Chapter 9: Big Shot, I'm Online, It's Urgent

Zhou Shuo tapped open the post and took a glance — his expression changed immediately.

He had posted this thread for two reasons: on one hand, he had genuinely been stuck on this problem for a long time and wanted to see if anyone could help; on the other hand, he wanted to show off a little — a second-year undergrad tackling a problem like this was nothing short of genius, in his mind.

So whenever a notification popped up saying someone had commented, he would open it whenever he had a free moment. But his main interest was in reading the admiring or bewildered reactions from other users — he had never actually expected anyone to give him the correct answer.

This time there were plenty of comments, most of them the usual sort. But a user by the name of Toward the Sun had actually pinpointed the issue, and what they said seemed to make real sense. That made him want to test it out right away.

The problem, though, was not one he could fully grasp at a glance. He was really just a small fish in this research group — the ones doing the heavy lifting were his senior brothers.

"Senior Brother, I found a possible solution. Let's see if this could work."

Zhou Shuo rushed straight to the lab, pulled out his phone, and held up the answer Toward the Sun had given in front of his senior brother, Pei Ming.

"Where did you get this from..." Pei Ming glanced at it dismissively at first — but then he caught himself. "Zhou Shuo!!!! How could you post something like this online?! And you even included our specific solution steps!!!!"

Pei Ming shot to his feet in an instant. This was no small matter.

Their research topic wasn't exactly classified, but carelessly posting core mathematical problems online before reaching any conclusions — especially with their working steps — was absolutely not allowed.

"Do you have any idea what kind of consequences this could have?!!!!"

Pei Ming's face had gone red with fury as he jabbed a finger at Zhou Shuo and shouted.

Everyone in the lab turned to look. Those who caught what Pei Ming said felt their expressions darken immediately. This was an extremely serious breach of confidentiality!

If any rival research group saw their problem-solving approach, they would instantly know their progress and direction — that was no laughing matter!

"I... I didn't..."

Zhou Shuo was at a loss for words. He hadn't thought it through — he just wanted people to know how brilliant he was, and hadn't considered any of this.

Otherwise he wouldn't have grabbed his phone and come running the moment he saw Toward the Sun's reply.

"When did you post it?! Get it taken down from the internet right now! And hand over your lab key — and your computer too. We're going through everything on it, deleting what needs to be deleted, and then you can have it back. After that, I don't want to see you in this research group ever again!"

Pei Ming felt like his head was about to explode. Their project was already in deep trouble — the key mathematical calculations kept coming out wrong no matter how they tried, and he'd been stressed about it day and night. And now Zhou Shuo had to pull something like this?!

If their supervisor found out, it wouldn't just be Zhou Shuo's problem — it would fall on him too, as the one normally responsible for managing the group!

"No, Senior Brother, I..."

Zhou Shuo had finally realized his mistake. He genuinely hadn't thought about it before — he'd been too focused on showing off.

"Get out!!!"

Pei Ming thrust a finger toward the door and roared.

Zhou Shuo opened his mouth, hoping someone in the lab might put in a word for him — but when he looked around, every face was glaring at him. He had no choice but to lower his head and walk out.

After Zhou Shuo left, Pei Ming sat back down, slammed something off the desk onto the floor in frustration, let out a long breath, and picked up a phone to call their supervisor and explain the situation. But when he looked at the screen, he realized it was Zhou Shuo's phone — and on the screen was the solution to the very mathematical problem they had been wrestling with.

"Wait — this actually looks viable!!!"

Even from a quick scan, Pei Ming could tell the person's reasoning was sound. The angle of approach was one they had never considered before.

"Old Sun, come over here! Let's run the numbers using this method."

Pei Ming set aside the matter of Zhou Shuo for now and called over another member of the group from the mathematics department. The two of them got to work on the calculations.

Zhou Shuo walked back to his dorm with his head down, only to realize he had forgotten to take his phone. But thinking about how Pei Ming was still fuming, he figured going back now would just mean more of a scolding — so he decided to wait a while before heading over.

Three hours later, Pei Ming and Old Sun were both beaming with excitement in the lab.

"It works! It actually works! We got the answer!!!"

"The person called Toward the Sun is a genuine genius. Pei Ming, do you think they might be one of the math professors at our school? Or maybe a professor from some other university's mathematics department?"

"Hard to say. But I don't think they're from our math department — I've consulted pretty much every teacher in the school on this problem, and no one could give me a solution."

Pei Ming shook his head at Old Sun's question. Whoever this person was, one thing was certain: they were a true mathematical genius. They had resolved the problem with just a few concise words, and the method was remarkably elegant — far more practical than the complicated calculations they had been grinding through before.

"Shouldn't we reach out to this Toward the Sun and have a chat?"

Old Sun felt that since this person had helped them solve such a major problem, they deserved a proper thank-you.

"We'll have to call that guy Zhou Shuo back — it's his phone, and he'll need to come unlock it before we can message anyone."

Pei Ming said with a slight headache. The phone was Zhou Shuo's, the post was Zhou Shuo's — earlier he had photographed the answer with his own phone to do the calculations. But now, to contact Toward the Sun, they had no choice but to get Zhou Shuo involved.

"That guy really did go too far."

Old Sun sighed. The nature of what Zhou Shuo had done was genuinely bad — yet ironically, it was precisely that reckless act that had led them to the solution.

"Wait — we need to get him here right now. If that post stays up and someone else sees it, our project is completely finished!"

Old Sun suddenly realized something: before, when Zhou Shuo had posted the problem, it only revealed what they were working on — not necessarily something anyone could solve. But now that a solution had been posted in the comments, if anyone else saw it, the consequences would be...

Pei Ming's expression tightened. He grabbed Zhou Shuo's phone and sprinted out the door.

"Big shot, add me as a friend!"

"Big shot, thank you so much for your answer — you've helped us solve a huge problem. Could we add each other?"

"Big shot! I'm online, it's urgent!!"

...

Under Pei Ming's watchful eye, Zhou Shuo first sent messages to Toward the Sun's account, then deleted his own post, and kept sending friend requests to Toward the Sun one after another.

"Senior Brother, did Toward the Sun really solve the problem?"