Chapter 294: Chapter 294

Without saying another word, she turned around and left.

Hao Yun rubbed his nose and muttered, "Did I say something wrong?"

When Qin Xiangge walked into the classroom, the first thing she saw was Gao Yuyue’s gloating face.

A wave of unease immediately surged within her heart.

Gao Yuyue had already gotten the midterm exam results from the class monitor, and the rankings were out.

She flicked the report card in her hands and let out a "tsk."

"Qin, I’m just saying— even if you’re going to pursue an arts path in the future, you can’t let your grades slip. At this rate, I’m afraid you’ll fall out of Class A and end up in Class B with Xing Ye. Oh, wait, I forgot you two are good friends. That’d work perfectly—you two besties can stick together like glue."

Qin Xiangge quickly realized why Gao Yuyue was saying all this.

Even though she had moved up one rank, her total score was over ten points lower than the previous monthly exam. She and the bottom five students in Class A had fluctuating scores, generally on a downward trend. It currently looked precarious.

Qin Xiangge’s face visibly darkened.

Gao Yuyue raised her voice and said, "Special congratulations are in order for our very own Shen You’an, who once again defended the top spot successfully. Truly admirable. Sigh, always coming in first must be boring for him, but hey, what can he do when everyone else is so useless?"

As she spoke, Gao Yuyue’s gaze landed pointedly on Leng Yunyang.

"Our Young Master Leng did pretty well this time. He’s neck and neck with Gu over there! Keep it up, and next time you might just surpass him. But this is just the beginning, you know. If you want to beat An’an, you’ll have to overcome Liu, our perpetual runner-up, first. Best of luck!"

With one sentence, she managed to offend everyone.

Leng Yunyang gritted his teeth and sneered coldly.

Gu Bichen, always mild-mannered, merely shook his head with a faint smile after hearing this.

Inside, however, he felt a tinge of helplessness.

He recalled what his parents had said to him before.

In a remote school with subpar educational resources like Lanya High School, there really were hidden dragons and crouching tigers.

Growing up in Jingzhou, he’d had access to the best educational resources from a young age. Coupled with his family’s strong academic background and his own intelligence and discipline—an accumulation of multiple advantages—he had always been first place.

But after coming to Lanya High School, that streak was broken.

Shen You’an and Liu Runxi were even more formidable than he had imagined.

Even Leng Yunyang, who had always been known as carefree and undisciplined, couldn’t be underestimated.

For the first time, he sensed a real crisis.

At that moment, he faintly became aware of something: compared to Shen You’an and Liu Runxi, he wasn’t even a true genius.

To avoid bringing shame to the Gu family name, he had to work even harder.

Liu Runxi, as usual, remained detached like smoke, entirely uninterested in the commotion around him. He quietly concentrated on his own tasks.

As a result, Gao Yuyue’s performance became the liveliest in the entire class.

At this moment, Yan Lu turned her head to look at Gu Bichen and Shen You’an. "Do you know about the MT International Challenge?"

Gu Bichen raised an eyebrow. "Organized by the International Elite Education Center (CEE), also known as the Points Race. It’s open to all high school students globally aged fourteen to eighteen. Every year, from December to the following July, rankings are determined based on the scores from the best five out of six contests. The final winner is crowned MT King/Queen and gets a direct admission to several top global universities."

Yan Lu’s eyes lit up as she pushed a tablet toward them. "This year’s MT International Challenge registration has already started. What do you think? Wanna give it a try?"

This challenge was well-known in the international mathematics community. Many child prodigies from Hua Country had attempted it before, but without exception, all had met crushing defeats. Why? Because the questions were too bizarre and challenging. If the International Olympiad was advanced difficulty, then the MT Challenge was infernal difficulty.

What’s more, the Olympiad emphasized teamwork, whereas MT demanded solo bravery. Original content can be found at n0velfire.net

Although this competition was famous internationally, it garnered little attention domestically.

Without any local participants, there wasn’t a sense of national involvement, so who cared?

The highest ranking a Hua Country contestant had achieved in recent years was thirty-seventh, and that was already the best result.

Gu Bichen instinctively looked at Shen You’an. "Are you going to sign up?"

Yan Lu also looked at Shen You’an, her eyes full of anticipation.

Truth be told, she was quite curious about how far Shen You’an could go.

But Shen You’an was the type to be laid-back and disinterested in competitions.

Shen You’an lazily lifted his gaze and said, "I already signed up."

Gu Bichen cast a slightly surprised glance at Shen You’an.

"Then I’ll sign up now," Yan Lu said. "Though I probably won’t get far, it’s the participation that counts, right?"