I was a top student in America.

It was a weekend evening in early June.

"It wasn't easy, but I've finally finished the first draft of this short article. Now all I need to do is get the formulas and references formatted."

Li Ao sat at his desk in the dormitory, looking at the dozen or so pages of documents on his laptop screen, and stretched lazily.

After several days of intensive work, the paper on two-sided estimation of the weighted Hermite-Hadamard inequality has finally been completed.

Fortunately, he had helped many students revise their papers in his previous life and still remembered some writing conventions; otherwise, he would have had to bother David and needlessly delayed the progress.

Because the initial draft was hastily typed out in Word, he now has to learn professional LaTeX typesetting software to fit the formulas and references into the template one by one, and he has to spend most of his energy checking the code commands and numbering.

I was able to do this thanks to the secondhand ThinkPad I just bought for a little over three hundred dollars.

Although I felt the pinch when I bought it, I had to spend the money because I would need a computer for researching, writing papers, and organizing application materials.

The other two in the dorm had brought their own equipment: Kevin was using the latest MacBook, while Taylor had a cool Dell Alienware on his desk.

According to Taylor, even when he's in a high-pressure math summer camp, he can't afford to miss out on occasionally relaxing in World of Warcraft.

As for Ethan, who comes from a small town in Arkansas, he can only use public computers at the library to save money.

When Li Ao received this second-hand laptop, he carefully checked the battery and keyboard, and then installed all the office software and LaTeX editor he needed.

After connecting to the school network, he would occasionally log on to Facebook and MySpace to check on his friends' activities.

Jamal often left him messages.

Judging from the complaints in this "Sixty-Third Street Casanova's" words, he probably broke up with Maya and is now truly experiencing the bitterness of love.

In addition, he also accepted Emily Brown's friend request.

Emily is an outgoing person, and her homepage is full of beautiful photos of her summer life, eating and having fun. It's clear that she's having a great time after being admitted to UIUC (University of Illinois). The two of them occasionally chat online.

As for his grandmother, Li Ao has maintained contact with her.

Although he was busy with summer camp coursework and practice questions and didn't have much time to chat, he would send a text message every night to let everyone know he was safe.

However, in the past few days, I've been doing this bedtime routine mostly by typing out formulas on the computer.

With some time before everyone went to bed, Li Ao decided to start revising the first draft and familiarize himself with the formatting syntax.

"\section{Weighted Hermite-Hadamard Type Bounds}......"

As lines of instructions and formulas were typed into the editor, the originally rough document layout immediately became neat and tidy.

[Under intense study conditions... Intelligence +0.1]

After finishing two pages of layout, he stopped what he was doing and glanced at the system panel.

【Intelligence: 115.2】

"It seems that learning new computer knowledge can also improve intelligence. At this rate, I might be able to reach 120 before the end of summer camp," Li Ao thought to himself.

As he was making plans, he suddenly felt someone behind him. He turned around and saw Taylor standing there.

This guy had been standing there for who knows how long, staring blankly at the screen filled with backslashes, curly braces, and Greek letters, his face showing utter bewilderment.

"I don't understand it at all." Taylor shook his head and muttered, completely losing interest, before turning to check on Ethan and Kevin's progress.

Ever since they learned that Li Ao had started writing his thesis, the atmosphere in dormitory 314 has become strange.

The most noticeable change is that I'm waking up earlier and going to the library more frequently.

Even Taylor, who says "I want to go back to track and field" ten times a day, can't help but glance at other people's desks in the dorm.

Sometimes I'd like to turn on the computer and play a couple of games, but when I turn around I see all my roommates engrossed in their work, so I have to reluctantly pull my hands back and pull out my workbook to continue studying.

None of the geniuses who made it into the national math competition summer camp were willing to be at the bottom.

Even knowing that this place is full of freaks and monsters, and that being crushed is inevitable, everyone wants to struggle a little longer to close the gap as much as possible, given the obvious difference in skill.

"Holy crap!" Taylor suddenly shouted, drawing the attention of Li Ao and Ethan. "Kevin, why are you studying mathematical analysis behind our backs too?"

Following Taylor's gaze, Kevin frantically swiped the touchpad, then abruptly closed the PDF document on the screen, his embarrassment barely concealed.

"I'm just browsing. I'm tired of doing problems, so I'm giving my brain a break," he explained with a dry laugh.

Taylor walked over, patted him on the shoulder, and said earnestly:

"Dude, we're already overwhelmed with summer camp homework. We can deal with anything beyond the curriculum in college. We only need Leo, the math freak, in our dorm."

Before coming to summer camp, Taylor had done a lot of mental preparation so that she wouldn't be forced to quit on the spot by the pressure of the placement test.

He thought he could catch his breath as long as he avoided the "teaching assistant evening tutoring class", but he never expected that the most intense battlefield would be in his own dormitory.

Li Ao listened to their conversation without interrupting.

For high school students competing in competitions, the most important task right now is definitely preparing for the summer camp selection.

He was able to produce this paper purely by chance; it wasn't part of the original plan at all.

However, Kevin has to figure out the rhythm himself; outsiders shouldn't offer too much advice.

Kevin readily agreed and quickly opened the number theory exercises.

At this moment, Ethan, who had been silent until now, turned around and called out somewhat apologetically, "Leo, could you help me with this question?"

"No problem." Li Ao pulled out a chair and walked over. He looked down and saw that it was a plane geometry proof problem. He instantly went through the thought process in his mind.

"This question has two key points: the choice of the inversion circle and the transformation of the tangent power relationship."

Li Aoshun took the pencil from Ethan's hand and drew an auxiliary diagram on the draft paper while explaining, "First, determine the inversion center, transform the cocircular condition into a relationship of the intersection points of straight lines, and finally use the power theorem to complete the product of the lengths."

In just a few words, the complete proof steps are clearly presented on the paper.

Even Taylor, who is usually the most restless, listened intently from the side.

Kevin watched this scene from a distance, his eyes filled with complex emotions.

When he first arrived, he was the one who shared his experience with Ethan and Taylor and led discussions on the topics.

But this is no one else's fault. Li Ao had already mastered all the IMO (International Mathematical Olympiad) questions and got a perfect score on the mock exam. When he encountered such a powerful figure, even he couldn't help but want to rely on him.

……

The next day, at eight o'clock in the morning.

Today is the first group presentation for the summer camp black belt group.

With Li Ao, a workaholic with a regular schedule, leading the way, everyone in dormitory 314 left early, making it impossible for them to be late.

As I passed by the Illini Union, there were posters for a social dance party at the entrance of the student center, and people were handing out flyers to attract people.

Li Ao walked past without looking to the side, while Taylor kept turning back, planning to come and check on him during his lunch break.

All black belt group presentations were held in the same classroom.

The rules are simple: a dozen or so students are divided into four groups according to their dormitories. Each group chooses a difficult problem and goes on stage to provide a complete proof. The teaching assistants and coaches listen in and score the students. The scores are included in the student's participation grade.

The four of them walked into the math building and found empty seats in a row in the classroom.

The classroom was filled with top students from the black belt group.

As soon as Li Ao appeared, the previously buzzing classroom fell silent for a moment, and then the whispers grew even louder.

The news had already spread that only two people got full marks on the summer camp's preliminary test: Benjamin and Li Ao, who was standing right in front of him.

"That guy must be Leo, right? He got a perfect score on his first try. He's probably got a spot on the national team."

"Who do you think is stronger, him or Benjamin?"

"Is that even a question? Benjamin didn't hand in his exam early."

"Speaking of which, is 'God Zhang' really a perfect score? I haven't seen him miss a single class or practice session these past few days, while Leo, on the other hand, I hardly ever see him..."

……