A week passed in the blink of an eye. Xia Lei dealt with Song Baicheng for this entire week, and Fan Fan helped him secretly. She not only covered for him but also helped him fix his research report.
A week passed. The deadline that Song Baicheng gave was here.
Song Baicheng came to Fan Fan’s laboratory early in the morning. Fan Fan was preparing her research report. When Song Baicheng came in she said, “Mr Song, you came just in time. I was just going to look for you.”
“Is the research report done?” asked Song Baicheng.
Fan Fan replied, “Yes. Mr Xia’s gene chain data finally came out last night so I stayed up to write this report.”
“Very good. Let me take a look.” Song Baicheng walked over eagerly.
Fan Fan delivered the organised research report to Song Baicheng.
Song Baicheng began flipping through it. At first, he seemed very excited and wore a smile on his face but that smile dimmed very quickly, and disappeared.
“This is your research report?” Song Baicheng stared straight at Fan Fan.
Fan Fan replied, “Yes, this is my research report. Mr Song, is there a problem with it?”
“There is nothing wrong with your report. It looks very normal.” He paused before continuing, “Miss Fan, are you sure the subject of this research report is Mr Xia?”
Fan Fan replied firmly, “Of course my research subject is Mr Xia. This report is a summary of my work over the past week.”
“But…” Song Baicheng furrowed his brows and didn’t finish his sentence.
Fan Fan asked, “Mr Song, is there something wrong with my work and research report? Or are you questioning my work abilities?’
“Miss Fan, you are our country’s best bioengineer. Of course I believe in your abilities. But our research subject is Xia Lei. Do you not think he is very special?”
“Is Mr Xia very special?” said Fan Fan stated. “He is very smart and strong too. He is the smartest person I have ever seen. There is a test in my report about his IQ. His IQ has reached as high as 298, this is the highest IQ seen in a human thus far. If that is what you are talking about then he is indeed very special.”
In reality, Xia Lei’s IQ was even higher than that. The IQ stated in the research report was weakened data, but even if that was the case, Song Baicheng was still taken aback. He obviously had not seen the part about Xia Lei’s IQ test.
“Mr Song, we should feel fortunate that the world’s smartest man is in China, not America or Japan,” said Fan Fan.
“Is he just smart?” Song Baicheng looked unwilling to accept this fact. In his eyes, Xia Lei was not only abnormal, but also full of mysteries. But the result given to him by Fan Fan was a big contrast to what he had imagined.
Fan Fan said, “Mr Song, I think you don’t really understand what having an IQ of 298 means. 50% of the world’s population has an IQ between 90 and 100, which is considered a normal IQ. 2.5% of the world’s population has an IQ that reaches 130, they belong on the higher end of the scale. Only 0.4% of the people have an IQ that reaches 140, these people are considered geniuses. My IQ is 139 and I am only a part of that 2.5%. My grandfather has an even higher IQ than me, his IQ is at 148 so he is part of that 0.4%. But even if it were my grandfather, his IQ is still only half of Xia Lei’s. Do you know history’s smartest genius, Da Vinci? He is the publicly recognised as smartest human being ever, but his IQ is only 230 — 60 less than Xia Lei. Now that I’ve told you this, do you still believe that he is just smart?”
Song Baicheng’s eyes flashed. Who knew what thoughts were going through his mind.
Fan Fan kept driving the point that Xia Lei was the world’s smartest man to Song Baicheng. This was actually a plan Xia Lei had come up with in advance. This was the only way the cunning Song Baicheng would believe in it. Other than this, there was no other way to go get past Song Baicheng.
After a short silence, Song Baicheng finally asked, “Is that true?”
Fan Fan’s eyebrows knotted, showing her displeasure. “Mr Song, what do you mean? Would I lie to you? You are probably the first to ever question me! Since you don’t believe in my abilities, why did you ask me to come? You can look for someone else!”
“That is not what I mean. Miss Fan, it’s just that this is way too important…”
Fan Fan cut him off mid-sentence. “Mr Song, I have been working with you for so long, so I can kind of guess your motive though you didn’t tell me.”
“Huh?” The look in Song Baicheng’s eyes changed.
Fan Fan continued, “You probably thought that Mr Xia was not a normal human being, maybe even a superhuman being, like those Spiderman, Superman or Flash Hollywood types. But those are movies. It is unrealistic. If you look at 5,000 years of human history, has there been a superhuman?”
These words were actually taught to Fan Fan by Xia Lei. If not, how would she know Song Baicheng’s motive?
“I don’t believe that there are superhumans in this world. I asked you to research Xia Lei for the Alloy X Project. He is the only one who can come in contact with the ancient alloy pieces. We need to find out the reason.”
“My work, and my report are not able to give you the answer you want.”
“Miss Fan, I will ask you one last time. Are you sure that your research report is perfect, without errors?”
“I am sure.”
“You are also sure that no errors occurred during your research process? Did you leave anything out?”
“I am sure.”
“All right, your work is finished. I will take your research report. Before new orders come out, you can arrange your work and your time as you please.” Song Baicheng closed the research report. Fan Fan was the country’s best bioengineer. Her work and her report were inherently authoritative. She had also been aided by the Academy of Science’s dean, Fan Yiming. It did not make sense to continue to question her.
Fan Fan finally breathed a sigh of relief at that point.
Song Baicheng took the research report Fan Fan had given him, and left the laboratory.
“Mr Song, what was the result?” asked Fan Yiming, who was waiting outside the door.
“Go ask your granddaughter. She knows more than I do,” said Song Baicheng.
Song Baicheng entered his room, closed the door, then took out his phone.
“Mr Z, Fan Fan’s research report is out.” Song Baicheng’s tone was serious.
A man’s voice came from the phone, “What was the result?”
Song Baicheng was silent for a while before he replied, “It was different from what I imagined. Xia Lei is very normal.”
“Very normal?”
“His body is very normal, but his IQ is insanely high. Fan Fan’s test data estimated it to be 298. She said that he is the world’s smartest person. It is also history’s highest IQ tested.”
“So you are saying that his success today was all because of his IQ?”
“I can’t think of anything else other than this possibility,” said Song Baicheng.
“Bring me the research report.”
“Yes, Mr Z.”
“Be careful. Xia Lei had Tang Yuyan look you up. He has already started to suspect you.”
“I know, I will be careful.” Song Baicheng hung up.
After he finished his call with Mr Z, Song Baicheng looked at the file in his hands. He stood, unmoving, for many minutes. He kept thinking to himself, ‘The smartest person in the world? His IQ is higher than Da Vinci and Einstein, these great scientists? An IQ that reaches 298, how can he prove that? Hmph…”
Half an hour later, Song Baicheng arrived in the new workshop where Xia Lei worked.
Xia Lei opened the door for Song Baicheng. He looked like a blue-collar worker with his body covered with oil stains, and not the world’s smartest human.
“Mr Song, is that Fan Fan’s research report?” Xia Lei looked at the file in Song Baicheng’s hands and looked very interested. “Can I take a look?”
“Sorry, I can’t give this to you.” Song Baicheng rejected Xia Lei, then said, “But I can tell you, you are very normal, only…”
“Only what?”
“Your brain is very special. Fan Fan said your IQ is as high as 298. She said you are the world’s smartest person.”
“Hehe.” Xia Lei laughed. “How come I don’t feel that way?”
Song Baicheng stated calmly, “To be honest, I don’t believe it either. After all, the president of the Academy of Science, Fan Yiming’s IQ is only 148, but yours is 298, twice that of Fan Yiming’s.”
“Out with it — what did you come here for? There is no need to go in circles. As you can see, I am working right now. I am busy,” said Xia Lei.
Song Baicheng opened the document envelope and took out a piece of A4 paper and a pencil. He put them in front of Xia Lei.
The piece of A4 paper was not a piece of blank white paper. Written on top was a super complex math problem. All kinds of numbers, symbols, and functions took up half the page.
“I would like to ask you to solve this problem,” said Song Baicheng.
This was his motive.
Xia Lei glanced at Song Baicheng and accepted the pen and paper. He could reject him and even let make Song Baicheng leave, but that would not be a wise decision. Since Song Baicheng brought over this problem, that meant that he doubted his IQ and the accuracy of Fan Fan’s report. If he rejected him, the cunning Song Baicheng would get more suspicious.
It would definitely be terrible for him if the ZN Bureau did not believe Fan Fan’s report. All the acting and things he had done before would be wasted.
“Let’s go to a quiet place,” said Song Baicheng. “This problem was given to me by a mathematician. I heard that it is very difficult. I can give you some time to solve the problem.”
“No need, here is fine. I am running short on time, so give me ten minutes.” Xia Lei squatted, placed the paper on the floor and started to solve the problem just like that.
The numbers, symbols, and formulas on the paper entered his brain, and his brain began gearing up. All of the mathematical knowledge he had seen emerged like tidewater. Each had an infinite extension, and they intersected, expanding to a higher level. In his brain, a mathematical world was quietly taking shape. This world started with the basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division to more advanced math. They were like a big net, scattered over the boundless starry sky, the sky was constantly expanding, and the big net was also expanding with it…