When Zhao Mu and the other three arrived at the Engineering Department, they witnessed a spectacular scene.
A long queue stretched out in front of the door, a Dragon extending hundreds of meters away.
A huge notice board stood outside the Engineering Department's door. Many new students clustered around the entrance, chattering, and quite a few were squatting on the ground, holding paper and pen, deep in thought.
Some were practically tearing their hair out, suffering as if constipated.
"So many people!"
Zhuo Yun couldn't help but exclaim.
"These aren't just the new Trainees, are they?"
Zhao Mu smiled faintly, "The allure of becoming a Jinhai Master is truly immense!"
They approached and found a few new Trainees to inquire about the situation.
Everyone had participated in the trial, so they recognized Zhao Mu and said, "Master Liang's apprenticeship is public! The first step is to solve the difficult problem on the notice board at the entrance."
Zhao Mu smiled faintly, "I see."
Zhao Mu's face was calm and composed, as if everything was under control.
Meng Qiuqiu pointed to the notice board over there, "Little Mu Ge, should we go take a look?"
Zhao Mu gently shook his head.
"Why look? Don't forget, I have connections!"
Thinking of the relationship Bu Yanhuan had mentioned, Zhao Mu smiled faintly and didn't elaborate to them.
Instead, he bypassed the long queue and strolled leisurely toward the entrance of the Engineering Department.
The crowd watched Zhao Mu with looks reserved for a monster.
"Hey, new guy! Go line up at the back!"
Someone shouted.
Zhao Mu shook his head, "Sorry, we're different."
Zhao Mu arrived at the door. Sitting there was a girl wearing black-framed glasses and braided pigtails. She looked to be in her early twenties, likely a Senior Sister who had enrolled a few years before Zhao Mu.
As Zhao Mu walked over, the Senior Sister raised her head and glanced at him.
"Newcomer? Don't you know you have to queue?"
The noise started up behind him again.
"Hurry up and get to the back of the line! Don't you understand the rules!"
"Stop wasting our time here, okay? If you affect my chances of becoming a Jinhai Master, can you take responsibility?"
Zhao Mu ignored the barking behind him, lowered his head, and smiled at the Glasses Girl, saying, "My name is Zhao Mu. Auntie Bu Yanhuan introduced me."
The Glasses Girl's spectacles flashed with a strange arc of light.
"Oh, is that so?"
Zhao Mu nodded.
The Glasses Girl pointed to the notice board nearby, "Then, go do the questions first!"
Zhao Mu was stunned for a moment.
"Um, maybe you didn't understand. I was introduced by Bu Yanhuan. She and Great Master Liang Gongchi are close friends!"
The Glasses Girl pushed up her glasses and said coldly, "Never heard of it. Either go follow the rules and do the questions, or leave!"
Zhao Mu: "..."
A burst of laughter erupted behind him. Zhao Mu turned around with a gloomy face and saw Meng Qiuqiu and the other two trying hard to cover their mouths, desperately holding back their laughter.
"Pfft ha ha ha!"
Meng Qiuqiu clutched his stomach and said apologetically to Zhao Mu, "Sorry, we tried our best! But we just couldn't hold it in."
Zhao Mu was covered in black lines.
Bu Yanhuan, you jerk, you tricked me again!
What happened to smoothing things over?
Zhao Mu could only obediently walk up to the notice board to look at the difficult problem written there.
The nearby Trainees recognized Zhao Mu as the first place winner of the Written Exam and immediately made way for him.
When they looked closely, they saw that the huge notice board was covered in a long and complex string of mathematical problems, densely packed, making people dizzy just by looking at them.
Li Zixuan and Zhou Haoyu were also in the crowd and quickly approached.
"Zhao Mu, you're here too!"
"These problems are too hard to solve. We've been calculating for ages and have no clue."
"But someone did manage to solve the problem and went inside this morning."
Zhao Mu was curious upon hearing this, "Oh, who was it?"
Li Haoyu said with a strange look in his eyes, "Shen Moran."
After hearing Shen Moran's name, Zhao Mu couldn't help but laugh.
"What a coincidence."
Li Zixuan said, "She only took half an hour to find the correct answer. As expected of our Yuwu No. 2 Middle School's talented and beautiful School Belle!"
"Um, Zhao Mu. Why don't you come back another time!"
Zhou Haoyu rubbed his nose and said to Zhao Mu with an awkward expression.
"Why?"
Zhao Mu looked puzzled.
Zhou Haoyu hesitated for a moment before saying, "She came with Shao Han."
Meng Qiuqiu and the other two were beside Zhao Mu, listening to the conversation with gossipy expressions.
"Oh? It looks like there's something special going on!"
Zhao Mu merely smiled faintly, "What does that have to do with me? I'm only here to study Jinhai Manufacturing under Great Master Liang Gongchi."
He glanced at the math problem on the notice board, then turned and walked straight toward the Glasses Girl.
The clamor of the people around him started up again.
"Hey, hey, hey, don't come over and cause trouble!"
"Don't think about taking the back door! My eyes will be glued to you!"
Zhao Mu ignored them and walked directly up to the Glasses Girl.
Although there was a long line in front of her, few people dared to step forward, as they had no confidence in their solution methods.
This was understandable. In this world that valued martial arts over academics, few people seriously studied subjects like mathematics.
Even a ternary quadratic equation, which was only taught in high school in Huaxia, was like reading heavenly script to them.
Zhao Mu walked over, meeting the Glasses Girl's already somewhat unfriendly gaze.
"What is wrong with you?"
The Glasses Girl asked coldly, her two long braided pigtails hanging down her chest, giving her a somewhat Literary Girl vibe when paired with her black-framed glasses.
Zhao Mu stood with his hands behind his back and said lightly, "X=3."
The Glasses Girl's pupils widened slightly, because she knew Zhao Mu had given the correct answer.
However, she suppressed the shock in her heart and continued to ask, "And then?"
She thought Zhao Mu was just guessing, otherwise, how could anyone solve such a complicated math problem just by looking at it?
Zhao Mu smiled faintly and continued, "Y=4."
The Glasses Girl suddenly raised her head, staring intently at Zhao Mu. She reached to adjust her glasses, but her emotions were clearly no longer calm.
"And."
Zhao Mu softly uttered the last solution.
"Z=5."
The scene fell silent, because the Glasses Girl had now stood up, staring intently at Zhao Mu.
"What's going on? Senior Sister Gu's expression is strange."
"Could it be that he really got the answer right?"
"He must have guessed, right?"
...Zhao Mu thought about the math problem concerning the relationship between the three sides of a right-angled triangle, and rubbed his nose.
Don't even mention it—he really did know the answer just by looking at it.
Gu Ningli stared at Zhao Mu and asked in a cold voice, "What's the solution method?"
She handed him a piece of paper and a pen. Zhao Mu took them and wrote out the Pythagorean Theorem in just a few strokes.
In this world, this was considered the realm of advanced mathematics, because three variables existed simultaneously, yet their relationship could be described by a single formula.
Zhao Mu had taught Shen Moran mathematics before, so it wasn't surprising that she could solve it.
Gu Ningli took a deep look at Zhao Mu, "Your solution is more concise than the previous girl's. You may go see Master Liang now!"
Advance Chapters avilable on patreon (Obito_uchiha)