Lin Zhenhui felt as if he were being suffocated. Not a single word could come out of his mouth.
From where the spectators were sitting, Wu Jiazhen started to make a fuss. “Exactly! You could do the same. It’s not like anyone has said that you can’t.”
Lin Zhenhui could only manage to choke out a HMPH. He reluctantly told Tan Mo to answer the question.
He wanted to see if Tan Mo really could answer the next question accurately.
“If you really have the abilities and the skill to keep this up, have at it,” Lin Zhenhui said begrudgingly.
Then the host asked Tan Mo to answer the question.
“Option A.”
“Correct!”
Lin Zhenhui was dumbfounded.
He would’ve never thought that Tan Mo could actually get the answer correct.
He was extremely curious to see whether she could continue answering the rest of the questions correctly. Much to his disbelief, Tan Mo was able to pull this off right up until the very last question of the round. She had pushed the buzzer as soon as she could for all ten questions.
Lin Zhenhui had never felt so aggrieved at a competition.
In previous competitions, people would only start the race for the buzzer after reading the questions and digesting them properly.
Only then would one be able to judge their answers accurately.
When one knew the answers, then they’d be able to compete for the buzzer.
If no one could answer a question, they’d all stand rooted to the spot in an attempt to consider other solutions and gamble upon whether they should hit the buzzer or not.
If the gamble succeeded, then points would be added. But if not, points would be deducted.
No one had ever stumbled across a case and situation like this one with Tan Mo.
Without even reading the question, she would already have pressed the buzzer.
It wasn’t that they didn’t want to compete for the buzzer. But they hadn’t even read the question, so they weren’t sure if they knew the answer or not.
If they hastily pressed the buzzer and ended up losing points, that would only result in a loss that far outweighed the gain. It would be better to not compete for the buzzer. At least points wouldn’t be deducted.
Of course, these tactical disputes were useless at this stage.
Because Tan Mo won the competition for the buzzer every time, and she could do it without even reading the question. She did it immediately too, right as the question flashed on the screen. Not only that, she answered every single question correctly.
Up until now, none of the other five teams had gained a single point.
Only one of the six players could win the arena contest match.
Their chances of losing were high.
Thus, even if you lost, it wasn’t that bad of a defeat. However, if you didn’t even manage to achieve a single point, that would be hard for the team to accept.
It was the last question of this round. Lin Zhenhui, who hadn’t even answered one question, was slowly crumbling to pieces.
He didn’t even want to look at the question. He was desperate enough to just push the buzzer to at least try and answer it.
Nothing else mattered. He had to at least win one point.
No matter what, he couldn’t go out with a zero.
But what if he didn’t know how to answer the last question?
In each round of the competition, everyone knew there was one single rule: the questions increased in difficulty, so each one was harder than the one before.
Now it was the last question, so of course it must be the hardest one.
He was scared. If he answered it incorrectly, he would lose points. He would have a negative score.
Question ten was about to be displayed on the screen.
The countdown began:
Three!
Two!
One!
CLANG!
Lin Zhenhui couldn’t comprehend why there was suddenly an eerie silence that swept across the entire room.
And, one second later, the crowd erupted into thunderous applause.
“Lin Zhenhui! Lin Zhenhui!”
Lin Zhenhui stood there stupidly.
The students from Tsinghua University were all chanting his name.
“Tsinghua University, please give us your response.” The host prompted him.
Lin Zhenhui looked around. The CLANG! just now was of his own doing.
He looked down at the buzzer. He was the one who had hit it.
Wasn’t he hesitating just now?
When had he pushed it?
He’d pushed it at the very last moment, confused.
Lin Zhenhui turned to look at Tan Mo.
Why hadn’t Tan Mo pressed the buzzer?
She should’ve pushed it sooner than he did.
Didn’t she always push the buzzer without even glancing at the question?
Seeing him looking over at her, Tan Mo put on an innocent expression and looked him in the eye. “Senior Lin, it’s your turn to answer the question.”
Lin Zhenhui couldn’t help but ask, “Why didn’t you press the buzzer?”
Tan Mo blinked. “I’ve never competed for it against you, have I?”
What was the point in asking such a simple question?
Of course, she was purposely taking a step backward.
Seeing his pained and struggling expression just now, she’d thought that maybe she should give Lin Zhenhui a chance.
It would be mean if someone came all the way here for a competition, only to have not answered a single question, right?
Whether or not he was able to answer it at all was up to him.
She had already answered the first nine questions correctly, so even if Lin Zhenhui answered the last one correctly, it would have no impact on her performance.
She considered this as going easy on Lin Zhenhui.
That was how magnanimous of a person she was.
The audience burst out laughing at the stupidity of his question.
Lin Zhenhui started to turn red as his brain started to buzz.
“Tsinghua University, please make good use of your time. If you don’t respond before ten seconds are up, you will be considered to have answered the question incorrectly,” the host reminded him.
“Senior Lin, just answer quickly.” Don’t keep focusing on the situation about Tan Mo and the buzzer.
Lin Zhenhui gathered his thoughts and emotions to answer the question. But with one sentence from that girl, his emotions had started to go astray again.
He started to suspect that Tan Mo purposely didn’t fight for the buzzer because she wanted to embarrass him.
But he couldn’t worry about that now. He looked at the options on the big screen.
The host had already started to count down. “Eight…seven…six…”
He didn’t know how to answer this question.
His mind was blank. His mind raced quicker and quicker as he realized this, but he couldn’t find any hints in the options at all.
He originally could find a hint or two to guide him in picking out an option with a clear mind, but in his current mental state, he was panicked to the point that sweat had started dripping down his face.
He could hear the host counting down…
It seemed as if there was some hissing coming from the crowd also, but he wasn’t sure if he was hearing right.
Just as the host was about to yell “one”, Lin Zhenhui gambled. There was a 25 percent chance that he would be right.
In the last second, Lin Zhenhui shouted, “B! I choose option B!”
“The answer is…” the host dragged it out, “incorrect!”
The screen flashed as the correct answer was displayed.
It was option D.
Lin Zhenhui’s face turned pale and he lost all expression.
Not only had he failed to answer a single question correctly, he had even gotten a -one score.
He wasn’t even as good as the other remaining four schools.
Now, in the first round, the mighty Tsinghua, who were supposed to be crowned this year’s champions, turned out to be coming in last.
“You purposely didn’t compete for the buzzer on the last question!” Lin Zhenhui angrily whipped his head around as he yelled at Tan Mo.
The other four competitors were glad. Although they had received zero points, Tsinghua had done worse and ended up with a negative score.
Everyone had tried their best to achieve first place in this year’s competition.
But failing this, if they could see the almighty Tsinghua fall from grace, not achieving the championship had become more acceptable.
Tsinghua had lost face!
During previous years, they had had to face the smug and arrogant looks of those from Tsinghua, who treated all the other teams as if they were unworthy opponents.
In comparison to getting first place, they hated those from Tsinghua more.
Despite not saying anything, the crowd thought that Lin Zhenhui had lost his mind and his composure now.
And he’s blaming everything on Tan Mo because she didn’t compete for the buzzer?
This wasn’t just being overbearing, it was also being a sore loser.
