PCJ – Chapter 610 Chased to the Laboratory

“Zhang Jiaohua, others say you handed in your exam paper so quickly because you gave up. But I know better. You only spent half an hour on the English section, but your English level—I know that too. Those original English journals, you read them as smoothly as Chinese ones. Even the PhDs in the research group aren’t as good at English as you are. I just knew, no matter how twisted the English teacher is, it couldn’t stump you. You handed in early not because you gave up, but because you were absolutely confident. But that math problem—that was a world-class unsolved problem. Don’t tell me you solved it?” Ma Zhenyuan asked.

“I solved it, but I’m not sure if it’s correct,” Zhang Jiaohua replied honestly. That problem was indeed difficult; otherwise, he wouldn’t have taken so long to come out.

“You’d never seen that problem before?” Xia Hui asked.

Zhang Jiaohua shook his head. “Nope. I don’t study math. Why would I look at that?”

“Really never seen it?” Luo Huaping asked.

“Really. I’m not that interested in math,” Zhang Jiaohua said, clearly a bit annoyed at being pestered—he was trying to focus on his experiment.

“You’ve got to be kidding. Not even interested, yet you casually solved a world-class problem? We saw the question and gave up instantly,” Xia Hui said, exasperated.

“If Zhang Jiaohua got it right, it would shock the world. Do you think the math department will try to steal him?” Ma Zhenyuan joked.

“That’s actually possible,” Xia Hui nodded.

“You guys are too much. If you’ve got nothing better to do, go back to the dorm. I’m busy here. This has already delayed my experiment. Everything’s at a standstill now,” Zhang Jiaohua said, clearly frustrated.

“Let’s go. If this guy fails, it’s better for us—less pressure,” Luo Huaping waved the others away.

Zhang Jiaohua shook his head. The experiment was seemingly nearing success, but he knew it was far from complete. A living being without a soul couldn’t be called a living being. Even the weakest life had a soul. What substance the soul belonged to scientifically, he couldn’t explain, but he could see it. He noticed that these embryos always lacked the final step and thus failed.

“I wonder at what stage of development a soul appears in the womb,” Zhang mused. He knew this question likely couldn’t be answered through experiment alone. The experiments were pushed to their limits, but the embryos died shortly after forming in the artificial culture. Something vital was missing.

“What exactly is missing?” Zhang racked his brain. Suddenly, a flash of insight struck him. He immediately retrieved a beaker of water from the spiritual spring in his cultivation space and added an appropriate amount to the batch of culture medium. Then he placed the experimental materials back into the temperature simulator.

The next day, Zhang Jiaohua rushed back to the lab after finishing his exams. He hadn’t yet checked the results when a disheveled man with panda eyes, wearing slippers filled with snow, burst into the lab.

“Zhang Jiaohua!” the man shouted the moment he entered. Someone immediately tried to stop him.

“Who are you looking for? This is a sterile lab. You must change into a lab coat and new shoes to enter,” Ma Nanli quickly stopped him, thinking he was some lunatic.

“I’m looking for Zhang Jiaohua. I’m a teacher at this university,” the man said. He was Li Yang, the math teacher who had proctored Zhang Jiaohua’s exam the day before. He hadn’t gone crazy—he’d been reviewing Zhang’s solution to the final problem nonstop since yesterday and just finished verifying it. To his shock, there were no apparent issues with Zhang’s solution.

It had been a joyful but torturous process. He’d pulled at his hair so much it became messy, and he hadn’t slept all night, resulting in dark circles under his eyes. In his excitement, he ran out of the house in his slippers—even though it was snowing—and didn’t even feel the cold.

“You’re a teacher?” Ma Nanli chuckled but didn’t fully doubt him. The university really did have some eccentric types. Only those obsessed could reach the peak of academia—without obsession, one couldn’t become “possessed.”

“I really am. I’m Zhang Jiaohua’s math teacher!” Li Yang shouted.

“Stop yelling. This is a sterile lab. Many of the materials here are extremely sensitive. Even if you’re a teacher, you must go change into proper gear,” Ma Nanli said after hearing Li Yang call out Zhang’s name.

Li Yang, though excited, wasn’t crazy. Slightly embarrassed, he asked, “Where’s the changing room?”

“I’ll take you there,” Ma Nanli said, leading him away.

Zhang Jiaohua came out. “Who’s calling me?”

Li Yang, halfway to the changing room, immediately turned back, ran to Zhang, and shook his hands excitedly. “Do you know what you’ve done? You’ve solved a millennium mystery! You’re the first person in the new century to crack a century-old problem!”

Zhang Jiaohua was confused. “Mr. Li, what’s going on?”

Though he didn’t attend many classes, he recognized this math teacher.

“That last question on yesterday’s exam—that was a world-class unsolved problem. I included it to test you, but I wasn’t trying to make things hard. Even if you just wrote some ideas, I’d have given you partial credit. I never expected you to actually solve it!” Li Yang was talking so fast his words were unclear.

Zhang Jiaohua finally understood—it was all because of that last math problem.

Li Yang kept holding his hand, more excited than Zhang himself. “You even wrote that you had a more elegant method. Is that true? Can you write it down now?”

“I could, but I have an exam this afternoon,” Zhang said, shaking his head.

Ma Nanli quickly added, “Exactly. Let’s find another time. And for something this big, shouldn’t we notify the top math professors? This is a global event.”

His caution wasn’t unfounded. If Zhang wrote out his solution now, and Li Yang had ill intent, he might steal it. Solving a world-class problem could make someone famous overnight—a once-in-a-lifetime achievement.

Zhang and Li Yang didn’t seem to realize this. Zhang didn’t care much, and Li Yang was too excited to think straight. But he agreed that Ma Nanli made sense—this should be witnessed by the math faculty.

“Right, I’ll call them now!” Li Yang fumbled with his phone, nearly dropping it multiple times in his excitement. After a struggle, he finally got through.

“Director! Something huge happened!” he exclaimed.

“Li Yang! What trouble are you causing now? You skipped proctoring this morning! The academic office already called us!” the math department head, Fan Yichou, yelled over the phone.

“Director, listen! That doesn’t matter—I have something way more important!” Li Yang shouted, ignoring everything else.

Fan exploded again. “Not important? The office is treating it as absenteeism! I covered for you, and now you pull this? Our department’s reputation is on the line!”

“Director, shut up and listen! I’ve got something critical to report!” Li Yang was desperate.

Ma Nanli chuckled, and Zhang couldn’t help laughing either.

“This guy is a legend,” Ma whispered. “Not many dare shout at their boss like that.”

“Such a funny teacher—how come I never noticed before?” Zhang grinned.

Fan was stunned into silence.

“Director, gather the professors now! We have a breakthrough—a student solved a world-class problem on yesterday’s exam!” Li Yang said before Fan could respond.

But Fan regained his voice and exploded again. “You troublemaker! The whole grade is complaining! Unless you solve that question right now, you’re done!”

“Director! It was solved!” Li Yang shouted, oblivious to the threat. “By Zhang Jiaohua from the biotech class—he’s finished over half of the entire four-year curriculum this semester alone. I’ve reviewed his solution all night. It’s correct!”

“What did you say?” Fan asked, stunned.

“You heard me! One of our students solved an unsolved global math problem! It’s real!” Li Yang cried out.

“Li Yang, if you’re lying, you know the consequences,” Fan warned, still not fully convinced.

“I’m not lying! I’m at the life sciences building—wait, where is he? Director, I’ll call you back—I’ve got to find him!” Li Yang suddenly realized Zhang had slipped away.

“Mr. Li, Zhang Jiaohua went to his exam. He asked me to let you know. If you need anything, wait till he’s done. He still has many more exams,” Ma Nanli said.

“Exams? What’s more important than this? I’ve got to pull him into our department now. He may not even belong to your biotech program anymore!” Li Yang rushed out.

“What?” Ma Nanli watched him run out like a madman, stunned. Then he turned and rushed to inform Huang Zhongfang—if the math department poached Zhang, Huang might go insane. Zhang’s research, once successful, would be world-changing too!

Li Yang, wearing slippers, ran through snow without noticing one had fallen off. He only realized something was wrong after running quite a distance.

“Where is Zhang taking his exam again?” he muttered, clueless. Zhang was taking exams for all biotech year groups. Even checking records wouldn’t help. Scratching his wild hair, he turned and ran toward the math department.

Panting, he arrived at the math office. A crowd of professors was already there, in heated discussion.

“Impossible! That question was one of the top ten unsolved problems of the last century. A freshman, and a biotech student at that, solved it?”

“Li Yang must be mistaken.”

“Yes, he’s scatterbrained, but when it comes to academics, he’s serious. It might be true.”

“Indeed, Xiao Li’s got talent. The department should let him focus on what he’s good at. Who knows—maybe someday he’ll produce a real result.”