Chapter 6: The Man Without a Surname

Without the students asking any questions, Victor took the initiative to introduce himself.
After all, this isn't the first time this has happened.
He knew that he had no reputation and no one would know him outside the laboratory.
Although he, Viktor, is actually the most capable companion of the great Professor Jayce and the second inventor of the core of Hextech technology.
In fact, as Jayce became more and more famous in recent years, he became more and more addicted to high society social activities... In the subsequent application research stage of Hextech technology, it was Victor, the man behind the scenes, who made greater contributions.
But he remained unknown.
One reason is that Victor himself is introverted, doesn't like socializing, and doesn't like to be in the spotlight.
Secondly, because...
He is a Zaun.
Yes, even though he has immigrated to Piltover for more than ten years and has even been hired as a professor at Piltover University, he is still a Zaun in the eyes of others.
When Piltover's propaganda machine hypes up the greatness and wonder of Hextech, they always intentionally or unintentionally remove Viktor's name from Jayce's.
The hero of Piltover should not come from Zaun.
Gradually, Victor got used to living behind Jayce's halo and engaging in scientific research in a low-key manner.
It was okay on weekdays, since he didn't want to be famous anyway.
That is to say, in today's public occasions where he needs to appear, it is a little awkward - no one knows him.
So Victor took the initiative to introduce himself:
"I'm Jace's friend."
"You can call me Professor Victor."
"Professor?" The students had different expressions.
Victor knew at a glance that these kids didn't expect him to be a professor - he was being mistaken for Jayce's assistant teacher again.
"Hahaha." Jace didn't feel the atmosphere was subtle at all.
Mr. Sun showed a sunny smile and patted his friend on the shoulder jokingly:
"Victor, I told you to get out more."
"Look, even the students in our academy don't recognize you anymore."
"Hmm..." Victor shrugged nonchalantly.
Jace turned his head and introduced himself to all the students:
"Professor Victor is my most important friend and a leading expert in the fields of Hextech and mechanical engineering. It is no exaggeration to say that without his help, I would not have been able to make breakthroughs in the core research of Hextech."
"In fact, in the Hextech Engineering Machinery Development Research Group that you are about to join - if any of you are lucky enough to be selected - I am the group leader and Victor is the deputy group leader."
After Professor Jace said this, the students finally realized how extraordinary Victor was.
"So he's Professor Jace's deputy!"
After being promoted from a follower to a deputy, Victor suddenly received a lot more respect.
But he still looked listless and didn't care about anything.
At this time, Jace slowly walked up to the podium and left a line of title on the blackboard:
"'Power Flow Optimization Strategy for Energy-Enhanced Steam Robots', this is the topic I'm going to test you on today."
Jace knocked on the blackboard and said to the eagerly waiting students below:
"You should treat this as a course paper. With this as the topic, describe as completely as possible the optimization strategies, design principles, and experimental steps you can think of. Finally, submit an outline of the paper on the spot."
"Professor Victor and I will review your paper designs on site and assess and grade you."
"The one with the most complete design and the best performance can join our research group and become a student of me, Professor Victor, or even Principal Heimerdinger."
The pie that Jess painted is very appealing.
But the students present were not as excited as before.
Because the test questions he gave were somewhat difficult and beyond imagination.
The topic was too big, and they had to write a paper outline on the spot. This required too much scientific research literacy from the students, far beyond the capabilities of ordinary college students.
Even though the students who were able to come here to take the test were the best talents in Hextech College, many of them turned pale when they heard the questions and backed out before they even started.
The few who still had the confidence to challenge asked Jace very cautiously:
"Professor Jace...is there a time limit for this assessment?"
“How much time can you give me at most?”
Jace replied, "There is no time limit. You can take as long as you want. Just hand it in to us when you're done."
"But you have to know that the decision on the single candidate is based on my and Victor's subjective opinion."
"The speed at which you complete your paper outline will directly affect our evaluation of you."
"Huh?" The students were all surprised:
It turns out that this assessment is actually a racing game?
The questions were difficult in themselves, requiring one to write well and quickly. At this point, few people present had the confidence to pass.
And Kaya Firoz, the eldest daughter of the Firoz family, happens to be one of them:
"I see... As long as I can finish the outline first, I can get 'extra points', right?!"
Kaya was very confident. She took out a gold-carved fountain pen with the Firoz family crest printed on it, and before she started writing, she glanced provocatively at Lina who was not far away.
But Lina was in no mood to pay attention to this old rival.
She had already picked up her tilted-end pen and began to write with nervous concentration.
“First place, I must get first place!”
It's not to compete with some young lady.
Just to win in my life.
She couldn't help but think of Li Wei. Although her brother said he had a way to pay the rent and asked her not to worry, he was still understating it, as if he had already made plans.
But Lina knew that her brother had it hard. He never had it easy.
So Kaya can lose, but she can't lose.
Kaya lost, but she just lost an honor that was icing on the cake.
If she lost, she and her brother would have to struggle in fear under the feet of the Piltover people every day, and shed blood and sweat for a few pieces of pitiful black bread.
So, one minute passed, ten minutes passed, half an hour passed, and when it was almost an hour...
When most students have already given up or are still struggling with it:
“I’m done!”
Lina was the first to stand up.
“I’m done!”
Just a few seconds later, Kaya Firoz also stood up.
The two people's eyes collided in mid-air, and both sides saw sparks in each other's eyes.
"Finally someone has finished it..."
"One hour is not bad."
Jayce yawned and smiled at Victor beside him:
"Victor, I heard that it only took you half an hour to pass Principal Heimerdinger's assessment and admission. It seems that no one will be able to break your record this year."
"The topics of the papers are different, there's no point in comparing them." Victor said in a calm tone, "And fast speed doesn't necessarily mean good quality. We still have to make a comprehensive comparison."
"Yes." Jace smiled at Lina and Kaya in the audience and said to the two talented girls in encouragement: "Submit your paper outlines."
"Victor and I will give an objective and fair evaluation."
"Yes." Lina and Kaya nodded at the same time.
They came to Jace and Victor with their notebooks and manuscripts.
"Professor Jace."
"Please help me take a look!"
Kaya handed her thesis outline to Jace first.
Jace took it and saw the name: "Kaya Firoz?"
Then look up at Kaya's distinctive silver-gray hair:
"Are you from the Philos family?"
"Mrs. Camille, who are you?"
"She is my great-aunt." Kaya smiled confidently.
The Philos family masters the technology for synthesizing artificial hextech gems, and the core of hextech technology that Jayce studies is developed from the Philos family's artificial hextech gems.
Now that the Hextech industry is booming, there is naturally bound to be mutual interests between the two.
Sure enough, as soon as Jace heard Kaya introduce herself, his attitude became a little more enthusiastic.
He picked up the paper and began to review it carefully, with a gentle expression, as if he was some relative or elder of Kaya.
"This..." Lina couldn't help but feel nervous.
She only focused on competing with her own strength, but forgot that other people's strengths were far more than just in writing.
"take it easy."
At some point, Victor came up to her side.
He lowered his voice and comforted him: "Jace is an upright man, you don't have to think too much."
"Yes..." Lina nodded pitifully.
"Show me your paper outline. As long as you are good enough, you don't have to be afraid of anything."
"Yes!" Lina looked at Victor with some gratitude, then turned to the page where she had written the thesis outline, and finally handed it to Victor carefully.
"May I have your name?"
"Lina."
"What's your last name?"
"I..." Lina suddenly became nervous: "My ancestors are immigrants from Ionia, so my last name should be Li... But you can just call me Lina... No one will call me by my last name, and I didn't register my last name when I enrolled... I can also say that I don't have a last name."
Victor paused as he flipped through his notebook.
There is only one kind of people who don't have a surname: the Zaun people.
Because almost 70% of the children in Zaan are orphans. Either their parents died early or they were abandoned by their parents because they could not afford to raise them.
In Zaun, having both parents is a privilege only enjoyed by children from well-off families.
Thus, unknowingly, the surname culture disappeared in Zaan.
People in Zuan can take whatever surname they want, regardless of who their parents are.
Or like Lina, she didn't name her according to her last name at all. She just wanted a name that was easy to pronounce, and she just dropped the last name.
"Mr. Victor..."
Lina lowered her head nervously and pinched the corner of her clothes uncomfortably.
To the people of Zaun, the people of Piltover can be divided into three types: the discriminators, the discriminators who discriminate in their hearts but don't say it out loud, and the discriminators who discriminate in their hearts but are not even aware of it.
She was very worried that her identity as a Zaun would affect Professor Victor's evaluation of her.
"You don't have to be afraid..." Victor sighed softly.
He patted Lina's shoulder gently and said softly:
"My name is Victor."
"Huh?" Lina raised her head suddenly.
"Just Victor—"
"No surname."
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