From Trash to Treasure: The Sinclair Family's Beloved Genius

For a rare moment, the two contestants on stage didn’t move.

Everyone in the studio held their breath, watching the showdown between Chloe Sinclair and Vincent with rapt attention.

After about a minute of prolonged silence, Chloe Sinclair and Vincent simultaneously looked up and returned to their seats.

Vincent kept his head down, his long bangs obscuring his thick lenses, but his hands moved without pause.

But everyone could see his complexion growing paler and paler.

It was no wonder. The Hodge Conjecture had remained unproven for ages.

Although Vincent was brilliant, how could he possibly solve it in such a short amount of time?

The Hodge Conjecture was one of the world’s seven great unsolved mathematical problems, as well as a powerful tool for studying the shapes of complex objects.

With a difficulty rating as high as ten stars, countless scientists over the past few hundred years had dedicated their youth to it, some going to their graves without ever succeeding.

One professor had even said that whoever managed to prove this "Millennium Prize Problem" would change the course of mathematical history.

However, countless scientists had lost their way when trying to establish the geometric foundations of their proofs.

At eight o’clock in the evening, the audience had already left.

Only Chloe Sinclair, Vincent, and the staff remained on site.

Howard Thorne’s expression was grave. He turned his gaze to Chloe Sinclair, a faint sense of anticipation unexpectedly stirring within him.

’Could it be that Daisy Young was right? Is Chloe Sinclair really a Genius?’

She had already created more than enough miracles and surprises on her journey so far.

At ten o’clock, Vincent, pale-faced, set down his pen. His fingers trembled slightly. "I forfeit."

With that, he stood up to leave.

As he went, he glanced at Chloe Sinclair, who was still hunched over her intense calculations, a complicated look flashing in his eyes.

’Anyone who loves mathematics would have some familiarity with the Hodge Conjecture. I tried to prove this millennium-old problem long ago, but no matter what angle I approached it from, I could never even get started.’

The Hodge Conjecture was like a thick fog in a deep forest—utterly baffling.

And yet, this girl had been working on it for so long. No matter what, Vincent had to admire her for it.

After leaving the stage, Vincent didn’t exit the building. Instead, he went backstage to watch Chloe Sinclair’s progress on a monitor.

The camera wasn’t filming what Chloe Sinclair wrote, but the shot showed her hand moving quickly. She would pause from time to time, but she never seemed to erase anything.

’Is Chloe Sinclair that confident in her own reasoning?’

Vincent couldn’t help but feel a flicker of doubt.

Just then, Chloe Sinclair suddenly stopped writing. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

It wasn’t just Vincent who grew tense; even the four mentors on the dais were stunned.

On the stage, Chloe Sinclair looked pale. She stared at the thick notebook filled with her calculations. She had reached the final step, only to find herself completely lost.

She had clearly formed a generalization by "gluing" together simple geometric pieces of increasing dimensions to represent the object’s form, so why was the final result blocking her path like a solid wall?

Over the past few hours, she had used step-by-step algorithms, simulating and calculating with programmatic algorithms for partial differential equations, total differential equations, ordinary differential equations, and systems of ordinary differential equations.

The results from these equations perfectly aligned with her entire line of reasoning, yet upon reaching the final step, she still felt something was wrong.

’Could my entire approach have been wrong from the very beginning?’

[Master, you’ve already grinded your math progress bar to 70%. Don’t tell me you can’t even prove a simple little conjecture like this.]

Suddenly, the derisive voice of Eight echoed in her mind.

Chloe Sinclair had reached her limit. "Eight, you’d better stay hidden in my mind and never come out. Otherwise, you’ll have it coming."

Eight’s mocking laughter came to an abrupt halt.

It had just been an empty threat, but to her surprise, Eight actually went silent.

"Now, shut up. I’ll deal with you properly when I get back."

After that, Chloe Sinclair could clearly sense Eight’s emotions in her mind.

The corners of her lips curled up. She tilted her head and propped her chin on her hand.

Her mind raced.

Suddenly, her eyes landed on a few light-up signs left behind by the audience.

An idea suddenly struck her. "I need scratch paper," Chloe Sinclair announced.

Then she added, "A lot of it."

Howard Thorne’s eyes lit up. He quickly called out to the staff, "Quick, hurry! Chloe Sinclair’s had a breakthrough!"

He knew this state of mind all too well.

Long hours of research were certainly important, but a sudden flash of inspiration was far more precious.

Receiving the instruction, a staff member immediately brought over a dozen scratch pads from backstage.

The moment Chloe Sinclair got the pads, she began drawing numerous diagrams, scrawling all sorts of esoteric formulas beneath them.

The staff member glanced over before leaving and realized they couldn’t understand a single thing.

She recognized all the numbers, but when Chloe Sinclair strung them together, it might as well have been written in Greek.

It was now three in the morning. The four mentors on the dais were struggling to stay awake. Howard Thorne, however, caught sight of Chloe Sinclair’s proof process, and his face instantly lit up with excitement. He began to follow her reasoning, trying to do the calculations himself.

But he soon found he simply couldn’t keep up.

Furthermore, Chloe Sinclair’s formulas and notation...seemed to be like nothing that existed in the world.

A flicker of confusion crossed Howard Thorne’s eyes, but it was quickly overwhelmed by delight.

At five in the morning, Chloe Sinclair’s expression grew increasingly focused. Her mind was a whirlwind of activity until, finally, on the last line of the last page, she wrote the final symbol.

She pressed the bell in front of her, and it chimed through the quiet studio.

Howard Thorne excitedly slapped the shoulder of Hector York beside him. "Look, look! Chloe Sinclair’s finished!"

Hector York was instantly wide awake, a look of shock in his eyes. "Already?"

Howard Thorne let out a hearty laugh. "Hahaha! I was trying to follow along for hours. The girl’s reasoning is sound."

Mr. Sutton perked up as well but maintained a serious tone. "Let’s review it first. If it’s indeed correct, the next step is to write a paper for publication in *Mathematics*."

If the proof was correct, one could only imagine the firestorm it would ignite!

"Chloe Sinclair truly continues to deliver unexpected surprises in the face of one difficulty after another."

First, it was condensed matter Physics, then a biological conjecture, and now the Hodge Conjecture...

’This kid is a polymath!’

It was at this moment that the mentors suddenly realized Chloe Sinclair seemed to possess a natural talent in every single field.

And so, with the exception of Hector York who was still dumbfounded, the other mentors exchanged glances. Then they looked down, shifting restlessly in their seats.

Now!

The competition between the mentors was about to begin!

Howard Thorne was the authority on mathematics, so he held the most sway among the four mentors on this topic.

He glanced over Chloe Sinclair’s work one more time, then said, "Your reasoning is sound. After the program is over, if you don’t mind, I’ll run through the calculations again myself. If we can confirm the proof is correct, I can help you submit it for publication."

Chloe Sinclair nodded, her eyes filled with delighted surprise. "Thank you, Professor Thorne."

Seeing how approachable she was, Howard Thorne rubbed his hands together eagerly and asked, "Young lady, I can see you’re a rare talent. Any interest in pursuing a future in the field of mathematics?"