Awakening Elementary School System in University

By the time Chen Lin reached the thirtieth line of his proof, only about twenty percent of the people in the hall could barely keep up with his pace.

This was enough.

By Chen Lin’s own estimation, if he were willing to write out every step in greater detail, he could have raised that percentage even higher.

But for him, what mattered most right now was speed.

As long as the few most important viewers, both in the audience and online, could understand, his goal would be achieved.

Another ten minutes passed.

The first whiteboard was already full. Chen Lin had moved on to the second, and his written proof had already reached the fiftieth line.

In the front row, Academician Liang Tianshi, along with Director Feng Yunhai and Professor Gongtan seated beside him, never once took their eyes off the large live-feed screen on the right side of the auditorium.

Academician Liang was getting on in years. Even with the special reading glasses he wore for viewing distant projections, it was still a struggle to make out the rapidly changing symbols on the screen.

But he watched with intense focus, as if to sear every symbol into his very mind.

Seated beside him, the pot-bellied Professor Gongtan couldn’t help but chuckle as he watched, commenting in a low voice, "This kid is a real monster. He just picks up a pen and starts calculating, without a single moment of hesitation. It’s been almost twenty minutes, hasn’t it?"

He shook his head, his voice filled with amazement. "I thought that after the incidents with Huanrun Pharmaceutical and the solid-state battery, I already had a pretty thorough understanding of this kid’s mathematical ability.

It seems I was too naive. His talent is far, far greater than I ever imagined!"

Feng Yunhai, seated on Academician Liang’s other side, nodded in fervent agreement. "You’ve always had the sharpest eye, Liang.

Back in June or July, when the kid was still a complete unknown, you’d already noticed him. You even came to me specifically to discuss how we could poach him from Yannan University."

At this, a wry, regretful smile touched Feng Yunhai’s lips. "If Principal Chang Kai from Yannan hadn’t reacted and moved so fast, completely shutting us down, this kid would be at Yanbei University right now."

Academician Liang Tianshi heard his two former students talking, but he didn’t respond.

He just kept his eyes fixed on the large screen.

A long-forgotten tension gripped his heart.

It had been a long, long time since he’d felt this way—this mix of apprehension and excitement, the anticipation of witnessing a great achievement come to life before his very eyes.

Academician Liang’s mind drifted back forty years.

Back then, he had been in his prime, a core member of the mathematical advisory team that performed the orbital calculations for Huaxia’s first geostationary communications satellite.

In the hours after the satellite’s successful launch, as he waited for it to settle precisely into its designated orbit, he had felt exactly as he did now.

Academician Liang was certain that if Chen Lin succeeded today, he would truly be able to fulfill the promise he had made to himself: to win the first Fields Medal for Huaxia!

A surreal, dreamlike feeling washed over him.

It all felt a little unreal.

He was actually witnessing it with his own eyes: a young man, born and raised on Huaxia’s soil, whose mathematical talent rivaled—and perhaps even surpassed—that of all the top geniuses in the West, bursting onto the world stage.

’Huaxia is truly blessed by the heavens!’

Academician Liang sighed to himself.

...

On the other side of the auditorium, Professor Figali, who had long since returned to his seat, was also staring intently at the large screen, as was Edmond, the graduate student he had brought along to broaden his horizons.

"Professor..." Edmond’s face was a mask of utter disbelief. "I always thought your research on problems related to optimal transport and the Monge-Ampère equation was the most authoritative in the world. But... this Chen Lin... he’s just on another level!"

Edmond’s words tumbled out in a rush of excitement. "And from his lecture earlier and what’s on the whiteboard now, it seems the Monge-Ampère equation is just a foundational tool in his massive theoretical framework! The way he’s applying these research conclusions... I’ve never seen anything like it. I couldn’t have even imagined it!"

The mild-mannered Professor Figali turned to his blunt student with a look of gentle exasperation and reminded him jokingly, "Edmond, a little tact goes a long way. Next time you say something like that, try to spare your advisor’s feelings, will you?"

"Huh?" Edmond froze for a second before he understood. A faint, embarrassed blush crept up his face as he quickly apologized, "Sorry, Professor, that’s not what I meant..."

He scratched his head, then asked curiously, "But, Professor, when you chose to yield your time to Chen Lin earlier, was it... because you realized this too?"

"Yes." Professor Figali nodded candidly, his eyes showing pure admiration and a hint of relief. "I realized it during his lecture. His research into optimal transport and the Monge-Ampère equation is not only deeper than mine, but he has also made extremely important applications of these results in frontier fields, like the boundaries of manifolds."

He paused, a relieved smile gracing his features. "Speaking of which, I have Professor Deligne to thank. I’m sure he saw it too, which is why he deliberately challenged Chen Lin. It just so happened to give me a graceful way out, a reasonable excuse to avoid embarrassing myself on stage in front of my colleagues."

...

Normally, thanks to the superhuman hearing of Little Champion, Chen Lin would have been able to hear every single whisper in the auditorium with perfect clarity.

The Little Mathematician title simply caused the crystal-clear proof and calculation process to form automatically in the depths of his mind.

Ordinarily, he would only need to act as an unfeeling transcription machine, transferring these thoughts onto the whiteboard verbatim.

But this time was different.

He had to devote a portion of his focus to identifying non-essential, conventional steps in real time, then condensing and simplifying them into single, indicative lines of text.

At the same time, he also had to deliberately write faster with the marker, pushing his speed to the absolute limit while ensuring his handwriting remained clear.

As a result, Chen Lin’s attention was now completely and utterly focused on the whiteboard before him.

All outside sounds—applause, gasps of awe, whispers—were automatically filtered out by his brain, dissolving into a meaningless background hum.

Another ten minutes passed.

The third whiteboard was also full.