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Chapter 199: Chapter 195: Scraps

When Yang Shengguo heard Li Dong, he didn’t understand why Li Dong was telling him to stop.

The derivation had clearly entered its most critical stage. The third-level recursive structure of the lifting operator had just been expanded, and if he kept going, he was confident he could completely close the case for e_v=3.

But Yang Shengguo stopped anyway.

Because he trusted Li Dong.

Li Dong winked at him.

There was something subtle in that look that Yang Shengguo couldn’t quite decipher, but he just had a feeling the kid was cooking up some trouble again.

Then Li Dong turned to face the audience.

”Ahem, Teacher Yang has pretty much written out the general line of thought.”

His tone was very relaxed.

”If anyone doesn’t understand something, feel free to ask questions.”

The hundreds of people in the audience looked at each other in bewilderment.

’Don’t understand?’

’You’ve all but spoon-fed it to us and told us to copy it down. What’s there not to understand?’

Seeing that no one was asking questions, Li Dong turned his gaze to Zhou Shenzhi.

”Professor Zhou, is there anything you don’t understand?”

Zhou Shenzhi just stood there.

His face was deathly pale.

’What’s there not to understand?’

’You’ve already written this much.’

Based on what they had just written on stage, Zhou Shenzhi could guarantee with one hundred percent certainty...

...that after his professor returned, it wouldn’t take more than a month or two to complete the full proof for GL(2) to GL(3).

All the key technical obstacles had been swept away by Yang Shengguo’s recursive embedding framework and Li Dong’s correction term control.

All that remained was the finishing touches.

Grunt work.

And it wasn’t just his professor.

Anyone who had watched today’s seminar—as long as they were part of the group researching the local-global compatibility of automorphic representations on the main track of the Langlands Program—could independently derive the result based on the approach Li Dong and Yang Shengguo had written out on stage.

They just might not be as fast as Jiang Yubai.

After all, Jiang Yubai had accumulated over a decade of experience in this area; his familiarity with the details was unparalleled.

But the difference was only a matter of a few months.

But Zhou Shenzhi didn’t understand.

’Why?’

’Why did Li Dong tell Yang Shengguo to stop?’

’They could have completely finished this academic achievement—one worthy of a Fields Medal—right there on stage.’

’That would have been a moment for the history books of mathematics.’

’A nineteen-year-old freshman and his high school math teacher, completing the proof for a milestone theorem on the main track of the Langlands Program live, at an academic seminar, in front of the world’s top number theorists.’

’Yet Li Dong had chosen to call a halt at the most critical moment.’

...

「In the audience.」

Qiu Chengtong seemed to be muttering to himself, but his voice wasn’t quiet.

”Why doesn’t he just derive the whole thing completely?”

This was a question many people in the room wanted to ask.

Tian Gang, separated from Qiu Chengtong only by Liu Ruochuan, naturally heard him.

He glanced over.

”This is why I say you’re a poor judge of character.”

Qiu Chengtong paused, startled. He glanced back at Tian Gang but said nothing.

Meanwhile, Liu Ruochuan, sitting next to Tian Gang, was completely floored when he heard his own teacher’s words.

’Wait... Teacher, are you trash-talking yourself?’

But Liu Ruochuan only dared to think this; he wouldn’t have said it out loud for anything in the world.

Of course, Tian Gang wasn’t being self-deprecating.

He genuinely believed Qiu Chengtong hadn’t understood Li Dong.

Because Tian Gang knew what Li Dong was thinking.

’That kid looks down on it.’

’GL(2) to GL(3)?’

’For research groups that have worked on it for over a decade, it’s a huge mountain to climb, of course.’

’But for Li Dong, it’s just a pebble on the roadside.’

’Because that kid’s real goal is—GL(2) to GL(n).’

’From the special case to the complete generalization.’

’One of the ultimate forms of the Langlands Program.’

’As for this special case of GL(2) to GL(3)...’

’Li Dong probably feels that since he can solve it so easily, he might as well just give it away.’

’As for why he’d lay it all out on stage...’

Tian Gang glanced at the still somewhat bewildered Yang Shengguo...

”What a good kid, so respectful of his teacher...”

Hearing this, Liu Ruochuan couldn’t understand why Tian Gang kept insulting himself today...

...

「On stage.」

Li Dong waited a few seconds. Seeing that Zhou Shenzhi wasn’t speaking, he didn’t press him further.

A holy and magnificent glow spread across his face as he spoke.

”Previously, at the ICCM, I was told something.”

”Mathematics belongs to all of humanity.”

”I didn’t understand it at the time. After all, I’m only nineteen...”

The audience: ...

”But after thinking about it, I’ve come to agree wholeheartedly.”

”I was indeed too selfish before.”

”So today, since Professor Zhou raised this issue, I felt it was necessary to share Teacher Yang’s and my understanding with everyone.”

The audience was deathly silent.

Right now, Zhou Shenzhi had only one word in his mind.

’--Fuck.’

’You’re telling everyone?’

’Then why don’t you tell everyone about your Algorithm 2.0? Aren’t you just so selfless?’

’But why the fuck are you telling everyone about *our* research topic?’

’And you’ve even pushed the proof this far!’

Li Dong saw that Zhou Shenzhi still hadn’t answered, but he didn’t seem to mind.

”Teacher Yang and I have limited abilities, so this is as far as we could take it.”

”The rest, I’ll leave to all of you.”

Limited abilities.

This is as far as we could take it.

When he said this, many in the audience nearly coughed up a mouthful of blood.

’The two of you spent nearly four hours on stage, pushing a problem that has baffled the global number theory community for over a decade to the point where only the finishing touches are left... and now you’re telling me you have ”limited abilities”?’

But everyone understood the subtext of Li Dong’s words.

He was going to give away this nearly completed proof.

Give it to everyone.

But if you followed the line of thought he and Yang Shengguo wrote on stage today, even if you independently completed the rest and wrote a paper...

...Yang Shengguo’s name would have to be on the author list.

Because Yang Shengguo had established the core framework.

It was what he deserved.

...

At that moment, Jiang Yubai, sitting in the front row, was trembling all over.

He was scared...

This was his life’s work of more than a decade.

It was the foundation he had built over the better part of his academic career.

And this young man was about to destroy it all in a single afternoon.

From this day forward, any research group in the world working in this area could pursue the proof for GL(2) to GL(3) based on the contents of today’s seminar.

His decade of accumulated knowledge, his technical barriers, his information advantage—all of it was reduced to zero.

Jiang Yubai knew he couldn’t lose his composure in front of so many people.

But he couldn’t hold back. His life’s work was being destroyed. He couldn’t just do nothing. He had to fight back!

He staggered to his feet, trembling, and pointed at Li Dong and Yang Shengguo.

”Li Dong.”

”You and he are using my method!”

”Why aren’t you using your zero criterion from the Montgomery conjecture?”

”Is it not effective?”

”Then what was the point of its existence in the first place?”

Hearing this question, everyone in the room fell silent.

Because this question...

...was hardly something you would expect a top-tier mathematical scholar to ask.

’What was the point of the zero criterion’s existence?’

’Does its significance need to be defined by you?’

’It’s a universal framework that can be applied to almost any research involving automorphic representations.’

’Even if it’s not used for your GL(2) to GL(3), does that mean no other mathematician in the world can use it?’

’Was this tool created specifically for you, Jiang Yubai?’

However, Li Dong didn’t say any of that.

He just looked at Jiang Yubai.

For a long, long time.

Then, he slowly began to speak.

”Professor Jiang.”

”You might be placing a bit too much importance on this GL(2) to GL(3) problem.”

”So much so that you think all tools should serve this one goal.”

”But...”

He smiled.

”The problem you’re researching... for me, how should I put it?”

”It’s nothing more than an insignificant scrap from my overall system.”