sinovels Chapter 140 Preparations
Chapter 140 Preparations
Chapter 140 Preparations
Professor Li and Vice Dean Zhang exchanged a glance but didn't ask any more questions.
If Principal Wang said he would reserve a seat, then there must be a reason for it.
Group D isolation area.
Zhang Yang sat in his chair, staring at the words "tied for first place" on the big screen for a long time.
Those around them dared not speak. Zhao Yu and Chen Hao stood in the corner, barely daring to breathe.
"119 minutes and 48 seconds." Zhang Yang finally spoke, his voice flat. "Wasn't Lin Dong, their power forward, the last player to go on the court?"
旁边一个戴眼镜的男生翻了翻手里的记录本：「对。四大天王1号位42分钟，2号位20分钟，3号位30分钟。4号位上场的时候只剩不到20分钟了。」
Zhang Yang tapped his knee lightly twice with his fingers.
Less than 20 minutes.
After finishing my part, I checked the code of the three people, integrated it, and got it running.
This player in position 4, what's his name again? Lin Dong. He was the last to hand in his paper in the first round, and he was also the one who turned the tide in the second round. The combined time of the first three players was more than ten minutes longer than their team's, but he single-handedly made up the difference.
Zhang Yang stood up and walked out.
He knew in his heart that from this moment on, he could no longer treat these four freshmen as lucky naiveté. He had to figure out just how much ability they really had.
Zhao Yu and Chen Hao quickly followed.
As they reached the door, Zhang Yang stopped and glanced back at Zhao Yu: "Before the finals, get hold of the code for the first two rounds of the Four Heavenly Kings."
Zhao Yu was taken aback: "Brother Zhang Yang, this—"
"Is there a problem?" Zhang Yang looked at him.
Zhao Yu quickly shook his head: "No, no problem."
Zhang Yang turned and left.
Zhao Yu and Chen Hao followed behind, neither daring to speak.
Zhao Yu felt bitter inside. The judging panel was very strict about the code from the first two rounds; how could it be so easy to get his hands on it? But since Zhang Yang had spoken, he didn't dare say no.
He sighed and walked out of the stadium.
The news that the Four Heavenly Kings and Zhang Yang's team had tied spread throughout the entire Computer Science Department the next day.
"Have you heard? The freshman team tied with Zhang Yang's team."
"No way? Zhang Yang was the champion last year."
"It's true, it's written on the big screen. 119 minutes and 48 seconds to 119 minutes and 48 seconds."
"Then the final will be interesting."
"Zhang Yang is definitely burning with anger; he'll definitely give it his all in the finals."
Similar conversations were repeatedly staged in the teaching buildings, canteens, and dormitories.
The names of the Four Heavenly Kings became known to the entire school for the first time.
But the four of them themselves didn't feel anything special.
The day after the competition ended, Li Hu slumped over his desk doing his homework. He spent the whole afternoon working on it and finally fixed the bug in the third part.
He stared at the screen for a long time, and only after confirming that everything was fine did he let out a long sigh and lean back in his chair.
"Finished making changes?"
Li Hu turned around and saw Lin Dong standing behind him without him noticing.
"It's fixed," Li Hu said. "The previous bug had boundary conditions that weren't handled properly. How did you fix it back then?"
Lin Dong glanced at him: "That's how it was changed."
Li Hu waited for him to continue, but Lin Dong didn't say anything more.
Li Hu scratched his head but didn't press the matter. He knew Lin Dong's personality—if he didn't want to talk about something, asking wouldn't make a difference.
Chen Long sat in his seat, holding a book called "Computer Architecture" in his hand. He had been looking at a certain page in the middle for a long time without turning it.
He was thinking about the game. 42 minutes had passed, slower than he expected.
The main problem is that he himself pushed too hard.
He didn't want to reveal too much.
But he didn't expect that putting too much pressure on him would put all the pressure on Lin Dong.
In the final 19 minutes, Lin Dong carried the burden alone.
Next time, we can't do that again.
He pushed up his glasses and turned a page of his book.
Xu Zang was still the same as always, leaning against the headboard reading a book. By the second day of the match, he had almost forgotten about the previous day. Whether he won or drew, it didn't matter much to him. He just felt that Lin Dong's last 19 minutes were indeed quite impressive.
He turned a page and continued reading.
In the afternoon, Lin Dong went to the company alone.
Zhang Mingyuan was still running data in the lab when he saw him come in. He looked up and asked, "President Lin, is the second round over?"
"Yes, first."
"Mr. Lin, you're truly amazing." Zhang Mingyuan looked at him and asked, "When is the final?"
Early January.
Zhang Mingyuan nodded: "There's still time. Don't worry about the company, everything is progressing smoothly. Dr. Zhou has optimized the touch algorithm a bit more, and Cheng Chuan's antenna is almost finished."
Lin Dong walked around the laboratory and checked everyone's progress.
Zhang Mingyuan wasn't lying to him; they were indeed walking. Though not fast, they were moving steadily.
He leaned against the window, looking out at Shenzhen.
Campus, company, competition, research and development. Things on both sides are intertwined, but he thinks it's fine this way.
That evening, Lin Dong returned to his dormitory.
Li Hu was already asleep, Chen Long was still reading, and Xu Zang's desk lamp was still on.
He lay down on the bed and stared at the ceiling.
The finals. Less than a month to go.
He closed his eyes. Never mind, he'd deal with it later.
In the following days, the names of the Four Heavenly Kings spread wider and wider in the Computer Science Department.
But Lin Dong didn't care much about any of that. Compared to the competition, he was more concerned about something else right now—the final exams.
In late December, the weather in Shenzhen finally cooled down.
The banyan trees on campus were still green, but the wind carried a chill. Lin Dong, wearing a light jacket, came out of the teaching building, carrying review materials he had just picked up from the print shop.
"Lin Dong".
He turned around. Song Yao stood on the steps at the entrance of the teaching building, holding a folder in her hand, and walked towards him.
"Teacher Song."
Song Yao walked up to him and looked him up and down: "You've been busy with competitions lately, haven't you? How's your studying going?"
"good."
"How good is 'good'?" Song Yao's tone was teasing, but her eyes were serious. "Let me remind you, don't forget our bet. If you fail, you'll owe me a month's worth of milk tea."
Lin Dong looked at her, and the corner of his mouth twitched slightly: "Teacher Song, do you really want to drink milk tea?"
"Of course," Song Yao said matter-of-factly. "I've painstakingly taken notes for you for over a month; it's not unreasonable to ask for something in return, is it?"
"That's not unreasonable." Lin Dong nodded. "What if I don't fail a single subject?"
Song Yao blinked: "You didn't fail a single subject? You're that confident in yourself?"
"It's not a matter of confidence," Lin Dong said, leaning against the wall with his hands in his pockets. "It's because Teacher Song's notes are so good that I can review much more efficiently."
Song Yao paused for a moment, then smiled. This kid has a sweet tongue.
"Okay," she said, "if you really don't fail a single subject, I'll treat you to dinner."
"No need," Lin Dong said. "Milk tea is fine."
"Then it's settled." Song Yao put away the folder. "Study hard, or you'll come crying to me later."
"No," Lin Dong said.
Song Yao turned and took two steps, then turned back: "By the way, when is the final?"
January 10th.
"You have three days to prepare after the exam, that's enough." She nodded. "Good luck, don't just focus on the exam, do your best in the competition too. I heard you guys tied with Zhang Yang's team, the whole college is talking about it."
"Has Teacher Song heard about it too?"
"I'm not deaf." Song Yao smiled. "Alright, I won't keep you from studying anymore. I'm leaving."
1
She turned and walked towards the office building, her steps lighter than when she came. Her ponytail swayed behind her head.
Lin Dong stood there, watching her walk away, then looked down at the exam schedule in his hand one last time.
Starting January 2nd.
Less than a week left.
For the next week, Lin Dong's life became extremely simple: get up, review, eat, review, sleep.
Exams came one after another.
Advanced mathematics, university physics, English, circuit analysis, linear algebra, and C programming—six courses, six days, passed by him like parts on an assembly line.
He always submitted his paper early and maintained a "neither too fast nor too slow" pace in every game.
After each exam, Li Hu would wail for a while, then obediently go back to study for the next one.
The four of them made it through a week like that.
On the afternoon of January 7th, the moment Li Hu handed in his last C language exam paper, he came out of the exam room, stood in the corridor, and let out a long breath, looking as if he had just been pulled out of the water.
"It's over," he said. "It's finally over."
Chen Long walked behind him, adjusting his glasses: "What structure did you use for that last programming problem?"
"A watch."
"An array will do."
Li Hu was stunned for a moment, then started wailing again.
Lin Dong walked at the very back, looking at the two of them, and the corner of his mouth twitched slightly.
The exam is over.
Over the next three days, the atmosphere on campus was noticeably different.
In the cafeteria, in the corridors of the teaching buildings, and in front of the bulletin boards in the dormitories, people are discussing the upcoming finals everywhere.
The banners stretched from the entrance of the stadium all the way to the cafeteria, with red backgrounds and white lettering that read "Innovation Cup Programming Contest - Finals" and "A Battle of the Titans, Who Will Prevail?"
Students passing by would all look up; some were excited, some were expectant, and some were simply there to join in the fun.
"Did you hear? People from the Education Bureau are coming on the day of the finals."
"It's not just the Education Bureau, it seems there are also several technology companies involved."
""
"Really? A school competition, so many people came?"
"The Four Heavenly Kings are facing off against Zhang Yang's team. They drew in the last round, so this round is sure to be exciting."
Lin Dong could hear similar conversations everywhere he walked on campus.
He didn't care much, but Li Hu did.
"People from the Education Bureau?" Li Hu walked over from the cafeteria carrying a plate and plopped down. "And tech companies too?"
"Yes," Chen Long said, "It's written on the bulletin board."
"Damn," Li Hu took a bite of his chicken leg, "Won't that mean a lot of people will be watching?"
"Scared?" Lin Dong glanced at him.
"What are you afraid of?" Li Hu retorted stubbornly, "I'm just—a little nervous."
"What's there to be nervous about? Just keep writing your code."
Li Hu chuckled twice and then said nothing more.
Chen Lu walked over with a plate and sat down next to Lin Dong.
She came alone today, not with Zhou Lin and Zhao Yu.
Have you heard?
"What did you hear?" Li Hu asked, his mouth full of braised pork, his words muffled.
"Zhang Yang is getting people to work on your code from the first two rounds."
Li Hu stopped eating. Chen Long put down his bowl. Xu Zang looked up.
Lin Dong didn't move, continuing to eat: "Did you get it?"
"I don't know." Chen Lu shook her head. "It came from Zhao Yu's side. They said Zhang Yang asked Zhao Yu to work on the code so he could study your problem-solving approach."
Li Hu cursed, "Isn't this against the rules?"
"Theoretically, yes." Chen Long pushed up his glasses. "But they didn't steal or rob anyone. They just tried to use their connections with the judges. You can't find any evidence against them."
Li Hu's expression was not good: "Then what should we do?"
Lin Dong picked up a piece of fish and put it in his mouth: "Let them see."
All three of them were looking at him.
Lin Dong finished chewing and swallowed: "It's pointless to look at it."
Li Hu paused for a moment, then smiled. Chen Long's lips curved slightly. Xu Zang didn't speak, but lowered his head and continued eating.
Looking at the four of them, Chen Lu suddenly realized that her worries were a bit unnecessary.
She smiled and began to eat.
Meanwhile, in an office on the third floor of the Computer Science building, Zhao Yu was looking at his phone, deep in thought.
Zhang Yang asked him to do some coding, and he agreed.
But when he actually tried to do it, he found it wasn't that easy.
The judges' code archives have a process; it's not something anyone can just look at. He asked several senior students he was close to, but they all said they couldn't help.
He gritted his teeth and dialed a number.
"Hello, is this Teacher Zhang? This is Zhao Yu. Yes, yes, the one from last time—I'd like to ask you for a favor—"
'
There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone, then someone said something.
Zhao Yu's expression changed, and he said "okay" several times before hanging up the phone.
He leaned back in his chair and let out a long sigh.
Got it.
Although it's not the complete code, I was able to get the core solution approach.
That evening, Zhao Yu handed a USB drive to Zhang Yang.
Zhang Yang sat on his dormitory bed and plugged the USB drive into his laptop.
Several files popped up on the screen—the core problem-solving approaches for the first and second rounds of the Four Heavenly Kings, not complete code, but the key algorithms and data structures were marked.
He looked at the first round first.
Chen Long's solution was standard and nothing special. Xu Zang's solution took him a couple more seconds to look at; his thinking was quite unique, but it wasn't the optimal solution. Li Hu's solution had obvious problems; several parts were not optimal, and some were even incorrect.
Zhang Yang frowned.
That's it?
How could someone with this level of skill win against Chen Hao and Zhao Yu?
He opened the second set of documents.
Chen Long's solution was conventional. Xu Zang's second solution surprised him; the approach was more unconventional than the first, with very little code but convoluted logic.
He then looked at Li Hu's solution. Li Hu's solution had several problems, including two obvious bugs: one where the boundary conditions weren't handled, and another where there was a performance issue. Normally, he wouldn't even glance at this kind of code.
Zhang Yang closed his laptop and leaned against the headboard.
He thought about it for a long time.
In the first round, Xu Zang's solution was unconventional, but not perfect. In the second round, Xu Zang's solution was even more unconventional, but still not perfect. Chen Long's solutions were consistently conventional, while Li Hu's solutions consistently had problems. How could such a team win?
He recalled the second round of the competition.
Chen Long played for 42 minutes, Xu Zang for 20 minutes, and Li Hu for 30 minutes, totaling 92 minutes.
When the player in position 4 came on, there were less than 20 minutes left. In those 20 minutes, he finished his part, checked the code of the other three people, integrated it, and got it running.
Zhang Yang closed his eyes.
It's not that the first three people are more skilled; it's that the fourth player is too strong. The first three people only need to write code that "can run," and the fourth player is responsible for turning "can run" into "can win."
He opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling.
It seems that their key figure is Lin Dong.