Twenty-nine years old (eleven)

On the other side, after leaving the rental house, Bian Senlin scratched his hair in annoyance under the scorching sunlight.

He walked aimlessly and soon sat down on a bench under the shade of a tree that provided rest for pedestrians.

Bian Senlin leaned back on the bench with his arms, looking up at the treetops above his head in a daze.

Even though he was lying motionless, the scorching heat made him sweat profusely.

"What kind of horrible weather is this? How could that fat guy survive in this place for seven or eight years?" Bian Senlin, who was in a bad mood and was extremely hot, howled weakly.

It is already October. If it were in Nanchuan, it would be time to wear autumn clothes, but in Donghai, the temperature is still over 30 degrees Celsius.

Nanchuan has a cool and comfortable climate, with temperatures rarely exceeding 30 degrees Celsius, which is very difficult for the border forests that have never left Nanchuan in the past.

Even so, Bian Senlin didn't want to go back and see the fat man's face.

In the ten days since he came here, he has been actively adapting to this strange yet familiar world.

He could accept that his future self would become a fat man who looked unrecognizable, he could accept that his old friends would go their separate ways, and he could also accept parting ways with his childhood friend.

But he still couldn't accept that his future self would betray his original intentions and abandon his ideals.

That was something I had finally found and caught, how could this happen...

Bian Senlin put one arm in front of his eyes to block out the annoying sunlight. For a moment, his thoughts were in a mess and everything popped into his mind.

Sometimes it was the accident ten days ago that brought him to the present time nine years later, sometimes it was the fat man's mountain-like figure, and in between, there was also some information about the Xuanxing Cup that I had read last night...

Oh right, the Xuanxing Cup...

When he saw the news about the Xuanxing Cup yesterday, the public registration channel had already closed, just two hours before he saw the information.

Originally, Bian Senlin regretted that he could not participate this year, but then he saw someone say that the Xuanxing Cup would give free invitation codes to the top 1,000 participants of the previous year.

That's why today he asked Fatty if he had participated in it before, hoping in some small chance that he could catch the last bus.

But the fat guy also said that the last time he participated in the competition was three years ago, so it didn't matter whether he had been in the top 1,000 before or not.

"ε=(ο｀*)))Alas, it seems I can only wait until next year..." Bian Senlin sighed and took out his mobile phone to check the relevant information.

Um? ? ?

Bian Senlin suddenly sat up straight with his phone in hand. The registration channel for the Xuanxing Cup in the Xuanwu Forum has not closed yet?

Bian Senlin checked the time and saw that there were only 7 minutes left before the registration deadline! !

There’s still time!

Bian Senlin rubbed his hands excitedly, and quickly clicked on the Xuanwu Forum webpage to operate.

But soon, Bian Senlin had the look of an old man on the subway checking his phone: "What the hell!! This crappy forum only opens registration for one day every year, January 1st? You have to be a forum member to register?"

Bian Senlin kept on trying, not giving up until the time was up and the button turned gray, then he gave up dejectedly.

Just then, his cell phone vibrated. Bian Senlin slid down and saw that it was a message from Fatty, asking him to bring back a box of ice cream when he bought detergent.

Bian Senlin said unhappily, "A box? How could you not get fat to death? Two at most... well, it's not impossible."

Fatty then sent him a message from a Xuanwu Forum account, along with a message: "I heard you were talking about the Xuanxing Cup. Want to join in the fun? This account has already signed up."

Think about it, I like this kind of excitement!

It's just a box of ice cream, what's the big deal?

Bian Senlin quickly rushed into a nearby convenience store, picked up a box of puddings and a bottle of dishwashing liquid, and walked back quickly.

Who wants to stay outside in this horrible weather? Wouldn’t it be nice to go home and enjoy the air conditioning?

However, just as Bian Senlin climbed to the ninth floor and before he entered the house, a loud bang was heard from inside the house.

Bian Senlin's face changed, he threw his things away and rushed into the house.

Inside the house, the fat man was seen holding a crutch in one hand and leaning against the glass door with the other. Next to him was a pot that had fallen to the ground, with leftover hot pot residue splattered everywhere.

Bian Senlin couldn't help but relax when he saw that the fat man was fine, but then he looked at the mess on the ground and felt a headache coming on.

The fat man didn't expect Bian Senlin to come in at this time, and he looked a little embarrassed: "I wanted to clean it up, but I accidentally slipped..."

Bian Senlin turned around, took in the things he had just thrown aside, and closed the door.

Seeing the fat man standing there awkwardly with soup splattered all over his shoes and trouser legs, I had no choice but to let him clean himself up first.

The fat man also knew that he would only be a hindrance here, so he turned around and went into the bathroom.

Bian Senlin first took out the box of ice cream and placed it in the freezer layer of the refrigerator. Then he turned around and looked at the mess on the floor, sighed, and began to clean up resignedly.

When I saw the figure in the bathroom silently dragging a small stool to the floor, bending over and brushing his shoes with great effort, I couldn't help but think of some animal with dark circles under its eyes.

Bian Senlin couldn't help but smile helplessly in his heart. Really, what's the point of competing with a half-disabled person!

The awkward feeling in my heart also dissipated with this smile.

After finally finishing the cleanup, Bian Senlin was able to focus his attention on the upcoming Xuanxing Cup.

The Xuanxing Cup has a total of ten competition zones, each of which can accommodate 10,000 registrations. After registration, you will be randomly assigned to a zone.

Each competition area will hold auditions and regional competitions respectively, and the top 100 in the auditions will enter the regional competitions.

The top ten contestants from the regional competitions, a total of 100 people from the ten competition districts, will enter the final competition.

The auditions and regional competitions are both online competitions, while the finals are offline competitions.

If you can make it to the finals, the organizers will cover all the contestants' travel expenses, accommodation and meals, and even provide them with competition uniforms. You only need to bring one person with you throughout the trip.

Bian Senlin had the most intuitive understanding of the scale of this event.

There are 10,000 people in each competition zone, and 10 competition zones mean 100,000 people. Bian Senlin also took a special look and found that each competition zone was almost full.

In addition, the competition is also very fierce. Only one hundred people out of ten thousand people in each competition area can enter the regional competition, which is one in a hundred.

Those who can make it all the way from the auditions to the finals and then get into the top ten are all one in ten thousand.

No wonder so many headhunters stare at the list with red eyes every year to snatch people. Bian Senlin shook his head and stopped thinking about it. He used the account given to him by Fatty to log into the Xuanwu Forum.

He also needs to fill in some information to generate a unique identification code for the entire competition.

He filled in his technology stack and other information according to the form provided by the website and submitted it.

After getting his entry code, Bian Senlin was attracted by the small robot that popped up on the page.

The little robot first wished him good luck in the competition and other auspicious words, and then asked him to set a goal for himself.

Bian Senlin hesitated for a moment, thinking that it would be okay if he didn't fill it out, right?

Just as he was hesitating, a dialog box popped up in front of him and someone was shaking him.

To be precise, it was Fatty's friend on the forum who was looking for Fatty, but he didn't know that it was not his account that logged in.

[@Lazy, I heard you participated in the competition this year?]

[You actually participated in the competition?]

[The last time I saw you, you said you were busy making money, so please don’t cue me]

[The last time I saw you, you said you were too old to fight anymore and just lay back like a Buddha]

[This year the sun is rising from the west, so why not lie down and do nothing?]

Bian Senlin looked at this series of news and was silent. He actually didn't know what the fat man was thinking.

Bian Senlin closed the dialog box and prepared to turn around and tell Fatty to explain himself.

Looking back at the little robot, he felt that salted fish should also have their own dreams and should not be like the fat man who can't even turn over.

Bian Senlin wrote down his goal in the input box provided by the small machine: Top list, go for it!

Peak list, the final top ten list of the competition.

Originally, Bian Senlin was a little hesitant as to whether the goal was set too high. He knew that his level was not yet at that level.

But think about it, what’s the difference between a person without dreams and a fat person?

Isn't there a saying that goes 'those who seek the best will get the middle, those who seek the middle will get the bottom, and those who seek the bottom will get nothing'?

What's more, he doesn't make a fuss everywhere, which is very consistent with the temperament of people from the border forest.

But what Bian Senlin didn't know was that this goal was actually public on the forum, and there was even a special page for scrolling playback.

Although the Xuanwu Forum is one of the organizers of the Xuanxing Cup, the competition address is separate from the forum.

After using Fatty's account to obtain the entry code, Bian Senlin logged out of the forum, so he had no idea that the goal he had just written down had appeared in a corner of the forum.

Forum, a spam section.

Who's clamoring to be on the top list again? Are you stupid? Every year they clamor, but every year they never make the list.

[As long as people are happy, what's your business upstairs?]

[That’s right, people are not allowed to shout slogans anymore?]

[Hey, wait, wait, don't tell me, this is a level 7 account, who knows, maybe it's a hidden boss ready to rush to the top of the list!]

[Hiss...it's true, click to follow and watch]

[Follow +1]

===

"The Xuanxing Cup auditions are a level-breaking + points-scoring mode, divided into two rounds, the first half lasting two days, and the second half lasting three days.

The first half is often referred to as the preliminaries, and that’s what you need to focus on now.”

The fat man took an ice cream and slurped it while introducing the rules of the audition to Bian Senlin.

"There are two requirements for passing the preliminaries: 1. Get the clearance badges for levels 1-3; 2. Get 80 points. Both are essential."

"Badge of clearance?"

“Yes, there are ten levels in the audition, but only the first three will be open in the first half.

Each level from 1 to 3 has 100 questions, but if you solve 10 of them, you will get the clearance badge for the current level and open the path to the next level.

Bian Senlin pondered the rules: "Does this mean I need to answer the 10 questions in the first level before I can enter the next two levels? But each level has 100 questions. Is it because of points?"

"Bingo!" Fatty gave Bian Senlin a thumbs up. "The three levels have increasing difficulty levels, and the points you can get for each level are different.

Each question answered in the first level is worth 1 point, each question in the second level is worth 2 points, and each question in the third level is worth 3 points."

Bian Senlin flipped through the competition materials and asked again, "Are the questions more algorithmic? Similar to the ACM (International Collegiate Programming Contest)?"

"Only the first three levels are. Generally speaking, the first level has easy questions, the second level has medium difficulty, and the third level has difficult questions," the fat man said with a smile.

Then only the preliminaries are in this format. Bian Senlin nodded to show that he understood.

Bian Senlin did some calculations. Based on his past ACM experience, he could ideally solve a simple question in 15 minutes, an intermediate question in 45 minutes, and a difficult question in 90 minutes.

And so on:

It takes 2.5 hours to pass the first level of 10 questions and earn 10 points.

It takes 7.5 hours to pass the second level of 10 questions and earn 20 points.

It takes 15 hours to pass the third level of 10 questions and earn 30 points.

It takes 25 hours to meet the first requirement of the preliminaries, which is to get three clearance badges, but the points are still 20 points short.

By this calculation, even if you get the clearance badge, it will still take at least 5 hours to go to the first level where it is easiest to earn points.

In other words, ideally, it would take at least 30 hours to pass the preliminaries.

"Hiss..." Bian Senlin took a breath when he saw the result. It was so intense!

The preliminaries last for two days and 48 hours, but it cannot be calculated as 48 hours.

It is impossible for a person's energy to remain in a high-intensity and tense state all the time. It is necessary to take into account the decline in energy during eating and sleeping.

So the maximum time a person can effectively use in a day is 16 hours, and 2 days is 32 hours.

"You see?" The fat man smiled with a hint of gloating. "This isn't just a competition that tests your skills. It's also an extreme marathon that tests your mental, physical, and mental strength."