Chapter 26

Five hundred years later, famous structures such as the Eiffel Tower and the Golden Gate Bridge would collapse one after another.

Five thousand years later, animals would begin to rule the earth again, and the traces of human civilization would have been worn away by time, leaving almost nothing behind.

Ten thousand years later, concrete would crumble and steel would turn to rubble. Perhaps only the Great Wall and the Egyptian Pyramids would still stand.

A hundred thousand years later, a new intelligent species might be born.

A new civilization would appear on Earth once again.

It was almost impossible to imagine that, in just ten thousand years, human civilization would disappear, leaving almost nothing behind.

To humans, ten thousand years was a long time.

But to the earth, already 4.6 billion years old, ten thousand years was of no consequence at all.

If those 4.6 billion years were scaled down to 46 hours, ten thousand years would be less than 0.2 seconds.

At that moment, everyone fell silent.

The man on the screen had actually anticipated what would happen ten thousand years later.

On the first day after humanity suddenly disappeared.

It was only the first day, yet Jiang Ye had already thought of preserving traces of human civilization to prove its existence to the next civilization.

However, the brief silence gave way to enormous controversy.

"Doesn't he know there's a seed vault for human civilization in Norway? What he's doing is pointless. He'd be better off thinking about how to survive."

"I admit his level of thinking is beyond any of us, but how is he going to preserve the videos he records?"

"And why record videos? Wouldn't it be better to hurry up and download the information on the internet?"

"Nice idea, but the execution is stupid!"

"Fuck you! You people just run your mouths. In his place, you wouldn't even have thought of it. At least Jiang Ye thought of it and did something about it."

"That's right. Whatever you think of how well Jiang Ye is doing, compared to the contestants from your five countries, the difference is like heaven and earth."

For a moment, a fierce online battle erupted.

But it didn't last long. Everyone's attention was soon drawn back to Jiang Ye on the screen.

Jiang Ye stood at the lectern, chalk in hand. He opened the proof of Goldbach's Conjecture he had written that afternoon, then looked at the camera.

"Before I officially begin, I think I should first give a general explanation."

He continued calmly, "I woke up in my room this morning and discovered that all humans had suddenly disappeared."

"Oh, right. 'Humans' is what we call our own species."

"I don't know exactly when they disappeared. Perhaps some unknown force is manipulating things behind the scenes. I hope you'll be alert to it."

"Now, I'm the only one left of our human civilization. As for why I was left behind, I don't know that either."

"Destruction has already begun, and the countdown is underway. What I'm doing now is preserving a trace of human civilization."

"In my view, nations, ethnic groups, populations, geographical environments, social structures and so on are no longer important when viewed from the perspective of humanity as a whole, nor are they worth your study."

"What matters is the highest intellectual achievement our human civilization was able to attain."

"As for what can perfectly demonstrate and prove that, I believe mathematics ranks first among all disciplines. So I'll start with mathematics and show you the results of our civilization's mathematical research."

"What follows is the proof of Goldbach's Conjecture. First, I'll introduce the background of how the conjecture came about..."

This was the first time Jiang Ye had revealed his innermost thoughts and ideas since the livestream began that morning.

There was no sorrow over humanity's disappearance.

No joy at breaking free of society's restraints.

No fear of loneliness.

There was only calm as he fulfilled his responsibilities and obligations as a member of humanity.

"Who just said it was pointless? How do you know Jiang Ye doesn't know about the seed vault in Norway? He might go to Norway after recording the videos and store them in the vault."

"That's right. Does your face hurt? While your five contestants are still doing all kinds of nonsense, a member of our nation has already started fulfilling his responsibilities and obligations as a human."

"Not only that, I finally understand why Jiang Ye started studying and solving conjecture after conjecture so early this morning."

"Jiang Ye most likely decided to do this after confirming humanity's disappearance this morning. That's why he went to study and solve conjecture after conjecture: to raise the level of our civilization's intellectual achievements and show the next intelligent civilization even greater splendor."

"I'm already starting to admire him. While we're still on the first level, he's already on the tenth, the hundredth. No one can match the height of his vision."

Chapter 26: I Am Jiang Ye, a Dragon Country Native, an Insignificant Member of Humanity

Viewers around the world marveled at the level of Jiang Ye's thinking, but they couldn't understand what came next.

Mathematical luminaries around the world who had stopped watching Jiang Ye's livestream were stirred once again by a single statement. They opened his livestream and were instantly captivated.

When faced with a novel theory, especially in a field they studied themselves, everyone's first reaction was bound to be doubt, followed immediately by challenges.

Acceptance, or even appreciation, came only at the end.

This process was usually a long one.

But if the originator could set out and explain his novel theory himself, that time would be greatly shortened.

Although Jiang Ye was explaining it to the next intelligent civilization, that also made his explanation more detailed and clearer.

As a result, leading figures in mathematics around the world, and even some young scholars, could no longer tear their eyes away after hearing Jiang Ye's exposition.

Next came the independent scholars. After all, quite a few people in that group studied Goldbach's Conjecture.

Inside the university lecture hall.

After his initial introduction, Jiang Ye formally began his exposition of Goldbach's Conjecture.

He divided it mainly into two parts: first, the Group Construction Method used in proving Goldbach's Conjecture, and second, the proof of Goldbach's Conjecture itself.

"The Group Construction Method is short for 'the method of studying the overall structure of group theory.' Its central idea is to make use of the concept of cyclic groups..."

Once he got to the main subject, Jiang Ye was no longer nervous. Overall, he was in fairly good form; his thoughts and words flowed smoothly, without the slightest stumble.

Because his audience was the next intelligent civilization, he explained everything with particular care, doing his best to make every point clear.