From child prodigy to chief scientist

Xu Xiao didn't need this thing at all for yesterday's exam, but today he really felt that his energy was exhausted, and his body was a little weak.

It is indeed a bit of a stretch for an eleven-year-old's brain and body to withstand such intensity.

I don't know if it was the chocolate that worked, or the "energetic" tag that had an effect.

Not long after, Xu Xiao felt her energy rapidly recovering and the feeling of exhaustion fading away.

"If I get these five questions right, I should be able to enter the national team, right?"

Even in years when the overall score is relatively high, the cutoff score for the national team usually does not exceed 100 points.

Xu Xiao felt that she had done well on the first five questions. Thinking about it this way, even if she didn't get any points on the last question, she still had a good chance of entering the national team and getting a guaranteed admission qualification.

However, there are too many uncertainties involved. For example, the cutoff score this year has reached a new high, and there may be questions that you did not answer correctly or points that you did not get.

Seeing that time was running out, Xu Xiao didn't wait for his energy to fully recover and continued to tackle the last question.

After regaining some of his energy, Xu Xiao successfully entered a state of focus again, but he wasn't sure how long he could maintain this state.

But no matter what, he will do his best this time and fight to the very last moment.

The last question was a very complex algebra problem.

After reading the question, Xu Xiao couldn't even think of any ideas she could try.

This seemed completely different from all the problems he had done before, leaving him with nothing to draw upon.

After thinking for half an hour, Xu Xiao hadn't written a single word on the answer sheet, but had already filled several pages of draft paper.

"I can't think of anything... I really can't think of anything!!"

This feeling of despair and pain is difficult to express in words.

As we all know, when people are pushed to the limit, they can do anything, except for math problems.

Life may deceive you, but math won't, because math simply doesn't know.

Just when Xu Xiao had run out of ideas, a new hope was rekindled in his heart.

"Wait a minute... some of the questions I memorized before might give me some inspiration."

To make it easier for her to study on the plane, Xu Xiao deliberately memorized many questions and answers that she had never studied before.

Xu Xiao hasn't had time to think about many of these issues yet.

Although the probability of encountering a problem of the same type is not high, Xu Xiao had no better options at this point, so he had no choice but to try it out as a last resort.

After searching his mind, Xu Xiao ultimately couldn't find a question that was similar enough to be used as a reference.

However, after seeing the solution to a certain problem, Xu Xiao suddenly had a flash of inspiration.

"I understand... I understand!"

These two questions are not that similar, but some of the methods involved are indeed applicable.

Having found a clue to the problem, Xu Xiao could see hope of solving it.

"First, make the symmetry assumption..."

"Substitute the constraints and calculate the value of Σaₖ⁴..."

"Using a transformation of the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality, prove the lower bound of the sequence..."

Having wasted a lot of time earlier, Xu Xiao didn't have much time left. He had to speed up his work as much as possible while ensuring the correctness of his solution.

Besides the extremely tight schedule, another piece of bad news was that Xu Xiao once again felt that her energy was severely depleted.

Based on past experience, he will soon be unable to maintain his focus and will no longer be able to utilize the focus-enhancing effects.

"Hang in there...just a little longer!"

Xu Xiao gritted her teeth and squeezed out the last bit of energy from her body.

Finally, just before the exam time was about to expire, Xu Xiao finished writing the final proof.

At this moment, Xu Xiao not only automatically snapped out of his focused state, but also felt an unprecedented and intense sense of fatigue.

Just a dozen seconds later, the bell rang to signal the end of the exam.

After the proctors collected the exam papers, the students couldn't help but complain about today's exam.

"What kind of questions were these today? It felt like none of them were easy."

"Yeah, even the fourth question was so difficult. It's like every question is the final, most challenging one."

"Oh no, I'm doomed! I'm not going to get a single point on the exam the next day, am I?"

Pan Hong was one of the few students in the exam room who reacted relatively calmly, but she was clearly not very relaxed when facing these questions, and did not hand in her paper early like she did yesterday.

Du Yuan was about to ask Xu Xiao to leave with him when he saw Xu Xiao still slumped in her seat, her face still somewhat pale. He quickly went over and asked her with concern:

"Xu Xiao, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"

"It's nothing, I'm just a little tired, I'll be fine after a rest."

Xu Xiao took out the chocolate she hadn't finished eating and put another piece in her mouth, feeling it melt in her mouth, and gradually felt more comfortable.

Seeing that Xu Xiao's face had turned a little red, Du Yuan was no longer worried.

As they came out of the examination room, they ran into He Muzhou, who was walking towards them.

"He Muzhou, do you want to check your answers?" Xu Xiao asked.

The two-day national finals exams are now over, so there's no need to worry about checking answers affecting your exam performance.

But upon hearing Xu Xiao's words, He Muzhou shook his head.

"That's not right, is it? Anyway, the grades can't be changed."

He Muzhou didn't feel good about himself today. He got stuck on the fourth question and didn't finish the whole test.

Adding to yesterday's mistakes, He Muzhou is likely to go very far in this national final.

Seeing the dejection on He Muzhou's face, Xu Xiao guessed that he hadn't performed well, so she didn't continue the conversation on that topic.

After the meal, Ma Junfeng gathered the team members together.

Everyone initially thought that Ma Junfeng would talk to them about the exam, or even criticize them for their poor performance.

To everyone's surprise, Ma Junfeng did not ask about the exam results.

"The national finals exams are now all over. Regardless of how well everyone performed, let's not think about the results for now."

"I've seen everyone's performance during the training camp. Although I'm quite strict with everyone, I'm actually very satisfied with your performance."

"There are no other tasks scheduled for this afternoon. Since we've come all this way to Xingcheng, I'll take everyone out for a stroll..."