Math Demon King?

Qin Song told Liu Bin everything about Xiao Yi's performance in the exam.

Liu Bin had originally thought that Xiao Yi had merely done exceptionally well on this month's exam. But right from the start, Qin Song told him that Xiao Yi had finished the math exam in just twenty minutes, and his eyes immediately widened.

A math exam with a time limit of 120 minutes, and Xiao Yi had finished it all in twenty?

Exactly one-sixth of the allotted time?

Wasn't that a little absurd?

There were twelve multiple-choice questions and four fill-in-the-blank questions alone, making sixteen questions. Then there were another five solution problems, for a total of twenty-one. He had finished them in twenty minutes, averaging more than one question per minute.

Although the questions truly were not as difficult as competition problems, if he did it in twenty minutes, didn't that mean he knew how to solve them at a glance?

He was probably only a little slower than copying the answers outright.

And that was not even the end of it. When Liu Bin saw the sheet of scratch paper Qin Song had sent over, his delight nearly turned into shock.

Was he about to recruit a Math Demon King for the USTC Mathematics Department?

The two things—finishing the paper in twenty minutes and finding five ways to solve the final problem—were indeed astonishing. But as a mathematics professor, Liu Bin could see something deeper.

The former showed that Xiao Yi's mind was exceptionally quick. Given a problem, he could immediately begin thinking about it and come up with a solution, unlike most people, whose brains first had to clear away their thinking from the previous problem before they could begin considering the next one, as if their minds needed time to boot up.

The latter was even more remarkable. Being able to think of five methods for a single problem, with each method simpler than the last, showed that Xiao Yi's way of thinking was highly independent. He could cast aside all kinds of habitual thinking and change his perspective when solving problems.

This was especially important in mathematics—or rather, in any science.

For certain similar problems in science, habitual thinking was a good thing. It could save people a great deal of time when solving problems, and in a sense, it was a form of experience-based thinking.

But its greatest flaw was that it became far less useful when faced with new problems.

To solve new problems, one often needed to change one's direction of thought, angle of research, and so on. Yet because of the brain's inertia, people habitually tried to solve new problems using old methods, finding it difficult to break free from the experience lodged in their minds.

Thus, one could see that many important achievements in history often came from their creators' flexible thinking, while those who failed were defeated by fixed patterns of thought.

Especially in mathematics.

Therefore, Liu Bin knew very well just how astounding it was for Xiao Yi to think of multiple solutions to the same problem within mere dozens of minutes.

It meant that his thinking had almost no inertia. Whenever he wanted, he could break free from habitual thought and think from a new angle.

No wonder the kid had always been able to solve those competition problems Liu Bin gave him in such incredibly ingenious ways.

Liu Bin could not help but wonder whether the USTC Mathematics Department would be able to keep this mathematical genius in check.

"Hello? Professor Liu? What's wrong?"

Qin Song's voice came through the receiver. Liu Bin's continued silence had apparently left him somewhat puzzled.

Liu Bin came back to himself and replied, "Oh, it's nothing. It's just..."

He said helplessly, "I'm a little too surprised."

"Haha, if Xiao Yi can surprise Professor Liu, then that's exactly right! Once Xiao Yi enters the Gifted Class, he definitely won't disappoint the USTC Mathematics Department!"

He would not disappoint them, but perhaps he would leave them in despair.

The kind of despair ordinary people felt when facing a genius.

Liu Bin shook his head. Forget it. He should stop thinking so much.

No matter what, Xiao Yi's talent was there for all to see. If he joined their Gifted Class, he would certainly bring honor to it.

Hmm... then the geniuses in the Gifted Class would have to suffer a little. Liu Bin would bear the blame himself.

Perhaps Xiao Yi could even shake up the arrogance of those Gifted Class students.

He could not help looking forward to seeing what astonishing abilities Xiao Yi would display after entering the Gifted Class.

Especially that genius mind with almost no inertia. Once Xiao Yi began studying real mathematical subjects, he would likely bring surprises to everyone.

Then Liu Bin said to Qin Song, "All right. Once all your monthly exam results are out, send me the report card. I'll submit it to the university, and once it passes review, we'll issue Xiao Yi a College Entrance Exam Qualification Certificate."

"Okay, okay. Thank you for your trouble, Professor Liu." Qin Song was overjoyed. This time, it was certain!

As for the College Entrance Exam Qualification Certificate, only universities that operated Gifted Classes could issue it. The Ministry of Education stipulated that only twelfth-grade students could take the college entrance exam, while students in other grades could not.

But universities with Gifted Classes had the "privilege" of making an exception, allowing students who were not in twelfth grade to take the college entrance exam. Those whose scores met the standard could enter the Gifted Class and begin university early.

"Also, I'll be visiting the Affiliated High School again next week to meet Xiao Yi. I promised him some competition problems and books last time, so I'll give them to him then."

"Okay," Qin Song replied.

After that, they said no more and hung up.

Setting down his phone, Liu Bin looked at the books he had organized for Xiao Yi. He rubbed his chin, then clapped his hands.

"Add Algebraic Geometry, Algebraic Topology... and those books too."

Several more days passed quietly.

Because the physics, chemistry, and biology exams for the second-year students were still administered separately rather than as a combined paper, the exams took a total of three days, beginning on Friday and continuing until Sunday.

The students could forget about having any time to rest that weekend. Sunday night meant evening self-study, and classes continued as usual.

Though it was exhausting, after several years—or perhaps more than a decade—had passed, this period would probably become a precious memory of youth.

And so, as the moon set and the sun rose, Monday of the second week arrived.

During morning self-study, unlike the usual scene of drowsy students in the classroom, every student had their head raised that day, looking full of energy.

In truth, they were only so alert because of the tension in their hearts.

There was no other reason: this morning self-study period was when the results of last week's monthly exam would be announced!