Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Philadelphia International Airport.
Molina stopped the car and opened the car door. She then helped Lu Zhou to open the trunk before she leaned against the car.
“You really don’t want to think about it?”
As Lu Zhou pulled his suitcase from the trunk, he asked, “Think about what?”
Molina hesitated. She then sighed then said, “Fine, honestly speaking… I want you to join my research group as I’m studying a very challenging question.”
“What question?”
“Riemann’s conjecture.”
“Wake up.”
Molina was surprised as she said, “This doesn’t sound like you. I thought you’d be more courageous.”
“Courageous enough to solve Riemann’s conjecture?” said Lu Zhou as he laughed.
Researchers around the world all wanted to solve this question. Anyone that could solve it would undoubtedly become one of the most influential mathematicians in history. The one million dollar award paled in comparison.
And how difficult was the question?
With his current Level 3 in mathematics, the system would not even give him a price to solve the problem. In the system’s eyes, the question was far beyond his current mathematical level.
The most cutting-edge research result was from the American mathematician, Kanguri. His “40% of the zero points is on the crucial line”.
It was insanely difficult to push this 40% to 100%.
Of course, many people also tried to kill this method, but without any exception, they had all failed.
The most famous case was probably Mr. De-Branges when he announced in 2003 that he had proved Riemann’s conjecture. In the end, he became a laughing stock.
De-Branges had not even fully understood the problem before he announced his solution.
Mr. Zhang Yitang reduced the “70 million” number down to “246”, it did not even take him a year.
Lu Zhou knew that Riemann’s conjecture was on another level.
It was not that he was afraid of this challenge, but it was because he had no reason to challenge this nightmarish level kind of questions right away. He could wait for his mathematics level to rise before challenged questions of this difficulty.
Molina took a deep breath as she tried to make a final attempt at persuading him, “Actually, you might be too pessimistic. In fact, I’ve achieved some results… Although it seems trivial, I’m confident that within three years, I can push this 40% number to 50%. This could be my doctoral thesis! Of course, if you’re willing to help me, I can co-sign the thesis with you…”
“This is one of the reasons why number theory is so fascinating,” said Lu Zhou. He sighed and said softly, “Everyone thinks that they are about to succeed, but when the results come out, they find out that they have failed.”
Over the past six months, there had been countless times when he thought he had solved the twin prime number conjecture, when he, in fact, did not.
Who knew how long it would have taken him if he did not have the inspiration hours from the system.
A year?
Ten years?
No one knew.
After all, mathematics itself was a quantitative subject. 10 years of work could be summed up in ten pages.
Lu Zhou looked at the time on his phone and said, “It’s getting late, I’ve got to leave. Thanks for sending me to the airport. I’ll treat you to dinner when I get the chance.”
“… I’ll wait here for you. The world is your stage!” said Molina as she looked at Lu Zhou walking away.
Lu Zhou heard her and paused for a second before he smiled.
He then waved his hand and said, “See you later!”
He continued to walk and he soon disappeared amongst the crowd.
As Molina stared at the airport entrance, she started to think deeply and for a long time, she did not speak at all.
In the sky, white trails were left behind by airplanes.
“See you later… I guess?”
She felt a little empty in her heart.
She then shook her head and went back into her car.
Suddenly, a well-dressed man walked over and smiled. He then asked, “Hey there, sweetheart, I’m not from around here. Mind giving me a ride?”
“Go call a Uber.”
Molina closed the car door and slammed the gas pedal.
The man looked at the taillights and stood there.
He then raised his middle finger.
“Sh*t…”
…
After a twenty hour flight, the plane finally landed at the Shanghai airport.
Without wasting any time, Lu Zhou immediately transferred onto a flight to Jiangcheng.
Jiangcheng International Airport…
Lu Zhou finally landed and he dragged his suitcase behind him as he tried to look for the subway. However, he was blocked by two people.
A beautiful lady and a man in a suit quickly walked up to him.
“Hello there. I’m from Suzhou TV station. Are you Lu Zhou?”
When Lu Zhou heard that she was from Suzhou TV, he was shocked. He immediately looked around.
I didn’t take the wrong flight, this is Jiangcheng International Airport…
Wait a minute, the news of me solving the twin prime number conjecture has already reached China?
But I hadn’t even officially published the thesis…
Lu Zhou looked at the reporter and asked cautiously.
“Is there a problem?”
Wu Ping smiled and said, “Here’s the thing. There’s the strongest genius student program on our TV station, don’t know if you have heard of it?”
I guess it’s not about the twin prime number conjecture…
Lu Zhou was disinterested and he shook his head as he answered: “…”
He had not been watching television for many years, so he had no idea what programs were on TV.
He was too busy for TV.
His roommate used to watch TV, so at most, he would glance at it occasionally.
Wu Ping had an awkward expression on her face. She coughed and said, “The thing is, the strongest genius is one of the most popular shows on our platform. There are six teams, four people each team, and each team has an expert in mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biochemistry. The teams have to compete to become the strongest team! We heard of you solving Zhou’s conjecture, so we want to ask if you’re interested…”
“Not interested,” said Lu Zhou as he shook his head and tried to leave.
The female reporter was worried, so she quickly stopped him.
“Oh, wait a minute! There’s pay.”
Lu Zhou stopped walking and said, “How much?”
Wu Ping had a charming smile on his face.
“Fifty grand.”
“…”
Lu Zhou was speechless. He then turned and left.
“Pretend like I didn’t ask.”