Top Student: Wasteland Technology Invasion

Lecture hall in the East Teaching Building.

After Associate Professor Qin finished lecturing on "Higher Algebra," Teaching Assistant Li Zheng began announcing the entrance test scores for the Qiushi Class.

Due to certain considerations of personal relationships, Assistant Li only released part of the results.

After all, some students who only wrote eight "solutions" had such amazing results.

"As you all know, this test was very difficult. Students who did not do well should not be discouraged. If you continue to study in regular classes, the difficulty of various exams will be greatly reduced."

Li Zheng tried his best to keep a calm tone when recounting the story, and even so, it gave many first-year university students a sense of what it was like to be in their senior year of high school.

At the Faculty of Mathematics at Viet Yang University, even a PhD in mathematics can exert a strong sense of pressure on freshmen.

Zhu Lin, sitting in the middle of the fifth row of the lecture hall, looked to his left and asked, "Old Yuan, how did your exam go?"

Yuan Qi shook his head. "Not good, 36 points. This test was too difficult. What about you, Lao Zhu?"

"Sigh, I only got 49 points, not even passing. After reading so many obscure books, I still didn't even reach the passing grade." Zhu Lin looked somewhat discouraged.

He scored 150 in the college entrance examination mathematics, which is considered extremely high among college entrance examination candidates, but he did not expect to suffer a crushing defeat in this test.

"Is there really that big a difference between high school graduates and students who participate in competitions?" Zhu Lin asked Sun Ang with a sigh. "Old Sun, what did you score?"

Sun Ang shrugged. "Damn, my grades were manually hidden by Assistant Li. He probably thought my score was too low and there was no need to publish it. You guys are all so good. I'm the worst in our 303 class."

Yuan Qi patted Sun Ang on the shoulder and comforted him, "You can't say that. At most, we're only a dozen or twenty points apart, and we still won't get into the Qiushi Class. Look at Old Lin, he went to listen to 'Modern Algebra' early this morning. He's a real prodigy."

Although Zhu Lin had already learned about Lin Chuan's situation from her roommate yesterday, she still felt a hint of disbelief when she heard it now.

He didn't understand. They were both high school students taking the college entrance exam, and his math score was 5 points higher than Lin Chuan's. So why was there such a big difference in their scores in this Qiushi Class test?

Sun Ang quickly accepted reality. "I really envy Chuan Chuan. Professor Tang called him over for private tutoring. It feels like he'll soon be on a completely different level from us."

Yuan Qi: "What are you afraid of? Qi Fei is also in our dorm. If you have any math problems you don't understand, just ask him. Does he think he'll ignore you?"

Sun Ang: "That makes sense. I'm going to have a big meal today. Let's go to the third floor of the cafeteria for stir-fries at noon."

"Teaching Assistant Li, this isn't right, is it?"

While the students in room 303 were discussing the matter, one of them suddenly stood up, walked up to Li Zheng, and said, "Teaching Assistant Li, many students' grades are missing. Why weren't they announced? And I heard that only one student was selected for the Qiu Shi Class this time? Everyone knows Xie Zhixing's abilities, so I won't say much. But why was there an extra spot given to Lin Chuan?"

The students all looked toward the source of the voice, and soon someone read out his name.

Kong Jia, CMO Silver Medalist, also had the highest score among those announced by Assistant Coach Li.

He scored 66 points, the only student in the class to pass.

No wonder he raised questions.

For example, Zheng Quanxun, who also failed to get into the Qiushi Class, only scored 57 points. Although he was dissatisfied, he did not express it publicly.

As everyone knows, the Qiushi Class is overseen by an academician, but when the academician is not present, Professor Tang Beichen has the final say.

Teaching assistant Li is Professor Tang's doctoral student, and he is standing here representing the Qiushi Class.

Anyone who blindly stands up to question this will be disqualified from working in the School of Mathematics.

But then again, this kind of unclear and ambiguous situation is really frustrating.

To cover up the truth, Assistant Li even concealed the grades of many people.

After manipulating things behind the scenes, he directly gave the spots to Xie Zhixing and Lin Chuan. This kind of operation was really too domineering.

Xie Zhixing is alright, after all, his eighth-place ranking in the national training team speaks for itself. He'd be more than qualified for the Qiushi Class at Yueyang University, or even the Mathematics Experimental Class at Yenching University.

Moreover, Xie Zhixing handed in his exam paper early yesterday.

Their strength speaks for itself.

Everyone thought it was only natural that he was admitted to the Qiushi Class, and there was no problem with it.

Now that there's an extra spot in the Qiushi Class, Kong Jia saw hope, but that hope was unfortunately dashed by a mere college entrance exam candidate.

Lin Chuan hasn't shown any outstanding performance since entering the school, so why was he able to directly enter the Qiushi Class?

Therefore, Kong Jia must stand up and demand an explanation for himself and for all the students.

Li Zheng didn't answer the question directly. Instead, he slowly scanned everyone and said in a very calm tone, "Isn't this obvious? This morning, while everyone was still in Advanced Algebra class, Professor Tang had already called Xie Zhixing and Lin Chuan to listen to a group theory lecture. Honestly, if you were to listen to group theory now, would you all understand it?"

"What does Assistant Professor Li mean by that?"

Zheng Quanxun stepped forward. He had won a silver medal in the CMO and was very confident in his mathematical talent. However, he did not expect to encounter a major setback in the first battle of the Qiushi Class selection test.

He even failed the exam.

Zheng Quanxun's self-esteem was already severely damaged, and now, after hearing Li Zheng's words, he felt even more that the teaching assistant was being sarcastic and implying that he wasn't capable enough.

With Kong Jia and Zheng Quanxun, two competition students, taking the lead, the students in the School of Mathematics immediately began to whisper among themselves.

Everyone looked at Li Zheng, wanting to hear his explanation.

"Yeah, why should we? Kong Jia scored 66 points, which is already one of the best scores in the college. If the Qiu Shi Class is going to add more spots, it should be Kong Jia's turn." Someone in the crowd muttered softly.

Teaching assistant Li smiled.

"On what grounds?"

"The reason I didn't show Xie Zhixing, Lin Chuan, and many others' scores when I released the results this time is because I didn't want to ruin everyone's confidence in learning mathematics."

"Since everyone is so eager to know, then I'll tell you why."

"Just because Xie Zhixing and Lin Chuan both got full marks, answering all eight major questions correctly."

"As for the other students whose results haven't been released besides those two, I'm sure everyone knows, so I don't need to elaborate."

After saying that, Assistant Instructor Li shook his head and turned to leave.

The lecture hall was completely silent.

Li Zheng's words were spoken in a very calm manner, but the information he conveyed made all the first-year students in the School of Mathematics realize a fact.

Lin Chuan.

He was admitted to the Qiushi Class based on his unparalleled abilities.

But how exactly did he do it?

You should know that even competition students like Kong Jia and Zheng Quanxun could only score fifty or sixty points on this paper, yet Lin Chuan got a perfect score?

But Assistant Professor Li is Professor Tang's doctoral student, and he would never tell such an easily exposed lie in front of so many people.

After all, whether Lin Chuan got a perfect score or not can be found out with a simple check.

In the crowd, Zheng Quanxun clenched his fists and remained silent.

He and Lin Chuan were high school classmates. Even though Lin Chuan had taken away his first-class scholarship, he had never taken Lin Chuan seriously.

But how long has it been? Lin Chuan has actually managed to surpass Zheng Quanxun in mathematics, which is Zheng Quanxun's greatest pride. This has shocked Zheng Quanxun and made him secretly determined to improve.

"Temporary achievements mean nothing."

"So what if they're in the 'Seeking Truth' class? They can still be rotated out at any time."

"As long as I study math hard, it won't be long before I can reclaim my honor!"