BTO CH62

“Now we can see that the contestants from Linjiang Sixth High have already entered the arena. Let’s welcome them with a warm round of applause!” Not only was a competition stage set up in the gymnasium, but commentator seats were also arranged not far from it. “…Hello everyone, I am commentator Lao Ye from Linjiang Sixth High.”

Because the audience was seated far away and couldn’t see clearly, and the problem-solving process during the competition was long, two teachers were brought in every year for live commentary to boost the audience’s enthusiasm.

Lao Ye was a senior year math teacher and one of Linjiang Sixth High’s outstanding educators. Sitting beside him was Director Yang from Yinghua Experimental High School.

Director Yang nodded slightly: “Hello everyone, I am Old Yang from Yinghua Experimental High School.”

The audience had entered early and had already filled up the first and second tiers of the spectator stands. On the second-floor viewing platform, a large group of students leaned over the railings. Upon seeing “Shao Zhan” appear, they screamed in unison: “Ahhh Study God!”

“Study God is so handsome today too, go Study God!”

“Study God for the back-to-back championship!”

“Keep the championship in Linjiang!”

Linjiang was the first to enter, and since it was Linjiang’s home turf this year, the audience’s excitement reached its peak.

Even though Xu Sheng was nervous, perhaps it was Shao Zhan’s action just now, or perhaps that sentence had taken effect; once his nervousness reached its absolute limit, he actually didn’t feel that nervous anymore. Not only was he not nervous, but he even tried to hype up the scene for Shao Zhan.

Xu Sheng walked lazily at the very back with one hand in his pocket, completely shedding “Shao Zhan’s” usual aloof and unapproachable demeanor. As he slowly emerged from the somewhat dim tunnel, it didn’t seem like the light was shining on him, but rather as if the light and shadows were trailing his every movement, inch by inch. When he fully stepped into the public’s line of sight, the cheering grew even louder, and only then did he raise his head.

Then, Xu Sheng faced the spectator stands, narrowed his eyes, and raised his hand. Straightening his knuckles, he aimed a “shooting” gesture right at them. He was arrogant to the extreme; the unrestrained, flamboyant aura radiating from the boy simply couldn’t be suppressed.

“Ah—!” The roar from the audience completely drowned out the commentators in one fell swoop.

“Holy shit, how did I never realize the Study God was this arrogant before.”

“Sisters, I’m a goner, I’ve been hit.”

“…”

Shao Zhan: “…”

Shao Zhan lowered his voice and asked him: “Aren’t you afraid of not being able to wrap this up?”

“I am,” Xu Sheng dropped his hand and said. “Fear is one thing, but whatever we lose, we can’t lose our momentum.”

Xu Sheng curled his lips into a smile and added: “Besides, I think you’re right. What’s there to be nervous about? Don’t I still have you?”

One Study God was explosive enough, let alone the School Tyrant making an appearance alongside him.

Even though the news of the School Tyrant participating in the competition had long spread across the forum, witnessing it with their own eyes was still shocking. At the end of the line, among a group of students wearing school uniforms, that black T-shirt was incredibly eye-catching.

The School Tyrant wore a cold expression—no one had any confidence in this lord’s academic prowess, but undeniably, this lord’s ability to hold down the fort was absolutely unmatched.

He single-handedly elevated the imposing aura of Linjiang Sixth High’s competition team.

Commentator Lao Ye: “Ahem, students of Linjiang, please quiet down a bit and maintain order…” Lao Ye’s voice then rose as he continued, “Next to enter the arena are the competition students from Yinghua Experimental High School!”

Finally reaching his own school’s turn, Old Yang took over: “Yinghua Experimental High School takes ‘Establishing Learning through Patriotism’ as its motto. Yinghua’s competition students fear no obstacles and bravely scale the highest peaks. Let us look forward to their brilliant performance today.”

As he spoke, Yinghua’s contestants formed a long line; a team of six walked out from the entrance tunnel.

The student leading the group was very tall, standing out like a crane among a flock of chickens even from a distance.

The audience’s reaction was equally fierce when Yinghua made their appearance. Yinghua’s students, each cheering loudly enough for two, strained their vocal cords yelling, “Brother Duan, Brother Duan, invincible in all directions!” Last year’s defeat made them value this year’s competition exceptionally highly; they had been waiting for today to wipe away their past humiliation.

“Our Brother Duan is invincible!”

“Duan Yaosheng, Brother Duan must win!”

That leading student was precisely Duan Yaosheng, who had left his name on the Linjiang Sixth High forum. Staring straight ahead without looking sideways, he strode directly onto the competition stage.

After sitting down, his gaze fixed onto “Shao Zhan” and didn’t move away.

Xu Sheng felt this burning gaze: “…” You’re staring at the wrong person, bro.

Eventually, Xu Sheng turned his head and asked Shao Zhan: “Is this your opponent from last year?”

How could Shao Zhan possibly remember these inconsequential people? “No impression of him. Probably.”

Only then did Duan Yaosheng notice a new, unfamiliar face mixed into Linjiang Sixth High’s competition team this year. Looking like he was very familiar with his rival, Shao Zhan, Duan Yaosheng reluctantly spared him a glance. His brain spun at high speed: Who is this guy? A freshman? Didn’t see him last year. Why isn’t he wearing a school uniform? Could he be a ruthless character?

Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will emerge victorious in a hundred battles.

Duan Yaosheng lifted his chin and asked a teammate beside him: “Do any of you know him? The one not wearing a school uniform.”

The teammates shook their heads one after another: “Don’t know him. I don’t think he was here last year. A freshman?”

Shortly after, the students from Songye and Xingjian high schools also entered the arena one after another.

Four long tables were set up on the competition stage. For the first half’s team match, six people from each school sat around their respective long tables.

It was Xu Sheng’s first time participating in this kind of competition, and he appeared slightly stiff among the crowd of rigidly seated students.

Right on time, the referee began handing out scratch paper.

All the contestants held their pens and pressed down on their papers, primed and ready to go.

This was a true battle between top scholars.

Linjiang, Yinghua, Songye, Xingjian.

Any one of these four schools carried enough weight as a prestigious key high school.

If Xu Sheng hadn’t had a stroke of dumb luck during the high school entrance exam, harboring a die-hard resolve to get into Liyang Second High, studying so desperately he could have tied his hair to the roof beam and stabbed his thigh with an awl, going through crazy tutoring and performing beyond his usual limits, he barely managed to hit Linjiang’s cutoff line.

If he were to take the exam again, he might not have the luck to get into Linjiang.

An indescribable atmosphere lingered among the students of the four schools; the battle of the top scholars was on the verge of breaking out.

As a pure academic slacker who had snuck onto the stage fishing in troubled waters, he was still a bit panicked under this kind of intimidating pressure.

Commentator Lao Ye: “Next, we will enter the team match segment. The rules for the team match are a buzzer-beater points system. The school that presses the buzzer first gets to answer first. A correct answer adds ten points, while a wrong answer deducts ten points. We hope the contestants will think clearly before buzzing in; once you answer incorrectly, you must bear the consequences of losing points.”

This team match seemed relaxed since there were teammates, but the deduction mechanism for wrong answers was also a trial for all the contestants. Even if they calculated the answer at the fastest speed, did they dare guarantee their answer was absolutely correct?

Even a tenth of a second of hesitation or doubt would allow an opponent to seize the opportunity.

A giant screen projection appeared on the white wall closest to the competition stage, glowing a fluorescent blue.

The two commentators said in unison: “Contestants, please get ready. Please look at the first question.”

As soon as their voices fell, two lines of text immediately surfaced on the fluorescent blue wall.

Question One: The figure shows an incomplete 3×3 magic square. The sum of the three numbers in each row, each column, and each diagonal of this magic square has an equal value. Then the value of X is ___.

Next to the question was a 3×3 table.

The first column was empty, 4015, 2014; the second column was 4017, X-2003, 9; the third column was 2012, 11, X.

The first question transformed into what felt like the first gunshot of the arena!

Everyone picked up their pens and started writing furiously.

Compared to the formal competition problems they usually did, this question was indeed not a major difficulty—just an appetizer. However, solving it still required some time, and the buzzer round was a battle of time.

“The atmosphere in the arena right now is quite tense; you could say it’s a race against the clock,” Commentator Lao Ye said. “…This question really tests one’s mode of thinking. As long as you figure out the logic, it isn’t hard. This tense atmosphere is making me nervous too. We can see that right now, everyone is—”

Teacher Ye wanted to say that everyone was racing against time, and he didn’t know who would press the buzzer first.

But he couldn’t continue.

The reason he couldn’t continue was that there was one person on the field who hadn’t even picked up a pen at all.

So, with the words already on the tip of his tongue, he hastily changed his phrasing: “We can see that Student Shao Zhan from Linjiang Sixth High, he… he hasn’t moved.” Why wasn’t he moving?!

The students in the spectator stands had already noticed this phenomenon. Coupled with the commentator specially calling him out, the entire venue erupted in an uproar.

“What’s wrong with the Study God?”

“Why isn’t the Study God solving the problem?”

Xu Sheng really wanted to solve it too, but he couldn’t understand the question.

What the fuck was a magic square?!

And what did these columns in the table even mean?

Where was the logic to solve this?

Moreover, the competition was different from regular classwork. The scratch paper would be collected at the end. Plus, with the referees constantly pacing back and forth in front of the four tables of contestants, if he forced himself to blindly scribble on the paper, it would be very hard to explain to the referees.

To avoid causing trouble for Shao Zhan, the best method right now was not to move at all.

However, his posture still had to remain calm, to scorn everything, and exude an aura that this question was simply too easy.

Time was tight, and Shao Zhan didn’t have the luxury of worrying about Xu Sheng sitting there motionless. Sitting beside Xu Sheng, he twirled his pen and calculated the problem.

When Shao Zhan solved problems, he looked very calm, even colder than usual. Lowering his eyes, even though he was wearing Xu Sheng’s clothes, he still exuded a temperament that completely contradicted them.

Duan Yaosheng was indeed a formidable opponent; his title as Yinghua’s grade rank one wasn’t just empty bragging. After a year, he was even stronger than before. He and Shao Zhan set their pens down one after the other—

Commentator Old Yang was so excited he couldn’t control himself: “Yinghua’s contestant Duan Yaosheng has raised his head! He has put down his pen, has he already calculated the answer?! Will he be the first contestant to press the buzzer?”

“Ding.”

The buzzer rang.

But the person who pressed the buzzer wasn’t Duan Yaosheng, nor was it the contestants from Songye or Xingjian. It was Linjiang Sixth High.

The audience’s passion reignited, and the atmosphere exploded once again: “Holy crap, it’s the Study God!”

“Study God pressed the buzzer!”

“I knew Study God definitely wouldn’t have a problem. Even though he didn’t pick up a pen just now, he must have calculated it in his head.”

Duan Yaosheng listened to the sound of that buzzer in disbelief. He had believed no one could beat his speed, yet he hadn’t expected to still be two seconds slower.

Everyone’s attention had been drawn to “Shao Zhan”; no one noticed that “Xu Sheng’s” speed of putting down the pen was faster than his. After “Xu Sheng” set down his pen, he even had time to curl his fingers and lightly tap the tabletop twice. This was the secret signal he and Xu Sheng had agreed upon: Press the buzzer.

Xu Sheng’s reaction speed was fast too; he immediately smashed the answer button illuminating in front of him.

Commentator Lao Ye: “Student Shao Zhan from Linjiang Sixth High is the first to press the buzzer. Please answer within ten seconds, Student Shao Zhan.”

Xu Sheng only had to turn his head slightly to see the number Shao Zhan had circled on his scratch paper.

Xu Sheng: “4016.”

The venue fell into silence. The people in the audience didn’t know if this answer was right or not, holding their breath as they waited for the referee’s verdict.

Two seconds later, the referee raised a placard.

Commentator: “Correct! Linjiang Sixth High, add ten points.”

First blood.

The ten points secured by “Shao Zhan” not only triggered cheers from the audience but also brought smiles to the faces of several Linjiang Sixth High school leaders offstage.

From the moment the first question lit up on the screen, Director Gu hadn’t been able to resist pacing back and forth on the sidelines with his hands behind his back. At this moment, he clenched his fist, punched forward heavily, and shouted: “Good job! Beautiful!”

As expected of Shao Zhan! Truly Linjiang Sixth High’s hope for the championship!

However, his voice was quickly drowned out by the overlapping waves of sound rolling in from the spectator stands behind him.

Meanwhile, Xu Sheng was dizzy from this victory that had come far too easily.

Even though he had heard countless legends about Shao Zhan before participating, and knew that Shao Zhan had completely crushed everyone last year, it wasn’t until he experienced it firsthand that he truly tasted the meaning of the words “completely crushed.”

Xu Sheng: “We won the first question?”

Shao Zhan’s expression didn’t fluctuate much: “Yeah.”

Xu Sheng: “It was that simple?”

Shao Zhan let go of his pen, letting it fall back onto the paper: “This question isn’t hard.”

Xu Sheng had a hard time comprehending what Shao Zhan called “not hard.”

But through his own body, Xu Sheng faintly saw the grand demon king of the competition from last year.

Tsk.

Xu Sheng thought to himself, How is my desk mate this amazing?

“Shao Zhan” securing this first blood completely shattered the opposing side’s mentality. There was no other reason; if you encountered a contestant who sat perfectly still while everyone else buried their heads in answering after the match started, didn’t even fucking use scratch paper, and could still press the buzzer ahead of time—would you be pissed off or what?

Anyone’s mentality would shatter.

Duan Yaosheng sat in his seat without saying a word.

His teammate patted his shoulder: “It’s okay, Brother Duan. This is only the first question. We all saw it just now; you were the first to put down your pen. We can definitely get the next one.”

Commentator: “Please look at the second question.”

The content on the projection switched to the next page, entering the second question.

The second question was a multiple-choice question accompanied by a function graph.

Xu Sheng continued his performance from the previous round: standing utterly still.

Bolstered by the victory in the first question, his pretentious posturing became more casual and natural this time. His body was no longer stiff; he leaned back leisurely, twirling a pen playfully in his hand.

While Duan Yaosheng was solving the problem, he raised his head midway to glance at the four options again, unexpectedly locking eyes with the “Shao Zhan” opposite him.

Xu Sheng even curled his lips into a smirk at him.

Duan Yaosheng’s temple twitched: “…”

Who was he trying to provoke?!

“This question is harder than the last. I estimate the problem-solving time for this one will be slightly longer than the previous one. Linjiang Sixth High’s… uh, Student Shao Zhan still hasn’t picked up his pen.” Linjiang Sixth High’s commentator Lao Ye truly didn’t know how to commentate on this contestant anymore. Finally, he bit the bullet and said, “For two consecutive questions, Student Shao Zhan hasn’t written a single word on his scratch paper. This… perhaps this question isn’t worthy of him picking up his pen either.”

The students who came to the gymnasium to watch the match hadn’t expected this year’s Four Schools Joint Competition to be even more entertaining than last year’s.

The Study God single-handedly maxed out the entertainment value of the entire competition.

Just as Duan Yaosheng lowered his head again, racing at top speed to solve the final step, Shao Zhan set down his pen and tapped the table once more.

Having been playfully twirling his pen the entire time, Xu Sheng raised his hand and directly hit the buzzer.

Duan Yaosheng: “…”

The other Yinghua contestants: “…”

The Songye and Xingjian contestants: “…”

The commentator from Yinghua Experimental High School also felt his mentality starting to waver.

Thus, the heavy responsibility was once again handed to commentator Lao Ye: “For the second question, it’s still the contestant from Linjiang Sixth High who pressed the buzzer first. Please answer within ten seconds, Sixth High contestant.”

After pressing the buzzer, Xu Sheng looked toward the scratch paper near Shao Zhan’s hand, but didn’t see any circled options on it.

Xu Sheng asked: “Where’s the answer?”

But Shao Zhan wasn’t in a hurry. He lifted his eyes to look at him, speaking at a volume only the two of them could hear: “Hold out your hand.”

Xu Sheng: “?”

Shao Zhan: “Didn’t you want to know the answer?”

Xu Sheng didn’t understand what he meant, but with the referee repeating “Sixth High contestant, please answer” at the front, he had no time to ponder what Shao Zhan was trying to do. He held out his hand under the long table.

Perhaps to increase the ceremonial feel of the competition, the long tables were draped in a layer of reddish-brown velvet cloth brought over from the grand auditorium. With the long velvet draped down, making small movements under the table wouldn’t attract any attention.

Since Xu Sheng was standing, he couldn’t look down. As a result, every subtle movement was infinitely magnified. He felt the back of his hand brushing against the velvet cloth; as the cloth swayed slightly, the brushing felt a bit ticklish.

The next second—

Something slightly warm pressed against the center of his palm.

Then came a sensation even more ticklish than the velvet cloth. It extended densely from his palm all the way to his fingertips, before flowing back down from his fingertips—until ultimately, that tickling sensation seemed to scratch right into his heart.

It was Shao Zhan writing an “A” into his palm.

The referee waited for a moment. Seeing that the ten seconds were already half up, he gave one final reminder: “Sixth High contestant, please…”

“A,” Xu Sheng said. “I choose A.”

“You choose A, correct?” the referee said.

Was choosing A really correct?

Even though Xu Sheng couldn’t even understand the question, he didn’t doubt the answer Shao Zhan wrote in his palm in the slightest.

The referee deliberately paused for two seconds before raising a placard: “Congratulations, that is correct.”

“—Linjiang Sixth High adds another ten points.”

As soon as the referee said those words, Director Gu leaped up from his seat!

“That’s our school’s,” Director Gu was overjoyed. Regardless of which schools the teachers sitting next to him were from, he couldn’t resist showing off. “This is our school’s Student Shao Zhan, he’s always been this outstanding. Sigh, our Linjiang Sixth High’s honor students are just that brilliant.”

“You all remember, right? You should have some impression of it. Last year, it was our Student Shao Zhan who won the championship.”

The Yinghua Experimental High School leaders, caught by Director Gu and forced to listen to his bragging, turned ashen-faced: “…”

During the team match, it was as if Shao Zhan had turned on cheat codes.

Out of ten questions in total, he single-handedly swept up half the points.

It wasn’t until the sixth question that Yinghua’s team finally snatched an opportunity. Duan Yaosheng buzzed in a second earlier, grabbing ten points.

Afterward, Xingjian and Songye also seized chances, scoring ten points each.

The team match lasted a total of an hour and a half.

Finally, the first-half team match concluded with Linjiang at 50 points, Yinghua at 30 points, Songye at 10 points, and Xingjian at 10 points.

As a mere buzzer-pressing tool, Xu Sheng had long lost track of how many points Linjiang had scored.

Either way, whenever Shao Zhan tapped the table, he pressed it immediately.

He only remembered that later on, Shao Zhan stopped writing answers on the paper entirely, exclusively writing them into the center of his palm instead.

The gymnasium was cavernous, the momentum massive.

The crowd was packed tightly, and the scorching summer heat continuously radiated.

The teenager’s warm fingertips felt as if they carried fire.

Under the watchful eyes of countless people, amidst a cacophony of thousands of boiling voices, the covert little movements hidden beneath the velvet cloth became a secret belonging exclusively to the two of them.