Intelligence Enhancement Potion?

Chapter 3: Intelligence Enhancement Serum?

Since there was no way to bring his property onto the spaceship, he might as well donate it to a social welfare organization. It would be a clean break, saving him the trouble of worrying about it.

However, there was a trick to donating.

Current welfare organizations were a mixed bag; many were established by the wealthy specifically to avoid inheritance taxes. Donating property to such institutions was like throwing meat buns at a dog—it would never come back.

After much thought, Zhang Yuan decided to donate all his assets to the Deep Space Foundation.

This massive global non-profit organization was the initiator of the entire interstellar colonization project. It was managed directly by the United Government, and its cash flow and related procedures were exceptionally standardized.

Standing in front of the camera, Zhang Yuan stated, "I am willing to donate all my fixed assets and monetary funds to the Deep Space Foundation, effective as of the year 2266..."

After recording the video and filling in the specific details, the entire donation process was complete.

Before the effective date, the property remained his own, and he could change his mind at any time.

He pondered carefully for a while and set the effective date for two years later.

With a two-year buffer, the Earth Era was expected to reach the orbit of Pluto. If nothing went wrong, that would be for the best. If an accident did occur, even if a rescue team were dispatched, it was unlikely that he and his group would have any chance of survival.

"That's that!"

"What a spendthrift, truly a spendthrift!"

He pressed the confirm button heavily. His heart felt a mix of pain and pleasure, followed by an inexplicable sense of emptiness that left him feeling as if his entire body had gone numb.

These were the assets his father had left him, and just like that, he had squandered them away.

Soon, Zhang Yuan comforted himself and cast the lingering reluctance out of his mind...

Next, there didn't seem to be anything left to do.

When he worked in the space city, there was never-ending work to be done every day. The intern captain would drive them like dogs, calling it "stress-resistance training." Suddenly having free time made him feel a bit lost.

Humans really are such pathetic creatures.

Some people liked to indulge in crazy entertainment and venting before leaving, but he felt there was no need for that.

"I might as well read a book and study a little."

Zhang Yuan walked into the study and browsed the catalog on the bookshelf.

Abelian Geometry and Tame Topology

On Almost Complex Structures in Symplectic Spaces

<Integral Geometric Methods in the Langlands Program>

Looking at these titles, Zhang Yuan couldn't help but click his tongue.

There are two types of math books: the first kind, where you don't want to read it after the first page; and the second kind... where you don't want to read it after the first sentence.

But now, these books belonged to a third category: you don't want to read them just by looking at the title.

Zhang Yuan bit the bullet and flipped open one of them at random.

On a certain page, in a certain line, it read: "For a prime number p, the projective limit of (Z/p^nZ)n≥1..."

"1/5 =...5412541254125412"

It wasn't English, nor was it an alien language, but he couldn't understand any of the words when strung together. Especially the ellipsis appearing before the numbers—what on earth was that?

In the margin of the page, a line of neat, small handwriting read: "...Regarding the problem of p-adic integers, I have a better idea, but unfortunately, the margin here is too small to contain it."

The pulse on Zhang Yuan's forehead throbbed a few times. He sighed and gave up on struggling with this.

If one were to ask why his home had such books, the answer was, of course—they were left behind by his god-like father.

In his father's words, "Problems in the world, in the final analysis, fall into two categories: one is philosophical, and the other is mathematical. If you learn mathematics well, everything else becomes simple..."

That's right, Zhang Yuan was the son of a scientist.

The benefit: he received the best education from a young age and developed many good habits.

The downside: when your innate intelligence is only at an average level, you suffer from the frustration of feeling like a moron. Even though he worked hard, got into a decent university, and graduated with excellent grades, he still felt like a moron compared to his father.

The gap in intelligence between people is sometimes greater than that between a human and a dog...

Ding-dong, ding-dong.

Just then, the harsh sound of the doorbell rang from the entrance, pulling him back to reality.

Zhang Yuan jumped up from his chair and opened the door to find a delivery robot standing outside.

"Hello, Mr. Zhang Yuan. Your delivery, please sign for it!" This six-axis robot, equipped with autonomous driving, was already capable of performing simple manual labor. Decades ago, a large number of delivery workers were replaced by robots and laid off, which had even triggered large-scale protests at the time (in foreign countries, of course).

"Mine?"

To save costs, delivery robots only had simple AI and lacked the complex logical ability to judge language.

"Hello, Mr. Zhang Yuan. Your delivery, please sign for it!"

Zhang Yuan looked at the sender's name and saw it was "Donghua City Law Firm." His heart skipped a beat.

"What's going on? A legal notice? Did I break the law?"

"Hello, Mr. Zhang Yuan. Your delivery, please sign for it!" The robot simply repeated itself mechanically.

"..."

After pressing his fingerprint to confirm his identity as the recipient, the robot handed him a large package.

With a loud "bang," he shut the front door, Zhang Yuan feeling a bit nervous as he couldn't wait to tear open the delivery.

If he had somehow committed a crime for no reason, his access rights to the spaceship might be revoked. This was something he absolutely did not want to see.

On the very outside was a paper letter: "Respected Mr. Zhang Yuan, this is an item your father entrusted us to keep. This will only take effect when you are about to leave Earth..."

His mood eased; it turned out to be a "gift" left behind by his father.

Inside was a foldable tablet computer and a cold iron box, the dry ice in the package still emitting a chilling mist.

He opened the tablet.

"Zhang Yuan!"

A familiar figure appeared on the screen—it was his old man.

"Dad." Zhang Yuan murmured as he looked at the screen.

The middle-aged man on the screen smiled: "I've been feeling unwell lately, my time is probably coming to an end, and I'm going to go meet Einstein..."

"..."

"...If you plan on living an honest life on Earth, I think the assets I've left you will be enough to last a while."

Indeed, his old man had left behind an apartment in Donghua City and several million Federation Credits, enough for him to find a wife and raise a child.

"...If you want to leave with the 'Earth Era', then these inheritances are useless; just donate them. Only knowledge is truly important."

Zhang Yuan smiled wryly; his own thoughts and his father's were surprisingly similar.

"I feel that the knowledge I've taught you is far from enough. Although you seem quite diligent, in many fields, 1% of talent is more important. You don't have a gift for scientific research; you're just an ordinary person..."

Zhang Yuan scratched his head in embarrassment, his heart remaining calm.

Perhaps he had been used to being put down since he was a child, so his skin had long since become thicker than a dead pig's. I may not be a genius, but at least I'm not stupid, otherwise how could I have passed the astronaut exam? I'm doing just fine, thank you very much.

Zhang Yuan was just a little confused about what his late father was actually doing. Why send a computer at the very last minute just to lecture him?

His father rambled on for a long time before finally getting to the point: "Ahem... this computer contains some of my thoughts and ideas. They include the field of artificial intelligence, robotics algorithms, and some other cutting-edge technologies that haven't been published yet. You can take them and have a look."

These were good things!

"...Don't think about taking the easy way out; they haven't been fully completed. If you're interested, you can try to perfect them; consider it a little gift from me. Of course, if you can't understand the knowledge inside, copying it will be useless."

Once he started talking about his academic achievements, his father became incessant, as if only these things could spark his desire to chat.

After a while, his father's face flushed slightly, and his expression began to show fatigue.

"...Oh, right, there is a... serum in that iron box."

His expression turned slightly strange, and after a pause, he said: "...There is a 35% chance it will make you smarter, a 50% chance it will change nothing, and a 15% chance it will make you dumber!"

"If you are dissatisfied with your current IQ, perhaps you can give it a try."

"Bear all the consequences yourself!"