The Hand Holding the Ballpoint Pen Trembled Slightly

After driving for half an hour, the Nangang Second High School math competition team's bus arrived at Provincial Experimental High School.

This is the venue for this year's Provincial High School Mathematics League Nangang division.

Every province has its own Mathematics League, organized independently by each province.

The Nanyue Province High School Mathematics League is jointly organized by the Provincial Department of Education and the Provincial Mathematics Society, held once a year.

The competition format is an exam. All participants complete one paper within a time limit of 90 minutes; this is the First Test.

The First Test sets three score lines, from highest to lowest: the provincial team line, first prize, and second prize.

According to data from previous years, 40% of participants receive a second prize, and 10% receive a first prize.

The provincial team line is extremely difficult to reach, with a success rate of only 0.8%.

Students who can participate in the Mathematics League Competition are the top math talents from each school, one in a hundred.

After selecting one in a hundred, they select eight out of a thousand, then eliminate half of those remaining. The few who are left will represent the provincial team in the national competition. This is the re-examination/second round.

Shen Qi wants to stay; this is his goal for coming here.

The organizing committee, according to procedure, verifies each participant's student ID and entry permit. Mobile phones and all electronic devices are not allowed in the examination hall.

Shen Qi was led by a staff member to a classroom on the second floor of the teaching building. The classroom was arranged with four columns of desks, seven rows per column, accommodating 28 participants competing together.

Shen Qi and his eleven teammates were assigned to twelve different classrooms. His seat was in the second column, first row.

He sat down, arranging his ballpoint pen, pencil, ruler, compass, and eraser on the desk, and waited for the First Test paper to be distributed.

Before handing out the test papers, the invigilators first distributed scratch paper to each participant.

Besides essential writing utensils like pens and rulers, participants are not allowed to bring even a single sheet of paper into the examination hall. The country's selection process for mathematics professionals is extremely strict; one instance of cheating results in the entire school being blacklisted.

Shen Qi closed his eyes to rest. Don't be anxious, don't panic. I've done several Mathematics League papers before; this stuff isn't difficult at all.

At exactly 10:00 AM, the First Test began on time.

This test paper has two types of questions.

8 fill-in-the-blank questions, 8 points each, totaling 64 points.

3 short-answer and proof questions, totaling 56 points.

The total score for the paper is 120 points.

The question setters seem to favor Geometry. This paper has a total of 11 questions, 8 of which are Geometry problems.

This is probably following the trend of recent IMO competitions. Recently, there's been a surge of interest in Geometry internationally, with challenging Geometry problems appearing frequently in IMO competitions.

The fill-in-the-blank questions are too easy for Shen Qi. This type of question doesn't require showing the derivation or proof process; just writing the answer is sufficient.

You don't need to know if I used Non-Euclidean Geometry or Coordinate Geometry theories; just give you the correct answer is fine.

Shen Qi quickly finished the 8 fill-in-the-blank questions and began working on the three short-answer and proof questions.

The first question is a Solid Geometry proof problem. A sphere is depicted on the paper, with a triangular pyramid inscribed within it. It requires proving that the centroid of the triangular pyramid coincides with the centroid of the sphere.

The second question is Plane Analytic Geometry, requiring proof that a certain curve can never pass through the intersection point of the x-axis and y-axis, point O.

The third question is purely Algebra, requiring the finding of a complex number α such that a given expression holds true.

"It's not difficult, really not difficult. Could I have gotten a fake exam paper?"

With swift efficiency, Shen Qi quickly wrote down the proofs, solutions, and answers for the three problems on his scratch paper.

Fearing he had a fake exam paper, Shen Qi checked his work several times before daring to write the content from his scratch paper onto the exam paper. His hand holding the ballpoint pen trembled slightly.

"They say the pass rate for the provincial team line is less than 1%. If I get a perfect score, I'll definitely be within this 1%. Could this paper be too easy, and everyone can get a perfect score?"

Shen Qi glanced left and right, then looked back.

The guy to his left was sweating profusely. He's not hot, is he? The classroom has air conditioning, and I feel cold.

The young lady to his right frowned deeply, as if encountering an unsolvable problem.

The young boy behind him had a look of utter despair, surely questioning his life choices.

All signs indicated that Shen Qi was the only one in the entire examination hall who found the exam paper easy; everyone else was struggling.

"Hey, stop looking around!" The invigilator walked to Shen Qi's desk and tapped the tabletop with a stern expression.

"Teacher, may I ask who created this exam paper?" Shen Qi asked quietly.

"I don't know!"

"Alright, alright, I'm submitting my paper."

Shen Qi packed his stationery into his bag, laid his exam paper flat on the desk.

Shouldering his backpack, Shen Qi stood up, hands in his pockets, and leisurely left the examination hall.

After the morning's Mathematics League First Test concluded, the judging panel from the Provincial Mathematics Society began grading the Nangang division's papers in the afternoon.

Nangang City is the provincial capital, and the headquarters of the Provincial Mathematics Society is located in this major southern coastal metropolis.

This year, over 1,200 high school students across the province who love mathematics registered to compete. The number of participants from Nangang City alone exceeded half the total, as it is an international metropolis with a large population and superior educational resources.

The grading for the Nangang competition division lasted from 2 PM to 8 PM. Ten judges worked simultaneously, grading over 600 First Test papers.

Two younger women were the statisticians, responsible for compiling the data.

"Yu Huabo, Provincial Experimental High School, 101 points."

"Zhou Jian, Southern Normal University Affiliated Middle School, 98 points."

"Meng Tianqiang, Second Middle School, 94 points."

"Li Xinyan, Sixth Middle School, 82 points."

"Zhao Liang, Eighth Middle School, 8 points... I feel sorry for this little boy, only 8 points, and he only got one fill-in-the-blank question right."

"Huo Jiawen, Second Middle School, 1 point... How did he get this 1 point? A consolation prize?"

"Let me see the paper of this 1-point boy. It really is a consolation prize. All his fill-in-the-blank questions are wrong, and his essay and proof questions are also completely wrong. The judge gave him 1 point for fear he couldn't handle the blow of getting a zero, right?"

"Deducting 1 point is to prevent you from getting arrogant, and giving only 1 point is to prevent you from collapsing? When math teachers get humorous, they're truly irresistible, teehee."

The job of the two statisticians from the Provincial Mathematics Society was to input the scores of the graded papers into the computer and sort them. Both were interns from mathematics education majors, and it was highly likely they would become math teachers in primary or secondary schools in the future.

"The papers for this year's Math League First Test are so difficult. I haven't seen a single perfect score of 120 yet since we started grading."

"I estimate the first-place prize line this year will be 90 points. Last year it was 100 points."

"Let's keep working. Shen Qi, Second Middle School... Meow!"

"What are you doing!"

"Shen Qi, Second Middle School, 120 points! The first perfect score surprisingly came from Second Middle School."

"Second Middle School is also a key high school, what's so surprising about it. Let me see this perfect-scoring boy's masterpiece. Huh? What's with the three question marks after 120?"

Shen Qi's score on the paper was 120, followed by three question marks, forming "120???".

"Paper number 519, I'll go ask the judge what's the deal with this 120 from the Second Middle School boy?"