Super God-Level Top Student

The impression was so profound that Laurent Lane even remembered the topic the kid spoke on that day: a problem concerning maximal generating subsets of a certain Abel Group.

As the final Q&A session was about to conclude, when the staff pulled open the windows of the conference room, allowing a stream of sunset light to shine directly on that face, Laurent Lane thought to himself that it was fortunate his daughter had just been born; otherwise, she would have certainly been completely enchanted by the confident and handsome young man on stage.

"Yes, he is indeed a universally recognized prodigy, and so handsome, too, more like a movie star than a mathematician! But do you want to know what Sumant just shared with me?" Joe Berner's voice was filled with mockery and the tone of gossip, as well as a feeling of eagerness to share...

"Of course, I'm dying to know," Laurent Lane immediately inquired.

Not just to suck up to the editor-in-chief but also because his curiosity was genuinely piqued.

After all, as the editor-in-chief of a mathematics journal, one's threshold for gossip tends to be quite high, so the content of their discussion must have been interesting.

"Simply put, Sumant suspects that Kori Durant's paper plagiarized from the one you just mentioned. Of course, not the entire paper, just a tiny portion of it, but as you know, Sumant happened to be the reviewer of this paper, reviewing it twice, which naturally made him more familiar with it... He even provided some evidence.

When you combine this with the paper being rejected by 'Pure and Applied Mathematics Communications' and Ackerman being very likely one of its reviewers... What do you think? Interesting, right?"

Laurent Lane subconsciously nodded his head.

However, he quickly realized they were on a call, the other party couldn't see his gestures or expressions, so he added, "Of course, that's very interesting. It's as if both papers are being suspected of academic misconduct, one of academic appropriation and the other of plagiarism. But I'm sure, even Sumant can't produce any solid evidence, right?"

"Haha, yes! After all, it's just a small proof of a lemma. Even if this proof is very clever, and the thought processes in both papers are so similar, what can be said about it? It's a pity, they're all old hands. If Sumant could provide more concrete evidence, the mathematics community would have quite a spectacle!

Trust me, if Sumant starts a fight, to defend his student, the Germans are sure to explode! It could even turn into a century showdown between Berkeley and Koen, which would be really exciting and interesting!"

Laurent Lane didn't know how to respond to that.

Well, how should I put it?

As the senior editor of a prestigious journal, Joe Berner's status in academia is not something this junior editor could compare with.

So while the editor-in-chief might express eager anticipation for a showstopping confrontation between top universities and top mathematicians, it would be best for him to stay humble.

Moreover, the young man named Kori Durant had made quite a good impression on him, and he truly hoped that Sumant's analysis was incorrect.

Although over the years in his editorial role, he had seen many academic matters that couldn't stand the light of day, he still believed that the young, bright kid should not be involved in such dirty affairs.

Not to mention that progress in foundational mathematics had been growing increasingly slow over the years, and hope lay with the younger generation of mathematicians.

Therefore, Laurent Lane subconsciously decided to steer the conversation back on track.

"So, Joe, what do you think we should do with these complaints and challenges? Should we send an email to the corresponding author to express our concern?"

"Oh, of course, why not? You know what? That's so interesting. One is a high school student, maybe not even twenty years old, and the other is also very young, if I'm not mistaken, also only 21 this year, and they are working in nearly the same field. Know what I regret?

If Kori's paper were published in our journal as well, then I would have been able to send emails to both, asking each of them to provide evidence that their paper was free of academic misconduct. It would be so intriguing! The lifeless academic world needs such stories to add a bit of vitality. I mean it, I want to see fireworks, how about you?"

"You're right, Joe... you've even got me looking forward to it. But I guess I should start by sending an email to the Huaxia people, sigh... I need to think carefully about how to word it, just in case that author under twenty is also a genius... Joe, as you said, we're not even afraid of offending those old-timers, but we definitely can't afford to offend the rising stars..."

"Haha, yes! Go on then, stay busy! Keep the mindset, always looking forward to something fresh happening every day; it's the secret to staying young. You know what? Laurent, your biggest problem is that you are too staid! You should try to be more like me."

"Of course, I will!"

Finally hanging up the phone, Laurent Lane let out a sigh.

Well, how should I put it, Joe is actually a pretty nice person, at least he's been good to me, but his taste for mischief is a bit too strong.

And he seemed to always be anticipating the sight of those seemingly beautiful things being destroyed...

Well, one can't complain about their immediate superior.

Putting the jumbled thoughts out of his mind, Laurent began to weigh his words carefully as he composed this letter of inquiry.

It must be said that Laurent belonged to that group of gentle old souls who, even in making inquiries, did not wish to come across as aggressive.

He had always believed that milder wording would elicit a more willing explanation from the other party.

Soon, the email was finished. The gist of it was a hope that the author could provide some evidence to guarantee that the paper was indeed written by themselves and did not involve academic encroachment.

Of course, Laurent also knew that asking the author to provide evidence that the paper was written by themselves was a rather absurd request. So, he offered some practical advice, suggesting that sending a fax of a document similar to a declaration, with agreed terms about the consequences of article encroachment, would be acceptable to the editorial office.

It wasn't anything serious, just a procedure everyone had to follow.

After completing these tasks, Laurent stretched languidly.

Time to sleep.

...

Huaxia, Xilin University.

Having not met before was one thing, but now that a meeting had occurred, it was naturally impossible to continue pretending to be deaf and mute as the host.

The university had arranged a grand reception ceremony at noon.

After all, Yu Hongwei did have the clout for it.

Initially, Chen Yuanzhi and Yu Hongwei had wanted to invite Qiao Ze to join them for the meal, and fortunately, several teachers familiar with Qiao were present. After Li Jiangao made a call and confirmed that Qiao Ze was not interested in attending, he directly declined the invitation on Qiao's behalf.

It was unnecessary, truly unnecessary.

Insisting on Qiao Ze attending the meal would only make everyone uncomfortable.

That guy always had a way to, without a word, transmit his feelings of unhappiness to everyone around him, making the atmosphere less pleasant for all.

In fact, it turned out that without Qiao Ze, everyone at the meal had a much more enjoyable conversation.

But just a few steps after the reluctant goodbyes, Chen Yuanzhi's face turned cold, as chilly as a block of ice.

"Xu Dajiang, Yang Lichun, whatever devious schemes you two are concocting, resolve this matter at once and bring out whatever backup plans you have. Especially you, Xu Dajiang. You truly made me see you in a new light! You heard what Su Lixing said just now, didn't you? They clearly don't want their daughter to be too exposed! Furthermore, have you considered what Li Jiangao thinks about this?

What Qiao Ze thinks?"

"President, the solution is actually quite clear. With questions raised, we simply dispel the doubts. On behalf of the School of Mathematics, I accept any investigation from the school and higher authorities. Let's start with me; if there are any issues, we'll deal with them accordingly. As for Jian Gao and Qiao Ze, I will go and apologize.

But one thing—I suppose our School of Mathematics now has a leading figure, doesn't it? If we continue to follow the old development model of a marginal department, wouldn't that be exceedingly unfair?"

"Cough cough, Xu, let's keep it brief for now... President, our publicity department will take action immediately and do our utmost to minimize the impact!"