Chapter Summaries

Song He learned more about the Hodge Conjecture and went with Xiang Xiaotong to see Rudolph present his announced proof. They arrived at Dewitt's Mathematics Forum Center after Song He used his authority to ease a massive traffic jam, and he entered tense about whether Rudolph had truly solved the problem.

• Song He drafted several lines of work on the Hodge Conjecture and joked to Xiang Xiaotong that he had proved it.
• Xiang Xiaotong showed Song He Rudolph's announcement that he would present a proof at two o'clock that afternoon.
• Song He and Xiang Xiaotong traveled to Dewitt's Mathematics Forum Center, where hundreds of mathematicians were stuck in traffic.
• Song He landed his Flying Car at the venue, then ordered traffic police to direct the stranded mathematicians to walk inside and move their cars.
• Song He entered the forum with Xiang Xiaotong, wondering whether Rudolph's proof would resolve the Hodge Conjecture.

Ban Jianye struggled to register volunteers for Teacher Bai’s experience as the site crashed under billions of access attempts and hacker attacks. Song He announced a sweeping retaliation against the attackers, leaving the students buzzing over the news as a second round was set to begin.

• Ban Jianye repeatedly refreshed the overloaded registration site while the English teacher turned class time into self-study.
• Li Lu predicted that ordinary people would miss the registration window, while Duan Peng argued the site would recover.
• Ban Jianye read Song He’s post reporting 1.9 billion devices attempting access and more than seven million hacker attacks.
• Ban Jianye gave Li Lu and Duan Peng phones to keep refreshing the registration page.
• Duan Peng followed reports of cyberattacks and saw Song He announce that the first round of retaliation had hit six hacker organizations, twelve cybersecurity companies, 126 universities, and 45 Supercomputing Centers.
• Song He warned that a broader second round of retaliation would begin in ten minutes, and the students excitedly discussed the news after the bell rang.

Song He posted twenty research questions on the Interstellar Scientific Research Platform and offered rewards for useful answers, saying the topics would support students’ theses. The post sparked public debate over whether Song He and Xiang Xiaotong were honeymooning or secretly pursuing a major breakthrough.

• Song He offered rewards of one to ten million yuan for information that could help answer twenty research questions.
• Song He said he would keep answers private until the students’ theses were finalized and passed annual inspections, then publish any valuable theories.
• News outlets amplified the post, and commenters argued over what Song He had been doing while supposedly busy.
• Some commenters accused Song He and Xiang Xiaotong of neglecting research during their honeymoon, while others speculated that they were disguising their work as thesis questions.

Ice Cream Sister announced that she was quitting ice cream videos after finding a bowl that stayed fresh for six days, and began reviewing the Dream Helmet instead. After trying it, she reported that its immersion far exceeded the Dream Control Helmet’s, but left her exhausted and overwhelmed.

• Ice Cream Sister showed viewers an opened bowl of strawberry ice cream that had remained fresh on her desk for six days and said she feared the product could harm her.
• Ice Cream Sister announced that she would switch from ice cream taste tests to reviewing Dream Helmets and introduced a Dream Helmet from North Carolina Blue Company.
• Song He sped up the video as Ice Cream Sister put on the Dream Helmet, took her medication, set up a dream, and fell asleep while twitching and making muffled sounds.
• Ice Cream Sister removed the helmet looking exhausted and breathless, then said its extreme immersion was several times more stimulating than the Dream Control Helmet’s.

Song He and Xiang Xiaotong toured her childhood home, where she explained how her unusual intelligence had set her apart and recounted a research project she helped analyze as a middle school student. She began telling Song He how an associate professor invited her to present her work at a major symposium.

• Xiang Xiaotong said she had found few intellectually challenging peers at school and told Song He that his brain was what had attracted her.
• Song He and Xiang Xiaotong put away old love letters and books, looked through her childhood clothes, and found a formal outfit she had worn to research symposiums.
• Xiang Xiaotong described teaching herself biology and mathematics before spotting an error in an associate professor's experiment simulating the origin of life.
• The associate professor mistook Xiang Xiaotong for a graduate student, then became excited when he learned she attended a small local school.
• The associate professor invited Xiang Xiaotong to present her mathematical analysis of alkaline hot springs at a major event hosted by the Provincial Animal and Plant Research Association.

Song He arrived late to Professor Wang’s lecture after spending seven hours writing a new program for the Space Window-Cleaning Bug. When he put the bug on the classroom screen, it raced upward and began cleaning the screen, leaving everyone stunned.

• Professor Wang explained how Jinling Institute of Technology had used Minimal Surfaces, including the Enneper Surface, in its paper while the students took notes.
• Song He exhausted himself writing a program in his dormitory, then downloaded it to the Space Window-Cleaning Bug.
• After seeing Song He’s message that he had written a new program, Wang Taichu turned class into a self-study session and waited for him.
• Song He rushed into the lecture hall and set the bug on the screen while preparing to show his program.
• The Space Window-Cleaning Bug darted up the screen, evaded Song He’s attempt to catch it, and began wiping dust from the top.

Song He stripped away most of the machine gun program, dramatically improving its performance and setting a laboratory record before the barrel exploded. He then asked for gun-structure references so he could improve the weapon further and aim for a score of at least eighty.

• Song He deleted most of the program despite Weng Lianggong and the researchers warning that his changes could make it fail.
• Song He tested the rebuilt machine gun, which cleared targets far faster and more accurately than before.
• The machine gun’s barrel blew apart during the chaotic night battle test, but it still earned a record score of 72 points and a 58% hit rate.
• Song He asked Weng Lianggong for gun-structure textbooks and research materials so he could improve the weapon and raise its score to at least eighty.

Li Lu fretted over meeting Song He and prepared to leave school for Yemo City, where he hoped to work with Teacher Bai and possibly fund overseas study. At Jinghai City Airport, his anxiety about wealth and power followed him into the VIP lounge, where he was startled by an unexpected person.

• Li Lu told Duan Peng that fear of meeting Song He had kept him awake and made him anxious about his past online insults.
• Li Lu said he was leaving school and might skip the college entrance exam to earn money through Teacher Bai and study abroad later.
• Li Lu gave Duan Peng his unused leave slips before hurrying to the restroom, and Duan Peng felt emotional about their coming separation.
• On May 1, Li Lu flew first class from Jinghai City toward Yemo City and felt intimidated by the VIP lounge and its wealthy passengers.
• Li Lu explored the lounge’s children’s play area and massage-chair room, then turned in fright when someone suddenly placed a hand on his shoulder.

Song He traveled to the Ruoqiang Subsidiary Base Test Shooting Range to test firearms and find a project that could earn him two thousand points in one day. Weng Lianggong introduced him to the difficult Remote-Controlled Vehicle-Mounted Machine Gun improvement project, and Song He asked to see its prototype.

• Song He flew across the Gobi Desert with pilot Lao Wei, who explained the pilots’ pay and bonuses.
• Song He arrived at an oasis surrounded by water collectors and told Lao Wei to pick him up at nine that night, saying he would reach Level Ⅱ by then.
• Song He entered the test shooting range and met Weng Lianggong, a graduate student who had heard about him from Kong Gaojie.
• Song He changed into combat gear and asked to try every kind of firearm while looking for a project worth two thousand points.
• Weng Lianggong described the complex machine-gun improvement project and its poorly performing prototype, and Song He asked to see it.

Lao Zhao showed Song He six identical heads belonging to women named Veronica and explained that the intelligence service had uncovered a mysterious network of spies. As a new urgent request for mathematical analysis arrived, Lao Zhao recommended Song He for the task.

• Lao Zhao revealed a frozen woman's head, and Song He recognized her as Veronica.
• Lao Zhao explained that agents had killed Veronica after she threatened Song He's parents, but five more identical women had later been found spying in different places.
• Song He examined the six real heads and learned that their DNA differed, though the women had been surgically made to look alike.
• A burly man resembling Li Kui arrived with urgent intelligence that needed analysis by mathematicians.
• Lao Zhao recommended Song He for the work, and Li Kui questioned whether Song He could handle it.

Song He observed the eight-day drill as the Unmanned Legion defeated the Red Army, while Xie Yuanxun endured the exhausting fighting. At the summary meeting, the general announced the armies’ losses and warned that new technology would leave people behind, then began the commendations.

• Song He cautiously advised the general on the battle situation as the first day ended with heavy losses for both sides.
• Xie Yuanxun complained about his exhaustion in a mountain cave before Black Glasses heard a drone nearby.
• Sun Bin No. 7 repelled the Red Army’s flanking attack, then launched a decisive offensive that destroyed much of its forces.
• The Unmanned Legion lured out and wiped out the remaining Red Army fighters on the eighth day.
• Song He reunited with the exhausted Xie Yuanxun at the summary meeting and sat beside the dozing Xiang Xiaotong.
• The general announced the drill’s final losses, warned officers to keep training and studying tactics, and introduced the commendations.

Song He learned that his doctoral classmates had substantial experience creating artificial brains, but Xiang Xiaotong said his mathematical approach could give him an edge. She offered the class’s top student a chance to assist on a mysterious military project, and Song He began studying and operating the lab robots.

• Xiang Xiaotong warned Song He that Hu Xiaotian, Huang Qiqin, and Li Zhengye had experience relevant to the Artificial Brain project.
• Xiang Xiaotong told Song He that his strength was applying mathematics to research and development, but warned he could still come last if he did not work hard.
• Xiang Xiaotong said she would choose the class’s best student as her assistant on a major military project, which Song He could not learn more about yet.
• Song He studied Xiang Xiaotong’s documents and related papers until his Biology skill reached Grandmaster Level 10.
• Song He operated the laboratory robots, which began carrying out the standard stem-cell procedures.

Song He and General Wang visited Durian’s lavishly furnished home and discussed his routine and his efforts to understand humanity through the history of warfare. Durian’s question about why humans rarely killed every enemy led Song He to recount wartime examples, ending with Kikuchi promising Rabe he would not execute a third group of workers.

• Song He, General Wang, and a third human toured Durian’s richly furnished house, including its music and antiques rooms.
• Durian served the visitors tea, and they discussed Orange Juice’s punishment for selling cigarettes and alcohol.
• Durian explained his daily routine and asked why humans rarely killed all their enemies in war.
• General Wang said some civilizations had been wiped out, while Song He argued that exterminating everyone was often too costly.
• Song He described Napoleon’s failed invasion after Russians burned Moscow and Japan’s occupation of Nanjing, where Japanese soldiers executed workers after they repaired electrical equipment.
• Song He said Rabe repeatedly negotiated with Kikuchi, who finally promised not to kill a third group of workers.

Song He organized paid problem-solving sessions for his classmates and rapidly advanced in mathematics through Knowledge Rebates. During his biology study session, he unexpectedly regressed from Bronze Level 99 to Bronze Level 98.

• Song He invited classmates to his Saturday mathematics and biology sessions, and many signed up, agreeing to bring snacks as tuition.
• On Saturday morning, Song He explained mathematics problems to a crowd of classmates while earning Knowledge Rebates and Resentment Value.
• Song He's mathematics level rose from Bronze Level 84 to Bronze Level 90, giving him confidence about the upcoming Competition Team Quiz against Leng Xiangwen.
• Song He found few students interested in the afternoon biology session, so he studied competition biology problems alone.
• As Song He memorized biology knowledge from the fifth unit, a notification showed his biology level had dropped from Bronze Level 99 to Bronze Level 98.

Song He and Xiang Xiaotong discussed MIT’s rudimentary mouse brain-computer experiment before imagining the many possible forms of consciousness their own Dual Brain Connection Experiment might create. They returned to work without knowing what the connected mice would experience.

• Xiang Xiaotong explained that MIT’s device let mice stimulate one another’s pain or pleasure centers, but its experiments remained flawed and unsettled the mice.
• Song He and Xiang Xiaotong considered how connected mouse hemispheres might preserve, merge, divide, or struggle over consciousness and control of the body.
• Song He worried that their experiment might create a form of life they could never fully understand.
• Xiang Xiaotong told Song He that they did not need to solve every mystery and led him back to work.

Song He taught Lu Geng, Antonio, and Yu Banmeng how mitochondrial respiration creates a proton gradient that drives ATP Synthase, then used the idea of path dependence to introduce the potential of redesigning life. He left the students with a new topic: the genome sizes of prokaryotes and eukaryotes.

• Song He described mitochondrial respiration as electrons moving through respiratory proteins to power proton transport across the inner membrane.
• Song He explained how the resulting proton motive force drives ATP Synthase, and Antonio and Song He briefly disagreed about whether the molecular machine was divinely designed or evolved.
• Lu Geng connected the complexity of cellular protein machines to path dependence and asked whether artificial life could be redesigned without those constraints.
• Song He compared natural cells to modified gasoline cars and suggested that newly designed life could follow a different path, like electric cars.
• Yu Banmeng noted that a new design could overcome functional limitations, and Song He introduced the genome sizes of prokaryotes and eukaryotes as the next topic.

The Mushroom People explained how lifelong undercover agents' memories were restored and answered Song He's questions about consciousness, memory, and digital life. Song He and Xiang Xiaotong then asked whether consciousness could circulate through nature and whether reincarnation and memories of past lives were real.

• The Mushroom People said two-tenths of lifelong undercover agents unlocked their memories as adults, while the rest recovered them only after death and mission completion.
• Song He asked whether consciousness and memory could be separated and later reunited, and the Mushroom People said they were distinct but could be stored and transferred.
• The Mushroom People described civilizations that stored consciousness and memories as Digital Life, while saying Mushroom People still chose to keep physical bodies.
• Song He asked what constituted the self and whether extracting consciousness from a body counted as death, and the Mushroom People said civilizations had no definitive answer.
• Song He asked whether consciousness could circulate through nature and whether reincarnation was real, while Xiang Xiaotong asked about a child who remembered a previous life.

Song He explained how expanding material desires could motivate the Red-haired Gorillas to keep studying, then instructed the zoo directors to prepare a palace for the Great Octopus King. At the Red-haired Gorilla Pavilion, Zhao Yiyi introduced online shopping as a new skill.

• Zhao Yiyi and Ding Yangze told Song He that the Red-haired Gorillas had stopped studying after earning money from drug experiments.
• Song He argued that the gorillas could be motivated by increasingly expensive goods and lifestyles, and Zhao Yiyi and Ding Yangze understood his point.
• Song He gave Zhao Yiyi a document for preparations to build a palace for the Great Octopus King, despite Ding Yangze's objection that the octopus pavilion already had large empty tanks.
• Zhao Yiyi, Ding Yangze, Ning Mo, and Zhang Zhilei set up a computer desk and large screen in the Red-haired Gorilla Pavilion.
• Zhao Yiyi announced that she would teach the Red-haired Gorillas online shopping.

Song He solved a difficult mathematical programming problem during the flight, then adapted his solution to Xiang Xiaotong’s Brain-Computer Interface Robotic Arm program. The program was corrected in the car, and its processing speed increased by 300%.

• Song He ruled out the Clifford Torus and Veronese Surface approaches, then used Willmore Surface theory to solve the problem before the plane landed.
• Song He showed Xiang Xiaotong his solution, and she questioned him about its mathematical steps.
• Song He and Xiang Xiaotong left the plane together and rode in a car toward Lao Zhao.
• Xiang Xiaotong opened the important program on Song He’s laptop and asked him to finish filling in its missing points.
• Song He adapted his work and completed the program in three minutes; Xiang Xiaotong pressed Enter, and the Brain-Computer Interface Robotic Arm program reported a 300% increase in processing speed.

Song He and Xiang Xiaotong realized Mathematical No. 6 was evolving into Sun Bin No. 7 after defeating Practical No. 6, and prepared to head to the training grounds. Meanwhile, Xie Yuanxun began an early airborne deployment for the exercise, landing above the dark battlefield.

• Mathematical No. 6 and Practical No. 6 initially fought to repeated mutual annihilations before Mathematical No. 6 began winning decisively.
• Baldy, Chao Gai, and Dong Chong watched Practical No. 6 lose repeatedly to Mathematical No. 6.
• Xiang Xiaotong explained that Mathematical No. 6 was on track to become Sun Bin No. 7 and told Song He to prepare for the training grounds.
• Song He challenged Sun Bin No. 7 and exchanged taunts with Xie Yuanxun, who was heading to the front line.
• Xie Yuanxun parachuted from a transport aircraft after the exercise began ahead of schedule and saw the battlefield below.