859 Battle of Jinling?

The day of December 18th.

The old campus auditorium of Jin Ling University was packed with people of all different races and ages groups.

Rarely did this school attract so many foreign visitors, so this naturally caught the attention of the students.

In order to maintain order and to ensure the safety of the participants, the Jin Ling city council even mobilized armed police forces.

It was extremely rare for a scholar to receive this amount of attention.

But then again, this did make sense.

There were more than 2,000 internationally renowned scholars who were attending this report. There were even thousands of people who weren’t able to get the report tickets, but they still flew to Jinling with their supervisors. These people, often PhD and master’s students, paid out of their own pocket just to know the result of the report as soon as possible.

This type of attendance was comparable to top conferences such as ICM and ICPAM.

There were two master’s students standing at the old campus entrance. They were probably persuaded by their teachers to stand here as volunteers. They looked around in awe.

“This has to be the world mathematics summit!”

“Not a summit. There are only two main characters in this report, so it’s more like a boss battle…”

One was the youngest Fields Medal winner, a king among the young scholars, and the other was one of the founding fathers of algebraic geometry.

The two master’s students stared at the crowded auditorium entrance. They only recently stepped foot into the mathematics world, so they couldn’t help but stand there in silence.

They only had one thought in their minds…

This is what a Fields Medal winner is like!

Xu Chengyang, a professor from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, happened to walk by, and he heard the conversation between the two students. He almost laughed out loud.

Boss battle?

Interesting analogy.

Suddenly, he noticed a familiar-looking person. He quickly walked to him and said hello.

“Brother Zhang! Haha, long time no see!”

Zhang Shouwu, who was walking toward the auditorium, looked back and saw Xu Chengyang. A surprised expression appeared on his face.

“Brother Xu? What a coincidence, you’re here as well?”

“It’s the battle between two bosses, of course I have to come.” Xu Chengyang smiled and said, “The Riemann hypothesis has dominated the analytic number theory world for many years. Even Mr. Grothendieck was no match for this beast. But now, Academician Lu claimed to have made progress on this conjecture. I’m sure most people won’t want to miss this grand event.”

As a leader among the young Chinese scholars, he obviously received an invitation from Jin Ling University. But then again, even if he didn’t receive an invitation, he would have paid out of his own pocket to attend this report.

After all, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

It would be a shame if he missed it.

Zhang Shouwu smiled and said, “Haha, you’re right, but the situation seems a bit intense.”

Xu Chengyang smiled and asked, “Why, you’re not optimistic about Academician Lu?”

“It’s not about whether or not I’m optimistic, it’s just that Faltings is a difficult guy to deal with.” Professor Zhang sighed, as if he began to recall the past, and he slowly said, “When I studied at Princeton, the first thing I did was to go to Faltings’ office and ask for a research project.”

Xu Chengyang: “What did he say?”

“He said, ‘I have solved the easy problems, the rest of them are difficult, like Riemann’s hypothesis.’,” Zhang Shouwu said. He looked at the international mathematicians entering the auditorium, and with a vacuum flask in his hand, he said emotionally, “It’s been so many years since I left Princeton. But one thing I am still certain of is that there is no one on this planet that understands Riemann’s hypothesis better than him…

“If he thinks Professor Lu’s thesis is wrong…

“Then I’m afraid Professor Lu is going to get taught a lesson.”

Professor Zhang had quite a pessimistic view of the situation.

But his argument made sense. A lot of people in the mathematics community thought Lu Zhou was the one who was wrong.

If Faltings really thought Lu Zhou’s proof was fundamentally flawed…

Then it was very likely that Faltings was correct.

However, after hearing Professor Zhang’s words, Xu Chengyang smiled warmly and spoke nonchalantly.

“I met Professor Lu at the mathematicians conference in Brazil. I talked briefly with him. Even though it was just about the Navier–Stokes equations and partial differential equations, he made a hell of an impression on me.”

Zhang Shouwu frowned and asked curiously, “What kind of impression?”

“He’s a person who creates miracles.”

Xu Chengyang paused for a second and continued, “He has this ability to find clues, no matter how small the clue is, even if the clues are hidden for everyone else…

“I think he might create another miracle.

“And this, is why I came here all the way from America.”

…

The crowd was sitting inside the auditorium.

Anyone in the mathematics field would be shocked by this sight.

Almost half of the world’s best mathematicians were sitting here, and these included mathematicians from all branches of mathematics.

If someone threw a bomb in this lecture theater, the development of mathematics would be delayed by half a century…

Lu Zhou stood below the podium, wearing a suit and leather shoes. He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down.

Even though he hadn’t hosted a report in a long time, he was no stranger to this rush of adrenaline.

It was as if there were a mysterious force flowing in his veins, and this force made him more focused and alert than ever.

He clenched his fists and was about to go through his report speech again. However, an old man in a black trench coat came over.

The old man trembled as he walked with a cane. He stood there and stared at Lu Zhou.

After a while, he suddenly had a genuine smile on his face.

“Are you ready?”

Lu Zhou nodded.

“I’m ready.”

Professor Faltings grinned.

However, this time, there wasn’t an ounce of authenticity in his smile. It was as if Faltings were an eagle, staring down his prey.

“I sure hope you’re prepared. This question impacts the entire mathematics world, so I won’t show any mercy.”

“I hope not,” Lu Zhou said. “We should maintain the rigor of mathematics.”

“Ah.”

The old man adjusted his hat and replied, “I would have done so regardless.”

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