An Answer in One Second

When Chen Zhao woke up the next morning, he found himself lying on the floor. He was momentarily dazed; how had he ended up sleeping on the cold ground all night?

He turned his head to check the clock, and his head buzzed—it was already seven o'clock!

There were only fifteen minutes left until the first class!

Chen Zhao's face turned deathly pale. How could he have overslept? He was dead, dead, dead! Of all days, the first period today happened to be the homeroom teacher's class! If he wasn't there by the time class started, wouldn't he be in for the full "stand in the corner, get lectured, and have your parents called" treatment?

He didn't have time to think about anything else. Chen Zhao grabbed his schoolbag and bolted out the door, reaching the ground floor in ten seconds before sprinting toward the school like a mad dog.

By rushing and pushing his luck through two yellow lights, he finally managed to charge through the school gate. The homeroom teacher hadn't arrived at the classroom yet, so Chen Zhao let out a sigh of relief. It seemed he had run fast enough.

Chen Zhao's seat was right next to the back door of the classroom. He tossed his bag by the door and collapsed onto his desk, gasping for air, his forehead drenched in sweat.

"Why do you look like a dying dog? Did you get chased for miles after acting like a creep?"

The one speaking was Chen Zhao's desk mate, Xu Lanlan. She had fair skin, large eyes, and stood at 1.8 meters tall. Even in her school uniform, her wavy hair and natural beauty were striking. If the class were to vote for a class beauty, Xu Lanlan would likely have a fifty-fifty chance of winning. Although she was pretty, her sharp tongue was truly suffocating.

"Acting like a creep? Would a gentleman like me ever do something like that?" Chen Zhao panted, retorting irritably, "I overslept, then I started running. I covered a twenty-minute walk in ten minutes! I'm exhausted! My legs are killing me!"

"Oh, such a talent for running, why didn't you sign up for the sports track?" Xu Lanlan blinked and added, "Oh, right, it wouldn't matter even if you did. The scores you get aren't even as good as the athletes..."

Chen Zhao wanted to hit her, but he couldn't bring himself to do it because what Xu Lanlan said was the truth. One look at his seat was enough to tell: it was in the corner by the back door, where you'd need binoculars to see the blackboard clearly. It was a rotten spot reserved only for the person ranked last in the class.

As for sitting next to the bottom-ranked student, Xu Lanlan herself wasn't much better off; she had never managed to break out of the bottom five.

However, Chen Zhao couldn't mock her by saying "we're in the same boat," because Xu Lanlan's situation was different. She was a rich girl; her father dropped her off and picked her up in a ten-million-yuan Maybach.

Chen Zhao had even looked up that pitch-black Maybach of hers online. It was incredibly flashy and voice-activated. It didn't even have a key; Xu Lanlan's father would just shout "Start" at the steering wheel, and the whole car would roar to life like a waking beast.

For a student whose family car alone was worth ten million, coming to school was just an experience. Mocking her for bad grades was something she was completely immune to.

The bell rang.

The homeroom teacher walked into the classroom right on time.

"Take out the math homework from the weekend and pass it forward. Anyone who hasn't finished it can go stand at the back of the room and finish it," the teacher said, brows furrowed and tone stern.

The first student in each row stood up and began collecting the papers.

Xu Lanlan pulled a paper out from under her desk and placed it on the surface. It was filled with dense writing; every single problem was completed. She definitely hadn't done those complex problems herself—she had just looked them up online and copied them.

Chen Zhao rummaged through his bag and pulled out a... blank sheet of paper.

He hadn't done it!

He had intended to come to class early this morning to copy from a classmate, but he had overslept!

The hairs on Chen Zhao's back stood up, pricking against his clothes like steel needles. Sweat poured down his forehead in torrents!

"Oh, you didn't do it," Xu Lanlan leaned over to look at his blank paper and clicked her tongue, "You're really stubborn, aren't you? Not afraid of death? Have you forgotten what happened to Jin Peng?"

At Xu Lanlan's reminder, Chen Zhao's face turned even paler!

Jin Peng was a classmate who hadn't done his math homework last Monday. The homeroom teacher had flown into a rage, grabbed a textbook as thick as a brick, and beaten Jin Peng from inside the classroom all the way out into the hallway. The beating was gruesome, and the teacher had even called his parents! He'd been sent home for three days of reflection!

Chen Zhao panicked completely, his mind spiraling! Was he really going to be beaten, have his parents called, and be sent home for reflection?

If you can't find the book title, try searching for the author; maybe the name was just changed!

It was definitely too late to copy now!

If he claimed he'd finished it but just hadn't brought it, the teacher wasn't stupid! The teacher would just ask him to explain the content of the problems or give the answers, and he'd be exposed on the spot!

He was done for. He was dead!

Chen Zhao looked ghastly, thinking to himself that heaven was out to get him!

Xu Lanlan grinned, gloating from the side: "What is there to fear in life or death? Chen Zhao, just meet your fate with dignity! You'll be a hero again in eighteen years! After you're gone, I can use your desk cubby to store my snacks."

Chen Zhao didn't hear her mockery; he was already engulfed by overwhelming fear.

In his state of utter despair, Chen Zhao's gaze fell upon his blank paper.

It was an unconscious action, a look cast in confusion and helplessness. But as his eyes touched the words on the paper, a very strange sensation emerged.

The words on the paper suddenly became extremely clear!

It wasn't that his vision had improved, but rather that the impression of those problems in his mind suddenly became incredibly sharp. Previously, to understand a single problem, he would have had to read it over and over again with great difficulty, but now, in the blink of an eye—perhaps less than 0.1 seconds—the content of the first problem suddenly appeared in his mind!

"Given set A={x|x²-4x+30} and B={x|2x-30}, find A∩B."

Chen Zhao was stunned. A strange feeling surged into his heart. In that instant, he felt as if time had slowed down, and his brain began to operate at lightning speed! This process wasn't something he was trying to force; it was as if his brain had started automatically the moment he saw the problem!

In less than a second, the answer to the first problem appeared in his mind:

"(3/2, 3), select D."

Chen Zhao was startled. He turned to look at Xu Lanlan's paper next to him, and the answer to the first problem was indeed "D"!

Chen Zhao found it hard to believe. He had calculated the answer in less than a second?

Was this something he, the student ranked last in the class who failed math exams every single time, had actually done?

Chen Zhao looked down at the second problem. Again, in the blink of an eye, less than 0.1 seconds, the entire problem was absorbed into his mind:

"Given that the sum of the first 9 terms of an arithmetic sequence {an} is 27, and a10=8, find a100."

This was a common sequence problem. Usually, Chen Zhao would have to scribble on scratch paper for several minutes just to arrive at an uncertain result.

However, today, the moment he finished reading the question, an answer appeared in his mind:

"98, choose C!"

He glanced at Xu Lanlan's test paper, and the correct answer was indeed C!

How... could this be?

Scanning the question and understanding it, then automatically calculating the answer in less than a second?

This is just too heaven-defying?!

Suddenly, Chen Zhao remembered his experience from last night!

That system that spoke in his mind and told him to top up his IQ!

He raised his left hand to look, and there was indeed an iron-like ring on his little finger! The System Ring!

On his way to school, he had thought back on this system, but at the time, he felt it was just a dream. Now, Chen Zhao knew it wasn't a dream at all; all of this was real!

His test-taking speed had improved by leaps and bounds because of that trial period where his IQ was raised to 400!

His IQ had gone from 79 to 400 overnight! That was why looking at these simple questions now was effortless!

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