Rebirth begins with picking up a cold and aloof school beauty

For the first time, Chen Zhou was surprised to see that Xia Xiaomiao, who was usually incredibly shy, could be so proactive.

That evening, when Chen Zhou returned to his hotel, he was humming a song while taking a shower.

I can't fall asleep.

Once he fell asleep, his dreams were all sweet.

The passion for the exam was inexhaustible on the second day!

And then the next day, Saturday morning.

After a night of snowfall, the northern capital was bathed in sunshine under a clear blue sky.

On the way to the examination hall at Beidu University, I saw Chen Zhou looking passionate and confident.

Luo Jiyao, Jiang Yue, Jiang Jiaqi, and Li Ya were all completely bewildered.

Professor Pei Zhu couldn't help but ask, "Chen Zhou, what's wrong with you? Are you in such a good mood? Humming a love song? Like a peacock spreading its tail feathers?"

Chen Zhou smiled calmly, not bothering to argue. "Professor Pei, this isn't me showing off, it's confidence!"

"I'm confident I can win first place in today's national finals!"

Professor Pei Zhu: "Uh..."

He clearly didn't believe it.

Luo Jiyao and Jiang Yue both gritted their teeth, wanting to say something, but with exams coming up soon, they didn't want to discourage Chen Zhou.

After all, the two of them had a pretty good relationship with Chen Zhou.

Li Ya chuckled and shook his head, not wanting to discourage Chen Zhou.

Jiang Jiaqi, however, simply couldn't stand Chen Zhou's overconfidence, even his arrogance.

Moreover, given their relationship of being rivals, mentors, and friends, he felt it necessary to tell Chen Zhou what exactly happened after he left yesterday afternoon.

Jiang Jiaqi said, "Chen Zhou, I believe you'll win the national gold medal and finish in the top fifty. It's practically a sure thing!"

"But for you to win first place is truly a pipe dream."

"Don't assume that this year's informatics competition only has geniuses like you and me."

There are always mountains beyond mountains, and people beyond people!

Do you know Zhou Erjin from Shaoxing No. 1 High School? Do you know Wu Yi from Changcheng High School? Do you know Qi Zichao from Yali High School?

"These three experts all got full marks in the semi-finals, and yesterday when Li Ya and I were discussing the competition questions, the three of them also joined in the fun."

"And guess what? I got completely crushed by those three!"

"If you ask me, I can say with 100% certainty that their competitive ability is definitely superior to yours!"

"I'm not trying to discourage you, but if you don't believe me, you can ask Professor Pei or Luo Jiyao and the others."

Upon hearing this, Chen Zhou couldn't help but turn his head and look at Professor Pei and the others.

As a result, everyone, including Professor Pei and Luo Jiyao, nodded.

Professor Pei Zhu spoke frankly from the bottom of her heart, saying, "Zhou Erjin and his team can simply be described as the three dark horses of this year's NOI competition!"

Luo Jiyao shook her head. "They're not just a dark horse, they're a true powerhouse! They're incredibly impressive!"

Jiang Yue looked up and said, "They figured out the answers to several questions we couldn't even figure out after racking our brains. It's terrifying!"

Li Ya said, "Before meeting those three, I never realized that I was actually mentally challenged!"

Hearing Professor Pei Zhu and several classmates boosting others' morale while diminishing their own, Chen Zhou was clearly displeased.

In fact, he was not unaware of these three big shots; on the contrary, he had even crossed paths with all three of them in his previous life!

For example, Wu Yi, an artificial intelligence scientist who returned to China from OpenAI.

For example, Zhou Erjin is a silver and gold medalist in the IOI (International Olympiad in Informatics).

Why is he both a silver and a gold medalist?

Because Zhou Erjin should only be 15 years old this year! According to the original timeline, he should have represented the national team in an international competition in Bulgaria in the summer of 2009 and won a silver medal. Two years later, when he was a senior in high school, he won a gold medal in another international competition.

Chen Zhou and Zhou Erjin had collaborated twice in the technical field in their previous lives, because Zhou Erjin was the head of the top facial recognition technology team in China at the time.

Qi Zichao, on the other hand, founded a well-known autonomous driving company in his previous life, providing autonomous driving assistance technology to major automakers.

It must be said that they are all true masters of informatics competitions and future tech giants.

In terms of pure technical ability, Chen Zhou admits that even at his peak, he couldn't compare to these three big shots.

Even in this lifetime, at this very moment, in terms of sheer competitive ability, Chen Zhou is no match for them.

You could even say he was the one who was ruthlessly crushed!

But what can we do when we're time assassins? Just like Zhan Ying and Zhan Lao, even with a 2-16 record in Go, those two wins—one against the past number one Go player Rui Naiwei, and the other against the future number one Go player Yu Zhiying—are enough to become legendary stories.

Chen Zhou himself is the same. Although he is no match for the three legendary players Zhou Erjin, Wu Yi, and Qi Zichao in terms of current competitive strength and future peak technical strength, he is still no match for them.

But ironically, this year's NOI competition problems are the most difficult in recent years!

What's even more coincidental is that Chen Zhou could recite these competition questions, and even the answers, from memory!

Chen Zhou feigned anger at their lack of ambition, saying, "What can I say to you? You get discouraged at the slightest setback! How will you ever amount to anything?"

"The outcome is still uncertain; we could both be dark horses!"

"It's still uncertain who will emerge victorious!"

"So what if they're powerful? Let them be strong, the breeze still caresses the mountain!"

"At worst, everyone gets a perfect score, everyone is number one, and we're tied for first place."

"It's nothing special."

Upon hearing Chen Zhou's arrogant words, Professor Pei's lips twitched, Jiang Jiaqi rolled his eyes speechlessly, and Li Ya simply chuckled.

Even Luo Jiyao and Jiang Yue were shocked by Chen Zhou's statement.

It truly embodies the saying, "As heaven maintains vigor through movement, a gentleman should constantly strive for self-improvement."

Master! Boss! You didn't disgrace yourself!

However, their rational minds told them that Chen Zhou was indeed overconfident.

The two women shook their heads in unison.

Seeing that none of them believed him, Chen Zhou's stubbornness kicked in.

"Okay, okay, talk is cheap. Show me your code. I understand that."

"You'll find out after the exam. We'll see how it goes, like reading a script while riding a donkey."

Luo Jiyao and the others: "Uh..."

They really couldn't understand where Chen Zhou got such confidence.

It's not that people don't believe in your abilities, it's just that there are always people more capable than you!

Uh... it must be because he wasn't there yesterday afternoon and didn't experience the pressure from the "Three Phantom Gods of the Competition" face-to-face.

That was the only conclusion Luo Jiyao and the others could draw.

However, afterward, when they parted ways and were about to enter their respective examination rooms...

They encouraged each other and cheered on their friends.

Next up is the NOI National Olympiad in Informatics Finals.

There are two exams today.

The first session started at 8 a.m. and ended at 1 p.m., lasting a total of 5 hours, with 3 questions.

The second session started at 3 PM and ended at 8 PM, also lasting 5 hours, with 3 questions.

There is only a two-hour break at noon.

Therefore, this is not only a test of the contestants' informatics competition skills, but also a test of their endurance.

Chen Zhou entered the examination room a quarter before eight o'clock.

Just like the previous national semi-finals and provincial team selection competitions, it was also a computer-based programming competition.

Chen Zhou was full of confidence.

At the same time, Chen Zhou also spotted some candidates in examination room number 1, including Zhou Erjin and the other three competition gods. They were all in the same examination room.

What a coincidence.

As the bell rang, the first exam of the national finals officially began.

Chen Zhou quickly glanced at the specific content of the exam.

He quickly finished reading all three questions, and then he secretly breathed a long sigh of relief.

The reason is that these three questions are exactly the same as the questions from this year's national finals competition in my previous life!

Not even a single symbol or number has changed.

Then, Chen Zhou began to answer the questions formally.

The first question is about transforming sequences. The core of the question is:

Given N integers 0, 1, ..., N-1, find a transformation sequence T that transforms i into Ti, satisfying a specific distance constraint.

Chen Zhou thought to himself, "Isn't this just a bipartite graph matching problem? Easy!"

"Even though I've never done this problem before, I solved it easily!"

Then, without saying a word, Chen Zhou began to answer the questions.

His fingers flew across the keyboard, making a clattering sound.

Keep in mind that at this point, almost all the candidates were still reviewing three questions.

They haven't even completed the most basic first step, let alone figured out a solution.

"Holy crap! Is he even human?"

"Who is this guy? He's practically Superman!"

"Could it be that our generation has more than just three legendary gods? Is there a hidden fourth legendary god?"

"Liang Xipi! I don't understand!"

The students kept internally complaining, completely shocked.

Even top competitors like Zhou Erjin, Qi Zichao, and Wu Yi couldn't help but take notice.

Although they all knew that the contestants who could participate in the national finals were definitely not ordinary people.

But they were still amazed by Chen Zhou's speed in reading, thinking, and answering questions.

However, the difficulty of the national finals is not such that whoever solves it the fastest is necessarily right.

We cannot conclude from this that this person is stronger than anyone else!

Many people may be slow, but their thinking is deeper and more accurate.

Therefore, five or six minutes after Chen Zhou started typing away on his keyboard.

One by one, the other contestants also began answering questions.

No one was affected by Chen Zhou's actions.

But they never expected this!

Less than 30 minutes into the exam, Chen Zhou had already finished the first question, "Transformation Sequence".

An hour and a half into the exam, Chen Zhou solved the second question, a typical dynamic programming problem with decision monotonicity optimization.

In the third hour of the exam, the last question—a competition problem about binary search trees—was quite difficult, but Chen Zhou still managed to solve it ahead of schedule.

Far ahead!

At this very moment, most of the candidates in Examination Room 1 were still racking their brains, trying to figure out how to answer the second question and where to start.

Many people have no idea what to do.

Chen Zhou had already finished the three questions for the first exam of the morning two hours early.

Then comes the inspection, inspection, and more inspection!

Another half hour passed. Chen Zhou checked the document repeatedly, making sure there were no mistakes or oversights before he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Click to submit your paper and stand up to report.

"Teacher, I've finished everything and handed in my paper."

As soon as Chen Zhou said this, everyone in the examination room turned their attention to him.

Countless eyes revealed the same thing—utter horror!

Even the two professors from Tsinghua and Peking Universities who were proctoring the exam couldn't help but marvel at it.

They've proctored so many national finals, and this is the first time they've seen someone hand in their paper an hour and a half early for the NOI finals.

There has never been anyone like him before, and there probably won't be anyone like him in the future.

Unless someone wants to give up early.

Therefore, the two professors from Tsinghua and Peking Universities who were proctoring the exam also realized that the candidate had simply given up.

They can understand this.

After all, this year's competition questions were indeed the most difficult in the past decade.

"Please hand in your paper and leave. Don't stay and disturb the other students from continuing their exams."

Upon hearing this, Chen Zhou nodded, left his seat, and exited the examination room.

Breathing in the fresh air outside, Chen Zhou was in a great mood and felt refreshed.

Meanwhile, the students in the examination room gradually realized what had happened and unanimously concluded that the person who had just spoken was a pathetic creature who had given up the struggle.

He gave up on himself and resigned himself to his fate, haha.

The exam continues.

Meanwhile, Chen Zhou, who was outside the examination hall, found a quiet spot, took out his phone, and started chatting with his girlfriend on QQ.

Chen Zhou: "Xia Xiaomiao, I've finished the first exam. I have good news for you: your boyfriend is in great shape and I'll definitely get a perfect score."

Xia Yu: "Huh? Wasn't the exam supposed to last until 1 p.m.? You finished so quickly?"

"There's still an hour and a half left."

"Well, since my boyfriend said so, I'll definitely believe you."

"My Chen Zhou is the best! Hehe~"

[Heart emoji]

Chen Zhou: "Haha, I was thinking of coming to find you now."

"But since you're doing your research trip at Tsinghua University next door today, I won't bother you."

"Enjoy your visit and learn from it."

"I need to rest properly at noon to recharge for another battle this afternoon."

Xia Yu: "Okay, keep it up! Get some rest. My favorite little Zhouzhou."

"After you finish your exams, well, I'll have to reward you properly."

"whee."

[Emoji: Happy]

Upon seeing Xia Xiaomiao's text messages, Chen Zhou's lips curled into a smile. "A reward for me?"

How does this girl plan to reward me this time?

Chen Zhou fantasized for a moment.

Afterwards, Chen Zhou went into the Peking University cafeteria and waited alone until the first exam ended.

Finally, one after another, the competition participants arrived.

Jiang Yue and Jiang Jiaqi were walking together when they saw Chen Zhou, and they both hurriedly ran over to him.

Jiang Yue asked anxiously, "Master, Master, how did you do on the exam today?"

Jiang Jiaqi asked with concern, "How did you do the last question this morning?"

Chen Zhou rubbed his nose and said calmly, "I did alright on the exam, I just handed in my paper an hour and a half early."

"The last question was very easy; you can handle it with ease."

Upon hearing Chen Zhou's two sentences, the two of them instantly lost their composure and their eyes widened!