Chapter 1381: Inevitable Encounter

An apartment building near the University of Bonn.

Professor Schultz was packing his luggage. Professor Stix was about to invite him out for a drink. He spoke with a look of surprise.

“Are you… planning to go to a conference?”

If he remembered correctly, there should be no academic conferences worth attending in the near future.

“No,” Schultz answered the question concisely. He chose a jacket from the closet and stuffed it into the suitcase. He then casually replied, “This is not a conference, but an invitation from Professor Lu. I plan to go to China and discuss some academic matters with him.”

“China? Professor Lu?” Stix was slightly taken aback. He hesitated and said, “But last time at the conference, didn’t Professor Lu say that he doesn’t plan on researching mathematics for a while?”

“He did say that, but it doesn’t matter.” Schultz said with a smile, “His withdrawal was a loss for the mathematics world, and now he is back in his best field; number theory. Anyway, I think this is a good start.”

Stix asked curiously, “What problem is it?”

“ABC conjecture.”

“So it actually is the ABC conjecture…”

With a look of disbelief on his face, Stix whispered in a low voice, “But this makes sense. Mathematical problems are no longer a challenge for him. Only this kind of problem that can’t seem to be solved with modern mathematics can arouse his interest.”

Schultz closed the suitcase, looked at him, and spoke.

“Want to go together? You are an expert in number theory.”

Stix shook his head and said, “No thanks, I don’t know him very well, and he didn’t invite me… I wish you a good time over there. I hope I can hear good news from the other side of the ocean.”

Schultz said with a smile, “Of course.”

…

While Schultz had set off on his journey to China, Shinichi Mochizuki was sitting in the terminal at the Kyoto International Airport on the other side of Earth. He was dozing off with his chin buried in the collar of his trench coat.

Suddenly, his phone alarm rang, waking him up from his sleep.

“It’s time already?”

Mochizuki rubbed his nose. He was a little discombobulated from his sleep. He was about to get up from his chair, but his eyes focused on the TV screen on the ceiling of the terminal.

The news from NHK TV was being shown.

In the studio, the female host announced the latest news.

“… The China Mars landing office held a press conference, at which it announced the major findings of research projects related to the Mars landing plan. At the press conference, the Chinese press spokesperson announced that, during their scientific research accident, the team discovered clastic rocks suspected of being formed by biological sedimentation in a 120-meter deep underground rock formation on Mars.”

On the TV screen, the footage was switched from the studio to the scene of the press conference.

A spokesperson in formal clothes stood in front of the camera, facing the crowd of microphones and cameras. He spoke into the microphone with a serious expression.

This spokesperson also disclosed another piece of information.

Which was that, according to carbon isotope detection and analysis, these bioclastic rocks were formed about 2 to 2.5 billion years ago.

If this research was true, this discovery would become a piece of strong evidence for the existence of signs of life on Mars. It would reveal to humans that more than two billion years ago, before the Martian atmosphere was blown by the solar wind, what kind of ecosystem existed on Mars.

Prior to this, the academic community had always held two completely different views on whether there was a complete ecosystem on Mars…

“Aliens?”

Shinichi Mochizuki looked at the news on the TV. He thought to himself.

Sounds interesting.

But…

Doesn’t have anything to do with me.

Just as he was thinking about this, there was a sudden excitement from the side.

“There are aliens on Mars?”

“Amazing…”

“I wonder when our astronauts will be able to go there.”

“It’s too difficult… Even NASA has failed. Sigh, if it weren’t for Professor Lu, no one would have been able to go there.”

“Do you think they actually saw aliens there? It’s just not disclosed.”

“How could that be possible… After all, these are specimens from billions of years ago.”

Seems like I’m not the only one interested.

Shinichi Mochizuki glanced at the TV one last time. He then grabbed his suitcase and walked quickly toward the boarding gate…

…

Jin Ling University.

An office at the end of the corridor in the mathematics department building.

“Your working environment is much cleaner than mine,” Schultz said in an enviable tone while standing in Lu Zhou’s office. He looked around and continued, “I can hardly find a place to stand. The thing I complain about the most is that I don’t know which piece of paper I need and which I don’t need… The end result is that everything is piled up together; there is no organization at all.”

Lu Zhou smiled embarrassedly when he heard this, not knowing whether it was a compliment.

To be honest, the cleanliness of his office was not because of how good his habits were. It was purely because he hadn’t been here much this year. He had only begun to show up at the university office recently.

Perelman, who had just arrived here, stood next to them. He looked at Schultz. He then looked at Lu Zhou and muttered, “I was just brainstorming, I didn’t expect you to actually find him.”

“Oh, so you guys talked about me coming here?” Schultz looked at Perelman unexpectedly. He said with a smile, “It seems that I have to thank you.”

Perelman: “Oh, no need, like I said, I was just brainstorming.”

“Regardless, we are all standing here for the same purpose.” Lu Zhou clapped his hands and spoke with a smile as he looked at his two old friends. “So, let’s not waste time in small talk. We can talk about the past over dinner later.”

“I agree.” Schultz said jokingly, “I heard that Professor Lu has made new discoveries on the ABC conjecture, so I bought the earliest flight and immediately flew over from North Rhine.”

“I’m afraid I can’t say it’s a new discovery; it’s just a little idea.” Lu Zhou smiled embarrassedly and continued, “It’s the 500-page paper from Shinichi Mochizuki.”

“The paper by Mochizuki Shinichi?” Schultz didn’t expect Lu Zhou to use that paper as the opening remarks of the discussion. Schultz raised his eyebrows slightly and said hesitantly, “Honestly, there is nothing to discuss. I proved it wrong with my collaborators years ago.”

“I know, I read your dissertation against him; it’s very good.”

Lu Zhou cleared his throat and picked up a marker from the table. He walked to the whiteboard next to him and paused for a moment. He continued, “Obviously, there is a problem with his paper and the problem is not small. There is no doubt about it. But when I read his paper the day before yesterday, I found something very interesting.”

Although there was an expression of disapproval on Schultz’s face, he noticed that Lu Zhou had picked up the pen. He decided to stay quiet and wait for Lu Zhou to continue.

Perelman was the same; the expression on his face did not change. He just stared intently at the pen in Lu Zhou’s hand.

His intuition told him that Lu Zhou must have discovered something extraordinary, so much so that he invited Schultz all the way from Germany for discussion.

Regardless of whether that meant a proof of the ABC conjecture, it was worthy of his attention.

Also, he knew that once he missed a sentence, even with his mathematical ability, it would be difficult to keep up with Lu Zhou’s jaw-dropping speed…

“Inference 3.12 is the core of the whole paper. There is no doubt about it. It turns the ABC conjecture from an abstract mathematical concept to proving a specific inequality related to elliptic curves.

“However, the root of the problem is also here.”

Just when Lu Zhou was talking about the most critical part, a dramatic scene happened.

A series of violent footsteps came from the corridor outside.

Soon, after a knock on the door, the door was pushed open.

When Lu Zhou saw the figure appearing at his door, he was stunned.

But…

Obviously, the other two people were even more stunned.

“Mochizuki?”

“Schultz?”

The two people made eye contact and stood there, stunned.

Gradually, the atmosphere began to become a little awkward.

The expressions on their faces stiffened at the same time.

Dean Qin finally caught up with Shinichi Mochizuki and jogged to the door of the office. He was holding the door frame and out of breath. He was about to introduce the visiting famous scholar of Kyoto University to Lu Zhou when he noticed Perelman and Schultz in the office.

This old man could instantly smell something wrong in the room.

“Haha, I didn’t expect you guys to be here…”

Dean Qin touched the back of his head and smiled embarrassedly. He said quickly with a dry cough, “This is Shinichi Mochizuki… You guys talk, I won’t bother you all.”

After that, the old man turned around and quickly left.

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