blenderwars Chapter 52 Museum
Chapter 52 Museum
The three days following the exam are free time.
The final results will not be announced until the awards ceremony on the fourth day. In the meantime, the national teams can have a great time in London.
"Finally, we're free!"
National team member Pan Xun raised his arms high in the street without any regard for his image, letting out a roar that had been suppressed for months.
The pressure of the competition that had been building up in my nerves for so long completely vanished with the cool breeze on the streets of London.
"Now, I can finally live a normal life for a few days."
Veteran team member Zhang Wei's voice carried a sense of relief, as if a heavy burden had been lifted from his shoulders.
Having gone through the intense closed training of the training camp, he is about to turn 60 and face his final battle, and his feelings at this moment are mixed.
"How are you feeling?" Lin Shuwan turned around and looked at Su Hao, who had been walking silently at the end of the line.
"I just want to go home as soon as possible," Su Hao said softly.
That's the truth.
This is the first time I've been so far from home, and the feeling of loneliness is really unbearable.
More importantly, a faint aftershock seemed to linger within his body:
The sheer terror of merging with Psyduck in the exam room to solve the ultimate puzzle, a feeling that could tear your soul apart.
He was eager to figure out what the biological mechanisms behind this power were.
And... I wonder how Su Hui is doing in China now?
To perfectly time the video call across half the globe in London, that girl would grit her teeth and fight off sleep every night.
"That's true, kids your age do get homesick easily."
Lin Shuwan suppressed her laughter, coughed in a mature manner, and patted Su Hao's shoulder like a big sister.
"Everyone has worked hard these past few days."
Professor Hu, the team leader, swept his gentle gaze across the group of young faces, his eyes revealing an indelible sense of satisfaction.
He is an extremely pragmatic person.
In his view, no matter how the brutal ranking list unfolds a few days later...
These children in front of me have already given it their all on this field.
"For the next few days, forget all the math formulas and just enjoy your trip to London."
Are there any places you'd particularly like to visit and check off your travel plans?
"Really?!"
"Yay! We've completely let the sheep roam free!"
"marvelous!"
Old Hu's words instantly ignited everyone's emotions.
"I want to go to the British Museum!"
"A Thames River cruise! I want to take that!"
"Let's go check out Buckingham Palace first!"
Although they are usually a group of aloof and cool academic geniuses, once they take off their national team uniforms, they are still a group of children full of curiosity about the world at heart.
Clearly, during countless tedious nights spent doing practice problems, they had secretly sketched out this wish list for London a thousand times in their minds.
However, the genetic curse of academic superstars manifests extremely quickly.
Within three minutes, six top-notch science students had formed a circle...
They treated a London travel guide as a complex research project, embarking on an extremely rigorous path optimization and feasibility debate.
"No way! I have to at least eat some authentic Chinese food. I'm going crazy from fish and chips!"
"We're all science students! Why would we go to Shakespeare's birthplace? That's a pilgrimage site for humanities students, okay?"
"Then go see Newton's apple tree? Come on, Cambridge University is too far away, it doesn't conform to the principle of maximizing marginal benefits over time."
"Go to that bookstore in Notting Hill that was featured in the movie? We weren't even born when that old movie was released!"
After an intense, eight-hundred-fold struggle that was far more frustrating than an academic seminar, the group finally settled on their route for the next morning: head straight to the British Museum!
The reason is simple: the moment they learned that tickets to this top-tier venue were free...
Several hardcore science-oriented guys in the team who originally scoffed at historical artifacts joined the group with great enthusiasm because of the "extremely high cost-effectiveness".
The next morning, the group stormed into the London Underground.
"Wow... The British government is quite magnanimous in this regard, truly befitting its status as a long-established developed country."
Seeing the prominent free sign at the entrance, the team members exclaimed that they had gotten a great deal and made a killing!
But as soon as the group stepped into the vast exhibition hall, the relaxed atmosphere was instantly dispelled by a heavy sense of oppression.
Everywhere you look, there are gilded coffins from ancient Egypt, cuneiform tablets from ancient Babylon, and blue-and-white porcelain from the Xia Dynasty...
The most exquisite national treasures in the history of human civilization are displayed densely in this foreign building, like spoils of war.
"This scale... far exceeds my expectations."
Pan Xun lowered his voice and muttered to himself, a hint of shock flashing deep in his eyes.
These magnificent relics should have stood tall in their respective homelands, enduring the test of time...
Why are they gathered here in such a dense, even somewhat crowded, manner?
Su Hao, who usually had a wide range of interests, silently watched all of this.
He knew all too well what a bloody and ruthless history of colonial expansion flowed behind that glass, polished to a shine by the lights.
As everyone looked at the artifacts from the Dunhuang Mogao Caves belonging to the Xia Kingdom, their faces, which usually carried a hint of pride, were now filled with deep anger and sorrow.
Professor Hu keenly sensed the emotional resonance among the team members. He stopped and spoke in a low, calm voice:
"Actually, the British Museum has taught you a lesson, enabling you to begin to develop a deeper level of historical dialectical thinking."
Ladies and gentlemen, this is indeed a complex issue of geopolitics and cultural affiliation.
The museum's collection of treasures is both a magnificent monument to the British Empire's past industrial civilization that once dominated the world, and a bloody stain on its legacy that it has yet to completely erase.
Downing Street politicians are currently overwhelmed by a constant stream of international lawsuits seeking reimbursement...
He paused, his gaze sweeping over the group of thoughtful teenagers.
"However, the most ironic thing is that it is precisely because of this robber-like historical paradox that we are like this today..."
We are fortunate to be able to enjoy the fruits of human civilization under this roof at such a low, almost free cost.
But you must be soberly aware that behind this "fortune" lies the humiliation of various nations being at the mercy of others due to their weakness...
The heavy atmosphere eased slightly after the professor's words of encouragement.
The Xia Guo team finished their cursory tour of the core exhibition area and finally stopped in front of a cultural and creative souvenir shop at the exit, which exuded a consumerist atmosphere.
"Huh? What's that?" Su Hao's eyes suddenly widened.
In the far corner of the shop window, a row of miniature duck blind boxes of various shapes were neatly stacked.
They were little rubber ducks meant for bathing, but they were dressed up in all sorts of fancy costumes.
There's a Pharaoh duck wearing a golden mask, an English duck draped in a Union Jack cape, and a Greek duck cosplaying as Poseidon, wielding a trident...
There was even a fully armed sword-and-shield duck wielding a tower shield and a short sword.
Su Hao strode forward and carefully examined the design details of each item through the glass display case.
"I thought it was something rare, but it's just a rubber duck."
"Hey you, you usually seem so cold and aloof, how come you have such a fondness for ducks?"
Lin Shuwan followed, and seeing Su Hao's infatuated look, as if he wanted to crawl into the counter, she teased him with a mixture of amusement and exasperation.
Su Hao ignored him and simply stood there examining the scene for a long time.
After a rigorous selection process, he solemnly chose a little yellow duck painted with the Union Jack.
......
The next day.
Kingston University.
The main building of the Mathematics Department, third floor, closed-door conference room.
The air was filled with the pungent smell of a mixture of high concentrations of black coffee and nicotine.
The IMO core problem committee, composed of six of the world's top mathematicians...
After three consecutive days and nights of intense, meat-grinding paper-marking work, everyone's nerves were on the verge of collapse.
On the first day of grading, as soon as they opened Su Hao's answer sheet, the entire committee was plunged into a near-manic frenzy!
That answer sheet was six pages long, and with an incredibly rigorous logic, it completely shattered question 6, which was hailed as the "most difficult question in the history of the IMO"!
The legendary, once-in-a-century genius who could trample the pride of all test setters underfoot has finally been born!
But that's the strange thing about fate.
The answers this genius left for questions 4 and 5 completely shattered the minds of these experts!
A long-running argument erupted in this small meeting room...