Gifted Class or IMO Gold Medal?

You really know how to discourage people.

At that moment, almost everyone present was venting fiercely in their minds.

"Just use a little brainpower and you can solve it." When you say something like that, doesn't your conscience ache?

Yet, even so, they took a closer look at Xiao Yi's expression. The kid didn't seem to be faking it when he said that.

His whole face showed that for these three problems over three days, he really had just used a little brainpower to solve them.

They had used their brains too, so why couldn't they solve them?

Did they not have brains?

The senior high students present, whether they were math competition contestants or top-ranked academic elites, couldn't help but doubt themselves.

And at that moment, Liu Bin finally made a move.

He took a deep breath, forcing his gaze at Xiao Yi to be less intense, then spoke to Xiao Yi again: "Classmate Xiao, what I mean is pretty much what Director Chen said—I'm inviting you to join our USTC Young Scholars Program."

"Of course, your talent might not be fully demonstrated by just these few problems over three days. Perhaps it's even better than that."

"So the choice is entirely yours. For example, with the mathematical talent you've shown now, I think if you sign up for this year's math competition, by next year you might be able to join our National Math Competition Team and represent our country at the IMO. I'll be honest with you—the value of an IMO gold medal is probably higher than our Young Scholars Program."

Listening to Professor Liu's words, Xiao Yi began to calmly analyze in his mind.

The effect of Ruthless Continuous Study was still active, and this effect helped him think about his current situation.

From Director Chen's explanation of the difficulty of these three problems over three days, it was clear that his long period of study had already brought him to a level his peers could hardly reach. Even problems harder than the IMO had become simple for him.

Looking at it this way, the USTC Young Scholars Program was indeed something he could fully pursue.

But Professor Liu also mentioned that the value of an IMO gold medal was higher than the Young Scholars Program. In that case, participating in the IMO would obviously be better. Winning a gold medal seemed like no problem for him, right?

With the strength he had now after just this many days of study, by the time next year's IMO came around, he couldn't even imagine how strong he'd be.

But just then, Liu Bin added another sentence: "Of course, if you join our Young Scholars Program, the biggest advantage for you is that you can save the entire senior year of high school and start university life early. At the same time, you can better leverage your talent to study deeper, truly cutting-edge mathematics, rather than staying stuck with this exam-oriented education."

"Your talent shouldn't be wasted here."

Liu Bin's words immediately made Xiao Yi's eyes light up.

Indeed!

Joining the Young Scholars Program would save him an entire year of senior high!

And right now, he deeply understood the importance of time to himself.

To be honest, he had already realized that what the teachers lectured in class was completely meaningless to him. With his current ability, just reading books and using the extended knowledge from supplementary materials was enough for him to grasp everything. If he encountered deeper knowledge while solving problems, he could figure it out through his own derivations.

So, the eight classes every day were actually slowing down his learning progress. Only the three evening self-study sessions were the real moments when he rapidly improved.

At the same time, what Liu Bin called "truly cutting-edge mathematics" also caught his attention. What were these cutting-edge mathematical things?

He thought of a well-known mathematical problem in Huaxia: the Goldbach Conjecture.

He had looked into this problem before—a jewel on the crown of mathematics, stumping the mathematical world for centuries, unsolved to this day.

Such a problem should belong to the cutting edge of mathematics, right?

But just then, the bell signaling the start of evening self-study suddenly rang. Hearing it, Xiao Yi instinctively panicked.

A memory from the DNA of his student days told him that if he didn't get back to the classroom, he'd be in trouble.

After all, tonight was their homeroom teacher's evening self-study shift!

The homeroom teacher would personally come to supervise the classroom.

However, for now, let alone Liu Bin, Chen Liang certainly wasn't going to let Xiao Yi go back. After all, they had finally found this kid.

Chen Liang looked around at the remaining senior high students still watching, glared, and scolded: "What are you still looking at? Hurry back to evening self-study. If you don't leave now, I'll write down all your names."

Instantly, the senior high students scattered like birds and beasts, quickly returning to their classrooms.

Only Xiao Yi, one student, and a group of teachers remained on the spot.

Chen Liang turned to Xiao Yi and said: "Classmate Xiao, you don't need to rush back to the classroom. I'll contact your teacher... actually, forget it. I'll contact Qin Song directly."

Qin Song was the grade director for their sophomore year, as Xiao Yi knew.

"You just chat with Professor Liu for a while. You can ask him some questions. This is a good opportunity. There are things you can't come across in high school."

What else could Xiao Yi say?

So he nodded, then followed Chen Liang and Liu Bin to the senior year teachers' office.

As it happened, he did have some things he wanted to ask Liu Bin.

Sophomore Year Department, Class 3 of Science Stream classroom.

The bell for evening self-study had just rung, and the classroom fell silent. All the students began studying earnestly.

After all, their homeroom teacher, Luo Penghua, was standing right at the front.

However, one empty seat stood out conspicuously.

Luo Penghua looked at that seat and furrowed his brow.

This seat... should be that kid Xiao Yi's.

Evening self-study has already started—where has this kid run off to?

That doesn't seem right.

Since the start of this semester, he'd noticed Xiao Yi had become extremely hardworking and earnest. During morning self-study, while others might be dozing off, he could seriously read and study; every day after evening self-study ended, this kid would also stay in the classroom studying until nearly closing time.

Besides that, his performance in class was also very good. When called on to answer questions, his responses were quite decent, showing he'd indeed learned a fair bit. This made Luo Penghua look forward to next week's first monthly exam of the semester and how this kid would perform.

But today, where had this kid run off to?

He went to ask Xiao Yi's deskmate, Chen Wei, but Chen Wei also said he didn't know, and indicated that Xiao Yi had returned to the classroom after eating.

This made Luo Penghua's brow furrow even deeper.

As the homeroom teacher, if a student goes missing, of course you'd be anxious.

With that thought, he immediately took out his phone to ask around, but just then, his phone vibrated again.

The display showed it was a call from their Grade Director, Qin Song.

He answered the call, and then heard Qin Song on the other end say: "Penghua, what's going on with that Xiao Yi from your class? How come Senior Year Department Director Chen Liang said to bring you along and go pick up this student from their side?"

Hearing that Xiao Yi was actually at the Senior Year Department, Luo Penghua breathed a sigh of relief, but then he grew puzzled.

Why was Xiao Yi over there now?

"I don't know either."

New book begging for collections and recommendations!