This Problem Is No Different from the Previous One

At the podium, the chalk in Old Yang's hand tapped against the blackboard with a steady "tap, tap."

"Question 18, solid geometry. This is practically free points! How many times have I explained it? Set up a three-dimensional coordinate system! Find the normal vector! Why can't you remember? Huh? More than ten of you still lost points on such an easy question?"

He lectured enthusiastically up front, but at least half the students below wore vacant expressions.

Only a few students in the front rows were still taking notes.

As for those in the back rows...

Old Yang looked toward Li Dong's seat.

Old Yang had always had a fairly good impression of Li Dong.

The boy was not especially quick-witted and belonged to the type who struggled to grasp things no matter how he was taught, but he was diligent.

Yet today, Li Dong was acting far too strangely.

Since class began, the kid had been scribbling away on his test paper. If he had been correcting mistakes, that would have been one thing, but Old Yang had only reached Question 18 while Li Dong had nearly worked his way to the final bonus question.

Has he completely given up?

Old Yang sighed inwardly.

In an environment like No. 7 High School, once students gave up on themselves, even if teachers wanted to pull them back, they could not.

Old Yang shook his head and continued explaining the test.

What Old Yang did not know was that the Li Dong he saw as having given up on himself...

Was currently roasting himself mercilessly because of that +0.1 focus.

What a pig brain...

Li Dong looked at the solution steps he had written back then and wished he could travel back in time and slap himself twice.

The monotonicity analysis was so obvious. Why did I take logarithms on both sides? Was I just making trouble for myself?

It felt like a King-tier player looking back at his Bronze-tier plays. Every move was full of holes.

Although he still could not see the answer at a glance like those academic geniuses, he could clearly tell where he had gone wrong and which direction he should take next.

While Old Yang explained the test paper, Li Dong had already "reviewed" all the earlier questions he had gotten wrong. The thrill of solving them made it impossible for him to stop.

This feeling... It might not compare to that freak Newton's +1 focus, but for a slacker like me, it's more than enough!

Feeling secretly delighted, Li Dong casually shifted his gaze to the final bonus question on the paper.

Newton had already given the answer to this problem earlier: a ≤ 1.

But he had not provided the derivation.

If it had been before, Li Dong definitely would not have been able to derive the answer on his own.

But with this burst of focus, he suddenly remembered the [Decomposition + Basic Closed Loop] from the study document Joule had sent.

Break down the problem... holds for all values... that means the minimum value must be greater than or equal to 0...

To find the minimum... differentiate... f′(x) = e^x - a...

Less than five minutes later.

Li Dong stared at the final result on his scratch paper—a ≤ 1—and froze.

I... solved it?

He slapped his face in disbelief.

Although this test had been written by the school itself and was not very difficult, it was still a bonus question.

I solved it just like that?

Was it easier because I already knew the answer and could work backward? Or was this 0.1 focus really this powerful?

Li Dong felt terrifyingly capable right now.

Decomposition + Basic Closed Loop...

Li Dong muttered under his breath and began rummaging through his backpack.

He had always considered the "dihedral angle" problems in solid geometry to be his weak point. Since Joule had said to break things down into the smallest units, he would start by practicing how to find "normal vectors."

"Compulsory Two... where did Compulsory Two go..."

Because he was so excited, his rummaging grew a little too vigorous.

The noise was particularly jarring in the quiet classroom.

Old Yang at the podium finally reached the end of his patience.

He had just asked, "Has anyone solved this bonus question?" Yet not a single student below had voluntarily stood up.

Meanwhile, Li Dong was still over there doing who knew what, making such a racket.

"Li Dong!"

That angry shout made the entire class jump. Everyone turned in unison toward Li Dong in the back row.

Li Dong had been bent over searching for his book. Hearing his name, he instinctively looked up with a confused expression.

"Huh? Here!"

"Li Dong, if you think you've completely mastered this problem and don't need to listen, then come up here and demonstrate it for everyone."

"If you haven't solved it, stop digging through your bag and listen properly!"

Old Yang pointed at the blackboard behind him.

A wave of gleeful laughter broke out.

Liu Liang, who sat beside him, even nudged him with his elbow and whispered.

"Dong, you're done for. Old Yang's using you as an example."

However, because of his increased focus, Li Dong's thought process had become somewhat "straightforward."

His brain was still considering whether Joule's study method had a better way to be applied in practice.

His thought process in response to Old Yang's reprimand was as follows:

Brain receives information: Teacher called me.

Brain analyzes command: Go to the blackboard and solve the problem.

Brain executes operation: Oh, then go solve it.

The students' mockery and the difficulty of the problem... all of it was filtered out by that 0.1 focus.

"Oh, okay."

Li Dong agreed, stood up, and walked toward the podium.

He walked up to the podium as though sleepwalking.

When Old Yang saw him come up, he immediately turned to the class and said earnestly.

"Students, I know this problem is quite difficult, but half the day has already passed. Not a single person in the class has tried to think about it on their own. You've all been waiting for the teacher to explain it..."

He was still speaking when he noticed that the students below looked as though they had seen a ghost. Just as he was about to turn around and see what was going on...

He saw Li Dong walking down from behind him.

Old Yang was dumbfounded. What was wrong with Li Dong today? He was not even listening to him?

Was the kid rebelling?

Just as he was about to give Li Dong a proper scolding, he heard a student in the front row say.

"So that's how it is!"

"What do you mean, that's how it is?"

Old Yang's heart skipped a beat, and he instinctively followed the student's gaze toward the blackboard behind him.

[If a ≤ 0, the function is increasing but tends toward negative infinity, so it does not satisfy the condition.]

[Final conclusion: a ≤ 1]

Old Yang's eyes widened as he stared at the writing on the blackboard.

This... how was this possible?

Had even a minute passed from the time Li Dong went up to the time he came down?

After a brief shock, Old Yang quickly regained his composure, though his brow furrowed even more tightly.

He checked the solution from beginning to end.

It was completely correct.

But Li Dong had skipped many steps. Those skipped steps would definitely lose points in an exam, but to someone who knew how to solve the problem, they were unnecessary because they could fill them in mentally.

So Li Dong's derivation was more like a set of guiding pointers.

This conclusion might have been perfectly reasonable coming from one of the top students, but coming from Li Dong, who could not even pass his math exams, it was simply absurd.

Thus, Old Yang did not feel relieved. Instead, he was even more disappointed.

No wonder this kid had been playing on his phone all afternoon. He must have found the original problem online and memorized the answer!

Old Yang felt utterly frustrated.

Students these days would actually use such methods to fool their teachers—and themselves—for the sake of that pathetic little bit of vanity!

"Fine, not bad." Without any expression, Old Yang nodded at Li Dong, who had returned to his seat. "It seems that Li Dong playing on his phone all afternoon did not affect his serious thinking at all."

Most of the students below also caught on. Their shock turned to mockery.

Some students even whispered quietly among themselves.

"So he looked up the answer and was showing off. I was wondering how he suddenly got so good."

Only a girl seated in the front row studied Li Dong uncertainly.

Her name was Mi Xia. She was the class study representative for Class Two of Senior Year Three, and she had scored 109 on this math test.

She had not solved this question, so she had secretly looked it up on her phone. The standard online solution used the Separation of Parameters Method, and the process was very complicated.

But the method Li Dong had written on the blackboard...

Was not the answer found online at all!

Did he come up with it himself? Mi Xia bit the end of her pen, a trace of curiosity flashing through her beautiful fox-like eyes.

At that moment, Old Yang hesitated at the podium for a moment before calling Li Dong again.

"Li Dong, come up again."

Li Dong stood up, somewhat puzzled.

"Teacher?"

"Since you've mastered this problem so well, that means you have a deep understanding of derivatives and inequalities." Old Yang picked up the blackboard eraser and wiped away a section with two quick swipes.

"I happen to have a variation of it here. Its difficulty is close to that of a normal college entrance exam bonus question."

As he spoke, Old Yang wrote a new problem on the blackboard:

After writing it, Old Yang handed the chalk to Li Dong.

He was not deliberately trying to make things difficult for Li Dong. It was just that if such vanity happened once, it could happen again.

He did not want this hardworking student to take the path of cheating for such ridiculous vanity.

Deep down, he even held the tiniest, almost impossible expectation.

What if he could solve it?

"Come on, Li Dong. Give it a try."

Li Dong looked at the problem on the blackboard, his expression somewhat strange.

He turned to Old Yang, a hint of confusion on his face.

"Teacher."

"Hm? What is it? Think it's difficult?"

Old Yang sighed inwardly. So he still can't do it after all? He was just about to give Li Dong a way out when...

"No." Li Dong pointed at the blackboard.

"This problem is no different from the previous one."

Old Yang was choked up by that. Even his good temper could barely contain his anger.

"Then solve it and let me see!"

Li Dong gave a confused "oh."