The seminar was over.
Everyone began to file out.
The attending professors and their students were still murmuring about everything that had just happened.
Some were on their phones, calling colleagues who couldn’t be there.
"We should probably hold off on inviting Professor Jiang Yubai for that public lecture. Just watch the video I sent you..."
Back in Sunshine Hall, the professors in the front rows weren’t in a hurry to leave.
Professor Penrose was ecstatic. He came right up and grabbed Li Dong’s hand.
"Dong, that was beautiful! Your seminar was absolutely beautiful."
He asked, a bit cautiously.
"That ’little project’ you mentioned to me last time..."
Li Dong looked at the professor, who had the air of a mischievous old man, and nodded.
"Professor Penrose, what do you think? Are you interested?"
"Of course, Dong! I have to be a part of it..."
Professor Penrose said with a serious expression.
"Professor."
Just then, Sarah, who was standing to the side, pointed to Clark, who had been staring at them from a short distance away.
Penrose’s expression instantly soured.
"Dong, we’ll talk about the details next time. There’s a fly buzzing around today."
With that, he turned and left Sunshine Hall with Sarah.
As she left, Sarah smiled and gave Li Dong a thumbs-up.
After Professor Penrose and his group left, Terence Tao also came over.
He said with a smile.
"Today’s seminar was a real eye-opener for me."
And consider the weight Terence Tao’s name carried.
A Fields Medal laureate, a Breakthrough Prize winner, not to mention the MacArthur Genius Award, the Bôcher Memorial Prize, the Cole Prize, the Salam Prize, the Crafoord Prize, the Wang Yuan Mathematics Prize...
A man widely recognized as "one of the smartest living mathematicians of our time."
For him to say it was "a real eye-opener"...
...spoke volumes about how stunning Li Dong’s seminar had been.
Academician Yuan Yaxiang also clapped Li Dong on the shoulder, smiled, and said, "The young generation is truly formidable," before turning to Academician Zhang Wenping beside him.
Zhang Wenping cut straight to the chase.
"Li Dong, you remember that thing I mentioned to you last time?"
"About being a judge for the National Mathematical Contest in Modeling."
"Give it some serious thought. At your current level, you’re more than capable of handling the judging."
After saying that and exchanging a few more pleasantries, he left with Academician Yuan Yaxiang.
Tian Gang stood to the side, beaming as he watched his student receive praise from one heavyweight after another. He was absolutely delighted.
’Yep, that’s my student.’
Although it wasn’t officially decided who his student was, the matter was already set in stone in his mind.
’I’ll fight anyone who dares to snatch Li Dong from me.’
Just then, someone approached from the side.
Qiu Chengtong.
Tian Gang’s smile faded slightly.
Qiu Chengtong didn’t look at Tian Gang, nor at Liu Ruochuan.
He merely glanced at Yang Shengguo, who was standing next to Li Dong.
Then he spoke to Li Dong.
"Come visit Shuimu when you have time. You can bring your teacher, too."
Having said his piece, and with Tian Gang present, he turned and walked away.
Tian Gang’s expression changed in an instant.
’Come visit Shuimu when you have time?’
’What are you trying to pull, Qiu Chengtong?’
’Poaching my student?’
’Right in front of me?’
’Are you looking for a fight?’
Liu Ruochuan, observing his professor’s changing expression from the side, silently took a step back.
’Nope. Not getting involved.’
The people in the front rows had mostly dispersed.
At that moment, his three roommates walked over with Li Qin.
An unconcealable pride was written all over Li Qin’s face.
Of course, she was also a little nervous...
After all, everyone who hadn’t left yet looked like the type of person you’d see on the national news Broadcast.
Liu Qiang, next to Li Qin, lowered his voice.
"Holy crap, that foreigner who shook Brother Dong’s hand just now—you guys know who he is?"
Wang Hao rolled his eyes.
"That’s Professor Penrose from Princeton. Stop making a scene, you’re embarrassing us!"
Chen Nan quietly put away the phone he had been about to use to take a picture.
When Li Dong saw Li Qin approaching, he immediately went to greet her.
"Mom."
He took her hand and turned to face the few professors who hadn’t left yet.
"Let me introduce you. These are my professors."
"This is Academician Tian Gang, and this is Dean Liu Ruochuan..."
Li Qin hurriedly greeted them.
"Hello, professors. I hope Li Dong hasn’t been too much trouble for you at school."
The professors exchanged a glance.
’Trouble?’
They certainly didn’t think so.
They wished Li Dong would come "cause trouble" for them every single day.
Tian Gang said with a smile.
"Not at all. Li Dong is an outstanding student."
Li Qin’s smile grew even wider as she repeatedly said, "It’s all thanks to your excellent teaching."
Just as they were continuing their pleasantries, the phone in Li Dong’s pocket suddenly started vibrating.
In fact, he had felt it vibrating nonstop while he was on stage presenting.
He hadn’t dared to look at it then.
You can’t exactly pull out your phone to check WeChat while lecturing the world’s top number theory experts, can you?
But now that the seminar was over, the vibrations had become even more frequent.
Li Dong said to Li Qin, "Mom, you chat with the professors for a minute," then pulled out his phone to take a look.
That surprised Li Dong a little.
He had assumed it was the private chat window with Gauss.
Earlier, that chat window had been spazzing out, repeatedly showing "is typing..." and then stopping, which had been nagging at him.
He didn’t expect it to be a group message instead of a private one.
He tapped on it and took a look.
And then he just froze.
Instead, there was a series of group announcements.
[Abnormal fluctuation detected in the spatiotemporal coordinates of group member "John Carl Friedrich Gauss".]
[Member is currently attempting high-frequency communication. However, due to dimensional barrier restrictions, all communication content has been intercepted.]
[Security Alert: Signals from an unknown dimension have recently attempted to access this group’s communication port. The Group Leader is advised to secure account information and download the "Cross-Dimensional Anti-Fraud App" to enhance security.]
[Friendly Reminder: Please do not trust cross-spatiotemporal transfer requests from unknown sources. Beware of dimensional phishing.]
Li Dong was speechless.
’Seriously?’
’Cross-dimensional anti-fraud?’
’Dimensional phishing??’
The corner of Li Dong’s mouth twitched as he scrolled down.
He saw two more messages.
[Newton]: Hello, World.
[Newton]: Hello, World.
Li Dong was completely lost.
’What the hell is Newton doing today? Has he been spamming this since this afternoon?’
’Is he testing something, or has he just gone insane?’
Just as he was about to exit the group chat to check what was going on with Gauss’s private message window...
...a red packet suddenly popped up in the group.
[Exclusive Red Packet from Gauss]
Li Dong froze...
’A red packet from Gauss?’
’Didn’t the group announcement just say all his communications were being intercepted?’
’So this red packet... is it a hole that Gauss managed to punch through that dimensional barrier wall after trying every possible way?’
Li Dong gulped.
He suddenly understood why the "is typing..." message in Gauss’s private chat had kept appearing and disappearing.
’He was trying to break through the barrier?’
Li Dong took a deep breath, dismissed the thought of the anti-fraud app, and tapped it.

Comments

Loading...