Top Student: Wasteland Technology Invasion

Lin Chuan sat in the library until it closed at 10 p.m. before returning to his dormitory.

When I entered the room, Zhu Lin was doing practice problems in his "Advanced Algebra" workbook, while Sun Ang and Yuan Qi were somewhere else.

Lin Chuan put his backpack on the table under the bed, casually took out his bank card, and prepared to wash up and get some rest.

"Old Lin!" Zhu Lin put down his book and said with a smile, "Are you guys in the Qiushi class this competitive? Studying until after 10 pm every day?"

Lin Chuan casually replied, "That's right. Everyone in the class got in through competitions. They're so talented in math that I'm afraid I'll fall behind if I don't study hard."

Zhu Lin said "Oh," and then added, "That's true. I've heard that the pressure in the Qiushi Class is too high... Anyway, I have a problem with advanced algebra that I can't solve. Could you help me with it?"

Can't solve a problem?

This is truly remarkable. Zhu Lin scored over 700 points in the college entrance examination, with 150 in mathematics. He is definitely a top student among top students.

It's understandable that he might be stumped by the kind of questions that test students take in the Qiushi Class, but it would be a miracle if he could be stumped by ordinary "Advanced Algebra" questions.

This truly shows Zhu Lin's true feelings; everyone knows it.

If Lin Chuan couldn't see it, he'd be a fool.

However, after spending more than a month together, Lin Chuan knew that Zhu Lin didn't have any bad intentions. He just focused more on his studies and didn't think much about interpersonal relationships.

If I had to describe him in one word, it would be "academic fanatic."

Thinking of this, Lin Chuan stopped rushing to wash up, pulled out a chair, and held out his hand, saying, "Let me take a look."

Zhu Lin handed over the workbook, pointed to one of the questions, and said, "This is it."

"A block matrix? That shouldn't be difficult for you!"

Lin Chuan glanced at it and became even more certain that this was a question Zhu Lin had deliberately used to "test" him. He didn't say anything more and took out paper and pen to start calculating.

After watching Lin Chuan perform calculations for a while, Zhu Lin inexplicably breathed a sigh of relief.

Ever since Lin Chuan was admitted to the Qiushi Class, Zhu Lin's feelings have been somewhat complicated.

After all, Zhu Lin was originally the best student in dormitory 303, with the highest math score, the most attentive listening in class, and the most practice after class. However, when it came to the entrance test for the Qiushi Class, he was left far behind by Lin Chuan.

Zhu Lin didn't wish for Lin Chuan to be bad; he just couldn't understand why the gap between him and Lin Chuan was so big.

So he went to great lengths to find this question, hoping to probe Lin Chuan's true abilities.

In fact, Zhu Lin couldn't solve the problem he presented immediately.

However, after looking at the reference answer, he already knew how to solve this "block matrix inversion" exercise.

Judging from Lin Chuan's hesitant expression while solving the problem, the gap between the two shouldn't be as big as imagined.

Thinking this, Zhu Lin said, "Old Lin, why don't you go wash up first, and then we can study it slowly when you get back?"

"No need," Lin Chuan shook his head. "I've figured it out."

Figure it out?

Zhu Lin's pupils shrank sharply as he looked at Lin Chuan in disbelief. How long had it been? How could he have figured it out?

Lin Chuan nodded. "This question essentially tests the application of Gaussian elimination, and then uses the roots of det(I−AB)=det(I−BA) and (I−AB)^−1A=A(I−BA)^−1..."

As Zhu Lin listened to Lin Chuan's nonchalant explanation, his eyes widened in disbelief. How could he not have thought of that!

Lin Chuan's problem-solving approach was incredibly clear. As long as you followed this approach, even students who weren't particularly gifted in mathematics could solve the problem.

Pointing to the calculation results on the draft paper, Lin Chuan continued, "Actually, the conclusion of this problem is the starting point of Weinstein factorization and Schul complement theory in matrix theory. If we study it in depth, we can get many interesting results. There's not enough time now, let's do it another day, we can sit down and study it together."

As he spoke, Lin Chuan pushed the exercise book and draft paper to Zhu Lin, then took his toiletries and headed out of the dormitory.

Zhu Lin was left alone, staring blankly at the draft paper.

"The answer is completely correct, and the calculation process is even simpler than the reference answer."

"Also, what did those terms Old Lin mentioned at the end mean?"

"How did he suddenly become so strong, like he's been given a cheat code?"

Watching Lin Chuan's departing figure, Zhu Lin fell into deep thought.

……

The next day arrived in the blink of an eye.

Taking advantage of the fact that it wasn't 8 AM today, Lin Chuan went to the information building according to the location given by Professor Du, and then dialed the phone of a senior student.

The other party is Du Cheng's student, named Jiao Bolun, who is currently a first-year doctoral student.

After hanging up the phone, Lin Chuan waited for about four or five minutes before a young man in his late twenties, wearing a black top, walked over quickly.

From afar, the young man greeted him warmly, "Junior Brother Lin Chuan, we've been waiting for you!"

Lin Chuan noticed Jiao Bolun's address: Lin Chuan's junior brother.

Professor Du was not his mentor, and he wasn't even a student in the School of Information Science and Technology. However, since he had now joined the project team, he naturally followed suit and replied, "Hello, Senior Brother Jiao."

Jiao Bolun, whose face was a bit chubby, smiled so much that his eyes narrowed when he heard Lin Chuan call him Senior Brother Jiao. "Junior Brother Lin, you don't need to be so polite. Our advisor has an emergency computer conference to attend today and can't get away, so he specifically asked me to take good care of you. He speaks highly of your talent in mathematics!"

Before learning that Lin Chuan was going to join the project, Jiao Bolun specifically checked his information.

Lin Chuan.

A first-year student in the Qiushi Class of the School of Mathematical Sciences.

And that was it.

There were no awards or titles awarded.

Normally, such a freshman wouldn't have been worth Jiao Bolun's attention, but with his mentor's words still ringing in his ears, Jiao Bolun dared not slack off at all.

In order to get closer to each other, he even directly called Lin Chuan his junior brother.

"Junior Brother Lin Chuan, I'll take you to the lab so you can meet the other project members."

As he spoke, Jiao Bolun led Lin Chuan toward the laboratory, saying as they walked, "Junior Brother Lin, please choose your workstation here in a bit. It will be more convenient for you to do projects at the School of Information Science and Technology in the future."

"OK."

As soon as the two stepped into the laboratory, the people inside looked up.

Jiao Bolun pointed to Lin Chuan and introduced him, "This is Lin Chuan, a junior student from the School of Mathematics who was sent to us. He comes from the Qiushi Class and has an extraordinary talent for mathematics."

As he spoke, Jiao Bolun looked around, paused briefly at a student in a white jacket, and then said, "Duan Chengye, please help Junior Brother Lin Chuan tidy up his seat."

The latter quickly replied, "Okay, Senior Brother Jiao."

Jiao Bolun then introduced Lin Chuan, saying, "Besides you, there are four undergraduates in our group. He Huaisheng is busy with his own things and isn't here right now. Luo Ting stayed up all night adjusting the program and hasn't gotten up yet."

Finally, Jiao Bolun pointed to the only girl in the room, "Her name is Zeng Na, a sophomore in the Computer Science Department of the School of Information Science. Her advisor asked her to participate in the project."

When Jiao Bolun called her name, Zeng Na quickly brought over a glass of water and jogged over to hand it to Lin Chuan, saying, "Senior Lin, you've worked hard. Please have some water."