Chapter Summaries

Qi Hao completed the Soviet Academic Overachiever System’s first mission by studying Dedekind cuts in the middle of English class, unlocking his academic panel and gaining mathematics experience. Seeing measurable progress in his studies gave him hope about his future as an applied mathematics student.

• The system ordered Qi Hao to study mathematical analysis during English class and master one new point of knowledge within 35 minutes.
• Qi Hao opened his textbook and worked through Dedekind cuts, using the square root of two to understand how rational numbers define real numbers.
• The system declared the mission complete, unlocked Qi Hao’s personal panel, and awarded him 10 mathematics experience points and a treasure chest.
• Qi Hao reviewed his subject levels and considered how the panel could provide feedback as he studied.
• Qi Hao reflected on his uncertain career prospects and began to see hope in using the system before clear footsteps sounded beside him.

Qi Hao received a talent that permanently taught him the mathematics behind problems he solved, along with a quest to independently prove 100 problems from Demidovich in 48 hours. He headed to the library with the book, leaving his astonished roommate Wang Jun convinced he had become hooked on studying.

• During English class, Teacher Qi criticized students who focused on other subjects, and Qi Hao reconsidered the importance of improving his English and GPA.
• Qi Hao opened his treasure chest and gained the 48-hour Reverse Analysis · Problems talent, which permanently taught him the logic behind problems he solved in full.
• The system assigned Qi Hao a quest to solve the first 100 proof problems in Demidovich independently within 48 hours, with a purple treasure chest and points as rewards.
• Qi Hao realized the quest would consume his weekend, ate quickly with Wang Jun and Chen Yuan, and returned to the dorm to retrieve his copy of Demidovich.
• Wang Jun was shocked when Qi Hao said he was taking Demidovich to the library to practice, and joked that Qi Hao was hooked on studying.

Qi Hao used his system to solve twenty problems in Demidovich and felt his mathematical understanding rapidly improve. He returned to the dorm, where Wang Jun and Chen Yuan learned he had spent the afternoon studying, while Qi Hao decided that math was more enjoyable than gaming.

• Qi Hao activated his system in the library and solved a limit problem using Taylor expansions, triggering a reconstruction of his mathematical logic.
• Qi Hao continued solving problems, worked through twenty Demidovich exercises, and stopped the system timer after the sky grew dark.
• Qi Hao bought two beef flatbreads for Wang Jun and pork ribs over rice for himself on his way back to the dorm.
• Wang Jun asked Qi Hao whether he had spent the afternoon with a junior girl, and Qi Hao said he had been at the library solving problems.
• Wang Jun and Chen Yuan reacted with surprise when Qi Hao said he had studied for over four hours, while Qi Hao happily ate his dinner.

Qi Hao completed the system’s 48-hour problem-solving task with a perfect score and received a purple-quality treasure chest. He opened it to find an unpublished paper by Alexander Kronrod and a memory fragment from the Kronrod Automated Reasoning Laboratory, then chose to inspect the fragment.

• Old Wang announced the international modeling contest and encouraged students to sign up, while Qi Hao decided to focus on strengthening his mathematical fundamentals first.
• Qi Hao recognized the derivations in Old Wang’s lecture from the problems he had studied in Demidovich the night before.
• Qi Hao spent his free afternoons and evenings solving problems at the library until he completed the hundredth problem.
• The system rated Qi Hao’s task performance A, reported 100% accuracy and a 217% increase in average speed, and awarded him 160 mathematics experience points, a purple-quality treasure chest, and 200 points.
• Qi Hao opened the chest and received an unpublished paper by Alexander Kronrod and a memory fragment from the Kronrod Automated Reasoning Laboratory.
• Qi Hao selected the memory fragment to see what it contained.

Qi Hao used a memory fragment to witness Konrod’s Soviet chess program defeat the American team, then researched Soviet contributions to artificial intelligence and mathematics. After recognizing the value of Konrod’s unpublished paper, Qi Hao received a quest to publish an SCI-indexed paper citing Soviet-era works within 90 days.

• Qi Hao entered a memory fragment and watched Konrod’s Soviet program defeat the American program three games to one.
• Qi Hao researched the Soviet computer chess match and learned about the Soviet mathematicians’ contributions to artificial intelligence.
• Qi Hao reconsidered the value of Konrod’s unpublished paper on game-tree inequalities.
• The system triggered the Academic Legacy quest, requiring Qi Hao to publish an SCI-indexed paper citing at least three Soviet-era academic works within 90 days.

Qi Hao searched for a suitable journal and realized that finding Soviet references for the system’s task would be difficult because he did not know Russian. He used 50 points to acquire basic Russian, then planned to visit the provincial library and considered reusing references from Kolorod’s manuscript.

• Qi Hao chose JSL as a possible journal for Kolorod’s unpublished paper and recognized that the task required Soviet citations he could not easily find or read.
• Qi Hao exchanged 50 points for a basic Russian course and received a flood of language knowledge, advancing to Russian LV2.
• Qi Hao searched his university library for Russian books but learned that the provincial library had Russian materials and journals.
• Qi Hao planned to visit the provincial library on Saturday and wondered whether he could use references cited in Kolorod’s original manuscript.

Qi Hao defended his intense studying against Li Hui’s praise of American student life, then planned to relax by reading Russian. When Wang Jun brought Zhou Peng’s difficult math problem to the dorm, Chen Yuan could not solve it and asked Qi Hao for help.

• Qi Hao returned to the dorm, where Li Hui urged him to stop spending so much time studying and join a weekend outing at a lounge bar.
• Li Hui praised American universities, but Qi Hao challenged him to explain how to get to the United States, and Li Hui could not give a clear answer.
• Qi Hao reflected that elite researchers worked intensely and decided to unwind by reading Russian in Kolorod’s paper.
• Wang Jun brought Zhou Peng to the dorm after failing to solve Zhou Peng’s difficult sequence-limit problem.
• Chen Yuan examined the problem, admitted he could not find a solution, and asked Qi Hao whether he had seen anything similar in Demidovich.

Qi Hao impressed his roommates by quickly solving Zhou Peng’s difficult limit problem, then tried to read a Russian mathematics paper using his newly acquired language skill. He could understand the words but struggled with the specialized concepts and the paper’s compressed derivations.

• Qi Hao solved Zhou Peng’s limit problem by taking logarithms and using a second-order Taylor expansion, arriving at 1/π.
• Zhou Peng praised Qi Hao and invited him to a barbecue, while Chen Yuan and the other roommates examined Qi Hao’s solution and questioned how he had improved so much.
• Qi Hao declined the invitation and went to bed early as his roommates quietly began studying around him.
• Qi Hao used his system’s Russian-language skill to read a mathematical paper, but found that understanding its words did not make its technical content clear.
• Qi Hao grew frustrated with Konrod’s terse proofs, which skipped many intermediate steps behind phrases like “obviously, it follows.”

Qi Hao searched for Soviet-era papers cited by Konrod to understand his work and visited the provincial library for the remaining references. There he met Lin Lan, the editor of a newly published book about Konorod, and became interested in its translated papers and commentaries.

• Qi Hao found a scan of one of Konrod's five Soviet-era references using Yandex and Russian literature databases.
• Qi Hao went to the provincial library to search for the other four papers and brought a Demidovich problem book to study.
• Qi Hao met Lin Lan in the Russian-language collection area as they both looked at Konorod: The Mathematical Soul of the Soviet Union.
• Lin Lan explained that her book included translations and commentaries on Konrod's representative papers, and Qi Hao laughed as he leafed through it.

At the provincial library, Qi Hao spotted an error in a derivation added to Konrod’s book and quickly wrote a correction for Lin Lan. Dr. Xu’s former advisor confirmed Qi Hao’s proof was right, leaving Lin Lan regretting that she had not gotten Qi Hao’s contact information.

• Qi Hao noticed that a derivation in Konrod’s book was an added explanation and identified a flaw in its mathematical logic.
• Qi Hao wrote out a corrected derivation for Lin Lan, then asked her to help him find papers by four Soviet scholars.
• Lin Lan found a collected volume containing an early paper by Brudno, and Qi Hao immersed himself in searching through it.
• Lin Lan showed Qi Hao’s proof to Dr. Xu, who emailed a photograph of it to his former advisor, Professor Smirnov.
• Professor Smirnov confirmed that Dr. Xu’s derivation had a flaw and praised Qi Hao’s proof as correct.
• Lin Lan realized Qi Hao was exceptionally skilled and regretted leaving without getting his contact information.

Lin Lan told Dr. Xu that a young man at the provincial library had been seeking original papers by obscure Soviet computational mathematicians, prompting Dr. Xu to uncover old reports and offer to organize them. After explaining how Soviet research had been overlooked and appropriated abroad, Dr. Xu asked Lin Lan to introduce him to the young man.

• Lin Lan agreed to redo the typesetting and add a correction in the next printing after Dr. Xu admitted the academic error.
• Dr. Xu learned that the young man had sought works by Adelson-Velsky, Landis, Brudno, and Arlazarov, and recognized them as little-known Soviet computational mathematicians.
• Dr. Xu showed Lin Lan old Russian papers and explained that a Moscow State University professor had sent them to preserve the names of researchers whose work had circulated mainly in internal reports.
• Dr. Xu refused to hand over the papers until he had checked their order and completeness, and promised to call Lin Lan when he had sorted them.
• Dr. Xu told Lin Lan how Soviet research had influenced American technology, including the F-117’s stealth design, and asked her to introduce him to the young man.

Qi Hao used the system’s enhanced learning state to tackle the graph theory and combinatorics behind Konrod’s proof. He began absorbing the material at extraordinary speed, while a graduate student nearby mistook his focused reading for showing off.

• Qi Hao found Brudno’s paper and used it to understand Konrod’s construction for partitioning game-tree states.
• Qi Hao got stuck on Konrod’s proof involving chromatic numbers, perfect graphs, and Ramsey numbers, then spent 50 points to activate Deep Focus for 15 days.
• Qi Hao borrowed three graph theory and combinatorics textbooks and found himself rapidly understanding their concepts and calculations.
• Qi Hao learned that a chromatic number measured the minimum number of colors needed to distinguish adjacent objects, such as provinces or radio stations.
• A graduate student watching Qi Hao turn pages quickly assumed he was pretending to be a top student and doubted he was learning anything.

Qi Hao used Deep Focus to rapidly study graph theory, combinatorics, and academic English, then began translating and completing Konrod's paper. As he wrote fluent academic English, graduate students nearby debated where to submit their own paper, and one mistook Qi Hao for a fellow graduate student.

• Qi Hao spent nearly two weeks reading mathematics books and mastered core undergraduate material along with specialized topics.
• Qi Hao reread Konrod's paper and understood a proof that had previously defeated him.
• Qi Hao studied academic English and raised his Mathematics and English experience points.
• After Deep Focus ended, Qi Hao began drafting an English paper to translate Konrod's work and fill gaps in the proof.
• Qi Hao found that the Russian text came naturally to him as fluent academic English while he wrote.
• Qi Hao overheard graduate students debate journal submissions, and one asked whether he was writing a math paper too.

Qi Hao declined Liang Wenhao's offer to collaborate and continued working alone on his combinatorics paper, but got stuck on a technical proof and went to ask Old Wang for help. At Old Wang's office, he encountered a well-dressed visitor whom Old Wang addressed as President Zhao.

• Liang Wenhao and his fellow graduate students offered to collaborate with Qi Hao, but he declined and added Liang Wenhao on QQ.
• Qi Hao asked Liang Wenhao which journal might provide a decision within two months, and Liang Wenhao recommended Discrete Mathematics while warning that reviews could take longer.
• Qi Hao struggled to prove a lemma while generalizing Konrod's pruning inequality and decided to ask Old Wang for help.
• Qi Hao went to the Liren Building and met a well-dressed man waiting outside Old Wang's office.
• Old Wang opened the door, recognized the man as President Zhao, and asked why he had returned after being told Old Wang was not interested.

Qi Hao visited Professor Wang to discuss a graph-coloring proof and overheard Zhao Li trying to recruit Wang as a consultant for a Three-Body Problem game. After Wang helped Qi Hao resolve his proof, Zhao Li was finally allowed into the office for a brief meeting.

• Zhao Li argued that his international company had the experience and production pipeline to make a high-quality Three-Body Problem game, while Wang questioned whether it could do the novel justice.
• Qi Hao reflected that the game's mathematical logic mattered more than cinematic presentation, then approached Wang with scratch papers about a coloring problem on directed acyclic graphs.
• Wang recognized Qi Hao's derivations, invited him into the office, and advised him to improve his English while praising his mathematical knowledge.
• Wang showed Qi Hao how to use topological ordering to construct the coloring proof, then gave him a list of advanced graph theory and combinatorics books to read.
• Qi Hao left after nearly an hour, and Wang told the waiting Zhao Li that he had ten minutes to explain what he needed.

Qi Hao went to ask Old Wang about a problem and found him teaching graduate students about spectral gaps. Qi Hao solved the problem on the spot, leaving Old Wang impressed and Liang Wenhao embarrassed to learn that Qi Hao was only a freshman.

• Qi Hao messaged Old Wang about a problem estimating the asymptotic convergence rate, and Old Wang invited him to seminar room B503.
• Qi Hao arrived while Old Wang was lecturing graduate students and reprimanding them for failing to solve a problem involving graph spectral gaps and partial-order width.
• Old Wang called on Liang Wenhao and another student, but neither could provide a satisfactory solution.
• Qi Hao raised his hand and explained how to use the Perron-Frobenius theorem and the Courant-Fischer minimax theorem to handle the estimate.
• Old Wang recognized Qi Hao's ability, while Liang Wenhao realized the freshman was the student he had previously patronized in the library.

After Qi Hao impressed Old Wang with his mathematical discussion, Old Wang scolded his graduate students and assigned them literature presentations. Professor Zhou then asked Old Wang to recommend a student for a mathematical modeling contest team, and Old Wang confidently nominated Qi Hao.

• Qi Hao and Old Wang discussed mathematics at the whiteboard, and Old Wang told Qi Hao to head back.
• Old Wang criticized his graduate students and assigned each of them a fifteen-minute literature presentation for Friday.
• Liang Wenhao and the other graduate students joked about sacrificing someone to face Old Wang's anger at the group meeting.
• Professor Zhou asked Old Wang to recommend a mathematically strong student for the China Undergraduate Mathematical Contest in Modeling.
• Old Wang recommended Qi Hao and vouched for his mathematical ability, while Professor Zhou looked skeptical about choosing a freshman.

Professor Zhou rejected Old Wang’s freshman recommendation for the mathematical modeling competition and asked him to find a more experienced student, while Qi Hao spent the evening teasing his roommates and challenging them to speak only English. The challenge ended after one night, with the roommates impressed by Qi Hao’s English.

• Professor Zhou rejected Old Wang’s suggestion that a freshman join the competition team and asked him to recommend a qualified sophomore or junior instead.
• Old Wang named a strong sophomore, and Professor Zhou asked him to arrange a meeting; afterward, Old Wang checked the records of freshman Qi Hao.
• Wang Jun invited Qi Hao and Chen Yuan to an English-department mixer, and Chen Yuan said he hoped to find someone to help him practice English for the CET-4.
• Qi Hao proposed an English Only rule, with anyone who spoke Chinese buying dinner for the dorm for a week, and Wang Jun, Li Hui, and Chen Yuan accepted.
• The roommates struggled to speak English, while Qi Hao fluently corrected their phrasing and answered their questions.
• The roommates ended the rule after one night, and Wang Jun praised Qi Hao’s English.

After submitting his paper, Qi Hao worried that the review would take too long, but the Soviet System moved it to the front of the queue. When his family struggled to cover expenses, Old Wang found him a well-paid tutoring job, and Qi Hao arrived at the Fang household to meet his new students.

• Qi Hao finished formatting and submitted his paper, and the Soviet System jumped it to first place on the review list.
• Qi Hao learned his family was short on money and told his mother not to send his living expenses that month.
• Old Wang offered Qi Hao a tutoring job with the Fang family for three hundred yuan per lesson.
• Qi Hao traveled to the Fang family's villa and met Fang Guoping, who explained that his son Fang Jiaze had driven away four tutors.
• Qi Hao entered the study as Fang Jiaxue argued with Fang Jiaze, and Fang Jiaxue withdrew her raised hand when she saw him.

Qi Hao used Fang Jiaze’s interest in CrossFire to teach him rational numbers, turning a reluctant student into an eager one. Fang Jiaxue questioned Qi Hao about his background, and he left determined to keep the well-paid tutoring job.

• Qi Hao asked Fang Jiaze about his games and used Q Coin calculations to show that he could already handle practical math.
• Qi Hao explained number lines and absolute values through CrossFire, and Fang Jiaze solved his first workbook problem.
• Qi Hao taught rational-number arithmetic with gaming examples, leading Fang Jiaze to ask for another explanation and complete twelve problems.
• Qi Hao assigned Fang Jiaze workbook pages fifteen through twenty and spoke with Fang Jiaxue about his tutoring experience and schedule.
• Fang Jiaxue learned Qi Hao attended the Open University’s math department, while Qi Hao resolved to keep arriving for the tutoring job.