“Right now we can see that the contestants from Lin Jiang Sixth High have entered the venue. Let’s welcome them with warm applause!” The gymnasium was not only equipped with the competition stage, but also had commentary seats nearby. “Hello, everyone, I am the commentator, lao Ye, from Lin Jiang Sixth High.”
Because the audience was too far away, they didn’t have a clear view, and the time it took to solve problems during the competition was lengthy. In order to increase the audience’s enthusiasm, the league invited two teachers every year to provide live commentary.
Lao Ye was the math teacher for the third years and one of the outstanding teachers at Lin Jiang Sixth High. Sitting beside him was Director Yang from Ying Hua Experimental High.
Director Yang nodded slightly and said, “Hello, everyone. I am lao Yang from Yinghua Experimental Middle School.”
The audience had arrived early and had already filled the first and second levels of the stands, as well as the second-floor gallery. Many students were leaning over the railings. When they saw “Shao Zhan” appear, they all screamed together, “Aaaaaah study god!”
“Study god looks handsome today too! Go, study god!”
“Study god will dominate again!”
“Keep the championship in Lin Jiang!”
Lin Jiang was the first to enter, and this year it was also Lin Jiang’s home ground. The audience’s excitement reached its peak.
Although Xu Sheng was nervous, perhaps due to Shao Zhan’s earlier gesture or maybe because of his words, his extreme nervousness seemed to ease a bit. Not only was he not nervous anymore, but he even tried to create an opportunity for Shao Zhan.
Xu Sheng sauntered at the back, with one hand in his pocket. He had completely changed the usual aloof and distant demeanor of “Shao Zhan”. As he gradually emerged from the slightly dim passage, it was as if the light was not shining on him directly but rather following him inch by inch, and when he completely appeared in the public’s sight, the cheers grew even louder. It was then that he lifted his head.
Then, Xu Sheng faced the audience stands, squinted his eyes, raised his hand, and made a shooting gesture with his fingers. This was received exceptionally enthusiastically, to the point where the unrestrained youths at the scene couldn’t suppress themselves.
“Ah—!” The cheers from the audience completely overwhelmed the commentators’ voices.
“Damn, how did I not realise before that study god was so arrogant?”
“Sisters, I’m done for, I’ve been hit!”
“…”
Shao Zhan, “…”
Shao Zhan lowered his voice and asked him, “Aren’t you afraid of not being able to meet their expectations?”
“I’m afraid,” Xu Sheng said, lowering his hand. “I am afraid, but even if we lose, we can’t lose in terms of hype.”
Xu Sheng smirked and added, “Besides, I think you’re right. Why should I be nervous when I have you?”
Having one academic genius was impressive enough, let alone one who was appearing together with the school tyrant.
Although the news of the school tyrant participating in the competition had spread on the school forums long ago, seeing it with one’s own eyes was still shocking. The black T-shirt was very conspicuous at the end of the team among a group of students in school uniforms.
The school tyrant had a cold expression—nobody was confident in his abilities, but it couldn’t be denied that he had an unparalleled ability to dominate the scene.
He instantly boosted the morale of their team from Lin Jiang Sixth High.
Commentator lao Ye said, “Ahem, students from Lin Jiang, please be quiet and maintain order…” Lao Ye’s voice rose, and he continued, “Next to enter the arena are the competition students from Ying Hua Experimental High!”
Finally, it was his school’s turn. Lao Yang took over. “Ying Hua Experimental High. With the motto of loving the country and pursuing knowledge, the competing students from Ying Hua fear no obstacles and bravely climb toward the peaks. Let us look forward to their brilliant performance today.”
As he spoke, Yinghua’s participating students formed a long line, and six of them walked out from the entrance passage.
The one leading them was very tall, standing out from the crowd even from a distance.
The audience’s reaction to Ying Hua’s appearance was also intense. Ying Hua’s students cheered loudly, shouting, “Duan ge is invincible!” The defeat last year made them attach great importance to this year’s competition, and they were eager to redeem themselves today.
“Our Duan ge is unbeatable!”
“Duan Yaosheng, Duan ge will surely be victorious!”
Among these four schools, any one of them would be considered a prestigious school.
If it weren’t for Xu Sheng’s luck during the high school entrance exam and his determination to get into Li Yang Second High along with his crazy studying, he also gave his best to barely reach the cut-off score for Lin Jiang.
If he had to take the entrance exam again, he might not be lucky enough to get into Lin Jiang.
There was an inexplicable atmosphere among the students from these four schools, and the competition among academic geniuses was about to begin.
As a completely ordinary unstudious student who managed to sneak into the competition, he felt a bit nervous under such pressure.
Commentator lao Ye, “Now, we are entering the team competition section. The rules are as follows: the first school to ring the buzzer will answer the question. Correct answers earn ten points, while wrong answers deduct ten points. I hope the participants consider their answers carefully before buzzing in. Once a wrong answer is given, they will face the consequence of losing points.”
This team competition might have seemed easy because there were teammates, but the deduction for wrong answers was also a test for all participants. Even if they calculated the answer quickly, how could they be sure their answer was correct?
Even a split second of hesitation and doubt could be seized upon by their opponents.
The white wall closest to the stage displayed a huge projection screen, glowing bright blue.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Ktf akb mbwwfcajabgr rjlv lc eclrbc, “Jbwqfalabgr, ufa gfjvs, jcv qifjrf ibbx ja atf olgra defralbc.”
Cr rbbc jr atfs olclrtfv rqfjxlcu, akb ilcfr bo afza jqqfjgfv bc atf yief kjii.
Hefralbc 1: Ktf vljugjw rtbkr jc lcmbwqifaf 3W3 wjulm rdejgf. Ktf rew bo atf atgff cewyfgr lc fjmt gbk, mbiewc, jcv vljubcji bo atlr wjulm rdejgf lr fdeji. Qtja lr atf njief bo W?
There was a 3X3 grid next to the question.
The first column was empty, followed by 4015 and 2014. The second column consisted of 4017, X-2003, and 9. The third column had 2012, 11, and X.
The first question was like a first shot fired onto the competition stage!
Everyone picked up their pens and began to write furiously.
Compared to the typical questions in formal competitions, this question was not that difficult. It was more of an appetizer. However, solving it still required some time, and buzzer rounds were all about speed.
Commentator lao Ye said, “The atmosphere in the competition is quite tense, and it’s all about racing against time…This question really tests your thinking pattern. Once you figure it out, it’s not that difficult. The tension here is getting to me as well. We can see that everyone is now—”
Lao Ye wanted to say that everyone was now racing against time, not knowing who would buzz in first.
But he couldn’t finish his sentence.
The reason he couldn’t continue it was because there was a person on the stage who hadn’t even picked up a pen.
So he quickly changed his words that were about to leave his mouth. “We can see that Shao Zhan from Sixth High, he, he hasn’t moved.”
Why wasn’t he moving?!
The audience in the stands also noticed this phenomenon, and once the commentator mentioned it, the whole place was in an uproar.
“What’s wrong with study god?”
“Why isn’t study god answering the question?”
Xu Sheng also wanted to answer the question, but he didn’t understand the question.
What the heck was this magic square thing?!
What did the columns mean?
How was he supposed to find the solution?
Moreover, the competition was different from regular classroom assignments. The scratch paper had to be handed in afterward, and with the judges constantly moving around the four tables, it would be difficult to explain if he scribbled nonsense all over the paper.
To avoid causing trouble for Shao Zhan, the best option for now was to stay still.
However, he still had to maintain a calm demeanor, as if he was dismissing everything, exuding an aura that implied the question was ridiculously simple.
Time was running out, and Shao Zhan didn’t have time to worry about Xu Sheng sitting still. He sat next to Xu Sheng and began calculating the answer to the problem.
Shao Zhan looked calm as he solved the problem; even to the point of looking calmer than usual. He lowered his eyes, and despite wearing Xu Sheng’s clothes, the aura he exuded was the complete opposite.
Indeed, Duan Yaosheng was a formidable opponent. His title of being the top student in Ying Hua was well-deserved. A year had passed, and he had become even stronger. Both he and Shao Zhan put down their pens, one after the other—
Commentator Yang couldn’t contain his excitement. “Ying Hua’s competitor, Duan Yao Sheng, has raised his head! He put down his pen, does that mean he has already solved the problem?! Will he be the first to buzz in?”
“Ding.”
The buzzer rang.
But the one who buzzed in was not Duan Yaosheng, nor the competitors from Song Ye and Xing Jian. It was Lin Jiang Sixth High.
The enthusiasm among the audience in the commentator’s box reignited, and the atmosphere heated up once more, “My god, it’s study god!”
“Study god buzzed in!”
“I knew study god would be fine. Even though he didn’t pick up a pen earlier, he must have calculated the answer in his mind.”
Duan Yaosheng listened to the bell ring in disbelief. He had thought that no one would be able to match his speed, but he ended up being two seconds slower.
Everyone’s attention had been drawn to “Shao Zhan,” and no one noticed that “Xu Sheng” had put down the pen faster than Duan Yaosheng. After putting down his pen, “Xu Sheng” had even had the time to tap the table twice with his fingers, which was the signal they had agreed upon: “Buzz in.”
Xu Sheng was quick to react as well. He immediately pressed the answer button in front of him.
Commentator lao Ye said, “Shao Zhan from Lin Jiang Sixth High was the first to buzz in. Please answer the question within ten seconds.”
Xu Sheng only needed to slightly turn his head to see the number Shao Zhan had circled on his scratch paper.
Xu Sheng, “4016.”
The venue fell silent, and the audience in the stands didn’t know if the answer was correct or not. They held their breaths, waiting for the referee’s decision.
Two seconds later, the referee raised a card. “Correct, Lin Jiang Sixth High, ten points added.”
First blood.
Shao Zhan’s ten points not only caused the audience to cheer but also brought smiles to the faces of several Lin Jiang Sixth High teachers below the stage.
Homeroom Teacher Gu had been pacing back and forth with his hands behind his back since the first question had appeared on the screen. At this moment, he clenched his fists and pounded the air in front of him, shouting, “Well done! Beautiful!”
As expected of Shao Zhan! As expected of Lin Jiang’s study god!”
However, his voice was quickly drowned out by the multiple waves of noise coming from the audience behind him.
Meanwhile, Xu Sheng was stunned by this victory that had come too easily.
Although he had heard countless legends about Shao Zhan before the competition and knew that Shao Zhan had dominated the prior year, experiencing it firsthand truly made him understand the meaning of “domination.”
Xu Sheng: “We won the first question?”
Shao Zhan’s expression didn’t change much. “Mn.”
Xu Sheng: “So easy?”
Shao Zhan put down his pen, and it landed on the paper. “This question isn’t hard.”
Shao Zhan said it wasn’t hard, however Xu Sheng couldn’t quite grasp it.
But Xu Sheng could vaguely see the figure of last year’s tournament champion upon his own body through Shao Zhan’s actions.
Tsk.
My deskmate is truly amazing, Xu Sheng thought.
The opponent was frustrated by “Shao Zhan’s” first blood. If you encountered a player who didn’t even touch their scratch paper while everyone else buried their heads in their tests, and who still managed to buzz in earlier than you, wouldn’t you feel upset?
Anyone would feel frustrated.
Duan Yaosheng sat in his seat, utterly silent.
His teammate patted his shoulder. “It’s alright, Duan ge, it’s only the first question. We all saw it just now; you were the first one to put down the pen. We’ll definitely do well in the next one.”
Commentator, “Please look at the second question.”
The content on the projection screen switched to the next page, displaying the second question.
The second question was a multiple-choice question with a function graph.
Xu Sheng continued with his strategy from the previous round: stay put.
With the victory of the first question giving him mental support, he acted even more relaxed and casual this time, no longer stiffening his body. He leaned back and played with the pen in his hand.
As Duan Yaosheng solved the question, he raised his head and inadvertently made eye contact with the “Shao Zhan” opposite him.
Xu Sheng even curled his lips into a smile at him.
Duan Yaosheng’s temples twitched. “…”
Was he trying to provoke him?
“This question is more difficult than the first one. I think that the solving time needed for this question will be slightly longer than the first one. Shao Zhan from Lin Jiang Sixth High…well, he still hasn’t touched his pen.” Lin Jiang Sixth High’s commentator lao Ye didn’t know what to comment regarding this contestant. In the end, he forced himself to say, “For two consecutive questions, Shao Zhan hasn’t written a single word on the scratch paper. Maybe he doesn’t think this question is worth using his pen for.”
The students who came to the gymnasium to watch the competition did not expect that this year’s Four School Competition League would be even more entertaining than last year’s.
Study god alone was fulfilling the entire entertainment aspect of this competition.
Duan Yaosheng lowered his head again and quickly solved the last step as Shao Zhan put his pen down and knocked on the table.
Xu Sheng, who had been playing with his pen the whole time, immediately raised his hand and buzzed in.
Duan Yaosheng, “…”
The other contestants from Yang Hua, “…”
The contestants from Song Ye and Xing Jian, “…”
Even the commentator from Yang Hua Experimental High began feeling uneasy.
So this important task was once again handed over to commentator lao Ye: “The second question, and once again, a player from Lin Jiang Sixth High has buzzed in first. Please answer within ten seconds.”
After Xu Sheng buzzed in, he glanced at the scratch paper on Shao Zhan’s side but didn’t see any circled options.
Xu Sheng asked, “The answer?”
But Shao Zhan wasn’t in a hurry. He looked up at Xu Sheng and said in a voice only they could hear, “Reach your hand out.”
Xu Sheng, “?”
Shao Zhan, “Don’t you want to know the answer.”
Confused, Xu Sheng didn’t have time to think about what Shao Zhan was up to. He reached out under the long table, where no one could see.
Perhaps to add a sense of ritual to the competition, there was a layer of reddish-brown velvet cloth draped over the long table, brought over from the auditorium. Making such small movements under the long table wouldn’t attract anyone’s attention.
Xu Sheng was standing, unable to lower his head to look. As a result of this, any subtle movement would be infinitely amplified. He felt the back of his hand rubbing against the velvet cloth, which swayed slightly and felt a bit itchy.
The next second—
His palm came into contact with something slightly warm.
Then came a sensation itchier than the velvet, spreading from his palm to his fingertips and then flowing back in reverse—ultimately, that itchiness felt like it was scratching the depths of his heart.
Shao Zhan wrote an “A” on the palm of his hand.
The referee waited for a while. Seeing that half of the ten seconds had passed, he gave one final reminder: “Contestant from Lin Jiang Sixth High…”
“A,” Xu Sheng said, “I choose A.”
“Is A your final answer?” the referee asked.
Was A the correct choice?
Although Xu Sheng couldn’t understand the question, he didn’t doubt the answer Shao Zhan had written in the palm of his hand.
The referee deliberately hesitated for two seconds before raising the card. “Congratulations, that’s correct.”
“Lin Jiang Sixth High gains ten more points.”
After the referee finished speaking, Gu Yanwang leaped up from his seat!
“This is our school’s.” Gu Yanwang couldn’t contain his excitement anymore, disregarding the fact that teachers from other schools were sitting around him. He boasted, “This is our school’s student, Shao Zhan. He has always been so outstanding. Ah, the excellent students from our Lin Jiang Sixth High are just remarkable.”
“You all remember, right? You should have an impression. It was our student Shao Zhan who won the championship last year.”
The director of Yinghua Experimental High, who had been caught by Gu Yanwang while he was boasting, had a grim expression. “…”
In the team competition, Shao Zhan seemed to be invincible.
Out of a total of ten questions, he single-handedly scored half the points.
It wasn’t until the sixth question that someone from Yang Hua seized the opportunity. Duan Yaosheng buzzed in a second earlier and scored ten points.
Afterwards, Xing Jian and Song Ye also seized their opportunities and scored ten points each.
The team competition lasted for a total of one and a half hours.
最后以临江50分，英华30分，嵩叶10分，星剑10分的比分结束了上半场团体赛。
Finally, the first half of the team competition ended with Lin Jiang Sixth High at 50 points, Ying Hua at 30 points, Song Ye at 10 points, and Xing Jian at 10 points.
Xu Sheng, as the buzzer hitter, had lost count of how many points Lin Jiang had scored.
Anyway, every time Shao Zhan knocked on the table, he immediately buzzed in.
He only remembered that Shao Zhan had stopped writing on his paper and began writing in his palm.
The gymnasium was vast and filled with a grand atmosphere.
The crowd was stuffy, and the hot temperature of summer kept rising.
The warm fingertips of the youth seemed to carry a flame.
Under the gaze of countless people, amidst the tumultuous voices of the crowd, the secret little movements under the velvet cloth became a secret shared only between the two of them.
nao: i want to know how sz managed to solve the problem, flirt with xs, and manage to write the answer on his palm and gave xs enough time to answer it in like 5 seconds
Hahahaha they’re invisible~ 🤩✨🫡
Thanks for the update 💕