Chapter 100 - 72: Scientific Research and Testing
To the average person, this topic might sound incredibly profound. In reality, however, it was a key sub-problem within Chen Lin’s own grand objective: "Using Differential Geometry to solve the hallucination problem in large AI models."
Thanks to "Little Mathematician," Chen Lin had no real concept of how difficult the material he could now understand actually was.
He figured an undergraduate thesis didn’t need to be *that* advanced, though.
His plan was simple: he would push forward from the problem’s current academic bottleneck for one week. He’d stop wherever he ended up, organize that week’s results, and that would be his thesis.
As for what came after...
There was still over a month until the semester started, so he had plenty of time. He had absolute faith that, with "Little Mathematician," he could achieve a breakthrough in this field so significant that even Professor Qiu Chengtong wouldn’t be able to ignore it!
With that thought, Chen Lin didn’t hesitate any longer.
He took out paper and a pen from his backpack and arranged them neatly on the desk. Then, he glanced at the time on his phone screen.
8:40 PM.
He took a deep breath, silently recited ’Begin’ in his mind, and picked up his pen, his hand flying across the clean sheet of scratch paper as he began his calculations.
In that moment, time seemed to lose all meaning.
The whole world fell silent, leaving only the soft scratching of his pen against the paper.
Chen Lin’s consciousness was completely immersed in that pure world built from symbols and logic, his brain working at full throttle.
BEEP BEEP BEEP—BEEP BEEP BEEP—
After what felt like an eternity, the shrill ring of his phone’s alarm suddenly yanked Chen Lin from that mystical, trance-like state.
He stopped writing the moment it rang, setting down his ballpoint pen and letting out a long sigh.
He looked down to see his desk completely covered by five full pages of scratch paper, which were filled with dense formulas and derivations.
Chen Lin shook his throbbing head and took a moment to assess his physical state.
An intense wave of drowsiness washed over him.
It wasn’t the same soul-draining exhaustion he’d felt after helping Shen Yan with her modeling project, but this level of fatigue was still far beyond what a normal all-nighter would cause.
Chen Lin fought to hold on to his last shred of consciousness, quickly gathering the sheets of scratch paper from the desk and placing them carefully into a folder.
Once that was done, he picked up his phone and turned off all his alarms, including the one for the next morning.
Then, as if sleepwalking, he stumbled back to his bedroom and collapsed face-first onto his large, 1.8-meter-wide bed.
Chen Lin lost consciousness the instant his head hit the pillow.
...
...
「July 16th, 1:54 PM.」
In the spacious bedroom, Chen Lin’s eyelids twitched, and he slowly opened his eyes.
His mind was a chaotic fog.
He stared blankly at the ceiling for a full ten seconds before his scattered thoughts finally began to refocus.
’Where am I?’
’Oh, right. My new apartment.’
’Last night... I think I was doing research for my thesis topic and testing the usage limit of "Little Mathematician" for the first time...’
As the memories came flooding back, Chen Lin shot up in bed and grabbed his phone from the nightstand.
The screen lit up, clearly displaying the time—1:54 PM.
Chen Lin sucked in a sharp breath.
He had actually slept for nearly fifteen hours!
While that was a significant improvement over the twenty hours he’d slept dead to the world last time, it was still far beyond a normal sleep cycle.
’Looks like 200 minutes is still too long.’
’I’ll have to continue this stress test.’
Chen Lin’s goal was clear. He had to find a sustainable duration for using "Little Mathematician"—one that would guarantee his research efficiency without disrupting his normal daily routine.
Over the next few days, Chen Lin settled into a very regular routine.
During the day, he’d usually sleep until he woke up naturally, then head out to grab a bite to eat in the neighborhood. In the afternoons, he would watch videos or play *Hollow Knight*. Occasionally, on a whim, he’d even go to the gym for a run to break a sweat.
Then, every evening at eight o’clock sharp, he would sit down at his desk like clockwork. He’d spread out the previous day’s notes, enter his "Little Mathematician" state, and dive into his research on the Monge-Ampère equation with single-minded focus.
He also strictly followed the stress-testing plan he’d set for himself.
Each day, he reduced the usage time of his "Little Mathematician" title by five minutes from the day before.
...
「July 20th, Saturday, 7:53 AM.」
Chen Lin awoke in his bedroom, bathed in the soft morning light.
He opened his eyes without a trace of grogginess or fatigue. He felt completely refreshed and invigorated, his mind exceptionally clear, as if it had been cleansed.
He glanced at the time on his phone and nodded, satisfied.
’It worked!’
Yesterday had been the fifth day of his thesis research. He had incrementally reduced his "Little Mathematician" usage time from the initial 200 minutes down to 180 minutes—exactly three hours.
Last night, he had finished his research at eleven o’clock sharp. Afterward, he’d even had the energy to browse his phone for over ten minutes, watching a couple of funny videos before falling asleep a little before eleven-thirty.
Waking up at this time meant he had slept for eight and a half hours, no more, no less.
His sleep schedule was now completely back to normal.