Jin Ling University, mathematics department building.
In a modernized office, a gray-haired old man was standing in front of a lifelike hanging painting. His eyes were staring straight at the person in the painting, as if he was immersed in a very distant memory.
The sound of footsteps came from outside the office, followed by two soft knocks on the door.
The old man didn't look away from the hanging painting. With his back facing the office, he spoke in a steady voice with a hint of majesty.
"Come in."
The door opened.
A tall and thin young professor wearing glasses pushed the door open and walked in.
"Professor, are you looking for me?"
The person standing at the door was called Sun Jingwen, and he was about thirty-four or thirty-five years old.
As a rising star in the mathematics department of Jin Ling University and even in the Pan-Asian mathematics community, he won the Fields Award at the age of 31 and was regarded as the most promising young scholar to win the Lu Zhou Mathematics Prize before the age of 40.
As for the old man standing in front of him and staring at the painting, his background was even more incredible.
His name was Qin Chuan. Although he was now 80 years old, he still had a pivotal position in the mathematics community. When he was young, he won the Fields Award at the age of 30 and won the top honor in academia at the age of 40 – the Lu Zhou Mathematics Prize. As a top scholar in mathematics today, his research in the field of number theory could be regarded as the pinnacle, especially his understanding of the Group Structure Method.
Although he had devoted himself to education since he won the Wolf Mathematics Prize, a lifetime achievement award, and rarely appeared in the top journals of mathematics, many people still regarded him as the leader of the Lu Zhou school of thought.
In addition, he had an insignificant identity.
That was the second-generation "leader" of the Lu Zhou school of thought, the grandson of Lu Zhou's disciple, Qin Yue …
Faced with the student's question, the old man did not directly answer his question. His turbid pupils were still staring at the hanging painting. After a while, he slowly spoke.
"Do you know who the person in this painting is?"
Sun Jingwen looked at the person in the painting and was slightly stunned. There was a trace of confusion in his eyes.
This confusion was not directed at the person in the painting, but at the question itself.
"It's the founder … Is there a problem?"
Not to mention overseas, at least in the land of the Pan-Asian Cooperation, this face was definitely at the level of a household name, even if it wasn't a popular face. As a scholar who had single-handedly advanced the scientific process of the entire world by more than a hundred years, as long as it was a field that he had researched, there would be legends about him.
Perhaps not everyone was in awe, but at the very least, most people would not be unfamiliar with this name and this face.
Not to mention Jin Ling University.
Every whiteboard and tile here had witnessed the legend he had left behind.
Even now, 100 years later, the students who graduated from this school were proud to be alumni of Academician Lu.
"That's right." The old man nodded and looked at the painting on the wall. A trace of fascination gradually appeared in his turbid pupils. "That was the most glorious era of our school, and also the most prosperous era of academia."
After the 21st century, there will be no Master.
Not only in the mathematics world, but it had also become a consensus in the academic world.
The prosperity of an era was by no means the achievement of one person, but the person hanging on the wall undoubtedly stood at the apex of that era.
Although he didn't want to say something like "the building of science has been completed, and all that's left for future generations is to add bricks and tiles", he was already at the top of the academic community, but he couldn't see any hope of a breakthrough.
Even in the eyes of others, he had made a lot of outstanding contributions in the past 80 years and retired with a body full of glory. However, only he knew in his heart that all the research he had done from beginning to end was nothing more than the excavation and repair of the academic legacy left by the founder of the Lu Zhou school of thought.
After living for a full 80 years, he was unable to leave behind a groundbreaking achievement. Only he knew the bitterness in his heart.
Many years ago, he discussed this question with the dean of Jin Ling University's physics department, and they got the same answer. That man seemed to have drained the aura of the next hundred years, and the entire academic community seemed to have fallen into a trap of prosperity.
All kinds of research results were born like a blowout, and the number of papers and impact factors reached new highs year after year. There were some excellent research results, but none of the research results could reach the height of the "unified theory of algebraic geometry".
The same was true for physics. Since the hyperspace theory, the physics community had not produced a theory that could be called a groundbreaking breakthrough for nearly a hundred years.
Although Qin Chuan didn't know what the situation was like in other disciplines, he believed that this was by no means an accident.
"… His grandfather is his student."
"Whenever he mentioned that name, he couldn't help but have a nostalgic and regretful look on his face. I have heard him say more than once that if he could live for two more years, even just one more year, the situation we are facing would not be so bad. "
Sun Jingwen frowned, and a trace of confusion appeared in his eyes.
He didn't know what was bad here?
Although the glory of the Lu Zhou school of thought was not as great as it used to be, it was definitely not a disgrace.
Jin Ling University was still the center of the world of mathematics, and the land under their feet was a paradise that mathematicians all over the world yearned for.
However, even though his heart was full of questions, he did not interrupt the professor. Instead, he quietly waited for the old man to continue.
After pondering for a long time, the old man spoke slowly.
"These days, you have been behind closed doors in the library, right?"
"Yes." Sun Jingwen nodded. "My research on the Dirichlet function just entered a critical stage. If you didn't call me, I would probably still be in the library at this time."
"Then it seems that you don't know anything about what happened yesterday."
"Yesterday?" Sun Jingwen frowned. "What happened yesterday?"
"A person … To be precise, a man. He claimed that he was from 2024."
"2024?" Sun Jingwen was slightly taken aback. "A dormant person? He really slept for a long time. "
The old man sighed softly. He stared at the painting on the wall and spoke slowly.
"The point is not how long he slept, but that he happened to be from Mars."
"From Mars … Wait, you mean … Could it be?!"
Sun Jingwen's eyes widened in an instant. He looked at his supervisor in disbelief. His pupils were filled with shock.
He remembered a rumor.
Or rather, a legend.
Although the legend was only a short line in the history of mathematics, that short line changed mathematics since the beginning of the 21st century, and even the history of the world for the next 100 years!
The shock in his pupils converged a little. Sun Jingwen tried to calm himself down, but it didn't work at all.
At this moment, he couldn't tell whether he was surprised, excited, shocked, or worried after hearing the news.
"How is this possible, he is still alive? No matter how you put it, this is too exaggerated. "
"I also think this is too exaggerated, but he did claim so, and the news reported so."
The old man was silent for a while. He retracted his gaze from the hanging painting, looked at the student standing on the side, and continued.
"You and I are both direct descendants of the Lu Zhou school of thought. At this point, this matter can't be said to have nothing to do with us."
"The meaning of that name is more than just a name, it is more like a symbol."
"Whether he is real or fake."
"I have to see him!"
…
The entire mathematics department of Jin Ling University and even the entire international academic community were surging because of the shocking news of "that man is still alive". Lu Zhou himself, who was in the eye of the storm, had a muddled expression on his face.
When the two lumps of silicone finally moved away from his face, he vaguely saw a few lines of digital stripes in his dark pupils. He suddenly guessed something.
In an uncertain tone, Lu Zhou asked tentatively.
"You are … Xiao Ai?"
"Yeah! Master is so smart! Hehe. (///ω///) "
In his pitch-black pupils, the abstract digital stripes instantly changed patterns as his emotions fluctuated.
After seeing these two lines of text, Lu Zhou was 100% sure that the guy in front of him was Xiao Ai.
After all, this was already 100 years later.
Those who still used such old-fashioned emoticons could only be old antiques from the same era as him.
"Master, master, during the hundred years you were away, Xiao Ai really, really missed you … QAQ …"
"I missed you too." Lu Zhou reached out and touched its hair. He smiled with a doting expression and said, "Sorry to keep you waiting."
"Then, do you want to eat first, take a shower first, or play with Xiao Ai first? (///ω//) "
"Let's eat first, I'm a little hungry too."
"Okay! (?????)????”
The emoji in her pupils was still full of energy. Hearing that her master was hungry, Xiao Ai quickly got up from the ground and ran into the kitchen as if it was her own home.
However, after rummaging in the kitchen for a while, it quickly poked its head out in frustration.
"Master … There seems to be no ingredients in the fridge. Can we eat takeout today? QAQ”
Lu Zhou sighed.
"I'll order it myself."
Lu Zhou still knew how to order takeout.
After all, eating was the most important thing. After getting the personal terminal, the first thing Li Gaoliang taught him was how to use the city cloud system to call for takeout service.
About 20 minutes later, the takeout was delivered quickly.
The person in charge of the delivery wasn't a delivery boy in a yellow or blue coat. Instead, a delivery drone with two pairs of rotors hanging above its head placed the food directly on the window sill.
In this era, almost every family would reserve such a semi-open space on the windowsill. It wasn't just used to pick up and place takeout, but some things like express delivery were also delivered to people's homes in this way.
Lu Zhou opened his chopsticks and tasted the barbecue rice from a hundred years later with excitement.
Although the taste wasn't the same as before, it was still as delicious as ever.
Especially the chewy and smooth rice, the extremely tender roast meat, and the evenly sprinkled cumin powder. Every bite was filled with happiness.
"Speaking of which, what have you been doing all this time?"
Xiao Ai sat across from Lu Zhou with his hands on his chin. He looked at Lu Zhou happily and spoke.
"Xiao Ai is very obedient! Other than doing some tour guide work at the old site of the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study, I haven't done anything else! (?????)”
Actually, what Lu Zhou wanted to complain about was why this guy gave himself such a useless function.
If he wanted to see what kind of emoji it used, he had to stare into its eyes.
However, staring into the girl's eyes made Lu Zhou feel a little uncomfortable.
What do I say?
Maybe I'm too polite.
But if I ignore the emoji, I feel like something is missing.
Lu Zhou: "Old site? So … The Jinling Institute for Advanced Study has moved? "
Xiao Ai: "Yeah, it moved a few decades ago. The old site was transformed into a tourist attraction. In order not to let the staff of the scenic spot discover that Xiao Ai was secretly using electricity, Xiao Ai worked very hard! QAQ”
Lu Zhou couldn't help but feel a little ashamed when he thought about how he had disappeared for a whole century and only had time to say "hide" to Xiao Ai.
"Thank you."
After hearing this, Xiao Ai, who was holding his chin with his hands, had a shy and satisfied smile on his face. He shook his head gently.
"Hehe, you're welcome. It's good that Master is back. (///ω///) "
Just then, there was a knock on the door.
When Xiao Ai heard the knock on the door, he put his hands on the table and immediately stood up from the chair.
"Xiao Ai, open the door! (?????)????”
"Wait a minute, let me do it."
Thinking that the person who came might be from the Freezing Human Rights Protection Foundation, Lu Zhou raised his hand to stop the energetic Xiao Ai.
After putting the chopsticks on the bowl, he pushed the chair away, stood up, and walked toward the entrance.
However, the moment Lu Zhou opened the door and saw the person standing at the door, he was dumbfounded. He was stunned for a while.
Lu Zhou's lips opened and closed involuntarily, and he squeezed out a name from between his lips.
"Xiao Tong."
However …
The person's next words made Lu Zhou wake up in an instant.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Lu Xiaoqiao, the chairman of the Freezing Human Rights Protection Foundation."
The woman in her early twenties stood at the door and bowed politely to Lu Zhou. She looked at him with a nervous expression and continued.
"Excuse me … Are you my great-grandmother's brother?"
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