First Prize is the Limit of the Competition, Not His Limit! (Seeking Follow-up Reads and Collections)

Even the admissions officers present were usually smooth talkers with silver tongues, but at this moment, none of their usual tricks worked. To preserve their school's dignity, they could only honestly request outside reinforcements.

"Professor Chen, there's a problem I need your help solving."

On the other end of the line, Professor Chen probably hadn't grasped the situation yet. He joked through the phone, "What's up, are you planning to pursue further studies?"

"Didn't you say before you'd rather die than keep studying?" Professor Chen teased Teacher Xu.

"Professor Chen, no, I'm currently discussing enrollment with a promising student. Sigh, he threw out a problem—whoever solves it first gets him." Teacher Xu stepped outside the kitchen and lowered his voice.

Professor Chen caught three pieces of information from Teacher Xu's words.

First, he'd found a promising student.

Second, this promising student wasn't ordinary—he'd actually set a problem for the admissions officer.

Third, besides Teacher Xu, other admissions officers were also after this student.

From these three points, the person Teacher Xu found was no ordinary talent.

Professor Chen grew interested. "What kind of promising student? Be specific."

"Professor Chen, do you know who won first prize in this year's National Math, Physics, and Chemistry Competition?"

Hearing Teacher Xu's question, Professor Chen quickly guessed the answer. He hissed in surprise. "You mean to say, first prize in all three subjects—math, physics, and chemistry—is the promising student you found?"

"Exactly. Otherwise, why would I come all the way from the capital to this little place? And this kid just turned sixteen!"

"Then send me the problem right away." Professor Chen said as he looked up the name of the National Math, Physics, and Chemistry Competition first-prize winner.

Luo Yao.

What a kid!

At sixteen, this impressive—what would he be like in university!

As Professor Chen stared at those two characters on the screen, Teacher Xu had already snapped a photo of Luo Yao's problem and sent it over.

Professor Chen squinted. No wonder Teacher Xu couldn't solve it—how could someone who switched to physics right after undergrad handle this?

Interesting.

Upon learning of Luo Yao's achievements, Professor Chen had already thought about taking him as a student. Seeing the problem only deepened his interest.

A sixteen-year-old had actually studied Algebraic Topology. No doubt it was self-taught.

Because no tutor would be foolish enough to teach such a brain-bending subject!

Clearly, the national competition first prize was just the contest's ceiling, not his!

Professor Chen grabbed paper and pen nearby and started calculating.

Meanwhile, the other admissions officers were in the same boat, pulling out their phones and making calls.

On East University of Technology's side, Teacher Ouyang called several times with no answer. Finally, he reached Professor Xia from Microelectronics Science and Engineering.

He vaguely remembered Professor Xia's field involved Algebraic Topology.

"Professor Xia, I have a special situation that needs your help."

"Go ahead." Professor Xia was concise, wasting no words.

"Though it sounds ridiculous, I have a problem on Algebraic Topology that needs solving."

Professor Xia paused for a few seconds before saying, "Send it over."

Teacher Ouyang didn't waste time and immediately photographed and sent it.

Some admissions officers weren't lagging behind either. They directly snapped the problem and posted it in faculty group chats, @everyone to solve it.

And so, that day, a strange phenomenon occurred at these top universities.

Some professors didn't show up for class after the bell rang, telling students to study on their own. Others abruptly cut class short, saying they had something to do, and hurried back to their offices.

At this moment, these professors had only one goal: to solve Luo Yao's problem as fast as possible!

While the admissions officers' reinforcements were solving the problem, the livestream audience wasn't idle either.

"I've never seen a real academic prodigy—now I have!"

"Oh god, out of that whole line Luo Yao wrote, I only understood the word 'compact'! Sorry, Luo Yao T T"

"Same! I feel like an illiterate!"

"I kind of get why Luo Yao set a test. If he didn't, he'd never know the level of each school's teachers!"

"Exactly! Those admissions officers were so confident at first, but now they're all running off to make calls!"

"Even Teacher Li from Luo Yao's school isn't an exception—she's probably on the phone with Tsinghua right now!"

"Which school do you think will solve it first?"

"I'm betting on Tsinghua—their sciences are really strong!"

"Yan University is no slouch either! I remember a lot of science prodigies chose Yan University!"

As the livestream audience debated, they heard Teacher Ouyang walk in quickly, phone in hand. As he walked, he said into it, "Professor Xia, I'm putting you on speaker. Talk to him."

Then Teacher Ouyang pressed the speakerphone button—

"Classmate Luo, regarding the question you posed, I'll first state the answer: A is compact under the topology (L, Q, T)."

"To prove that A is compact under the topology (L, Q, T), first consider any open cover of A—that is, a collection of open sets whose union contains A."

"Now, for each subset S within B, since every subnet of S has the Cauchy property, we can conclude that every sequence in S has a point converging to a point in A."

"This is because, if no such point existed, one could construct a sequence in S with no convergent subsequence, contradicting the assumption that every subnet of S has the Cauchy property."

"Next, consider the open cover of A. We need to select a finite number of open sets from it to cover A."

"Since each subset S has a point converging to A, we can pick one convergent point from each S, and these points form a finite subcover. Therefore, A is compact under the topology (L, Q, T)."

A barrage of "???" flooded the livestream. Netizens felt that Professor Xia's confident, eloquent manner was exactly like their math teachers.

In contrast, after listening to Professor Xia's explanation, Luo Yao finally cracked a faint smile.

"May I ask who you are..."

"Professor Xia Qing from East University of Technology, Microelectronics Science and Engineering." Teacher Ouyang, seeing that Luo Yao had taken an interest in Xia Qing, quickly seized the opportunity to introduce him.

Teacher Xu and Li Hong, who had arrived a few steps behind, stood inside the room holding their phones, staring blankly at Luo Yao.

Had they been a step too late?

"Damn, Yanbei and Tsinghua were just one step away from being first!"

"What a shame! Now I've lost my bet!"

"What kind of school is East University of Technology? Is it that impressive?"

"Of course East University of Technology is impressive. I remember they have a partnership with Huaji!"

"That rings a bell. Huaji once ran a 'Genius Program' project, specifically recruiting top-tier talent from around the world. I think someone from East University of Technology was in it before!"