I control the AI ​​empire thanks to the geniuses in my group.

For the next few days, Su Zhou was like a wound-up machine.

I attend classes during the day, do practice problems during evening self-study sessions, and spend all my breaks and lunch breaks studying competition textbooks.

How fast is it?

On Wednesday at noon, Zhao Zixuan watched as Su Zhou turned to the last chapter of his 500-page book, "Advanced Combinatorial Mathematics".

He himself took two months to finish reading this book, and Su Zhou has only been borrowing it from him for three days.

"Are you serious?" Zhao Zixuan looked at Su Zhou with suspicion as he handed the book back to him. "Have you finished reading it, or just flipped through it?"

"I've finished watching it."

"Did you understand it?"

Su Zhou thought for a moment and answered seriously, "More than ninety percent."

Zhao Zixuan's lips twitched.

There are many eccentric people in the competition circle. Some can solve problems quickly, some have clever solutions, and some have amazing memories, but he has never seen anyone who can study books like Su Zhou.

No, do decent people read books?

It's one thing to read one book quickly, but how can you possibly read every book that quickly?

These competition books of his vary in difficulty. Did Su Zhou not encounter any difficult problems?

Zhao Zixuan mentally reviewed the list of bastards he knew from the provincial training team.

There was a guy who started participating in competitions in the fourth grade of elementary school and won more awards than Zhao Zixuan had ever taken any exams.

However, he also had a focus when doing practice problems. If algebra was his strong point, he would practice algebra to the extreme. If geometry was slightly weaker, he would make up for it appropriately. He would never take a book of more than 500 pages, "Advanced Combinatorial Mathematics", and try to read it from beginning to end.

And then there's that bespectacled kid from the neighboring experimental middle school, who's known as a walking question bank. As long as you can tell him the source, he can recite the question and the standard answer to you.

But Xiao Yanjing himself said that he only memorizes classic question types and questions that are easy to get wrong, and he doesn't cram just any random question into his head.

Who is like Su Zhou?

Zhao Zixuan looked at Su Zhou with disbelief.

Su Zhou threw the book "Advanced Combinatorial Mathematics" back at him.

"Stop talking nonsense, test me so I can judge whether I've mastered it."

"A test for you?"

"Just give me any question."

Zhao Zixuan paused for a moment, then opened the book and casually stopped at Chapter Seven, the intersection of graph theory and combinatorial counting, and found a competition problem marked "Difficulty ★★★★".

"2005 CMO Question 4, simplified version," Zhao Zixuan read the question aloud. "Do you need a pen and paper?"

"Need not."

Just as Zhao Zixuan was about to say that he should at least draw a picture on paper, Su Zhou spoke up.

"First, construct a bipartite graph. The set of vertices on the left corresponds to the set elements in the original problem, and the set on the right corresponds to the target subset. After establishing the adjacency relationship, the problem is equivalent to finding the maximum matching number in this bipartite graph."

"According to Hall's theorem, the necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of a perfect matching is that for any left-hand subset S, the size of its neighborhood N(S) is not less than the size of S. Then, we can perform a binding of the lower bound of N(S) using a combinatorial equality..."

He dictated his story at a slow pace, but the logical chain of events was tightly linked, with no unnecessary steps.

After explaining the last step, Su Zhou glanced at him and asked, "Is it correct?"

Zhao Zixuan closed the book expressionlessly and placed it on the table.

"Su Zhou".

"Um?"

"Can't you give ordinary people a way to survive?"

Su Zhou patted him on the shoulder solemnly and said, "Don't worry, everyone has their own path, you can't affect me."

Zhao Zixuan was on the verge of tears: "Why did Heaven create both Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang?!"

"The thought of being hunted down and killed by you for the next few years makes me feel awful!"

Su Zhou coughed and said seriously, "I want to participate in the Western Mathematics Invitational Tournament next month."

He opened his notebook, which was filled with various theorem shorthand notes and problem-solving templates: "So I need to hurry up and prepare recently."

Zhao Zixuan stopped crying and looked at him in surprise: "You're going to participate in the Western Conference?"

"Coach Zhang asked me to go."

Zhao Zixuan's expression became complicated.

He paused for a few seconds, then said seriously, "With your skill level, you're definitely qualified to participate, but..."

"But what?"

Zhao Zixuan thought he could finally show off in front of Su Zhou, so he sat up straight and said seriously, "The Western Competition isn't a monthly exam. The participants from traditionally strong schools like No. 7 Middle School, Shude Middle School, and Jiaxiang Middle School are all seasoned competition veterans who have been training systematically since junior high school. They have a wealth of experience. Your talent is indeed terrifying, but how long have you been systematically studying competitions? Less than a month, right?"

Su Zhou didn't speak.

"So you don't need to put too much pressure on yourself," Zhao Zixuan patted his shoulder sincerely, "just go and experience the atmosphere of the competition, just be a bystander."

Su Zhou, however, was thinking about something else.

The individual third prize is worth eight thousand yuan.

My dad does odd jobs and earns about 2,000 yuan a month. My mom works in a factory and earns a little over 3,000 yuan a month. The whole family is struggling to make ends meet.

Eight thousand yuan is undoubtedly a considerable sum of money for their family.

Su Zhou thought to himself that the experts in group number 42 could help him by simply currying favor with them. As long as he was diligent and good at showing off, those true geniuses would continuously provide him with ideas and methods.

In the end, he'll surely get at least a third prize, right?

I'll risk it all for a little money.

"Understood," Su Zhou put away his notebook, smiled at Zhao Zixuan, and said, "I know what I'm doing."

Looking at his expression, Zhao Zixuan felt that the guy's "calculation" was not quite the same as his own understanding.

"Oh, right," Zhao Zixuan suddenly remembered, "those people from other schools who come to listen to your classes have been asking me every day when you're going to start classes again. Their group chat is buzzing with discussion about it."

"Let's wait a few more days," Su Zhou said. "I'll make arrangements after I'm done with this busy period."

Just as Zhao Zixuan was about to say something, he suddenly saw an unexpected figure.

Song Yuhan came to their seats.

She was one of the top students in her class and was also selected for the school's training team. She was usually quiet and rarely spoke to anyone. Her presence was somewhere between a top student and someone who was invisible.

In Su Zhou's memory, she was the type who always sat quietly in her seat doing practice problems, which was completely different from the style of him and Zhao Zixuan.

So when she suddenly appeared in front of them, Zhao Zixuan and Su Zhou were both stunned.

"Su Zhou." Song Yuhan's voice was soft, but clear.

She was holding a thin notebook in her hand.

"Did you produce this?"

She handed the notebook over.

Zhao Zixuan instinctively reached out and took it. Opening the cover, he saw four large characters printed in bold black font: "The Zhou Family Secret Manual".

The layout is exactly the same as the one Su Zhou edited himself!

Zhao Zixuan's expression changed slightly, and he looked up to exchange a glance with Su Zhou.

The same thought appeared in both of their eyes at the same time.

Su Zhou reached out and took the notebook, flipped through a couple of pages, and confirmed that the content was almost identical to his original version. Even some of the typos in his annotations had been preserved intact.

"Where did it come from?" Su Zhou asked.

Song Yuhan said, "Someone is selling them near the school for twenty yuan a copy."

Su Zhou narrowed his eyes.

Zhao Zixuan gasped, turned to look at Su Zhou, and looked as if he had seen a ghost.

"Holy crap..."

"Piracy has appeared!"