My IQ has been increasing year by year.

Chapter 257 Next Gauss

After taking a shower, Chen Zhuo changed into his pajamas.

Her hair was half-dry, and a towel was casually draped around her neck.

He pulled out a chair in the bedroom and sat down at the desk.

Chen Zhuo gripped the mouse and shook it twice on the mousepad.

The screen lit up.

In the taskbar at the bottom right, the little penguin wearing a red scarf was flashing at an extremely persistent frequency, while the familiar beeping notification sound came from the computer speakers. Chen Zhuo picked up the water on the table, took a sip, and clicked on the flashing icon.

A chat window popped up.

The Nanjing Roast Duck Squad.

【Chasing the Wind】: It's so hot! It's so hot! It's so hot!

[Chasing the Wind]: This day is unbearable. I was in the living room for just ten minutes, and I was already sweating buckets.

[Chasing the Wind]: What annoys me the most is my mom. She keeps forcing me to pack my bags. I seriously suspect she's given up on me and doesn't love me anymore! [Chasing the Wind]: Is anyone there? When are you all leaving?

【Chasing the Wind】: @ZKOldZhou, have you bought your ticket yet? Should we buy sleeper berths on the same train? We can play a couple of rounds of cards on the way. (A short while later.)

【ZK】: I didn't buy it. I was planning to go two days earlier, but my teacher told me to go back early.

[Chasing the Wind]: Damn, you guys are all perverts, you can't even relax during summer vacation.

[Chasing the Wind]: Speaking of this... Sister Lin, are you there?

[Chasing the Wind]: Did you go to some lab at Tsinghua University a while ago to participate in the fierce competition? I heard from Professor Wang that a bunch of senior professors at Tsinghua have been keeping an eye on you for a long time. You must have gone there in advance, right? The group was quiet for two or three minutes.

Just as Wang Huashao was about to send a "nobody here" emoji, a simple black period avatar lit up.

【】：Didn't go.

[Chasing the Wind]: Huh? Where are you now?

【】:Home.

[Chasing the Wind]: Big sister, I reported for duty on September 1st, are you still at home? When are you planning to leave?

【.】：September 1st.

【Chasing the Wind】...You're going right on time? Tsinghua University's campus is huge, why don't you go familiarize yourself with the environment beforehand and find out where the cafeteria and teaching buildings are? 【.】: No, why go so early?

【.】：There is air conditioning in the house.

Chen Zhuo looked at these lines of text and smiled silently.

【Chasing the Wind】: Okay, you're awesome, you win, I can't mess with you.

Just after Wang Huashao sent that message, another new message popped up in the group.

[Miao]: Just received it.

[Chasing the Wind]: What did you receive? Old Miao, did you come back from the dead?

[Miao]: The official admission letter from MIT has just been delivered to my home.

The chat window paused for about three seconds.

Then, Wang's taciturn emojis started flooding the screen like they were free.

It's all those animated GIFs of people kneeling and kowtowing, prostrating themselves on the ground.

[Chasing the Wind]: Holy crap! Holy crap! Holy crap!

[Chasing the Wind]: MIT! Old Miao, you're making a fortune in silence! I'd heard you were applying, but actually getting it is still terrifying! [Chasing the Wind]: I worship you, master! I bow down to the giants of MIT!

【ZK】: Congratulations.

[Miao]: C, when are you going to the US?

Chen Zhuo looked at the @mention on the screen.

He took the towel off his neck, casually wiped his hair a couple of times, and draped the towel over the back of the chair.

Place both hands on the keyboard.

The plastic buttons make a slight tapping sound.

【C】：Twenty-eight, flying to New York.

The message was sent out and a reply immediately appeared in the chat box.

[ZK]: To Princeton?

【C】: Hmm.

There seemed to be a brief silence on the other end of the screen.

Then, Zhou Kai sent out a message, carrying an extremely obvious sense of helplessness and frustration.

[ZK]: Speaking of Princeton.....

[ZK]: Chen Zhuo, your article published in the *Annals of Mathematics*...

Chen Zhuo looked at the words, took his hands off the keyboard, and picked up his water glass.

【ZK】: I downloaded it from the website a couple of days ago.

[ZK]: I printed out those pages of homological algebra sequences from you, locked myself in my room, and tried to deduce them following your line of thought. [ZK]: I spent two whole nights calculating, and filled almost half a notebook with draft paper.

【ZK】：When we got to the third page, it completely crashed.

Zhou Kai usually speaks very rigorously and logically in the group, but now, these few lines reveal a strong sense of powerlessness. [ZK]: Your set of algebraic loops for discrete meshes completely abandons the common sense of continuous manifolds.

【ZK】: That kind of instinctive, violent cutting is completely irrational.

[ZK]: I'm starting to wonder if you're even from the same species as us...

Chen Zhuo looked at Zhou Kai's complaints.

He could picture Zhou Kai with bloodshot eyes, staring at a table full of scraps of paper, finally throwing down his pen in despair.

But before Chen Zhuo could reply, Wang Huashao jumped out.

[Chasing the Wind]: Hahahaha!

[Chasing the Wind]: Old Zhou! You've finally met your match!

[Chasing the Wind]: Seeing that even a top student like you has been beaten into a state of depression, I instantly feel better! Serves you right for always pretending to be so profound! [Chasing the Wind]: But seriously, you probably don't know how big this has become.

[Chasing the Wind]: I had nothing to do the other day, so I browsed a few foreign student forums and math-related posts.

[Chasing the Wind]: Goodness, a group of PhDs and researchers from prestigious universities are crying their eyes out below.

[Chasing the Wind]: The title of the repost was highlighted in red and bold, saying that this paper was a dimensional reduction attack on the traditional school of geometry. The atmosphere in the group was instantly dispelled by Wang Huashao's disruption.

[Chasing the Wind]: That's not all, there's something even more outrageous.

[Chasing the Wind]: There's a thread where a few people are seriously discussing whether this guy named Chen Zhuo is the next Gauss. [Chasing the Wind]: When I saw that thread, I spat my soda all over the screen!

[Chasing the Wind]: Gauss! What kind of god is that!

[Chasing the Wind]: C-Brother, Gauss the Great Immortal! Are you there?

[Chasing the Wind]: I have a favor to ask. When your photo is actually printed in a math textbook, could you talk to the publisher and add a small line next to your biography? [Chasing the Wind]: Just write: "When this mathematician was participating in the Nanjing Physics Training Camp, a roommate named Wang the Talkative One stole a whole bag of dried beef jerky in the middle of the night." [Chasing the Wind]: Let me, a mere mortal who only knows how to freeload, also have a chance to shine in the history of mathematics and soak up some of that magical aura!

In the chat window, Wang Huashao sent a dog emoji that was frantically kowtowing.

【ZK】：

【ZK】: You wish.

[ZK]: If a footnote were to be added, it would be something like, "The mathematician was forced to derive the formula overnight because one of his roommates talked too much nonsense in the middle of the night." [ZK]: But whether it's printed in a textbook is another matter.

[ZK]: But I reckon that when students studying algebraic geometry see your name on their final exams, they'll definitely curse you out in the exam hall. [ZK]: That derivation process is simply inhuman.

Chen Zhuo quietly watched the scrolling text on the screen.

Dimensionality reduction strike.

The next Gauss.

textbook.

Chen Zhuo's lips curled up slightly.

Just then, a gray-white avatar flashed.

【归去来兮】: Fortunately.

[Chasing the Wind]: What's so great about you?

【归去来兮】: Luckily, I switched to political science.

【Return to the Past】: No need to memorize Gauss's formulas, and no need to memorize Chen Zhuo's formulas in the future.

【Return Home】: Old Zhou, take care.

Wang, who doesn't talk much, sent a long string of "hahahahaha," and even Zhou Kai sent a speechless emoji with a bead of sweat on his forehead.

It was dark.

Outside the window, the intermittent chirping of cicadas in Zeyang City on a summer night carried a lazy, languid air.

Chen Zhuo put down the water glass.

He didn't respond to Gauss's comment, nor did he comment on the outside world's assessment.

He simply placed his hands on the keyboard and slowly typed out a few lines.

【C】：@ChasingTheWindYouthStopBrowsingSoupPosts, Have you finished the assignment your advisor gave you?

[Chasing the Wind]: Aaaaaaah, Brother Zhuo, are you a devil?!

Chen Zhuo ignored him and continued typing.

【C】: @ZK If you can't figure it out, don't keep trying. It's just a different tool. If it still doesn't work, just switch back to the original method. 【ZK】: Okay.

Chen Zhuo looked at the familiar names on the screen.

A young man chasing the wind.

Let us return home.

He typed the last sentence on the keyboard.

【C】: Everyone, pack your luggage.

【C】: Have a safe trip.

After being sent, the message remained quietly at the bottom of the chat window.

【Chasing the Wind】: Alright, I'm going to pack up and go to bed. Brother Zhuo, eat well in America.

【ZK】: Downloaded.

[Miao]: Good night.

【归去来兮】: With the wind at your back.

【】:Um.