Still, although Xiao Yi found nicknames like "X God" a little embarrassing, he remembered the identity of the Scholar Ye before him... no, Ye Cheng. Come to think of it, that name really did sound like... the name of a novel protagonist.
He asked, "By the way, are you that genius who's fourteen this year and scored 680 on the college entrance exam?"
"That's me." Ye Cheng nodded, then said, "But I think Scholar Xiao's score of 741 is even more impressive. You're more talented than I am. My mom told me to learn from you."
Xiao Yi did not know whether to laugh or cry. This kid really was rather straightforward when he spoke.
"You're only fourteen."
"Only fourteen." Ye Cheng shook his head. "My idol is Terence Tao. He won an IMO gold medal when he was thirteen, but I tried this year's IMO problems, and I could only get a silver medal. I was one point short of gold."
"That's already very impressive. Terence Tao only won gold on his third time participating in the IMO." Xiao Yi said, "You don't need to be so hard on yourself."
"No, I'm still far too lacking." Ye Cheng shook his head. "So after entering university, I'll do my absolute best to graduate within three years, then attend Princeton University or the École Normale Supérieure as a graduate student in mathematics. I heard those two schools have the best mathematics programs in the world. After that, I'll strive to earn my master's and doctoral degrees within four years. Once I no longer have to worry about my studies, I'll devote all my time to mathematics and hopefully win the Fields Medal before I turn forty."
"I calculated it. I'm fourteen this year, and there are still seven International Congresses of Mathematicians before I turn forty. There happens to be one in the year I turn forty. The Fields Medal can only be awarded to mathematicians under forty, so I have a certain age advantage."
Listening to the child's ambitious words, Xiao Yi fell silent.
Good grief, is this the world of geniuses?
He'd already planned out his entire future life.
And what was my plan for the future?
Hmm...
Probably: solve difficult problems → solve even harder problems → solve problems that many people can't solve → solve world-class problems →...
Maybe the next step would be "solve humanity's problems"?
"However, the only problem now is how I can pass this examination." Ye Cheng's voice, which had been full of confidence in his plans for the future, now became hesitant. "I'm not very confident about this afternoon's exam, because I haven't read any mathematics papers."
"This change was a little beyond my control. I really don't know what made those academicians suddenly make this decision."
At last, the genius's face revealed the nervousness of a child.
He asked Xiao Yi, "Scholar Xiao, are you confident about this exam?"
Xiao Yi hurriedly tapped his mental wooden fish again, then gave a universal answer. "Uh... I don't know. We'll see."
Ye Cheng nodded. "All right. Fortunately, my teacher said that there might not be many students who can score points in this afternoon's exam. Most likely, it'll still come down to this morning's results."
Xiao Yi nodded. That was indeed the case.
For the overwhelming majority of students, the morning examination would still account for the larger portion of their final results. Doing well in the morning exam was the key.
Just then, the bell rang and the proctors entered the examination room. The two stopped talking.
All examinees handed in items unrelated to the examination. Further conversation was prohibited as they waited for the exam to officially begin.
There were three proctors, along with all kinds of surveillance cameras and signal jammers, essentially eliminating every possibility of cheating.
Of course, these geniuses probably would not do something like cheat anyway.
At 8:55, the test papers were distributed.
Xiao Yi quickly received his paper. He looked over the three questions, then shook his head.
Average!
The format of the three questions was basically similar to that of a Math Olympiad. In the end, they were still testing those familiar approaches.
And because there were only two hours, unlike the four and a half hours given in a Math Olympiad, the difficulty of the questions had been lowered accordingly.
But for Xiao Yi, it was all the same.
He finished all three questions in only twenty minutes. There were few questions and little to write, which actually made things convenient for him.
And most importantly...
This exam allowed students to hand in their papers at any time!
That was far more humane than high school rules requiring them to wait until the final half hour before turning in their papers!
So Xiao Yi stood up directly and walked to the front.
The proctor at the very front was a professor from their mathematics department, surnamed Xu. The moment he saw Xiao Yi, he recognized him.
After all, he was the professor in charge of the Hua Loo-Keng Class. He had attended that mathematics academic conference with Liu Bin and had already seen the genius teenager through Liu Bin's video of Xiao Yi.
"You want to... hand in your paper?" Professor Xu asked, glancing at his watch. "The exam only started twenty minutes ago."
Xiao Yi nodded. "Yes, I'm handing it in now."
Professor Xu said nothing further and accepted Xiao Yi's paper. "You may leave early."
Then he lowered his head to examine the test paper and was immediately startled. Although he had been somewhat prepared, seeing the page filled with answers still felt unbelievable.
This was only twenty minutes!
The three questions on this exam were not as difficult as IMO problems, but finishing them in twenty minutes was still outrageously absurd.
It was practically equivalent to...
Spending almost all the time just writing?
Hardly needing to think at all?
"He really is... incredible."
Professor Xu helplessly shook his head. Liu Bin had once told him to see for himself just how formidable Xiao Yi was. Now, he had truly seen it firsthand.
Naturally, the many mathematics geniuses present also noticed the commotion. Seeing Xiao Yi hand in his paper directly, they all wore expressions of disbelief.
They had not even finished the first question. Some had even been stumped by it already, yet someone had handed in their paper?
Was this a joke?
No one considered whether he had merely turned in a blank paper, because they had all basically recognized the person handing it in as Xiao Yi.
How could the "national top scorer" with 741 points possibly hand in a blank paper?
That left only one possibility: for him, this paper only required twenty minutes to complete.
For a moment, these youths, all of whom had been highly confident in their mathematical abilities, began to doubt themselves.
The Math Demon King's power had begun to reveal itself!
Ye Cheng also stared blankly at Xiao Yi's now-empty seat. Only after being shocked for quite some time did he finally sigh.
As expected of Scholar Xiao, whom I admire!
Before you continue