My IQ has been increasing year by year.

Chapter 216 was a blow.

Two o'clock in the afternoon.

Wang Dayong sat at the table, holding a portable ultrasonic flaw detector in his right hand, repeatedly comparing it with a silver-gray aluminum-lithium alloy sample.

He frowned, with a well-worn book on the physical properties of metals spread out in front of him, covered with lattice constants marked in red pen.

The fan was spinning in the dormitory.

Chu Ge didn't stay in 216; he moved a round stool and sat down at Chen Zhuo's desk.

Chen Zhuo's computer configuration was practically an anomaly at USTC in 2004. The humming sound from the computer case was minimal, and lines of code with white text on a black background flowed down the screen like a waterfall.

Chu Ge had a lollipop with its packaging just torn open in his mouth, the plastic stick swaying up and down with his clenching teeth.

He stared intently at the screen, occasionally pressing Enter on the keyboard, followed by another long sigh.

"Brother Zhuo, your machine runs really smoothly. My crappy Pentium runs this branch prediction so fast that the fan could blow the case off."

Chu Ge mumbled something indistinctly.

Chen Zhuo ignored him.

Chen Zhuo sat cross-legged on the upper bunk, with a quilt behind him. He held a Russian book with a yellowed cover in one hand and a freshly opened carton of milk in his left, the straw worn and pitted from being bitten.

"hiss"

The milk was finished, and the straw made a hollow sound as it was drunk.

The keyboard was being pounded by Chu Ge, then suddenly stopped.

He grabbed a handful of hair in frustration, turned halfway around, and looked up.

"Brother Zhuo, is that discrete matrix you derived for me yesterday a bottomless pit?"

Chu Ge's tone carried a hint of frustration, as if he were trying to find an excuse.

"My code has been running for over ten minutes, just going around in circles. When you derived the code, did you deliberately omit an exit condition?"

Chen Zhuo looked away from the Russian book, glanced at the empty cardboard box in his hand, and didn't look at Chu Ge's bitter face, which was full of pleading for help.

He placed the empty milk carton steadily on the iron railing at the head of the bed, his expression unreadable.

"What was written on the last line of the back of the draft paper I gave you yesterday?"

Chu Ge was taken aback.

The lollipop stick in his mouth stopped moving.

"Holy crap, there's more on the back?"

He turned around abruptly, rummaged through the pile of messy papers next to the keyboard, and finally pulled out the A4 paper covered with matrix derivations.

He flipped it over to the back.

At the very bottom of the paper, there was a solitary symbol followed by two tiny Chinese characters: "Truncate".

"Singularity...truncated?"

Chu Ge stared at the words for a long time without saying a word. Two seconds later, he slapped his thigh hard.

"I'm such an idiot! I was so focused on copying the main formulas for the front side that I forgot about the closing boundary on the back side!"

He cursed himself, quickly grabbed the mouse, and swiped two lines of restrictions.

The code on the screen paused noticeably for a second.

Immediately afterwards, the previously deadlocked logic was instantly put into place, and the data flow began to move smoothly.

"Amazing!"

Chu Ge grinned, crunching the candy stick loudly, staring at the screen without turning his head.

Wang Dayong put down the flaw detector in his hand, blew off the fine dust on the table, and chuckled without looking up.

"Chu Ge, you're always running to room 215, why don't you just move your bed over too? Xiao Zhuo's computer is practically your shared workstation."

"Dayong, you don't understand."

Chu Ge stared intently at the screen, not turning his head.

"This is called absorbing divine energy. Look at this logic, is it even possible for a human brain to come up with something like this?"

The door was open, and the occasional laughter of a few boys chasing and playing could be heard from the corridor.

Just then, the sounds in the corridor suddenly became chaotic.

A series of chaotic, heavy, and extremely fast footsteps approached 215.

"Bang."

The open door was pushed against the wall by a hand.

Old Ma, the head of the logistics department, stood at the door, sweating profusely, wearing a worn-out jacket, panting heavily, and glanced around the room.

Behind him, four or five workers in blue overalls were blocking the corridor.

Some carried a thick roll of gray cable, some pushed a flatbed cart with a half-person-high iron lump on it, and two carpenters carried toolboxes.

The most conspicuous thing was a dark gray security door that several workers were holding up together, with thick sealing strips wrapped around its edges.

The sounds inside the room suddenly stopped.

Chu Ge turned around, and Wang Dayong stood up. His tall and burly figure blocked the doorway, instantly shattering half of the light in the corridor.

"teacher?"

Wang Dayong frowned, took a step forward, and landed right between Chen Zhuo's bed and the doorway.

"What are you doing? Removing the door cable without any prior notice? We have an experiment this afternoon and need to take a lunch break."

Wang Dayong's tone was somewhat heavy, with a hint of stubbornness.

Old Ma took out a tissue to wipe his sweat, not putting on any airs of a section chief, but instead forcing a dry smile.

"I'm really sorry, but I'll make an exception for this case."

As Lao Ma spoke, he looked up at Chen Zhuo, who was sitting on the upper bunk.

"Little Chen, did I disturb your reading?"

Chen Zhuo, with a straw in his mouth, looked at the scene at the door. He didn't say anything, but simply reached out and spat the straw into the empty milk carton, his movements very gentle.

Old Ma rubbed his hands together, his tone carrying an undeniable urgency.

"Principal Zhou gave a strict order: the wiring in this room must be installed and the door replaced this afternoon. The workers are quick and efficient; it won't interfere with your rest."

After he finished speaking, he turned around and waved to the workers behind him.

"Come in, come in, be careful not to touch your classmates' computers and samples."

Several electricians carried the half-person-high iron lump into the house.

"Where should we put it?" the worker asked.

Old Ma pointed to the empty space under Chen Zhuo's table.

"Here, put it down gently, this thing is expensive."

The lump of iron landed with an unusually dull thud.

"A voltage regulator?"

Chu Ge recognized it at a glance, pointing to the gray iron box with ventilation holes.

"Teacher, this is industrial-grade, for use in precision laboratories. You're installing it in our dorm? You must have come to the wrong room."

""

Old Ma ignored Chu Ge's words and directed the electrician to start pulling the gray cables on the corridor ceiling.

Chen Zhuo sat on the upper bunk and felt a gust of wind stirred up by the workers' movements, causing dust to fall from the ceiling in a soft rustling sound.

He sighed softly, closed the Russian book in his hand, leaned over to gather the few draft papers scattered around the bed, pressed them under the pillow, then moved over and quietly watched them fussing around below.

Wang Dayong didn't move aside; he stared at the carpenter who was dismantling an old door.

"Master, this door..."

""

"Student, this door will be stored in the logistics warehouse from now on."

Old Ma chimed in from the side.

"We'll replace it with a new one—it'll be anti-theft, soundproof, and anti-magnetic."

The carpenter's screwdriver spun rapidly, and in no time, the old door was removed.

Several workers, chanting slogans, carried in the dark gray security door. The door was unusually heavy; even four large men gritted their teeth as they lifted it.

With a loud crash, the door frame got stuck.

The electrician was quick on the job, pulling a thick gray wire along the corner of the wall and directly to Chen Zhuo's desk, with a metal connector at the end.

Old Ma stood at the door, watching as the door was installed, fitting perfectly.

He let out a long breath and then looked at Chen Zhuo on the upper bunk.

"Xiao Chen, you go ahead with your work. I've left the key on the table. Keep it safe. Remember to close the door behind you when you go in and out. The door is well-sealed; people inside can't hear you from the outside."

Old Ma waved to the top bunk and led the workers out like a gust of wind.

The corridor returned to silence.

The room, however, was filled with an extremely heavy sense of oppression.

Wang Dayong walked over and touched the newly installed security door. It was cold, and the steel plate made no hollow echo when tapped; it was completely solid.

He used a little force and pushed the door shut.

"Click".

The door lock clicked shut with a crisp, heavy sound.

With that sound, the footsteps in the corridor and the noise from the next dormitory seemed to be completely cut off in an instant.

Dormitory 215 was so quiet you could hear yourself breathing.

Wang Dayong turned around, looked at the voltage stabilizer on the ground, scratched his head, and the wariness on his face disappeared, replaced by a silly smile.

"Xiao Zhuo, this door is really sturdy. Judging from the specifications of this voltage regulator, if we secretly use the electric kettle to cook noodles in our room at night, the dorm supervisor will definitely be unable to shut off the power."

Chen Zhuo smiled, didn't reply, and climbed down from the top bunk.

Chu Ge had no interest in listening to Da Yong's explanation about cooking noodles.

His eyes were fixed on the gray cable that had just been pulled in on the table.

"Enterprise-grade fiber optics".

Chu Ge licked his lips and deftly plugged the cable into Chen Zhuo's computer's network port.

"It's such a waste to have this kind of broadband in our dorm. I don't care, I have to test how powerful this thing really is."

Chu Ge sat in the swivel chair and clicked on the blue "e" icon with his mouse.

There was no slow progress bar as usual.

The image popped up almost instantly.

The homepage of the USTC campus network's BBS, Hanhai Xingyun, was displayed horizontally on the screen.

"Holy crap, that opened instantly."

Chu Ge exclaimed in surprise. He originally wanted to turn around and show off to Dayong, but his gaze was fixed on the panel on the right side of the screen.

On the right side of the homepage, there is a list of the top ten trending topics.

The colors on it have all changed today.

From the first to the tenth item, each one is followed by a bright red "Explosive" character.

Chu Ge slowly turned his neck to face the screen.

First Article: [Breaking News! The Identity of 13-Year-Old Prodigy Chen Zhuo from the Special Class for Gifted Youngsters Confirmed!]

Article 2: [Science Popularization: Who is Pierre? How close is the Fields Medal to USTC?]

Article 3: [The Western topology community is silent! The sole heir to the "God" of mathematics resides in Building 2!]

The lollipop stick that Chu Ge was holding in his mouth fell onto the keyboard with a thud.

He ignored it.

His hand holding the mouse began to tremble uncontrollably.

He clicked on the science post.

The page loaded so fast it made him anxious.

The top of the post was a black-and-white photo of an elderly foreign man with sharp, piercing eyes. Below the photo were several lines of bold text: "Pierre, the last tyrant of mathematics, Fields Medal winner."

"Known for his extremely rigorous logic, he has publicly declared that half of the contemporary mathematics community is blind."

"He never took on any students in his life until this morning when he published an open letter on the Princeton official website."

Chu Ge swallowed hard and frantically scrolled the mouse wheel down.

The post contains a screenshot of an open letter written entirely in English, followed by a translation in red below.

Those words struck Chu Ge like a hammer blow: "Chen Zhuo is the last and only disciple I have ever had in my academic career."

The comments section is filled with the fact that all the students in the school have gone crazy.

"Found it! Chen Zhuo, a third-year student in the Special Class for Gifted Youngsters in the Faculty of Science!"

"I live right next door to him! He always eats at the third cafeteria!"

"Hey upstairs, are you sure he's eating and not doing some kind of mathematical research?"

Chu Ge sat in the swivel chair and slowly, inch by inch, turned his head.

He looked at Dayong, who was measuring the thickness of the door frame with calipers, and then turned to look at Chen Zhuo, who was standing by the bed putting on his slippers.

The room was quiet, with only the faint hum of the voltage regulator.

"Brother Zhuo...

Chu Ge spoke, his voice slightly distorted.

Wang Dayong stopped what he was doing and looked over in confusion.

Chen Zhuo stood on the floor tiles and straightened his slightly disheveled collar.

Chu Ge pointed at the screen, his hands trembling like leaves, his face flushed red.

"Brother Zhuo, I knew the school was going crazy, with fiber optic cables and huge iron gates... Look, the whole school has gone mad."

Chu Ge suddenly stood up, and the chair slid backward due to inertia, crashing heavily into Wang Dayong's calf.

"They're saying online... you've become that Fields Medal winner's successor? Did he admit it himself?"

Wang Dayong was stunned. Although he worked in materials science, he knew what the Fields Medal represented.

He subconsciously took a step forward, staring intently at Chen Zhuo.

Chen Zhuo stood there.

He met Chu Ge's fiery eyes and looked at Wang Dayong's bewildered face.

There was no attempt to cover it up, nor the embarrassment of being exposed.

Chen Zhu bent down, took an unopened carton of milk from the table, deftly pierced the straw, and handed it to Chu Ge.

"Have a sip of milk to calm your nerves."

Chen Zhuo smiled, a smile as gentle as ever, like a pool of spring water touched by the wind.

"Yes, it's settled. When he came to Huizhou last time, I talked to him, and the old man felt that my logic was quite compatible with his, so it was settled."

Chen Zhuo spoke casually, and patted Chu Ge on the shoulder.

"Professor Pierre is quite direct. It's really just about changing the environment for his research. It's not as mysterious as the rumors on the internet make it out to be."

Chu Ge stared with his mouth agape, clutching the carton of milk in his hand, but remained silent for a long time.

His mind was a complete mess.

One second, this person was helping him fix an infinite loop in a database; the next second, this person became the sole heir to the highest contemporary mathematics award.

This feeling of being torn apart was even more troublesome for him than code overflow.

"Clang clang."

There was a knock on the door.

Because the door was replaced with a solid steel door, the sound was muffled, like hitting a heavy lead block.

Wang Dayong opened the door a crack.

Lu Jia stood outside the door.

He held a black ballpoint pen in his hand, his collar was neatly pressed, he glanced down at the sealing strip, then looked up at the industrial voltage regulator.

"Dayong, have the logistics department people been here?"

As Lu Jia asked the question, he stepped into the house. His gaze lingered on the voltage regulator for two seconds, his brows furrowed.

"I just did some calculations in room 216. The rated power of this thing and the material density of this door make no logical sense in our dormitory."

Wang Dayong didn't speak, but simply pointed to the computer in front of Chu Ge.

Lu Jia walked behind Chu Ge.

The red "Bomb" text on the screen was still flashing.

Lu Jia stared at the words Pierre, successor, and Chen Zhuo for a moment.

The room fell into a deathly silence.

Lu Jia's original analysis of resource misallocation got stuck in his throat. His breathing became rapid, and his originally fair face instantly flushed red.

He slowly turned his head and looked at Chen Zhuo, who was looking at the data.

"Brother Zhuo."

Lu Jia spoke, her voice dry.

Last month, you helped me revise the probability model. You casually crossed out the two lines of wave equations I wrote, saying that they were common sense.

""

Lu Jia stared into Chen Zhuo's eyes, his hand gripping the pen tightly.

Chen Zhuo turned around, nodded, and remained calm.

"Is that your teacher's logic?" Lu Jia asked.

"Hmm, more or less."

Chen Zhuo picked up the scrap paper with the topological diagram drawn on it from the table.

"That way it's faster to calculate and saves a lot of meaningless calculations."

Lu Jia didn't say anything more.

He stared at Chen Zhuo for a while, then put the pen into his breast pocket, his movements somewhat stiff.

He turned around and glanced at the imposing iron gate one last time.

"I've been thinking about this for ages across the hall, and I still can't figure out why the school would do all this for you guys."

Lu Jia pointed to the door, looked at Chu Ge who was still in a daze, and laughed self-deprecatingly.

"Now I understand, this isn't an upgrade of the dorm, it's a safe specially set up to prevent Brother Zhuo from being stolen."

He paused, his tone revealing a sense of absurdity after seeing reality clearly.

"215 is the main burial chamber. Zhuo Ge is the most valuable unique item inside. We live directly opposite each other, so we're just like terracotta warriors guarding the gate."

Wang Dayong couldn't help but laugh.

Chu Ge finally recovered. He wiped his face and cursed, "Screw the Terracotta Warriors, I'd call this a high-level advisor for burial purposes."

Laughter echoed in the well-soundproofed 215.

Chu Ge sat back down at his computer, but instead of refreshing the red-letter news, he closed the browser.

The black-on-white code reappeared on the screen.

"Brother Zhuo."

Chu Ge didn't turn his head, his fingers flying across the keyboard.

"You said the other day that if I used a hash algorithm for my concurrency logic, it would inevitably crash under high-frequency access?"

Chen Zhuo walked behind him and tapped the table lightly twice with his fingertips.

"The algorithm is fine, but your data sharding logic is too rigid. You're still using the linear thinking you had in your freshman year."

Chen Zhuo casually grabbed a piece of white paper and sketched an extremely simple diagram on it.

"Replace these nodes with dynamic allocation."

Chu Ge stared at the graphic, his eyes glowing red.

"Understood."

Without wasting any words, his typing speed instantly increased to a whole new level, no longer just for fun, but with an almost obsessive fervor.

Lu Jia stood aside, looking at the graphic, and remained silent for a moment.

Then he turned around, pushed open the door, and walked out.

He returned less than two minutes later.

He was holding a thick book on game theory, as thick as a brick, and his notebook filled with derivations.

Lu Jia moved a stool, sat down next to Dayong's bed, and opened the book.

"Why did you come here too?" Dayong asked.

"216 is too deserted."

Lu Jia didn't even look up, the pen tip making a harsh sound as it scratched across the paper.

"The internet speed is fast and the atmosphere is good in the safe. I need to scrap that model and recalculate it. Now that I know what advanced logic is, I can't bring myself to use those garbage formulas again."

Wang Dayong looked at the two guys who had suddenly gone mad, then looked up at Chen Zhuo, who was flipping through a Russian book.

He scratched his head and picked up the aluminum-lithium alloy sample in his hand again.

"Alright, I'll put in a bit more effort then. Otherwise, this safe is full of theorists, and we can't do without a bodyguard who can handle the data."

Da Yong chuckled, and the beeping sound of the ultrasonic instrument became exceptionally crisp.

Chen Zhuo sat at the table, holding a glass of warm water in his left hand. He looked at Chu Ge and Lu Jia's gritted teeth and a slight, almost imperceptible smile appeared on his lips.

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