Super God-Level Top Student

Xu Changshu went downstairs with a belly full of doubts, and before leaving, he even took away the exercise Qiao Ze had casually written down.

He was still not quite convinced.

Analyzing at a glance... if he looks at it more, maybe he could do it too?

Five students stayed behind, looking at Qiao Ze sitting there silently, unsure of what he was thinking, and the tension began to rise again.

Coming to Qiao for guidance this time was something everyone had resolved to do.

It was also a matter of no choice.

When doing academic research, if one can't leave a legacy in history, at the very least, one shouldn't let their bad reputation spread far and wide at such a young age, right?

Later, when representing the mentor at conferences, if others say, "Look, that's the group that has made Qiao reluctant to even publish papers," how hurtful would that be? Did they all not care about their reputation anymore?

Just thinking about it was a great pressure; no one wanted to carry such a stain for life.

Who would have dared to think that this last resort would yield great rewards, finally making their beloved Qiao realize the issue with the ability gap.

Not everyone was born with such a miraculous mathematical talent.

Just being a doctoral supervisor at the age of twenty, in the history of academia, that was a uniquely explosive existence. So it really wasn't right to estimate their abilities by his own.

That would really trap them in a vicious cycle.

Every time they listened to Qiao Ze's explanations, they felt they might be able to do it, but when they were asked to solve the problems on their own, their true capabilities were immediately exposed.

If this continued, they were really losing their confidence.

After pondering for a while, Qiao Ze finally spoke, "What do you think is the most effective way to learn?"

"Uh... that... maybe we could start with something more basic? Like maybe you could, like other mentors, start by recommending us some monographs, so we can solidify our foundation on superspiral algebra and transcendental geometry?"

Wang Yu, who had also been thinking for a long time, was the first to speak.

This was a common thought among everyone.

Only by truly immersing oneself in the subject and practicing enough exercises can one realize how complex the prerequisite knowledge needed to fully understand the Super Helix Equation is.

It was hard to imagine just how solid Qiao Ze's foundation must have been to have invented such an abstract algebraic geometric system at such a young age.

In private, everyone suspected that Qiao's brain must have undergone a mutation; otherwise, it was inexplicable.

"Oh, but that would slow things down... hmmm, actually, it makes sense. Let's start with noncommutative geometry then. The algebraic geometry problems in the Super Helical Coordinate System often need these kinds of ideas and tools. I'll recommend a few books to you, give you a week... a month, alright, three months to thoroughly understand these books, that should be possible."

While saying this, Qiao Ze was still uncertain, pushing back the timeline as he spoke.

This made him feel like a quack doctor who, after taking the pulse, still had little understanding of the patient's condition when it came to prescribing medicine.

But the five students were truly relieved.

If they had suddenly been introduced to a new geometric research direction in the past, they might have thought the mentor was asking too much.

But after having gone through this grueling learning process, they were only grateful that Qiao Ze had given them some time to get accustomed to the foundational geometric content.

"No problem! I'll make sure to do it."

"Us too!"

"Qiao, rest assured, we will definitely meet your requirements in three months."

...

"Hmm."

The statements from the five students gave Qiao Ze a bit more confidence. After a moment's thought, he said, "During these three months, you don't need to come here for group meetings. You just need to master the content of the books. You don't need to study anything new. Once you've got that down, and then get to know some quantum physics, solving the Super Helix Equation should become much simpler."

Studying this existing simple knowledge indeed made the group meetings unnecessary.

Qiao Ze didn't know how to teach them.

He couldn't just play videos during group meetings, could he?

Everyone nodded in agreement.

They were all doctoral students; they had that much self-discipline.

If the mentor felt group meetings were unnecessary, then they truly were.

"You may go," Qiao Ze waved his hand.

The students exchanged glances, then said their goodbyes respectfully, and left.

After the students had gone, Edward Witten came by for a chat.

"Problem solved?"

Qiao Ze glanced at Edward Witten. He intended to discuss whether it was appropriate to randomly disclose the content of their conversation with such a distinguished figure, but considering how this mishap let him roughly understand the average person's level of mathematical comprehension, he again felt his interest wane.

So he just nodded as usual.

"Although I don't understand, I can guess what you were discussing," Edward Witten went on to say.

Qiao Ze just looked at him, unsurprised.

Because he could make a guess too.

Just by paying attention to the expressions and certain details of both parties, even if he didn't understand the language, he could still guess with high likelihood. And today, he had even specifically asked Edward about some views.

Qiao Ze usually couldn't be bothered to put in the mental effort.

He had always been like this, seldom meddling in other people's affairs.

Unless that person was close enough.

Though Qiao Ze didn't respond to his words, Edward Witten, having adapted to Qiao Ze's proud and aloof ways over these days, continued with enthusiasm, "You're destined not to become an excellent mentor. You won't be good at guiding others. Even if someone taught you their experience hand in hand, you couldn't learn."

This time, Qiao Ze finally replied, "Why?"