Strong Repercussions

Just as Lu Zhou began secluding himself to write his paper, the internet had already exploded.

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No one knew whether it had been a reporter or a scholar attending the conference, but someone had uploaded a full recording of the entire presentation online.

When Lu Zhou wrote that line of equations on the blackboard and declared with certainty, "I solved it," the scrolling comments throughout the video erupted.

[666! He found the general solution to the Yang–Mills Equations?]

[Professor Lu is f*cking awesome!]

[I was so shocked I dropped my sunflower seeds.]

[Incredible. This video alone could get over a million views... Are all X-site users scientists?]

[What are the Yang–Mills Equations? I'm only here for Professor Lu!]

[Let me explain. The Yang–Mills Equations are among the most outstanding achievements in twentieth-century Theoretical Physics. They aim to describe the behavior of elementary particles through non-Abelian Lie Groups. If we can find the general solution to these equations, it would not only mean that we may be able to understand the Mass Gap from the perspective of mathematical theory, but also that we would take a huge step toward a Grand Unified Theory!]

[What's a grand unification? Can you eat it?]

The heated discussion was not limited to the video's scrolling comments and comment section. Major media outlets and self-media accounts all rushed to capitalize on the trend.

Articles with headlines such as <Americans Will Fall Silent After Seeing This, Japanese Will Weep>, <A Theory That Unifies the World Appears Out of Nowhere—Mathematics Professor in His Twenties Shocks the World Once Again!>, and <Former U.S. Intelligence Chief: The Greatest Regret of My Life Was Not Keeping Him Here> nearly flooded Weibo and public accounts. That photograph of him standing before the blackboard in thought appeared in countless articles