The room was illuminated by the cold light of several monitors that were on non-stop, dispying various graphs, documents, and discussion forums moving at high speed. Stacks of books rise to the sky like towers on the verge of colpse, documents are scattered about in no particur order, while a few empty pstic bowls bear witness to how long the occupants have neglected basic needs other than work.
Amidst the chaos, a woman sat silently, chopsticks still clutched in her hands, twirling instant noodles that had long since lost their heat without really intending to eat them.
Her long hair was tangled, falling carelessly over her shoulders, her gsses were slightly drooping on the bridge of his nose, and the boratory coat she was wearing looked like it had been worn for too long without any care for appearance.
Her eyes remained locked on the screen. Not on the main debate, not on the theories and contradictions developing within the forum. Not at the physicists trying to challenge the limits of current knowledge, not at the economists arguing about the possibility of a global energy transition, and not at the engineers seeking technical solutions in confidently typed words. The focus is on one name. @Only_James.
She wasn't reading just to understand the content of the discussion, but to understand a person. To analyze the person who has sparked this debate, someone who with one simple post has dragged the world's best minds into an ever-widening and deepening vortex of conversation.
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Every account on this forum is not just any account. Each user has a clear, verified and traceable identity. They are leading scientists, experts in their respective fields, individuals whose names appear frequently in academic publications, government reports, or rge-scale industrial projects. They are the pilrs of human civilization, the people who create and shape the technologies and policies that move the world. Every word they utter carries weight because it is backed by an accountable background.
But, @Only_James?
No information, no academic background, no research trail, no publications, no university, no country of origin, no profession to trace. Just an empty account name in a sea of identities that all have credibility.
What's even stranger? He didn't fall behind in the slightest.
Someone without a clear background should be easily eliminated in such a discussion. Someone without academic credibility shouldn't be able to st long in this forum, let alone against experienced scientists. However, none of them could really match him.
Every word he typed was too methodical, too purposeful. Every answer is to the point, leaving no room for empty arguments. Every correction is precise, without any emotion.
He's not talking to win, he's not trying to get validation, he's just... Talking because he knows.
The nguage is too clean. There is no typical pattern of academics trying to show off their superiority, no excessive tendency to write technical jargon just to sound more complex. The sentence structure is efficient, straightforward, never going in circles. There is no empty rhetoric. No authority-based arguments; every sentence has a purpose.
But even more interesting... His thinking. A lot of what he says goes against modern understanding. Not in the sense of being wrong, but more like... Innovation? He doesn't repeat existing theories, he doesn't speak based on current research trends, he doesn't follow conventional thought patterns.
However, the most surprising thing is... It makes sense, at least if he revises all the existing formus and theories.
Some scientists rejected his arguments outright, but no one could refute them unequivocally. Because no matter how contrary his theories are to the current paradigm, the logic he uses remains solid. Even some people who were initially skeptical are now starting to consider the possibility that what he says could be true.
So... Who is he?
The account name is "Only James". This name doesn't give much information, except for the possibility that he's a man. That's just a weak guess.
The nguage used is perfect. There are no traces of a particur dialect, no distinctive patterns to suggest that this is a transtion. The English is pure, too perfect for someone who uses it as a second nguage. But he didn't choose a regional server, only global. That could mean anything.
Age? It's hard to guess. His thinking is too sharp for someone young, his grasp of structure and logic too mature for someone who has just finished higher education; but too flexible for someone who has been in the rigid academic world for too long.
Not a student, because there is no trace of imperfection in the way he thinks. Not a professor, because he never speaks with the superiority of a lecturer. Certainly not a yman, because he knows too much.
If he's from a reputable university, he should already be known in this community. If he's an independent researcher, he should have traceable publications. If he's from industry, there should be a trail of projects that can be attributed to him.
But there wasn't any information other than it anonymous account, he just... existed.
Attend this forum, shake up the discussion, debate the experts, and win without identity; at the very least, he cannot be proven wrong.
I wasn't emotionally impressed, I didn't worship or admire it. But I know one thing for sure, no one is stupid enough to abandon something as interesting as this.
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I noticed a change in the atmosphere on this forum, how the previously intense and purposeful discussion suddenly lost momentum once the comment from the @LOL_Evangeline account appeared. Not everyone stopped talking, of course, but quite a few slowed down or even went silent altogether. Some seemed cautious, while others still continued the discussion as if nothing had happened. This phenomenon, how most of them reacted without necessarily saying anything, was the first thing that made me even more suspicious.
Right from the start, there was something strange about this pce. Not just the content of the discussions, but the essence of this forum itself. The longer I was here, the more I felt that this was not the scientific environment it should be.
First proof? This website does not have a domain. Every community, whether formal or informal, always has a digital footprint that can be traced. But this forum? It doesn't exist. It's as if this is a space that can only be accessed by those who already know about it, like an invitation to a closed party that is never publicly announced.
The second piece of evidence? The user names are too neat. They look like real names, but they feel too "clean," too formal, as if there are invisible rules governing how one should choose their name here. No accounts with random names, no one using the typical internet nicknames that usually appear in open communities. It's not just an exclusive forum, it's like something very carefully designed to look natural, but still have patterns that can't be expined by the naked eye.
Then, the third proof appeared in the form of @LOL_Evangeline. I stared at the screen with a ft expression. In my long experience of surfing the internet, one thing that has always been true is this... Someone who uses "LOL" at the beginning of their name cannot be serious. To make matters worse, the reactions from other users reinforced this notion. Those in the know immediately stop talking, as if preparing for the inevitable. As for the unaware, they continued talking without realizing that another user had entered the room.
I let out a long sigh, leaning my body against the closet wall. I had tried to maintain neutrality, answering with professionalism, restraining myself from spewing unnecessary information.
But now? It all felt like a joke being pyed out in front of me without me realizing it. I had no idea who these people really were, but one thing was clear. This was not a forum of scientists, this was not an academic community, this was not a pce for serious intellectual discussion.
This is part of the prank.
The more I thought about it, the more everything made sense. Websites without domains, usernames that felt oddly structured, and now... Users like @LOL_Evangeline who suddenly appeared and changed the dynamic of the conversation with a single comment.
Imagine how embarrassing it would be if I continued to answer seriously until the end, only to realize that I had become "Mr. Obvious," the person who smartly expins things to the pranksters who already know everything from the start.
If it wasn't for the presence of @LOL_Evangeline who came like a clown in the middle of a serious experimental space, I would probably continue to be trapped in the illusion that this was a real discussion.
I stared at the screen with an unreadable expression. For the first time since this discussion started, I didn't know whether I should ugh or feel like a fool (unfortunately, all the guesses were wrong).
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A name emerged amidst a stream of discussion that had previously been full of sharp debates and complex scientific analysis. @LOL_Evangeline.
There were no sirens or official announcements, but anyone who has been in science for a long time instantly recognized this figure's presence.
Not in the form of explicit noise, but in a more subtle, less tangible way... A change in atmosphere.
The discussion that was previously running like a torrent began to slow down, as if someone had just realized that they might have stepped into the wrong territory. Some of those who were still busy arguing simply stopped, as if their existence in this forum suddenly felt less safe.
The others? Those who didn't know who Evangeline was, or those who were too busy with their egos carried on as usual, not realizing that they were standing on the brink of chaos.
A chain reaction had occurred, and monitoring from outside the forum increased exponentially.
Names that rarely appeared before began to appear on the discussion visitor list. They don't comment, they don't ask questions, they just read, and they are people who shouldn't be here.
Government.
Political bigwigs from developed countries. They didn't show their identities overtly, but they were already here, observing, judging. All are present because Evangeline has appeared.
Who is Evangeline? In the world of science, there is a category of scientists who are widely recognized not because of their work at academic conferences or the awards they collect, but because they are a walking mess on their own feet.
A name that comes up often in this category? Dante. Dante, a scientist who regarded government regution as an unnecessary hindrance. He was of the view that true knowledge and absolute truth do not require the recognition of strangers.
And then there's Evangeline. She's no different from Dante, only more unpredictable, more uncontrolble, and more ignorant of the consequences of her actions.
If Dante was someone who refused to submit to the system, Evangeline was someone who didn't even care that the system existed. Her existence on this forum was not just a surprise. It was a small disaster that had only just begun.
And James? James didn't know anything about it. To James, this was all just a cheap prank.
User names that feel too clean, a forum without a domain, and now a user with the prefix "LOL" who just walks in? There's no other way to describe this except as a prank show in the guise of a scientific discussion, which is what he thought of this forum.
While he thought that all of this was just a trap for smart people... The outside world had begun to notice him.
The questions are short and simple.
@LOL_Evangeline: "What do you think about the exploitation of atomic energy for military weapons?"