After typing the email, Lu Zhou yawned and clicked the “Send” button casually.
Normally, even if Lu Zhou was not optimistic about someone’s proof, he would not be too harsh. He would go about in a tactful way. But because he needed to rest, he didn’t bother to spend time making his words more polite.
Of course, although the five-hundred-page paper did not succeed in proving the ABC conjecture in his opinion, it did not mean that the past two days were wasted.
Compared to the previous paper he found on the website of the department of mathematics of Kyoto University, this revised version had been optimized in many ways.
Although there were still many problems, it had given him a lot of inspiration.
In addition to the basic idea of transforming number theory problems into geometric problems, there were also many problems that involved rebuilding a mathematical language.
He had a rich experience in the former, but the latter was a new thing for him.
This was different from existing mathematical language compiler tools; it was almost equivalent to recreating a mathematical language used to describe the ABC conjecture.
Perhaps like Perelman had guessed, to solve this problem, it might be easier to use alien mathematics.
After the email was sent, Lu Zhou casually wrote down his inspiration in a notebook. He then got up from the chair and was about to go back home for a nap.
However, there was a knock on the office door. The door was soon pushed open.
Lu Zhou looked at Chen Yushan, who walked in. He was slightly stunned and spoke with surprise.
“Why are you here?”
“I heard that my boyfriend hasn’t slept for two days, so I immediately came from the office… Where is Meng Qi?”
“She left already.”
Chen Yushan looked at Lu Zhou’s thick eyebags. She then sighed distressedly.
“… Promise me, don’t ruin your health anymore.”
“It’s only two days, don’t make such a big deal out of it…” Lu Zhou said with a cough, “Not to mention that it’s not the first time I’ve been on a retreat.”
“What do you mean only two days!” Chen Yushan couldn’t help but rant, “Also, I didn’t know you don’t sleep during your retreats!”
“I don’t stay up every retreat, but when I happen to be inspired, I want to take advantage of the inspiration and do what I can do all at once…”
Lu Zhou couldn’t help but yawn. He then smiled a little embarrassingly and said, “Besides, I’m planning to go to rest right now, so don’t worry.”
“If I wasn’t here, you’ll probably never take a break.” Chen Yushan looked at the stack of papers on the desk and said, “Is this… the ABC conjecture?”
“Yeah, after reading Shinichi Mochizuki’s paper, I have a lot of interesting ideas. Although I don’t know when this problem will be solved, I feel that I am very close to the entrance of the maze.”
After seeing the excited expression on Lu Zhou’s face, Chen Yushan spoke in a quiet voice after being silent for a while.
“I heard… After solving the ABC conjecture, you are going to Mars?”
“Who said that?”
“My dad.”
I knew it…
Lu Zhou had anticipated that this would happen. He sighed in his heart.
Director Li probably told her father.
Director Li tried to play the girlfriend card, in hopes of convincing Lu Zhou not to go.
Lu Zhou couldn’t help but curse in his heart.
What a scumbag! Who does something like this?
Chen Yushan said, “I want to go to Mars with you… But I don’t think I can.”
Lu Zhou looked at the pretty face and spoke after a moment of silence.
“If you want to, I can bring you.”
“No.”
Lu Zhou was surprised.
He thought that Chen Yushan would agree; he didn’t expect her to shake her head and reject him.
“If I went with you, you would definitely be worried about me. If it’s just for a vacation, it would be fine, but since you’re doing business… I don’t want to be a burden.
“I’ll wait on Earth for you.
“So…
“Promise me, you’ll come back.”
Although she carefully hid the feelings of anxiety in her heart, Lu Zhou still read the unspoken words from her rippling eyes.
What if… someone else goes? It’ll be the same.
I have already taken on too many responsibilities that are not my own. If I share some with other people, it might be easier.
After all, I’m not young anymore…
However, this thought only stayed in his mind for a second.
After being silent for a while, Lu Zhou raised his head, looked at her adorable face, and nodded.
He spoke in a serious tone.
“I promise you…
“I’ll come back safely!”
…
On the other hand…
Kyoto University, Japan.
After Shinichi Mochizuki read the e-mail lying in his mailbox, he was slightly unhappy. His student Hoshi Yuichiro was standing behind him with a cup of coffee. He looked at the email on the screen and spoke in surprise.
“Reading more than 500 pages in two days… How did he do it?”
The obscure and incomprehensibility of anabelian geometry was well-known in the mathematics world. Scholars who understood this field could be counted on one hand.
Hoshi Yuichiro clearly remembered that Schultz, who was said to be a genius mathematician, spent half a year in order to understand his professor’s thesis.
Moreover, he and another student, Yamashita, agreed that the German mathematician did not understand the paper at all. And that he even conflated two unrelated mathematical concepts during questioning.
“Obviously, he didn’t read my paper carefully at all and that he made a judgment based on his instinct.” Mochizuki took off his glasses from the bridge of his nose and stood up from the computer desk.
After a pause, he continued, “I will go to China to confirm this personally.”
The moment he said this, the entire office went silent.
Hoshita Yuichiro, Yamashita, and his other students and assistants all cast a glance of surprise at him.
What surprised them was not that their professor intended to go against Professor Lu; in their opinion, their professor was no worse than Lu Zhou.
What really surprised them was that the famous “introverted” Mochizuki was actually willing to go overseas?!
After gulping, Hoshi Yuichiro looked at his professor incredulously and asked in an uncertain tone, “Professor… You plan to go in person?”
“Yes.” Mochizuki nodded without hesitation. He said bluntly, “His misunderstanding of my thesis is more irritating than that of Schultz. I will clear up the confusion with him in person.”
“But you… don’t usually travel?”
In the past, the European Mathematical Society tried so hard to invite him over to give a report, but the big man sent another student to give a report. This time he actually wanted to go to China himself. In Hoshi Yuichiro’s opinion, it was like pigs were starting to fly.
“That’s because there was no need to travel before, but now there is.”
Shinichi Mochizuki looked at his students and continued to speak without interruption.
“Moreover, I happen to have a lot of questions about quantum encryption algorithms and cryptography that I want to talk about with him.
“Compared to the ABC conjecture, which I solved more than ten years ago, this is what I am really interested in.”
Hoshihiro’s shoulders trembled. Like the other students and assistants in the office, they looked at the teacher with a hint of worship in their eyes.
Professor Mochizuki…
His confidence…
His determination…
Is so cool!
