Chapter 80 - 61: I’m Here
"That... kind of makes sense. Did an undergraduate really come up with this algorithm? Even a graduate student might not think of the nonlinear programming approach used in it..."
"Yeah, and while mathematical talent can defy logic, the scope of knowledge this algorithm involves is just too broad..."
"Exactly. Even a genius has to follow the laws of nature, right? It’s not like they started learning advanced calculus in elementary school."
"At the end of the day, it’s because this year’s new rules have loopholes. I bet Yannan University just found a way to exploit them. Look at the quality of their paper—it’s leagues better than the teams that presented before them. They’re not even in the same league!"
"But that Yang Han from Jiangcheng has some serious guts. I have my doubts too, but I wouldn’t dare say it out loud in front of all these heavyweights, not even if you gave me ten times the courage..."
Chen Lin took in every word of the surrounding discussions, realizing that quite a few people actually agreed with Yang Han.
However, he didn’t believe for a second that this Yang Han had stood up for the sake of academic justice. It wasn’t that he was naturally inclined to assume the worst in people, but his system-enhanced hearing clearly picked up the hushed whispers she shared with another girl beside her after she sat down:
"Look at that Shen Yan. She’s what the internet calls an ’academic siren.’ Using her pretty face to seduce some professor at her school, who then taught her this algorithm. And she’s still up there, acting all pure and innocent. Look at that face—does she look like someone who’s serious about academics?"
Chen Lin was so angry he almost laughed. It was a real eye-opener.
’How could she make such a serious public accusation against another woman in a setting like this, based on nothing more than her own dark suspicions?’
’Hasn’t she considered the immense damage her words could cause to Shen Yan personally, and even to the reputation of Yannan University as a whole?’
Chen Lin subconsciously glanced toward the audience section. As expected, Principal Chang Kai’s face had turned incredibly sour. His trademark warm smile was gone, replaced by a livid expression.
On the judges’ panel, the experts hadn’t anticipated that a harmonious academic exchange would suddenly erupt into a drama where one contestant publicly challenged another. For a moment, they could only look at each other, at a loss.
Liang Tianshi was the first to react. He turned to the side and began speaking in a low voice to another elderly man beside him, who also had graying hair and was wearing reading glasses.
"Old Duan, what do you think about this..."
The judge called "Old Duan" adjusted his glasses and said thoughtfully, "Liang, what the student said... isn’t entirely without reason. The rules may have changed, but the fairness of the competition must always be the top priority."
"In that case..."
"Yes, let’s do that."
Chen Lin saw Liang Tianshi nod, then wave over a young staff member from the side of the stage. He leaned in and whispered a few instructions. Just as Chen Lin was about to focus his hearing to listen in, the staff member had already hurried away.
Then, Liang Tianshi picked up the microphone again, his steady voice once more echoing through the hall.
"Yang Han, please take your seat for now." He first calmed the situation, then turned his gaze to Shen Yan on the stage, his tone remaining gentle. "Shen Yan, your previous answer was perfectly in line with the organizing committee’s new rules for this year. However, the doubt that Yang Han just raised does, I believe, represent the thoughts of many students here today."
Liang Tianshi paused, then asked, "To dispel everyone’s doubts, may I ask if the student you mentioned, Chen Lin, is present today? If not, would it be convenient for you to give him a WeChat voice call right now? I happen to have a question I’d like to ask him."
Shen Yan was clearly still a bit stunned.
She usually focused on her studies and rarely dealt with strangers, so she was completely thrown by this sudden turn of events. Just as she was racking her brain for how to answer Liang Tianshi, a voice she knew all too well rang out.
"I’m here!"
Chen Lin didn’t have a microphone.
But his body, fortified by the "Little Champion" title, was full of vigor.
His shout cut through the din of the hall, instantly shifting everyone’s attention from the main stage to the corner where he was.
Under the focused gaze of hundreds, Chen Lin stood up, calmly walked through the crowd, and strode onto the stage.
He met the eyes of Shen Yan, who was still frozen in place, and gave her a reassuring look. With a slight nod, he then naturally took the microphone, still faintly warm, from her hand.
"Hello, esteemed judges," he said, turning to the judges’ panel, his voice steady and strong. "I am Chen Lin."
Liang Tianshi, sitting in the center of the judges’ panel, sized up the young man who had suddenly appeared on stage with great interest. He had a tall, straight posture and handsome features. There wasn’t a trace of panic in his eyes; instead, they held a composure that belied his age.
The anticipation in his heart grew, seemingly of its own accord.
"Chen Lin," Liang Tianshi said, his tone tinged with appreciation, "since you’ve been here the whole time, I assume you understand the current situation. I have a question for you. Are you willing to answer it on the spot to prove yourself?"
"No problem," Chen Lin answered crisply.
"Excellent!"
Academician Liang nodded in approval and gestured to a staff member behind him.
"This problem was recently devised by one of my students. I can guarantee that none of you here have ever seen it before." His gaze swept across the hall, his voice rising slightly. "Any students in the audience who are interested are welcome to try it as well. Anyone who can solve it within half an hour, I will personally give them a recommendation to be a visiting student at Huaqing’s Center for Mathematical Sciences for one year!"
An uproar—
The moment he spoke, the crowd below the stage erupted in a wave of irrepressible gasps.
A visiting year at Huaqing University! For any undergraduate dedicated to a future in academic research, this was a dream-come-true opportunity, its value far beyond what any prize money could compare to!
Amidst the crowd’s excited and expectant gazes, the large screen in the center of the hall flickered. Shen Yan’s beautifully designed PowerPoint presentation disappeared, replaced by a pure white background with simple black text on it.
[Problem: Player A and Player B are playing a game on an initially blank blackboard. Starting with Player A, they take turns writing an integer greater than 1 on the board. The rule is that any number written cannot be a linear combination of the numbers already on the board using natural number coefficients. The first person who cannot write a number according to the rule loses the game.]
[Question: Who has a winning strategy?]
The moment the problem appeared, the entire hall instantly became as noisy as a marketplace. Everyone from the students in the contestants’ area to the professors in the guests’ section immediately dove into spirited discussions.
An average student, clearly someone just tagging along with the team, poked the academic whiz next to him with a confused look. "What’s a ’linear combination of existing numbers with natural number coefficients’?"
The whiz kid immediately shot him a scornful look. "Seriously? Don’t you humanities students know even this? For example, if the numbers ’a’ and ’b’ are already on the board, then you can’t write any number of the form an + bm, where n and m are any natural numbers."
In a corner, a student with a worrying hairline, likely from the computer science department, stroked his chin and muttered, "This problem barely has any numbers in it. It looks more like a game theory problem from one of our ICPC programming competitions..."
The student next to him immediately laughed and said, "Then why don’t you try? See if you can write a program to solve it."
...
Elsewhere, the real academic aces had already begun their preliminary brainstorming.
"First, you’d have to prove that the game must end in a finite number of steps..."
However, next to the whiz kid, there was inevitably a joker to liven up the mood. "Isn’t it simple? The one who runs out of space on the blackboard to write loses! Don’t tell me you can erase the board. Logically, you can’t erase it, or you wouldn’t know what was written before..."