She became a heartthrob among internet celebrities.

—Wow, there are so many questions! Haven't all these people finished yet?

—I saw several people with sweat on their foreheads, I was so nervous!

—As expected, there are still barriers even among top students; some of them seem to have it all figured out.

There are differences between schools too.

Shi Lan said to the somewhat frustrated contestants, "Although you did not complete all the questions, your spirit of not giving up is admirable. But at the same time, we must also know that in solving problems, and of course in life, our choices are also very important. Perseverance is certainly commendable, but sometimes giving up is also a rational decision."

The contestants all took their seats.

Shi Lan gestured with her right hand to look at the big screen, where the scores of all the contestants who submitted their scores within the allotted time were displayed. These scores combined time and accuracy.

Tao Qi was ranked first, followed by Qu Su.

Jiang Lai was quite surprised and subconsciously looked at Qu Su, only to find her eyes meeting his.

Qu Su laughed happily, muttering something to himself.

Jiang Lai stared at his mouth: "Am I... awesome?"

She couldn't help but laugh and gave a thumbs up, "Awesome."

Seeing this, Qu Su laughed even more heartily.

Jiang Lai looked at her grades, which were slightly above average; the grades of her seniors were better than hers.

—Beijing University is indeed stronger in humanities; for math problems, you still have to look to Huada University.

—This little boy is amazing!

—How can someone who skipped grades to go to university at that age not be amazing?

—What are you two up to, Su Su and Jiang Jiang?

So, this first competition has already eliminated so many people. Could it be that all the contestants from a school have been eliminated?

Surely there must be one or two who slipped through the net?

It would be a bit embarrassing if you didn't even make it past the first hurdle.

—Wasn't this supposed to be a competition between universities? What are they doing now?

The host invited the eliminated contestants to the stage, where they shared their thoughts.

"This is due to my personal shortcomings, and has nothing to do with my school. I still welcome everyone to apply to our University of Tokyo."

"I will continue to work hard and strive to stand on this stage again."

"This competition made me realize my shortcomings..."

—Top students are a bit different; they even lose with grace.

—Some of them seemed to have a weak constitution; their voices were choked with emotion.

—I think it's normal. Everyone wants to win, and it's understandable to be a little upset if you don't win.

—The production team still has a conscience; they even gave an extra point to the eliminated schools. But what's the use of an extra point?

—It seems there will be a special program introducing universities later on.

"The first challenge is just a warm-up; we need to get everyone's brain cells fully engaged." Shi Lan shook her cue cards, feigning mystery, and said, "The following challenges will be more difficult and more interesting."

"After the first round, we have 30 contestants left out of the original 60. Among them, there are 15 universities, and some of them only have one contestant left. So they will have to challenge all the competition events by themselves, which is a great challenge to their physical and mental strength."

Upon hearing this, the contestants below the stage began to whisper among themselves.

The boy from Hua University next to Jiang Lai turned to look at her: "How many are left in your school?"

“Four of them, all of them are in front of me.” Jiang Lai pointed to the senior students in the distance.

The boy said, "There are four of us too. Ah, my name is Zhang Yan. I'm in the same department as Qu Su, and I'm a year ahead of him."

"yes--?"

"Mathematics," Zhang Yan said with a smile, "Isn't it obvious?"

Jiang Lai turned to look at the big screen and, sure enough, saw Zhang Yan's name in the top five.

“Now I understand. So you guys are math majors, no wonder you’re so strong.” Jiang Lai tapped her hand lightly on the table. “But Qu Su doesn’t look like a math major at all, he—” She was still struggling with how to evaluate Qu Su.

"Do you think mathematics should be rigorous, and Qu Su seems too lively?" Zhang Yan said knowingly, "Qu Su is very serious about his major. He's the kind of person who's naturally gifted. Anyway, he's very smart and understands things quickly. Our teacher often praises him, and he's also handsome. Girls often come to ask him about things, but he never messes around with girls..."

At first, Jiang Lai could smile and nod in agreement, but the more she listened, the stranger she became. Was this a sales pitch?

Fortunately, once the host started explaining the competition format, everyone stopped chatting and began to focus on studying the rules.

The next competition will be a buzzer-beater round, where universities will compete to answer questions on a wide range of topics, including humanities and history, astronomy and geography, physics and chemistry, and general knowledge.

After all questions have been answered, the rankings will be determined based on the number of questions answered by each participating university, with different rankings resulting in different point values.

This requires team members to have a tacit understanding, to know each other's strengths, who has the fastest hand speed, who has the broadest knowledge, who is good at calculations, and who has a stable mentality. Moreover, team competitions require practice. Before today, no one expected the competition to be in this form. Although we are all alumni, only a few of us really know each other.

—It's on fire!

—I like watching this! Because if some of the questions are easy, I might already know the answer, and I can answer them along with the others.

—Is this a question with options or a direct answer?

—Shouldn't you just answer directly? If there are options, and option A is wrong, wouldn't that eliminate one answer? That would give the next person an advantage.

So they're now trying to reach their alumni, right?

—Actually, it's clear that this round is just a warm-up and doesn't really showcase the students' abilities.

—The competition format felt simpler than I expected.

While the host was explaining the rules in detail, the staff had already set up the stage.

A dozen or so tables appeared on it, along with a buzzer and a score display.

Jiang Lai walked up to Zhou Yunyun's side: "Senior! Senior!"

Lin Yi and Chen Shuo nodded.

With senior students present, Jiang Lai entrusted them with the responsibility of overseeing the overall situation. "What strategies do we have for this challenge?"

Lin Yi said, "Whoever has the fastest hand speed should press the answer button?"

Chen Shuo: "You're picking me, right?"

Zhou Yunyun covered her mouth and laughed: "Then the organization will entrust this important task to you!"

"Let's answer first, regardless of whether we can answer first or not?" Chen Shuo asked, "Does anyone here have a good chance?"

Jiang Lai raised her hand: "I'm alright, I read a lot of miscellaneous books in my spare time."

"Then I'll leave it to you, junior!" Lin Yi patted her shoulder and glanced at Zhou Yunyun: "Your seniors are pure science and engineering guys. They're okay with physics and chemistry, but their general knowledge of literature is really lacking."

Jiang Lai and Zhou Yunyun smiled, their eyes crinkling: "Understood~"

Meanwhile, Qu Su was also discussing with his teammates how to answer the questions later.

Zhang Yan: "We try to choose the questions we are confident about."

Qu Su: "Speaking of which, are there any rules that say you'll lose points if you answer incorrectly after grabbing the answer?"

"No, but it feels like a trap." Another teammate glanced at the host on stage who was laughing inexplicably and whispered, "I feel like the production team has ulterior motives."

“Then let’s be careful and only answer questions related to physics, chemistry, and biology.” Zhang Yan glanced at the buzzer on the platform. “That way, we’ll all put our hands on the platform, and whoever thinks they can answer can buzz in. We don’t need to worry about the others.”

Qu Su: "Go."

There were rustling sounds all around, as each group discussed their own strategy.

Tao Qi crossed his arms, looking smug: "This kind of question is a piece of cake. I can just stand here. Don't bother me."

The boy's voice hadn't yet gone through puberty, carrying a childlike quality, yet he pretended to be mature, which always seemed a bit funny.

The girl, also from USTC, shrugged. She knew this kid's abilities and didn't take his disdain to heart. "Then I'll leave it to you. You have to win!"

Another boy clapped and exclaimed, "This little prodigy is dominating the field!"

—No, Tao Qi isn't even that taller than the competition platform. Is it really okay to hand him over?

—Hey you upstairs, didn't you see they were ranked first in the warm-up matches?

—How arrogant!

—So cute, hahaha, the little brat is so cocky.

—Let's start the game quickly!

Shi Lan: "Okay, that's enough preparation time. The questions will be displayed on the big screen. Contestants who know the answers can buzz in to answer, but please note that if you answer incorrectly after successfully buzzing in, you will lose one point, and the opportunity to answer will be given to the next team."

Upon hearing this, the players in the audience had no choice but to start discussing their team's tactics again.

Lin Yi: "So, are you still going to rob me?"

Chen Shuo: "I'll listen to you."

Jiang Lai: "Just grab it! At worst, we'll just lose points!"

Zhou Yunyun: "Junior, wake up! The point deduction is serious!"

"It's okay, senior, you have to believe in ourselves!!"

On the other side, Zhang Yan said to her teammates, "As expected, points will be deducted."

"However, our strategy remains unchanged."

Qu Su casually twirled his pen: "Then let's just do as we agreed before."

Tao Qi also saw the reactions of most people, and he snorted disdainfully.

"Xiao Tao, are you okay?" his teammate asked.

Tao Qi: "No problem."

The answer was concise, powerful, and super cool.

His teammates suppressed a laugh, saying, "Then we can rest assured and leave it to you."

—I checked, and the number of students from the top five universities hasn't changed at all; not a single one has left. They really are top universities!

—Once again, I'm amazed at how some people are both smart and good-looking, while I'm not only stupid but also ugly (crying).

—Which door did God close for man when He created him?

—Three hundred questions, with one particularly staggering number?? I don't even want to do thirty of them.

"Now, the competition begins. Please look at the big screen."

The big screen displayed a countdown of three, two, one, and then a question appeared on it.

Why do droplets falling from the air appear spherical?

Chen Shuo reacted quickly and pressed the buzzer.

"Imperial University, please answer!"

"Surface tension!"

"Correct answer! Please move on to the next question!"

—? That's it? It doesn't seem that difficult.

—Upstairs, do you even know the answer? You're saying it's not hard.

—Let's fight! Let's fight!

Who exactly is it that's so eager to stir up trouble?

——Honorable Beijing University! We've secured the first point! We are the best!

—Chen Shuo, you're so handsome!!!

Imperial University secured the first point, but other schools were not to be outdone, and the situation gradually became tense.

"Beep beep beep," the buzzers sounded incessantly, and every now and then, people who missed out could be heard expressing their regret.

Ultimately, Imperial University and USTC tied for first place with the same score.

Shi Lan: "So our results for the first round are in, Imperial University and USTC are tied for first place—"

"Professor Shi!" Tao Qi picked up the microphone, "Could I have a tiebreaker match with Imperial University?"

The contestants in the audience started to jeer.

—Tie-up! I love watching!

—Yeah, what's the point of being tied for first place!

—Is Tao Qi planning to fight four opponents at once?

—They're bullying a kid, hahaha!

Shi Lan glanced at the director and producer in the audience. Seeing that they had no objections, she said according to her own understanding, "If the contestants from Imperial University agree, there is no problem."

Tao Qi stood in front of Jiang Lai and the others. "I don't want to tie for first place. There can only be one first place. Do you want to play another round with me?"

—Is the child facing four older brothers and sisters all by himself?

—I have a feeling that this round of Beijing University students is a bit tough. If they win, it feels like they're bullying a kid, but if they lose, it's really embarrassing.

—This kid is really arrogant, he needs to be taught a lesson.

—The road ahead is long, so don't get arrogant. Who knows who will be the one to shine in the future?

—The person upstairs is really unconventional.

Lin Yi, the oldest member of the team, said, "We need to discuss this internally."

Tao Qi nodded: "Okay." Then he turned and walked to the host's side.

Shi Lan: "Then please let the team from Imperial University tell us the results after they discuss it."

Zhou Yunyun: "Four against one? That's not a good idea, is it? It'll sound terrible if word gets out."

"We definitely have to accept the challenge, but the question is who to send to answer it," Chen Shuo said. "Otherwise, people will think we're afraid of him, that little brat."

Jiang Lai glanced at Tao Qi, who was standing on the stage wearing glasses. He was very perceptive; almost as soon as Jiang Lai looked at him, he immediately turned his gaze away and then looked back.

Tao Qi is a true genius; during the question-and-answer session, he almost singled out all the answers from the USTC team.

Jiang Lai touched her hair that hung down her chest. "Let me play. He's too young, and you guys are too much older than him. It wouldn't look good if he won—"

“You’re older than him, junior.”

"Six or seven years older is fine!" Jiang Lai glared at Chen Shuo. "And remember, a woman is forever 18!"

Chen Shuo raised his hands in a gesture of surrender: "OK, OK, I was wrong."

Zhou Yunyun: "I think this is alright. The junior student was quite strong in answering the questions just now."

—I'm so anxious, I can't hear what they're saying.

—I feel that these four people from Imperial University are very average.

--?flat?

— Balanced? It seems like their skill levels are all about the same. Did you guys watch the competition closely? The four of them answered almost the same number of questions; there wasn't anyone particularly outstanding. On the USTC side, it was Tao Qi who answered all the questions perfectly.

—Everyone else at USTC just gives way to the younger brother! Otherwise, are they all idiots?

I just want to know how Beijing University plans to deal with the USTC's provocation.

Just as the viewers in the live stream were getting impatient, Jiang Lai appeared on camera. She had excellent posture, with her back straight and her steps unhurried. She walked to Tao Qi's side and said, "I'll compete with you."