After a disturbing memory leaves Lu Zhou questioning the black obelisks and golden cubes, he attends Vera’s presentation. Vera pushes through a severe coughing fit to finish writing her mathematical ideas, then collapses after smearing blood on the whiteboard.

• Lu Zhou woke from the memory, found the purple sample gone from System Space, and wrote down questions about the obelisks and golden cubes.
• Lu Zhou attended Vera’s presentation and listened as she presented a supplement to the Hyperelliptic Curve Analysis Method.
• Vera began coughing violently during her talk, but refused to stop and continued writing equations on the whiteboard.
• Vera finished writing her ideas, then coughed up blood and began to collapse as Lu Zhou rushed toward her.

Summary: Late Stage

Key Plot Points

• Lu Zhou visits Vera in the hospital, where she lies unconscious after collapsing (implied) following her Fields Medal award
• The doctor refuses to disclose Vera's medical information to Lu Zhou since he is not family, but Lu Zhou privately resolves to cure her regardless of cost
• Outside the room, Lu Zhou overhears an argument between IMU chairman Shigefumi Mori and Vera's father, Ilyich
• Ilyich reveals he has come to sign a "Consent Form for Discontinuation of Treatment," essentially giving up on her care
• Lu Zhou confronts Ilyich, who reveals his true motives—greed for Vera's savings and Fields Medal prize money
• Ilyich becomes violent and throws a punch; Lu Zhou's bodyguard Wang Peng intercepts and throws Ilyich into a trash can
• Lu Zhou tears up the discontinuation form and discovers a fallen medical diagnosis from Ilyich's pocket:

Lung cancer—Late stage

Character Developments

• Lu Zhou: Shows deep care for Vera, speaking to her in his native language ("I will cure you"); demonstrates his ruthless side—willing to disregard privacy rules and confronting her father despite the physical threat
• Ilyich (Vera's father): Introduced as a crude, abusive, greedy alcoholic-type figure; reveals Vera's difficult family background; his true selfish motives are exposed when he learns of her savings
• Wang Peng: Shows his protective role and combat skill—efficiently neutralizes Ilyich's attack with controlled force
• Professor Fefferman: Grieves for Vera, offers comfort to other colleagues

Significant Themes

• Moral corruption vs. human dignity: Ilyich's greed contrasts sharply with the mathematicians' respect for Vera's value
• Family trauma: Explains why Vera lived frugally and never spoke of her family; her father views her worth only in monetary terms
• The limits of intellect: Despite being a brilliant mathematician, Lu Zhou faces a medical crisis he cannot solve through knowledge alone
• Power and control: Lu Zhou uses his resources and fearlessness to override systems (hospital rules, her father's authority)

Character Interactions

• Lu Zhou & Vera: One-sided; he speaks to her unconscious form, making a personal vow to cure her
• Lu Zhou & Ilyich: Direct confrontation; Lu Zhou mocks him openly, provoking Ilyich's violent response
• Ilyich & Shigefumi Mori: Mori tries to appeal to Ilyich's reason, offering financial alternatives, but Ilyich only cares about accessing Vera's savings
• Wang Peng & Ilyich: Physical confrontation ends decisively for Wang Peng, who delivers a pragmatic warning in Russian

Summary: "I'll Find a Way"

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• Lu Zhou searches his System inventory for anything that could cure Vera's late-stage cancer, but finds nothing useful (nitrogen shield, vitality potion, memory tablets, and the joke "Easter Egg" item are all useless).
• He reflects on the grim reality: late-stage lung cancer typically means 3–12 months, with chemotherapy misery—making him reconsider Vera's father's motives, though he still resolves to save her.
• Lu Zhou asks Wang Peng about the hospital incident; Wang Peng dismisses the beating and notes the Ukrainian Ilyich (who struck first) made empty threats to sue.
• Lu Zhou calls Maxim, his Russian contact who owes him a favor from the nuclear power plant incident. Maxim has already arranged Moscow's best hospital for Vera. Lu Zhou pushes further: once she stabilizes, transfer her to Shangjing. When Maxim doubts any hospital can cure late-stage cancer, Lu Zhou insists: "I'll find a way."
• Lunch at the conference is filled with rumors and misdiagnoses about Vera's illness (leukemia? stomach cancer?) and gossip about her father trying to claim her prize money. Professor Mori nearly fought her father at the hospital.
• Scholze informs Lu Zhou that photos of him hitting someone at the hospital are circulating on MathOverflow; Lu Zhou downplays it.
• After lunch, Lu Zhou goes to the conference office and demands to see Presentation Hall Seven, which was sealed after the whiteboard incident. The assistant reluctantly agrees to take him.

2. Character Developments

• Lu Zhou: Shows fierce determination and quiet resolve. He is pragmatic about public opinion, willing to leverage connections (Maxim, Wang Peng), and operates with an almost cold focus on saving Vera. His visit to the sealed presentation hall suggests he intends to revisit whatever was written on that whiteboard—implying a deeper plan connected to the conference/whiteboard incident.
• Scholze: Provides quiet, non-intrusive support—sitting with Lu Zhou during a tense meal and gently warning him about the MathOverflow fallout. Wise enough not to push.
• Wang Peng: Loyal and capable; handles the hospital situation and acts as Lu Zhou's intermediary.
• Maxim: Owing Lu Zhou a favor, he is cooperative but realistic about cancer's incurability—contrasting with Lu Zhou's stubborn hope.

3. Significant Themes

• Hope against hopeless odds: Lu Zhou refuses to accept the medical consensus, even when the system offers nothing.
• The limits of human/technological knowledge: The system—seemingly futuristic—has no cure. Only Lu Zhou's sheer will remains.
• Public scrutiny/gossip: The math community buzzes with rumors and judgment, while Lu Zhou ignores it to focus on what matters.
• Moral complexity: Vera's father is treated as villainous for wanting to let her die ("rather than endure a fate worse than death")—yet Lu Zhou's fight to extend suffering is framed as love-driven, not necessarily rational.
• The mystery of the system: The "Easter Egg" item is literally a joke, underscoring how limited the system's power is against real-world tragedy.

4. Character Interactions

• Lu Zhou & Wang Peng: Brief, efficient exchange about the hospital scuffle; Wang Peng supplies the phone and intel.
• Lu Zhou & Maxim (phone): A request escalating into a demand—Maxim arranges care but warns of limits; Lu Zhou overrides doubt with his signature resolve.
• Lu Zhou & Scholze: A wordless, empathetic meal; Scholze offers one piece of practical advice (explain yourself publicly), which Lu Zhou dismisses.
• Lu Zhou & conference assistant: He overrides protocol through sheer insistence, revealing how his status lets him bend rules.
• Background interactions: Rumors about Vera's father's greed, Professor Mori's altercation, and the circulated photos of Lu Zhou's violence.

Overall: A transitional chapter. Lu Zhou exhausts the system's resources, secures real-world medical support (with a mysterious destination in Shangjing), and circles back to the sealed presentation hall—teasing that the whiteboard (likely containing something important, perhaps from another genius's work) might hold an answer. The title "I'll Find a Way" encapsulates his stubborn refusal to accept death.

Summary: Chapter — "Answering the Question of the Century"

1. Key Plot Points & Events

• Lu Zhou returns to Lecture Hall No. 7, which remains frozen in the chaotic state from the earlier conference incident (scattered papers, crooked table, a dried blood stain on the whiteboard).
• After the nervous assistant leaves, Lu Zhou examines the whiteboard and discovers Vera's extensive, unfinished calculations — including an attempted continuation of the Riemann Hypothesis proof.
• He realizes the true nature of her secret: she had been terminally ill with cancer (late-stage by the time of diagnosis), and her illness explains why she concealed her condition — treatment was already futile.
• Lu Zhou recognizes a fundamental flaw in his own earlier research (an overemphasis on advanced tools while neglecting foundational details) and credits Vera's novel ideas in the margins of her work.
• He then spends several days (at least three, without sleep) working through the problem in the lecture hall, using system supplies (Vitality Potions), erasing and rewriting whiteboards repeatedly.
• He finally completes the Riemann Hypothesis proof — solving the "question of the century" that had eluded mathematicians for 150 years. This elevates over a thousand conditional mathematical propositions to the status of theorems.
• Lu Zhou instructs his AI assistant, Xiao Ai, to organize and upload all the whiteboard content to arXiv.
• He waits quietly in the hall afterward, anticipating the system notification about his next steps.

2. Character Developments

• Lu Zhou: Transitions from grieving over Vera's death to determined action. He reveals a pragmatic strategy: he never counted on a miracle cure from a system reward, but instead plans to use the system's mission-reroll mechanic to trigger a cancer-research mission (estimated >90% probability given his LV6 Biochemistry and Vera's relationship to him). He also shows humility, acknowledging past academic carelessness and appreciating Vera's underrecognized insight.
• Vera (through her work): Demonstrated to have been brilliant and dedicated, continuing her research even while suffering from terminal illness — her unfinished work provides the critical breakthrough Lu Zhou needed.

3. Significant Themes

• Grief channeled into purpose: Lu Zhou completes Vera's unfinished performance as an act of remembrance and respect.
• Legacy and mentorship: The student's ideas meet the teacher's skill, producing a proof that neither could have completed alone.
• The "curse" of the Fields Medal: Lu Zhou briefly wonders if the honor carries a curse, given Vera's fate.
• System as a research tool: The Black Technology System is framed not as a shortcut but as an intelligent research assistant that plans cost-effective research paths based on the user's resources and circumstances.
• The immensity of the Riemann Hypothesis: Highlighted as a problem that buried brilliant scholars for 150 years, requiring both talent and tenacity to conquer.
• Money as power: Lu Zhou notes that having wealth, combined with the right collaborators, makes research breakthroughs feasible.

4. Character Interactions

• Lu Zhou & the assistant: Brief, tense interaction — the assistant is unsettled by the lecture hall's atmosphere and blood stain, and leaves the key with Lu Zhou, relieved to go.
• Lu Zhou & Vera (off-screen): Their relationship is explored through her work; he remembers teaching her, recalls a snowy night in Princeton, and understands her unspoken choices.
• Lu Zhou & Xiao Ai: His AI assistant quietly watched over him for days, emailed personnel in his style to prevent interruptions, and responds with affectionate congratulations ("Master, mua!") after receiving his upload instructions.

Summary of the Chapter

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• The IMU Congress, though lavish, is marred by a crisis: Fields Medalist Vera Puyuyi collapses during her lecture.
• Doctors confirm she has terminal late-stage cancer (liver/lung), and Russia arranges her transfer to Shangjing (Hua Nation) for palliative care.
• IMU Secretary-General Professor Holden deals with press fallout and later learns that Professor Lu Zhou borrowed the key to Lecture Hall Seven days earlier.
• Holden and Professor Fefferman go to the locked lecture hall, finding Lu Zhou inside with eight whiteboards filled with dense equations—he has solved a major problem (implied to be the Riemann Hypothesis).
• Lu Zhou, exhausted and hungry, asks for a sandwich.

2. Character Developments

• Vera Puyuyi (offstage): Revealed to have faced her terminal diagnosis with quiet strength, continuing her work and hiding her condition—challenging Fefferman’s earlier impression of her as timid.
• Professor Fefferman: Undergoes a shift in perspective, realizing his misjudgment of Vera’s resilience and gentleness.
• Professor Holden: Shows practical concern and deference, struggling to manage the congress’s damage control.
• Lu Zhou: Appears physically drained but intellectually triumphant, having completed a monumental proof in seclusion.

3. Significant Themes

• Mortality vs. Dedication: Vera’s terminal illness contrasts with her sustained mathematical productivity, and Lu Zhou’s obsession with proof.
• Misjudgment and Inner Strength: People are not always what they seem; Fefferman’s reassessment of Vera underscores this.
• Perseverance Under Pressure: Both Vera and Lu Zhou embody commitment to mathematics even in extreme personal circumstances.

4. Character Interactions

• Holden and Fefferman: Discuss Vera’s condition, prognosis, and transfer; Fefferman omits his deeper reflections but shares practical concerns.
• Holden and Assistant: Identify the missing lecture-hall key and locational issue.
• Holden and Fefferman with Lu Zhou: Discover his completed proof; Lu calmly asks for sandwiches, shifting the scene from tension to mundane relief.

Lu Zhou completed his proof of the Riemann Hypothesis and received the system’s reward, reaching Mathematics LV9. After realizing cancer was beyond his current capabilities, he decided to pursue a different path, then told Professor Holden he had to leave before explaining the proof.

• Lu Zhou waited as Xiao Ai organized his proof and uploaded it to arXiv, triggering completion of the Riemann Hypothesis mission.
• The system awarded Lu Zhou 20,000 points, 2,000,000 Mathematics EXP, and a Legendary Mission Card, raising Mathematics to LV9.
• Lu Zhou found no cancer-related mission and concluded that curing cancer was beyond humanity’s current technological capabilities.
• Lu Zhou left the System Space, ate and shaved, then told Professor Holden that he had to go see someone and that the paper was already available on arXiv.

Summary: "Witnessing History by Accident"

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• Lu Zhou's assistant Xiao Ai successfully uploaded the Riemann Hypothesis paper to arXiv five minutes before the system notification.
• The arXiv server crashes almost immediately due to a flood of traffic from mathematicians worldwide rushing to download the paper.
• MathOverflow, the professional mathematics forum, becomes overwhelmed with discussion threads about the proof.
• Prominent mathematician Professor Tao prints the paper and cancels all classes and meetings for the next week; he is among those regretting not attending the IMU conference.
• In the Corinthia Hotel executive lounge, Professor Fefferman arrives visibly shaken and announces to Faltings and Deligne that the Riemann Hypothesis has been proven.
• Faltings and Deligne initially dismiss the claim as impossible or a joke, then realize the prover is Lu Zhou, Deligne's student.
• Fefferman confirms the paper is on arXiv and that research institutes are already studying it.
• The chapter ends with Deligne and Faltings reflecting that they "witnessed history by accident."

2. Character Developments

• Professor Deligne: Shifts from calm coffee conversation to stunned disbelief upon learning his student proved the Riemann Hypothesis; gradually settles into reflective acceptance that he witnessed a historic moment.
• Professor Faltings: Initially dismisses the news as impossible; shows visible shock, then composure, sharing Deligne's reflective mood.
• Professor Fefferman: Enters looking "utterly distraught," still processing the shock of the announcement he is delivering.
• Lu Zhou (off-page): His achievement precipitates global chaos; his reputation is elevated to historic significance by the reaction of his peers.

3. Significant Themes

• The weight of a historic mathematical proof: The proof is framed as a moment that will reshape the history of 21st-century mathematics.
• Community reaction and collective shock: The chapter captures how a single announcement destabilizes the mathematics community.
• Regret and missed opportunities: Scholars who skipped the conference now lament their absence from what may be a monumental event.
• Legacy and mortality: The earlier conversation between Deligne and Faltings touches on Puyuyi's illness and Atiyah's desire to leave something behind, setting up the gravity of Lu Zhou's achievement.
• Doubt before acceptance: Even renowned professors initially refuse to believe the claim without verification.

4. Character Interactions

• Faltings and Deligne: Begin with subdued conversation about the loss of Miss Puyuyi to mathematics and the desire to leave a legacy. Their dynamic is collegial, philosophical, and marked by shared history.
• Fefferman with Faltings and Deligne: Fefferman delivers the news as an external messenger; his distress makes the announcement more credible. Faltings and Deligne respond first with denial, then with stunned recognition ("Your student"), and finally with calm reflection.
• The exchange about Lu Zhou: When Faltings asks "You mean Lu Zhou?" and Fefferman confirms, it establishes Lu Zhou's identity as a known and respected figure in their circle, and his connection to Deligne anchors his legitimacy.

Summary of Chapter: "The Glory of the Human Mind"

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• Lu Zhou sits by Vera’s hospital bed in St. Petersburg First National Hospital, reading aloud from a book about famous mathematicians who suffered and died young—Riemann, Abel, Nash, Grothendieck.
• Vera wakes up during the reading; she had been pretending to sleep.
• She apologizes for ruining her academic presentation and for hiding her terminal illness from Lu Zhou. He reassures her that she has nothing to apologize for.
• Lu Zhou reveals he has proven the Riemann Hypothesis, a major mathematical breakthrough.
• He refuses to show Vera the proof immediately, instead asking her to promise to come with him to Shangjing. He says he will tell her and show her everything once they are there.

2. Character Developments

• Vera: Despite being near death, she shows gratitude rather than self-pity. She is embarrassed about her secret illness and her failed presentation, but finds peace in knowing her life was changed by mathematics and love.
• Lu Zhou: He is calm, gentle, and protective. He hides his grief and offers comfort rather than sadness. His gesture of making Vera promise to go to Shangjing suggests he is intent on saving her, not just saying goodbye.
• Vera’s emotional state: She is excited and intellectually hungry when hearing about the proof, showing her love for mathematics remains alive.

3. Significant Themes

• Sacrifice and mortality: The chapter ties mathematical genius to suffering and early death, reflecting Vera’s own fate.
• The glory of the human mind: Lu Zhou’s reading emphasizes that the pursuit of knowledge is noble, even when the seeker dies young.
• Mathematics as a gift and comfort: Mathematics brought Vera out of a bleak past and connected her to Lu Zhou.
• Hope and rescue: Lu Zhou’s offer to take Vera to Shangjing implies a chance at life beyond illness.

4. Character Interactions

• Lu Zhou is tender and composed, reading to Vera as if telling a bedtime story.
• Vera is shy, apologetic, and vulnerable, but lights up when discussing mathematics.
• The nurse is protective and scolds Lu Zhou for agitating Vera, but softens at his compliment.
• Lu Zhou gently teases Vera and withholds the paper as leverage, showing both affection and determination to get her to accept help.

With the mathematical world focused on Lu Zhou’s claimed proof of the Riemann Hypothesis, scholars and reporters gathered in Saint Petersburg for his upcoming presentation. Before heading to the lecture, Lu Zhou arranged a costly plan to try to save Vera Puyuyi, then set out believing his sixty-minute talk would be enough.

• Academician Wang Shicheng sought Lu Zhou to ask how confident he was in the proof, but Qin Yue said Lu Zhou would only post it if he was completely certain.
• Terence Tao arrived at the Corinthia Hotel, admitted he still had questions about the paper, and surprised Professor Fefferman by noticing an unexpected visitor in the lobby.
• Lu Zhou returned from the hospital and called Chen Yushan to arrange a hundred million for a plan to save Vera Puyuyi.
• Lu Zhou contacted acquaintances at 301 Hospital and the Institute for Advanced Study, then agreed to leave for his presentation thirty minutes before it began.

Lu Zhou began his public presentation of his proof of the Riemann Hypothesis and confidently confirmed that it had been proved. As he rapidly derived the proof on the whiteboard, leading mathematicians watched in amazement, and the presentation continued.

• Lu Zhou offered five minutes for questions and told the audience they could treat the Riemann Hypothesis as a theorem.
• A Columbia University professor asked what analytic number theory would pursue after the hypothesis was solved, and Lu Zhou promised to answer at the end.
• Lu Zhou began writing the proof on the whiteboard, confirming that he had changed his presentation to address the result.
• Terence Tao and Professor Fefferman recognized that Lu Zhou was presenting the proof in earnest, while scholars nearby marveled at his speed and command of the mathematics.
• Qin Yue said Lu Zhou was likely deriving the proof again rather than reciting memorized steps.
• Professor Aksay and Scholze compared Lu Zhou's startling equations to work that seemed to come from the void as he continued the proof on a fresh whiteboard.

Summary: The Riemann Hypothesis Proof and Its Aftermath

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• Lu Zhou completes his lecture proving the Riemann Hypothesis by filling an eighth whiteboard with the final lines of equations.
• The proof is effectively accepted as valid by the audience; the atmosphere is one of awe and near-certainty.
• Lu Zhou formally declares the proof complete: all nontrivial zeros of the Riemann zeta function lie on Re(s) = 1/2.
• After the proof, he announces his future mathematical goals: studying the Dirichlet L-function and the Generalized Riemann Hypothesis, the physical meaning of the Pair Correlation Function, and ultimately the "Unification of Algebra and Geometry."
• This final announcement sparks shock, skepticism, and excitement throughout the venue.

2. Character Developments

• Lu Zhou: Confident and triumphant; having completed his pilgrimage, he immediately sets his sights on even grander ambitions, appearing liberated and forward-looking.
• Molina: A rival researcher who spent ten years pursuing the same proposition; she is visibly defeated, dejected, and accepts her loss, considering taking a vacation.
• Sophie Morel: Molina's former mentor; compassionate and consoling, she gently advises Molina not to trap herself in a dead end.
• Faltings: Deeply moved; the proof shatters an inner barrier he's carried since his youth and reveals a new world. He reveals he had secretly planned to pursue the "Unification of Algebra and Geometry" before retiring—and that Lu Zhou "beat him to it."
• Deligne: Unexpectedly warm and nearly convinced; he says the proof is "logically self-consistent," which is effectively acknowledgment.
• Terence Tao & Fefferman: Exchange impressions; Tao's opinion is mirrored by an unnamed excitable mathematician in the audience.

3. Significant Themes

• The beauty and "music" of mathematics: The proof is described as a performance, with equations like music striking listeners' heartstrings; the prime numbers become "notes imbued with life."
• The bitterness of defeat: Molina's ten-year pursuit ending in loss highlights the pain and ruthlessness of mathematical discovery.
• Endings as beginnings: Completing the Riemann Hypothesis is framed not as a closure but as a gateway to new questions (Generalized Riemann Hypothesis, L-functions, etc.).
• Even the masters are moved: Faltings and Deligne—legends themselves—experience profound emotional and intellectual reactions, underscoring the proof's monumental significance.
• Unbounded ambition: Lu Zhou's declaration of unifying algebra and geometry leaves the audience in disbelief, illustrating the endless frontiers of mathematics.

4. Character Interactions

• Sophie Morel & Molina: Morel offers comfort and perspective; Molina struggles to accept her defeat.
• Faltings & Deligne: A restrained but revealing exchange; Deligne asks Faltings if Lu Zhou succeeded, receives "more than ninety percent," and then Deligne admits he can find no counterexample—effectively conceding the proof.
• Fefferman & Terence Tao: Fefferman seeks Tao's expertise; their discussion is interrupted by an excited audience member who shouts "That's it!" and erupts with enthusiasm, causing Tao to shrug and agree with that reaction.
• Lu Zhou & the audience: He formally addresses the room after the proof, fields the earlier question about the future of Analytic Number Theory, and makes his stunning announcement—provoking an instant, mixed uproar from the crowd.

Lu Zhou presented his proof of the Riemann hypothesis, then celebrated the historic achievement as Professor Holden handed him champagne. As reporters crowded him afterward, Lu Zhou ignored their questions and focused on arranging Vera Puyuyi’s medical transfer to Shangjing.

• Lu Zhou finished his presentation and answered questions, brushing aside inquiries about his remarks on unifying algebra and geometry.
• Professor Holden gave Lu Zhou champagne and recommended that he publish his proof in Inventiones Mathematicae.
• Lu Zhou opened the champagne, sprayed the audience, and toasted them before leaving the lecture hall.
• Reporters crowded Lu Zhou with questions about the proof, its prize, Vera Puyuyi, and cryptography, but he did not answer.
• Lu Zhou continued toward the elevator while arrangements were made for Vera Puyuyi to fly to Shangjing for treatment at 301 Hospital.

Lu Zhou’s Riemann hypothesis proof stirred worldwide excitement, while his promised effort to unify algebra and geometry set off a new debate. He left the congress early to arrange his hospitalized student’s transfer to Shangjing, and the closing ceremony announced Jinling, Hua Nation, as the next ICM host city.

• Lu Zhou’s presentation of the Riemann hypothesis proof and his plans to unify algebra and geometry sparked discussions across the mathematics community, media, and public.
• Professor Aksay judged Lu Zhou’s proof highly likely to be correct and highlighted its possible connections to the Hodge conjecture.
• Terence Tao learned that Lu Zhou had left early to arrange the transfer of an important student from Saint Petersburg to Shangjing and regretted how fate had entwined their lives.
• Professor Holden announced that Jinling, Hua Nation, would host the next International Congress of Mathematicians.

The International Mathematical Union chose Jinling to host the next International Congress of Mathematicians, thrilling Hua Nation’s mathematicians while Lu Zhou remained unaware on his flight home. After arriving, Lu Zhou spoke with his father, who offered advice about making choices and then asked whether Lu Zhou’s proof of the Riemann Hypothesis had made bank accounts unsafe.

• The International Mathematical Union announced that Jinling would host the next congress, and Wang Shicheng, Xu Chenyang, Zhang Wei, Qin Yue, and other Hua Nation scholars celebrated.
• Yang Yong'an taunted a Korean scholar by crediting Professor Lu for Hua Nation’s success, and the Korean scholar angrily suggested Lu might belong to Korea instead.
• News of Jinling’s selection spread throughout Hua Nation while Lu Zhou flew home from Saint Petersburg, unaware of the announcement.
• Lu Zhou drank a Vitality Potion after landing and answered his father’s call, where Old Lu reproached him for not calling and asked him to bring back vodka.
• Old Lu advised Lu Zhou to make choices according to his conscience and not worry about other people’s opinions.
• Old Lu asked whether Lu Zhou had proved the Riemann Hypothesis and suggested withdrawing money from the bank because of a rumor about unsafe bank PINs.

Lu Zhou visited Vera in the hospital and told her that cryogenic hibernation could preserve her until medicine advanced enough to cure her. He asked her to go into the future, and Vera agreed.

• Lu Zhou finished speaking with his parents and went with Wang Peng to 301 Hospital.
• Lu Zhou brought carnations to Vera and learned she had once tried to visit him when he was in the hospital.
• Vera told Lu Zhou she felt better despite the pain of chemotherapy and asked how she could help him.
• Lu Zhou explained cryogenic hibernation and promised to send Vera into the future so she might be cured.
• Vera asked whether Lu Zhou would be there too, then agreed to undergo hibernation because he wanted her to.

At 301 Hospital, Lu Zhou presented a cryogenic hibernation device originally developed for interstellar travel, prompting debate over its medical promise and social consequences. He approved preparations to begin freezing the X-0172 sample.

• Academician Zhao Zhongji and hospital staff examined the cryogenic device brought from the Jinling Institute for Advanced Study.
• Lu Zhou explained that the technology had been developed for interstellar travel, not medicine, and warned that it could disrupt social and ethical norms.
• Zhao Zhongji argued that society would adapt and compared the technology’s benefits to controlled fusion, easing some of Lu Zhou’s concerns.
• Professor Liu Zuobing reported that the equipment was assembled, the X-0172 bacterial sample had arrived, and the freezing process would take thirty minutes.
• Lu Zhou told Professor Liu Zuobing to start preparations, and Professor Liu said he needed twenty minutes.

Lu Zhou helped Vera prepare for a century-long hibernation, and she confessed her love before he kissed her forehead and she fell asleep. As the procedure began, Lu Zhou decided to make her hibernation public.

• Lu Zhou arranged Vera’s household registration, university position, and treatment documents, and agreed to send her savings to her father.
• Vera told Lu Zhou she had once kissed his forehead and realized that her feelings for him were love.
• Vera asked Lu Zhou to kiss her forehead, then fell asleep as the X-0172 pheromone took effect.
• Professor Liu Zuobing confirmed that Vera’s inoculation had succeeded, and Lu Zhou ordered the hibernation procedure to begin.
• As frost spread over Vera’s chamber, Lu Zhou told Professor Liu Zuobing to make the procedure public.

After Vera entered cryogenic hibernation, Lu Zhou and his colleagues prepared to disclose the technology gradually and established a fund to support terminally ill people who might use it. As Lu Zhou planned to leave for summer vacation, Chen Yushan told him about a memoir by his former student Hardy, leaving him aghast at its claims.

• Vera safely reached the optimal temperature for cryogenic hibernation, and Lu Zhou, Professor Liu Zuobing, and their colleagues agreed to reveal the technology in stages.
• Professor Liu Zuobing held a cryobiology lecture at Shangjing Medical University, drawing strong interest from researchers and attendees.
• Chen Yushan presented Lu Zhou with plans for a 100-million-capital fund to protect the rights of terminally ill people seeking cryogenic treatment.
• Lu Zhou confirmed that Vera Puyuyi was already in hibernation and said he planned to return home for summer vacation before going back to Jin University.
• Chen Yushan told Lu Zhou about a memoir by Brazilian mathematician Hardy, and Lu Zhou warned her not to believe anything the self-described former student wrote.

After failing to recruit Perelman, Krugman learned that Lu Zhou had unveiled cryogenic hibernation technology and realized it could transform finance and society. He left the airport eager to write a paper about the upheaval he believed it would cause.

• Krugman and Professor Albert decided to return to the United States after Perelman refused to meet with them.
• Krugman lamented that Lu Zhou had left before they could persuade him to join their project.
• At the airport, Krugman read newspaper reports about cryogenic hibernation and was stunned by the technology.
• Krugman considered how people traveling to the future could disrupt financial markets and deepen inequality between those who could afford hibernation and those who could not.
• Krugman decided to return to his office and write a paper about the social consequences of cryogenic hibernation.

1. Key Plot Points & Events

• Lu Zhou quietly returns home as news breaks that he has undergone cryogenic hibernation treatment (apparently for Vera Puyuyi), causing a global media uproar.
• In Princeton, Prof. Fefferman and Prof. Angus Deaton discuss the event; Angus reveals he anticipated it, citing humanity’s intrinsic drive to survive and extend life.
• Economist Paul Krugman arrives, having written a paper on cryogenic hibernation’s macroeconomic impact—arguing the technology could shatter long-standing social equality and create new forms of inequality.
• Angus shows Krugman his own unpublished manuscript on “Future Sociology,” arguing that prediction is part of analysis. He invites Krugman to join a new research project; Krugman agrees, contingent on consulting his partner “Albert.”
• Angus also invites Fefferman, who initially hesitates, citing other commitments (including an invitation from Faltings). Krugman then reveals that Lu Zhou had once said he would consider joining such a project after solving the Riemann Hypothesis—which he has now done. This revelation prompts Fefferman to accept the invitation.

2. Character Developments

• Angus Deaton emerges as a visionary, systematically building an interdisciplinary team to study and shape the future through “Future Sociology.”
• Krugman is excited and humbled by Angus’s prior work; he eagerly accepts the offer, showing his passion for bold, speculative ideas.
• Fefferman evolves from a skeptic of “applied” / future-oriented research to an eager participant, swayed by the possibility of collaborating with Lu Zhou.

3. Significant Themes

• Cryogenic hibernation as a disruptive force—its potential to fundamentally reshape economics, society, and human equality.
• Prediction as part of analysis—the necessity of theoretical frameworks (Future Sociology) to guide future decisions.
• Human nature and survival—the timeless drive to prolong life and its inevitable consequences.
• Pure mathematics vs. interdisciplinary collaboration—Fefferman’s initial reluctance reflects the tension, but Lu Zhou’s example bridges the gap.

4. Character Interactions

• Fefferman and Angus discuss the implications of Lu Zhou’s actions, with Angus offering philosophical insight.
• Krugman enthusiastically explains his paper; Angus engages, then reveals his own work, sparking mutual intellectual respect.
• Angus’s invitation to Fefferman initially fails, but Krugman’s mention of Lu Zhou’s “Riemann Hypothesis” statement changes Fefferman’s mind, uniting the three around a shared project.