Two Problems Left Unsolved

Forty-five minutes.

Chen Zhao did not stop.

One hour!

Chen Zhao was still writing!

When the exam reached the hour-and-a-half mark, the proctors were so shocked they were speechless. They had never seen, nor even heard of, a student who could work through math competition problems at such a rapid pace! There had once been a student who wrote intermittently for over an hour during a math competition, and that story had circulated among all the proctors; they brought it up every single year. They never expected someone even more intense to show up this year!

"Is he just scribbling nonsense?" one teacher suddenly thought, whispering to a colleague nearby.

"You mean... he isn't actually solving the problems, just listing every formula he knows on the paper, hoping to scrape together some partial credit?" the other teacher asked.

The two teachers exchanged glances, unable to suppress their curiosity. After all, a student who could actually work on problems for this long was incredibly rare—rarer than a giant panda.

One teacher suddenly had a flash of inspiration and came up with a plan. Chen Zhao's scratch paper looked like it was running out, and according to the rules, teachers were required to provide enough scratch paper.

If he went over to deliver a sheet, he could take a peek at Chen Zhao's answer sheet. Then, it would be immediately clear whether he was actually solving the problems or just mindlessly listing formulas.

Acting on the thought, a proctor grabbed a sheet of blank scratch paper, stepped off the podium, walked to Chen Zhao's desk, and placed the paper next to his test booklet.

Chen Zhao looked up at the proctor, not thinking much of it, and thought to himself, The service in this exam hall is actually pretty good?

"Thank you, teacher," Chen Zhao said, then pulled the new scratch paper over and continued to scribble away at his calculations.

The teacher took a quick glance at Chen Zhao's answer sheet, then returned to the podium with a look of sheer terror on his face.

"He really is solving the problems; the steps are written out in extreme detail," the teacher who had seen the paper whispered to the other.

Both teachers looked at Chen Zhao with immense admiration. Even though they were teachers, they knew full well that if they had to take this test themselves, they certainly wouldn't do any better than this student. The student had surpassed the master; if this were ancient times, he would have already completed his apprenticeship!

One hour and forty minutes into the exam, Chen Zhao was still writing tirelessly.

Over a dozen candidates in the room had completely given up, realizing that a score of zero was inevitable. Rather than staring at the problems in anxiety, they decided to relax. They craned their necks to look around, and then... they saw Chen Zhao, who was writing furiously.

The students who had already given up stared at Chen Zhao, all of them struck with horror!

What kind of god is this?

How is he writing so fast?!

Is there really someone who can tear through such a difficult paper like this?

Did you know the questions beforehand or something?

This is terrifying!

Many candidates asked themselves, We are the same age, so why is he answering these questions with such intense focus while I'm sitting here like an idiot, unable to solve a single one?

Finally, after a long wait, the bell rang to collect the papers.

"Stop writing! If you keep writing, it will be marked as cheating!" the proctor shouted. This was the rule of the exam hall: once the bell rang, not a single character could be added. Otherwise, depending on the severity, one could be penalized for cheating. The cost of cheating on an exam like this was very high.

Chen Zhao put down his pen and sighed.

He still had two major problems left unfinished!

Chen Zhao felt a bit dejected. He was still too slow; there were several problems that should have had simpler methods, but he had just buried his head in the work without considering them, which led to running out of time at the end. Those two problems were worth fourteen points in total, and the paper was worth 100 points. This meant that even if he got every other question right without losing a single point, the highest score he could get was eighty-six.

The proctors collected the papers, and all the candidates filed out. The proctors locked the classroom door to prevent anyone from sneaking in to install cheating devices or leave crib sheets.

In the hallway, groups of students gathered, packing their bags to leave while complaining loudly!

"This math test was insanely hard!"

"I didn't even solve a single problem!"

"Heh, trash. I solved quite a few!"

"Quite a few? How many is 'quite a few'?"

"I solved exactly two problems."

"Hahahahahaha, this test isn't meant for humans, let's go home!"

Most of the students left with their backpacks, but Chen Zhao did not; he still had to take the physics exam next.

Zhao Xiaobai came over to find Chen Zhao. "How did you do?"

"Not great," Chen Zhao shook his head dejectedly.

"I did terrible too; I probably won't make it to the next round," Zhao Xiaobai said, her expression dimming. "None of the stuff I prepared for was on there; it was all question types I'd never seen. I only solved four problems total. If they're all right, I might get a 35, but if there are any mistakes, advancing is going to be tough. How many did you solve?"

"Two..." Chen Zhao started, but before he could finish, he was interrupted by Zhao Xiaobai.

"Hahaha, told you! I said this exam was going to be hard! Being able to solve two is already pretty good; signing up for so many subjects was just a waste of energy." Zhao Xiaobai was triumphant. She had previously told him not to sign up for so many subject competitions because the questions would be extremely difficult. Chen Zhao hadn't seemed to listen at the time, but now the painful reality had made him listen.

"Let me finish," Chen Zhao said, feeling a bit helpless. "I didn't solve two problems; I finished all the others."

Zhao Xiaobai was stunned for a moment, then laughed happily. "You're joking, right?"

He had to be joking.

How could it be possible for someone to have only two problems left unfinished?

But Chen Zhao shook his head. "I'm not joking. Seriously, I only left two problems unfinished. It wasn't that I didn't know how to do them; I just ran out of time. My pace was a bit slow."

Zhao Xiaobai could no longer force a smile.

It didn't look like Chen Zhao was joking, and he wasn't the type to lie.

Could he really... be this strong?!

Mathematics was what Zhao Xiaobai prided herself on most; she scored full marks on her math tests every other week. Yet now, to be defeated by Chen Zhao in the very area she took pride in, Zhao Xiaobai felt truly uncomfortable.

However... an exam wasn't about who wrote the most, but who got the most right. Chen Zhao had scribbled down so much, but what if none of it was correct? Wouldn't his score still be very low?

Zhao Xiaobai told herself to just wait and see the results.

"Bye-bye, I'm heading off. Good luck on your next exam," Zhao Xiaobai said, waving her hand.

"Bye-bye," Chen Zhao replied, waving back.

Another large crowd of examinees surged in, noisy and boisterous in the hallway, clutching their notes and textbooks while reciting frantically. Chen Zhao stood in a corner beside the exam hall, not looking at any books, watching the people coming and going, as calm as a stone statue.