"Cough cough!"

The stylish woman who was sitting next to Zhang Yifei at the back of the group suddenly coughed twice. Of course, the air quality in the cabin wasn't good, and she felt a bit stuffy in her chest, so coughing a couple of times was normal.

Nobody thought it was a big deal, not even the modern woman herself.

Li Lechen frowned.

He was powerless to do anything about it.

Although he came from the future, and although he knew about the HI25 virus and knew that it would cause the deaths of 50 million people worldwide, he had done everything he could for the time being, but to no avail.

The HI25 virus is destined to spread.

The smog in Fancheng was so severe that even after leaving the airport, Li Lechen's mother didn't take off her mask, which made her feel like she was in a primeval forest. Without the mask, she felt she would be half-dead.

Staff from the National Mathematical Association were already waiting at the airport to greet Li Lechen, with a large sign bearing his name.

Judging from the name alone, he should be a young person, the staff member in charge of reception thought. But to be a member of the National Mathematical Association, and more importantly, to have solved the globally unsolved NP-complete problem, he couldn't be young.

However, this Li Lechen was truly unknown; I had never heard of him before.

However, the association really valued him; their induction ceremony was even more grand than their five-yearly general meeting. It was as if they were afraid he wouldn't want to join.

That's right. Just by being able to solve the NP-complete problem, Li Lechen doesn't need to join any association; he's a name in himself. Even if he establishes his own association, he can rise rapidly and quickly gain followers all over the world.

Thinking about it this way, even though they were still waiting to be picked up at the airport, their attitude had become serious.

Li Lechen was in a bad mood, his mind preoccupied with the HI25 virus. He was certain that he and his mother were not infected, but it was hard to say about the others on the plane, especially those around Zhang Yifei.

Also, was Zhang Yifei the first person infected with the HI25 virus? Or was he also infected?

Thinking about it that way, I missed the person holding the "Li Lechen" sign.

The staff member, not recognizing Li Lechen in person, could do nothing but hold up a sign and wait for him to arrive.

The National Mathematical Association's meeting was to be held at the International Hotel, as stated in the invitation, so Li Lechen and his mother went straight there.

The meeting was scheduled for tomorrow, but a registration area had already been set up in the lobby of the International Hotel. When Li Lechen arrived, he saw several elderly men with gray hair bending over to sign in.

Each of these old men would be a top figure in their local area or in their respective fields, but now that they've been brought together, they seem less important.

Therefore, these leading figures could only go through the normal procedures that conference attendees should follow, such as signing in, registering, and checking in.

Upon entering the International Hotel, Li Lechen's mother was in a hurry to find the restroom. Just because she was in a more upscale place didn't make her any more tolerant of this.

Li Lechen naturally didn't need his mother to take him anywhere, so he went straight to the registration area.

"I'm here to attend the meeting. Do I sign in here?" Li Lechen asked the staff at the sign-in desk.

The staff looked up at Li Lechen and found it a bit strange.

Those attending the meeting are all titans of their field. Someone so young is probably just a personal assistant who came along.

So he asked, "May I ask which member you are?"

"Li Lechen".

However, after Li Lechen gave his name, he felt something was off. He shouldn't have joined the membership yet, because this meeting was about admitting him as a member.

However, the name "Li Lechen" should still be familiar, right? After all, it was a major topic of discussion at this meeting.

But Li Lechen was wrong. His name was indeed famous, and it was indeed a major topic of discussion at the meeting, but such high-level matters were only known to a few key members of the meeting's organizing committee. As for the person responsible for checking in, they weren't even allowed into the meeting venue, so how could they possibly know these things?

The staff member picked up a copy of the "List of Members of the National Mathematical Association" very carefully and checked each of the more than one hundred names on it.

Unfortunately, I looked it over once, and it wasn't there; I looked it over again, and it still wasn't there.

The staff member, somewhat embarrassed, asked Li Lechen again, "Excuse me, what was the name you just mentioned...?"

“I may not be on your membership list, but I have an invitation.”

As he spoke, Li Lechen reached into his bag to take out the invitation.

But when he pulled out the invitation, he realized it was with his mother, who had gone to the restroom.

Okay, I'm just going to the bathroom, I'll be fine in a bit.

So he smiled awkwardly at the staff member and stepped aside.

Li Lechen isn't the kind of big shot in academia, nor does he have that kind of pretentious arrogance. Waiting a little longer won't hurt him.

Moreover, this staff member did not treat me poorly at all.

While we were waiting, another person came over with their luggage to check in.

Compared to the previous elderly men with full heads of white hair, this man was obviously much younger, only in his forties, dressed in a formal suit, and had a dignified demeanor.

Li Lechen felt this guy looked familiar; he felt like he'd seen him somewhere before...

"Zhao Binghao".

The middle-aged man gave his name to the staff member who was receiving him and also took out an invitation.

Clearly, his name was very familiar to the staff member. He didn't need to check the list at all, quickly took out a bag of documents and handed it over, and swiftly marked him as having reported for duty on the sign-in sheet.

"Cough cough."

Zhao Binghao suddenly felt a tightness in his chest and couldn't help coughing twice. So, the hand that was about to reach out to take the document bag instinctively covered his mouth.

Covering your mouth when coughing in front of someone is a polite social practice.

This scene unfolded so naturally that neither Zhao Binghao himself nor the staff responsible for receiving him felt anything was amiss.

But Li Lechen, who was waiting not far away, was startled.

HI25 virus!

Looking more closely at the middle-aged man, no wonder he looked so familiar—wasn't he on the same flight as him? He was sitting right in front of Zhang Yifei. When Zhang Yifei suddenly vomited, he stood up and kept his distance afterward.

However, the HI25 virus is highly contagious, not to mention the contents of an infected person's vomit. Even a small amount can greatly increase the risk of infection.

Clearly, this middle-aged man was also infected with the HI25 virus.

Searching through historical records, the HI25 virus can cause symptoms ranging from a few hours to a week from infection to onset. It is most contagious once symptoms such as chest tightness and cough appear.