The host glanced at the countdown on the big screen and reminded everyone, "There are five minutes left until the end of the competition. Please keep track of the time."
This reminder clearly caused panic among many people.
The girl in the pink dress glanced quickly in Su Yan's direction again, and seeing that Su Yan had stopped writing and was repeatedly checking her design, she panicked even more.
The five-minute countdown quietly passed, and the moment the 1 turned into 0, everyone put down their pens in unison.
Although their expressions varied, most of them were solemn, as they had given too little time to think about the design.
Standing on the high ground, Mr. Wu watched with satisfaction as he observed the expressions on everyone's faces. This was exactly the effect he wanted.
Becoming his partner is not an easy task.
All the design drafts were collected in order, labeled with names by staff, and sent to the judges' panel anonymously.
Before the judges reviewed the entries and announced the results, the second group's competition began in earnest.
Mr. Wu watched as Su Yan slowly walked into the rest area and took her seat before turning around and going to the room where the judges were.
As soon as he opened the door, he heard a heated discussion.
Seeing that everyone was engrossed in the activity, he didn't disturb them but instead found a seat in an inconspicuous corner.
"This style looks so familiar, don't you guys think?"
One of the judges specifically picked out a particular piece of work and showed it to everyone.
After carefully examining the document, the other judges all nodded in agreement.
"It looks familiar; I feel like I've seen it somewhere before."
That sense of familiarity lingered in my mind, and the author's name hovered on my lips, yet I couldn't bring myself to say it.
Finally, someone remembered and shouted out the name: "Joan! It's Joan's style!"
"Qiong?"
Following his words, everyone examined the artwork in front of them again. It was exactly the same as Joan's style, and they would believe it if they were told it was her work.
"Qiong is participating in the competition too?"
Some people have raised questions.
"As far as I know, after Qiong collaborated with Yiku Technology last time, there has been no further news from her. She probably went back, since her company is overseas and she has basically stopped being active in China."
This conjecture was unanimously agreed upon.
But if the author of this design isn't Joan, then it could only be...
"Plagiarism! In such a big competition like ours, there are actually contestants who plagiarize!"
One of the judges spoke with righteous indignation.
Mr. Wu, who had been silently observing, could no longer remain silent.
He slowly stood up, walking towards them while intentionally reminding them, "You can eat whatever you want, but you can't say whatever you want."
The judges were stunned by his sudden appearance.
Ignoring their expressions, Mr. Wu casually picked up the design drawing and examined it against the window.
The sunlight streaming through the window shone on the design draft, perfectly illuminating the name and number hidden underneath—No. 1, Su Yan.
Mr. Wu smiled and showed the design drawings to the judges.
“I’ll give it to you.” He glanced down at his watch. “Thirty minutes. No matter what method you use, as long as you can find something similar online, I’ll believe you.”
The judges, sensing his obvious defense of the design, couldn't help but say, "Mr. Wu, the current atmosphere in the design industry isn't very good, let alone the work of such a renowned designer. As officials, we should pay even more attention to this."
Mr. Wu raised an eyebrow. "Oh, I understand what you mean. You think I'm too weak to invite Qiong, is that right?"
The judges immediately waved their hands in a panic, "Mr. Wu, that's not what we meant. We just wanted to uphold the design community and rectify the bad practices."
They certainly didn't dare doubt Mr. Wu's capabilities; after all, his projects could influence half of the design industry. Many well-known companies were vying to collaborate with him.
They simply didn't believe Joan would participate in such a competition. After all, she'd won countless international awards; what would she be doing suddenly participating in something like this? Could it be that Joan was getting involved in business again, preparing for a transnational collaboration?
Mr. Wu ignored their words and glanced at his watch again. "28 minutes left."
Seeing that he was determined to do so and that he had not broken the law, the judges could only use all their methods to search for any trace of plagiarism in all of Joan's published works.
However, the result was regrettable.
Although the design is stylistically similar and has elements that are more or less similar to Joan's previous works, it still cannot be definitively accused of plagiarism.
This design draft seems to be an innovative reinterpretation based on the style of Qiong.
The judges also looked for relevant works by designers of all levels in China, but found no evidence of plagiarism.
Seeing their dejected expressions, Mr. Wu smiled and said, "Since you can't find it, please look at it with a normal perspective. I don't want to miss out on a superb designer because of your foolish misjudgment."
He glanced at the other design sketches scattered on the table. "Even I can clearly tell that this one is definitely the most outstanding among them."
As Mr. Wu spoke, he slammed the design draft onto the table.
The judges looked at the table full of design drafts, and their faces all showed helplessness.
Although they are reluctant to admit it, they must say that none of the designs here can compare to this one.
If it weren't for the fact that they weren't plagiarizing, they would be ecstatic, because it seems like the design world is about to produce another top designer like Joan.
The competitions in all three groups have quietly come to an end, and all the contestants are anxiously awaiting the results, which is even more tense than the competition itself.
The judges walked out together with Mr. Wu.
The host was also very excited when he received the results. He carefully took out the results of one group of the competition from the envelope, and when he saw the rankings, he was stunned for a moment.
All the contestants' eyes were fixed on his face, and every time he made a change in expression, their hearts clenched.
"What kind of expression is that? Was the result of Group 1 really that bad? It shouldn't be like that."
All the contestants started discussing it.
The host glanced awkwardly in the direction of the judges to confirm the result.
This action greatly displeased Mr. Wu, who walked straight over and snatched all the envelopes.
"As a host, don't you even have basic professional ethics? If you can't host, then I'll do it."
The host tried to say something more, but was forcibly asked to leave by the staff.
Mr. Wu decisively opened all the envelopes and revealed everything at once, giving the contestants a satisfying answer.
"The advancing teams are No. 1, No. 4, and No. 9 from Group 1. No. 13, No. 15, and No. 19 from Group 2. No. 20, No. 21, and No. 28 from Group 3. The specific group rankings will be published on the official account. If you have any objections, please raise them with the organizing committee."
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