I was a top student in America.

Chapter 95 What exactly did Li Ao write? (Third update, please subscribe!)

Seeing that even Philip, who hadn't planned to join the bidding for players, had suddenly joined the battle, Professor Jason felt a pang of regret.

I should have known better than to show off so enthusiastically just now.

But the thought was fleeting; a student with Li Ao's talent would inevitably be targeted by others sooner or later.

Moreover, there are the IMO perfect score and special award; once announced, it's impossible for the mathematics departments of various universities to remain indifferent.

With things having come to this, Jason had no choice but to concede: "Then let's do this, let Leo choose for himself when he applies to college."

The other two immediately nodded in agreement.

"Can."

"I have no objection."

Jason finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He wasn't really worried that Li Ao would be poached by someone else overnight, after all, he was in Chicago, and he still had the advantage of being close to the source.

Meanwhile, in a room at the hotel hosted by the organizers in Hanoi, Li Ao was sitting at a small desk by the bed, staring at emails on his computer screen.

After returning to his room that evening, he logged into his email as usual and casually checked for new emails.

As a result, I immediately saw the notification from the Elsevier editorial department.

His short newsletter was accepted by the Journal of Applied Mathematics.

The excitement from the phone call with Philip hadn't completely worn off.

Kevin, Michael, and Daniel were all huddled behind him, craning their necks to look at the screen.

The high school students were clearly seeing an email from a journal accepting their paper for the first time.

Congratulations, Leo.

"7

"Damn, that's awesome."

Daniel leaned closer and asked curiously, "Where can I find this paper?"

"I need to check the proofs. If everything is fine, it should be uploaded to the journal's website next Monday," Li Ao replied. "However, the official print version will probably be a little slower."

The group huddled around the computer screen for a while, studying it as if they were looking at some rare exhibit.

Once the initial excitement wore off, they dispersed, satisfied, and returned to their beds.

Michael is more concerned about the IMO results.

He had just slumped back onto his pillow when he suddenly remembered something and looked up to ask, "By the way, Leo, when you called Professor Philip earlier, did you also ask about the grades?"

"No," Li Ao shook his head.

It's not that he doesn't care.

He wrote the test himself, so he knew roughly how many points he could get.

There's really nothing to be nervous about.

"The exams are over, why think about so much?" Mike said, leaning back on the sofa. "Anyway, the results will be out in the next couple of days—"

After saying that, he calmly added, "I'm prepared for not winning the gold medal."

Compared to his anxious and uneasy appearance before the exam, he now seems much more open-minded.

Kevin rolled his eyes at him from the side.

"If you actually get a silver medal, you definitely won't be happy about it."

Daniel chimed in, "I'm only sure Leo will get the gold medal. When the results come out, he might even get a perfect score."

"To be able to hand in a test of this difficulty early is truly insane," Kevin chimed in.

Michael sighed: "Leo has already published two papers, while we're still arguing about gold and silver medals —"

Listening to their conversation, and sensing the increasingly tense atmosphere in the room, Li Ao couldn't help but chuckle: "You guys are exaggerating. Even if you publish a paper, you still have to go through the normal application process, right? My high school GPA was only 2.something; I don't even know where I'll end up."

"Stop pretending, Leo," someone muttered from the bed. "With grades like yours, you could pick any school with your eyes closed—"

Fortunately, the atmosphere finally relaxed again.

At 11 o'clock, the room became quiet on time.

Several people lay on the bed, their chatter gradually fading until they all fell asleep.

The final results were still not out on the second day, but the contestants were noticeably more restless than the previous two days.

The exam papers had already been handed in, and nothing could be changed, but everyone wanted to see their scores as soon as possible.

It seems that only when we see concrete figures can this matter truly be considered settled, and only then can we have a peaceful summer vacation.

Over the next two days, more and more people gathered in front of the IMO official bulletin board in the hotel lobby.

The conversations inevitably revolved around the cutoff scores and medals.

Many of the team's experts even posted their answers to each question, making the atmosphere even more tense.

Monday arrived quickly.

Athletes from various countries received notifications from their deputy team leaders and searched for computers in their hotels to log in to the IMO website to check their final results.

At noon, strange screams suddenly came from the previously quiet hotel floor.

Immediately afterwards, standing in the corridor, one could hear cheers and wails coming from various rooms.

"The results are in!"

"I didn't get a single perfect score, sigh, I only got a silver medal."

"Why did I lose points on the first question? I drew the picture correctly."

"Not bad, I was lucky, 29 points, just barely made it to the gold medal."

"Someone actually got full marks on all six questions? That's insane!"

Benjamin sat at his desk in the room, his eyes fixed on the webpage that was loading on the computer, trying his best not to hear the noise outside.

He used to be very calm after every exam.

He knew exactly how many points he could get and never needed to worry about his grades.

But he never imagined that one day his heart would race while waiting for a webpage to load.

Ever since I met Leo at summer camp, everything seems to have changed.

He hated these uncontrollable emotions, yet felt helpless about them.

at last.

Once the webpage finished buffering, the scores for each question and the overall ranking popped up together.

I got full marks on questions 1, 2, 4, and 5, but lost a few points on questions 3 and 6.

These results are certainly excellent, and the gold medal is a sure thing.

However, he only ranked fifth overall.

The name at the top of the list is Li Ao.

All six questions were answered perfectly.

In the past two days, Benjamin had actually anticipated this outcome and had even prepared himself mentally in advance.

"There is indeed a gap between him and me at the moment."

He stared at the screen and muttered to himself, "But we're still in high school. Once we go to college, get a PhD, and enter the real field of mathematics, as long as we keep working hard, we'll always have a chance to catch up."

After saying that, he closed the webpage, got up, and walked towards the door.

He planned to go to Jensen to check if his later solutions to the third and sixth problems were the best.

He has been staying in his room for the past two days trying to solve these two difficult problems again. However, the team leader and coach are busy grading papers and coordinating, and according to regulations, they cannot contact the team members, which is why he has been holding back until now.

For a player of his caliber, an unsolved problem is like a thorn that will remain stuck in their mind until it is removed.

As soon as he stepped into the corridor, he heard Michael and his friends talking from the half-open door next door.

"What on earth is this short article about? I can't understand it at all. Have you guys read Leo's article in *Applied Mathematics Letters*?"

Benjamin didn't pay attention at first, but when he heard Leo's name, he suddenly stopped in his tracks.

He initially thought those people were discussing the solution to a difficult problem, but when the words "article published in the newsletter" reached his ears, he froze on the spot.

Has Li Ao published another paper?

How could it be so fast?

He immediately turned around and went back to his room, where he used the login account provided by Professor Jensen's research group to search for and download the online version of the article from the University of Chicago Library's database.

Having finally managed to suppress the turmoil in his heart, only one thought remained in his mind:

What exactly did Li Ao write?