30: Chapter 30: What year is it now?

Hu Gualing casually found a tree branch and began writing on the ground.

"In triangle ABC with an area of 3√15, the sides opposite to the internal angles A, B, and C are a, b, and c respectively. If b-c=2 and cosA=-1/4, then a=_"

"Trigonometric functions?" Tang Yao glanced at Hu Gualing with slight surprise. "You look quite mature; I didn't expect you to be a high school student too."

"What high school student? It's just a problem I learned back then. Just tell me if you can solve it or not!" Hu Gualing's eyes flickered, not wanting to mention the story behind this problem.

That was the most turbulent spring of his life.

At that time, he was still an ambitious Student Athlete.

During the Independent Recruitment cultural test, a math problem about trigonometric functions blocked his path.

If it had been completely beyond the syllabus, he would have let it go.

But as it happened, he vaguely remembered hearing the teacher explain this very problem while he was being punished by standing outside the classroom.

To give up just like that... he couldn't reconcile with it!

So he stared at that trigonometric function problem relentlessly, staring and staring until he fell asleep and woke up, then fell asleep again...

Until it was time to hand in the paper, he still hadn't managed to stare out an answer for that multiple-choice question.

This led to his failure in the Independent Recruitment.

Though, it also had something to do with the rain that followed.

If it hadn't been for that heavy rain...

Forget it, the past has all turned to mist.

At the very least, the prompt of this trigonometric problem was firmly etched in his heart; he probably wouldn't forget it for the rest of his life.

Tang Yao read the prompt twice, took the branch, and began calculating on the ground. She quickly provided the result.

"a=8?"

Hu Gualing looked at the answer and fell into deep thought again.

Because he didn't know if the answer was correct either.

True, the complete calculation process was written on the ground.

But he hadn't learned much in school to begin with, and after entering society, he had long since thrown that meager bit of knowledge in his head to the back of beyond. To the point where he couldn't even understand the problem-solving process now...

Tang Yao noticed his predicament and asked tentatively, "You can't understand it?"

Hu Gualing nodded, wanting to cry but having no tears. Who would have thought? I, the great Hu Gualing, would actually have a day where I regret not studying hard back then.

Tang Yao propped her head on her finger and thought for a moment, then suddenly smiled. "It's okay. This just proves that you have absolutely no idea what the answer to this problem is. If I can prove the answer is correct under these circumstances, then you should be able to confirm that I'm a real player, and that you're not dreaming, right?"

Hu Gualing was startled. "How do you know what I'm thinking?"

Tang Yao said speechlessly, "Please, you've been talking to yourself the whole time. Anyone who hears it could guess what's going on, okay?"

"Heh heh, is that so?" Hu Gualing gave an embarrassed smile, but then thought, "I don't even understand the formulas, how can you prove to me that the answer is right?"

"That's easy," Tang Yao showed a confident expression. "But let's agree first: since I'm helping you with this, you have to answer my questions properly when I ask you later."

Hu Gualing nodded to show his agreement.

So Tang Yao took the branch and began explaining while pointing at the calculation process.

Don't understand the formulas? No problem, redefine them.

Forgot the theorems? No problem, derive them from scratch.

...

In the control room of the Main God Space, Chen Mo and Xiao Wan never expected that the only two current players would ignore the game and instead play around with trigonometric functions.

But Tang Yao was indeed Tang Yao; as the top student in her class back then, her schoolwork was still so solid despite lying in a hospital bed for over half a year.

Even when facing someone like Hu Gualing, who didn't even understand formulas and theorems.

She was able to explain all the knowledge points covered by the problem with ease and depth.

Even Chen Mo felt a sense of gaining new insights from reviewing the old while listening.

Tang Yao finished quickly and pointed at the answer with the branch. "Got it?"

"I got it... I got it..." Hu Gualing was drenched in sweat.

This was the first time he had been immersed in the ocean of knowledge. A thought even flashed through his mind—if the teachers who taught him back then had been like Tang Yao, he definitely could have fulfilled his dream of going to a Junior College.

Of course, none of that mattered anymore.

The important thing was that he could now roughly conclude that this wasn't a dream.

Because everything that appeared in a dream, no matter how bizarre, was actually a projection of the subconscious.

And in his subconscious, there was absolutely no calculation or proof process for this problem.

That meant...

The Tang Yao in front of him was a real player.

And this Fantasy Jianghu he was in was truly an unprecedented holographic online game!

What era was the 21st century? The era of games!

Even a game like Genshin Impact, which was essentially a single-player gacha game wearing the skin of an MMO, could attract seven billion players.

Once this holographic game, which was so real he couldn't distinguish it from a dream, officially opened for registration, how crazy would it get? It wasn't impossible for it to become a second world!

And the best part was that this game seemed to still be in the testing phase. The 'No. 002' in the top left corner of his character panel probably meant he was the second player.

This meant he could take all the initiative in the game. When a large number of players flooded in later, he could exchange some obsolete equipment and Materials for a massive amount of wealth!

Who would want to be a miserable night shift security guard then? Hilarious—he'd just buy out the Jinkai Factory!

Tang Yao watched Hu Gualing's ever-changing expressions, lost in thought.

It seemed the impact of the holographic game on him was not small either.

"Stop smiling for a moment, it's my turn to ask you questions. What month and year is it now?"

"Hehehehehe... Uh—" Hu Gualing woke up from his daydream of buying the Jinkai Factory and reaching the Peak of his life, answering casually, "June '24."

"2024?" Tang Yao became tense.

"What else?" Hu Gualing finally noticed something was wrong, and his gaze became strange.

"Phew~" Tang Yao breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good, that's good. It's only been over half a year. Mom and Dad shouldn't be suffering too much while waiting..."

"What do you mean?" Hu Gualing suddenly became nervous. "Are you saying you've been trapped here for over half a year?"

"Don't overthink it. You can quit this game whenever you want and just come back in next time. Otherwise, how did you log off yesterday?"

"True." Hu Gualing thought about it; that was indeed the case. "Then there's nothing wrong with this game. It's just that there are too few players right now, so I can't even earn some pocket money."

Tang Yao's heart stirred. "Are you short on money?"

Hu Gualing froze for a moment, looking at Tang Yao as if she were an idiot. "What kind of question is that? Is there anyone who isn't short on money?"

Tang Yao didn't mind and said with a smile, "Then I'll give you a number. Call it after you log off to tell them I'm safe for me. As for the reward, you can ask for whatever you want. As long as it's not too excessive, Mom should agree to it."

Hu Gualing: "Your mom's phone number? Why don't you call her yourself?"

Tang Yao pursed her lips and didn't answer, writing down a mobile number on the ground.

Hu Gualing felt there were too many questions here, but since she was unwilling to say, he had no choice but to squat there for over half an hour to memorize the mobile number.

"Done? Then I'll leave it to you." Tang Yao erased the number, clapped her hands, and carried her stool to prepare the pig feed.

...