Super God-Level Top Student

In fact, Chen Yiwen really wanted to ask Qiao Ze in detail about how he planned to redefine the rules, but unfortunately, he had been too excited earlier and wasted too much time. By the time they entered their research team's office, he only managed to hear Qiao Ze say, "There's always a way."

As it happened, Li Jian Gao was already waiting for Qiao Ze in the converted living room meeting space.

Well, one can only say that the way big shots think really is different from ordinary people—unfettered and boundless.

Chen Yiwen didn't dare waste Qiao Ze's time and slipped into the inside studio, while Qiao Ze directly took a seat beside Li Jian Gao.

"Uncle Li, should I fill out the application form now?"

"You took that seriously? It's just a formality, no need for you to fill it out. I've already filled it for you, just print it out, sign it, and I'll hand it over to Principal Zheng."

Li Jian Gao said with a smile, "In the car, it's a relatively public setting, and the leaders are accustomed to speaking according to established rules. For instance, if you apply for a project, the rules say you must personally write the application form, but in reality, who would really make a fuss about who filled out the application?"

"Oh," Qiao Ze nodded and said, "Then take a look at the paper."

After speaking, Qiao Ze stood up, planning to attend to his own matters.

"Hey, wait a minute, there's something else I need to talk to you about," Li Jian Gao called out to Qiao Ze.

"Hmm, what is it?" Qiao Ze sat back down and asked.

"About the watermark in your paper."

Li Jian Gao said with a wry smile, then took out his phone, opened WeChat, casually opened a few group chats, and said, "Now at least half the mathematicians in the world are looking for the watermarks you left in those two papers. Look, most of them have already been located, especially the first one, which has basically been decrypted.

The second one has also been found by quite a few people, but notably, a mathematician abroad claimed on Facebook that they found all the watermarks in your two papers. They even posted it, and now everyone is tagging me, asking me to check with you if this is the case."

As he spoke, Li Jian Gao flicked through the group chitchat to that certain image, opened it, and then handed his phone to Qiao Ze.

There was no choice; Qiao Ze had demonstrated the first paper in front of him and even told him how many watermarks were in the paper, so when his colleagues asked about it, he could clarify directly for everyone. But with the second paper, he hadn't really paid attention to it, naturally not knowing if Qiao Ze left any watermarks or how many were there.

Now being constantly tagged by colleagues for clarification, he had no choice but to ask Qiao Ze; otherwise he would be driven crazy by the incessant messages.

Qiao Ze glanced at the image and asked with some puzzlement, "Are half the world's mathematicians this idle? Don't they have other difficult issues to ponder?"

"Cough cough, mathematicians need to rest their brains too. It's not about actively searching for watermarks, probably just a way to unwind after thinking about difficult problems," Li Jian Gao said, somewhat embarrassed.

"Oh, the watermark from the second paper hasn't been found," Qiao Ze nodded and said.

"Wait, this 'watermark' that doesn't disappear, just changes form, and even has your name, isn't it a watermark?" Li Jian Gao asked, confused.

Qiao Ze patiently explained to his mentor, "Hmm, I've thought about it. After everyone knew about the watermark in the first paper, if I published another paper, everyone would definitely think I'd left a watermark, so even if they wanted to plagiarize, they would look for the watermark first.

So I placed that statement in a relatively conspicuous position, and like the first type of watermark, it only required converting the ASCII values. But the real watermark is elsewhere."

Li Jian Gao had a complex expression on his face.

What was this? Anticipating the anticipation of half the world's mathematicians?

This news, if it got out, would probably cause all the mathematicians involved in this game to cough up blood, right?

Surely this wasn't a way to tease people?

Of course, what was even more frightening was that Li Jian Gao had watched Qiao Ze write this paper, in total, just a day and an afternoon were spent, mainly needing to refer to the data in the daily reports.

In such a short time, to produce a paper where logic and wording need to be extremely precise, and to simultaneously embed both conspicuous and hidden watermarks...

For the Nth time, Li Jian Gao felt the urge to crack open Qiao Ze's skull and see exactly what was inside.

He was also resolute, determined to keep the secret that it took Qiao Ze only a day and a half to write this paper.

It was beyond reason now.

"So where is the real watermark?" After a silence of five seconds, with countless thoughts racing through his mind, Li Jian Gao asked helplessly.

Qiao Ze directly moved the laptop from the desk over to them, found the paper on the desktop and began the operation.

Li Jian Gao stared intensely at the screen, watching as Qiao Ze arranged the data used for his proof in a certain order, aligned it with a bunch of letters, and then using the simplest Caesar cipher, shifted everything one position back to reveal the hidden watermark.

"This paper was created by Qiao Ze at the School of Mathematics at Xilin University of Technology."

Li Jian Gao instinctively raised his hand and scratched his head. Read new adventures at empire

Yeah, that truly seemed like Qiao Ze's style.

"There are six instances of this watermark too?" Li Jian Gao asked.

Qiao Ze shook his head, and as he spoke Li Jian Gao seemed to hear a hint of regret in his tone, "Using direct letter arrangements is very troublesome, so I only left two spots. If I wanted to add more, it would take too long to think about how to phrase things, which I think is not worth the effort."

Li Jian Gao was silent for a moment, then raised his hand, patted Qiao Ze's shoulder.