318: Chapter 318 Proof! The Kakeya Conjecture!

Zhao Yang had just sat down at his desk and flipped his Kakeya Conjecture drafts to the page where he had stopped last night when his phone rang. He glanced at the caller ID; it was Director Wang from the Discipline Inspection Department.

"Director Wang."

Zhao Yang answered the call.

"Dr. Zhao, I hope I'm not disturbing you?"

Director Wang's tone was much more polite than when they had last met at the R&D Center.

"Not at all. Please, go ahead."

"Two things. First, a formal thank you. Operation Nightingale tracked three traitors all the way abroad. Without the technical support you provided, we wouldn't have obtained such extensive and detailed evidence, let alone closed the net so quickly. On behalf of the Discipline Inspection Department, I am conveying our gratitude to you personally."

"It was only right."

Zhao Yang said calmly.

"The second thing."

Director Wang paused, and the sound of rustling paper came from the other end of the line, as if he were looking for a document.

"In the materials you provided, we discovered a long-term target list for this spy organization. Your name is on it, and it's ranked quite high. They have been planning against you for a long time. Based on the timeline, we found that this organization started paying attention to you as soon as you published your proof of the twin prime conjecture.

This recent post was just the first step of testing the waters. There are more systematic plans following it, including a public opinion siege at the academic level, technical theft at the commercial level, and even threats to your personal safety."

Zhao Yang held the phone without speaking, his eyes narrowing slightly.

As a person who had been reborn, he naturally knew how despicable the USA and the Jews could be; they were notoriously unscrupulous.

To be honest, Zhao Yang felt that being targeted was only a matter of time, but he hadn't expected them to set their sights on him much earlier than he had imagined.

Interesting!

Was it because he was too young and the talent he displayed was far too exceptional?

"We have decided to publicly mention your name at the press conference, primarily as a deterrent. We want them to know that we have already compromised their networks and are aware of their designs on you. They should show some restraint in the short term. Additionally, you are a key protection target for the Ministry of State Security. We will arrange for personnel to be responsible for your safety in the shadows. Go about your daily business as usual; there's no need to be nervous, but you should be aware of the situation."

"I understand, thank you!"

Zhao Yang said sincerely. Regarding the Ministry of State Security protecting him in the shadows, he had noticed it long ago. He possessed Super Vision, and his senses far exceeded those of ordinary people. When he reported to the Aerospace Center last year, he had noticed a few unnatural figures in the parking lot of the office building opposite the R&D Center. Occasionally, he would see faces appearing with some regularity near his villa. He had never pointed it out, but he was always aware.

"You're welcome, it's our duty. That's all for now. Contact me anytime if anything comes up."

After saying this, Director Wang hung up.

Zhao Yang placed his phone on the desk and picked up his pen again. The estimate for the lower bound of the norm, which he had half-pushed through last night, was still lying there on the draft. He read two lines when the phone rang again. This time it was General Li.

"Zhao Yang, I just heard about Operation Nightingale. How are you? Are you okay?"

General Li's voice was more urgent than usual, with the faint sound of military vehicle engines in the background.

"I'm fine. I mainly provided some technical support for network tracking and evidence extraction. I didn't do anything else, so I'm naturally safe."

Zhao Yang smiled.

As he spoke, a strange look crossed his eyes. It seemed the Ministry of State Security's secrecy was truly airtight; even a high-level figure like General Li actually didn't know the details of this operation.

"That's good then."

General Li clearly breathed a sigh of relief.

"I've read the mission report for Operation Nightingale. You all did a beautiful job."

Zhao Yang didn't respond.

"To be honest, if I had known earlier that you were interested in aero-engines, I would have transferred you directly to the aero-engine department back then."

General Li's tone relaxed a bit, taking on a joking quality.

"Engines are different from coatings. Stealth coatings involve materials science and Electromagnetism; it was already scary enough for a math and Physics guy like you to cross over into that. But engines are even more complex. So, are you interested in transferring over?"

"There will be an opportunity."

Zhao Yang said with a smile.

"What do you mean, 'opportunity'?"

"I'm already working on it. Once the test run verification for the four-thrust chamber configuration is finished, if the results are good, I might be able to move into larger thrust models later. It won't be too late for you to transfer me then."

General Li laughed on the other end: "You, no matter where you go, you can grasp the core essentials in the shortest time. You truly are a top-tier genius! Fine, I won't rush you. But here's one thing: next time Deputy Director Wang comes to have tea with me, I'll have to tell him to give you more responsibilities."

After hanging up on General Li, Zhao Yang placed his phone face down on the desk. He leaned back against the chair and closed his eyes for a moment, then picked up his pen again.

He wrote until four in the morning. In the middle of it, Shin-chan had popped up with an experimental brief once, showing that the tenth-week statistical curve for the white mice's exercise endurance data was out.

Zhao Yang ignored it. The halo of the desk lamp hit the draft paper, and the scratching sound of the pen tip on the paper never stopped. Outside the window, the artificial lake had no fountain at night, leaving only a dark expanse of water, occasionally marked by a ripple from a passing night bird.

There were no issues with the convergence of the Dimension Reduction Mapping. The estimation for the lower bound of the norm for high-dimensional residual terms was also fine. All logical nodes were closed.

Zhao Yang put down his pen and flipped through the draft from beginning to end, confirming that no step in the derivation had been omitted. Then he leaned back in his chair and stared blankly at the fluorescent light on the ceiling for about five minutes.

The next day, Zhao Yang asked Chief Engineer Sun for a leave of absence. After arranging the subsequent experimental situation for his research group, he went directly into seclusion in his villa.

Over the next three days, he organized the entire proof process into a paper. One hundred and forty pages, from the basic framework of Dimension Reduction Mapping to the core steps of the convergence proof, and then to the lower bound estimate of the norm for high-dimensional residual terms—every part of the derivation was re-checked.

The Harmonic Analysis manuscript Terence Tao had left him was integrated into the third part of the paper. The order of authorship was as previously agreed: Zhao Yang first, Terence Tao second.

After finishing the organization, he sent an email to Terence Tao. The body was very short: Kakeya is finished. The paper is in the attachment; take a look and let me know if there are any problems.

Terence Tao's reply came very quickly. Zhao Yang calculated the time difference; it should be early morning in Los Angeles, but Terence Tao clearly hadn't slept.

The reply was also very short: I spent the whole afternoon plus half the night pushing through the paper from the beginning. There are no logical loopholes. That framework of yours for Dimension Reduction Mapping is absolutely perfect—a stroke of genius! I suggest submitting it directly. Also, you always manage to take one more step just when everyone thinks it's time to stop. I still haven't figured out how you do that.