Chapter 24: Chapter 23: Mendeleev
Jiangcheng University of Technology, Women’s Dorm 306.
The afternoon sun was somewhat hypnotic. Lu Yao was slumped over her desk, scowling at *Li Yongle’s Complete Review for Graduate Entrance Exam Mathematics*.
She’d been deeply affected ever since Li Dong had "reverse-tutored" her last time.
"Ugh, why is this limit problem so hard... My head hurts. L’Hôpital’s Rule isn’t as effective as Ibuprofen..."
While Lu Yao was groaning in agony, her roommate from the opposite bunk, Linlin, was scrolling through the school’s online forum.
"Linlin, what are you doing? Can you help me with this problem?"
"Hang on, hang on. I’m busy watching some drama unfold," Linlin replied without looking up.
"Someone on our school’s forum reposted something about the Huaxuan Cup. They’re saying some monster showed up in the preliminary round—first place got a perfect score."
"The Huaxuan Cup loves to do that real-time ranking stuff."
Lu Yao wasn’t interested.
"Must be someone from Sixth Middle or First High, right?"
"You know why I’m so into this drama...?" Linlin deliberately drew out her words.
"The first-place winner this time is from Seventh Middle School."
"His name is... Li Dong..."
"What?!"
Only then did Lu Yao remember that her little underclassman had indeed entered the Huaxuan Cup. That was why Teacher Yang had postponed her tutoring session.
She immediately got up and walked over to Linlin.
On the screen, the screenshot of the score report was crystal clear.
First: Li Dong (Perfect Score).
"Li Dong... a perfect score?!"
Lu Yao knew Li Dong was strong in math, but she never expected her little underclassman to be terrifyingly good at physics too.
’Maybe I should go tutor him again next week?’
...
A similar scene was playing out in the teachers’ office at Jiangcheng Sixth Middle School.
As Jiangcheng’s best high school, the teachers at Sixth Middle School naturally had a sense of superiority.
But right now, looking at that score report, the expressions of the several physics teachers were tinged with mockery.
"Seventh Middle? A perfect score?"
The physics group leader at Sixth Middle School was a middle-aged man with a receding hairline.
He shook his head with a wry smile.
"Old Wang must be desperate for fame, huh?"
A young teacher beside him was confused.
"Group Leader, what do you mean? Is there something wrong with the score?"
"Ah, Xiaoliu, you’re still too young."
The group leader blew on the tea leaves floating in his cup, wearing an expression that said he had seen through it all.
"These domestic commercial competitions mostly just copy the Physics Bowl format."
"The preliminary rounds are all online exams. Even though they’re monitored by cameras, if a school wants to manipulate the results, there are ways."
"Seventh Middle’s student quality has plummeted these past couple of years. Their university acceptance rate gets worse every year."
"So for a perfect score to suddenly pop up now... what else could it be but a publicity stunt for the school?"
"A truly capable student, like our school’s Zhao Ziv, wouldn’t show off so conspicuously in a mere qualifying round like the preliminaries."
"Just you watch. When the in-person semifinals come around, this Li Dong from Seventh Middle will definitely be ’absent due to illness.’"
"All they want is the publicity right now, just so they can use it on next year’s admissions brochure."
The other teachers in the office nodded one after another, thoroughly convinced.
In their eyes, it was the only possible explanation.
After all, this was Seventh Middle School they were talking about.
...
Jiangcheng Seventh Middle School, the principal’s office.
Principal Wang had just hung up the phone, and his expression was grim.
The call was from Director Li of the city’s Education Bureau, and his words were a thinly veiled warning.
"Old Wang, it’s good to want to raise your school’s profile, but you need to be careful about your methods. Don’t pull any of that phony stuff; it’ll just make you a laughingstock."
Principal Wang felt incredibly wronged.
He immediately picked up his desk phone and dialed Zheng Hua’s number.
"Old Zheng! Get to my office, now!"
Five minutes later, Zheng Hua pushed the door open and entered.
"Principal Wang, what’s up?"
"What’s up?" Seeing his innocent expression, Principal Wang’s anger flared.
"Zheng Hua, be straight with me. What’s the real story with that physics competition? Did our school... you know?"
Zheng Hua froze for a moment.
"You know... what?"
Principal Wang made a subtle gesture at him.
It took a second for Zheng Hua to understand, and then his face flushed red.
"Principal Wang! What are you implying?"
"I, Zheng Hua, have been at Seventh Middle for so many years—ten as the physics group leader and five as the Dean of Studies. Have I ever done anything that crosses the line?"
Furious, Zheng Hua slapped the printed score report he was holding onto the desk.
"Li Dong earned this score fair and square!"
"Besides, I’ve been giving him special training these past few days. You think I don’t know his skill level? Forget the preliminaries—even if he went to the finals, he’d be a seeded competitor!"
Seeing Zheng Hua act like this, the stone in Principal Wang’s heart lifted halfway.
"Old Zheng, calm down, calm down. I didn’t say anything, it’s just that I got a call from the higher-ups."
"I was just trying to understand the situation."
Only then did he ask cautiously.
"So... so the score is real?"
"Realer than real!" Zheng Hua swore confidently.
"You know Old Yang’s expertise. He’s the one who said that if this kid is nurtured properly, he’s the hope of our Seventh Middle School! You have no idea—when he was doing the preliminary problems earlier, he used methods that even Jiang Yang couldn’t understand!"
Jiang Yang, who was currently in a classroom sneezing: ???
Principal Wang was stunned for a long moment. Then, a strange flush slowly crept over his once-gloomy face.
’If this is real...’
’Then that warning from the Education Bureau, and that crowd from First High and Sixth Middle who are probably laughing at us right now...’
"Good! Excellent!"
"Old Zheng, you go and give that Li... Li Dong, right? Give him the best special training."
Principal Wang waved his hand grandly.
"The bonus we talked about before—double it! Tell Li Dong that as long as he makes it to the finals, no matter his ranking, the school will give him twenty thousand yuan!"
"I’ll go apply for it right now!"
...
At that moment, Li Dong had just finished his monthly exam and was slouched over his desk, worrying about his report card.
’Physics and math are definitely perfect scores, no doubt about it.’
But...
Li Dong stared at the two scores that were comparatively glaring.
Biology: 85.
Chemistry: 88.
In the past, Li Dong would have woken up laughing from a dream about scores like these.
But now, thanks to the improvement of his core attributes, this was actually his limit without specifically "using a cheat."
After all, chemistry and biology weren’t like math and physics; they required a massive accumulation of knowledge and a special kind of subject-specific intuition.
’Scores in the 80s...’
Li Dong sighed.
For a student at Seventh Middle School, these scores were considered quite good.
But...
’Who am I?’
’I’m the Group Leader of the ’Cyan Dragon Study Group’!’
’And who are the group members? Newton, Gauss, Einstein...’
Li Dong felt that if his group members found out he only scored this high in biology and chemistry...
’They would probably leave the group...’
’I can’t be a one-trick pony! Absolutely not!’
So, during his break, he secretly took out his phone.
He wanted to see if he could find any "fish that slipped through the net" while scrolling up through the chat history.
In the group, a few of the chatterboxes like Newton, Joule, and Faraday were still active.
[Isaac Newton]: @James Joule I’ve been thinking about your experiment on the mechanical equivalent of heat recently.
[Isaac Newton]: You said that if heat is a form of energy, can it be converted to and from mechanical energy? And what would the conversion relationship be?
[Isaac Newton]: I have a bold idea. For example, what if we made... a giant piston?
Reading Newton’s message, Li Dong was secretly alarmed.
’Is he going to move up the timeline of the First Industrial Revolution?’
However, this wasn’t going to help him with chemistry or biology.
He continued to scroll up.
Until...
He saw a profile picture of a man with a full beard.
His ID was: [Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev].
Mendeleev, the god of chemistry!
Before him, chemistry was like a blind box full of unknowns. After him, chemistry became a precise oracle!
Li Dong felt like a perfect score in chemistry was already waving at him.
At that moment, Mendeleev was in the group, bullshitting with someone else.
[Mendeleev]: I’ve been to the sky!
The one who replied was another badass.
ID: [Benjamin Franklin].
[Benjamin Franklin]: Heh, I’ve messed with lightning!
Li Dong: ...
