122: Chapter 122 Invitation

Three crab-eating macaques, wearing specially made helmets and with simple silver-gray mechanical arms attached to their right forelimbs, were being patiently guided by Li Wei.

The monkeys' intact left arms were gently restrained at their sides, forcing them to rely on the brand-new right arms that glinted with a cold metallic light.

Li Wei, wearing sterile gloves, carefully picked up a small piece of diced apple with tweezers and held it a few centimeters in front of the mechanical arm's fingers.

The monkey's round eyes were fixed intently on the food, and a faint rumbling sound came from its throat.

"Come on, try it, use this to grab it."

Li Wei guided it in an extremely gentle tone, as if she were teaching a toddler learning to walk.

The monkey seemed to understand; it didn't move its intact arm, its gaze focused on the mechanical arm.

Under the monkey's control, the silver-gray, slightly clumsy fingers began to open extremely slowly, with a noticeable tremor, and then clumsily closed, attempting to grasp the piece of apple.

"Click."

The fingers touched the apple piece, but the force wasn't controlled well, and the apple piece was knocked away.

The monkey squirmed a bit, looking somewhat agitated.

"Don't rush, try again." Li Wei patiently picked up another piece.

This time, the movement of the prosthetic limb seemed a little smoother.

It opened and closed, and this time, the fingertips firmly clamped onto the piece of apple!

Although the movement was still stiff and slow, the monkey seemed to feel a sense of success, and its eyes brightened.

Then, it struggled to control the mechanical arm, moving the hand holding the apple shakily, bit by bit, toward its mouth in an extremely uncoordinated but purposeful manner.

A distance of a few centimeters felt like it took a century.

Finally, the apple piece was successfully delivered into the monkey's mouth.

It immediately began to chew, making a satisfied "smacking" sound.

"Good! Nice!" Wang Zhe couldn't help but exclaim, and the several Researchers nearby also showed joy on their faces.

Li Wei breathed a sigh of relief and smiled, looking at Chen Youhua.

"The speed of readaptation is much faster than we expected. The experimental monkeys have inherently strong motor learning abilities, and their acceptance of this new hand is very high."

"Although the movements are still clumsy now, and the fingers occasionally move uncontrollably, look, it has basically mastered the core process of grasping the target object and bringing it to its mouth!"

"I feel that with another week or two of intensive training, the fluidity and stability of the movements can be taken to the next level."

Chen Youhua watched intently as the monkey tried again to pick up another piece of apple, nodded, and his tone carried a hint of approval.

"Hmm, it's indeed not bad, smoother than imagined."

"Then, once the training results are stable, publish the results of this stage a little."

He paused, his gaze still on the monkey.

"After that, stop paying attention to the outside debates. Retract your energy and focus fully on sprinting through the second and third stages. Strive to create a truly usable prosthetic limb as soon as possible."

Just as he finished speaking, a slightly abrupt cell phone ringtone rang out.

Chen Youhua took out his phone, and the screen displayed an unfamiliar number with a long international area code.

He raised an eyebrow slightly and answered it.

"Hello, Professor Chen Youhua?" A clear, formal male voice with a distinct European accent came through the receiver in English.

"Speaking." Chen Youhua replied, his English fluent.

"I am Dr. Reinhardt Müller, Secretary-General of the International Mathematical Union. On behalf of the IMU Executive Committee, I am honored to formally invite you to report on your groundbreaking work regarding the existence and smoothness of the solutions to the Navier-Stokes Equation at a special meeting we are organizing."

The caller's voice carried the solemnity characteristic of the academic circle, along with a hint of imperceptible excitement.

"The global mathematical community is eager to delve deeper into your profound contribution."

"We sincerely hope you can accept the invitation and grace us with your presence, preferably in Europe, where we will provide you with the best venue and support."

Chen Youhua listened, his face showing no ripples. When the other party finished, he spoke calmly, also in English:

"Thank you for your invitation, Dr. Müller, and thank you for the recognition from the IMU. I will prepare the materials needed for the report. However, regarding the conference venue,"

He paused, speaking in a tone that was gentle but left no room for negotiation.

"I have decided to host this special meeting in ZJ. I will coordinate the relevant arrangements and notify the IMU of the confirmed time and location. Thank you."

The other end of the phone seemed to fall silent for a second or two, clearly not expecting the other party to so bluntly reject the proposal to hold it in Europe and to take the initiative to determine the location himself.

"Ah... I understand. Very well, Professor Chen."

Dr. Müller's voice remained professional, but a hint of surprise and caution could be heard.

"The IMU will fully support your decision and make the corresponding arrangements. Thank you again."

After hanging up, Chen Youhua casually pocketed his phone.

His attention returned to the monkey, which was struggling to feed itself with the prosthetic limb.

Li Wei, who had been listening intently the whole time, was completely bewildered at this moment.

Her English wasn't top-tier, but she understood the key words and the caller's identity.

She widened her eyes, looking at Chen Youhua with her mouth slightly agape. It took her a long while to find her voice, filled with heavy confusion and disbelief.

"Wait... wait! You... why were you speaking English just now? Who called?"

"What International Mathematical Union? Invited you to attend what kind of meeting?"

She felt her brain couldn't keep up; the amount of information was too large, and every word combined made her feel it was inconceivable.

Chen Youhua finally turned his head and glanced at her.

"Oh, it was from the International Mathematical Union. They invited me to give a report, to talk about my paper solving the Navier-Stokes Equation."

Li Wei: "???"

She felt her CPU had been instantly fried by this sentence.

Was this even human language? She recognized every word, but combined together, they were like an alien language.

Li Wei's voice went up an octave.

"You solved what? The Navier-Stokes Equation? Navier-Stokes? That Millennium Prize Problem? When did this happen?"

Chen Youhua nodded, as if he were talking about a trivial matter.

"Yeah. What did you think I was doing locking myself in the study every day? Playing games? I have to do some real work; I just finished it a few days ago."

Li Wei was completely petrified on the spot, looking at Chen Youhua, who she spent every day with and who stayed in his study every day.

Just finished it a few days ago... The Millennium Prize Problem... In his mouth, it sounded as easy as solving some minor issue in the laboratory?!

"You..."

Li Wei pointed at Chen Youhua, her fingers trembling slightly. It took her a long time to squeeze out a sentence.

"...Fine! Chen Youhua, you're really something! I give up!"

Chen Youhua shrugged indifferently.

"Alright, it might get busy from here on out. You keep watching the monkeys and make sure the data is recorded well. I have to go to the school and keep them in the loop."

After he finished speaking, he took off his lab coat, tossed it onto the back of the chair, and walked out of the laboratory with a relaxed gait.

Leaving everyone in the laboratory standing in front of the cage, watching the monkey still struggling to eat the apple with its mechanical arm, and then looking at Chen Youhua's disappearing back, they only felt that this world was too magical.