My IQ has been increasing year by year.

Mid-May.

The plum rain season in the south has not officially arrived yet, but the humidity in the air has already increased significantly.

The wind blowing on my face no longer had the dryness of spring, but instead carried a sticky feeling.

provincial capital.

The green belts on both sides of the highway are rushing past.

The closer you get to the city center, the thicker the plane trees lining the road become, their canopies forming a continuous green tunnel.

A black Santana 2000 drove smoothly on the asphalt road.

The air conditioning was on in the car, and the cold air blew out of the vents, hitting the glass and condensing into a thin layer of fog.

Chen Zhuo sat in the back row.

He wasn't wearing his school uniform today.

She was wearing a very ordinary light gray cotton short-sleeved shirt and dark blue casual shorts.

She was wearing a pair of white canvas shoes.

He looked out the window.

The buildings in the provincial capital are much taller than those in the city.

There were many cars on the road, and bicycles formed a huge traffic flow, slowly crawling at the traffic light intersection.

Chen Zhuo's expression was calm.

The reflection of the street scene rushing past the window was shown on the lenses of my glasses.

He has grown taller.

Over the past six months, perhaps it was the supplements that Zhang Qiang's family sent over from time to time that had an effect, or perhaps his bones had finally reached the growth period.

He has now grown to over 1.5 meters tall.

Although it is still not considered high among junior high school students.

But compared to when he was a tiny little guy, less than 1.4 meters tall, when he first started junior high school half a year ago.

Now, Chen Zhuo, at least in terms of physique, is a normal, albeit slightly thin, teenager.

The Santana turned into a street lined with camphor trees.

The camphor tree has a very strong scent.

A magnificent school gate appeared ahead.

The school gate is made of gray-white stone with several large characters engraved on it.

The affiliated high school of a normal university.

The best high school in the provincial capital is also the training base for this provincial physics team.

The car stopped briefly at the entrance.

Old Zhao sat in the passenger seat, rolled down the window, and handed over a pass stamped with a red seal.

The security guard glanced at it and pressed the gate.

The Santana slowly drove into the campus.

The affiliated high school has a large campus and a long history.

Everywhere you look, there are old teaching buildings with red brick walls, covered with dense ivy.

Rows of bicycles were parked on both sides of the road.

It's the weekend, and there aren't many people on campus. Occasionally, a few students wearing the affiliated high school uniform walk by carrying books.

The car eventually stopped in front of a somewhat old dormitory building.

The exterior walls are terrazzo, and the window frames are green.

There is a small open space downstairs with two large sycamore trees planted there.

The car door opened.

Old Zhao got off the car first.

He wore a crisp navy blue jacket today, and his hair was neatly combed.

Old Zhao walked to the trunk.

Take out the key and turn it.

He reached inside and grabbed the black backpack.

The bag was so heavy that it was completely deformed, looking like a round, black iron ball.

Old Zhao lifted it up with force.

The muscles in my arms tensed up before I pulled out my backpack.

Chen Zhuo pushed open the car door and got out.

A wave of heat carrying the scent of camphor trees swept over us.

Old Zhao carried his schoolbag and walked to the shade of the sycamore tree.

He did not immediately hand the schoolbag to Chen Zhuo.

Instead, he placed it on the bluestone slab at his feet.

Old Zhao took out a pack of tissues from his pocket, pulled one out, and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

He looked at Chen Zhuo standing in front of him.

He put his hands on his hips and sighed softly.

"arrive."

Old Zhao looked around at the old buildings.

"The provincial team's training camp is right here. The top scorers in the province are all in this building."

Chen Zhuo put his hands in his shorts pockets and nodded.

"You have a quiet temper and don't like to talk much."

Old Zhao began to give his instructions.

His voice wasn't loud, but he spoke very slowly, as if he wanted to cram every single word into Chen Zhuo's brain.

"These are all the top talents from various cities. They're geniuses, and they're all arrogant."

"You guys are living in the same room, you're bound to run into each other all the time."

"No matter what happens, keep your temper in check. Don't get into a fight with someone over how to solve a problem or some trivial matter in life."

Old Zhao paused for a moment.

Looking at Chen Zhuo's calm face, he added another sentence.

"Of course, don't be intimidated by those guys from the provincial experimental school."

"Your grades are higher than theirs, with perfect scores in two subjects. You have the confidence to back it up."

"We won't cause trouble, but we also can't let them think that people from No. 1 Middle School in the city are easy to bully."

Chen Zhuo looked at Lao Zhao.

Old Zhao had several deep wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, and the hair at his temples was already turning gray.

Chen Zhuo pushed up his glasses.

"I understand, Teacher Zhao."

Old Zhao looked down at the bulging schoolbag.

He stretched out his foot and kicked it gently.

A dull clanging sound of metal cans could be heard coming from inside.

"That kid Zhang Qiang stuffed all these random snacks into your mouth."

Old Zhao frowned.

"Beef jerky is too dry, eat less of it, it's easy to get a sore throat."

"In this sweltering heat, when you get angry, your mind stops working."

"Go to the cafeteria when you need to eat. The food at the affiliated high school is famous throughout the province. The braised pork is a specialty. Eat more meat."

"Don't stay up too late reading at night. Go to bed on time after the dormitory lights are turned off, and drink plenty of water."

Old Zhao talked on and on for almost ten minutes.

From how to get along with roommates to not kicking off the covers when sleeping at night.

This is the most sincere concern of the teacher leading the team for the school's only student.

There were no official platitudes, just detailed, motherly concern.

Chen Zhuo listened quietly.

There was no interruption, nor any sign of impatience.

He simply stood in the shade of the tree, watching the sunlight filtering through the leaves and falling on Old Zhao's clothes.

After Lao Zhao finished speaking his last sentence.

Chen Zhuo stepped forward.

He lifted the heavy backpack with one hand.

The weight of his backpack pressed down on his thin shoulders, but he quickly adjusted his posture and stood up straight.

"Teacher Zhao, I've got it."

Chen Zhuo looked at Lao Zhao.

"Please go back now, and drive carefully."

Old Zhao nodded.

He raised his hand, seemingly wanting to pat Chen Zhuo on the shoulder, but in the end he only paused in mid-air before withdrawing it.

"Alright, let's go in. Second floor, room 204."

Old Zhao turned around and got into the car.

The car door closed.

The Santana made a U-turn and slowly drove out of the campus along the camphor tree-lined street.

Chen Zhuo stood downstairs.

Watching the car exhaust disappear around the corner.

He turned around.

He was carrying the backpack that Zhang Qiang had stuffed into it to the point of bursting with one hand.

I entered the somewhat dark lobby of the dormitory building.

There was a faint smell of mothballs in the hallway.

Chen Zhuo went up the stairs to the second floor.

The corridor was long, with green wooden doors on both sides.

A white plastic door number was nailed to it.

201.

202.

203.

Chen Zhuo stopped in front of the door of dormitory 204.

The door was ajar.

There was a gap about two fingers wide.

Before you even push the door open, you can hear voices coming from inside.

The voice was cheerful, and the speech was extremely fast.

They possess an innate sense of familiarity and an excessive amount of energy.

"...Let me tell you, the person who set the last big question on this physics exam was absolutely a freak. The hidden conditions in the question were absolutely disgusting!"

"At the time, I was in the exam room, and through a combination of guesswork and dimensional analysis, I managed to cobble together a result."

"Shi'an, how did you solve it back then?"

Then came a very gentle voice, with a hint of a smile.

"I didn't use dimensional analysis. That problem is actually a typical damped vibration model. Just plug in the initial conditions and derive it step by step."

His voice was calm and unhurried, which was very pleasant to listen to.

"Okay, okay, you're smart. I was sweating bullets with anxiety."

The fast-paced voice continued.

Chen Zhuo stood outside the door.

I placed my hand on the green wooden door.

A gentle push.

squeak~

The old hinges emitted a slightly harsh scraping sound.