Qi Hao

Biodata

Power Progression

Qi Hao’s system tracks his overall academic level separately from individual subject proficiencies. His overall level remains LV1 (ordinary person) when mathematics reaches LV2 28.

Background

Qi Hao begins university as an applied mathematics freshman who has just completed military training. Concerned about employment prospects and unwilling to waste his tuition, he considers changing majors before the system gives him measurable feedback on his studies 1.

His parents are factory workers, and his younger sister has just entered high school. When household expenses become difficult to cover, he tells his mother not to send his monthly living allowance and looks for work compatible with studying. He later sends money home despite her initial reluctance to accept it 19 41.

His admiration for the Soviet Union centers on its ideals and the people who persevered for them, rather than ancestry or an attachment to Russian food and drink. He does not share the system’s blanket hostility toward English, recognizing its practical importance for research and academic advancement 1 2.

Appearance

• Considered handsome: Qi Hao jokes that his looks may explain why the system chose him. CEO Lan later compliments his appearance when they meet 1 44.
• Conscious of presentation: After becoming recognizable on campus, he is pleased that he styled his hair and wants to challenge the stereotype that science students must look unkempt 43.
• Initially poor physical endurance: Despite being eighteen, he struggles to complete fifteen push-ups 43.

Personality

Qi Hao is pragmatic about learning. He initially postpones mathematical modeling competitions because programming, teamwork, and paper preparation would interrupt his foundational studies. He also abandons unnecessary GRE vocabulary once he judges that precise academic expression matters more than obscure words 4 13.

His enthusiasm grows with his competence: solving problems becomes more enjoyable than gaming, and he willingly spends most of his free time in libraries. Despite his rapid progress, he openly admits uncertainty and asks Professor Wang for help rather than pretending to understand 3 13 17.

Family finances strongly influence his decisions. Tutoring income and competition prizes appeal to him because they can reduce the burden at home. He is also sensitive to personal favors and treats Professor Wang’s recommendation to the Fang family as a responsibility he must not squander 19 20 40.

Usually polite with classmates, Qi Hao avoids pointless confrontation but has little patience for arrogance or unreliable teamwork. His unusually cutting response to Zheng Qiang occurs while he is under the pill-induced Academic Ace state, contrasting with his normal manner 46 49 50.

Abilities & Skills

Soviet Academic Overachiever System

A system that issues academic missions, tracks proficiency, and awards experience, points, treasure chests, and study aids 1 4 28.

• Provides numerical feedback on subject development and, later, physical conditioning 1 43.
• Allows points to be exchanged for language instruction and learning enhancements 6 12.
• Can supply research material and immersive memory fragments 4 5.
• Does not automatically remove prerequisite requirements: Qi Hao cannot access the Jacobian Conjecture proof until he has sufficient background knowledge 30.

Reverse Analysis · Problems

A temporary passive learning talent obtained from his first white treasure chest 2.

• Lasts 48 hours.
• Activates when he personally completes a problem and its logical chain.
• Permanently consolidates the underlying theorems, formulas, and reasoning.
• Helps him integrate Taylor expansions, remainder control, and equivalent infinitesimals into a coherent problem-solving framework 2 3.
• Does not prevent physical exhaustion from prolonged work 4.

Deep Focus · Enhanced Learning State

A purchased enhancement that accelerates information absorption, comprehension, memory, logical reasoning, and pattern recognition 12.

• Cost: 50 points.
• Duration: 15 days.
• Cooldown: 30 days.
• Enhances learning rather than directly supplying knowledge.
• Enables him to read roughly two substantial textbooks daily, cover core undergraduate graph theory and combinatorics within a week, and move into specialized graduate-level topics 13.

Soviet Union Academic Ace Absolute Domain

A study state activated by the Mind-Clearing and Brain-Strengthening Pill 47.

• Suppresses distracting thoughts and emotions, leaving him intensely absorbed in study.
• Allows him to finish Introduction to Algebra in about two hours before moving on to further algebra texts.
• Makes him largely unresponsive to his roommates and inattentive to hunger.
• During this period, he studies advanced C# and Python material by relating programming concepts to abstract algebra 47 48.

Mathematics and Research

Qi Hao develops particular strength in mathematical analysis, graph theory, combinatorics, and the mathematics of search algorithms 3 13 17.

• Solves a difficult limit problem using logarithms and a second-order Taylor expansion, obtaining (1/\pi) 8.
• Studies spectral-gap convergence and discusses advanced questions with Professor Wang and his graduate students 16 17.
• Produces original, concise solutions to competition problems that impress Associate Professor Xu 23 24.
• Writes a sole-authored paper accepted by Discrete Mathematics 27 32.
• Receives an external assessment placing his mathematical modeling and algorithm-analysis abilities at graduate-student level 40.
• Connects unfamiliar drone flight-control and spatial-attitude problems with Lie algebra and programming 49.

Languages

• Russian: His system-acquired LV2 proficiency supports ordinary conversation, newspapers, and news broadcasts. Technical mathematics still requires separate subject knowledge 6 8.
• English: Independently studies academic writing and mathematical terminology, writes his own English-language paper, and becomes more fluent in conversation than his roommates 13 18 43.

Teaching and Cooking

• Tutoring: Uses CrossFire, Q Coins, number lines, and gaming examples to explain rational numbers and absolute values to Fang Jiaze. His first lesson gets the reluctant pupil to complete twelve problems 20.
• Cooking: Takes over lunch preparation when Fang Jiaxue struggles, producing three dishes and a soup that both siblings enjoy 23 24.

Equipment / Items

• Demidovich’s Problems in Mathematical Analysis — His principal early training resource and the source of the hundred problems completed for the system task 2 4.
• Alexander Kronrod’s unpublished manuscript — Absolute Pruning Inequalities and the Asymptotic Convergence Theorem for Finite-State Game Trees, awarded from a purple treasure chest. It becomes the starting point for his study of mathematical game-tree search 4 5.
• Kronrod Automated Reasoning Laboratory memory fragment — An immersive recollection that temporarily removes his awareness from reality; the system instructs him to use it somewhere safe 5.
• Mind-Clearing and Brain-Strengthening Pills ×3 — Each grants a Soviet academic ace’s study state for 24 hours. Limited to one effective dose per day, with a warning about abnormal status effects 28.
• Advanced mathematics books from Professor Wang — Five loaned books, plus a recommendation for an additional English text, supporting his study toward the Jacobian Conjecture 50.

Story Role / Major Arcs

System Awakening and Foundational Training

Qi Hao’s first mission requires him to learn a new mathematical concept within 35 minutes during English class. Working through Dedekind cuts unlocks his personal panel and gives him a reason to reconsider his uncertain future in applied mathematics 1.

His first treasure chest grants Reverse Analysis. He uses it to complete a hundred Demidovich problems, earning a purple chest containing Kronrod’s manuscript and a laboratory memory fragment. Experiencing the fragment changes his initial dismissive view of the old Soviet research and triggers the Academic Legacy quest 2 4 5.

Academic Legacy and First Publication

Academic Legacy requires a first-authored mathematics or interdisciplinary paper in an SCI-indexed journal within 90 days, citing at least three Soviet-era works. Qi Hao learns Russian, studies the prerequisites behind Kronrod’s arguments, and begins developing his own paper 5 6 12 13.

He declines Liang Wenhao’s collaboration offer but seeks Professor Wang’s help when his proofs stall. Wang shows him how to construct a directed-acyclic-graph coloring proof through topological ordering and continues advising him on difficult questions 14 15 16.

After submitting to Discrete Mathematics, Qi Hao receives a minor-revision decision. He adds a rigorous estimate for a compression operator’s Lipschitz constant, and the paper is accepted three days after resubmission. Completing the quest earns an A+ rating and raises mathematics to LV2 19 27 28.

Tutoring the Fang Family

While his paper is under review, financial pressure leads Qi Hao to seek part-time work. Professor Wang introduces him to the Fang family, whose son Jiaze has already driven away four tutors 19.

Qi Hao succeeds by teaching through Jiaze’s interest in games rather than forcing him through textbook explanations. His subsequent visits also bring him closer to Fang Jiaxue, who asks him to solve difficult problems and later invites him to lunch 20 21 23.

False Academic-Misconduct Allegations

An online accusation claims that five Soviet-era references in Qi Hao’s paper do not exist. The controversy reaches university leadership, prompting a formal investigation and a demand that he produce the original sources 30 31 32 33.

Qi Hao explains that obscure Soviet research may never have been digitized or translated. While he searches for the missing material, Professor Wang defends his honesty, Dean Hu supports him publicly, and Lin Lan seeks help from Dr. Xu’s Soviet-paper collection 32 33 35.

Huaji subsequently confirms that his theorem improves game-search efficiency. The original accuser, Yang Guang, apologizes; Qi Hao accepts but asks him to consider the damage a false accusation can cause. University officials then recognize the paper’s Q2 SCI standing and award him 6,000 yuan 38 39.

Industrial Collaboration and the Imagine Cup

The university arranges an individualized development plan, judging ordinary undergraduate modeling competition insufficiently challenging for him. Qi Hao agrees to prepare for the Microsoft Imagine Cup, with its prize money providing an additional incentive 40.

A meeting with Huaji and Dafei develops into a partnership with the School of Mathematics involving funding worth tens of millions. Qi Hao becomes the first student in the university’s history to secure a cooperation project on that scale; the companies negotiate priority commercialization rights for engineering and software applications 44 45.

After tensions within the proposed competition group, Professor Zhou splits it. Qi Hao chooses Zhao Ping as his sole teammate, with Professors Zhou and Wang advising them. Alongside competition preparation, he continues pursuing the prerequisites for the Jacobian Conjecture 46 49 50.

Relationships

• Professor Wang (“Old Wang”) — Mathematical analysis teacher and principal academic mentor. Guides his proofs, recommends him for competition opportunities, finds him tutoring work, and defends his integrity during the misconduct controversy 15 17 19 32.
• Wang Jun, Li Hui, and Chen Yuan — Roommates who tease him about his transformation into a top student but stand by him during the scandal. He celebrates his publication reward by treating them to food and beer 18 35 42.
• Qi Hao’s parents and younger sister — His family’s financial difficulties motivate his tutoring and interest in prize money. He later sends money home 19 40 41.
• Fang Jiaze — Tutoring pupil whose enthusiasm for gaming becomes the basis of Qi Hao’s successful teaching approach 20.
• Fang Jiaxue — His pupil’s older sister. Discusses the family’s difficulties with him, passes his solutions to Chen Xiang, and comes to appreciate his cooking 21 23 24.
• Liang Wenhao — Graduate student who initially mistakes him for an advanced researcher and offers collaboration. Later alerts him to the online accusation without initially realizing he is its target 14 16 30 31.
• Dean Hu — Defends Qi Hao’s research publicly and advises him to have Professor Wang review future manuscripts before submission 35 39.
• Professor Zhou — Initially skeptical of recruiting a freshman; later becomes an Imagine Cup adviser 17 39 46 50.
• Zhao Ping — Imagine Cup teammate. His practical advice, apparent reliability, and award-winning UI work influence Qi Hao’s decision to partner with him 46 50.
• Zheng Qiang — Prospective teammate whose dismissiveness and limited cross-disciplinary outlook bring him into conflict with Qi Hao 45 46 49.
• Lin Lan — Editor whom Qi Hao has met once; helps seek Soviet references during the controversy 35 39.
• Engineer Tian — Takes an interest in Qi Hao’s potential and arranges Huaji’s intervention in the controversy 33 38.

Notable Quotes

“No. I have to study. With no women in my heart, I’ll be a god at solving problems.” 18

“He’s clever himself. I just found the right way to bring it out.” — On Fang Jiaze’s improvement 21

Trivia

• After his publication becomes widely known, students on Mathematics Tieba jokingly “worship” him in hopes of improving their own chances of publishing an SCI paper 42.
• Although he knows that bowing cannot alter a random-number seed, he bows three times before opening a treasure chest—just in case 29.
• His roommates’ English-only rule, under which anyone speaking Chinese must treat the others, lasts only one night 18.