By the Neva River.
Lead-gray clouds covered the setting sun. Heavy snow fell thickly, and floating ice collided across the black-blue river.
Snow covered the road. Citizens in thick padded coats hurried past, while an old worker stood by the roadside scattering salt.
At the top floor of a blue-brick building lining the street.
Katerina opened the window, letting the cold wind flood into the room.
The scene inside was incredibly erotic—so erotic that it needed to be covered in mosaics. She wore nothing at all. Her delicate curves and the sleek muscle lines beneath her taut skin made her look like a gymnast.
The biting wind blew in some scattered snow. Snowflakes landed on her back and melted into water. Droplets ran down her pale back, and the fine hairs along their path stood on end, like a river nourishing the earth and causing blades of grass to rustle as they grew.
After a shudder, all her drowsiness vanished. She hurriedly closed the window, then crouched down on her long legs and knelt on the floor.
The wooden floor was covered with white scratch paper, countless mathematical formulas covering the entire room.
This was Katerina's habit: she liked to lie on the floor alone and work through problems. Being naked made her feel free, as though she had returned to nature. Her thoughts were sharpest at times like this, and she often tore through problems with unstoppable momentum!
After writing on the scratch paper for a long while, she furrowed her brow and reached up to scratch her smooth brown hair in frustration.
So difficult!
Three days earlier, she had taken on the work of proving the Sassoon Conjecture. She had used more than twenty methods in succession, but the room was now covered in scratch paper and she