Super God-Level Top Student

Because he was not certain if Qiao Ze's choice was the right one, he would cordially invite him but would not resort to making false promises just to deceive someone.

It could be understood that Roth Dugan had a moral scrupulosity, and such people existed all over the world.

As their eyes met, it was evident that neither could persuade the other.

Soon, Daniel Milnor conceded defeat, knowing just how stubborn the lean old man could be.

"Alright, but you won't expose my lie when you talk to Qiao Ze, will you?"

Roth Dugan shrugged his shoulders and said, "Maybe, and I even want to remind you that Qiao's personality is different from most people. What you think is important might be insignificant to him. I hope you can keep your emotions in check when communicating with him, and it would be best to start with an academic discussion."

Those were sincere words.

Roth Dugan suspected that if Daniel Milnor started by extending an olive branch, it might lead to Qiao Ze blocking him outright.

"No, Roth, I understand what goes through the mind of an eighteen-year-old. At that age, I wished the whole world knew who I was! It's just a pity I didn't have the capability. But you know what? I will find a way to fulfill his wishes. I'll show him where the right choice lies."

Contrary to Roth Dugan's skepticism, Daniel Milnor seemed quite confident.

Roth Dugan, uninterested in commenting further, forcefully steered the conversation back on track: "Alright, Daniel, let's talk business. So as one of the reviewers, you wouldn't oppose me doing another round of promotion for the paper, would you?"

"No, why do we need another warm-up? Shouldn't we take advantage of the momentum and release the paper right away? It's the era of the internet, why must we stick to the old rules and wait until December to publish it? Just put it on the electronic journal and include it in the SCI index. We can supplement it in the print magazine two months later.

In this age, apart from some old-timers, who still insists on reading articles in magazines?" Daniel Milnor gave a more radical suggestion.

His suggestion was indeed a good one. Everyone was questioning the paper's qualifications for a preview on the official website. This would be the perfect opportunity to show everyone that there were actually two papers, with the first one being just an appetizer, given the caliber of the research.

It was well known that it wouldn't be overkill to spend ten to eight years studying such a challenging topic.

So it was understandable that "Mathematics Annual" received two papers from Qiao Ze at once.

It was merely the editorial board wanting to play a trick on everyone by releasing the preliminary paper first as a teaser.

Roth Dugan thought for a moment and then nodded, "Okay, then I'll go talk to Qiao about it. We need his agreement. If the proofreading is fast enough, we can publish the day after tomorrow."

"The day after tomorrow? That's good. Oh, remember to mention my name in the email. Tell Qiao that it was my suggestion," said Daniel Milnor earnestly.

...

Xilin University of Technology, inside the laboratory.

As mid-October arrived, the weather in Xilin had gradually cooled down.

Qiao Ze was alone in his office because Su Mucheng had taken the day off. The reason was compelling: it was getting cold, and Qiao Ze's wardrobe was conspicuously lacking in clothing, so she simply arranged to go shopping for clothes with Lu Xiuxiu.

Actually, Su Mucheng had hoped Qiao Ze would join them.

But Qiao Ze had always been disinterested in shopping.

In the past, when Lu Xiuxiu went shopping, she liked to bring Qiao Ze along to bargain, which only increased his natural aversion to talking much.

Now that the family's financial situation had improved, or one might even say there was no lack of money, Qiao Ze was even less willing to go.

However, this time they didn't ask Xu Dajiang to arrange for someone; the university directly provided a driver.

Actually, that was quite nice too.

As usual, he opened his email, and there was another message from Lothar.

The paper review had passed...

Well, that saved Qiao Ze the time he would have spent checking the paper's status on the submission backend.

Moreover, the other party suggested publishing the electronic version first. Explore new worlds at empire

Apparently, it was the idea of one of the paper's reviewers.

Qiao Ze glanced at the name of the reviewer, Daniel Milnor. He remembered him because he had read papers by this mathematics authority before. The memory was profound because this reviewer had once received the Fields Medal.

From this, Qiao Ze could somewhat understand why "Mathematics Annual" held such great influence in the mathematical community.

After all, not every mathematical journal has the privilege of inviting a Fields Medalist to review submissions.

Without much hesitation, Qiao Ze decided to accept, knowing that receiving the electronic version was just as good.

The only issue was that some plans might need to be expedited.

So, after replying to Roth Dugan, Qiao Ze immediately called Liu Chenfeng into his office.

"Young boss, what do you need me for?" Liu Chenfeng asked cheerfully as he entered the room.

Qiao Ze looked at Liu Chenfeng, mentally preparing his phrasing: "The project has concluded."

"Eh? Young boss, I know that, haven't you forgotten that you already gave me a sample copy of the paper? Isn't it that a new project has just started? To be frank, young boss, I am particularly well-prepared this time. Under your guidance, I have thought of several methods to advance the correspondence of Riemann space in two-dimensional fields.

For example, this time we can still start with Riemann space that possesses the highest symmetry..."

"What I mean is the new project has been concluded."

Qiao Ze interrupted Liu Chenfeng's report, adding a few more words to clarify.

"Eh... the new project? What do you mean? Didn't the new project just start?" Liu Chenfeng asked, looking at Qiao Ze confusedly.

"The previous project was completed during the intervening period, the paper has passed the review, and it is currently in the proofreading stage. It will likely be published in the electronic version of 'Mathematics Annual' the day after tomorrow," Qiao Ze explained.

Liu Chenfeng blinked, staring at Qiao Ze, not knowing what to say for a moment.

The office fell silent.

Qiao Ze wasn't quite sure how to handle this situation.

He could sense that the PhD student in front of him might need some consolation, but he really wasn't skilled at comforting others.

It might have been better to wait for Su Mucheng to be present before notifying Liu Chenfeng about this.

So, he could only wait for Liu Chenfeng to come to terms with it on his own.

After a long while, Liu Chenfeng weakly asked: "Young boss, you're not joking with me, are you?"

Qiao Ze thought for a moment and simply pulled up the email that Roth Dugan had sent him, then turned his laptop around and pushed it over.

With his mouth half-open, Liu Chenfeng carefully read the email from the editor-in-chief of "Mathematics Annual," and subsequently felt that his brain was completely unable to think.

He suspected that something must be wrong with the world.

Completing the last proposition in a month had already overturned Liu Chenfeng's understanding of mathematical research.

But at least it still took that much time.

Liu Chenfeng was also aware of the difficulty of the new project and had full confidence in Qiao Ze. If the last project could be completed in one month, then this new project would normally require a good half a year or even two to three years.

After all, a specific unified proof and a universally unified proof are two entirely different concepts.

It's like Gauss' proof process, which is completed step by step.

From solving conjectures about the distribution of primes and the distribution of primes in arithmetic sequences, to raising the question of the density of prime distribution, to proving the prime number distribution theorem, and then proposing a series of mathematical tools in research that would allow the results to slowly converge upon the final outcome...

However, the fact was that only a week had passed since the new project was approved by the academy, and funds weren't even going to be transferred to the special research account until next Monday, yet the paper was about to be published.

This was no longer a question of how fast the speed was but a challenge to someone's entire understanding.

Even Gauss, the prince of mathematics, couldn't have been so amazing, could he?

Liu Chenfeng felt that he was having his understanding of the world, as well as mathematics itself, shattered by Qiao Ze.

Although it had already been shattered once before, this time it was particularly severe.

Seeing the bewildered Liu Chenfeng, Qiao Ze gave up and after a moment of thought, said, "You go back first, and we'll talk tonight."

Su Mucheng would definitely be back this evening, and all he needed to do was to convey his thoughts to Su Mucheng and let her communicate with Liu Chenfeng.

Liu Chenfeng's uncontrollable expressions made Qiao Ze feel that communicating with this guy was harder than writing a paper.