She became a heartthrob among internet celebrities.

—Hehe, I'm number one!

—I'm too early, the live stream is so quiet!

—Is it about to begin?

—Hey, there are more people. So everyone's got nothing to do during summer vacation? Hahahaha

—I've seen the official announcement of the contestants; besides those selected from university auditions, there are also online streamers and child prodigies! Looking forward to it!

The studio was still empty. Just as everyone in the live broadcast room was starting to get impatient, opening music started playing, followed by a cloud of smoke on stage. The host walked onto the stage, stood in the center, held cue cards, and said to the camera, "Long time no see, I'm your old friend, Shi Lan. Welcome to the new season of 'Brain Battle'. This summer, let's explore the pinnacle of wisdom together."

—Teacher Shi, you're still got it!

—It's been so many years and it's still Teacher Shi hosting; the production team is really loyal.

Where are the players?

"This year's episode is also an innovation of ours, adopting a university-level battle format, allowing the contestants to compete against each other..."

Shi Lan smiled at the camera: "I know no one wants to see my old face, so without further ado, let's get straight to our contestants!"

The viewers watching the live stream became curious.

—Let me see which school will be the first to appear?

—Either Imperial University or Huazhong University of Science and Technology, these two have been vying for the top spot for years, haven't they?

—A fairy wand bets on Beijing University

—Then I'll bet on Huada University

—Let's fight! Let's fight!

While everyone was still placing bets on the screen, the contestants all walked onto the stage in droves.

—Did the big players wipe out everyone in this round?

—This is hilarious! Who would have thought everyone would go on stage together?

—Are there that many people?

—There are contestants from well-known universities, some with one or two, there are 60 people in total. The announcement yesterday garnered a lot of attention.

—Hmm, I've seen a few, and they pretty much match my impression of top students.

—Academic excellence doesn't rely on looks, intelligence is enough.

—But there are still beautiful women there!

Who's that in the green top and denim shorts?! Oh well, whoever she is, she's my wife now!

—The person upstairs said they drank quite a bit early this morning!

Both sides of Shi Lan were filled with contestants. It was a bit crowded with 60 people on the field, but fortunately, he was experienced and quickly took control of the situation.

"I feel really nervous being surrounded by top students!" Shi Lan joked, and the contestants all laughed.

"Then let's start with introductions! Starting from the far left?"

To maintain impartiality, Shi Lan didn't introduce the contestants from any particular school first, but instead chose to start with their positions.

The contestants had no objections and introduced themselves in turn.

The first girl was from the University of Political Science and Law. She was very pretty and wearing a black floral dress. She said shyly, "Hello everyone, I am Yuan Mingli from East China University of Political Science and Law."

—A rather shy young lady

East China University of Political Science and Law, my beloved school

—This young lady has a scholarly air about her; she looks like a top student.

The contestants then introduced themselves one by one, and almost every one of them sparked a discussion in the live stream. Of course, not all of these discussions were positive; some people criticized their appearances. However, the viewers in the live stream remained relatively rational and did not engage in the discussion.

—Academic high achievers are smart, but don't they even look at their own faces when they go on TV shows?

—At least they have intelligence, unlike you who have neither shame nor intelligence.

Intelligent people have their own charm; after all, physical appearance doesn't last forever.

"Hello everyone, I am Qu Su from Huaguo University."

—Susu! Mommy waited for you! You finally showed up!

—Why do game fans watch reality shows featuring academic geniuses?

—Let me state upfront that if Qu Su does anything shameful or embarrassing during the show, that is his personal behavior and has nothing to do with his fans.

—What? Are you all here to see Qu Su embarrass himself? Nobody here to find any sweet moments or ship any couples?

When Qu Su's face appeared on the live stream camera, many of Qu Su's game fans appeared in the chat, which brought a lot of popularity to the live stream. Some people who don't follow games were also attracted by Qu Su's good looks. There's no way around it, he is indeed good-looking and stands out among others.

—From Huaguo University, he's really impressive, and so handsome too. He's a true winner in life.

—This guy is just a comedian, don't be fooled.

—Where's my Jiang Mei? I'm so worried! So worried! So worried!

—Upstairs, someone mentioned the appearance of the King of Haste.

—I also want to see Jiang Jiang. I came here specifically for Su Su and Jiang Jiang.

—If you don't understand, just ask. What are you talking about?

—Several contestants this time have their own popularity, including two streamers on the Douyin platform. They must be their fans, right?

—A top student and livestreamer? 6

—Jiang Jiang has appeared!!!

At this moment, the live stream chat was almost entirely filled with Qu Su and Jiang Lai's fans. Other viewers were also intrigued and stared at the camera, curious about what the contestant looked like.

A girl wearing a green crop top and with her hair in a high ponytail took the microphone and said, "Hello everyone, I'm Jiang Lai from Imperial University."

Her outfit made her look young and vibrant, and it also made her skin look fair. She had a great figure, but what was even more stunning was her face. It was a face without any makeup, and it was flawless even under a high-definition camera. She smiled sweetly when she introduced herself, which made it easy for people to like her.

—Holy crap, she's gorgeous!!!

—The kind of college beauty I admire

—She's such a pure and sweet girl!!!

—Waaaa, my Jiang Mei!

—Welcome everyone to apply to Imperial University! Jiang is a student council member! She's very active in school activities! If you apply to Imperial University, you'll see her often!

—? Why is the person upstairs already trying to recruit students for their own school?!

—Look at the constellation Quxiu!!!

Someone in the live stream saw this comment and actually went to check on Qu Su, only to see him staring intently at Jiang Lai.

—Hilarious, he loves it so much!

Are they a couple?

—No, it's just that we fans are shipping couples.

—I don't care, SuSu definitely likes JiangJiang.

—Show some respect for this show! This is an academic competition, everyone's here to compete, not to date!

Qu Su and Jiang Lai's fans also thought it made sense, so they stopped posting it after a few times and started discussing other contestants instead.

—Tao Qi, this little genius! He looks so short compared to his older siblings, hahaha!

—Small in stature, but very arrogant.

—Hey, you from USTC, wouldn't you be crazy if it were you?

—He seems to be the group's darling, hahaha, I saw several people pinching his cheeks.

—Only twelve years old, so young, is he in a gifted youth program?

—I think self-introductions are also a silent war, didn't you all see that? When the top few people introduce themselves, everyone else gets a little more attention.

—After all, we're going to be rivals!

After a while, all the contestants had finished introducing themselves, and Shi Lan asked them to sit down in the contestant seats below the stage.

"I believe everyone has gotten to know our players. Now it's time for our matches!"

—Teacher Shi is getting older and talking more.

—I'm so curious about how the competition will be conducted. Will it be like solving Rubik's Cubes before?

—Can someone who can solve a Rubik's Cube be considered a top student?

—Isn't it something like doing practice questions and memorizing texts?

In the stands, Jiang Lai was chatting with her classmate.

"Senior, how do you think we'll be competing later?"

Zhou Yunyun shook her head: "I don't know either. Actually, I've never watched this show before."

Lin Yi, a senior from the same school as them, said, "Lao Chen and I looked into it last night. It should be a test of calculation ability, observation skills, and memory."

Chen Shuo nodded: "Do you have anything you're good at?"

Jiang Lai raised her hand: "My memory is pretty good."

Zhou Yunyun: "I'm an architecture major, so my spatial imagination is pretty good."

Lin Yi: "Old Chen and I are pretty good at calculations."

Jiang Lai: "Our team is still very balanced, so we shouldn't be weak in team competitions."

Everyone else agreed.

The host on stage continued his eloquent speech, while the contestants offstage chatted amongst themselves. Viewers in the live stream were all watching closely.

—Why do you always talk to people from your own school? At least try to find out more about the others!

—Maybe this is the source of their confidence? They think they're the best in the world!

Fast forward to the match!

Shi Lan said, "Next up is our first match, which will be played by everyone. Please look at the big screen!"

The show's mascot popped up on the big screen, saying cutely, "The first competition is the simplest test~ Some people say there's nothing a person can't do, but others say that if you can't solve a math problem, you just can't. So this first competition is to see everyone's math level~ Please be careful, if you fail, you will be eliminated, and eliminated contestants will not be able to participate in the subsequent competitions."

Sixty separate tables appeared on the stage at some unknown time. The contestants walked forward and found the places with their name tags. In order to prevent cheating and to make the show more interesting, the production team shuffled all the contestants, but put contestants from schools with close ties together to create tension.

For example, the contestants from Imperial University and Washington University were grouped together.

Jiang Lai looked at the boy next to her, recognized him as a fellow alumnus of Qu Su, and smiled at him in a friendly manner.

The boy scratched his head and smiled sheepishly.

Once all the contestants were in position, the host, Shi Lan, said, "There are no paper exam papers. All the questions are on the smart screens in front of you. After you finish answering, you need to click submit to complete the exam. The exam time is one hour, and the ranking will take into account both the accuracy rate and the time taken. I hope you can all perform to your best ability!"

—Advanced mathematics? So difficult! This college student is already dead.

—Mathematics, doesn't that make things easier for STEM students?

—Hilarious! They're all top students, who do they look down on? Does that mean liberal arts students can't do math well?

—Wahua University is next to Imperial University of Taiwan, East China University of Political Science and Law is next to the Court of Justice, and Southeast University and Jiangnan University are put together. Your program team is trying to cause trouble!

—? ? ? We're not going to have to watch them do a problem for an hour, are we?

—I'm off. I'll come back in an hour.

As soon as the host said "start," the countdown on the big screen immediately resumed, and everyone grabbed their pens and swiped their fingers across the screen.

Jiang Lai also started reading the questions. To be honest, math wasn't her strong suit, but with the buff, she felt she wouldn't be eliminated in the first round.

The program provided a large number of questions, with the easier ones at the beginning and the more difficult ones at the end. Jiang Lai first looked through all the questions and determined which ones she couldn't answer, planning to skip them later.

Qu Su and Jiang Lai had different approaches to solving problems. He picked up a pen and started working on the screen. The earlier questions were so simple that he knew the answers at a glance, but in order to secure a point, he still wrote down some steps as a formality.

He glanced at Jiang Lai, who was a few seats away at an angle, and thought of the notes he had taken down the night before: to showcase his strengths and abilities. He decided to impress Jiang Lai in his area of ​​expertise.

The only sounds in the studio were the contestants' pens clicking on the screen and everyone's breathing, creating a very serious and tense atmosphere.

—I don't know why, but I also held my breath. Is this the oppressive power of top students?

--Me too!!!

—I'm so nervous, even though it's not me doing math problems.

The countdown on the big screen continued, while the questions were displayed on the side screen, visible to viewers in the live stream. Some viewers took paper and pens and tried to solve the problems, while others gave up.

—I really get a headache just looking at math problems.

—Point P, my lifelong nightmare

—You can watch the live stream from other angles now! The production team has opened several more live stream rooms, each covering different contestants; this one is for the entire studio!

—I'll go take a look.

The contestants were all focused on solving the problems and didn't pay attention to the staff walking around them.

Jiang Lai was also working hard on the problems, completely absorbed in them.

—I finally understand, a woman who is serious is the most beautiful!

—Our Jiang Mei's face is truly amazing, a face genius, aww!

—The production team really knows what they're doing; the camera on Jiang Jiang's side is right in front of her face, a beauty overload!

—The person next to me: What about me? Can't you see me?

—Qu Su is working so fast! I see him turning the page in less than two minutes.

Just then, a "ding-dong" sounded, and the first person to hand in their paper appeared—it was the little genius Tao Qi.

His submission made the other contestants feel a sense of urgency, and everyone sped up. As time ticked by, people handed in their papers one after another.

Jiang Lai finally clicked submit.

Even with the last hour of the countdown ending, many people still hadn't finished. At this point, not submitting the paper meant elimination, but no one gave up and they continued working on the questions.

—It's still not finished after an hour? Is that all??

—The person upstairs is really just spouting off without even looking at the number of questions and their difficulty level.

—But if we can't make it even if we keep trying, then there's no point in continuing, right?

—I think that's pretty awesome, never giving up and never admitting defeat easily.

After about half an hour, the host, following the instructions of the production team, stopped the contestants who were still working on the questions.