Redemption from the Abyss: The School Beauty Insists on Pulling Me Out of the Mire

Saturday, 8:30 a.m.

Beijing University of Science and Technology, the examination center for the Physics Final Exam.

Although it was late autumn, the sunlight in Beijing was still quite dazzling.

The cordon outside the examination hall had already been set up, and hundreds of top students from all over the country had gathered here.

Even the geniuses who usually wield great influence in their respective provinces mostly looked solemn at this moment, clutching their notebooks of incorrect answers and making a final struggle.

Among the crowd, the Sichuan team's style remained unique.

"Oh no... what's that derivation formula for Heisenberg's uncertainty principle again?"

Chen Xi, wearing that red hoodie, was stuffing chocolate into her mouth while anxiously spinning around in place:

"My mind is completely blank! Bo'er, give me a good slap to wake me up!"

Wang Bo, the chubby boy next to me, pushed up his glasses expressionlessly: "Stop spinning, I'm going to get dizzy too. Anyway, I'm just here to keep you company. The computer science class this afternoon is my main event."

Next to them, the Jiangcheng team presented a completely different picture.

Xie Wang carried two bags and held a bottle of mineral water with the cap just unscrewed in his hand. He looked lazy and relaxed, as if he wasn't here to take an exam, but rather to be a "family member".

"Take a sip."

Xie Wang handed the water to Su Qinghe's mouth.

Su Qinghe wore a simple white windbreaker today, with her hair tied in a high ponytail, making her look capable and aloof.

She lowered her head and took a sip of water, her expression calm.

"I'm not nervous, you don't need to keep handing me water."

"Who said you were nervous? I was just worried you were thirsty."

Xie Wang smiled and reached out to straighten her collar, which had been ruffled by the wind, his movements as natural as if he had done it countless times before.

"Teacher Su, don't feel pressured once you go in. If the questions are too easy, just treat it as doing charity and write whatever comes to mind."

Chen Xi stared in disbelief, forgetting to chew the chocolate in his mouth:

"Um... Brother Wang, your attitude is too good! This is a national competition! And... your service is too attentive, are you here to be a babysitter?"

Xie Wang glanced at him and raised an eyebrow:

"Don't you understand? The first rule of the knight's code: Before the princess goes to the battlefield, ensure that the logistics are perfect."

Just then, the preparation bell rang.

Candidates began to enter the examination room.

Su Qinghe held the admission ticket in his hand and looked at Xie Wang.

"It's your turn this afternoon," she said.

"Yes, I know."

"Then...see you at the summit."

Su Qinghe rarely spoke such passionate words, but at this moment, her eyes gleamed with a desire for victory.

Xie Wang smiled and, under the watchful eyes of everyone, actually bowed slightly, performing an extremely gentlemanly bow:

"Yes, ma'am. Go and take back your gold medal."

……

The physics final ended at 11:30 a.m.

The exam lasted three hours and the questions were said to be the most difficult in recent years, even touching on the fringes of quantum mechanics and relativity.

When the gates opened and the candidates poured out of the examination hall, most of them were pale-faced, and some girls even burst into tears.

"This is too difficult... Is the last, most challenging question even humanly possible?"

"I couldn't even figure out the first question..."

Xie Wang stood under the shade of a tree and immediately spotted Su Qinghe in the crowd.

Her expression remained aloof, revealing neither joy nor anger, but her steps were lighter than when she went in.

"How did it go? I messed up the last question," Chen Xi asked nervously as he came over.

Su Qinghe took the coat Xie Wang handed him and said calmly, "It's alright, but the calculations were a bit too much; I almost didn't finish writing it."

"Oh, not finished writing?"

A voice carrying a hint of arrogance rang out.

Gu Yan walked over, surrounded by a group of Beijing-based test-takers. Although he looked somewhat tired, his expression remained confident.

As the second young master of Tianlong Group, he received elite education from a young age, and his expertise in physics is indeed not to be underestimated.

"Su Qinghe, did you solve the last problem about 'the motion of charged particles in a non-uniform magnetic field'?"

Gu Yan stopped in his tracks, a hint of competition in his eyes.

Su Qinghe glanced at him: "Undo it."

"What coefficient did you use for that magnetic field gradient?" Gu Yan pressed, his tone certain. "I derived it three times, and it should be 0.42, taking into account the correction for edge effects."

Several other test-takers from Beijing nearby nodded in agreement: "Yes, yes, yes! I also got 0.42! Young Master Gu is truly amazing!"

Su Qinghe did not immediately refute.

She took a mint out of her bag, unwrapped it, and put it in her mouth.

Gu Yan frowned at that nonchalant attitude.

"Wrong."

Su Qinghe finally spoke, his voice calm, yet like a thunderclap:

"It's not 0.42. It's 0.425."

"Impossible!" Gu Yan sneered. "I couldn't possibly have miscalculated."

"You considered the edge effect, but you ignored the second-order correction of the Lorentz force in the relativistic limit."

Su Qinghe looked at him, her eyes devoid of mockery, only displaying an air of absolute academic authority:

"The initial velocity given in the problem is close to 0.1 times the speed of light. At this level, classical mechanics formulas have an error of 0.5%. For the national competition, this 0.5% is the difference between a perfect score and zero."

The entire room fell silent.

Gu Yan's face turned deathly pale instantly.

He suddenly recalled that inconspicuous data in the question, and his pupils contracted sharply.

Did she really... anticipate this?

"It seems that the level of physics in the capital is indeed quite different from ours."

Xie Wang added insult to injury at the opportune moment, lazily putting his arm around Su Qinghe's shoulder:

"Let's go, Teacher Su. We're not going to argue with them about this 0.5%. Let's go eat; we're hungry."

Su Qinghe nodded and turned to leave.

Gu Yan was left frozen in place, as if he had been slapped hard in the face.

He didn't lose because of his skills; he lost because of his lack of observation and his slight reverence for the truth.

……

Lunch break.

Teacher Li took four people (Xie Wang, Su Qinghe, Chen Xi, and Wang Bo) to a nearby restaurant for dinner.

Chen Xi was still savoring the scene from just now: "That was amazing! Sister-in-law... oh no, Su Shen! That '0.425' you just did was absolutely awesome! Look at Gu Yan's face, it's as green as my hoodie!"

Su Qinghe was drinking soup when he heard the words "sister-in-law," and paused for a moment, but did not object.

Xie Wangze was in a great mood and put a chicken leg on Chen Xi's plate.

"If you can talk, then talk more. This meal is on me."

……

The computer science finals will be held at 14:00 PM.

This time, it was Su Qinghe's turn to wait outside.

Unlike physics, the computer science finals involve hands-on practice on computers.

The examination room was a huge computer lab with hundreds of high-performance computers neatly arranged.

Xie Wang handed his phone and backpack to Su Qinghe.

"I've gone ahead with it, Teacher Su..."

He flexed his long, slender fingers, his knuckles making a crisp cracking sound.

Those usually smiling peach blossom eyes had now turned into a deep, unfathomable pool of cold water.

This is his absolute domain.

"Go ahead." Su Qinghe, holding his bag, stood outside the police line with a determined look in his eyes. "Don't embarrass your new computer."

Xie Wang smiled and turned to walk into the examination room.

His back was straight, exuding an air of arrogant youthful spirit.

Inside the computer room.

Gu Yan was also sitting in the front row.

Although physics in the morning was a blow to him, computer science in the afternoon was his forte—after all, with the backing of Tianlong Group, a technology giant, he had been exposed to more code since childhood than most people have eaten rice.

He glanced back at Xie Wang, his eyes filled with malice.

Trying to outdo me in computer science... I'll show you the power of capital.

However, Xie Wang didn't even look at him.

He sat in front of the computer, skillfully checking the keyboard feel and adjusting the environment.

When the starting whistle blew.

The entire server room was instantly filled with the rapid sound of keyboard typing.

Xie Wang's fingers flew across the keyboard, so fast that only afterimages could be seen.

He doesn't need to think; those complex algorithms and logical architectures are like instincts flowing in his blood.

The code on the screen flowed down like a waterfall.

Question 1, AC.

The answer to the second question is AC.

Question 3...

His speed was astonishing, even attracting the attention of the proctors.

Just halfway through the competition, at the most crucial and final question...

Xie Wang's screen suddenly flickered.

Immediately afterwards, an extremely stealthy infinite loop process quietly started in the background, attempting to occupy all memory and freeze the computer.

Someone tampered with this.

It could be a local area network attack, or it could be a pre-installed Trojan horse.

Xie Wang's fingers, which were typing on the keyboard, suddenly stopped.

He glanced at the soaring CPU usage in the upper right corner, a dangerous smirk creeping onto his lips.

Playing dirty tricks?

Trying to show off one's limited skills in front of the patriarch?

He did not raise his hand to signal the teacher.

Instead, with a flick of the finger, it instantly switches to command-line mode.

A black screen with white text pops up.

His gaze became focused and fervent.

Since you've come to my door looking for death, I'll just leave you with a "souvenir" while I'm at it.