After the closed-door meeting ended.
It was almost eleven o’clock by the time Li Dong returned to the university.
He was the only one in his dorm room. He took a shower.
The words spoken by those people tonight were still swirling in his mind.
’The theory is correct, but it’s impossible.’
’The human brain is too complex; we can’t see it clearly.’
’Silicon-based chips can’t efficiently simulate neurons.’
Li Dong rested his chin on his hand.
’Indeed, these are all real, tangible difficulties.’
’They weren’t obstacles he could overcome with a simple "I believe."’
’But...’
He thought of Xiaohai again.
He recalled the sentence Newton had posted in the group chat.
"I built it based on the human brain."
It seemed Lord Niu didn’t care at all about "backpropagation."
He had probably never even heard the term "neural network."
He had simply relied on his intuition about the world, along with over seven thousand anatomical diagrams, and forcibly pieced it together.
’There must be something I’m missing here!’
Li Dong shook his head. ’Why am I even puzzling over this? I should just ask.’
He opened his phone.
[University Scientific Research]: @Isaac Newton, Sire, are you there?
After sending it, he stared at the screen for about two minutes.
There was no reaction from the group.
Li Dong sighed and placed his phone face down on the desk.
’Forget it.’
’I should finish the work I have on hand first.’
He looked down at the stack of draft paper on his desk, covered in symbols...
For the next few days, Li Dong’s life was a simple routine between three places: his dorm, the seminar room, and the cafeteria.
The university was on break, and the entire Yanyuan campus was so quiet it felt almost unreal.
There were only three people in the seminar room.
The project wasn’t progressing particularly fast.
But thankfully, they hadn’t run into any of those despair-inducing dead ends that brought everything to a halt.
They managed to inch forward a little each day.
But everyone was enjoying the process.
One afternoon, Li Dong left the seminar room and was heading back to his dorm. Just as he reached the corner of the hallway, he saw a familiar figure strolling ahead.
The person saw him too.
"Hey, Li Dong."
Li Dong quickly greeted him back.
"Teacher Zhou."
"School’s out for the break. Why are you still here?"
Zhou Qifeng said very naturally.
"Eh, I’ve been bored stiff at home lately, so I came for a walk."
"Didn’t expect to run into you."
As Zhou Qifeng spoke, he pulled a stack of A4 paper from his file folder.
It was a printout of the PDF file Li Dong had sent to Zhou Qifeng a while ago.
Li Dong: ...
"Teacher Zhou..."
"Didn’t you say you just happened to run into me?"
"Then this stack of papers in your hand... why are you so well-prepared?"
Zhou Qifeng’s old face flushed red, but he quickly composed himself.
"It’s just... I happened to have it with me and was looking for a quiet place to read it again."
"Since I’ve run into you, how about we have a chat?"
Li Dong silently rolled his eyes.
He thought for a moment.
’I already deleted the footnotes in that PDF. All that’s left are those three very basic questions.’
’There shouldn’t be any major issues.’
’Might as well talk.’
"Alright, Teacher Zhou. Shall we go to the seminar room?"
Zhou Qifeng nodded immediately.
The two of them entered the seminar room, one after the other.
Professor Penrose was still inside.
He was currently staring blankly at a mess of symbols on the whiteboard.
Hearing the door, he looked over.
When he saw Li Dong had returned, his face immediately lit up with joy.
Then he noticed an unfamiliar Chinese professor following Li Dong.
Penrose stood up and nodded politely.
Li Dong quickly made the introductions.
"Professor Penrose, this is Professor Zhou Qifeng from our physics department."
"Teacher Zhou, this is Professor Penrose."
Zhou Qifeng’s English wasn’t particularly good, but he was fine with basic academic communication.
When he heard the name "Penrose," his eyes clearly lit up.
After all, he was an internationally renowned mathematics professor.
The two exchanged a few simple pleasantries.
After the pleasantries, Penrose showed no sign of noticing that Li Dong and Zhou Qifeng had something to discuss.
He waved directly at Li Dong.
"Dong, Dong!"
"Let me tell you, that line of thought you mentioned before you left... I sat here thinking about it by myself..."
"I suddenly think there’s a place where it can connect!"
"Come, come, look here..."
The old man grabbed a pen and was about to start writing.
Li Dong quickly reached out to stop him.
"Professor Penrose, please wait a moment."
"I need to talk with my teacher for a bit first."
Penrose was taken aback for a moment.
His expression showed a hint of disappointment, but he still nodded like a true gentleman.
"Oh, okay, okay. I’ll wait for you."
Then he really did just go and sit on a nearby chair.
He just sat there obediently, waiting.
Li Dong: ...
Zhou Qifeng: ...
’Well, alright then.’
Li Dong and Zhou Qifeng exchanged a look, and both of them chuckled.
’It doesn’t matter...’
’Anyway, they were speaking Chinese. Even if Penrose wanted to eavesdrop, he wouldn’t understand a thing.’
’And it wasn’t anything confidential.’
The two of them sat down at the table by the window in the seminar room.
Zhou Qifeng placed the stack of printed PDFs on the table and got straight to the point.
"Li Dong."
"I won’t beat around the bush."
"Have you... considered pursuing mathematical physics in the future?"
Mathematical physics. It sounds like just math plus physics, but it’s actually a hardcore interdisciplinary field that requires deep expertise in both.
To put it this way, theoretical physics aims to uncover the laws of the physical world. Mathematics is its core tool, and it must be rigorous.
For example, relativity is built on Riemannian geometry, and quantum mechanics is supported by Hilbert space. Without rigorous mathematics, you can’t even talk about theoretical physics. However, its ultimate focus is on physics, not mathematics itself.
Pure mathematics pursues the systems and axioms of mathematics itself, with math as the object of study.
But mathematical physics is a two-way street.
It not only provides a rigorous mathematical foundation for physical theories but also unearths entirely new mathematical structures from physical laws. You have to go to the very depths of both fields.
Li Dong thought for a moment.
He nodded very seriously.
"Teacher Zhou, I am indeed interested."
The moment Zhou Qifeng heard this, his whole body relaxed in relief.
’Now I’ll have something to report to Dean Gao,’ he thought.
But before he could get too happy, Li Dong added another sentence.
"But it will have to be later."
"I don’t have enough time right now."
Zhou Qifeng could understand that.
He knew that Li Dong was currently working on a project.
’He really doesn’t have the time to get distracted,’ he thought.
Zhou Qifeng said magnanimously.
"That’s fine, that’s fine. There’s no rush."
"After you finish this project, we can..."
Before he could finish, Li Dong continued.
"After I finish this project, I still need to work on chemistry and biology first."
"And then I’ll move toward mathematical physics."
Zhou Qifeng’s words were cut off in his throat.
He suspected he had misheard.
After a three-second daze, he gave a dry laugh.
"Li Dong."
"What did you say?"
"I didn’t hear you clearly."
"You said that after you finish this project, you’re first going to... do what?"
Li Dong repeated himself matter-of-factly.
"Chemistry and biology."
"Didn’t I just learn them a little bit before?"
A muscle in Zhou Qifeng’s face twitched.
He didn’t even know how to react.
’You got a perfect score, and you call that "learning it a little bit"?’ he thought.
’This wasn’t some competition where you can just casually get a perfect score. This was the official final exam for Peiyuan Academy, and one or two of the questions were even beyond the scope of the fourth-year curriculum.’
’And you call that "learning it a little bit"?’
He took a deep breath.
He forced himself not to lose his composure in front of Penrose.
"Li Dong, you..."
"What direction are you even planning to go in?"
"I know there’s a field called mathematical biology."
"And I know about Quantum Chemistry."
"But..."
Zhou Qifeng said, speechless.
"Give it to me straight..."
"Are you planning to specialize in these two interdisciplinary fields?"
"Or do you just want to get a casual understanding of them?"
Li Dong answered honestly.
"For now, I just want to get a casual understanding."
"But I can’t say for sure whether it will turn into a specialization later on..."
"Because I have a feeling that these things might all be connected."
Zhou Qifeng: ???
"What’s all connected?"

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