After the presentation concluded, the gathered scholars did not rush to leave. Some stayed at Jingda or accepted invitations to other universities across the capital for academic exchanges, while others took the opportunity to tour the city and take in the sights.
Naturally, a few remained at Jingda in an attempt to recruit Huang Tian to their own institutions. Professor Srinivasan, for instance, proved remarkably persistent, dropping by from time to time to sing the praises of NYU and urge Huang Tian to give it serious consideration.
At the same time, several world-renowned institutions—including Princeton, UChicago, and Cambridge—extended olive branches, offering extraordinarily generous packages.
At Jingda, Chen Yue, Dean of the School of Mathematics, and Vice Dean Li Nuo also extended an invitation to Huang Tian, though neither felt particularly confident.
They knew all too well how magnetic Princeton was to any mathematician. Even if Huang Tian ultimately chose not to go to Princeton, institutions like UChicago, Cambridge, and Harvard would still rank well ahead of Jingda in priority.
It was simply the nature of mathematical research: it thrived on constant exchange among exceptional peers. Top foreign universities had world-class mathematicians, and prolonged interaction with them sparked creative inspiration. That was precisely why so many domestic mathematicians preferred to take positions abroad.
Remaining domestic meant lacking masters to converse and debate with, leaving one to work behind closed doors—a condition under which making groundbreaking achievements was exceedingly difficult.
Along the shores of Weiming Lake, the spring day was gentle and warm.
The lake’s waters were as clear as a mirror, reflecting the vast azure sky and tumbling white clouds. Willows draped gracefully along the banks, their tender branches swaying in unison with the water whenever a spring breeze brushed past.
Li Nuo and Huang Tian walked along the shore. Nearby, several Jingda students were strolling and chatting; seeing the two of them, the bolder ones grinned and greeted them, while the more reserved snapped quiet photos from a distance.
The two nodded and smiled in response from time to time, leisurely pacing beneath the spring breeze.
Li Nuo looked up at the surrounding scenery and sighed with nostalgia. "I passed the entrance exam for Jingda's School of Mathematics in '91, did my master's and doctorate right here, and never left afterward—I was hired straight onto the faculty. Counting it up, it's been thirty-five years. Half my life has been spent right here.
"Jingda has become my second home. Maybe I'm just a homebody, but after decades here, I've never grown tired of it, haha. Weiming Lake, Boya Pagoda, Jingyuan... it's all so familiar."
After his nostalgic sigh, he said slowly, "Compared to the top foreign universities, Jingda's School of Mathematics certainly has its shortcomings. But it is at home, after all. The environment won't feel foreign to you, and the finest mathematicians in Xia are gathered right here...
"If you are willing to stay and take a position at Jingda, the university can guarantee that all your compensation and benefits will be at the absolute highest level. At the same time, we promise to nominate you to the candidate list for the Academy of Sciences this year..."
The youngest academician in Xia had been Lu Ke, who was elected at the age of thirty-eight and was now the director of the Research Center at the Xia Academy of Sciences' Institute of Metal Research.
Being elected an academician at thirty-eight was extraordinary. Typically, the age of election ranged between fifty-five and sixty-five, so one could easily imagine the shock Lu Ke had delivered to Xia's academic community at the time.
Yet Jingda was promising to nominate Huang Tian to the candidate list this very year. He was currently twenty-five years old; if nominated this year, he was virtually guaranteed to become an academician next year—an academician at twenty-six. That was unquestionably staggering.
Yet, considering his academic achievements, it also felt entirely natural. After all, if anyone was jealous, they were welcome to go and solve a Millennium Prize Problem themselves!
Li Nuo added, "Of course, if you don't intend to stay at Jingda, going abroad is fine too. After all, they have first-rate peers and a premier academic environment..."
"There's no need. I plan to stay at Jingda," Huang Tian said, waving a hand.
If he were a pure mathematician seeking greater breakthroughs in the field above all else, Princeton would indeed have been an excellent destination. Its reputation as a mathematical holy land was no joke.
Unfortunately, he was not a mere mathematician. Proving the Navier-Stokes equations had been nothing more than an incidental effort. Before long—perhaps after returning from his next traverse—he would unleash his abilities without restraint. Under those circumstances, taking a position at a foreign university held little meaning.
"Ah... ah?!"
For a moment, Li Nuo thought he had misheard. How had the man agreed before he had even made a proper pitch? The heartfelt emotional speech he had prepared had not even left his lips!
"You... you agree to stay at Jingda?!" Li Nuo's eyes lit up, and he stopped in his tracks, turning sideways to ask.
Huang Tian nodded slightly. "I do."
"Why...?"
"Just as you said. An unfamiliar foreign environment would be too alien."
"Ah... ah? Ah!"
Li Nuo opened his mouth, at a loss for words. His intuition told him this was not the real reason, but whatever the reason, it did not matter—as long as Huang Tian agreed to stay at Jingda, it was wonderful news!
He hurriedly said, "Whatever requests you have, just tell me. The school and the university will do everything possible to accommodate them."
"I would like to have no teaching obligations for one year so that I can focus entirely on research."
The reason he set the term to one year was his premonition that the voice line for his next journey across worlds would arrive soon. A year's time should be sufficient to complete the traversal.
Even if it were not, he could always adjust things when the time came. As long as he continued to produce groundbreaking academic results, Jingda would not care what he did with his ordinary days.
"That is a minor matter! I can agree to that on behalf of the school right now!"
Li Nuo replied without hesitation. It truly was a trivial request. Although major universities had placed increasing emphasis on teaching in recent years—urging distinguished experts and professors to mentor more students and deliver more lectures to foster exceptional talent—there were always exceptions. Scholars dedicated purely to research were not uncommon, to say nothing of the fact that Huang Tian was only requesting a single year without teaching duties.
"Do you have any other requests?"
"None."
Overjoyed and amazed, Li Nuo promised, "Rest assured, that won't be a problem at all. In addition, the university will allocate you an elite faculty apartment over in Yandong Garden, along with a talent subsidy. If you aren't satisfied with the home in Yandong Garden, you can use the subsidy to purchase a house elsewhere..."
He laid out the specific package in great detail. Huang Tian had no objections and nodded in agreement.
That very evening, Jingda could not wait to release an official announcement. In essence, it stated that Huang Tian was joining Jingda's faculty, serving as a Boya Distinguished Professor, Vice Dean of Jingda's School of Mathematics, and Associate Director of the Center for Applied Physics and Technology, effective immediately.
The positions of Vice Dean and Associate Director were purely titular, involving no day-to-day administrative duties. Huang Tian had no desire to manage administrative affairs anyway; that would be a pure waste of time.
Once the news broke, it triggered a massive sensation across the public sphere.
"I really thought God Huang would take a post abroad! For a top-tier mathematician like him, a foreign university is undoubtedly the better choice—Princeton, Cambridge, Harvard... they're packed with legends!"
"Listen to yourself. Jingda isn't bad at all! Besides, plenty of people just don't adapt well to living overseas."
"Nothing strange about it, is there? Didn't Elder Qiu stay at Shuimu, after all?"
"You don't get it. How old was Mr. Qiu when he returned, and how old is Huang Tian right now? He's at the absolute peak of his energy and intellect! He ought to be at a foreign university interacting with first-rate mathematicians, letting their minds clash to produce inspiration!"
"Everyone has their own ambitions. Who knows what God Huang is thinking? Besides, the commenter above is right: Jingda's academic environment is far from poor, and he doesn't have to deal with being a stranger in a strange land. Staying isn't bad at all."
"..."
While the internet buzzed with debate, the scholars still lingering at Jingda let out heavy sighs. Srinivasan in particular sought Huang Tian out before leaving, earnestly telling him that NYU would always welcome him with open arms before reluctantly taking his leave.
Over the next few days, figures like Witten, Drinfeld, and Faltings departed one by one. Jingda gradually returned to tranquility, yet the ripples from Huang Tian's proof of the Navier-Stokes equations were far from settled.
For example, the journal *Inventiones Mathematicae* reached out to Huang Tian specifically, informing him that the paper he had previously submitted would be published in their upcoming issue. As for whether there could be errors given that the paper had bypassed the traditional peer review process, that was not an issue in the slightest—a handful of peer reviewers could never carry more authority than the dozens of elite scholars who had attended the presentation at Jingda.
Meanwhile, the Executive Committee of the International Mathematical Union held a call with Jingda, inviting Huang Tian to attend this year's International Congress of Mathematicians in Philadelphia. Their words strongly hinted that the Fields Medal would be awarded to him, and they earnestly urged him to attend.
Everyone had anticipated this. If solving a century-old problem that had perplexed the mathematical world for over a hundred years could not earn a Fields Medal, the medal's prestige would suffer immensely.
Beyond the journal publication and the International Congress of Mathematicians, there was also the matter of the one-million-dollar prize, which countless eyes were watching closely.
The Clay Mathematics Institute dispatched an official to the capital in person to meet with Huang Tian and invite him to Massachusetts for the award ceremony.
In truth, there had been no need for the official to come all the way in person. So long as both sides communicated properly, Huang Tian could simply fly over to claim the prize. However, the Clay Mathematics Institute had suffered a lingering psychological trauma in the past.
As was widely known, the Clay Mathematics Institute had established seven Millennium Prize Problems, and prior to Huang Tian, only one had ever been solved: Professor Grigori Perelman's proof of the Poincaré conjecture.
Back then, the Clay Mathematics Institute had sought to confer the million-dollar prize upon Perelman, contacting him multiple times to come receive it. Yet, for reasons unknown, Perelman had completely ignored them. The institute had repeatedly sent representatives to invite him, but Perelman remained utterly unmoved, and to this day, that million-dollar prize had never been handed out.
If the award could not be conferred upon Huang Tian this time either, the Clay Mathematics Institute would truly be left in an embarrassing bind...
Therefore, to show their sincere commitment, the institute's official simply made the trip in person.
Huang Tian did not decline the trip to America to receive the prize. He had already planned to travel there anyway. His reason was simple: he wanted to see whether the United States harbored mutants, supermen, aliens, werewolves, witches, or any such bizarre phenomena.
If neither Xia nor the United States—the two most powerful nations in the modern world—possessed transcendent powers, then it was virtually impossible for them to exist elsewhere. In that case, he could set his mind completely at ease.
Seeing Huang Tian agree, the official breathed an immediate sigh of relief and expedited his visa processing. A few days later, the two boarded a flight bound for the United States.
As for his formal appointment, Jingda had granted Huang Tian a month and a half before his duties officially began. This was meant to give him ample time to handle personal matters, such as moving into his new residence, decorating the apartment, and purchasing a car.
On the day after his arrival at the Clay Mathematics Institute in Massachusetts, a modest award ceremony was held. Scholars from local universities, along with several politicians and wealthy patrons, attended the event. Amid enthusiastic applause, Huang Tian was presented with a gold medal, while the one million dollars would be wired directly into his account.
After receiving the award and dining with the local scholars, he boarded a domestic flight the following morning to tour various states across America. In every location, he hired a car and explored for two days before moving on to the next destination.
His behavior aroused no suspicion; everyone assumed he had simply come for sightseeing. Indeed, he engaged in nothing out of the ordinary, merely sweeping his divine sense across each area without drawing notice and moving on whenever he found nothing.
Roughly twenty days later, Huang Tian politely declined the hospitable invitations of numerous American scholars and boarded a flight back to Xia.
*Just as expected, no transcendent powers exist in America either,*
Huang Tian thought to himself, gazing at the leisurely clouds drifting past his cabin window.
Since no transcendent powers existed in Xia, there was no reason for them to exist in the United States. It had been expected, but seeing it with his own eyes had been necessary to be certain...
Now, his mind was at ease.
*This is my planet!*
When the plane landed at Capital International Airport, Huang Tian headed straight for Yandong Garden and tidied up what would be his residence for the near future.
By now, Jingda's talent subsidy had arrived in his account, and combined with the million-dollar prize from the Clay Mathematics Institute, he could easily afford to buy a new property. However, he cared little about luxurious living conditions, and the apartment in Yandong Garden was quite nice, so he saw no need to purchase another home.
He gave a portion of the funds to Father and Mother Huang, and after much persuasion, the two finally abandoned the idea of continuing their hard manual labor.
People of their generation never seemed to feel truly secure. Even if their children possessed fortunes in the millions or tens of millions, they continued to work diligently. Even if their children gave them sizable sums every year, they could not rest easy, insisting on earning their own keep.
Only now, realizing that Huang Tian was an internationally renowned scholar with an official tenure-track post at Jingda, did they finally stop clinging to grueling manual labor.
With his parents' situation settled, Huang Tian went to Jingda to complete his onboarding procedures. Meanwhile, he used his free time to tour the capital with Zong Wenjun, treating it as a relaxing vacation.
A few days later, he officially assumed his post at Jingda. His schedule was far from demanding. After familiarizing himself with a few colleagues, he settled in comfortably to read literature. No one disturbed him, and his movements were entirely unrestricted.
After all, he had no teaching responsibilities, and the school placed no immediate demands on his research output for the year. All in all, it was exceedingly relaxed and comfortable.
Ten days passed in this manner.
When Huang Tian opened his consciousness switch once more, a brilliant golden voice line pierced through the endless void.
"It's finally here..."
Delight surged through his heart, his eyes brightening. Tracing the golden voice line with his gaze, as if peering across infinite dimensions, a clear image manifested before his eyes.
Chapter 160