My IQ has been increasing year by year.

Chapter 139 Theory and Application

Chen Zhuo stood up, turned around, and walked into the bathroom.

Turn on the tap, and the tap water rushes into the sink.

Chen Zhu bent down, scooped up a handful of cold water, and splashed it directly on his face.

The water was so cold that it made him close his eyes for a moment.

He took another handful and rubbed it vigorously on his face twice.

The temperature from your fingertips is real, the feel of the water is real, and the subtle scent of the shampoo is real.

Chen Zhuo turned off the tap and grabbed a towel to wipe his face haphazardly.

The slightly rough surface of the towel rubbed against his face, slightly restoring sensation to his nerves, which had become numb from the long phone call.

He walked back to the table, pulled out a chair, and sat down.

On the table, there was still a draft paper on which he had half-finished the derivation last night.

That is a discrete algebraic model of a certain high-dimensional topological space.

The paper was densely covered with matrices, group theory symbols, and elegant logical derivation arrows.

With its smooth lines and rigorous structure, it resembles a crystal palace built entirely with intellect.

Chen Zhuo thoroughly enjoyed the process.

Using the simplest mathematical language to describe the most complex theories is like playing a puzzle game that only a few people can understand.

Untying a knot gives you a satisfying feeling of beating a level.

He habitually picked up the black ballpoint pen on the table and skillfully twirled it between his thumb and forefinger.

The pen tip hovered over the blank space on the draft paper.

But he didn't make a move for a long time.

The perfect symbols on the paper suddenly became somewhat out of focus in his eyes.

They floated lightly on the white paper, like weightless dust.

Chen Zhuo heard that same sound again, the one that had traveled across several time zones a few minutes earlier.

The wind howled, carrying sand and gravel, the electromagnetic interference was deafening, and the heavy, sluggish roar of the heavy diesel generator filled the air.

And Miao Shi'an's extreme, blood-stained confusion.

In that world, there are no perfect matrices, nor are there continuous, smooth transitions.

The world there is fractured; it's a harsh reality where one second you're on the phone saying thank you, and the next you're hanging from a steel frame.

Chen Zhuo looked at the small shadow cast by the pen tip on the paper.

He suddenly felt that these meticulously crafted theoretical derivations were somewhat illusory.

It's a bit boring.

In a place where even a cup of clean water is worth risking one's life, can a perfect proof of topology stop even the worst bullet? Can it loosen the teeth of a ten-year-old orphan who is biting?

No.

Chen Zhuo let out a soft breath.

He suddenly felt a strange sense of emptiness.

It's like someone slipping and falling in the mud, their hands covered in dirt, only to turn around and see someone carefully picking up a flawless snowflake with tweezers.

He casually tossed the ballpoint pen in his hand onto the table, the pen tip striking the surface with a soft sound.

Then, he reached out and gathered the dozen or so sheets of draft paper filled with top-notch mathematical formulas together, aligning the edges on the table.

He didn't crumple them up or tear them apart; he simply calmly pulled over the extremely thick Oxford Advanced Learner's English-Chinese Dictionary from the corner of the table and stuffed the stack of draft papers at the very bottom of the dictionary.

The heavy books pressed down, firmly burying the light, airy emptiness in the darkness.

Chen Zhuo felt a bit stuffy in the dormitory.

He stood up, took off his slippers, and put on a pair of faded canvas shoes.

I grabbed my keys and campus card, pushed open the door, and went outside.

The sunlight outside was already getting blinding.

Chen Zhuo did not take the main road, but instead walked through the tree-lined path between the two teaching buildings towards the old library.

The library wasn't crowded during the holiday.

Pushing open the heavy glass door, a wave of cold air, a mixture of smells from old paper, insect repellent, and stale floor wax, hit me.

The smell is familiar and calming.

Chen Zhuo went up the stairs to the third floor.

According to his usual habits, he would probably turn right directly to the foreign language periodicals reading room or the pure mathematics section to see the pure mathematics books that Su Wei had categorized for him, books that would make ordinary people dizzy at first glance.

But today, he paused at the top of the stairs, then turned and walked to the left.

That's the framework area for engineering applications, system control, and low-level computer algorithms.

The bookshelves here don't look as elegant as those on the right.

The names on the spines of the books mostly carry a rough, industrial-era feel. Students who come here to borrow books are usually there to work on a specific project or lab report.

Chen Zhuo walked slowly through the narrow aisle between the bookshelves.

His gaze slid over the spines of the books.

"Fundamentals of Fluid Mechanics", "Electrical Machines and Drives", "Microcomputer Principles".

Finally, he stopped in an inconspicuous corner.

He reached out and pulled out several large volumes.

One book is "Discrete Control Systems and Stability Analysis", another is "Operations Research: Underlying Algorithms and Applications", and the third is "Complex Networks: Resilience and Fault-Tolerant Routing Mechanisms", a book with an extremely dry-sounding title.

These books are thick, and the paper quality is average. When you open them, you don't find many elegant logical derivations; instead, you find complex flowcharts, lengthy code segments, and somewhat bloated algorithm branches designed to deal with various unexpected failures.

To a pure mathematician, these things might seem crude, or even mediocre.

They don't pursue ultimate simplicity; they only pursue one thing: the system must not crash under the worst circumstances.

Chen Zhuo held the three thick books, feeling their weight pressing against his chest.

He didn't understand the complex situation in the Middle East, and he had no intention of becoming a politician who dictated the course of history.

He's just a slightly smart kid right now.

He was simply instinctively looking for something like the wrench in Miao Shi'an's hand in the mathematical world he was familiar with.

We are looking for a structure similar to the gears in a generator.

Even if it's covered in mud and sand, even if it's missing a corner, it can still grip tightly and forcefully pump the water up.

He suddenly wanted to see something useful, even if it wasn't pretty.

Chen Zhuo, carrying the books, pushed open the door to the foreign language reading room at the end of the corridor.

The reading room was empty, with only a few people scattered in different corners. Sunlight streamed through the old-fashioned green blinds, casting stripes of light and shadow on the floor.

He spotted Su Wei sitting in her usual spot by the window at a glance.

Several thick notebooks were spread out in front of Su Wei, and she was rapidly calculating something with her pen.

She's still working on her massive calculations that attempt to use probability reduction to analyze the financial markets.

Chen Zhuo walked over, pulled out the chair opposite her, and sat down.

Three thick reference books were placed on the table with a dull thud.

Su Wei paused for a moment while holding the pen.

She didn't look up immediately, but finished writing the half of the formula first, and then slowly raised her eyelids.

Su Wei's gaze lingered on the spines of the three books in front of Chen Zhuo for less than half a second before she raised her eyebrows slightly.

A fleeting look of surprise crossed his eyes, then he looked directly at Chen Zhuo's face.

She didn't ask Chen Zhuo what he had done in the morning, nor did she ask him why he seemed inexplicably gloomy.

Su Wei's perspective on issues is always extremely utilitarian and direct.

"Complex Network Resilience?"

Su Wei softly read out the name of the top book, her tone carrying a hint of assessment.

What's your opinion on this kind of algorithm application?

She put down her pen, crossed her arms on the table, and leaned forward slightly.

"This isn't like you."

Su Wei spoke with great certainty.

In her memory, Chen Zhuo should be someone who immerses himself in the ivory tower of pure mathematics and finds joy in it.

Chen Zhuo's mathematics possesses a sophisticated and effortless quality.

The books he's holding now are full of troublesome things designed to deal with system crashes.

Chen Zhuo did not avoid Su Wei's gaze.

He reached out and flipped open the cardboard cover of the top book, the paper making a dry, rustling sound.

"Um."

Chen Zhuo spoke calmly, without any pretense or lengthy explanation.

He casually flipped through two pages, looking at the intricate node diagrams.

"I suddenly want to take a look."

Chen Zhuo's gaze fell on the pages of the book, his voice not loud, as if he were answering Su Wei, or perhaps speaking to himself.

"Maybe they're just tired of seeing the same old stuff and want a change of pace."

Su Wei looked at him.

She was a complete pragmatist and never believed in any romantic academic pursuits.

If a tool is easy to use, she will use it; if a tool is difficult to use, she will throw it away no matter how beautiful it is.

She vaguely sensed that Chen Zhuo seemed to have changed today.

But she didn't ask him what had triggered him. In Su Wei's logic, the reason wasn't important; the result and efficiency were what mattered.

"These underlying operations and fault-tolerant algorithms are computationally intensive and full of redundant data."

Su Wei leaned back in her chair and gave a very objective evaluation.

"Its models are very crude, requiring an exhaustive search for every possible error node, which is not as elegant as a continuous model."

"It doesn't need to be very pretty."

Chen Zhuo raised his head and looked at Su Wei.

"No matter how beautiful the model is, it is based on the premise that the intermediate conditions will not be broken."

Chen Zhuo's voice carried a weight that Su Wei couldn't understand, but could clearly feel.

"But in reality, if just one wire breaks, the entire system will be paralyzed."

Chen Zhuo gently patted the thick book beside him.

"I don't want that kind of near-perfect beauty now. I want to see how the most basic structure gets stuck step by step."

Su Wei raised an eyebrow as she looked at Chen Zhuo's hand slapping on the book.

He nodded, his tone conveying a sense of self-assurance.

Chen Zhuo's lips, which had been taut all morning, finally relaxed slightly.

He didn't say anything more.

Su Wei lowered her head, picked up her pen again, and continued to work on the massive amount of data on her paper.

Chen Zhuo also withdrew his gaze and focused entirely on the book in front of him.

He pulled an ordinary ballpoint pen from the pencil case next to him and casually picked up a piece of draft paper provided by the library.

He started looking at those dry case studies about discrete control nodes.

The example in the book is a damage resistance test of a large logistics network.

If node A is paralyzed due to a natural disaster, and if data transmission from node B is delayed, how can the system communicate with nodes C and D?

The node performs a crude but effective redirection.

Chen Zhuo did not use his usual advanced algebraic techniques to simplify it.

He began to follow the cumbersome method in the book, deriving the steps one by one.

The pen tip glided across the rough draft paper, making a soft, scratching sound.

I didn't enjoy the process at all.

It is tedious, boring, and full of repetitive calculations and frustratingly redundant verifications. Every step you take requires looking back to confirm whether the foundation has collapsed.

It's like a repairman with oily hands testing the meshing of gears one by one among a pile of rusty parts.

One node passes.

Another node has been locked.

A backup logic circuit was set up.

As the ugly but sturdy matrices on the draft paper took shape one by one, the feeling of floating in mid-air that had been hanging over Chen Zhuo since he received the phone call that morning finally settled down little by little.

The sound of pen nib gliding across paper continued in the quiet reading room.

To Chen Zhuo, the subtle friction sound gradually overlapped with the rumbling sound of the heavy diesel generator in his memory.

He set up redundant algorithms in the book that could be forcibly started even in the event of a power outage.

It was as if I could see Miao Shi'an tightening the last screw on the generator's oil line in that expanse of yellow sand where the temperature was tens of degrees Celsius.

Two butterflies, in vastly different times and spaces, traversed the illusion of civilization and the cruelty of war, and finally landed on the hardest and roughest reality.