After taking the advice, I became a top student.

The proctor noticed Chen Mo's unusual behavior, walked over and glanced at his exam paper. He found it was completely filled with clear steps and the answers seemed reasonable, so he couldn't help but take a second look at Chen Mo.

He was very impressed with this candidate; he remembered that the guy was performing some kind of ritual when he first entered the examination room.

Especially now that Chen Mo is still wearing two pairs of glasses, it's impossible for him not to notice him.

But now, seeing this exam paper, this staff member of the Chengdu Mathematical Society only felt that...

This kid's got some skills.

At 9:20, the first test ended.

Chen Mo walked out of the examination room and found Bai Zhi already waiting outside.

"How is it?" Bai Zhi asked.

"good."

"How did you solve that last combinatorial problem?"

Chen Mo briefly explained his thought process.

After listening, Bai Zhi's eyes narrowed slightly. "Your method is simpler than mine. I used a generating function and calculated for a long time."

"I was lucky; this was my first thought."

As the two were talking, Zhou Hao and Tan Yuanguo also came out.

Zhou Hao looked unwell. "I spent half an hour stuck on that last combination problem and almost didn't finish it."

Tan Yuanguo's face was ashen, and his complexion was not good.

Lin Zhiyuan then came over and looked at Chen Mo, saying, "This year's questions were quite easy. I finished them in less than an hour. I wonder what will happen in the second round this afternoon."

"How are you guys?"

Chen Mo nodded, indicating his agreement with Lin Zhiyuan's statement.

This year's questions were quite simple.

Qiu Mingyuan looked at Lin Zhiyuan with some complicated feelings. Lin Zhiyuan was sitting in front of the two of them, so he did not notice Chen Mo's act of closing his eyes to rest, otherwise he would not be so relaxed.

He finished the test in about an hour, but Chen Mo only took less than forty minutes.

Zheng Lei and Yang Hongwei, who had just arrived, exchanged glances. He had originally planned to ask Chen Mo how he solved the last question, but after hearing Lin Zhiyuan's words, he suddenly didn't want to ask anymore.

Hu Xin and Zhou Zhi came up to them and said, "Alright, stop comparing answers and go eat first. There's a second test this afternoon, three big questions, two and a half hours. The real battle is yet to come."

When Chen Mo and his group arrived at the cafeteria, there were already quite a few examinees there. They sat in small groups, some discussing the questions, others eating their meals. The atmosphere was much more relaxed than in the exam hall.

After the group got their food and sat down, Lin Wanqing from No. 9 Middle School also came over with her tray. She adjusted her glasses and asked softly, "What's your answer to the last fill-in-the-blank question?"

"The one for finding the general term of the sequence?" Qiu Mingyuan thought for a moment, "I calculated a_n = 2^n - 1."

Lin Zhiyuan nodded, "Me too!"

"How did you guys solve the first problem, the sequence proof?" Zhou Hao couldn't help but join the discussion. He couldn't solve the last big problem, so now all he could rely on was the accuracy of the previous questions.

"I used mathematical induction combined with bounding," Qiu Mingyuan said.

"Me too," Lin Wanqing nodded.

Chen Mo then spoke up, "I used the construction method, directly constructing an auxiliary sequence and then proving that it is a constant sequence."

Everyone looked at him.

"Construct an auxiliary sequence?" Lin Zhiyuan frowned. "How was it constructed?"

Chen Mo took a piece of draft paper, pulled out a pen from his pocket, and said while writing, "The problem gives a_{n+1}=(a_n+1)/(a_n+2), and you need to prove that a_n converges and find the limit."

The conventional approach is to first guess the limit, and then prove that it is monotonically bounded.

But if we let b_n = (a_n-1)/(a_n+1), we can get a geometric sequence…”

He quickly wrote a few lines and handed it over.

Lin Zhiyuan took the napkin, looked at it for a few seconds, and his eyes gradually lit up. "Brilliant! This directly transforms the nonlinear recursion into a linear recursion, without needing to prove monotonicity."

Qiu Mingyuan leaned over for a look, "Holy crap, what a coincidence! How did you even think of that?"

He suddenly understood why Chen Mo was able to finish so quickly: Chen Mo's method didn't require so much calculation.

Zhou Hao looked at Chen Mo, then at the draft paper with the proof process written on it. He opened his mouth, wanting Chen Mo to explain in more detail, but he was too embarrassed to speak up, because Lin Zhiyuan and the others seemed to have already understood it.

No, how did this thing even work?

He thought about it for the duration of a meal but still couldn't figure it out.

Bai Zhi suddenly lost her mind. She originally thought it was normal for this junior to be so arrogant in No. 1 High School, since No. 1 High School was not very strong to begin with.

But she didn't expect that even in the provincial competition where there were many experts, Chen Mo could shine so brightly. Look at Lin Zhiyuan from No. 7 Middle School, look at Qiu Mingyuan from No. 4 Middle School, and Lin Wanqing from No. 9 Middle School. They are listening attentively to Chen Mo's explanation of the questions.

These prodigies were all overshadowed by Chen Mo. What kind of mythical story is this?

The other contestants in the cafeteria were also looking this way. They were a little curious. Lin Zhiyuan from No. 7 Middle School and Qiu Mingyuan from No. 4 Middle School were both well-known figures in the competition circle. They didn't expect that someone would be able to explain the problems to them.

Who exactly is that guy?

Thinking back to what happened in the hotel banquet hall last night, they felt even more that the guy was unfathomable.

"Alright, alright, let's go back to the hotel and rest for a while."

Zhou Zhi clapped his hands, interrupting the group that wanted to continue their discussion.

He certainly didn't think Chen Mo was really better than Lin Zhiyuan and the others; it was just that Chen Mo's problem-solving approach was novel. After all, the first big question wasn't that difficult; not to mention Lin Zhiyuan, even Zhou Hao had solved it.

……

The second test begins at 2 PM.

In the examination room, many people looked in Chen Mo's direction.

At noon, they also saw Lin Zhiyuan and his two companions' actions in the cafeteria and were all speculating about who this Chen Mo was.

Some people guessed from Bai Zhi and the others that Chen Mo was from No. 1 Middle School, but when they said it out loud, no one believed them at all.

How could such a person emerge from a school that has no presence in Chengdu?

What a joke.

Chen Mo had no idea what everyone was thinking, but he had already activated his "Clear Mind" ability.

As is customary, if the first round of questions is easy, then the second round will be more difficult. He must give it his all if he wants to get into the winter camp.

Not only was he mentally sharp, but he also didn't miss out on the rituals of eating bananas, wearing glasses, and drawing an infinity symbol.

With a thought, the panel appeared.

[Host: Chen Mo]

[Logical Thinking: B- (0/100) - Effortless Mastery]

[Memory: A- (0/100) - Photographic memory]

[Focus: B- (0/100) - Immersed in the moment]

Comprehension: B (18/100) - Comprehensive Understanding

[Willpower: B+ (68/100) - Life is a marathon]

[Insight: B- (20+10/100) - Isn't this obvious?]

[Mathematical Intuition: 10 - There's a divine will at work]

[Special Effects: Front Row Aura (Not Activated), Eye of Insight, Photographic Memory, Clear Mind]

[Nutrients: 6]

Looking at the numerous buffs on his body, Chen Mo felt more powerful than ever before.

At this point, the second round of exam papers were finally handed out.

Chen Mo looked at the first question:

【Problem 1】Suppose positive integers a and b satisfy that ab+1 divides a²+b². Prove that {a²+b²}/{ab+1} is a perfect square.

Chen Mo was stunned for a moment.

He had seen this question before.

It was a similar problem to the one he couldn't solve during the math competition team selection exam. He later proved it using high school math knowledge, while Bai Zhi gave a simpler proof using Vieta's jump.

He smiled, picked up his pen and began to write, but this time, he used Vieta's leaping method, which was concise and clear, and only used half a page.