#5 - Chapter 5: The pinnacle of mathematics, the sunflower conjecture!

The email was sent.

Just three minutes later, when he saw the other party's conditions, his eyeballs almost popped out.

Is he crazy?!

Bill gritted his teeth and continued typing.

'Mr. H, how can I be sure that you won't do something bad?'

'For example, after I pay this money, you continue to apply for patents, or even... sell it to others!'

Quickly.

He received a reply.

'I always keep my promises, and you can only bet on my integrity, can't you? Because you have no bargaining chips.'

'If you win the bet, you don't need to invest in research and development funds, and the new system can be launched immediately.'

'Even if you lose the bet... this little money is not a large sum for your company.'

'If the money is not received within 24 hours, you will bear the consequences.'

'Communication ends here.'

Seeing this email, Bill became anxious.

Obviously.

The other party didn't plan to waste any more words.

'Mr. H, I need your bank account!' He hurriedly sent an email.

A few minutes passed.

A new email arrived, but it didn't provide the account: 'Contact me when the money is ready.'

Thousands of miles away.

Chen Hao revealed a confident smile.

The other party had no bargaining chips and could only choose to trust him.

Because whether he applied for a patent or sold it to another company, Microsoft couldn't bear the consequences!

Chen Hao was preparing to continue working on the patent.

His phone rang.

"Haozi!"

A familiar voice came from the phone: "Did you check your scores? I heard..."

Chen Hao couldn't help but laugh.

After rebirth.

The first thing was to save his dad.

Then, build a system to extort... no! Help Microsoft make money.

Now he had to work on the patent.

In short.

He stayed in the study day and night, and didn't have time to contact his best friend.

In his previous life, after his father committed suicide and the company went bankrupt, he was able to continue studying because of his good friend's financial support.

Without Deng Xiaoyan, there would be no Chen Hao who shone brightly in later generations!

"Heard what?" Chen Hao asked with a smile.

"Heard that... you missed several exams."

"Nonsense!"

"Then I'm relieved..."

"Even if I take the exam, I won't do well."

"..."

"Then what are you going to do? Retake the exam..."

That's right!

He had been so busy these days that he almost forgot to fill out his college application form.

The key was not filling out the application form.

But...

"Never mind, my stomach hurts, I need to poop."

Chen Hao hung up the phone.

He quickly opened his email and typed the title—Sunflower Conjecture.

Missed exams?

Low scores?

Who said that going to college depends on grades?

...

Tsinghua University.

In a small courtyard, an old man with gray hair was sitting at his computer desk.

The small courtyard looked inconspicuous.

The old man looked ordinary.

But!

At Tsinghua University...

No!

In the entire field of Chinese mathematics, he was a well-deserved giant, a true authority!

The current era is developing extremely fast, and computers have become popular in schools.

However, the old man was not very adapted to it.

Although there was a computer at home, it was not used frequently.

Logging into the email.

Opening it.

Huh?!

The old man saw an email title—Sunflower Conjecture.

"I wonder which little guy is playing a prank," he thought.

Sunflower Conjecture.

A globally known mathematical problem!

It has been 40 years since the conjecture was proposed.

However, this problem belonging to Ramsey theory has caused countless mathematicians around the world to fail.

The old man thought that a student from the School of Mathematical Sciences was deliberately joking with him.

But...

When he clicked on the content, his pupils suddenly constricted.

"Impossible... how is this possible?!"

His expression became more and more focused.

His eyes became more and more shocked.

Finally.

The hand pressing the mouse couldn't help but tremble.

The solution, succeeded?!

At the end of the entire article, there was a sentence: 'Teacher Xiao, my name is Chen Hao. This email has also been sent to more than ten university mathematics department directors, including Peking University, Zhejiang University, Fudan University, and the University of Science and Technology of China, because I want to verify whether it is correct.'

Did he really just want to verify whether it was correct?

Not really!

If he only sent it to one person, Chen Hao was worried that the other party would be unethical and take the achievement for himself.

After all.

Solving a global mathematical problem would bring unimaginable glory.

Professor Xiao didn't think much.

He suddenly stood up, hurried to the living room, picked up the landline: "Hello! Hurry... book a ticket—I'm going to Jinling! Immediately!"

It wasn't just him?

At this moment.

The directors and deans of the mathematics departments of various universities, such as Peking University, Zhejiang University, and Fudan University, were already on the plane.

Crazy!

Completely crazy!

What does it mean to solve a problem that has plagued the mathematics community for 40 years?

Enough to win the crown of the global mathematics community!

That is, the Fields Medal!

...

Chen Hao was趴 on the desk.

Recently, he had been immersed in patents and was already exhausted.

Ding!

The logged-in email received a message.

He suddenly woke up.

'Dear Mr. H, the money is ready.' The email came from across the ocean.

Chen Hao smiled.

Of course, this was expected.

He sent a bank account number: 'I hope you don't play tricks.'

'In half an hour, the account will be locked and unable to transfer money.'

Thousands of miles away.

Bill, who received the email, shouted urgently to the technical experts beside him: "The account has been sent! Find him!"

A group of people acted quickly.

Various tools had been prepared long ago.

Some people went online to crack it.

Some people used Microsoft's network to make phone calls to investigate.

Twenty minutes later.

"The account corresponds to an ordinary farmer who doesn't even understand computers!"

"The farmer is in Mississippi."

"He has never opened an account at Citibank!"

The message summary left Bill dumbfounded.

Obviously.

The bank account had been disguised layer by layer, and the person behind it could not be found at all!

"There are eight minutes left!" the secretary whispered.

Mr. H claimed that the account was only valid for half an hour.

Once locked, the transfer cannot be made.

The other party would abandon the transaction and use the complete version of the XP system to cause heavy losses to Microsoft!

"Transfer the money!"

Bill waved his hand dejectedly.

He gave up struggling.

The other party's network technology was beyond imagination, like a god in the Internet.

Two minutes later.

"The transfer has been completed," his subordinate reported.

"Track this account!" Bill gritted his teeth and shouted.

"Not good!"

One of the technical experts stammered in disbelief: "How could this happen?!"

"What's wrong?!" Bill asked quickly.

"As soon as it was transferred, the money disappeared, and the bank account... was also cancelled!"

Ding!

Just as he finished speaking.

An email was sent.

'I understand Mr. Bill's behavior, but it makes me very unhappy.'

'So, you can only get 80% of the overall architecture of the XP system.'

'Take your time to develop the rest!'

The attachment to the email was the XP operating system architecture, but it was not the complete version he had seen before, and the completion was only 80%.

"Damn it!"

Bill was furious.

He realized that the other party knew everything about the entire tracking process earlier.

The money was spent.

But he didn't get the complete system!

But...

When he calmed down, opened the attached system architecture, and browsed it roughly, his mood suddenly improved.

The system completion was 80%.

But you need to know that the research and development progress on his side was only a mere 20%.

In other words.

Exchanging a sum of money for a significant acceleration of research and development progress.

In fact, it was a good deal!

After thinking about it, he replied to an email: 'Dear Mr. H, please forgive my behavior, I apologize!'

'I wonder if you are interested in joining Microsoft? Don't worry about the salary!'

Unfortunately.

After this email was sent, there was no reply.