Chapter 17

[Im a graduate student from the Huazhong University of Science and Technology in City A. Ive seen the question that Bai Lins solved before. Conventionally, there are three ways to solve it, and each of them is so complicated that it takes seven or eight papers to show the steps.]

[The professor gave us three days to solve this question back then, but Bai Lins solved it in less than ten minutes?]

[F*ck, a wild boss has appeared!]

[Lets take a look at the boss. Theres actually such a back story to this question? The production teams done their homework huh?]

[If Bai Lin cant solve it or comes up with some nonsense, itd be embarra.s.sing.]

The flickering flame illuminated the people around the bonfire.

Bai Xi was the first to break the unnerving silence.

She smiled softly. Were fine with anything. This question is so difficult. Other than Mr. Fan, none of us understands it. Im afraid itll be like listening to a foreign language.

She stuck out her tongue like a kitten again and pouted at the camera. Im kind of silly. Ive never been able to understand mathematics.

Bai Lin was speechless. She looked at Fan Zhi and asked, What do you think?

Im fine with anything.

Bai Lin sighed and said, Alright then, Ill start with the simplest steps. After a pause, she added, If you have any question, you can ask me.

She nimbly turned the branch in her hand and used the ground as her paper to start directly writing the formula.

It only took five minutes for their expressions to change from the initial scrutiny to confusion and then to daze.

The ground was filled with marks left behind by Bai Lins tree branch.

Zhao Yuan could not help but interrupt, Bai Lin, its been so long. Are you still not done?

Bai Lin paused. Im only about one-third done. There are still two major steps.

Like Bai Shao, Fan Feng was a slacker and saw formulas and numbers like they were unreadable scribbles.

They yawned and chided Fan Zhi. Dad, is she just writing nonsense or is she really solving the question?

Fan Zhi pinched his chin. I can also deduce the steps so far.

Fan Zhi was also a top student in school at his time. By saying this, it was equivalent to him acknowledging Bai Lins ability.

Zhao Yuan was also surprised. She did not expect Bai Lin, who did not even attend high school, to be quite capable.

The comments section was also filled with a series of exclamation. Coupled with the affirmation of the informed commenter boss, Bai Lins image took a one-eighty turn.

[S-so amazing! Is this the world of mathematics?]

[I didnt like Bai Lin at first. Im now a fan. Whod be able to memorize this when even the simplest solution takes such a long time?]

Bai Xi pretended to listen attentively, but she had only been thinking about one thing.

Who did Bai Lin get the question from?

Since Bai Xi herself was able to get clues about the Coral Mushrooms from the staff, it meant that there were still loopholes in the show.

Was it the director? Or an investor?

Bai Xi sneered in her mind.

As open and honest on the surface as Bai Lin appeared to be, she was secretly as despicable. It was just that no one had discovered it yet, so she could still wear this open and straightforward faade.

Sooner or later, she would pull Bai Lins tail that she failed to hide and the latter would not be able to show off in front of her again.

Half an hour had already pa.s.sed since the first method was explained.

Everyone was drowsy. Although Fan Zhi was still apprehensive about Bai Lin, he could not say much.

As Bai Lin finished her last stroke, her eyes slowly swept across the crowd. She smiled and said, This way, you can get the answer, 582.

Theres a shadow in the shape of a footprint and a letter N at the bottom of the question card.

Connect the dots and its 582 steps toward the North. After Bai Lins explanation, she waved the branch in the air and took in the strange expressions on everyones faces after hearing her answer, asking, The second method will take about an hour. Do you still want to hear about it?

Everyone suddenly came to their senses and shook their heads in unison.

[I suddenly quite like Bai Lin now. What should I do?]

[Hahahaha, people from Bai Xis group look like me when Im being called out by the teacher.]

[If Im not mistaken, Jin Rans also solved this problem?]

The netizens who saw this comment found the replay and saw that it was true.

When the players received the task in front of the question board, Jin Ran was also there when Fan Zhi challenged this question.

She was the first to give an answer, but no one believed her since her answer was different from Fan Zhis.

Later, when it was proven that Fan Zhis answer was wrong, Jin Rans answer was completely ignored given she was already easily looked over.

The netizens were shocked.

[So Bai Lins been planning to get Jin Ran to join their group from the very beginning?]

[There arent many Level A math problems but each of them is rewarded with a lot of points. Two people will definitely solve them faster than one.]

[Bai Lin is now asking Jin Ran how shes solved the question and Jin Rans given her three solutions.]

[Oh my goodness, this is. .h.i.tting the jackpot despite it supposedly being picking trash.]