Time trickled by, with several contestants accumulating more and more answers. The highest time flow rate had reached five times the normal speed, but Ji Ruochu... well, she still had plenty of time remaining.
The other contestants came and went, back and forth, moving so quickly that they were mere blurs. Ji Ruochu, on the other hand... time seemed to pass tranquilly for her.
At this point, the comments on the live stream read: "Thread~y~"
Fans: "How to put it... does this scene seem a bit familiar?"
Trending search: "Do you have anyone around you with an exceptionally strong mental fortitude?"
Top comment: "Yes, Ji Ruochu, right there on my TV screen."
Passerby: "???"
The scene returned to the program, where Wu Jinhui had already submitted nine answers, with the time flow rate at nine times the normal speed. As soon as he answered the tenth question, time ran out instantly.
Subsequently, the other four contestants also ran out of time, ending their attempts one after another.
Yet, even after everyone had submitted their answers, Ji Ruochu remained calm, standing before the starry wall. At this moment, she had memorized just over half of the memory task.
However, the number of answers she had submitted remained at zero, while the other contestants had between 8 and 10 answers each.
At this point, the program cut to a post-competition interview with Ji Ruochu:
"When you saw that everyone had finished the challenge, did you feel even a hint of nervousness?"
"...I probably did," the young woman said seriously as she looked into the camera.
But in the next second, the footage cut back to the present, where Ji Ruochu was calmly holding the small mat given to her by the scientific assistant, standing before the starry wall.
Subtitles: "Nervous?"
"Um... maybe I'm just a good actress?" Ji Ruochu guessed tentatively.
Netizens: "You know, she's not wrong about that."
The interlude ended, and the competition resumed. At this point, Ji Ruochu had 52 minutes remaining.
In other words, the other contestants' answer times, at normal speed, didn't even exceed seven minutes.
This was truly terrifying, considering that they were working with brand new Rubik's cubes. Clearly, if not for the time pressure, their performance would have been far better.
Of course, that wasn't the main point. The main point was—
Ji Ruochu was now the only one left on stage who had not finished the challenge, and at this moment, all eyes were on her.
"Ji Ruochu is so composed. She hasn't shown even a hint of panic so far."
"Indeed. If she wasn't going to move her little mat to a new spot in a bit, I'd suspect she was about to enter a trance."
"Her mental fortitude is undoubtedly strong, but I think she's in a bit of danger now. The contestant with the fewest submitted answers so far has eight. If she doesn't leave herself enough time to answer, even if she memorizes everything, it'll be useless. The scoring first looks at the number of correct answers, then the accuracy rate, and finally the time."
"True, but... coming from her, there must be a reason for doing it this way... right?"
Contestant nearby: "...Your rose-tinted glasses are a bit too thick."
Meanwhile, at the guest seats, the elderly Jin had closed his eyes, appearing to be resting, as leisurely as if he were lounging in a rocking chair in his own little courtyard.
Netizen's spicy comment: "Should we say it or not? This old and young pair really do seem like grandfather and granddaughter."
Of course, since this was not a live broadcast, the program would not actually open a window for several minutes to wait for Ji Ruochu. After playing the footage at an accelerated rate for a few seconds, Ji Ruochu was seen rising calmly to her feet.
After returning the small mat to the scientific assistant, she slowly made her way to her answer station.
Everyone instantly perked up, even the elderly Jin slowly opening his eyes from his pretend nap.
At this moment, all eyes in the venue were focused on her.
Currently, Ji Ruochu had 43 minutes remaining, and once she submitted her first answer, the time flow rate would start to accelerate.
In other words, she had to submit nine answers within four minutes, and all nine answers had to be correct. Otherwise, she risked being the first contestant eliminated from the Pioneer Competition.
At this moment, the hearts of all her fans were in their throats. No one understood better than they did that if their idol was eliminated in the very first round, the haters would be mercilessly mocking her for a month straight.
Headlines like "Child prodigy? Eliminated in the first round" or "No matter how big you talk, it's useless if you can't back it up" would be all too easy to write.
[Waaaah... I'm so nervous, more nervous than I was during my college entrance exams!]
[Brave little one, fly! If anything happens, you're on your own!]
[?? You fake fan!]
[Exactly, how could you say that? It should be: Brave little one, fly! If anything happens, Daddy Ji will take the fall!]
[??? Hey up there, are you really Ji Mochen's fan of over a decade?]
[Ah~ No need to nitpick the details.]
[Just roll a six.]
...
As the fans tried to find a way out for their idol through banter and jokes, the program's announcement suddenly rang out:
"Ji Ruochu has submitted one answer."
Comments: "???"
[What happened? I only looked away at the comments for a second, how did she submit an answer already?]
[Ahhh! Can we rewind?]
[Doesn't seem like it... Other audio software won't be available until after the program ends.]
In fact, the netizens hadn't missed anything on screen. The main reason was—it was time for the program sponsors' commercials.
"Welcome to commercial break~"
Comments: "Welcome your*&...%%￥"
Advertisements: Innocent and wronged.JPG
A minute later, the commercials finally ended, and a few more names had quietly been added to the list of most annoying advertisers of the year.
Of course, no one cared about the advertisers' life or death. The viewers were far more concerned with Ji Ruochu's answering situation.
But to everyone's surprise, the earlier announcement was not just hype from the program. Because the moment Ji Ruochu took her stance at the answer station, she ushered in yet another climax for this competition.
Were there many Rubik's cubes in the starry space?
Many—a total of 763, with each cube having an A and B side, making for a staggering 1,526 cubes to memorize.
Yet Ji Ruochu completed the memorization task in less than twenty minutes.
While everyone was still wondering if she had truly memorized all the Rubik's cubes, Ji Ruochu calmly picked one up, randomly chose a side, and... submitted her first answer.
"Time flow rate increased to double speed."
In other words, Ji Ruochu now had only about twenty minutes left to answer.
"She memorized everything?"
"No, even if she did, how could she retrieve the memories that quickly?"
"Maybe she's a bit too rushed."
"Could be, the pressure's too high."
"If you ask me, since she already has the longest time, she might as well take it slow. At this rate of acceleration, time will soon be—"
"Ji Ruochu has submitted 2 answers, current time flow rate is 3 times normal speed."
Everyone present: "??"
"What?"
Ji Sishi, at the guest seats, could no longer sit still, wishing she could stand up and get a closer look at Ji Ruochu's expression.
Not just her, but even the viewers watching from home were growing anxious.
Fortunately, the post-production team was very considerate, giving Ji Ruochu a close-up shot.
It was this almost in-your-face close-up that truly cemented Ji Ruochu's legendary status.
In the footage, her skin was fair, her face lightly made up, with a pair of lively, slightly narrowed fox-eyes. Her long, curled eyelashes fluttered as her gaze shifted back and forth.
The announcements of submitted answers rang out one after another, but she didn't seem rushed at all, tapping the screen with a light yet decisive touch.
With each side she flipped, she would smoothly enter a few code numbers and their A or B side, hardly ever pausing to think.
It was as if every answer was already laid out before her eyes, waiting for her to input it.
Thus, under everyone's watchful gaze, Ji Ruochu's submission count reached 11.
At this moment, the Rubik's cube in her hand had only been turned once, which meant that she had at least two more scrambling methods that she hadn't completed yet.
At this time, everyone couldn't help but recall that in the previous first round of the competition, she seemed to have... listed out all the options, could it be that—
"Ji Ruochu has submitted 13 questions, time flows at 13 times the speed."
"Ji Ruochu's time has run out, she has answered a total of 13 questions."
Everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief, thank goodness, thank goodness, there was a time limit, otherwise it would have been too terrifying.
At the same time, Ji Ruochu stopped her work with some disappointment.
"All contestants have completed their answers."
Wow—
Thunderous applause once again erupted from the scene.
"Okay, then let's take a look at their scores, please look at the big screen—"
"The ranking of the number of questions answered by the contestants, the first place is the late-comer Ji Ruochu—13 questions;
Next is Wu Jinhui—10 questions;
Bei Lingyu, Chai Jiazi—9 questions;
Zhu Xiaoyue—9 questions;
Yu Yingqi—8 questions."
"Now, according to the rules of our competition, we need to look at the number of correct answers they have. Let's first take a look at the number of correct answers for contestant Yu Yingqi."
After a two-second close-up shot, the big screen displayed Yu Yingqi's score:
[Yu Yingqi, submitted 08, correct 07, accuracy rate 87.5%.]
"Not bad, that's quite high."
"Hey, does that mean that if the other contestants' accuracy rate is the same as his, their ranking will actually be lower than his?"
"Yes, when the number of questions is the same, we look at the accuracy rate."
...
"Next, let's take a look at Zhu Xiaoyue's score."
[Zhu Xiaoyue, submitted 09, correct 07, accuracy rate 77.77%]
Wow!
The contestants' seats instantly became excited.
"So having more questions answered is not necessarily an advantage, unless you can guarantee that they are all correct."
"The time was too short, and the rules were only announced bit by bit before the start. Being able to get this many correct answers is already very impressive. If it were me... I probably could only find five or six at most."
...
"Yu Yingqi is currently in the lead. Next, let's look at Chai Jiazi's score. If her score is higher than Yu Yingqi and Zhu Xiaoyue, then she will secure a Pioneer Seat. Please reveal her score!"
For a moment, everyone's gaze was fixed on the screen. Chai Jiazi, who had initially appeared quite calm, suddenly became nervous.
At the same time, the camera also captured Ji Ruochu patting her on the back of her hand. The next second, her score was revealed:
[Chai Jiazi, answered 9 questions, correct 9, accuracy rate 100%]
"Wow—"
"The first 100% accuracy rate has appeared!"
"So strong!"
"Congratulations, Chai Jiazi, you have secured the first Pioneer Seat!"
Everyone spontaneously applauded for her, and Chai Jiazi was also moved to tears. Seeing this, the host teased:
"Little Chai, this is only the first round of the competition, and you're already crying tears of joy. What will you do for the later rounds?"
Good-natured laughter erupted from the scene, and then—
"Although I'm very happy to have secured a Pioneer Seat, I'm crying because..." Chai Jiazi sniffled, and then carefully lifted her left hand, "Wah wah wah... Ruochu just held my hand! I'm not going to wash this hand today!"
Everyone: ...
Comments: ... Sister, don't love her too much, I'm telling you!
Ji Ruochu fans: ... Murderous intent rising!
...
After this little episode, the program continued, but what everyone didn't expect was that after Chai Jiazi became the first contestant with a 100% accuracy rate, Wu Jinhui and Bei Lingyu also successively secured Pioneer Seats with 100% accuracy rates.
So, the final focus was once again on Ji Ruochu.
According to the current scores, out of Ji Ruochu's 13 answers, she must have at least 8 correct answers to secure the last Pioneer Seat. Otherwise, she would be at the bottom, although she wouldn't be eliminated, she would have to return to the previous contestants' seats and compete with the other contestants for other circle layers.
"So, what is Ji Ruochu's final score? Please reveal it—"
The next second, the camera gave her another close-up shot, as if trying to find a hint of nervousness on her face. The clarity of the shot suddenly doubled.
However, in the end, apart from her delicate pores and explosively good skin, the audience saw nothing else.
Comments were filled with Ji Ruochu fans' screams: Ahhh! Ruochu's beauty is killing me!
[Ji Ruochu, submitted 13 answers, correct—13, accuracy rate 100%.]
"!!"
"Wow—"
"All correct?!"
"A monster, too monstrous!"
The three guests on the panel instantly stood up, looking at the big screen in shock.
"So amazing!"
"I can understand now why so many people say it's a pity that this child didn't pursue a career in entertainment."
The comments also expressed shock.
[...Are you for real?]
[Wow! I'm getting goosebumps!]
[To be honest, I almost thought the program was going to cut to a commercial break. I almost couldn't control the knife in my hand.]
[Ahhhh! Our Ruochu!]
[Where are the haters? Where are they? Come out quickly!!]
[She had more time than the other contestants, so of course her score is higher. What's there to be proud of?]
[Haha, are you upset? This is called strategy, do you understand strategy?]
[No, haters, you're really being so stubborn, huh?]
At this time, the host on TV had already started announcing the results:
"Congratulations to Ji Ruochu, Wu Jinhui, Bei Lingyu, and Chai Jiazi for securing the Pioneer Seats! Please have the four of you take your seats in the Pioneer Seats!"
At this moment, the program's theme song also started playing, and everyone looked enviously at the four of them sitting in the seats closest to the trophy.
Their expressions seemed as if this trophy had already become their possession.
But... was that really the case?
"Okay, the Pioneer Competition has come to an end. Next, the main battlefield will be for you 95 remaining contestants. Our Circle Scramble Competition is officially starting!"
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