Early in the morning.
Lu Zhou was sitting in the cafeteria of the Corinthia Hotel. He was enjoying some bread and coffee while checking his email. He also logged onto arXiv and browsed through the latest research results in number theory, algebraic geometry, differential manifolds, and several other areas that he had marked as important.
The mathematics community had been quiet these past few days. There wasn't any interesting news being released. Most of the discussions on professional academic forums like mathoverfolw weren't about academic issues. Instead, they were about the gossip of the mathematics community.
Even though not everyone received an invitation to the ICM, most mathematicians were paying attention to this upcoming international conference in St. Petersburg.
Lu Zhou was browsing through a post about the Fields Prize prediction voting. A Russian man with sunglasses sat across from him and whistled.
"Can you please stay in the hotel today?"
Lu Zhou looked away from the computer screen and cast a questioning gaze at him.
"Did something happen?"
"Something did happen." Maxim took off his sunglasses and wiped them with a cloth. He then said, "Someone hacked into St. Petersburg's power grid system and inserted some dirty code. According to the analysis of our National Security Intelligence Office, this might be a premeditated operation. "
Lu Zhou was speechless. "How could this not be premeditated?"
"You don't understand what I mean." Maxim looked at Lu Zhou and smiled. He said, "I mean, this might be a premeditated murder."
The atmosphere at the dining table instantly froze.
It was as if a spell had been cast on them.
This was probably the first time this had happened.
His life was truly in danger.
Lu Zhou's throat was a little dry. He took a sip of his coffee.
It took him three seconds to calm down. He put down the coffee cup and spoke calmly.
"Honestly, this is a bit far-fetched. It's just that it's a bit far-fetched to think that a nuclear power plant failure is related to murder. "
Blowing up a nuclear power plant to deal with him …
The Helios Nuclear Power Plant was next to St. Petersburg, the second largest city in Russia. No matter how clean and safe controllable fusion technology was, it was still nuclear.
If this matter was exposed, it would not just be a simple regional dispute.
Lu Zhou wouldn't find it strange even if they were sliding to the edge of war.
"It's more than 80% likely. At least we think that compared to the Helios Polymer Substation, someone's strategic value is obviously more important, and he can successfully destroy the friendly relationship between us and our neighbors. After all, if you really encounter trouble in Russia, you can't just say 'we're deeply sorry'."
Maxim put on his sunglasses and raised his eyebrows at Lu Zhou. He pushed away his chair and stood up.
Through the sunglasses, he stared at Lu Zhou with a serious look and continued.
"In short, the current situation is that someone is planning to harm you. We are not sure if they have a" plan B "waiting for you after" plan A "fails. Therefore, in order to avoid any accidents, we hope that you can try to limit your activities to this hotel. We are 100% sure that you will be safe here, but if you are too far away from here, this number may only be 90% or even 80%. "
"I understand." Lu Zhou nodded and looked away from Maxim's face. He looked at the computer screen and said, "Even though I don't know who thinks so highly of me, I will try to limit my activities to this hotel."
He didn't plan to wander around during the ICU conference.
Since someone was targeting him, it was better to be cautious.
"That's the basic situation. I have something important to deal with, so I won't be staying here. Have a good day."
Maxim made a goodbye gesture and walked toward the entrance of the cafeteria with a smile on his face.
However, when he passed by Lu Zhou's seat, he suddenly looked around and pretended to carefully lower his body. He then whispered.
He whispered, "I'm afraid I'll take you there next time."
When Lu Zhou heard this, he nearly choked on his coffee.
Lu Zhou coughed and put down the cup. He took a napkin and wiped his mouth as he spoke.
"Thanks, but no thanks."
"Haha, don't be shy, my friend. Other than science, there are many other things worth pursuing in life. If it weren't for this accident, I would have taken you there, but … let's talk about it next time. "
Maxim smiled heartily and patted him on the shoulder. He then swaggered away.
The news of the delay of the Helios fusion reactor did not affect the peace of Saint Petersburg City. Even Pravda, an authoritative newspaper that represented the government, only mentioned on the last page that due to various reasons such as the ICM conference and the visits of scholars from all over the world, the fusion reactor, which was originally scheduled to start at the beginning of the month, would be delayed by a week.
However, even with the delay of the ignition plan, the Russian government only downplayed it. However, many people with a keen sense of politics could tell from a series of clues such as "the president of the three Baltic countries returned early", "the manager of the St. Petersburg branch of the Unified Power Company was arrested for bribery", etc.
It was as if an invisible storm was brewing in St. Petersburg and the entire Russian power system …
On the afternoon of the day Maxim left the Corinthia Hotel, scholars from all over the world began to arrive at this five-star hotel that was almost empty for the International Congress of Mathematicians.
As a matter of fact, many people had already arrived yesterday.
For example, Lu Zhou's Princeton supervisor, Professor Deligné, as well as Professor Fefferman, who worked with him on the Navier – Stokes equation, as well as Professor Faltings, who was rumored to be planning on making a big news story before his retirement.
Lu Zhou only learned about this during breakfast.
However, compared to his old friends like Deligné and Fefferman, what really made Lu Zhou's emotions fluctuate was the figure standing in the hotel lobby with a suitcase.
Her silky blonde hair was tied into a long ponytail behind her head. Under the contrast of her long white dress, it was as dazzling as the floating light on the snow in winter. Her slender shoulders and the contours of her body looked a little fuller than four years ago, but for some reason, the uneasy feeling was even more concerning than four years ago.
Lu Zhou walked out of the cafeteria and walked through the lobby to the elevator. He immediately recognized her.
As if sensing his gaze, Vera, who was standing in the middle of the hotel lobby with her suitcase, caught a glimpse of the familiar figure in the crowd.
"Professor …"
His sapphire-like pupils were instantly filled with surprise and delight.
She let go of the handle of the suitcase and ran toward Lu Zhou, leaving the suitcase in place.
According to the principle of inertia in Newtonian mechanics, if she didn't slow down and continued to move forward, she would probably collide with Lu Zhou.
However, such an outrageous action was a little too stimulating for a certain young lady.
Under the influence of a series of physiological effects such as shame and nervousness, as she got closer and closer to Lu Zhou, her running footsteps finally slowed down.
Vera stood in front of Lu Zhou. Her cheeks were flushed from running. She reached out and quickly smoothed the messy hair on her forehead. She spoke with a shy expression.
"… Long time no see."
"Long time no see." Lu Zhou smiled and said, "How are you?"
"Yeah … I'm fine, don't worry about me."
Although he got a positive answer, Lu Zhou didn't know why her eyes suddenly looked away, but Lu Zhou couldn't stop worrying.
Just when Lu Zhou was about to ask, the sound of high heels on the granite floor came from the side.
"You're making me more worried."
The two looked over at the same time. They saw Molina, who was carrying her own suitcase in one hand and Vera's suitcase in the other, had walked to the side of the two.
Because they met in Jinling last year, compared to Vera, Molina didn't give Lu Zhou a big change.
The only thing that had changed was that the long windbreaker had been replaced with a short, grayish-green jacket.
The slightly boyish short hair, the striped white shirt and khaki trousers gave people a feeling of being on the streets of Paris in the last century.
After hearing Molina's words, Vera hesitated slightly and whispered.
"Huh? Really? "
"I think if you have any problems, it's better to say it. Someone is famous for being protective, and you are his apprentice. He will definitely find a way to help you solve it. "
"No, I'm really fine … Please don't worry about me."
Vera seemed to feel the pressure from Molina's questioning. She took the suitcase from her hand and thanked her in a low voice. She then carried her suitcase and walked quickly in the direction of the elevator. She even forgot to say goodbye to Lu Zhou.
Lu Zhou looked at Vera's back as she walked to the elevator. He pulled Molina next to him and asked in a serious tone.
"Aren't you her teammate? Don't you know anything about her? "
"Obviously, my teammate hasn't completely opened up to me. Besides, even if I knew, without her permission, do you think I would tell you a lady's privacy?"
Molina rolled her eyes at Lu Zhou. She pulled back her sleeves and quickly chased in the direction of the elevator with her suitcase.
Lu Zhou looked in the direction of the elevator with a complicated expression. He fell into silence.
At this moment, a familiar and slightly amusing voice suddenly came from the side.
"Professor!"
Lu Zhou was attracted by the voice. He immediately turned his head and saw a young man with slightly dark skin and curly hair. He was holding the arm of a Latina beauty with dark skin and slightly curly hair. He used his empty right hand to greet him enthusiastically.
Seeing that Lu Zhou didn't seem to react, the guy continued to shout as if he was afraid that Lu Zhou would forget about him.
"Hey, professor! I'm Hadi! You didn't forget about me, right? "
"Of course I know it's you, I just need some time to digest this huge amount of information …"
His eyes wandered back and forth between Hadi and the beauty next to him. Lu Zhou opened his mouth and said after a long time, "You're already … married?"
A hearty smile appeared on his face. Hadi scratched the back of his head and said with a smile, "Of course! After all, I graduated from my PhD many years ago, and I'm not young anymore. Not to mention, I'm already a professor. I'm so sad that I'm not married. "
Lu Zhou: "…"
This guy was still the same as always when it came to asking for a beating. He always liked to add a superfluous sentence after a sentence that was originally fine.
As expected, I shouldn't have let him graduate so early.
Hadi seemed to have noticed Lu Zhou's unfriendly gaze, so he made some small talk with him. He then walked toward the elevator with his newlywed wife.
According to him, they got married two months ago, and they came to St. Petersburg not only to attend the ICM conference, but also for their honeymoon.
The reason why they chose to schedule their honeymoon and the ICM Conference together was because if they applied to attend the ICM Conference, not only would the school allow them to take paid leave and reimburse their travel expenses, but they would also give them a certain amount of travel allowance …
After the ICM conference, they would fly to Italy and Greece as a connecting flight.
Out of all the people that Lu Zhou knew, Hadi was the only one who would do something like this …
In addition to Hadi, Lu Zhou also met Qin Yue in the hotel lobby.
Compared to four years ago, this young man's transformation could be said to be from the inside to the outside, turning the world upside down.
Lu Zhou remembered that when he first came to Princeton, this young man was quite an honest person. Now, not only did he treat people well, but he also gave people a very reliable feeling.
Seeing that his students were getting better and better, Lu Zhou was naturally quite happy.
The only thing that made him a little disappointed was that Vera still didn't want to tell him what was wrong with her body …
Hopefully, as she said, it wasn't a big problem.
However, Lu Zhou felt like things weren't as simple as he thought …
。
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