Book 4: Chapter 43: Parasites
My mind was racing, because the scent of gunpowder in the air was so heavy. It was obvious that these guys had brought a lot of weapons with them, so how could we communicate with them peacefully? They were now like a group of frightened birds who wanted to destroy anyone who stirred up trouble.
Moreover, there was this hoarse voice in Xiao Hua’s team who was calling himself Wu Xie. If they had been parasitized and already acknowledged that this person was Wu Xie, then my identity and social status were clearly in a terrible state.
What should I do?
In my mind, I tried to come up with a realistic plan. Xiao Hua had very high academic qualifications, although I didn’t know whether he went to school formally or did it by other means. In any case, he could remember most of the things he had learned, unlike me.
Did he remember calculus?
Assuming an extra person suddenly showed up for some unknown reason, what was his origin? Did the dragon vein conjure him up? If so, would he know how to do calculus?
It didn’t matter whether this was an illusion, a human conspiracy, or a freak born out of the treasures of heaven and earth. There was no way it could do calculus.
As a college graduate, you should apply what you learned.
I slowly retreated to one side, found the curvature of the mountain, and hid myself. Fatty pressed my hand with his hand as if to say, “What are you doing?”
We stopped here because we were afraid that the other party would launch a sneak attack against us. At present, the other party didn’t seem to have this plan, but it would be dangerous if we got any closer. As a result, it was better for us to carry out any activities at this distance.
At this time, I suddenly said, "Xie Yuhua! If you think I’m a fucking fake, then answer one of my questions first. You can make a decision after that."
The other side was completely shocked when they suddenly heard my voice coming from so close, but I immediately threw my question out, "Can you tell me about the concept and nature of the infinite series of constant terms?"
The other party was silent, so I shouted, "You said I was a fake! In that case, you have to first prove that you’re real!"
The risk was very high if both sides fired directly at this distance, so the other side also hesitated and didn’t dare move rashly.
After a while, Xiao Hua’s voice floated through the darkness, "Then recite Green's theorem."(1)
Who can recite that thing? I only had a vague shape of it in my mind, so I said, "There are two symbols in front of it that look like a ruyi scepter(2) and the back is very thick and solid."
As soon as I said this, I heard the other side stand down and assumed Xiao Hua must have given them instructions. Then he said, "Although what you said is nonsense, you give a very vivid description." Then the flashlight on his side turned on.
I carefully poked my head out to take a look and immediately shrank back. In that brief moment, I saw Xiao Hua and his team, all of whom were half-hanging on the cave wall.
I then stuck my head out again and took a careful look at Xiao Hua. He wore a tight mountaineering suit and his coat was tied around his waist. He didn’t have any safety equipment, his hair was very long, and his beard had grown out. He was holding onto a crevice with one hand and using his other hand to hold his flashlight.
It was him alright.
Xiao Hua also looked at me and said, "The addition of all items in the infinite series becomes the infinite series of constant terms. The sum of the first n terms of the infinite series of constant terms is called the partial sum. Whether the nth term in a partial sum sequence has a limit when it approaches infinity or not can be determined by whether the infinite series converges or not. In other words, if the limit of the partial sum sequence exists, the series is said to converge. Otherwise, it diverges."(3)
I gave a thumbs up and finally relaxed before sweeping my gaze over his team, looking for the Wu Xie with the hoarse voice.
"He’s not here,” Xiao Hua said. “It was just someone from our team disguised as you to confuse whatever’s here."
A little man behind him finally spoke up, "Little Master Three, I’m sorry. We found that as long as we have a real and a fake identity, the probability of strange phenomena occurring here is small. As a result, we have people here with two sets of identities."
I didn’t understand the logic and couldn’t make sense of what I was hearing but decided to just forget about it. Xiao Hua was here, so what more could I ask for?
We climbed over, but I noticed that Xiao Hua's face changed as soon as Poker-Face appeared. "Don't get angry,” I said to him. “This at least shows that we’re loyal enough."
I discovered that Black Glasses wasn’t in their team and asked, "Where’s Black Glasses?"
Xiao Hua looked at Poker-Face with a very complicated expression on his face and said to me, "Let's talk about it later. We need to count the number of people first."
As someone in their team started counting, he asked me, "How many people are in your group?"
"Three," I said.
"Are you sure it's three people?" He looked at me with piercing eyes.
"It’s always been the three of us," I said to him.
"Master Hua, there’s no problem with the number of people,” one of his subordinates said. “But they’re carrying a body."
Before he finished speaking, everyone suddenly became nervous. Fatty, who was still behind me, hid Jin Wantang's body behind his back, "Don’t worry. Tang Tang won’t transform into a zombie."
"It’s not a matter of turning into a zombie," Xiao Hua said.
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TN Notes:
(1) Info on the theorem is here. Here’s a pic of the formula:
(2) The ruyi scepter is a Chinese curved decorative object that serves as either a ceremonial scepter in Chinese Buddhism or a talisman symbolizing power and good fortune in Chinese folklore. A traditional ruyi has a long S-shaped handle and a head fashioned like a fist, cloud, or lingzhi mushroom. Info here.
(3) Last time I took calculus was 11 years ago so I probably butchered this. Just look at this pdf doc if you need to.
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Oh ho, I wonder if Black Glasses is leading the other team and they have a fake Poker-Face with them. But at least Xiao Hua's safe now! \(≧▽≦)/