Chapter 26

On Friday afternoon, the atmosphere at the No. 9 Middle School, usually filled with the sound of students reciting their lessons, was quite different.

The auditorium was teeming with people. First and second-year high school students, unable to contain their curiosity, had already secured seats in the back rows; while the third-year students, led by their homeroom teachers, lined up to enter. Their expressions varied: some were excited and expectant, some were disdainful, and others, like Li Ming and his friends, had gloomy faces and were trying to appear calm.

The auditorium stage had been rearranged. A huge projection screen served as the backdrop, and several long tables covered with dark green velvet were lined up in front. Behind them sat seven evaluation teachers: Mr. Zhang, a senior-level Chinese language teacher; Ms. Chen, the head of the mathematics group; the head of the English teaching and research group; senior teachers from various science subjects; and the grade-level director, whose expression was serious. The principal sat calmly in the supervisory section to the side.

In the center of the stage, a lone set of table and chairs, a pen, and a few sheets of white paper stood. Was that Xie Qingyan's seat—the defendant's dock, or perhaps, the coronation platform?

At 2 p.m. sharp, the auditorium was packed, with people even standing in the aisles. The buzzing of conversation abruptly subsided when the principal stepped onto the stage.

"Students and teachers," the principal's voice echoed through the microphone, "Today, we are gathered here for a special academic hearing. Recently, the controversy surrounding Xie Qingyan's mock exam scores in Class 12 of Senior Three has attracted widespread attention. To clarify the facts and ensure fairness, after deliberation by the school and with Xie Qingyan's consent, we are holding this public academic ability assessment."

His gaze swept across the sea of ​​heads below the stage, and his tone became more serious: "This assessment aims to examine Xie Qingyan's true academic level. The assessment panel will present the questions on-site, and the entire process will be open to the public. I hope that, regardless of the outcome, everyone can take this opportunity to reflect on what true learning is and what precious fairness is. Now, please welcome Xie Qingyan to the stage."

The side door opens.

All eyes, like spotlights, snapped toward it.

Xie Qingyan walked in.

He was still wearing his faded school uniform, his steps unhurried. The gazes of thousands, the whispers, even the clear clicks of camera shutters, failed to alter his expression in the slightest. He gave a slight nod to the evaluation panel and the principal, then walked to the solitary table and chairs in the center of the stage, sat down calmly, and straightened his back.

That calmness was as if one were not standing on the judgment seat in the eye of a storm, but sitting alone in one's own study.

Below the stage, Jiang Ci sat at the back of the Class 12 section, his hat pulled low. The moment Xie Qingyan walked in, he took off his headphones, his gaze piercing through the crowd, locking onto that slender figure. His knuckles were slightly white as he gripped the strap of his backpack.

"The assessment will consist of three parts," the principal announced. "The first part is a comprehensive memory and information processing ability test. The second part is an interdisciplinary comprehension and application ability test. The third part is a Q&A session. Now, let's begin the first part."

The large screen lit up. Teacher Zhang, the Chinese language teacher, got up and started using the computer.

"Xie Qingyan, please concentrate. Ten sets of unfamiliar information of different types will flash rapidly on the screen in sequence, each set appearing for a very short time. After they finish flashing, you need to repeat or reconstruct them as completely as possible. Understand?"

"The student understands." Xie Qingyan nodded, turning her gaze to the screen.

First group (5 seconds): An obscure image of an oracle bone script copy, with modern Chinese characters provided below, but the content is obscure (a fragment from "Yinxu Script, Part B").

The second group (5 seconds): An abstract of an English paper on "quantum entanglement topological phase transition", full of technical jargon.

The third group (5 seconds): A complex three-dimensional ball-and-stick model of an organic chemical molecule, with the molecular formula C21H30O2.

Group 4 (5 seconds): A brief summary of a physics problem involving the calculation of general relativity tensors (pure text description).

Fifth group (5 seconds): A screenshot of a chess endgame board, with the black and white pieces in subtle positions.

Group 6 (5 seconds): A string of 60 random digits (a segment after the decimal point of π).

Group 7 (5 seconds): The full text of an obscure Yuan Dynasty Sanqu (Bai Pu's "Intoxicated by the East Wind: The Fisherman").

Group 8 (5 seconds): A fragment of Columbus's logbook written in Spanish (with Chinese annotation: October 12, 1492).

Group 9 (5 seconds): A simple geological profile marked with contour lines and special symbols.

Group 10 (5 seconds): A series of rapidly flashing, seemingly random, abstract colored geometric shapes.

Each set of information is displayed for a very short time, and the content ranges from ancient Chinese texts that are difficult to understand to cutting-edge science, from abstract numbers to foreign languages, from static images to dynamic sequences... The amount of information is so huge that it is suffocating, and they are completely unrelated to each other!

Suppressed gasps rose from the audience. This wasn't a test; it was torture! A person is already a genius if they can remember one or two of them, let alone ten? And in order?

The screen went dark.

The entire room fell silent. Everyone's heart was in their throats, their eyes fixed on Xie Qingyan. Even the teachers on the evaluation panel held their breath.

Xie Qingyan closed her eyes. Her long eyelashes cast a faint shadow on her cheeks. The entire auditorium was so quiet that the faint sound of whistles from the distant playground could be heard.

Three seconds.

Five seconds.

Ten seconds.

He opened his eyes. His gaze was clear and calm.

"Can we begin?" he asked, his voice coming through the microphone in front of him, as calm as if he were just reciting a text.

"Please begin." Teacher Zhang's voice was a little hoarse.

Xie Qingyan stood up, facing the audience and the blank screen to his side. He didn't look at any notes; his gaze was suspended on a point in the air, as if he were staring at a picture unfolding in his mind.

"The first item is a copy of oracle bone script. The content is: 'Divination on the day of Guiyou, Zheng asked: Will there be misfortune within ten days? The king divined: There is evil spirit…' Below it is a partial transcription of fragment 6385 from the 'Yi Bian' (乙编) in Chinese characters." He paused, and then, surprisingly, recited the ancient phonetic transcription of the oracle bone script in ancient tones! Although not standard, the ancient syllables echoed in the modern auditorium, creating a shocking sense of temporal displacement. Then, he repeated the content in modern Chinese.

In the audience, Chinese teacher Zhang suddenly sat up straight, her eyes wide open.

"The second item is the abstract of an English quantum physics paper. The title is 'Topological phases in entangled quantum systems.' Key sentences include: 'The interplay between entanglement and topology…' '...characterized by non-Abelian statistics…'" He recited the core of the abstract in one breath, using every technical term correctly and with standard pronunciation.

The pen in the English group leader's hand fell to the table with a "thud".

"The third item is the organic molecular structure. The molecular formula is C21H30O2, which is the molecular formula of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2). The stereostructure diagram shows that it has a five-membered ring, and the side chains have hydroxyl and carbonyl groups..." As he spoke, he gestured in the air to simply indicate the bond angles and group positions.

The chemistry teacher gasped, exchanged a glance with the biology teacher, and saw the shock in each other's eyes.

"The fourth topic is on general relativity. It involves the derivation of the geodesic equations under the Schwarzschild metric and requires the calculation of perihelion precession..."

"Fifth item, Chess Endgame. White: King on g1, Rook on a1, Pawns on a2, h2; Black: King on g8, Rook on a8, Bishop on c8, Pawns on a7, b7, h7. It's White's turn to move. The key move is: 1. Ra1-a8+..."

"Sixth item, a string of numbers. 3.□□338327950288419716939937510..." He recited the 60-digit number fluently without pausing.

"Seventh item, Yuan Dynasty Sanqu (a type of Chinese verse). Bai Pu's 'Drunken in the East Wind - The Fisherman': 'Yellow reeds on the bank, white duckweed at the ferry crossing, green willows on the embankment, red smartweed on the beach. Though there are no sworn brothers, there are friends who forget worldly concerns. White egrets and gulls dot the autumn river. He surpasses even the most powerful officials in the world, yet he is an illiterate old fisherman on the misty waves.'"

"Item 8, Spanish nautical logbook. 'Jueves, 12 de octubre: … Hoy hemos visto tierra…' The contents match the Chinese annotations of Columbus's first discovery of America."

"Item 9, Geological profile. It shows an anticline structure, with limestone in the axial section and shale on both flanks, containing fossil markers. The scale is approximately 1:5000."

"Item 10, an abstract graphic sequence. In order: a red circle, a blue equilateral triangle, a yellow-green striped rectangle, nested black and white concentric circles, a green square rotated 45 degrees, and an irregular purple polygon."

...

When he clearly, smoothly, and without any mistakes recounted the tenth item, even adding two details he had observed himself—a slight damage in the lower right corner of the oracle bone inscription image and handwritten corrections to the shale symbol in the geological map legend—the entire auditorium fell into an almost vacuum-like, extreme silence.

Everyone, including the experienced assessors on stage, seemed frozen in place. Their mouths were agape, their eyes wide, and their minds went completely blank.

This is not a memory.

This is a copy.

It's a scan.

It is a miracle that transcends the limits of human cognition!

"Thump." One of the students in the back row, so shocked that he slid off his chair, breaking the silence.

Immediately, a huge sound wave erupted like a tsunami!

"Oh My God!!!"

"Is he...is he even human?!"

"What did I see?! Photographic memory? No, this is memorization! A painting! Everything!"

"How could he possibly understand all that stuff? He doesn't even know the pronunciation of oracle bone script..."

"A monster! This is a monster, isn't it?!"

"Now I believe he can get a perfect score in Chinese. With that kind of memory, it wouldn't be surprising if he could memorize the entire 'Guanzi' (a collection of classical Chinese prose)!"

Applause, gasps, and incredulous shouts nearly lifted the roof off the auditorium. Many students stood up, their faces flushed with excitement.

On the evaluation panel, the principal slowly exhaled a long breath, his eyes gleaming. He knew that with just this first step, ninety percent of all doubts had crumbled in the face of absolute talent!

Jiang Ci sat quietly amidst the bustling crowd. Beneath his hat brim, no one saw the faint yet unmistakably clear curve of his lips, or the burning, proud light in his eyes. He gently stroked the candy wrapper in his pocket, silently reciting:

"As expected, this is the real you."

On stage, Xie Qingyan remained calm amidst the deafening roar of voices. He slightly raised his hand, signaling for everyone to be quiet.

Miraculously, the raging waves subsided swiftly at his gesture. Everyone waited, anticipating what this young man, who had just performed a "miracle," would bring next.

The principal took a deep breath, suppressing the shock in his heart, and his voice, transmitted through the microphone, trembled slightly:

"The first stage is over. Xie Qingyan's performance was... impressive. Now, we move on to the second stage: an interdisciplinary understanding and application ability test. Please have Mr. Chen from the math group prepare the questions."

Teacher Chen stood up, without his manuscript in his hand, clearly indicating that the topic had been decided on the spot. His gaze towards Xie Qingyan was filled with an unprecedented seriousness and inquiry.

"Xie Qingyan," Teacher Chen began slowly, "Please listen to the question—"

The entire audience held their breath once again.

The real challenge, the one that truly tests the core of one's thinking, has arrived.