Chapter 180

As soon as the host finished speaking, the contestants below became excited, evidently addicted to the anticipation of challenging the experts.

And to be honest, the previous difficulty level couldn't really serve as the measure for the contention seats.

It wasn't until Ji Ruochu and others stood on the stage that the host finally announced:

"Attention, six contestants. Next, I will reveal the rules for the contention seat battle."

"In this round, the challenge for the contestants will be the Starry Sky Rubik's Cube."

The next moment, the screens at the center of the stage began to change, countless Rubik's Cubes appearing, resembling stars in the night sky.

"The rules for the Starry Sky Rubik's Cube are as follows:

In the vast Rubik's Cube starry sky, there are a total of 763 Rubik's Cubes suspended. At the start of the match, all Rubik's Cubes will rotate.

During the rotation, the Rubik's Cubes will be divided into A and B sides for display. Note that for Rubik's Cubes with the same number, their A and B sides may not necessarily belong to the same Rubik's Cube.

Therefore, when answering questions, contestants must clearly indicate which numbered A and B sides they have found.

Within the specified time, the more correctly identified Rubik's Cubes are assembled, the higher the score. In the case of the same score, the one with higher accuracy wins."

At this point, the barrage comments were:

"[...] Just lost me. Can't comprehend."

"Count me in for not understanding."

"Hey? Is Black still here? You guys are so good at criticizing; your brains should be working well enough to come out and explain the rules."

Black: [...]

"I don't understand. After the Rubik's Cube is divided in half, aren't there only two pieces? How do you find so many?"

"Haha, is this difficult? Just find the two sides of the Rubik's Cube. There are probably duplicates inside. Just compare them one by one. That's it, and it's called a pioneer competition?"

"Wow, you upstairs are really something. Remember to sign up for the next season."

"Quick, let's all laugh at this fool who thinks he understands the rules!"

"Ahh! This is really hard! Although I don't know how to explain it to you..."

Fortunately, the program team had also taken this into consideration. The next moment, they inserted two segments of discussion from the contestants' seats.

"This is amazing; it's testing spatial imagination based on the previous warm-up match."

"Although the Rubik's Cube is only divided in half, there's more than one way to divide it. The arrangement of half a Rubik's Cube can be different, whether it's two diagonals from the A side or two diagonals from the B side."

"Let's not forget that this Rubik's Cube starry sky simulates planetary rotation. It only shows up half the time, and the two halves of the same number may not even form a complete Rubik's Cube."

"In other words, the A side of this number and the way you cut the Rubik's Cube in your hand may be the same, but the B side could be the C cut of the Rubik's Cube in your hand. It not only tests your spatial imagination but also your memory."

After the contestants' explanation, the discussions in the barrage became even more intense.

"Very well, this program has given me a clear understanding of my IQ."

"Wow, no wonder they're geniuses; as soon as the rules come out, they get it. If it were me, I'd probably still be baffled even after the competition."

"This project is amazing; it can't be just the program team, right? If the director has this level of intelligence, why would they still be making programs?"

"It must be the brain research group's big shots, right? I heard the program team specially applied for this."

At the same time, a difficulty coefficient table for this project appeared on the screen.

Observation: 4 points

Memory: 5 points

Spatial Ability: 5 points

Creativity: 3 points

Reasoning: 5 points

Calculation: 2 points

As soon as this table appeared, everyone present couldn't help but gasp in astonishment.

"It's so terrifying. The difficulty level starts with three 5-point and one 4-point challenge. Is this the prowess of the elite?"

"Then this challenge must take a very long time, right? Otherwise, how would one find the answers?"

"True, the time hasn't been announced yet."

As for why it wasn't announced immediately, it was because... "All right, next, let's welcome our three guests and mentors!"

The four of them took their seats amidst thunderous applause from the contestants. The host took the opportunity to ask the mentors which contestant they were most confident in.

As an old acquaintance who had worked with Ji Ruochu before, Ji Sishi naturally had full confidence in Ji Ruochu.

As for the other two guests, they followed the principle of Master Duan Shui, each mentioning a contestant. As for Older Jin...

"From an objective point of view, just this challenge alone, all of you combined are probably not a match for Ji Ruochu."

Older Jin uttered this conclusion that shocked everyone present.

For a moment, everyone's gaze turned to the girl standing in the front.

"It seems that Mentor Jin is very confident in Student Ji."

"I wouldn't say confident, after all, if you can't even handle this challenge, when you go back, you'll probably be laughed at by your classmates, right?"

As Jin spoke, it seemed like he remembered something, and a hint of a smile flashed in his eyes.

With this remark, laughter erupted below, most of which came from students of Peking University, obviously knowing who Jin was referring to.

"Can you all endure this? The competition hasn't even started yet, and Mentor Jin has already chosen the first place."

The host secretly exerted force, "If it were me, I couldn't endure it."

The other five contestants:...

"Although I don't fall for provocations, but—I really can't endure it," Yu Yingqi calmly expressed his dissatisfaction.

Laughter erupted from the contestants' seats.

"Great! That's the spirit! I'm rooting for you, Yu Yingqi!" The host immediately cheered him on, "Well then, contestants—please take your places!"

At the same time, six answer seats rose from the center of the stage, and the six contestants stood in the areas marked with their names.

"As everyone knows, the rules of our program are announced on-site, without giving the contestants time to prepare.

The purpose is to increase the pressure index of the competition. Moreover, during the confrontation, the pressure will be intensified in all aspects.

Therefore, in the competition of 'Starry Sky Rubik's Cube,' we will have time acceleration. The contestants' time for the competition will be one hour. For each answer submitted, regardless of whether it's correct or not, the contestant's time speed will double, until the time is up.

Now, please reset the arrangement of the starry sky cube wall backstage!"

With the host's command, the colors of the cube wall behind began to randomly change. Of course, it wasn't a random change of each color, but a random swapping of the A and B sides of each cube.

During this period, the program team gave the three guests and mentors each a selector, and the starry sky wall was divided into four areas. Every time a mentor pressed it, the A and B sides of the cubes in that area would be swapped.

At the same time, a prompt sounded amidst the alarm:

"Ladies and gentlemen, please pay attention!"

"We will now be replacing your old Rubik's Cubes with brand new ones!"

"These Rubik's Cubes are the designated props for this round of the competition!"

Immediately, six scientific assistants brought out the new Rubik's Cubes and began replacing the contestants' old ones.

This unexpected move by the production team elicited gasps from the audience.

"They're actually swapping them out?"

"Doesn't that mean all the familiarity with the previous cubes is now useless?"

"So, does Ji Ruochu's previous advantage turn into a disadvantage now?"

After all, she was the most familiar with the previous Rubik's Cubes among all the contestants. This change...

["Huh? Just, just like that? The contestants probably haven't even warmed up their cubes."]

["Well, no wonder the director was nodding so confidently earlier. It seems like they didn't care about the number of props since they were going to switch them anyway."]

["Wuwuwu... Poor little ones."]

["Who was just talking about conspiracy theories? Seriously, I'm starting to wonder if the production team is targeting Ji Ruochu."]

...

At this moment, the cameras focused on the six individuals at the center of the stage. Obviously, this sudden announcement caught them all by surprise.

Even Ji Ruochu was momentarily stunned. She glanced at the new prop in front of her, then looked wistfully at the Rubik's Cube that had been taken away. For a moment, she felt like she had been taken advantage of.

"Alright! The question setting is over, and the competition is about to begin. Are you six ready?"

"Not really!" Chai Jiazi was the first to pour cold water on the excitement.

Laughter erupted among the crowd.

"Not ready but still have to be." Older Jin dispelled the previous warmth without delay, wasting no time. "The challenge—begins!"

With this command, the time bars of the six contestants appeared above the starry sky wall, and time began to flow.

At the same time, all six contestants picked up their new Rubik's Cubes, and their performances varied at this moment. Yu Yingqi and Zhu Xiaoyue quickly glanced at the Rubik's Cube before approaching the wall, starting to observe and compare the patterns while also considering the modes.

Bei Lingyu, Chai Jiazi, and Wu Jinhui, on the other hand, carefully observed the Rubik's Cube, seemingly mentally dissecting it first.

As for Ji Ruochu...

"She actually went to look at the starry sky wall first?"

"Huh? Is the pro going to memorize all the Rubik's Cube patterns on the wall?"

"Isn't that too much? How long would that take? And this Rubik's Cube changes every three seconds, how can she memorize it?"

"Maybe... she'll wait for three seconds?"

After their discussion, they immediately turned their heads to look at the stage—

And you know what, she really did!

At this point, all the contestants had started comparing the patterns on the Rubik's Cubes with those on the starry sky wall. While comparing, they also had to conceive in their minds which face and diagonal line to start cutting from.

Only Ji Ruochu stood quietly at the far left of the starry sky wall, hands behind her back, looking up, unmoving—oh no, she was moving, after she finished memorizing the current area.

"Older Jin, in this situation, wouldn't it be more appropriate to memorize the Rubik's Cube first?"

The guest seats also sparked a discussion.

"Yes, memorizing the Cube's patterns, once it's cut diagonally, the front, back, left, right, up, and down are all the same, just six types of distributions need to be memorized."

But the starry sky wall is different. To remember it all, one must have an exceptional memory, capable of constructing a memory palace for this starry sky wall in a short time."

"But even with exceptional memory, isn't this method a bit roundabout?" Gong Jianling looked puzzled. "We all understand the principle, so the child shouldn't be unaware."

"No, this is where Ji Ruochu's cleverness lies," Older Jin disagreed.

The three of them instantly perked up their ears, and at the same time, there were reactions from the contestant seats too.

"I see, she's using this method to diminish the memory of the previous Rubik's Cube."

"Huh?"

"Is it necessary?"

"It is." The scene cut back to the guest seat, and Older Jin answered the guest's inquiry with indifference. "Remember Quan Tianheng?"

The three immediately flipped through the materials.

"He's a world memory master, the overall champion of the XX Asia Memory Open in XX, and the national champion of our country's Memory Championship in XX," Ke Chong read aloud.

"The difference between a memory master and an ordinary person is that many trivial things we forget after seeing, he can remember them all.

If you ask Quan Tianheng now about the people he met on the 25th of last month, what classes he attended, including what he had for lunch, I believe he could recall it all vividly.

Because these images are all stored in his memory palace, of course, the further back in time, the lower the accuracy.

And Ji Ruochu, within the past few minutes, has extracted memories of the color layout of the previous Rubik's Cube from her memory palace at least three times, the depth of her impression is self-evident.

It is precisely because of this that if she does not adopt this tactic of flooding the wall with numbered positions and Rubik's Cube faces in pairs in her memory palace, then the arrangement sequence of the previous Rubik's Cube will greatly interfere with her, causing her to unconsciously confuse it during subsequent spatial constructions."

"But like this... will she have enough time?"

As the few were discussing, a prompt sounded in the venue.

"Wu Jinhui has completed one submission, currently, Wu Jinhui's time flow rate is double."

There was a gasp in the venue, obviously surprised by his speed, but the next second, Bei Lingyu also submitted an answer.

In just a few seconds, except for Ji Ruochu, everyone's time flow rate on the field had doubled, and the atmosphere in the venue instantly tensed up.

The competition among the contestants had already begun, but Ji Ruochu remained calm, even returning to the beginning to deepen her memory once, showing no signs of panic, making people marvel not only at her psychological resilience.

Seeing this, Older Jin smiled leisurely:

"So, as I said, this is where Ji Ruochu's intelligence lies. You see, in this competition, as long as you submit an answer, regardless of whether it's right or wrong, time will accelerate.

In such a situation, answering quickly may not necessarily be an advantage. On the contrary, the more answers given in the early stage, the less time there will be for observation later, and the greater the pressure on the contestants.

But Ji Ruochu is different. Her time flow rate remains the same as before. As long as she can complete the construction of the memory palace for the starry sky wall within twenty minutes,

And as long as she can guarantee the accuracy and quantity of her answers, she can have the last laugh, of course, provided that... she can really complete the memory of the main Starry Sky Wall."

"But... Quan Tianheng is the memory master, not Ji Ruochu, even though both of their memory tests are S+, but in terms of memory, Quan Tianheng should have the upper hand, right?"

"Not necessarily, Ji Ruochu just didn't participate in this kind of competition."

"Are you suggesting..."

"It's still the same, although their memory levels are both S+, but that's because the highest rating by the production team is S+, Quan Tianheng... is not as good as her."

After all... this child's memory is comparable to that of my most valued student.

...

At this moment, none of the three guests spoke, whether they were stunned by Older Jin's trust in Ji Ruochu, or by Ji Ruochu's super strong memory.

Even the barrage quieted down quite a bit at this moment. The later editing seemed to understand the audience very well. The next second, they gave Quan Tianheng, who had his arms crossed and a mysterious expression, a close-up shot.

Then they turned to Ji Ruochu, who was slowly moving on stage, even though no subtitles were provided, it seemed like she had said everything.