A week had passed since the training camp began. The problems weren’t particularly difficult; the main goal was to help everyone regain their rhythm.
After all, with a summer break in between, it was normal to be a little rusty.
Except for one person—
“No way, she turned in her paper already? I’ve only finished one big question!”
“Does she have to be this insane?”
“I’m only halfway done, thanks.”
“Look over here—yo yo~ The one still reading the question, that’s me! Let’s hype it up, check it out~ Deep down, you and I are the same—we’re both screaming ‘WTF’ in capital letters~”
“Shut up! Your cringe rap just made my stomach churn.”
“I’m trying to smile through the pain, but you’re making it collapse. So rude. You totally deserve to get wrecked by Jiang Fuyue—skr~ skr~”
“…” D*mn!
“Pipe down, will you? If I don’t get KO’d by the demon queen, I’ll die of annoyance because of you first.”
“Who else is to blame? It’s all thanks to the abyssal demon overlord, Jiang Fuyue.”
“I think she should be called—The Test Paper Shredder.”
“Don’t you think ‘Hard Problem Thanos’ fits better?”
“Oh my god! I don’t want to be in the same class as her anymore!”
A group of new recruits whispered among themselves, their faces all wearing the same expression of utter despair.
As per tradition, the Olympiad Math class expanded every semester. Students from grades 10 to 12 could voluntarily sign up, go through an entrance exam, and, if they had potential, be handpicked by Teacher Xu Jin to join the class.
Of course, existing students could also opt out, but they had to submit an application a week in advance.
This time, eight old members left, most of them seniors who wanted to focus on their studies.
And all the ones speaking just now were newcomers—five from grade 10, three were transfer students in grade 11.
Before today, they had never met Jiang Fuyue and naturally had no idea how terrifying she was.
Now that they were starting to get a sense of it… they were still far from being used to it.
A senior from grade 12 turned around and spoke with the tone of someone who had been through it all: “Don’t worry, after getting crushed a few times, you won’t care anymore.”
A group of new recruits: “?” No, we refuse!
The senior frowned slightly before sighing with regret. “Alright then, suit yourselves.”
If a bunch of newbies were rushing headfirst into a beating, there was no stopping them. He just hoped they wouldn’t be too traumatized.
Crying would be embarrassing, after all.
Among the group, one boy had remained silent the entire time. Despite the chatter and complaints around him, he seemed oblivious, steadily working through his test paper with swift and precise strokes.
The only moment he wavered was when Jiang Fuyue stood up to turn in her paper.
“Hey, Tan Jiaxu, don’t you have any thoughts about this?”
The boy lifted his eyes, his deep, dark pupils glinting with a mysterious light. “Just focus on solving the problems.”
His deskmate twitched his mouth. “Your ‘genius prodigy’ title is about to be stolen, and you still have the mood to do test questions? Are you brain-dead?”
Tan Jiaxu’s pen flew across the paper, and with a crisp flip, he moved to the next page.
His deskmate sighed. “Fine, I must have had too much seawater—because I’m obviously being way too salty for even asking.”
Tch!
…
The second person to turn in their paper was Ling Xuan, but even he was a full thirty minutes behind Jiang Fuyue.
Tan Jiaxu frowned and sped up his pace once more.
Ten minutes later—“Teacher, I’m done.”
A wave of surprised glances turned toward him.
Jiang Fuyue and Ling Xuan submitting early didn’t shock anyone, but this new guy… seemed to have some skills?
This was the first time Tan Jiaxu left an impression on the Olympiad Math class, especially among the older students.
After school, a few first-years walked together.
“Jiaxu, you were amazing today! Teacher Xu looked at you differently right away.”
The boy’s expression remained calm, though he faintly frowned. “What’s so amazing? I was still slower than someone else.”
“Eh? You can’t think like that. Jiang Fuyue and Ling Xuan joined the class before us—they’ve had an extra six months of learning!”
Tan Jiaxu: “Competitions don’t care about seniority, only skill. Some people win gold medals without prior experience. It’s not about how long you’ve been studying.”
“Uh…” The others weren’t sure how to comfort him.
“Pfft, what’s there to be scared of? Jiang Fuyue and Ling Xuan are strong, sure, but we’re not weak either! Jiaxu, you’re our recognized ‘Hard Problem Specialist.’ The harder the problem, the clearer your mind, and the higher your accuracy. One day, you should challenge Jiang Fuyue head-on—see who’s really the best!”
And surprisingly, that opportunity came sooner than expected…
One day, after lunch, everyone instinctively headed to the Olympiad Math class to pick up test papers.
The entire training period revolved around solving problems—at least two sets of test papers every day.
Normally, Xu Jin would sit by the classroom door, handing out the test papers himself.
But today, the person sitting there wasn’t Xu Jin—it was Jiang Fuyue.
“Teacher Xu is attending a district meeting, so I’m covering the class for a day.”
The older students had no problem with this.
Jiang Fuyue substituting wasn’t new. After setting a precedent in the Physics Olympiad class, the Math Olympiad classroom had also welcomed her to the podium multiple times.
But the new batch of recruits? They looked absolutely horrified.
“What?! Are my ears malfunctioning? The teacher let a student take over the class?”
“Is this even allowed?”
“Are they out of their minds?”
“Why is no one else reacting?”
“Isn’t this supposed to be the strongest Olympiad Math class in Linhuai, one of the top in the country? And this is how they run things? So sloppy!”
“What makes Jiang Fuyue qualified…? She’s just a student, same as us…”
Tan Jiaxu listened to the murmurs around him, his frown deepening.
“Zou Hao,” he suddenly spoke.
“Huh? What’s up, Jiaxu?”
“Once class starts, you just…”
After speaking, Tan Jiaxu stepped aside, looking calm and composed. But Zou Hao’s eyes lit up with excitement!
The bell rang for class. Jiang Fuyue walked up to the podium.
At almost the exact same moment, a student stood up abruptly from below.
“Senior Jiang, maybe we should just wait for Teacher Xu to return.”
Jiang Fuyue raised an eyebrow.
The class buzzed with whispers and commotion.
But under everyone’s gaze, Zou Hao shrugged, acting relaxed: “I just think… it’s not quite right for you to substitute.”
Jiang Fuyue: “And why not?”
“You’re a student too, right? How can a student teach other students? Unless… you’re really good. Maybe not better than Teacher Xu, but at least stronger than the rest of us here—otherwise, how can people accept it?”
Ah, so that’s what this is about.
Jiang Fuyue smiled faintly and played along: “Oh? Then who do you think is stronger than me in this room?”
Zou Hao’s eyes gleamed, and he proudly said the name he’d been holding in: “Tan Jiaxu!”
Jiang Fuyue paused. Uh…
“Who’s Tan Jiaxu?”
Zou Hao: “!”
Everyone else: “……”
They remained stone-faced, but were laughing hysterically inside.
You thought you were hot stuff, and she doesn’t even know your name.
What could possibly be more humiliating?
Jiang Fuyue swore she truly wasn’t trying to be rude—she honestly had never heard of the guy.
If the name had even brushed past her ears, she wouldn’t have been this blank.
Really, this is what happens when you hand in exams too fast and leave too early.
Everyone: “……”
We suspect you’re doing this humblebrag thing, but we’ve got no proof.
“I’m Tan Jiaxu.”
A tall boy stood up from the back of the classroom, enduring all the stares.
Jiang Fuyue looked over. Hmm, a handsome younger classmate.
“How do you want to compete?”
Her bluntness caught Tan Jiaxu off guard.
It wasn’t until Zou Hao tugged his arm under the desk that he came to: “…With a problem.”
The question came from the latest issue of the world-class mathematics journal MT, designed by Finnish mathematician Inkala—no correct solution had been published globally so far.
Soon, the original problem was projected onto the screen. Jiang Fuyue and Tan Jiaxu stood side-by-side at the whiteboard and began solving on the spot.
Given any positive real number aa, prove that for all but finitely many positive integers vv, every graph with vv vertices and at least (1+a)v(1 + a)v edges must contain at least one pair of different simple cycles (no repeated vertices) of the same length.
Ling Xuan, the person who had provided the problem, naturally acted as the judge. He spoke solemnly: “Time limit: two hours. Timer starts now.”
“Whoa! What the heck is this? And it’s in English?!”
“I’ve memorized every single word—but together? Sorry, I’m out of my league.”
“D*mn! Is this even math?”
“Alright, alright, let’s bet—who do you think’s gonna win?”
“I bet one breakfast—Sister Yue crushes him.”
“One pack of spicy strips—Jiang Fuyue.”
“Two chicken steak meals—praise God Yue, live forever.”
“Jiang Fuyue +1”
“+2”
“…”
Someone from Tan Jiaxu’s group got angry: “Haozi, this is too much! They’re totally looking down on us!”
Zou Hao gritted his teeth: “Private room at DreamChaser KTV—I’m all in on Tan Jiaxu winning!”
The whole room went silent. Then—
