Dmitri Mendeleev

Jiangcheng University of Technology, Dorm 306.

The afternoon sunlight was somewhat soporific. Lu Yao was sprawled over her desk, making faces at Li Yongle's Complete Review Book for Graduate Entrance Exam Mathematics.

Ever since Li Dong had given her a reverse tutoring session last time, she had been deeply shaken.

"Ugh, why is this limit problem so hard... My head hurts. L'Hôpital's Rule doesn't seem as useful as ibuprofen..."

Just as Lu Yao groaned in agony, her roommate Linlin, whose bed was opposite hers, was browsing the forums.

"Linlin, what are you doing? Help me look at this problem."

"Wait, wait. Let me check out some gossip first." Linlin answered without looking up.

"Someone reposted a Huaxuan Cup post on our school forum. It says a beast showed up in the preliminaries this time—the first-place contestant got a perfect score."

"The Huaxuan Cup loves doing these real-time rankings."

Lu Yao was not interested.

"Someone from No. 6 High School or No. 1 High School?"

"Do you know why I'm checking this out..." Linlin deliberately drew out her words.

"This time, first place is from No. 7 High School."

"His name is Li Dong..."

"What?!"

Only then did Lu Yao remember that this junior really had entered the Huaxuan Cup. Teacher Yang had even postponed her tutoring session because of it.

She immediately got up and walked over to Linlin.

On the screen, the screenshot of the score sheet was crystal clear.

First Place: Li Dong (Perfect Score).

"Li Dong... a perfect score?!"

Lu Yao knew Li Dong was excellent at math, but she had never expected this junior to be terrifyingly good at physics too.

"Should I go tutor him again next week?"

The same scene was playing out in the teachers' office at Jiangcheng No. 6 High School.

As Jiangcheng's best high school, No. 6 High School's teachers naturally had a sense of superiority.

But at this moment, several physics teachers wore rather mocking expressions as they looked at the score sheet.

"No. 7 High School? A perfect score?"

The head of No. 6 High School's physics department was a middle-aged man with a balding head.

He shook his head with a bitter smile.

"Has Old Wang gone crazy trying to make a name for himself?"

The young teacher beside him was somewhat confused.

"Department Head, what do you mean? Is there something wrong with the score?"

"Young Liu, you're still too young."

The department head blew at the tea leaves floating on the water's surface and spoke with an expression that suggested he had seen through everything.

"Most domestic commercial competitions like this imitate the Physics Bowl format."

"The preliminaries are all online exams. There may be camera monitoring, but if a school wants to manipulate things, there are still ways."

"No. 7 High School's student quality has declined badly over the past two years. Their college admission rate gets worse every year."

"Now a first-place perfect scorer suddenly appears. Other than wanting to promote their school, what else could it be?"

"Truly capable students, like Zhao Ziwei from our school, would never show off in a qualifying round like the preliminaries."

"Just wait. Once the offline semifinals arrive, that Li Dong from No. 7 High School will definitely be absent due to illness."

"All they want is the current publicity, so they can use it in next year's admissions brochure."

The other teachers in the office nodded in agreement.

In their eyes, this was the only explanation.

After all, that was No. 7 High School.

Jiangcheng No. 7 High School, the principal's office.

Principal Wang had just put down the phone, and his expression was grim.

Director Li from the city education bureau had called. Between the lines, he had been warning him.

"Old Wang, it's a good thing to want to raise the school's profile, but you need to pay attention to the methods you use. Don't pull any hollow tricks. You'll only make people laugh at you."

Principal Wang felt terribly wronged.

He immediately picked up the landline and dialed Zheng Hua's number.

"Old Zheng! Come to my office!"

Five minutes later, Zheng Hua pushed open the door and entered.

"Principal Wang, what is it?"

"What is it?" Principal Wang's anger flared when he saw Zheng Hua's innocent expression.

"Zheng Hua, tell me the truth. What exactly happened with that physics competition? Did our school... do that?"

Zheng Hua froze for a moment.

"Do what?"

Principal Wang made another subtle gesture at him.

Only then did Zheng Hua understand, and his face immediately flushed red.

"Principal Wang! What kind of thing is that to say?"

"I, Zheng Hua, have been at No. 7 High School for so many years. I was the physics department head for ten years and dean of studies for five. Have I ever done anything that crossed the line?"

Furious, Zheng Hua slapped the printed score sheet in his hand onto the desk.

"Li Dong earned this score fair and square!"

"Besides, I've been giving him intensive training these past few days. Wouldn't I know his level? Forget the preliminaries—even if he entered the finals, he'd be a seeded contender!"

Seeing Zheng Hua like this, the weight in Principal Wang's heart eased by half.

"Old Zheng, calm down, calm down. I didn't say anything, did I? It's just that the higher-ups called."

"I was only trying to understand the situation."

Only then did he cautiously ask.

"So... so the score is real?"

"More real than pearls!" Zheng Hua vowed.

"You know Old Yang's standards. Even he said that if this kid is properly trained, he'll be No. 7 High School's hope! You have no idea—when he was doing the preliminary questions just now, even Jiang Yang couldn't understand the method he used!"

Jiang Yang, who was sneezing in the classroom: ???

Principal Wang was stunned for quite a while. Then, a strange flush slowly appeared on his formerly dark face.

If this was true...

Then there was the education bureau's warning just now, as well as those people from No. 1 High School and No. 6 High School who were probably laughing at them right now...

"Good! Excellent!"

"Old Zheng, go give that Li... Li Dong, right? Give him some proper intensive training."

Principal Wang waved a hand grandly.

"Double the bonus we discussed before! Tell Li Dong that as long as he makes it into the finals, no matter what place he gets, the school will give him twenty thousand yuan!"

"I'll apply for it right now!"

At that moment, Li Dong had just finished his monthly exam papers. He was lying on his desk, worrying over his score sheet.

"Physics and math are definitely perfect scores."

But...

Li Dong looked at the two relatively glaring scores.

Biology: 85 points.

Chemistry: 88 points.

In the past, Li Dong would have laughed in his dreams over scores like these.

But now, because his core attributes had improved, this was already his limit without specifically "cheating."

After all, chemistry and biology differed from math and physics. They required the accumulation of a vast number of knowledge points and specialized intuition for the subjects.

"Scores in the eighties..."

Li Dong sighed.

This was a decent score among No. 7 High School's students.

But...

Who was he?

He was the owner of the Azure Dragon Study Group!

And who were the group members? Newton, Gauss, Einstein...

Li Dong felt that if the group members found out he had scored so little in biology and chemistry...

"They'd probably leave the group..."

He could not neglect any subject! Absolutely not!

So, during the break, he secretly took out his phone.

He wanted to see whether he could find a few overlooked talents while scrolling through the chat history.

In the group, Newton, Joule, Faraday, and several other chatterboxes were as active as ever.

[Isaac Newton]: @James Joule I've been thinking about your experiment on the mechanical equivalent of heat recently.

[Isaac Newton]: If heat is a form of energy, can it be converted into mechanical energy? And what would the relationship of that conversion be?

[Isaac Newton]: I have a bold idea. For instance, making a... huge piston?

Seeing Newton's messages, Li Dong was secretly alarmed.

Was he about to bring forward the timeline of the First Industrial Revolution?

However, this did not help him with chemistry or biology.

He continued scrolling up.

Until...

He saw an avatar with a face full of beard.

Its ID was: [Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev].

Mendeleev, the god of chemistry!

Before him, chemistry had been like a blind box full of the unknown. After him, chemistry had become a precise oracle!

Li Dong felt that a perfect chemistry score was already waving at him.

At this moment, Mendeleev was bragging with someone in the group.

[Mendeleev]: I've been to heaven!

And the one replying below was no ordinary person either.

ID: [Benjamin Franklin].

[Benjamin Franklin]: Heh heh, I've gone at it with electricity!

Li Dong: ...