I was a top student in America.

Li Ao sat by the window in an empty classroom on the second floor of the math building, his gaze sweeping over the newly popped-up keyword prompt.

The dual enhancement of physical strength and energy means that he can maintain absolute mental focus during the high-intensity exams that often last for several hours.

This entry is perfectly timed to deal with the back-to-back tug-of-war of summer camps.

But he didn't stay in a daze for long before flipping through the book of past IMO exam questions on the table and continuing to study them.

The afternoon's diagnostic test directly affects the national team spots, so there's no room for carelessness.

Those who can enter the black belt group are all top-notch competition students from various regions, and the difficulty level is not even the same as taking the AMC or AIME exams.

If I don't get selected, this whole month's trip will have been for nothing.

The math building at UIUC is mostly deserted during the day, with only the occasional muffled footsteps echoing in the corridor.

Li Ao kept his head down, his pen scribbling incessantly on the draft paper, intently breaking down problems involving geometric inversion and number theory construction.

After working through several challenging problems, he gained a new understanding of several problem-solving techniques.

The morning flew by.

This time, even without using [deep sleep] to recover, he didn't feel any fatigue at all.

If it were a few days ago, such intense grinding for several hours straight would have left him dizzy and disoriented, but now he didn't even yawn.

Kevin's voice came from the other end of the phone: "Leo, where are you? We're about to go to the cafeteria, wanna come along?"

"Okay, I'll be right there," Li Ao replied.

He stuffed the practice exam booklet into his bag, zipped it up, and went downstairs to the dormitory area.

As I passed the corner of the corridor, I didn't forget to stop by the water dispenser and fill my cup.

……

It was 1 p.m., after lunch.

Li Ao and his roommates strolled towards the mathematics department's lecture hall, following the campus map they had been given when they registered.

The orientation meeting was held there.

This meeting, led by the summer camp coordinator and several instructors, mainly aimed to familiarize everyone with the upcoming procedures and rules.

Along the way, they encountered several students who were lost and were calling staff on their phones to ask for directions.

When they pushed open the door to the lecture hall, there were already a few dozen people sitting there.

Everyone wore name tags around their necks that represented their rank: black belt, blue belt, red belt, and so on.

As soon as the group found empty seats and sat down, Taylor couldn't stop craning his neck, looking around as if trying to find girls who were even rarer than protected animals.

It was probably the first time he'd seen so many math geniuses gathered together, and the kid was visibly excited.

"Where are all the girls? The auditorium is too big to see clearly."

He was muttering to himself when he was suddenly dazzled by a figure that had just walked in through the back door. He quickly nudged Kevin next to him with his elbow.

"Hey, look at this beauty! Is she also from our summer camp? She has a really good presence."

Kevin glanced up and said, "That's Natalia, a veteran camper who came last year like me. But she was ranked much higher than me; she almost made it into the national team back then."

Li Ao didn't respond.

He was staring at the slogan posted next to the blackboard on the podium:

"The laws of the universe are written in mathematics."

Just then, a girl in the front row called out "Natalia," and Li Ao scanned the direction of the voice.

She wore light-colored jeans with a white T-shirt, and her blonde hair was casually tied into a ponytail at the back of her head.

This girl probably just came from her dorm; the zipper on her backpack was still slightly open.

His deep-set Eastern European features, paired with this casual outfit, exude a crisp and decisive, dashing charm.

No wonder Taylor was so startled just now.

Li Ao quickly looked away and turned his attention to Kevin's words.

"See that guy with the slightly curly hair over there?" Kevin whispered. "His name is Benjamin Zhang, last year's IMO gold medalist. He's probably the strongest in the black belt group this year. I heard he's already at the University of Chicago, working on a project with a professor."

Li Ao looked in that direction, his gaze lingering on the boy for a couple more seconds, and he couldn't help but mutter to himself:

I wonder what my chances are against him given my current skill level?

It's not that he's blindly confident.

In this year's black belt group, whether it's the perfect scorer from USAMO or the top scorer from each state, Li Ao is confident that he can compete with anyone in terms of speed and basic skills, after all, he has already completely broken down all the past IMO questions.

Right now, only this genuine international gold medalist can pique his interest in competing.

A short while later, Rachel Miller walked into the auditorium, counting the number of people and explaining the important points.

Besides explaining the assessment process, she focused entirely on academic integrity, repeatedly warning that anyone caught cheating would be expelled and their school would be notified.

The briefing lasted for more than half an hour.

Benjamin was even chosen as an outstanding student to take an oath on stage, and several competition coaches called his name, making him extremely popular.

Compared to Li Ao, who got full marks all the way in, this guy was the real star of the summer camp.

However, once the meeting ended, no one had time to try and get close to Benjamin.

Because the diagnostic test will start immediately after half an hour.

The crowd poured out of the lecture hall, went down the stairs to the first floor, crossed the east corridor, and rushed into a fan-shaped lecture hall.

The classroom is quite spacious and can easily accommodate one or two hundred people.

The teaching assistant had placed blank draft paper in the front row beforehand, and a temporary seat number was affixed to the desk one seat away.

As soon as Li Ao sat down, he saw geometric graffiti carved by the students on the corner of the table.

He looked up and saw a row of photos of mathematical masters hanging above the blackboard.

Wolfgang Haken, Joseph Dub... and another familiar face:

Hua Luogeng.

This renowned Chinese mathematics master did indeed serve as a professor at UIUC in his early years.

Everyone knows that this preliminary test is essentially a competitive selection process.

As the classroom filled up, the atmosphere became tense.

The atmosphere was particularly heavy on the black belt team's side, with constant whispers and murmurs all around.

"I heard that the last mock exam included the 'Vida Jump,' which I still haven't figured out. I hope it won't be on the test again today?"

"Oh no, looks like I can't avoid the tutoring session tonight."

"Who would have thought summer camp would be so intense right from the start? I should have just stayed home and reviewed number theory and combinatorics instead of taking the SAT last month."

"This placement test is clearly biased towards last year's returning campers. Benjamin and Natalia can probably guess the question types."

"Actually, there's no need to panic too much. Our black belt group only has about a dozen people. Who dares to say they're guaranteed a spot on the national team?"

Hearing the wails of those around them, Taylor and Ethan's tense nerves relaxed—it turned out they were all in the same boat.

"Seriously, I wasn't this nervous when I took the USAMO exam," Taylor sighed. "I just hope I don't come in last. I don't want to be dragged to extra practice sessions every night."

"We really owe Kevin a lot for explaining the questions to us beforehand last night," Ethan chimed in. "We don't usually test the 'Veda Jump' question on exams. If you hadn't mentioned it, I would have been completely clueless today."

"The first three questions aren't difficult, so just stay calm and get the points. Even if you don't know how to do the later, more challenging questions, try to write down the core steps that will get you points, and you'll basically avoid being at the bottom."

Kevin offered some advice with his experience, then turned to Li Ao, "Leo, you've done so many IMO practice questions before, you might be able to make it to the top this time."

"Thank you for your kind words." Li Ao smiled.

As the group was chatting, a composed-looking young man walked up to the podium carrying a stack of test papers.

The previously noisy classroom immediately fell silent.

The man picked up the chalk, turned around, and wrote his name and a number on the blackboard.

"My name is David Walsh, and I'm your teaching assistant. Just call me David."

He dusted off his hands with chalk dust, faced the audience, and said, "The placement test is a regular part of the summer camp, and it only accounts for 10% of the final grade. Even if you hand in a blank paper today, you won't be sent home immediately, so relax."

David paused, his gaze sweeping over the black belts in the front row: "The sole purpose of this quiz is to give you all a wake-up call—the real competition begins now."

The words had barely left his mouth when the first stack of exam papers was slammed heavily onto the desk in front of him…

……