Zhao Hongjuan was back.

Sun Liang and Gao Yuan had also returned.

Zhao Hongjuan only engaged in conversation with Gao Yuan, but was extremely enthusiastic when dealing with Sun Liang and Zhao Yi. While cooking in the kitchen, she would frequently come out to chat with them, her lips almost incessantly uttering two words--

Study!

"How do you guys study math?"

"Xiaoqing is not adept at math and physics, always lagging behind in the exams. You guys should help her out more at school..."

"Yi, I heard that you scored higher than Xiaoqing in the last math exam? You were even able to participate in the provincial math competition?"

"How did you do this time?"

Zhao Yi and Sun Liang could only listen and laugh; they weren’t able to discuss their actual study methods.

Mathematics?

They felt this subject was quite an IQ test. Sun Liang was good at math purely because of his strong logical thinking and sensitivity to problem-solving. If the cause must be pursued, it can be described as ’talent’.

As for Zhao Yi...

He believed he had some talent. Through diligent studying and practice, he could achieve good results. But the rapid improvement was definitely due to the system, which was impossible to explain.

Therefore, both could only respond vaguely.

After dinner.

When Zhao Hongjuan was busy in the kitchen, the others could finally relax. Even Lin Xiaoqing exhaled delicately and complained softly, "My mom is always like this, I can’t get through to her."

"She’s even more nagging than my dad!" Sun Liang also complained.

Zhao Yi just sat there quietly.

Lin Xiaoqing said enviously to Zhao Yi, "Your parents are good, they never nag about studies, they don’t seem to control you."

Sun Liang nodded in agreement.

Just as Lin Xudong was walking by, he felt rather displeased and glared sternly at Zhao Yi again.

Zhao Yi thought he was quite innocent.

On this occasion, he really didn’t do anything!

How wronged he felt!

Then, Lin Xudong’s cellphone rang.

He went to the balcony and answered it. He heard a voice from the other end, "Captain Lin! Your tip was spot on! We found hair debris from another person on the accident victim’s body and have sent it for testing."

"Also, we received new information. A surveillance camera at the supermarket captured a man sneaking around and heading out of the village around half ten in the evening."

"The man’s figure and face resemble the truck driver Zhou Jun. But Zhou’s truck was recorded heading towards the village."

"This doesn’t add up."

"If we can confirm that the man is Zhou Jun, this is very likely not a traffic accident but, in fact, a murder!"

...

Lin Xudong had to attend to it promptly.

Upon receiving the call, he quickly put on his police uniform, informed Zhao Hongjuan, and left the house.

Before leaving, he glanced at Zhao Yi, feeling astounded.

If Zhao Yi hadn’t suggested that it might be a murder, he would not have asked his team to investigate thoroughly as it was merely a traffic accident with the victim being a drunkard lying at the side of the road. It wasn’t worth allocating too many resources to it.

Who would have thought!

It was actually a murder!

"Could it be that he truly understands psychology? Could he perceive lies from the truck driver with ease from the video?"

Lin Xudong couldn’t figure it out.

Zhao Yi was also quite surprised. Although he knew from the "Causality Law" that the truck driver was lying, and after reviewing the case materials like videos and photos, he discovered that he could employ "Connection Law". Two pieces of procedural information appeared in his mind--

The truck driver and the drunken victim had physical contact.

The truck was the first to run over the victim.

Although only two simple pieces of information emerged, they were enough to deduce it was a murder.

"Therefore, I also have the potential to become Sherlock Holmes." Zhao Yi contemplated gleefully. He didn’t take it to heart. He was not the detective in charge of solving the case; a slight reminder to Lin Xudong was enough.

That night, at home.

Zhao Yi quickly entered ’paper writing mode’.

The so-called ’paper writing mode’ involved looking at incomprehensible steps, then flipping through the ’reference books’ he had bought, based on the hints from Professor Liu, to find suitable formulas and theorem conditions.

Once all the conditions had been perfected, he could use the "Connection Law" to derive the detailed steps.

Zhao Yi didn’t need to understand everything.

Mathematics is a very complex subject; to fully understand a single book on Linear Algebra can take a lot of time.

His system doesn’t have functions such as ’photographic memory’ or ’enhanced comprehension and memory’, so his learning speed isn’t faster than others. With a whole pile of math reference books, he had to read and understand slowly...

A year definitely wouldn’t be enough!

Despite needing constant mathematical theory support, the progress of his paper was still impressive. There were only one or two key points left to figure out. After consulting with Professor Liu and doing some research for a bit, he should be able to get it clear.

By then, the greatest workload would actually be writing the English version.

Zhao Yi rubbed his throbbing forehead, ignoring the work at hand, and opened the unfinished algorithm package sent by Zhang Zhen.

Time to code!

He needed a break!

The algorithm package sent by Zhang Zhen was much simpler in comparison. Beside the sophisticated mathematical theories involved in the Rubik’s Cube algorithm, it seemed more like elementary level arithmetic.

Zhao Yi spent more than forty minutes and finished the remaining two algorithm packages.

In one breath.

Sent it all!

The other side accepted the files instantly, his voice filled with a hint of surprise, "You had time for algorithm packs? That was quick."

Zhao Yi replied, "Problem?"

Zhang Zhen asked: "How is the paper going?"

[Zhang Zhen’s favorability rating -1.]

Zhao Yi didn’t want to talk to Zhang Zhen anymore.

Recently, anyone he ran into would ask ’How’s the paper?’ It was like being pressured to turn in homework.

"Is your homework done?"

"Not done? If it’s not done, don’t do anything else! Hurry up and do your homework!"

What the fuck!

Zhang Zhen sent another message, "I still have dozens of packs here that need to be done urgently, hopefully within half a month, could you help out with a few?"

Zhao Yi promptly replied, "Forget it, I’ve got to write my paper."

"Haha."

Zhang Zhen seemed to realize something and dropped the topic about the paper. He immediately changed his tone to pleading, "Brother Zhao, please, we’re really in a hurry. I’ll raise your pay, $3500 for each algorithm package."

Zhao Yi: "I don’t need the money."

Zhang Zhen didn’t reply. He had seemingly given up. About ten minutes later, he suddenly sent a picture of a robot.

The robot was about a meter tall, shaped like a weebble wobble, with several small wheels at the bottom supporting it and two decent robotic arms.

The face was a screen with two cameras on top.

Zhao Yi asked, "What’s that?"

Zhang Zhen replied, "A new well-crafted robot, interested? /haha."

"What can it do?"

"Nothing. It’s a highly customized blank robot for experiments," Zhang Zhen said, "Honestly, our company ordered ten of them, and each one cost us $87,000, nearly $100,000 in total. The two mechanical arms were the most expensive part; everything else was cheap."

Zhao Yi was intrigued.

If it was a commercially available robot, the biggest selling point would be intelligent interaction. However, with current AI technology that can’t even do simple translation well, purchasing it would be like buying a pile of junk with no use whatsoever.

An experimental blank robot...

He had never seen one before!

A robot with no internal code meant limitless possibilities. He quickly responded, "Sell me one, how much?"

"We’re friends, partners, why talk about money!?/haha"

"For free?"

Zhang Zhen said, "I won’t pay you for those ten algorithm packages for now. Help with a few more and I will settle it with this robot! /evilgrin"

Zhao Yi almost spat blood out when he heard this.

Truly crafty!

After sending him a picture of the robot to pique his interest, he immediately returned to the topic of the algorithm packages.

"You’re ruthless!"

"Deal!"

Even though he was frustrated, Zhao Yi agreed. Coding algorithm packages was a relaxing break that didn’t consume much energy.

The robot really was interesting!