The atmosphere inside the core laboratory was somber in the early morning.
Lin Su stood in front of a huge whiteboard, which was covered with complex formulas and structural diagrams, but the central area was occupied by a huge question mark.
Lin Su closed her eyes, trying to use the extremely rare mathematical synesthesia inherited from her mother to “see” the geometric light and shadow behind the formula in her mind.
However, the model before them was like a tangled knot, with all the “light” dim and unclear, unable to form a path.
The mother’s notes stopped here, as if the last guiding lighthouse had been taken away.
With the restart of Project Dawn, Lin Su, as the sole member, bears a heavy responsibility. However, the core algorithmic bottleneck of Project Dawn is a stable energy field model based on multidimensional spatiotemporal topology.
She tried all the mathematical tools she knew, but could not find a perfect solution.
Gu Beichen stood not far away. He couldn’t understand those profound symbols, but he could read the weariness and anxiety in Lin Su’s back.
His security was impenetrable, yet it couldn’t help her break down this mental barrier. He could only wait silently, even hesitant to offer her a glass of water for fear of disturbing her train of thought.
“It still doesn’t work.” Lin Su put down her pen, her voice slightly hoarse. “My mother’s notes stopped here. She left an unfinished ‘key,’ but I can’t find the keyhole.”
Just then, Huang Weiguo rushed over, breaking the silence: “Comrade Gu, Commander Gu, please come to the reception room. There’s a… special situation.”
The two exchanged a glance, both seeing doubt in each other’s eyes. Under normal circumstances, Huang Weiguo would not come here to find them.
Gu Beichen subconsciously adjusted the position of his sidearm and walked to Lin Su’s side and slightly in front of her, a protective posture.
When they pushed open the door to the reception room, the sight that greeted them made them freeze in place.
A little girl wearing a red padded jacket and with two pigtails was sitting comfortably on the sofa, swinging her little legs and looking very relaxed.
But she was clutching a worn-out cloth rabbit tightly in her hand, which showed that she was actually very nervous.
She raised her head, revealing a delicate, exquisitely sculpted face that bore a striking resemblance to Lin Su’s features.
It’s Gu Niansu.
Lin Su was both surprised and delighted. She almost stumbled as she rushed over, hugging the child tightly in her arms, her voice trembling: “Niannian! What are you doing here?!”
How did she manage to get all that way all by herself?!
The person in charge of escorting Niannian was a female cadre with a troubled expression. She hurriedly explained, “Comrade Gu, it was specially approved by the old leader.”
Aunt Zhang, who takes care of Nian Nian, suddenly had an emergency in her hometown, and they couldn’t find a completely reliable replacement. The old commander believed that the base was actually the safest place at the moment, so…”
Gu Beichen stood frozen in place, then awkwardly straightened his military uniform. He’d been staying up late these past few days; would he look terrible?!
His gaze was fixed greedily on the tiny child, his heart pounding so hard it felt like it would shatter his sternum. This was his daughter? His and Su Su’s daughter?
He had imagined countless times what their reunion would be like, but he never expected it to happen here, so suddenly.
Niannian hugged her mother tightly with her little hands: “Mommy, I miss you so much! Didn’t you say you’d be back in two months? I’ve been counting, and two months have already passed, and you still haven’t come?!”
Lin Su felt guilty and hugged Niannian even tighter: “I’m sorry, I broke my promise!”
She also wanted to go back to see her daughter as soon as possible, but one thing after another came up, and the base was a confidential unit, so she couldn’t ask her daughter to come over.
Now that her daughter is with her, she can work with more peace of mind.
After sweetly cuddling with Lin Su, Niannian looked past her mother’s shoulder and landed on the tall man in military uniform who stood ramrod straight.
She tilted her head, her large, dark eyes filled with pure curiosity, not fear: “Dudu, you look so familiar, have we met before?!”
Niannian’s words made Lin Su’s shoulders stiffen.
Before they parted ways, she and Gu Beichen took photos together. She placed the photos on the table and kept them in mind.
Gu Beichen was at a loss, his throat was so dry he couldn’t speak, but he really wanted to talk to his daughter, and his face turned red.
He acted like a young boy meeting a girl he liked for the first time, completely losing his usual composure.
When Niannian received no response, she buried her head in her mother’s arms.
I’m so sad. Dudu won’t talk to her. She’s so cute, doesn’t Dudu like her?!
Huang Weiguo looked at Gu Beichen, then at Lin Su and her daughter. The little girl looked remarkably like Lin Su, but her nose and expression were also very similar to Gu Beichen’s.
Why is Gu Beichen, that idiot, still standing there? The little girl is talking to him, and he’s completely unresponsive?!
He cleared his throat deliberately: “Discipline is rigid, but people are flexible. Since the child is here, he can be temporarily settled in the base’s guesthouse.”
Beichen, Lin Su, you are responsible for coordinating and ensuring the child’s safety and well-being.
After finishing his sentence, Huang Weiguo left with his staff, leaving behind a family of three with varying expressions.
Lin Su held the soft-bodied Niannian in her arms, feeling as if she were embracing the whole world. Her back was to Gu Beichen, and her shoulders rose and fell slightly.
Gu Beichen’s Adam’s apple bobbed, a thousand words stuck in his chest, but in the end he could only say: “I’ll go arrange accommodation first.”
He arranged for Lin Su and her child to stay in the only suite with a private bathroom in the base’s guesthouse, while he himself moved into the standard room next door.
They both used to live in the dormitory.
Gu Beichen helped Lin Su carry her luggage over, his movements almost unsteady.
He has a daughter?!
He couldn’t wait to announce to the world that he, Gu Beichen, had a daughter, a lovely daughter, how wonderful!
In the afternoon, Lin Su had to return to the lab. She couldn’t leave the child alone in the room, so she had to take Niannian with her.
She gave Niannian a stack of paper and a few colored pencils, and let her draw quietly at the table in the corner.
In the laboratory, Lin Su once again faced that huge question mark, her brows furrowed.
Gu Beichen stood guard outside the laboratory, his gaze involuntarily drifting through the observation window to the small, quiet figure drawing.
I just feel a tightness and soreness in my chest!
Just then, Nian Nian ran to Lin Su’s side, holding up a drawing she had just finished, and tugged at her pants: “Mommy, look! Lots of circles and holes are spinning around!”
Lin Su was in a state of turmoil. She wanted to comfort the child and let her play by herself, but when her eyes fell on the drawing paper, she was struck dumb as if by lightning!
On the drawing paper are many loops made of lines of various colors that are tangled in a chaotic manner, and these loops pass through each other in a way that defies common sense.
This creates a bizarre yet harmonious connection structure that is impossible to exist on a two-dimensional plane.
This was not a standard Klein bottle, but it instantly activated all of Lin Su’s knowledge reserves about multidimensional topology and non-Euclidean geometry.
A blind spot confined by traditional thinking is shattered by this pure, unrestrained child’s perspective!
She suddenly knelt down, grasped her daughter’s small hand, and her voice trembled with emotion: “Niannian, tell Mommy, why…drew dots here?”
Niannian was startled by her mother’s sudden excitement and said timidly, “Because…because it’s bright there, like little stars…”
Shiny?
This word was like a lightning bolt that cleaved through the fog of Lin Su’s thoughts!
Her inherited synesthesia means she can see a specific “halo” emanating from mathematical structures!
And her daughter inherited and purified this ability! What Nian Nian saw was not abstract lines, but the most authentic energy pattern emanating from that unfinished mathematical model!
Trembling, she picked up the child’s drawing, rushed to the whiteboard, and compared the structure in the drawing with the model on the whiteboard.
“That’s it… that’s it! The stable singularity of the energy field should not be on the ‘surface’ of traditional topology, but should exist in a visually incomprehensible place.”
But within the mathematically describable ‘gap’! The ‘key’ left by the mother is a ‘keyhole’ that can only be found using this special ‘vision’!
The bottleneck that had been troubling the project team for weeks was suddenly broken open by a child’s unintentional creation!