Chapter 28: Starting from handing out flyers
From Zuan?
The second inventor of Hextech, deputy leader of the Hextech Applied Research Group, a top scholar who ranks among the top three in the entire Piltover scientific community... is actually a Zaun?
“No, it’s impossible…”
The two Piltover aunts opened their mouths in disbelief.
Even many of the Zaun students present could not accept this shocking fact for a while.
But Viktor was very determined. For the first time in his life, he stood in the public eye without any disguise and declared to everyone without any disguise: "Yes, I am from Zaun!"
"You two should apologize." Victor repeated word by word.
The aunts still stood , as if some invisible force was supporting them and making them unwilling to give up the pride of being ladies of Piltover.
But Victor broke their pride with one sentence:
"Please apologize sincerely—"
"Otherwise, I will directly contact my teacher, Principal Heimerdinger, and have you two expelled."
“No!” The aunts panicked instantly: “I apologize… We apologize!”
“S-Sorry!”
"Please be sincere!"
"Sorry, we were wrong!"
"Speak louder, no one can hear you." Very rarely, Victor deliberately made things difficult for others.
But the two ladies had lost all their previous stubbornness. They were as obedient as a student from Zaun.
No matter how difficult it was for Victor, they just kept shouting, "I'm sorry!"
"You guys go!" Victor finally let them go: "I'll let everyone pick up the remaining stationery on their own."
“Yes…” The two aunts were as if they had been pardoned. They immediately put their tails between their legs and ran away in shame.
Only a bunch of shocked Zaun students were left speechless:
They...won?
Mrs. Piltover, apologized to them?
The students of Zaan were all excited.
Some of them cheered loudly, some clenched their fists excitedly, and their reactions were mixed.
But everyone looked at the man on the steps with gratitude and admiration:
"Professor Victor!"
It turns out that the people of Zaun are not inherently worse than the people of Piltover, and they are not born to be called "barbaric", "low-quality", and "lacking innovative spirit".
Among the Zuan people there are also wise, civilized, and great people who can lead scientific progress. They are a source of pride!
It turns out that in the upper echelons of Piltover, which they never dared to imagine, the Zaun people have always been active!
"Thank you, Professor Victor!"
"Professor Victor—"
"You are truly the pride of us Zaun people!"
Such voices rang out among the crowd.
Victor did not enjoy the admiration of these students, but just asked in return: "Everyone, please be quiet..."
"Why do you say that I am the pride of the people of Zaun?"
"Huh?" The Zaun students, who were extremely enthusiastic for the first time, did not expect Victor to ask them such a question.
Why?
Of course, it is because there are tens of thousands of Zaun people, and there are tens of thousands of Zaun people working hard in Piltover, so only then can there be a top scientist like Viktor who can achieve such an achievement.
If they are not proud of Victor's appearance, who should they be proud of?
"No, you are wrong." Victor shook his head: "I can tell you a secret that is not a secret——"
"At Piltover University alone, at least one-fifth of the scholars and professors you see are immigrants from Zaun across the canal."
"W-what?" The students' eyes widened in surprise.
There are so many Zaun people among the professors in the school?
But why... do they usually not feel any care from professors or schools, but instead are discriminated against and excluded everywhere?
Why do all those Zaun professors look so much like Piltover people? Why doesn't anyone come out and admit it, and why can't people even tell which one of them is from Zaun?
"Because they, including me—"
"We all look like Zaun people, your 'own people'. But in fact, we are not."
"So there is no need for us to speak for you. I don't have to speak up today, just like I have done for the past decade."
"Standing up for you will not only do me no good, but will only harm my interests. This is because we are no longer 'one of us'."
Victor suddenly began to speak incomprehensibly.
The students gradually couldn't understand what was being said.
"Think about it again," Victor asked again in a persuasive manner, "the two vulgar ladies just now, they think they are noble ladies of Piltover, and they think that people from Piltover should be superior to Gao Zuan——"
"But why, when faced with the deliberate difficulties and even rude humiliation of a Zaun person like me, these two Piltover people completely lost their temper and dared not speak?"
"Think about it carefully, me and them, me and you, them and you, me and those big shots in Piltover, who is whose family?"
"This..." This is a bit confusing.
However, the students of Zaun, who had personally experienced the recent turmoil and were generally good at thinking, gradually figured out something:
Why are they afraid of Aunt Piltover?
That's because they are afraid of causing trouble and being expelled by the school's top management, not because they are really afraid of some old lady.
Why is Big Mom afraid of Professor Victor?
Because Professor Victor is a high-ranking member of the school, the aunts are just grasshoppers that can be easily crushed to death in front of him.
"I understand..." One of the students realized something.
"Tell me about it?" Victor encouraged students to speak as if he was giving an open class: "What did you think of?"
The student replied, "Professor Victor, you are educating us. There is no need to feel inferior because of our identity as Zaun people."
"As long as we study hard and make great progress like you, and reach a high position, even those Piltover ladies will look up to us in the future!"
Victor: “…”
He hesitated to say something, but before he opened his mouth, someone else gave an answer.
It's Lina.
She recalled everything she had experienced, thought about the questions Victor raised, and finally realized something vaguely:
"Professor Victor, perhaps you want to tell us:"
"Whether they are close or not, whether they are one's own family, maybe it's not based on region, but on... status?"
"Those Zaun professors usually refuse to speak up for us, nor do they want to show their identity as Zaun people. In fact, it's because... they have long been rich people in Piltover, not poor people in Zaun."
"The discrimination against Zaun people by Piltover people usually doesn't happen to them. Even if it happens to them, it won't have much impact on their good life..."
This view was extremely novel and immediately sparked a wave of discussion at the scene.
Soon someone discovered something was wrong:
"Student Lina, according to what you said, we should get closer to those two Piltover women, right?"
"But why is it that the one who stood up to speak for us is Professor Victor, a big shot, while the one who is making things difficult for us is Aunt Piltover, who is not much better than us?"
"Uh..." Lina was suddenly speechless.
She couldn't answer questions of this level yet.
"You've answered well, Lina." Suddenly, Victor smiled at her encouragingly: "It seems that you have really read the article in your notebook."
"Huh?" Lina was shocked.
At this time, Victor slowly opened his briefcase, took out a notebook, and solemnly handed it back to Lina.
"This is... my thesis design?" Lina finally remembered the important matter: "Professor Victor, are you... here to inform me of the results of the discussion last night?"
Victor was suddenly silent.
And the silence said it all.
Lina's face suddenly turned pale, and the hope that had just ignited in her eyes was extinguished.
But Victor told her: "Don't be discouraged, Lina."
"You were not selected by the professors in the research group, not because your paper design is not good."
"It's because of the article in your notebook, the one we were just discussing."
"This..." Lina pursed her lips in indignation:
"Why?"
“Because of that article, they were all scared.”
"Huh?" Lina didn't understand.
The Zaun students present, whose eyes had long been drawn to Victor, also became curious:
The research group should be Professor Jess's research group.
That research group brings together some of the world's top scientists and the smartest geniuses.
What kind of article could frighten these geniuses?
"Do you want to see it?"
Victor seemed to have guessed what they were thinking and turned to ask everyone.
Everyone nodded. Their curiosity was aroused, and of course they wanted to see it.
"Then we can find a classroom--"
"Talk about this article carefully."
As he spoke, Victor took out a stack of bound documents from his briefcase.
"This, this is..." Lina widened her eyes:
Isn’t this a photocopy of that article?
Judging from the thickness of that stack of manuscript paper, it must have been copied dozens of times.
Her brother's article... Victor actually carried dozens of copies with him like handing out flyers?
"Professor Victor , why are you..."
"I was planning to find an opportunity to share this article with everyone."
Victor looked at the Zaun students who had gathered together, angry and thinking:
"Now is the right opportunity."
