Chapter Summaries

Qi Hao received a six-thousand-yuan university reward for his research paper and sent it to his mother, who worried that he was overworking himself. After reading Mathematics Tieba users ask how he published in an SCI journal, he shared his advice: study mathematics diligently and spend more time in the library.

• The university president discussed Huaji's planned cooperation with Qi Hao, while Old Wang lamented that the School of Mathematics struggled to attract industry funding.
• Qi Hao received a six-thousand-yuan bank reward, confirmed he owed no tax, and transferred the full amount to his mother.
• Qi Hao reassured his worried mother that the paper reward and his tutoring income gave him enough money for school, and persuaded her to keep the transfer for the family.
• Qi Hao found Mathematics Tieba users discussing his sole-author Q2 paper and asking how to publish in an SCI journal.
• Qi Hao replied that publishing required building mathematical intuition and spending more time studying in the library, prompting a flurry of humorous responses.

After receiving a university reward for his SCI paper, Qi Hao celebrated with his roommates, who urged him to join a mathematical modeling contest. He declined because he was preparing for the Microsoft Imagine Cup, leaving his roommates stunned and drunk as he asked the system how to sober them up.

• Qi Hao told Wang Jun, Li Hui, and Chen Yuan that the university had rewarded his paper with six thousand yuan, and he treated them to skewers and beer.
• Li Hui proposed that Qi Hao join him and Chen Yuan in the Mathematical Contest in Modeling, arguing that Qi Hao could polish their paper and help them win an award.
• Qi Hao refused because he had to prepare for another competition whose schedule conflicted with the modeling contest.
• Qi Hao revealed that the university had arranged for him to compete in the Microsoft Imagine Cup, shocking Li Hui, Wang Jun, and Chen Yuan with the contest's prestige.
• Li Hui and the others drank heavily, so Qi Hao asked the system for a way to sober them up, and it replied with a joke praising alcohol and Soviet fighting spirit.

Qi Hao tested the system’s physique panel and discovered that push-ups increased his physique, then drew attention at school after his paper was published. After sleeping through English class, he was summoned to Dean Hu’s office because Huaji’s CEO had arrived.

• Qi Hao did fifteen push-ups and saw his physique value rise from 5.1 to 5.11.
• Qi Hao attracted admiring attention from students on his way to class because of his SCI paper.
• A girl saved Qi Hao a seat, prompting Wang Jun and Li Hui to tease him about secretly hooking up with her.
• Teacher Qi praised Qi Hao’s English ability, but Qi Hao fell asleep during the lesson.
• Old Wang summoned Qi Hao to Dean Hu’s office to meet Huaji’s CEO, and Qi Hao left class after his teacher said he would handle the leave request.

Qi Hao met executives from Huaji Technology and Dafei Drone Company, and his mathematical insight into neural networks impressed them. The companies offered twelve million yuan to establish a joint laboratory at his school, on the condition that Qi Hao lead their project.

• Dean Hu introduced Qi Hao to CEO Lan of Huaji Technology and CEO Wang of Dafei Drone Company.
• Qi Hao discussed his game-search paper with Huaji’s Engineer Chen, who asked how to optimize base-station placement without a known evaluation function.
• Qi Hao proposed learning the unknown mapping from historical data, and CEO Wang described Dafei’s neural-network approach to drone flight control.
• After Engineer Chen described vanishing gradients in a deep network, Qi Hao linked the problem to exponential gradient decay and suggested changing the activation function.
• CEO Lan offered twelve million yuan from Huaji and Dafei to establish a joint laboratory at the school, provided Qi Hao led the project.

Dean Hu and Old Wang finalized a major university partnership with Huaji and Dafei, then met three students chosen to join Qi Hao for the Microsoft Imagine Cup. Zheng Qiang questioned whether Qi Hao would slow the team down, and Old Wang began to respond.

• Dean Hu and Old Wang agreed with CEO Lan and CEO Wang on funding, publication rights, and commercialization terms for the laboratory project.
• Professor Zhou brought Zhao Ping, Wu Xue, and Zheng Qiang to Dean Hu’s office to meet Qi Hao.
• Professor Zhou explained that the university hoped the students would compete together in the Microsoft Imagine Cup.
• Zheng Qiang argued that a team made up entirely of students from his college would work more efficiently than one including Qi Hao.
• Professor Zhou defended Qi Hao’s writing skills, but Zheng Qiang said Qi Hao must not hold the team back.
• Old Wang spoke up before Qi Hao could answer Zheng Qiang.

Qi Hao agreed to join Professor Zhou and Old Wang's Imagine Cup team, while planning to strengthen his fundamentals before the competition began. On his way back to an empty dorm, he decided to test the system's Mind-Clearing and Brain-Strengthening Pill.

• Professor Zhou learned that a company had requested Qi Hao for a project and offered to accommodate his schedule so he would join the Imagine Cup team.
• Qi Hao agreed to help with modeling, algorithms, and the paper, and Professor Zhou set an initial meeting for nine the next morning in Liren Building classroom 303.
• After leaving Dean Hu's office, Zhao Ping reassured Qi Hao about Zheng Qiang and advised him to study past competition entries and basic programming languages.
• Qi Hao decided to use his free time to catch up on reading and learn computer languages instead of returning to class.
• Qi Hao remembered the system's Mind-Clearing and Brain-Strengthening Pill and hurried to the empty dorm to test its effects.

After taking the Mind-Clearing and Brain-Strengthening Pill, Qi Hao activated the Soviet Union Academic Ace Absolute Domain and became calmly absorbed in studying. Wang Jun and Chen Yuan found him acting strangely in the dorm, while Qi Hao continued reading after eating.

• Qi Hao took the Mind-Clearing and Brain-Strengthening Pill, activating the Soviet Union Academic Ace Absolute Domain.
• Qi Hao focused entirely on Introduction to Algebra, working through difficult proofs and ignoring his hunger.
• Qi Hao finished the book in about two hours and began reading Gelfand's Lectures on Linear Algebra and Multilinear Algebra.
• Wang Jun and Chen Yuan returned to the dorm and found Qi Hao unresponsive to their attempts to speak with him.
• Wang Jun opened a meal, prompting Qi Hao to eat politely before returning his attention to studying.

Qi Hao studied C# and Python in the library while the pill was still active, then joined his team to discuss their Imagine Cup project. When Zheng Qiang argued against building a drone, Qi Hao challenged him to be brave.

• Wang Jun woke up and messaged Qi Hao after finding his bed empty.
• Qi Hao read books on C# and Python in the twenty-four-hour library, then suffered a painful bout of numbness in his leg.
• Professor Wang proposed focusing the Imagine Cup project on drones after discussing the idea with CEO Wang from Dafei.
• Zheng Qiang argued that drones were too risky and suggested a Windows Mobile office suite instead.
• Qi Hao told Zheng Qiang that he who feared wolves should not enter the forest, then asked whether Zheng was afraid.

Qi Hao rebutted Zheng Qiang’s objections to the drone project and explained how Lie algebra informed a drone’s attitude updates. Professor Zhou split the students into two teams, and Zheng Qiang realized Qi Hao had already brought the math department a project while Zhao Ping decided to attach himself to Qi Hao.

• Qi Hao answered Zheng Qiang’s criticism by explaining how the exponential map updated a drone’s rotation matrix while preserving its structure.
• Professor Wang challenged Zheng Qiang to explain the mathematics behind drone rotation, and Qi Hao supplied the answer.
• Professor Zhou explained the purpose of the drone project and assigned Zheng Qiang to lead a Windows Mobile office-suite team while Qi Hao led a drone team.
• Zheng Qiang tried to negotiate after learning Professor Zhou had also chosen the drone project, but Professor Zhou declared the decision final.
• Professor Wang revealed that Qi Hao’s paper had helped bring the math department a project, leaving Zheng Qiang embarrassed and Zhao Ping convinced Qi Hao was an academic god worth following.

Qi Hao formed a two-person Imagine Cup team with Zhao Ping and won the support of Professors Zhou and Wang. After revealing his interest in the Jacobian Conjecture, he received advanced algebraic geometry books and immediately began studying them.

• Professor Zhou split the group, and Qi Hao chose Zhao Ping as his teammate while Wu Xue joined Zheng Qiang's team.
• Qi Hao decided to compete with Zhao Ping as a two-person team, dividing the modeling, paper, coding, UI, and presentation work between them.
• Professor Zhou and Professor Wang approved Qi Hao's plan and offered to advise him on the project.
• Qi Hao told Professor Wang he was studying the Jacobian Conjecture, and Professor Wang lent him five advanced books and recommended another English text.
• Qi Hao opened one of the books in Professor Wang's office and became absorbed in studying it.