Chapter 63
The ICM conference started at 9:00 AM, and Ji Zhixing gave a presentation that lasted for over an hour. The Q&A session began at 10:30 AM and lasted for a full eight hours.
No one left during the meeting. Whether it was the elderly professors in the front row or the young mathematicians who were blocking the doorway with almost no room to stand, no one was willing to leave the venue to grab a bite to eat.
During the question-and-answer session, countless inspirations were sparked and countless brilliant ideas were captured. From the presenter, Ji Zhixing, to the audience, everyone was immersed in the exhilarating collision of ideas. When adrenaline surged, the feeling of hunger was suppressed to almost nothing.
Even Ji Zhixing, who worked the hardest, didn't feel tired much; his most striking feeling was that his mind was extremely excited.
However, while the mind is a transcendent soul, the voice is still that of a mortal body. Ji Zhixing already felt hoarse after four hours of the Q&A session.
The organizers provided bottled mineral water, but Ji Zhixing only dared to take a small sip each time to moisten his throat, afraid that drinking too much would require him to go to the toilet and waste time.
On the table sat a packet of Malva nut, which Zhu Ren had taken from the principal's office and had slipped into Ji Zhixing's pocket when he left the hotel. However, having never been abroad before, he hadn't expected that such a large meeting room wouldn't have hot water. So, although he had brought the Malva nut, he couldn't brew it and could only leave it on the table as a "mere glimpse of plums to quench his thirst."
It wasn't until evening, when the questions gradually subsided, that a hint of fatigue appeared on Ji Zhixing's face.
He felt he had successfully "defended" his academic achievements. Of course, this public "trial" had nothing to do with personal feelings or moral character; it was purely a clash of ideas and concepts. He also thoroughly enjoyed this pure exchange.
Blake, sitting below the stage, was completely absorbed in the lecture. He couldn't ask any particularly valuable questions, but he filled a notebook with notes.
Blake closed his notebook with satisfaction, and as he looked up, he saw another man sitting on the ground not far from him, also holding a notebook. He smiled knowingly, intending to talk to this man, but then noticed that the man's face was terribly gloomy.
Upon closer inspection, his hands, which were holding the notebook, were trembling uncontrollably.
"Am I just too hungry?" Blake thought casually.
At this moment, Ji Zhixing grasped the microphone and said, "If there are no other questions..."
“I have another question!” A man raised his left hand high.
Blake mentally gave him a thumbs up. What a pure mathematician! Even with his hands trembling from hunger, he would continue to strive for the truth.
Ji Zhixing frowned slightly. He remembered very clearly that this man had asked a total of 5 questions.
Other mathematicians posed questions based on acceptance of the fundamental Navier-Stokes equations, while this man dedicated each of his questions to proving that the Navier-Stokes equations contained irredeemable errors in their underlying logic.
Of course, it's normal for academic ideas to differ and contradict each other. He hadn't thought too much about it beforehand; he just wanted to answer according to his own line of thought.
However, this man was too persistent, asking the question again and again. This was his sixth time asking the question, and his stance was exactly the same as the previous five questions.
"On a large scale, if the overall inertial translation is contained within pressure, then the rotation of local small eddies at this scale is neglected. This neglect in the equations demonstrates the limitations of the equations themselves. This expression is more similar to a method based on physical properties than on substantial micro-fluids. Is that correct?"
Ji Zhixing thought for a moment and replied, "At a given scale, the pressure change during overall translation should be distinguished from deformation stress. Therefore, pressure is characterized as a second-order tensor with overall flow velocity and vorticity as independent variables..."
"No!" Joseph rudely interrupted Ji Zhixing, "That's the devil's lie!"
Ji Zhixing helplessly shrugged. He could see that this man had become so obsessive that he was almost insane and wouldn't listen to his explanations at all.
He looked at Professor Bolton in the audience, who gestured for him to continue.
Ji Zhixing had barely uttered a sentence when he was interrupted again.
This time, Joseph didn't say anything. He simply pulled out the gun he had hidden in his pocket and pointed it at Ji Zhixing on the stage.
Ji Zhixing's face darkened instantly, and the scholars who were close by in the audience were the first to see what Joseph was holding.
"Hey! What are you doing?" Blake shouted.
The hall erupted in chaos as many frantically tried to leave—people in the United States, accustomed to shootings, knew that escaping was the most important thing in such situations. However, the hall was so crowded that both front and back entrances were immediately blocked.
Yan Anjin and Zhu Ren tried to go against the flow of people to the podium, but they were so caught up in the crowd that they staggered and could barely stand.
Many mathematicians in the front rows remained still, while many others spoke up to reprimand Joseph.
"Shut up!" Joseph roared, pointing his gun around. "You are all accomplices of the devil!"
Professor Bolton stood up from his chair and walked over to Joseph: "Child, perhaps I could hear your thoughts?"
"Halt!" Joseph turned his gun on Professor Bolton. "Stand right there! Everyone's been corrupted by the devil; the Navier-Stokes equations can't be correct!"
He dedicated his entire life to proving this point, but his papers were rejected countless times, and he was on the verge of a breakdown.
But it doesn't matter, truth is always in the hands of a minority! When Copernicus creatively proposed the heliocentric theory, it was also not accepted by the ignorant world.
Therefore, he has been waiting for the day when people will be enlightened.
However, Ji Zhixing actually claimed that he had proven the existence and smoothness of solutions to the Navier-Stokes equations! He is absolutely a devil!
When Joseph learned that the 30th ICM Congress would be hosted solely for Ji Zhixing, he was consumed by jealousy. In his mind, this was a privilege reserved exclusively for him.
When his paper finally found a discerning editor, and when his ideas shook the world, the mathematics community should give him the highest level of treatment, such as the Fields Medal, or a formal invitation from the ICM conference to give an unlimited-time plenary lecture.
However, his treatment was stolen by Ji Zhixing.
Therefore, he traveled a long way to attend this conference precisely to expose Ji Zhixing's lies in front of all the mathematicians!
At the same time, he was mentally prepared to fight to the death. The devil is certainly adept at bewitching people; if he couldn't shatter the devil's sophistry, then he would defend his truth with a gun!
Listening to Joseph's heartfelt confession, Ji Zhixing was speechless.
Academics do need a bit of persistence and stubbornness, but that doesn't mean they'll never turn back even after hitting a wall. He could refute every single point Joseph made, but Joseph was clearly so stubborn that he was deaf to reason and living entirely in his own imagined world.
Professor Burton was patiently guiding Joseph's thinking, but Joseph kept repeating his own views and even became more and more frantic.
When Ji Zhixing saw him yelling and pulling the safety off his pistol, pointing the muzzle at Professor Bolton who was trying to persuade him, he quickly raised the microphone and shouted.
“The Navier-Stokes equation is wrong…” Ji Zhixing added the second half of the sentence after Joseph stared at him with wide eyes, “It’s impossible.”
"But!" Ji Zhixing roared again, interrupting his anger, "If you think the Navier-Stokes equations are wrong, why don't you come up on stage? Let's debate face to face!"
Joseph remained silent; he hesitated.
Seeing the gun barrel hovering, Ji Zhixing softened his voice: "Look, I don't have any weapons on me, what do you have to be afraid of?"
Seeing that Joseph still hesitated, he resorted to provocation: "Or rather, you simply don't have the courage to come before me and fight for your truth!"
Joseph was indeed enraged: "You'd better not try any tricks!"
As he spoke, he walked towards the podium, holding a notebook in his left hand and a gun in his right: "I've heard that guns are banned in China, so perhaps I should show you what a gun really is!"
He grinned maliciously and pulled the trigger, firing a shot into Ji Zhixing's foot.
Ji Zhixing didn't move. He instantly estimated and calculated the angle of the gun muzzle and judged that he was safe.
Joseph fired a shot, which only hit the chair next to Ji Zhixing. The recoil made him sway backward, and the thin smoke from the gun made him squint slightly.
Then, in the next instant, the pistol somehow slipped from his hand. Joseph hurriedly reached for it, but as it fell, something struck it, altering its trajectory, and it flew heavily behind him. Joseph turned to retrieve it, but something flicked against his knee, causing his leg to buckle and he to kneel on the ground.
Blake swiftly rushed onto the stage and picked up the pistol, while Ji Zhixing ran to Joseph's side and started beating him up!
He was quite experienced in the system space, and Joseph, who was unarmed, was no match for him at all. He was quickly beaten and howled, curling up on the ground.
Ji Zhixing held Joseph down, and Blake pulled off the microphone cord to tie his hands and feet. The crisis was finally over.
All of this happened in the blink of an eye; the sudden change on the stage caused the people crowding at the door to slowly come to a stop.
Yan Anjin and Zhu Ren quickly seized the opportunity to push through the crowd and run towards the stage, soon reaching Ji Zhixing's side.
Yan Anjin stared at his feet and asked, "How are you? Did that gunshot hurt you?"
Zhu Ren then squatted down and pulled up Ji Zhixing's trouser leg. Seeing that there was another layer of thermal underwear underneath, he pulled it up even higher and found no bloodstains.
Ji Zhixing quickly said, "I'm fine! Nothing's wrong!"
Yan Anjin's ashen face finally improved, while Zhu Ren collapsed to the ground, clutching his chest and patting it heavily several times. He really should have grabbed some more nitroglycerin pills when he went to the principal's office.
Seriously! Who would have thought that something like this could happen at a perfectly good academic conference! It's really not safe abroad; even mathematicians can get involved with guns.
Bolton then approached Ji Zhixing, expressing his concern and apologies. In his capacity as chairman of the ICM conference, he calmed the attendees and announced the conclusion of the conference.
The mathematicians, still shaken, gradually left, but the reporters stayed behind, rushing to the podium.
Ji Zhixing was instantly surrounded by a barrage of cameras and microphones, and overwhelmed by a multitude of questions.
"How did you resolve the crisis just now?"
Did you shoot that gun down?
Have you ever learned kung fu?
"Could you describe the whole process in detail?"
...
While the gun was still in Joseph's hand, everyone was frantically running away. That gunshot only made them more panicked, as if they wanted to fly away by stepping on other people's heads.
When the sounds of fighting came from the stage, everyone turned around in alarm to find Joseph already pinned to the ground. Few people witnessed the whole thing, and those who did were completely bewildered by what had happened.
Everyone was both puzzled and curious, especially the reporters, who were thrilled—what great news material this was!
Ji Zhixing remained calm in the face of Joseph, who was armed, but desperately wanted to escape when surrounded by reporters with their cameras and microphones.
Reporters kept shoving microphones, recorders, and other interview equipment at him, and he suspected that if he opened his mouth, they would poke his throat.
Surrounded and unable to make a move, Ji Zhixing struggled futilely within the encirclement.
Faced with explosive news material, even Professor Bolton couldn't ask the reporters to let Ji Zhixing leave. He had no choice but to grab the microphone and shout, asking all the reporters to return to the audience for a brief press conference.
Upon hearing that there would be a press conference, the reporters quickly dispersed and returned to the audience to take up better positions. Only then did Ji Zhixing feel the air lighten.
"I'm sorry, I'll have to ask you to cooperate for a little longer." Bolton looked at Ji Zhixing apologetically. Given the reporters' frenzy for news, if they couldn't get any material now, they would have to rush to the hotel to bother Ji Zhixing later.
"You don't need to feel awkward, I'm willing to cooperate," Ji Zhixing said, as long as it wasn't as chaotic as before.
He didn't think Professor Bolton bore much responsibility for the incident, especially since Professor Bolton had been trying his best to calm Joseph down and prevent Joseph from pointing his gun at him on the stage. As the conference chair, Professor Bolton had done more than enough.
After the reporters left the podium, this hasty yet unusual press conference began.
The reporters asked the same questions as before.
Ji Zhixing recalled the events and carefully chose his words to reply, "Joseph's madness made me realize that it's impossible to communicate with him rationally..."
The villain's victory speech is always very long, and Joseph was no exception. At that time, Ji Zhixing was thinking about how to disarm him. Disarming at close range was too risky, and disarming at a distance required a suitable tool.
He only had three things at hand: a mineral water bottle, a dried herb, and a microphone.
The water bottle was too conspicuous; he'd probably get shot the moment he raised it. The microphone, even with its wired connection, wasn't working properly either.
Only the small, inconspicuous Malva nut can be held in the palm of one's hand and used to strike when the opportunity arises.
Having trained in the system space, Ji Zhixing was confident in his accuracy and arm strength, and instantly calculated the angle and force based on Joseph's position.
But at the last moment, he hesitated. Joseph's pistol was already on safety, his finger on the trigger; if he missed, Professor Burton, whose gun was pointed at him, would be in mortal danger.
This isn't like shooting hoops at a sports meet, where losing just meant losing a game. This time, losing means losing a life!
Therefore, Ji Zhixing spurred Joseph to come to the podium, to stay away from the others and closer to him.
Although Joseph's madness caught him off guard, firing a shot at him the moment he stepped onto the stage, it was that instantaneous sway and squinting that gave him the opportunity.
The first sea buckthorn pod accurately knocked the pistol away, and the second pod, fired in quick succession, sent the pistol flying out of Joseph's reach. As Joseph turned around, he threw two more sea buckthorn pods, hitting him in the back of the knee.
Joseph was disarmed and fell to the ground, completely powerless to fight back.
Throughout the process, Professor Bolton and other bigwigs, as well as all the reporters, became increasingly shocked. Yan Anjin and Zhu Ren also looked astonished, after all, Ji Zhixing had always presented a refined image and had never displayed such martial arts-novel-like hidden weapon skills.
"Oh, no, not really." Zhu Ren suddenly remembered the sports meet they'd discussed for so long last year. Back then, Ji Zhixing's incredible shot on the basketball court was breathtaking, and he'd seen the video several times. But at the time, he thought it was mostly luck. He never expected Ji Zhixing to demonstrate such amazing skill again today. How did he do it?
A reporter also asked this question.
"Is this a type of Chinese martial art?"
"Can ordinary people learn this kind of kung fu?"
"What kind of hidden weapon did you use?"
"Can you fly?"
As the questions became increasingly outrageous, Ji Zhixing had no choice but to raise his hand to interrupt the reporters' disorderly questioning.
"First of all, my ability to hit the target is based on a series of calculations."
Ji Zhixing simply opened a blank document on the multimedia computer and typed down a few formulas.
"Vcos(θ)=k/m*x..."
Reporters stared at the text projected onto the large screen and frantically took pictures with all sorts of recording equipment.
"Did you calculate all of this in an instant?" a reporter asked.
“Yes, if you continue to ask me why I can perform instantaneous calculations, I can only answer you, ‘Because I’m a Chinese person who’s very good at math.’” Ji Zhixing joked.
In fact, many top mathematicians in the field can do the instantaneous calculations themselves. But the real challenge lies in the data collection before the calculation, including straight-line distance, height difference, Joseph's movement speed, the weight of the pheasant, and the wind-breaking coefficient. These require continuous training to be able to judge them instantly with the naked eye.
Previously, when shooting hoops on the basketball court, the key data such as the rim, the basketball, and the court could be easily obtained from the physical education textbooks he had read, making the calculations straightforward. However, this time, there was no reference information available, and he had to rely entirely on his naked eye to judge. Ji Zhixing had no idea how he had developed such keen eyesight, so he could only make a joke to gloss over it.
Fortunately, the stereotype that "Chinese people = good at math" is still very strong. After all, the gold medals in the International Mathematical Olympiad are now basically in the hands of Chinese people and people of Chinese descent, so the reporters did not continue to ask questions about calculation.
"So how did you develop the ability to hit exactly where you point it?"
One reporter grasped the key point: being able to calculate the angle and force doesn't mean you can precisely implement the result; in fact, this might be even more difficult than the calculation itself. It's like many people throwing crumpled paper into a trash can; even if they know how to throw it correctly, the chances of missing are still high.
"I got it from weightlifting," Ji Zhixing said, downplaying the issue.
In fact, if he had handled that situation last year, there would have been a 99% chance he would have messed up.
But over the past year, he has overcome too many challenges in the system's virtual space. The dynamic environment and increasingly difficult training have not only improved his eyesight, judgment, memory, and attention, but also made him more agile and stronger in his wrists and fingers.
However, according to the original contract, the existence of the system could not be disclosed to anyone. So, Ji Zhixing once again managed to deceive everyone.
Fearing the reporters would continue pressing him on the question, Ji Zhixing quickly picked up the remaining few dried sea buckthorn berries on the table and showed them off: "These are the 'hidden weapons' I just used—dried sea buckthorn berries."
The reporters hurriedly adjusted their camera focus, and the flashes went on and off for a while. Ji Zhixing felt like his eyes were about to go blind.
Although the reporters found the name "Pangdahai" (胖大海) strange, it didn't stop them from praising this little thing in their press releases.
Finally, Ji Zhixing repeatedly emphasized that he could not fly, and the press conference ended with difficulty.
Only then did the belated U.S. police take Joseph away from the toilet stall. Professor Bolton provided the police with meeting minutes and surveillance footage, so Ji Zhixing was spared from being asked to give a statement at the police station and was able to return to his hotel to rest.
After a day that was thrilling in every sense of the word, Ji Zhixing was exhausted, both physically and mentally. He quickly washed up, ate a quick bite, and then fell into a deep sleep.
Meanwhile, in China, where the time difference is 13 hours, it's lunchtime. Working people are getting off work, and students are finishing class; everyone instinctively pulls out their phones to eat.
Many students at Guangling University were following the news of Ji Zhixing attending the ICM conference on the other side of the ocean. They would occasionally circumvent the Great Firewall to check for the latest news, and then they came across several videos. After watching them quickly, they were shocked and hurriedly went back to post them on the school forum. Soon, some media outlets that were monitoring the forum forwarded them to various platforms, which quickly aroused heated discussions.
"Holy crap, is this what an academic conference should look like?! Is this a video rip? Or a prank edit?"
"But that's Ji Zhixing, isn't it? Surely they wouldn't use AI to swap his face?"
"My goodness! I knew the academic conference would be thrilling, but I never expected it to be thrilling in a different way!"
"I never expected this! This academic genius is not only good at academics but also at martial arts; he even has such a hidden weapon skill!"
"Does anyone remember that video from Guangling University's sports meet last year? Sure enough, those incredible goals back then were calculated!"
"With this ability to calculate instantaneously, this pinpoint accuracy, I have every reason to suspect that Ji Zhixing is actually a robot." (doge.jpg)
"Aha! The academic genius is definitely not from the same species as me."
"After bypassing the Great Firewall and reading several reports, the stereotype that Chinese people are good at math and kung fu is hard to shake."
"Pang Dahai probably never imagined that one day he would have to travel across the ocean to beat someone up, hahaha!"
"I think Ji Zhixing was too reckless. Couldn't he just admit he was wrong for now? Why did he have to provoke that thug? If any of the math masters present had been harmed, he would have been held responsible."
"What the hell?! What kind of logic is that?! They invited Ji Zhixing to give the report, so Ji Zhixing should be criticizing the security work as being done like dog shit. And what nonsense about him being 'unable to shirk responsibility'?!"
"Are you blind? Ji Zhixing has been drawing fire the whole time, okay?!"
"Ha, if it were the original poster, they'd probably be the first to kneel down and beg for mercy. But true scholars have their own integrity!"
“I may not be able to face an armed criminal as calmly as Ji Zhixing, but at least I won’t hide behind the screen and whine.”
"Me too. The only thing I have in common with the top student is that we both wear thermal underwear..."
"The top student ruined me! I finally earned the right not to wear long johns, and now I'm back to square one!"
"I feel the same way. My mom has already ordered the same thermal underwear as the top student. I don't know how those merchants are so good at piggybacking on trends! How can you even tell what brand of thermal underwear it is in those few seconds of footage?!"
"(Picture), look! Long johns! Malva nut! Get all the best student-related items!"
A note from the author:
The academic viewpoints in this chapter are based on "The Philosophical Flaws of the Navier-Stokes Equations in Fluid Dynamics".
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