America's Greatest Villain: I Defeat Magic with Magic

"Anyone can do research; it's the story that's valuable!"

After Dr. Berger reached this conclusion, he looked around at the now quiet students and pressed the page-turning pen.

Then, on the projection screen behind him, a document bearing the official seal of the USC Registrar's Office appeared:

Implementation Rules for the Life Sciences Commercialization Assessment (Spark Program)

Before the students could carefully read the contents of the document, Dr. Berg began to speak:

"I know that many of you are still stuck in the idea that as long as you get a 4.0 GPA, you can naturally put on a white coat and become a highly paid technical professional."

"But unfortunately, today, on behalf of the USC School of Life Sciences, I officially shatter your illusions!"

"As the latest assessment standard for the School of Life Sciences, this 'Spark Project' is related to each and every one of you."

Dr. Berg looked at the hundreds of bewildered students in front of him and smiled with a hint of excitement.

"Over the next semester, each of you must use any technology, concept, or derivative service related to life sciences to generate real, auditable net commercial profit or equivalent patent licensing value in the real world."

"And the passing grade for this profit is—"

As the projection screen changed again, Dr. Berg announced a startling figure:

"$5!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the entire lecture hall erupted in cheers.

Generating $5 in profit in one semester? That's simply a pipe dream for a group of undergraduates who only know how to look at microscopes in the lab.

At that moment, someone immediately asked loudly:

"What if we don't reach the 5 yuan target?"

Dr. Berg smiled and said, "Students who fail to reach the $50,000 target by the end of this semester will not be subject to any actual penalties. You can continue to pay your expensive tuition and wait until you get a bachelor's degree from the USC School of Life Sciences a year later."

"But in return, USC will completely abandon your training!"

Dr. Berg's words were like a bucket of ice water, silencing the previously noisy classroom once again.

"You will lose your eligibility to enter the college's advanced laboratories, and you can forget about getting any letters of recommendation for further studies from any professor."

"In your background check reports for applications to Harvard, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, or top pharmaceutical companies, USC will refuse to endorse your academic abilities in any way."

"After you graduate, you can only rely on an ordinary USC bachelor's degree to work as a low-level lab technician in a community clinic for the rest of your life, earning only twenty dollars an hour."

Dr. Berg slammed his fist on the podium: "This is what happens to losers!"

Many students were stunned on the spot.

If you don't meet the $5 profit target, you won't get the school's endorsement and recommendation, and you'll only get a regular bachelor's degree.

Although a USC bachelor's degree is already highly valued, the job market in the United States is currently very competitive, especially in the biotechnology industry.

To earn a high salary in this industry, a master's degree is the most basic requirement!

Many people are willing to pay more than $10 a year in tuition because they value USC’s high graduate school admission rate, which even leads to admission to top universities such as Harvard and Johns Hopkins.

But now the school is saying that if they can't meet the $5 profit target, they will completely lose any hope of climbing the social ladder.

This is clearly unacceptable to most students from underprivileged backgrounds.

Seeing the increasingly grim expressions on the students' faces, Dr. Berger once again revealed a cruel smile:

"Of course, the $5 target is not easy for most of you to achieve."

"Fortunately, the American business community never encourages working alone. The school allows you to form teams freely. As long as a team can generate more than $20 in profit, the team leader has the right to allocate the profit as a project contribution to any student in the team who has not yet met the target, helping them to pass the test smoothly."

Upon hearing this, the entire classroom fell into a deathly silence, followed by a low murmur.

All the bright students immediately realized the cruel logic behind this rule.

Students with mediocre talent, or even top students without resources, will have no choice but to rely on the darlings of capital who can generate profits.

They even have to pay an extremely heavy price for a target of $5!

"Of course, in addition to helping everyone become familiar with the realities of business logic as soon as possible, this program will also provide generous rewards for outstanding teams."

Dr. Berg looked at the students below the stage and dropped his final trump card:

"At the end of the academic year, the team or individual that ranks first in generating real commercial profit will receive $100 million in unconditional incubation funding from USC!"

Furthermore, if outstanding graduates establish their own companies in the future, the school will become their first round of angel investors!

After leaving those words, Dr. Berg packed his things, turned around, and left the classroom.

The first class of the new semester at USC’s School of Life Sciences has come to an end.

Most people are still in shock.

"Wow! $5 a semester? That's outrageous!"

Kevin, who was standing nearby, couldn't help but complain.

Chen Yuan shook his head: "It's not about making you $5 in cash. Your projects and research, as long as they generate value, will be included in the calculation."

"That's very difficult to achieve!"

Kevin was starting to panic, after all, his grades had never been high, and he was considered a poor student in the college.

Chen Yuan also sighed. He didn't expect to be hit with a blow by the school on the first day of the new semester.

He took out his phone, found the message Vivian had just sent, and wrote below it:

"You knew about this 'Spark Project' all along?"

Because Chen Yuan was sitting at the back of the lecture hall, which was on higher ground, he could clearly see Vivian, who was sitting in the front row, checking her phone.

However, after waiting for a long time, no reply was received.

When the bell rang to signal the end of get out of class, a student sitting in the front row was immediately surrounded by a group of people.

That man was Adrian.

The $5 target is an unattainable goal for most college students.

After all, even if you take a break from school to work, earning $5 a year is not an easy thing.

The "Spark Project" requires participants to use their acquired biotechnology skills to create $5 in value.

In other words, although Chen Yuan owns a restaurant, the profits he earns from selling food and beverages obviously cannot be included in the $5 target.

The students surrounded Adrian because, in accordance with Dr. Berg's advocacy of teamwork, the $5 target didn't necessarily have to be earned by themselves.

If you can get close to a tech guru and get a share of the profits from their project, achieving your targets won't be difficult.

Adrian's "biological lipid blocking enzyme" project has even received high praise from Dr. Berg.

If this project can generate millions... even if it's only worth a few hundred thousand dollars.

That's enough for many people to meet their targets.

Just as Chen Yuan was pondering how to utilize Rongding Pavilion to achieve his targets, a message popped up on his phone from Vivian:

"From now on, you must reply to my messages within 10 minutes!"

Is this the aspect that this woman values ​​most?

Although Chen Yuan was somewhat speechless, he still replied below:

"No problem, I hope you can do that too."

This time, the other party replied quickly, but the message was very brief:

"Come to my office during your lunch break."