"Sorry." Katerina replied.
Xie Kefu, who had been sprawled on the sofa, jolted and sat bolt upright like a spring.
"What's wrong?" Xie Kefu asked.
"I thought I'd solve the problem this time and do Song He a favor by helping you, but it looks like that won't happen." Katerina sent a sighing emoji. "There's only an hour and a half left until the deadline, and I still have a huge pile of calculations unfinished. I'm out of time!"
"Don't be upset. There's often an element of luck in math problems." Xie Kefu typed earnestly to comfort her. "I'm already really touched that you wanted to help me. I only regret that my math skills aren't good enough to help you get Dewitt's prize."
Katerina: "Are you busy over there?"
Xie Kefu: "Not really. Want to video chat for a while?"
Katerina decisively started a video call.
The moment he saw her face, Xie Kefu felt a pang of heartache.
After several days, Katerina looked utterly disheveled. Her hair was a tangled mess hanging loose around her face, her cheeks were gaunt, and her dark circles were heavy. She looked as if she had worked overtime through several sleepless nights.
She looked so pale she might have crawled out of a coffin.
"Let me show you the scratch paper I've written these past few days." Katerina turned the camera around.
A small mountain of paper was piled on the desk—at least a dozen pounds of scratch paper. Every sheet was covered in dense, tiny handwriting. The sheer amount of work was obvious at a glance!
"That much?" Xie Kefu exclaimed in shock. "It's just one problem, isn't it?"
"When Dewitt was young, his nickname was the Math Magician. He really lives up to it. There's only one problem, and the