

"Ranran..." Xiaoxiao rushed to the bedside, wanting to touch her but not daring to, and could only call her best friend's name over and over again.

"The patient is still recovering from anesthesia and needs quiet," the surgeon whispered.

The group made way, and the hospital bed was slowly pushed into the special care ward area.

Only then did Shen's father seem to come to his senses. He turned to Lin Feng, his calloused hands pausing in mid-air before making a move that surprised everyone—

He bent his knees, about to kneel down.

"Uncle!" Lin Feng reacted quickly, stepping forward to grab his arm. "What are you doing?!"

"My child, you saved my daughter's life..." Mr. Shen's voice choked with emotion. "Our Shen family... can never repay you in this lifetime..."

Before he finished speaking, Shen's mother on the other side also made a move to kneel down.

"Auntie!" Lin Feng quickly reached out with his other hand to help her up, flustered and confused. "Please don't do this!"

But the two elderly people's emotions were like a burst dam, impossible to stop. Seeing the situation about to spiral out of control, Director Jia suddenly spoke up:

"This is a hospital; patients need quiet."

His voice wasn't loud, but it carried the authority of a doctor.

Mr. and Mrs. Shen froze.

Taking the opportunity, Lin Feng helped the two of them to sit down on a bench: "Uncle and Aunt, I understand how you feel. But the most important thing right now is my senior's recovery. Let's go to the ward first, and when she wakes up, you can spend some quality time with her. That will be a hundred times better than thanking me."

He looked at Xiaoxiao: "Sister Xiaoxiao, please take care of Uncle and Aunt. I need to say a few words to Director Jia first."

Xiao Xiao nodded with red eyes and took Shen's mother's arm.

Lin Feng finally breathed a sigh of relief and turned to walk towards Director Jia. The two walked side by side to the other end of the corridor, with Zhao Weiguo following at a discreet distance.

"The drug is even more effective than expected," Director Jia said in a low voice. "The clearance rate is thirteen percent faster than the best data from the Phase I clinical trial."

"Individual differences." Lin Feng wasn't surprised. "It's probably because the senior student has a better physical constitution."

"Professor Qi asked me to tell you that this medication record will be strictly archived and added to the database as a case study." Director Jia stopped and looked at Lin Feng. "He also said... that you should come back to the project team when you have time. Our research, following the development of theoretical knowledge, has made new progress."

"I will," Lin Feng nodded. "I'll go and take a look when I have time."

"That girl is you..." Director Jia hesitated, then stopped.

"She's a very important senior," Lin Feng said frankly.

Director Jia didn't ask any more questions, and patted him on the shoulder: "Go check on him in the ward. We'll be here during the observation period, he'll be fine."

Shen Moran has been settled in the special care ward.

The various monitoring instruments emitted regular, soft beeps as the nurse adjusted the IV drip rate. Mr. and Mrs. Shen sat on chairs beside the bed, their eyes fixed on their daughter. Xiaoxiao stood at the foot of the bed, watching Shen Moran lying there.

Lin Feng stood at the door, not going in to disturb them.