Early morning.

Lu Zhou was sitting in the cafeteria of the Corinthia Hotel, enjoying bread and coffee, logging into his mailbox to check his unread emails as usual, and logging on to Arxiv to browse the latest research results in number theory, algebraic geometry, differential manifolds, and several other directions that he had marked and tracked.

These days, the whole math community is quiet, and there isn't a lot of interesting news coming out. Most of the discussions in professional academic forums such as MathoverFolw are not academic issues, but rather gossip about the mathematical community.

Even if not everyone received an invitation to the IMU conference, almost the vast majority of mathematicians are paying attention to the upcoming world event in St. Petersburg.

Just as Lu Zhou was browsing a post about the Fields Medal prediction vote, a big Russian man with sunglasses on his collar sat across from him and whistled.

"Can you please stay in the hotel as much as possible today?"

Removing his gaze from the computer screen, Lu Zhou cast his inquiring gaze on him.

"Did something happen?"

"If I have to say, something has gone wrong," Massim said in a casual tone after removing his sunglasses from his neckline and wiping them with a cloth for his glasses, "Someone has hacked into the power grid system on this side of St. Petersburg and inserted a few unclean codes into it. And according to our Office of National Security Intelligence analysis, it could have been a premeditated operation. ”

Lu Zhou said speechlessly: "...... Can this still be premeditated? ”

"You don't understand what I mean," Maxim said with a slight smile as he raised his gaze to Lu Zhou, "I mean, it could have been a premeditated murder against you. ”

The atmosphere at the table froze instantly.

It was as if he had been silenced, and he fell silent.

This is probably the first time.

His life was really at stake.

His throat was slightly dry, and Lu Zhou raised his coffee cup and took a sip.

After three seconds to regain his composure, he put his coffee cup down and said calmly.

“…… To be honest, it's a bit far-fetched. It's just that the failure of the nuclear power plant, associated with murder, is still a bit too far-fetched. ”

blow up a nuclear power plant to deal with him......

Next to the Helios nuclear power plant is St. Petersburg, Russia's second largest city, and no matter how clean and safe the controlled fusion technology is, it still has a nuclear word.

If the matter is revealed, it may not be as simple as a regional dispute.

Even if he slipped to the brink of war, Lu Zhou would not find it strange.

"More than eighty percent of the likelihood, at least we feel that someone's strategic value is obviously more important than the Helios fusion power plant, and that they can successfully undermine friendly relations between us and our neighbors, after all, if you do get into trouble in Russia, it's not something that can be dismissed with a 'we're sorry.'"

Putting the cleaned sunglasses on the bridge of his nose, Massim raised his eyebrows at Lu Zhou, pushed away the chair and stood up.

Through his sunglasses, he stared at Lu Zhou with a serious gaze and continued.

"Anyway, the current situation is that someone is planning to do your badly, and we are not sure if they will have 'Plan B' waiting for you after the failure of 'Plan A', so in order to avoid accidents, we still hope that you can control the range of activities in this hotel as much as possible. We're 100% sure you're safe here, and if it's too far from here, it's only 90 or even 80 percent. ”

"I see," Lu Zhou nodded, looking away from Massim's face, and continued to look at the computer screen, "Although I don't know who thinks so highly of me, I will try to control the range of activities in the hotel." ”

Originally, he had no intention of wandering around outside during the IMU conference.

Since someone is eyeing him, it's better to be cautious.

"That's the basic situation, I still have an important matter to deal with in a while, so I won't stay here, I wish you a happy day."

Gesturing goodbye, Massim smiled and walked to the entrance of the cafeteria.

However, just as he passed by Lu Zhou's seat, he suddenly glanced left and right, pretended to be careful to lower his body, and whispered.

“…… That place with a lot of good girls, I'm afraid I'll take you there next time I have a chance. ”

Hearing this sudden sound, Lu Zhou, who had just taken a sip of coffee, almost didn't choke.

Coughing dryly, he put down the cup, Lu Zhou took a tissue and wiped his mouth, and said with a dark face.

“…… Thanks, no need. ”

"Haha, don't be shy, my friend. In addition to science, there are many other pleasures in life that are worth chasing, and if it weren't for this accident, I would really like to take you to see it, but ...... Let's talk about it next time. ”

Massim smiled heartily and patted him on the shoulder, then swaggered away.

The news of the postponement of the ignition plan of the Helios fusion reactor did not affect the tranquility of the city of St. Petersburg. Even Pravda, an authoritative newspaper that represents the official mouthpiece, only lightly mentioned it on the last page, because the ignition plan scheduled to start at the beginning of the month will be postponed for a week due to various reasons, such as the IMU conference and the visit of scholars from various countries.

However, even the postponement of the ignition plan was simply passed by Russian officials. However, many people with a keen sense of political smell can still smell a trace of unusual flavor from a series of clues such as "the presidents of the three Baltic countries who visited the Baltic countries returned home ahead of schedule" and "the manager of the St. Petersburg branch of the United Power Company was arrested for accepting bribes in his position."

It's like an invisible storm brewing over St. Petersburg, and the entire Russian power system......

In the afternoon of Massim's departure from the Hotel Krinthia, scholars from all over the world began to arrive in droves, the five-star hotel, which had been almost vacated for the International Congress of Mathematicians.

In fact, quite a few people arrived here as early as yesterday.

For example, Lu Zhou's mentor at Princeton, Professor Deligne, and Professor Feverman, who had collaborated with him on the NS equation problem, and Professor Faltins, who is said to be planning to make big news before retiring.

And Lu Zhou also learned about this at breakfast.

However, compared with old friends such as Deligne and Professor Feverman, what really made Lu Zhou's mood fluctuate significantly was the figure standing in the hotel lobby with a suitcase.

The satin-like blonde hair was tied back into a slender ponytail, and against the background of the long white dress, it was as dazzling as the light on the winter snow. The slender shoulders and the lines of the body look a little fuller than they did four years ago, but for some reason, the feeling of unreassurance is more important than four years ago.

Lu Zhou, who was coming out of the cafeteria and walking through the lobby to the elevator, recognized her at a glance.

And Vera, who seemed to feel his gaze and stood in the middle of the hotel lobby with her suitcase, also caught a glimpse of the familiar figure from the crowd.

"Professor......

He shouted in a low voice, and a touch of surprise and surprise was instantly written in his sapphire-like pupils.

With her right hand, she released the grip of the towbar of the suitcase, leaving the suitcase in place, and trotted all the way in the direction of the landing boat.

According to the principle of inertia in Newtonian mechanics, if she does not slow down and continue to move forward at this time, the next action will probably collide with Lu Zhou.

However, this kind of out-of-the-ordinary action is really a bit too exciting for a certain girl.

Under the influence of a series of physiological effects such as shame and nervousness, as the distance between her and Lu Zhou became closer and closer, the galloping footsteps finally slowed down like lead.

Standing still in front of Lu Zhou, Vera, who didn't know if her cheeks were flushed because of running or something, reached out and quickly smoothed the fluttering hair on her forehead, and said with a somewhat embarrassed expression.

“…… Long time no see. ”

"It's been a long time," looking at this familiar face, a smile appeared on Lu Zhou's face, "Your body is okay?" ”

"Hmm...... I'm fine, don't worry about me. ”

Although he received a positive answer, the suddenly dodging eyes for some reason made Lu Zhou unable to let go of his heart.

Just as Lu Zhou was about to ask, the sound of high heels on the granite floor came from the side.

"You're just worrying people more."

The two of them looked over there in unison, and saw that Molina, who was carrying her suitcase in one hand and picking up Vera's suitcase in the other, had already walked next to the two.

Because I only met in Jinling last year, compared to Vera, Molina's feeling for Lu Zhou has not changed much.

If anything, the only thing that has changed is probably the long trench coat to protect against the cold, which has been replaced by a short gray-green coat.

With a slightly boyish short ear hair, a striped white shirt and long khaki trousers, he feels like he is on the streets of Paris in the last century.

Hearing Molina's words, Vera hesitated slightly and whispered.

"Huh? Have it? ”

"I think it's better if you have any questions. Someone is notoriously protective of his shortcomings, and you are his precious apprentice, he will definitely find a way to help you solve it. ”

"No, I'm really fine...... Please don't worry about me. ”

As if feeling the pressure from Molina's questioning, Vera, who took the handle of the towbar of the suitcase from her hand, whispered thank you, and then walked quickly in the direction of the elevator with the suitcase, and even forgot to say goodbye to Lu Zhou.

Looking at Vera's back walking towards the elevator, Lu Zhou pulled Mo Lina next to her and asked in a serious tone.

"Aren't you her teammate? Don't you know anything about her? ”

"Obviously, my teammates didn't fully open up to me, and even if I did, do you think I'd tell you the privacy of a lady without her permission?"

Rolling her eyes at Lu Zhou, Molina pulled her sleeve back, and quickly chased her suitcase in the direction of the elevator.

Looking at the direction of the elevator with a complicated expression, Lu Zhou fell silent.

At this moment, another familiar voice with a bit of joy suddenly came from the side.

"Professor!"

Attracted by this voice, Lu Zhou immediately turned his head and saw a young man with a slightly dark complexion and curly hair, holding the arm of a Latino beauty with the same dark skin and long curly hair, and greeted him warmly with his free right hand.

Seeing that Lu Zhou didn't seem to react, this guy continued to shout as if he was afraid that he would forget himself.

"Hey, Professor! I'm Hardy! You're not going to forget about me, are you? ”

"Of course I know it's you, but it takes a little time to digest this huge amount of information......"

His eyes wandered back and forth between Hardy and the beautiful woman next to him who greeted him, Lu Zhou opened his mouth, and it took a long time before he spit out a sentence, "You are ...... Already married? ”

With a hearty smile on his face and a neat mouthful of white teeth, Hardy touched the back of his head embarrassedly and said with a smile, "Of course! Anyway, I've been graduating with a Ph.D. for so many years, and I'm not too young anymore, not to mention that I'm already a professor now. If you don't get married, it's too pitiful. ”

Lu Zhou: "......"

This guy is really the same as always when it comes to underfighting, and always likes to add a superfluous sentence after a sentence that is not wrong.

Sure enough, he shouldn't have graduated so early in the first place.

As if sensing the unkindness in Lu Zhou's eyes, Hardy greeted him with a little weakness, and then walked in the direction of the elevator with his newly married wife.

According to him, they got married two months ago, and this time they came to St. Petersburg, in addition to attending the IMU conference, another thing was for their honeymoon.

The reason why I chose to arrange the honeymoon itinerary with the IMU conference is that if you apply to the school in the name of attending the IMU conference, the school will not only allow paid leave and reimbursement of travel expenses, but also give them a certain amount of travel allowance......

After attending the IMU conference, they will also fly to Italy and Greece as a connecting flight.

Among all the people Lu Zhou knows, it seems that only Hardy can do this kind of sassy operation......

In addition to Hadi, in the lobby of the hotel, Lu Zhou also met Qin Yue.

Compared with four years ago, this young man can be said to have changed from the inside out.

I remember when I first came to Princeton, this young man was still a very honest man, and now he gives people a very reliable feeling not only in terms of dealing with people but also in terms of conversation.

Seeing his students getting better and better, Lu Zhou was naturally quite happy in his heart.

The only thing that made him a little disappointed was that Vera still refused to confess to herself what was wrong with her body......

Hopefully, as she said, it's not a big deal.

But Lu Zhou always felt that things might not be as simple as he imagined......

。