By late at night, the news had spread completely.
By then, Xiao Yi had already fallen fast asleep, but the mathematical world was utterly unable to sleep.
For a time, discussions about the matter sprang up everywhere.
People either marveled that Chief Designer Xiao had solved another famous mathematical conjecture only a few months after cracking nuclear fusion, or they were astonished by how unexpectedly unconventional Xiao Yi's approach to solving the Hailstone Conjecture was.
More than that, though, people wondered how Xiao Yi seemed to possess inexhaustible energy. He had achieved so many major results in succession—didn't he ever get tired?
But when they thought of Xiao Yi's age, the question of whether he was tired answered itself.
China had entered the dead of night, while the other side of the Earth was entering daylight.
Far away in America, Terence Tao learned of the matter that day.
"Wait, are you saying the Hailstone Conjecture has been solved too?"
Terence Tao, who had been making a phone call in his office, suddenly stood up and listened in astonishment to the news from the other end.
Though he had not been among the first to hear the news, someone would naturally tell him.
After receiving confirmation from the other party, he immediately asked, "Was it Xiao Yi? Did he solve it?"
"Terence, you guessed it was him that quickly?"
The other person sounded somewhat surprised.
Terence Tao said, "Who else in this world could solve this problem right now besides him?"
"Especially after I heard that he had completed his controlled nuclear fusion research, I guessed that he would spend his next stretch of time on theoretical research."
"That makes sense."
"All right, thank you for bringing me the news. I need to go read his paper."
After briefly expressing