I was a top student in America.

As a teaching assistant, David was responsible not only for proctoring the exams but also for the initial grading of the papers, picking out the students' scores and the controversial papers to report to the coaching team.

The diagnostic test requires efficiency; the results must be compiled by the evening of the test.

Normally, this job is quite tedious and boring; it's just sitting there and killing time.

But today, a freak emerged who broke the summer camp's submission record.

David was no longer sleepy. He took the test paper, walked back to the podium, sat down, and casually shoved his unfinished research notes underneath, closing the laptop next to him as well.

All I could think about was how many points I could get on this test.

"The rest of you continue answering the questions, and please maintain order in the examination room."

He looked up and called out to the students who were looking around the classroom, then quickly looked down and stared at Li Ao's problem-solving steps.

At this moment, Li Ao, under the gaze of the entire class, picked up his bag and walked out of the lecture hall, heading straight for the Granger Engineering Library.

Although the students in the classroom went back to working on their problems, they were all somewhat affected.

The pencil was still scratching names on the draft paper, but the pace was noticeably slower than before.

……

"The entry point for the congruence construction was very accurate... the auxiliary lines for the geometric inversion were drawn neatly, and the proof steps were completely correct."

As David watched, he muttered to himself, his eyebrows gradually rising.

"This recursion problem was also solved beautifully."

When Li Ao handed in his paper earlier, he only glanced at the front of it to make sure it wasn't just random scribbles before letting him go.

Now, after reviewing it line by line, I can't find any mistakes.

Although there are a few parts that do not follow the standard answer's pattern, the logic is clear and consistent, and the key steps are explained in detail.

David knew in his heart that even if he personally took on these questions, he could only write something like this at best, and he definitely couldn't do it this fast.

But the other person was just a high school student who had just arrived at the summer camp, and the registration information listed an unknown public high school in the South Side of Chicago.

David has been busy with research and teaching assistant duties lately, so he hasn't had time to browse the campus forum and has no idea about the gossip surrounding this year's new students.

Today is the first time the two have met.

But he was 100% certain that Li Ao was definitely not a former student of last year's black belt group—he had taught most of the top students from last year, and was very familiar with them.

"To achieve this level of performance on their first summer camp appearance, the black belt group has gained another strong competitor this year."

David was thinking to himself that he would have to mention it to Mr. Miller when the results were reported that evening.

His gaze then swept downwards, landing on the last major question.

However, when verifying the proof steps of the weighted Jensen inequality, David discovered that Li Ao's solution did not match the standard answer.

Li Ao wrote a few lines of weighted inequality transformations in the blank space. It looked complicated, and it was hard to say whether it was right or wrong, but it was definitely a roundabout way of thinking. The idea was not concise and direct enough, so even if it was right, he would not get full marks.

David frowned. "This shouldn't be happening. The logic behind this inequality chain should be easier than the previous recurrence relation problem. Why did he make it so complicated?"

He paused, then muttered to himself, "Was I in such a rush to hand in my paper that I didn't have time to think about it?"

It's a bit of a pity that you didn't get full marks after answering so quickly.

However, judging from the dismal average scores in previous years' preliminary tests, Li Ao's results are sure to place him among the top few, and may even surpass some of the veteran campers from last year.

David sighed, unsure how many points to deduct, so he drew a check mark next to the last question and put the test paper into his binder.

After grading the papers, he finally stood up, stretched, and walked down the aisle.

As I passed by familiar faces like Benjamin and Natalia, I stopped to check on their progress.

The exam ended at 5 p.m.

David stood beside the podium, directing the students to hand in their papers one by one, and took the opportunity to offer a few words of reassurance:

"Listen up, everyone. The preliminary results will be kept on file within the summer camp and will not be released to the public. Those who do well will receive special attention from the coaches. Tonight, I will only do a preliminary review; the final scores will have to wait for the coaching team to review them."

"So don't be too stressed if you did poorly on the exam. Even if you are assigned to evening tutoring sessions, it's not a bad thing. Many people in previous years have made up for their weaknesses through tutoring sessions and discussion groups, and ended up with very high rankings."

"You can also form your own regular study group; this is a long-standing tradition of our summer camp."

That's what they said, but the trainees couldn't calm down in a short time.

They painstakingly tackled those six challenging questions until the very end, so they knew all too well the difficulty of each one.

That's why they couldn't understand what kind of brain the guy who handed in his paper early had.

As soon as they stepped out of the lecture hall, everyone gathered in small groups and immediately started discussing among themselves.

"Do you know that guy? He handed in his paper in just over an hour. Was he a returning student from last year?"

"I was in the black belt group last year and I've never seen him before. He's definitely a newbie."

"Even experienced students can't do it this fast, otherwise why isn't anyone following suit?"

"I think I saw his interview on the UIUC forum! This guy is from Chicago, and I heard he got perfect scores on the AMC12, AIME, and USAMO, and he's also a key player on the school basketball team. Apparently, he's a hardcore student who can study for fifteen or sixteen hours a day, and I bet he had already thoroughly practiced the IMO before he came here."

"The IMO had hundreds of problems, that's amazing!"

"It's one thing to just study hard at school, but to maintain this level of self-discipline after playing basketball is insane."

"The perfect scorer is truly talented. Who says we newbies are inferior to the veterans?"

……

After hearing Li Ao's background, everyone was so shocked that they couldn't speak for a long time.

Especially when they learned that he not only played ball but also worked part-time, everyone felt relieved—this kind of abnormal early submission seemed reasonable.

Moreover, as a newcomer to the summer camp for the first time, his actions certainly made this year's new students proud.

On the other side of the crowd, Natalia leaned close to Benjamin and teased him with a half-smile:

"Looks like your title of 'God Zhang' is in jeopardy in this year's black belt group."

During last year's summer camp training, she had been secretly competing with Benjamin, never thinking that girls were less talented than boys in mathematics.

She was just a little short of making the national team roster, which made her feel incredibly frustrated.

Later, after witnessing Benjamin being selected, winning an IMO gold medal, and being hailed as "God," she became even more resentful.

Now that a newcomer who's even faster than Benjamin has suddenly appeared, she finds this whole thing getting more and more interesting.

"So what if you answer questions quickly? In the end, it's all about the accuracy rate."

Benjamin glanced at Natalia, his expression still arrogant.

He walked down the stairs, tossing out a remark without turning back: "Mathematics is all about talent. Even if someone studies for 20 hours a day, they'll never become a master if they don't have the talent."

After saying that, he ignored Natalia and went downstairs with several familiar old students to find a restaurant nearby.

After most of the people in the hallway had left, Kevin, Taylor, and Ethan gathered together with their bags on their backs, their faces full of disbelief.

"Leo is unbelievably good! His skill level is definitely on par with the national team!"

Taylor couldn't help but sigh.

"Do you think Leo is actually going to the library to read books now?"

Ethan picked up the conversation.

He always thought he had worked hard enough, but compared to Li Ao today, he was simply no match.

Kevin stood to the side without saying much.

He felt extremely embarrassed when he recalled how he had shamelessly shared his exam experience with Li Ao last night, even going so far as to promise to introduce his cousin to him as a savior.

Other people solve problems so fast that even the teaching assistant is dumbfounded, while I'm just showing off my skills in front of Guan Yu.

He suddenly snapped out of his daze and quickly urged:

"Quick, send Leo a text message to ask where he is. He couldn't have really gone to the library, could he?"

……